Witchling (Curse of Kin) (17 page)

Sully and I took off, fully expecting Brie to be right behind us.

***

I made my way back to the pond with Alison, Lia, and Sully, giving my friend a sympathetic shoulder to lean on. Teenage boys could be such jerks when it came to girls. I was sure that the hormones raging through their bodies muddled up their brains. At least girls had a better grip on the whole child to teenage transition.

When my ears started to pound and my breathing came in ragged gasps, I turned to Sully for help, fighting the panic that engulfed me.

“Nera, Nera, look at me!” Sully grabbed me by the shoulders shaking me. “Tell me what it is. What can you see?”

“I can’t see. Something is pulling at me, Sully. I feel like I am being dragged down into the darkness. It’s hard to breathe.” I tried to claw at my throat, willing the air into my lungs.

“Alison, go get the others,” Sully yelled.

“Brie, where is she?” I gasped. “I think it might be her. We have to find her.”

“Paul, did you see where Brie went?” Sully called when he came into view.

“I thought she followed you guys. She left just after you did.”

“We have to find her,” Sully said to the others. “I think she’s in trouble. Get everyone together and head back out this way. Stick in pairs and fan out. She can’t be too far away.”

He pulled me up from the ground where I had sunk when he let me go to organize everyone else. “Nera, let’s go. Hold my hand and I’ll guide you until you can find her. Get into her mind. Hurry!”

“I can’t, Sully. It makes it hard to breathe when I try.”

Sully twinned our fingers together and holding tight pulled me along. “Find a way. If she’s in trouble, we have to get to her.”

We stumbled through the bush, and I tried to lock onto Brie and keep breathing regular breaths as I went.

“This way, Nera. Someone’s been through here. Getting anything yet?”

“Yes and no. I can feel her panicking, and she can’t breathe, but I can’t seem to calm her. She can’t be too far away because the feeling is getting stronger.” I gripped Sully’s hand tighter as he dragged me through the bush, trying to find any indication that this was the way that Brie had gone.

“Brie! Brie! Answer me!” Sully yelled.

“She’s very close,” I panted. “I can feel her, she can’t—Arrgh!” I cried as both Sully and I stumbled over each other and landed on the ground with a thud.

Brie was curled up in the fetal position under a bramble bush. Her eyes were closed tight, and she was shivering.

“Oh, Brie, look at you!” I cried. “What happened? You are covered all over with scratches, dirt, and leaves.”

“Are you hurt?” Sully asked. He knelt down and grabbed her hands to help her up.

I tried to pick the dead leaves from her hair as she cried quietly in Sully’s arms. Before long, the soft crying turned to huge sobs. “I followed you. Denny was hitting on me, so I couldn’t stay behind, but I lost you. Then,” she gulped, “I fell into the mud and it sucked me down and I couldn’t breathe.”

“What mud?” Sully looked around us. “There’s no mud here.”

“There
was
mud. It sucked me down, and I couldn’t breathe. I know what happened,” she insisted. She took a couple of deep breaths and continued. “There was someone here too. I think I heard something.”

“Who was it?” I asked. The familiar chill was working down my neck. I quickly scanned the area but could see no one around.

“I don’t know.”

“Let’s just get you out of here.” Sully turned to me. “Signal the others will you, Nera.”

We guided her back to the pool our friends had gathered. Paul and his mates were in one group, Alison and her friends in another.

“Boys can be such jerks.” I grabbed my bag and our towels, helped Brie with her things, and then waited for Sully to fill in his mates before we headed home.

***

After we had helped Brie clean herself up and treated her cuts and scratches, we went back into my room.

“Do you suppose,” Sully started, “that this is connected to you, Nera? Remember what Jasper said about us being in danger because we know about the curse.”

“Yeah, I was thinking the same thing only I don’t get it. Who was with Brie? And why didn’t they help her? We saw no one out there. Surely they would have had to pass us. I didn’t see anyone in the bushes anywhere.”

Something was starting to gel in my mind, that cold feeling I got whenever things were not quite right. It happened in my dreams, I felt it in my room at Jasper’s and again when we found Brie. Who or what was it? Bones and Jasper knew more than they were letting on, I thought.
Just wait until I catch up with them.

“Give, Nera, I can see your brain ticking.” Sully nudged me on the arm as he watched me. He always knew when I was churning possibilities over. We had been friends for so long he sometimes thought he could read me like a book. But lately, things were not so clear.

“Just some ideas I need to go over with Bones and Jasper.” I stood up and stretched, looking at him. “Do you guys want anything? I feel a snack attack coming on.”

“Sure.” Sully followed me. “Come on, Brie. You’ve had enough time to sulk over it.”

Brie let him lead her down the stairs. She still looked more awkward than alarmed about the incident. When we quizzed her about it more, she turned sullen, tightening her lips and glanced away from us. When Brie was stubborn, there was no changing her. Sully and I thought it was the curse, and we were probably right.

He was rummaging around in the fridge when Mom came into the kitchen. She laughed as she took her gardening gloves off. “That’s what I like about you, Sully.” She smiled at him. “You sure know how to make a cook feel appreciated. If it’s the chocolate cake you are after, it’s in the container on the counter. Pass me that cold juice while you are there, though. I could do with a drink.”

“Looks like you have been working hard today, Mrs. O’Reilly,” he said.

“I have to get the big vegetable pots ready for all those seedlings that are nearly at the transplanting stage,” Mom replied. “I should have started sooner, but I have been a little busy with other things. Jack was hoping to get them planted before the summer solstice, so it’s going to be a bit of a rush. We only have a few weeks to go.”

I was studying my mother while she explained the moon gardening calendar to Sully.

“What happens if you get them in later? Won’t they grow?”

