Page 144 of The Curse Breakers

“I miss you, Elliphant.” His eyes darkened. “You must find Ukinim and Ilena tomorrow night and send them back.”

“But I still don’t know how to do it on my own.”

“You will find the way.”

“I need more answers, Daddy. I came to you for answers.”

“Remember the star.”

I looked up into the star, watching it expand and contract until it swallowed me again. I felt myself being jerked backward, and then I was bobbing in the ocean. Collin had an arm around my back and was holding onto the ladder with his free hand.

He searched my face. “I’m sorry. I tried to keep contact with you for as long as I could. But you fell off and—”

“It’s okay. I got what I needed.”

“That’s good.” He continued to watch me and then nodded toward the ladder. “Then I guess we can climb out.”

I grabbed the rungs and pulled myself up, Collin following behind me. I stood on the deck, lifting my T-shirt and trying to wring all the water out of it.

He looked down at my stomach, his mouth hanging open. “What is that?”

The gauze had fallen off my arm in the water and the gashes were healed, but the wound on my stomach was a well-defined scar. I pulled my shirt back down.

His eyes widened in anger. “Ellie, what the hell isthat?”

I took a step backward. “It’s none of your business.”

His face reddened. “You talk about me keeping secrets, but you keep a shitload of them yourself.”

I put my hands on my hips. “What am I keeping secrets about?”

He flung his hand toward my stomach. “That, for starters.”

Collin didn’t deserve to know anything about my life, but he was right—this concerned him too. “You want to know what this is?” I grabbed the bottom of my shirt and tugged it over my head, the wet cotton sticking to my skin. I threw it down and stood in front of him in my denim shorts and black bra. “Here it is, Collin. You’re the guy with all the answers. Why don’t you tell me what it is?”

He stared at my stomach, and his eyes were glazed with horror when his gaze rose to my face. “Okeus.”

“Yeah.”

“When? How?”

“Last night. He came to me in my dreams.”

“How the hell did he come to you in your dreams?” he shouted, the veins in his neck bulging. “I put that goddamned mark on your door to protect you.”

“What?I don’t understand.”

“You told me that they were coming to you in your dreams, so I put the diamond symbol with the X on your door. The diamond represents your dreams.” He ran his hand over his head and looked toward the shore. “Goddamn it!I redid it last night to make sure it worked.”

My stomach fell to my feet. “So, it wasn’t the dream catcher?”

His face wrinkled in confusion. “What dream catcher?”

I shook my head. “I wasn’t home last night.”

“You were withhim.” A sneer covered his face. “Your professor who doesn’t know shit and is going to get you killed. How can you not see that?”

“At least he tells me the truth, Collin. Something you are completely incapable of.” I took a deep breath. “Besides, you don’t know I’m sleeping with him.”

---