Chapter 1

 

I was not happy with my friend, Sally. For some reason that I could not fathom for the life of me, she was determined to throw the best Halloween party ever. All right, so I did know why she was determined to throw this party. She had a long standing rivalry with Robin Smith, the meanest girl you will ever meet, and she was determined to outdo the party Robin threw last year. So why was I upset? I was upset because this year she had dragged me along with her. This wonderful party that she was going to throw was being held at an old house that had been in my family for generations. (Although not for a lack of trying to get rid of it.) We were currently on a boat that was taking us from the nice, safe mainland to the island where the house was.

Perhaps I should give you a little family history. Back during all those witch trials in 1692 my whatever-grandfather was accused of practicing black magic. It would have ended there and then if he hadn't actually been practicing for real. Well, he escaped the night before his execution. (Personally, I think that if he had been executed our family would have been a happier. That's not a suicide wish; he'd already been married and had two children by then.) He swore revenge on the people who had incriminated him and retreated to the country-side to build a house and a lab where he mixed science and magic. Also, incidentally, he managed to get our entire family cursed for generations. After managing that wonderful feat he went back to get his family (by that time his wife had been accused and he had to break her out of prison) and rounded them out to the house he had built. Two of the children died, but again, two managed to survive. The first two that he’d had. One of those two was a little girl who ran away as soon as she was big enough to fend for herself. This was the one that became my ancestor. She met and married a rich man, almost like Cinderella, and she had five kids of her own. All but one of them met grisly deaths at the hand of the curse that her father had managed to bring down on the family. The last one grew up, got married, had children (obviously), and noticed something odd. The granddaughter of the original survivor looked exactly as she had when she was young. And so on, and so on. Eventually the family tried to get rid of the house (I heard that one of my ancestors actually tried to burn the thing down) only to have it stubbornly stick around. Before I was born my father tried to get rid of the curse by taking the house off its foundation and shipping it to an island in the middle of a nearby lake. It didn't work. I look just like my grandmother with my brown hair, bright green eyes, and olive skin, and the last time I was in the house I got bitten by something and I still have the scars from it. (As to what I was bitten by, well, let's just say that it wasn't anything you'd recognize as an animal or a human.)

So why was I on a boat heading to that house that featured in the curse on my family? It was the same reason that I was upset with my friend and it was one word--blackmail. Here's a lesson for you to remember: never, and I repeat, never write something down that you don't want anybody to see. You'll live longer and you won't be tempted to do something that will get you thrown in prison like say--I don't know. Giving a certain girl a helping hand over the edge of the boat and watching her get chopped up by the propeller. (I didn't do it, but I was sorely tempted.)

We weren't the only ones on that stupid boat. Sally had invited four people. Her boyfriend, Dallas, our mutual friend Amica, and (of course) Robin and her boyfriend Felix. The tension on the boat was thick enough to cut with a knife and I'm sure that Mr. Zimmerman, the man driving the boat, would be more than happy to drop us on that island not to come back until November first. I would have been happy to leave with him and not get on that island at all. But then there was that paper Sally found--the worm! I struggled with my temper as hard as I could. I knew that if I blew up I'd throw someone overboard (don't think that I'm too weak to do that) and if someone went overboard this close to the island they would die.

"Well, Summer, I didn't know that your family had a mansion," said Robin. Everything that she said came out as a sneer and she said my name like an insult. Oddly enough, that calmed me down a little bit. "With the way your family likes to move I would have thought that they would have gotten rid of it."

"It wasn't," I coldly informed her, "for a lack of trying." The bite scar on my side was beginning to throb.

"We should be able to see where the island is soon," said Mr. Zimmerman interrupting us. He had spent months perfecting his Jamaican accent and I had to admit, it sounded pretty good.

"That's an odd way to put it," said Felix. "Won't we be able to see the island?"

"No," I said. They looked at me in surprise; it was obvious from the way that I hadn't instigated any conversation that I was sulking.

"That's ridiculous," sneered Robin.

"I hate to admit it," said Amica slowly, "but she's right. That doesn't make any sense at all."