“Not as well, Sully. To get the most out of our vegetables, we need to get them in before the full moon of the summer solstice or we don’t get the full growing time. It’s the only way we can be assured of a good crop. Jack swears by it, so we haven’t ever done it any other way,” she said. “I know how you guys like to raid the peas. Can’t have you missing out on those, can we?”

“That’s not even an option, Mother of mine. Do you need any help?”

“Just say the word, Mrs. O’Reilly,” Sully volunteered. “We have time now that we aren’t at the water hole. What can I do?”

Christ,
I thought,
Sully is mooning over my mother, Brie is drooling on Jasper. Whatever is happening to my friends? Yuck
.

“Sully, you are an angel,” said Mom. “Jack was going to help, but he is probably still talking to Jasper. I really don’t know what those two find to talk about. They see each other nearly every day. Men!”

“Mom, are you okay?” I asked. “You look a little flushed.”

“No, I’m fine. Just been in the garden all day, getting the potting mix ready to plant,” she replied. “A little tired is all.”

Mom always made her own potting mix and compost for both the summer garden and the winter crops that she grew in the glasshouse Dad had built for her.

“Where is the serial pest?” I asked.

“He is next door, darling, helping Mrs. Freeman. He spends so much time there these days. They are good for each other. She has no family left and gets pretty lonely. He enjoys being with her, so they get on well together. I think it’s nice , don’t you?”

“Mm-mm,” I mumbled. “She can use the help in her garden, that’s for sure. She can barely bend over she’s so fat!”

“Nera! That’s not necessary!”

“Sorry, Mom.” I dragged Brie outside to sit in the shade of the big umbrella my mother had set up. While Brie leafed through a magazine, I closed my eyes and let my thoughts drift.

Poor Sully. He really adored my mother. It can’t be just her chocolate cake. It must be the way she made him one of the family and listened to him like she meant it. It was in her nature to nurture anyone around her.

Sully’s folks were so different. Rather cold and standoffish. His dad was hardly ever home, and his mother was too delicate to upset apparently. He obviously loved them both, but something was wrong in that relationship. My family was close and open with one another. I wondered what happened to Sully’s folks that made things go so out of whack. It made me appreciate what I had even more.

You never can pick your family, I mused. It’s funny how your perspective can change overnight. I used to think my family was normal, but there is nothing normal in having an 800-year-old uncle. Most families didn’t have a curse like mine, either.

This has totally changed the way we will live forever. Will we ever feel safe again, even if I managed to break this curse? Would there be others to follow? Or would this free them forever? How would Roman feel with it hanging over his head if he was old enough to understand? How would my mother feel if she knew what our family was really like? Could she handle the truth if it ever comes out?

I opened my eyes and looked toward the compost patch. Sully was digging away, turning over the mix that my mother had started earlier, his shirt tied around his waist, his body tanned and strong. Mom was standing beside the compost bins. Her hands clasped under her flat belly, a faraway look on her face.

I jumped up. “Mom, what are you doing?”

Mom looked over at me, confused at my outburst. “Nera, I don’t know what you are talking about. I’m not doing anything. I’m just standing here watching Sully and enjoying the sun.”

I shook my head and stormed into the house, unable to tell Mom that I knew what was going on just by looking at her. Brie was right behind me, and she grabbed my arm to stop me.

“Tell me what’s happening here, Nera? Why did you yell at your mom like that? She was just standing there watching Sully dig.”

“She’s pregnant.”

“So what? Your mom and dad love babies.”

“Jasper told me that unborn babies and young children are in more danger from the demons and the curse. I can’t believe she became pregnant now.”

“No,” Brie said, her eyes wide in disbelief. “Are you going to say anything to her?”

“How can I? I shouldn’t know unless she tells me—which she hasn’t. This is so wrong. It could put her in more danger, and we have enough to worry about, don’t you think?” I slammed my hands down on the kitchen table.

“What are you going to do?” Brie looked at me, the question hanging in the air between us.

“What the hell am I supposed to do? I’ll tell Jasper. He can decide.” I started to pace the kitchen. “This is just so damn stupid!” I slid down the cupboard door to sit on the floor, cradling my head in my hands. “We don’t need this,” I whimpered.

Mom walked into the kitchen with Sully on her heels. “Nera, what happened out there? What’s going on?”

“Nothing, Mom, sorry. It’s just been a long day, and I’m still a little shaken up over losing Brie in the bush. Just forget it, okay?”

She pulled me to my feet and wrapped her arms around me, rubbing my back. “Honey, just relax. Brie is fine, and you all probably just need some downtime to relax. After last week, I am not surprised that you are all tense and keyed up. Why don’t you curl up on the lounge and watch a movie since you aren’t going back to Jasper’s until tomorrow. When Dad gets home, he can cook up a batch of chili, and we can have a lazy night. What do you think?”

I squeezed my eyes tight and sighed. It was hard to lead a double life, especially around my mother. “Yeah sure, why not? Thanks, Mom.” I draped my arms around her, breathing in that comforting smell only a mother had. Things seemed so much simpler when I was younger. Hell, things seemed so much easier three weeks ago.

Mom nudged us toward the lounge. “Go pick a movie and chill out you three.” She then left to go back outside.

“Okay, spill it.” Sully gave me a look.

I composed myself and thought of the risk if I told him everything. Bugger it! What did I have to lose? Brie knew. They were pretty much in the picture anyway, just a question of how deep.

“Remember when we discussed the curse with Jasper. Well, he told me last night that unborn babies and children are in more danger than possibly, well…you guys. He said it had something to do with unclaimed souls or something.” Sully nodded his head while I spoke. “Well, she is, pregnant, I mean. I don’t think Dad knows either. I can see them in her belly. Yes Brie, I said
them
. She is having twins. Calm yourself.”