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Oh, lord. After seeing the old woman last night and finding out that Claire could see ghosts, I wasn’t sure how much more I could take. “What?”
“She said, ‘You have to help her.’”
“What does that mean?” My voice rose. I was starting to panic and I didn’t even know why.
“Youknowwhat it means.” She leaned forward. “And why are you freaking out?”
“I don’t know.” I stood up and reached for the doorknob. “Let’s get started. I need to finish up here soon so I can get home to David.”
Claire followed me inside, the emptiness of the apartment still a shock to my system. “Ellie, why are you running away from this?”
I spun around and glared at her. “Why did you wait almost two weeks to tell me?”
“I was worried about how you would react.”
“Why?”
She waved her hand at me. “Maybe this is why.”
My anger faded and my shoulders slumped.
“Ellie, talk to me. Why are you freaking out?”
“I’m scared, Claire. I’m scared for you. If something happens to you—”
“Nothing’s going to happen to me.”
I shook my head, my anger resurfacing. “You don’t know that! The more involved you are, the more at risk you are.”
Claire closed the distance between us and grabbed my arms. “Ellie, I’m not going anywhere.” Her eyebrows rose in mock surprise when I gasped. “What? You don’t think I can see what you’re doing? First sending Myra to Durham—”
“Myra wanted to go to Durham!”
“Don’t tell me that you weren’t happy to send her off.”
Tears stung my eyes. “How can you say that? I love Myra.”
“I know you do! And the way I said it came out wrong. I know you were trying to protect her, but I also know you’ve been trying to figure out how to distance yourself from me too.”
“I love you, Claire. Ihaveto protect you.”
She shook her head. “Maybe I’m supposed to protectyou. Just like David’s trying to do. We’re not Curse Keepers, but we have other ways of helping. And don’t get it into your head that we’re not meant to be involved. What do you think, that the professor whose help you were seeking justhappenedto show up in Manteo to work at the colony site? That I justhappenedto hear ghosts who know about you and your role as Curse Keeper?”
My mouth moved like a fish trying to breathe as I struggled with what to say.
“Things happen for a reason, Ellie. Yeah, Collin Fucking Dailey won’t help you, but that doesn’t mean you have to be alone. Maybewe’remeant to help you.”
I shook my head, trying to make sense of her words. “How?”
“You need to listen to me. I’m telling you that you shouldn’t be living in that house. There’s a darkness there.”
Sweat prickled the back of my neck. “I thought you just heard voices?”
Her face softened. “That was when I was little…now I can see things too. Like that ghost. Something changed after we got home from Charleston. Whenever I look at the house, it’s covered in a hazy darkness.”
“You’re scaring me, Claire.”
“Good.You should be scared. There’s something dark in that house. Maybe that’s why you’ve felt uncomfortable there since the curse broke. It’s because you shouldn’t be there at all.”
