Page 99 of The Curse Breakers

I nodded. I wasn’t sure I believed him, but I was the one who was here. It was up to me. “Let’s go.”

After we passed the visitor’s center and walked through a patch of trees, the entire village was spread out before us. My mouth hung open.

“It’s overwhelming when you first see it. Give it a minute.”

I could see why. A six-foot-tall chain-link fence surrounded the buildings. The village had disappeared hundreds of years ago and reappeared exactly where it had once stood. Daddy had told me that the landscape of the island had changed over time. The shore itself had crept inland and the ground was higher. Most of the trees in the clearing next to the original fort mounds were less than a hundred years old. But the village didn’t seem to care about the landscape when it reappeared. It had blended in with what was already there.

Close to thirty buildings covered the ground; trees shot through some, and others were partially underground. Strings that had been set up by the researchers had created a checkerboard pattern. I was no stranger to archaeological sites, but they were usually all dirt and holes. This was truly something different.

“Ready?” David asked after several seconds.

“Yeah.”

We went through the gate and checked in with the guard, showing him our credentials. David pointed out several structures as we walked the parameter—a blacksmith shop, lodging quarters for the single men in the colony, family homes. He pointed to a slightly larger house close to the edge. “I know you want to see Manteo’s hut, but I thought you might also be interested in this one.” He grinned. “We think it belonged to Ananias Dare.”

My stomach fluttered. Instinctively, I had known it would be there, but I had been so focused on what information might be found in Manteo’s hut that I hadn’t stopped to think about it.

I shook my head in awe. “They were just stories. I never believed them. Not really. Especially after Momma died. But now it’s all here.” I waved my hand toward Ananias’s house. “And I’m standing here thinking about what Ananias went through…what drove him and Manteo to even consider doing such a thing.”

David was silent for several moments. “Ananias had a wife and newborn child to protect. Manteo was trying to save his people. They were desperate, Ellie. They would have done anything to save the people they loved and cared about.” He paused, lowering his voice. “We’re not totally unlike them. You’re trying to protect the people you love. We’re trying to save our people. Humanity.”

“What if we screw up like they did?”

He looked down at me with a tender smile. “We’ll just have to make sure that we don’t.”

“You sound so certain.”

His smile faded. “We don’t have a choice. It’s our only option.”

I nodded, not trusting myself to speak. I was surprised by how much I already needed him. Not only for information, but for support. He believed in me even when I didn’t believe in myself.

“Do you want to look inside?”

“Ananias’s house?”

He grinned. “Yeah.”

“Okay.”

We carefully stepped over strings as we headed toward the structure. Several people were writing things down while a couple of others were taking photos. Steven stood to the side, holding a clipboard and talking to a woman.

As we walked over, he glanced up and smiled. “Good morning, Ellie. Welcome to 1587.”

“Thank you.” My voice croaked and I tried again. “Thank you for giving me the chance to be here.”

“Of course. I know how much your father and your mother would have loved to see this.”

A man walked over and turned to David. “Excuse me, Dr. Preston. We found something that might be of interest you.”

My attention perked up.

“Of course,” David said. He turned to me, searching my face. “Are you okay with staying here for a little bit?”

“Don’t worry about her.” Steven waved David away. “If she shares the interest her parents and stepmother have in early American history, she’ll want to stay all day.”

David hesitated, waiting for permission from me. My original goal had been to examine Manteo’s hut, not Ananias’s. But if David was leaving me here, I knew there had to be a reason. Collin had spent our entire time together hiding information from me. The frustrating part was that I’d known it without being able to do a thing about it. David, on the other hand, had never given me any reasonnotto trust him. He shared everything he knew and freely admitted when he didn’t know something. I knew without a doubt that David would tell me about any discoveries he made without me. I smiled. “I’m going to hang out here with Steven for a while.”

David gave me a relieved smile and then took off across the eerie village. Steven watched him go and chuckled, shaking his head. “He’s got it bad.”

---