I pointed ahead of us, or I should say to the bow of us. "Take a look if you don't believe me."

The island lay strait ahead, not that you could see it. All you could see was thick fog circling around one small (for the lake size) area. The other five stared in amazement; you could actually see the mist swirling in a circle despite the bright day around us. Robin was not to be deterred, "That's nothing more than a cheap trick with dry ice," she said nastily.

I shivered as I looked at the mist. I could feel the tendrils of the family curse tightening around me and I knew that most of us were going to die on that island if we landed. I opened my mouth to ask, beg, Mr. Zimmerman to turn back, but Sally caught my eye and held up a piece of paper. It wasn't the paper or I would have gotten rid of it long since, but I took the hint and closed my mouth. For better or worse we were going to get on that island, and there was nothing that I could do about it.

 

Chapter 2

 

Damian met us at the door. He's a vampire that's been living in and taking care of the house for--let's just say a long time. He's also the one that pulled the thing that bit me all those years ago off me. One thing about him, he looked the same as he had the last time I had seen him.

Sally and Amica fell head over heels for him instantly of course. "What are you doing on a secluded island like this?" asked Sally. I don't know how, but she sounded as each word was on her last breath.

Damian smiled at her. I noticed that since the last time we had met he managed to smile in such a way as to hide those fangs of his (no easy feat I'm sure). "Oh, I couldn't possible live anywhere else," he told her. "How long are you all staying?"

"Three days," I said irritably. I had my duffel bag strap slung over my shoulder and headed off towards the nearest staircase.

"Do you need help finding your room?" asked Damian as I was walking away.

"I remember where it is," I said stalking up the stairs. My room in the house was a large room, with an old four-poster bed that had curtains on it that was as old as the house. It also had a large dresser with pictures of my grandmother when she was my age on it (it used to be her room), a lush carpet that was very soft and thick enough to get lost in, and a large window with a sill wide enough to sit two comfortably on. Oh, yeah, I almost forgot. Everything in the room (with the exception of the furniture and pictures) was red. One of the reasons why my family has never been able to just let the house run down on its own or get destroyed is because it felt like home. I don't know if my father ever felt that way, but for some reason I always felt--safe, like I belonged there somehow. Perhaps I should say for some reason?

I was in the process of shoving my duffel bag into one of the drawers (I wasn't going to unpack and it's just a bad idea to leave things on the floor of that house, they tend to get chewed up) when there was a timid knock on my door. Without invitation my friend Sally came into the room. "This place is really creepy," she said.

"Well," I said mercilessly, "I warned you. And I told we shouldn't do this."

"Your mom was all for this," said Sally.

"My mom doesn't believe that there really is a curse," I informed her tartly. "And she's not the one who got bitten anyway." I shoved the door closed and used the key to lock it. All the drawers on this dresser had their own lock and key, not that my family is paranoid or anything.

"You worry too much," said Sally. I turned to look at her in disbelief, she was smiling. She had unintentionally sentenced who knew how many people to death with this venture--and she was smiling! Luckily for me Damian came by at that moment or I would have done something that I would have regretted later. Oh, but it would have felt so good at that moment!

"Dinner's ready," he said. He was smiling, but that was probably more because Sally was flustered at his appearance than anything else.

I smiled in relief at Damian and grabbed Sally's arm pulling her out of the room. I heard him chuckle as I dragged her through the hall. Damian liked me, when I was younger he said that it was because he was enamored with my curiosity but I think it's because I look like my grandmother. Excuse me, I look exactly like my grandmother.

Dinner was just as tense as the boat. Robin was trying to figure out how Sally and I had done the fog around the island. She was certain that it was all a Halloween trick and I wish it was. After I finished eating I stood up to take my dishes to the sink.

"Tell us Summer," said Sally, "do you have any advice for us newbies in this house?" She folded her arms in front of her like one of those psychic posers on TV.

"Yeah," I said, "don't look under the bed." I then went up to my room, which was a mistake. That meant I didn't have an alibi when the first two gruesome murders occurred.

 

Chapter 3

 

Summer stood at her mother’s side and watched as the wooden coffin was lowered into the ground. Her mother bent down and hugged her. "Things are different now summer, but it will be okay." She looked at the grave and said softly, “It has to okay."

