Page 137 of The Curse Breakers

The brick came free in my hand, and I stuck my hand inside. Something was there. My fingers snagged the folded paper and I slid it out, carefully unfolding it in my lap.

The sheet was written in neat handwriting that turned to barely legible chicken scratch at the end. I began to read:

“When Ananias discovered his village and family were gone, he headed south toward Florida to St. Augustine, where he took a French wife.”

I looked up at David in surprise. “There were French in Florida in the late 1500s?”

He nodded. “Virginia Dare may have been the first English child born in the Americas, but a Spanish child was born in this country at least twenty years earlier. If Ananias needed a wife to continue the Dare line, Florida would have been the logical place to look.”

“But this says he took a French wife.”

“There was a colony of French as well. Your Anglican history books tend to neglect such facts.”

“And how do you know this?”

“They had interactions with the Native Americans.”

“Oh.”

He leaned over the paper and continued where I left off:

“Ananias had three children with his second wife, Marie, and three generations of Dares lived in Florida, passing the legend and the curse down to the next Keeper. The history, the symbols, and words of protection, how to close the gate, how to send back the gods and spirits if the gate remained open, the feud between the brother gods, and many other things.

“In 1620, Ananias LeBlanc, fourth-generation ancestor of Ananias Dare, felt a pull north. It was an inexplicable feeling, but it caused him great discomfort to ignore it. He took his wife and two children to Jamestown, Virginia. The Curse Keepers resided in Virginia until 1650, when John Williams took his pregnant wife with a group of Virginians to colonize Albemarle Sound in North Carolina. The Curse Keepers and their descendants have resided in North Carolina since, never being able to travel more than fifty to two hundred miles from Roanoke Island.”

“Yes!” I squealed. “I always thought it was agoraphobia. Only mine was worse, depending on the day. I could usually go fifty miles before feeling anxious, but I always felt uneasy about leaving the island.”

David looked up. “Do you still have it? You came to Chapel Hill.”

“No, I didn’t have it at all that day.” I shifted my weight. “And I didn’t have it when Collin and I went to Morehead City. He was the one who told me that the feeling was insurance for the curse, to make sure we never got too far away from this place.”

“Maybe the feeling is like a barometer. You were meant to meet me. You and Collin were meant to get the bowl.”

“But who gets to decide?”

“Who or whatever is controlling your fate. Ahone?”

I scowled. I didn’t like the idea of any deity controlling my fate.

“You and Collin got his bowl for the ceremony. Where are the relics now?”

I paused. “Collin must have taken them. I wasn’t thinking straight at the time.” Could they have been in the locked glove compartment of his truck? Along with the map?

I kept reading:

“The Keeper’s duty passes to the oldest child, who assumes the responsibilities of Curse Keeper upon their eighteenth birthday. In the event that the oldest child cannot assume the duties, the role passes to the next child in line.

“The stories must be told and preserved. In the event that the line dies off, the gate will open and the spirits will escape.”

My chest tightened. “No.”

David looked up; his eyes wide.

“I can’t do that, David. I can’t have a child and force this upon them. What kind of parent would do that?”

“Your father had you and he wasn’t horrible. He was a loving father whom you adored.”

“He also didn’t have me after the gate had been opened. He didn’t have me knowing I’d have to face all these monsters.”

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