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David sat down in the chair again, leaning back and looking at the wall. “Sorry. Go on.”
“Collin showed up at the New Moon one day. I’d never seen him before, but I felt like I was suffocating when I was near him, which was also part of the curse. Probably designed to help keep us apart. He grabbed my hand before he left, and the marks showed up. Even before I finally acknowledged that the curse was broken, I knew it. Ifeltit happen. And when the colony reappeared the next day, I started to wish I’d paid more attention to Daddy’s stories. I thought Collin was some nutcase when he insisted I needed to help him close the gate.” I shook my head in disgust. “But he was using me all along. He wanted to permanentlyopenthe gate to Popogusso.”
His face paled. “He wanted toopenthe gates?” I nodded and finished my glass, watching him as I drank. But he just stared at me, not even blinking.
“I thought we were closing and sealing the gate. And we did…after the gate opened and all the spirits and gods that had been locked away escaped. The spirits have been responsible for all the dead birds and animals that have stumped scientists around here. They’re weak after being locked away for hundreds of years, and they’re feeding off the animals’ manitou to regain their strength.” I paused. “Do you know what the manitou is?” I presumed he did with his knowledge of the Algonquian.
He waved in dismissal. “Yes, Go on.”
“They especially want mine because I have a pure soul, which has earned me a title Collin doesn’t have: witness to creation. Manitou are recycled, but mine wasn’t, which means I was present at creation. I’m rare, and it makes my manitou stronger. I had no way of knowing, and Collin claims he didn’t know either until Wapi, the wind god of the north, tried to steal mine. Once Collin realized I was at risk, he painted the henna tattoo on my back, using Okeus’s symbol. My tattoo matches the symbol the Manteo line gets inked on their chest on their eighteenth birthday.”
David shifted in his seat, and I could tell he was dying to ask me questions, but he pressed his lips together and waited.
“While Collin painted an identical mark on my back, Okeus wanted me to fully pledge myself to him. When I refused, he killed someone I knew as a sacrifice each day for three days.” I looked away, my voice breaking. “I never would have accepted Okeus, not that I even could…the curse is based on duality, and Ahone claimed me. After Daddy sacrificed himself to reseal the gate, Ahone said I had permission to put his mark on my body as protection, only he neglected to show me what it is. Which is why I’m so desperate to find it. Once my henna tattoo is gone, I’m completely vulnerable.” I gave him a hesitant smile. “Okay, you can ask questions now.”
“Collin gave you the henna tattoo, but the mark on your hand just appeared?”
“Yes, it was our sign that the curse was broken, and the marks are also the source of our power to close the gate. Or open it, as the case may be.”
“And how did you get the diagonal slash mark on your palm.”
“Collin.”
David tensed, and when he spoke again, it was in a lower voice. “He attacked you?”
I shook my head, sadness washing over me. “No. He needed our blood for the ceremony. I had no idea how the ceremony was performed, and he didn’t warn me. I suspect he was a little overzealous.” I paused. “We pressed our symbols together to open and close the gate. We have more power when we are joined than we do separately.” I tried not to think about theotherways we had joined together.
David was silent for a moment. “The wind gods have no recorded names.”
I released a soft laugh. He would pick up on that. “Then you’ll be the first to record them. The wind god of the north is Wapi.”
I poured myself another glass of wine, then sank back into the cushions of the sofa and closed my eyes. “Other than Collin, Myra, and my best friend Claire and her fiancé Drew, you’re probably the only other living person who knows about this. And Myra doesn’t know everything. I don’t like to worry her.”
He studied his hands for several seconds, then looked up at me. “That animal that eats dog hearts? What is it?”
“He’s a spirit of some kind. He hasn’t told me his name.”
“He talks to you?”
“He comes to me in my dreams. Just like Big Nasty.”
“Big Nasty?”
“The giant snake with horns. Mishiginebig. But that’s too big a mouthful.”
His eyes narrowed with distrust. “So there really is a giant horned snake loose on Roanoke Island?”
“Why are you looking at me like that?” I angrily swung my feet to the floor. “You were the one who was intrigued that there were three reports about a giant snake.Youwere the one who was convinced it wassomething.”
“I know.” His voice rose with frustration. “But suspecting something and hearing it confirmed are two entirely different things.” He tried to sound neutral, but a hint of cynicism laced his words. Not that I blamed him. He was an educated man. He had a doctorate degree in this subject. Of course he was skeptical.
But I was toast unless he agreed to tell me what he knew anyway. “Well, thank you for your truthfulness, I guess.”
“We promised to be truthful with one another.” His tone was accusatory.
“I’ve been more truthful with you than I have been with anyone about the curse.”
“You have to admit that this is a lot to take in.”