Scene shifts, arriving at the house in the middle of the lake for the first time. Damian took her aside as her mother went to explore the house. "Now listen Little Summer," he said, "There are three rules in this house. Don't look under the bed; don't open the closets after dark, and no matter what never ever scream in fear. Fear attracts them."

Scene shifts again, Summer was playing with a ball in a large room of the house. Suddenly her attention was grabbed by a large rabbit that hopped into the room. She looked at it in puzzlement, what was a rabbit doing in the house? Something sped into her range of vision and grabbed the rabbit biting its head off. It was about half her size, had a large head, thin arms, and sharp teeth. She put her hand to her mouth, never forgetting what Damian had told her. Never scream in fear, fear attracts them. She must have made some sound for the thing eating the rabbit turned to look at her. She turned to run and tripped over something. As she fell sideways the thing grabbed her and sank its teeth into her side. She screamed in pain at that point as the teeth pierced the skin into the throbbing side. In a flash Damian was there prying the thing off her side and pulling her away from it. He held her close and soothed her. "It's going to be all right," he said to her gently. It was hard to believe that it would be all right with that creature there next to the dead rabbit and with her side throbbing--

Throbbing! I woke up and clutched my side gasping. It was throbbing horribly and I realized something horrible, I hadn't packed any painkillers! I stood up (carefully staying away from the underneath of the bed) and worked my way to the door. I knew where Sally was staying; she was in the room next to mine. I staggered down the hall and knocked on the door before I entered. Sally and Emica were sitting on Sally's bed. My eyes narrowed a little. "Scary stories?" I asked. Sally nodded and shook my head. "You know that those are dangerous in this house."

"You worry too much," said Sally.

Emica was more observant. "Summer, what's wrong with your side?" she asked.

"It hurts," I said limping into the room.

Sally got off the bed (jumping to avoid the bottom I couldn't help but notice) and pulled a cloth bag off the dresser. "What do you need?"

This is one of the things I like about my friends Emica and Sally. Emica has lots of younger siblings and knew how to diagnose just about anything common, and a few things that aren’t. Sally takes a more direct approach and carries a selection of painkillers everywhere. She knows exactly what each pill in her little bag will do--whether it’s just a simple painkiller or if it will send you straight to la-la land. "Advil," I said.

Emica got off the bed and walked over to me. (She also jumped.) "Where does it hurt?"

Here's the thing about Emica. She believes in doctors unconditionally and thinks that they can fix every problem. I'm here to tell you that they can't, especially when you're young. In answer I lifted my shirt on my right side to show the muscles that were twitching around the scar from the bite that I had gotten. "Here," I said bluntly.

"Oh, my God!" said Emica. She had never seen the bite before. I probably wouldn't have been so rude that time except that I was in pain.

Sally spared me a look and went right back to rummaging in her bag. "No Advil, let's see what else I've got here." That sentence worried me a little bit; she carried quite the selection in that bag.

"Muscle twitches aren't supposed to hurt," said Emica.

"These do," I informed her.

Sally came over to me with two little brown pills. They looked like Advil, but they didn't say Advil. "Here you go," she said with a smile.

I looked at the pills with trepidation. "What are these?" I asked.

"Trust me," said Sally.

I sighed and took the two pills. At the same moment that I swallowed them, we heard a loud scream from down the hall. The three of us ran out of the room (with me making a wide detour around the closet) and to where Robin's room was. The door was open and Felix was standing in front of it in shock. I must admit, the scene was pretty gruesome. Half (and I mean lengthwise not top or bottom) of Robin was on the floor and there was blood everywhere. At the edges of the blood pool were little black grub-like things that were eating the blood. Felix moved to go inside and I grabbed his shirt to hold him back. The other half of Robin fell from the ceiling with a sickening splat. Damian came up at that moment. "What's wrong?" he asked.

I pulled Felix away from the door and nodded to the inside. Emica was crying and Sally looked shocked. I didn't know where Sally's boyfriend was, and at the moment I was afraid to ask. Felix gathered himself up a little bit. "We--we have to tell the police," he said.

