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David grunted his acknowledgment.
Penelope chuckled as she walked past me. “He gets like that when he’s reading these old things. I love when someone appreciates these antiquities as much as I do.”
I watched her leave, then sank into the chair next to David’s, worried about disturbing him. But he reached over and placed his hand on my lap for a moment before turning back to his reading.
Penelope came back in the room just as David sat upright, groaning. “This isn’t it.”
“What are you looking for?” she asked, moving closer and resting her hand on the back of his chair.
“I remember coming across a letter from an English settler, dating back to the late 1600s, that tells about a Croatan conjurer who created two weapons to defeat demons.”
The archivist’s forehead wrinkled. “What else did it discuss?”
“It seems like it was a letter sent from a man in the Albemarle colony to his sister up in Jamestown. It mostly discussed his daily life as a farmer, but he also shared this story with her.”
“Hmm.” Penelope murmured. “I may know where to look, but I’m not sure I can find it today.”
“Okay,” David said, disappointment in his voice.
“But there’s another one that might be helpful too, and this one’s easier to retrieve. I take it you’re looking for something pertaining to the Croatan and a conjurer? It’s another letter, from the same area, but pertaining to the proprietor Seth Sothel and his harsh rule over the colonists. It dates back to the 1680s if I remember correctly. I believe there’s mention of a Croatan conjuror.”
David’s forehead wrinkled. “You think I’d remember that.”
“It’s fairly new. Just added to the collection via a private donation a couple of months ago.”
David shot me a look before turning back to Penelope. “It’s definitely worth looking at. Thank you.”
“No problem. Let me just put this away and I’ll pull it for you.”
David and I waited in the room while the archivist took the document away.
“Do you think it’s a coincidence that the letter showed up right before the curse broke?” I whispered.
“No,” was his terse reply.
“Why are you so upset?”
“I know I should be grateful that this might answer some of our questions, but I hate being a pawn of the gods.”
Closing my eyes, I released a heavy sigh. “I know. And it’s becoming more and more obvious that that’s exactly what we are.”
His hand covered mine again. “We’re in this together.” His touch was comforting, but it reminded me of my moment at the beach with Collin. If only I could sever my attraction to him entirely.
Penelope returned about twenty minutes later with the document. She set it in front of David. “Like I said, this is a fairly new addition.”
“Do you know who donated the letter?”
“Not offhand. It came from a private collection and was the only letter donated. Usually they come in groups. It’s also unusual in that we had little advance notice that it was coming. It’s almost as though it just dropped from the sky.”
David shot me a glance before turning back to the letter. “I’m eager to take a look.”
Penelope nodded and then moved to the corner of the room to give us some privacy. David read for a couple of minutes before he sat upright, his eyes alight with excitement.
“Did you find something?” I whispered.
He turned to me and gave me a hard kiss on the mouth before leaning back, grinning with excitement.
“Ellie, this changes everything.”