I looked at him like he was crazy. "Tell them what?" I demanded. The edges of my vision were beginning to blur a little. I pointed to the little grub-like things. "In two hours all the blood will be gone. By dawn, there'll be nothing left of her. She'll just be one more person who went missing in this house and if you report her murder, you'll just end up in the loony-bin!" I lost my peripheral vision completely to the blackness and the rest of my vision followed as my muscles went limp.

Someone caught me. "Is she going to be all right?" asked someone.

"Is she going to be all right?" asked Summer's mother wringing her hands. Her five year-old daughter was lying in the bed with the red blankets. The bite on her side was infected and she'd had a fever for days.

"I don't know," said Damian. He looked at Summer's mother kindly. "Why don't you go get some ice for her?" he asked gently. Summer's mother nodded, grateful to be doing something at least, and left the room. Damian knelt by Summer's bed and stroked her hair gently. "This is going to hurt, but just for a little bit alright?" Summer's fever was too high for her to respond or even understand him. Suddenly there was a small, sharp pain in her side over the throbbing and the throbbing gradually vanished. "That's right," said Damian as she opened her eyes. "You're going to be just fine."

I sat up gently holding my head. It didn't hurt, but it was fuzzy. I looked around me; somehow I had gotten to my room and was in my bed. "Summer?" asked someone plaintively. I turned my head to see Emica sitting there.

"Emica?" I asked.

She nodded and tears began to fall down her face. "That, it was horrible Summer!" she said. She buried her head in her hands and sobbed. She looked at me then and asked, "What did that, what could have possibly done that?"

I sighed and looked to the other side of the bed where the window was. "I don't know."

"Don't know?" asked Emica. She was on the verge of hysterics. "We're trapped in this house your family owns and you don't know?" The lights chose that moment to flicker and that calmed her down a little bit. "It's amazing," she said. "This is such an old house, but the wiring and stuff are so modern."

"My parents wanted to get rid of this place really bad," I told her. "So they gave it wiring, plumbing, and new appliances for the kitchen and laundry room."

"I guess," said Emica slowly, "that it didn't work."

"If it had," I said drily, "we wouldn't be here."

 

Chapter 4

 

We were sitting grimly at the dining room table. While I was knocked out Sally had found her boyfriend's body. (It's the reason why she wasn't in the room when I woke up; she had gone to hers and downed a couple of her la-la land pills.) She had tear streaks on her face and Emica didn't look much better. Felix was probably to most distraught over Robin's death. (Yes, it was a horrible death, very tragic, and no one deserves to die that way. Let's face it though; the only one of us who liked her was Felix.) Then there was me. I probably would have been more upset if I hadn't had that flash on the way to the island, so unlike the others I wasn't surprised. Besides, I had a feeling that Robin's death had been quick. No one told me what had happened to Sally's boyfriend and I really didn't want to ask.

Damian came into the dining room and sat down at the head of the table. If I had been thinking, I would have realized the symbolism of that and maybe been warned--but I digress. After he had sat down a creature dropped from the ceiling to the middle of the table, the same creature that had bitten me when I was five. Sally, Felix, and Emica reeled back in their chairs in horror at the thing. "Hi, Botolf," I said. (We had since gotten acquainted.)

"Hello again Summer," said Botolf. "Last I heard, you weren't going to come here again," he said amiably.

I glanced at Sally. "Stuff happens," I told him with a wince. I couldn't help but think of that paper that she had found and used to blackmail me with.

Damian interrupted. "Botolf, you told me that it was important?" he asked. His tone implied that it had better be important.

Botolf sighed. "He escaped. Sometime this morning the seal broke and he got out."

"I don't understand," said Felix. "Who escaped?"

"I bet," I said bitterly and everyone turned to look at me, "it was one of my how-many-times great-grandfather's pets." When I had said that he practiced dark magic I hadn't been kidding.

Botolf nodded. "True enough. Even the master didn't like this one though, and sealed him away himself."

"Ridiculous!" said Felix slamming his hands on the table and standing up. He was glaring at Botolf and Damian. "We're supposed to believe that some-some thing killed Robin? I won't buy this for a minute!" He stalked out of the room.

Sally got up and ran after him. Emica stood up and said, "I--I had better go. They shouldn't be, they shouldn't--" She choked up and ran after Sally and Felix.

"Will they be alright?" I asked.

"Probably," said Botolf. "Doesn't like crowds that one, and three's a pretty big crowd."

"Summer?" said Damian. I looked at him and he asked, "How much do you know of your great-grandfather's--pets?"

"Not much," I told him. "I mean, I know that most of them fed off of living things in one way or another, but that's about it." When I mentioned feeding habits Botolf cringed. I didn't blame him, but there wasn't anything I could say that would get rid of his guilt over biting me. (Even if there were I'm not sure that I would.)

Damian nodded solemnly. "Would you help me seal him?" he asked. "Only someone of Varic's" (my however-many great-grandfather that had started this whole mess) "blood can seal him."

"Yeah," I said hesitantly. I thought about Robin's body (or what had been left of it) and said more decisively, "Yes. I will. I don't know what to do though."

Botolf jumped off the table. "I can take her to the old workroom, Master Damian." He referred to my ancestor as 'the master" when Damian was just "master". It didn't make any sense to me, but then I didn't need to. Botolf led me up a rickety old back staircase. "The Master was very keen on the strangest things," he said as we walked. "And very particular about his privacy. I don't know why, he was the only one who could perform his spells."

"At least I didn't inherit his paranoia," I said. Unfortunately, I had inherited the family curse that seemed to only strike females for some reason.

Botolf chuckled. "That's not all you didn't inherit Young Summer."

"What do you mean by that?" I asked. He stopped on a stair and fiddled with one of the bricks in the wall, a part of the wall slid away and we went into the room that had been hidden.

"Oh, nothing much," he said finally. He walked over to a small wooden desk and picked up a small notebook. "Here we are!" He flipped through it, opened it at a page, and handed it to me.

I sat down on a chair (that wasn't dusty to my surprise) and began to read the page.

The Anscomb that I created is too hard to control, I have to seal it. I need to find some rosemary and a silver chalice. I pray that will be enough, but even more importantly, I must not so much as think of what I'm going to do. The Anscomb can read my thoughts and those of my blood. If I succeed I shall burn this journal so that no one will ever be able to recreate it. If I don't succeed--the world is doomed and I apologize to all people of the world. No one deserves the death that the Anscomb would inflict.

I looked at the thickness of the journal and sighed. "I see that his redemption lasted until he actually sealed the thing," I said.

"True," said Botolf. "There's a silver chalice in the kitchen, and rosemary's not near as hard to get as it used to be."

I stood up scanning the journal. "Then let's get this done," I said. From somewhere in there was a roar. It was an eerie mix between animal and human that shook me to the core.

 

Chapter 5

 

I walked down the hall nervously. I jumped as a cat walked through a wall and meowed at me. This was stupid! It had to be the worst idea that ever had the misfortune of popping through my idiotic head! I forced myself to take a deep breath and calm down. The theory was perfect. If only life worked out according to theory I would be fine. I would probably be fine anyway, the family curse wouldn't let me die until I spawned at least one kid. What a comforting thought.

I shook myself out of it. Get back on track, you need to do this, I told myself severely. Of course, this was the same self that was striding through shadowed corridors with a sign on her back that said "Eat Me." (I'm not joking, I really was wearing a sign taped to my back that said "Eat Me".) I was calling myself seven kinds of idiot, but taking comfort in the fact that at least I wasn't the only idiot there. Sally had locked herself in her room.

There was a rustle behind me and dodged to the left just as something sharp sliced the air where I had been standing. It drew back and I stared in horror as I realized that the sharp metallic thing was part of a tail. The rest of the thing turned the corner and it did nothing to make me feel better. It had long, thick black legs with backwards knees. It had a long thin body with insect-like wings that were flat against it's white back. Its face--its face was human. Its head was on a long, thin, flexible neck. It moved closer to me. I take it back, it was a he. Definitely a he.

"If it isn't the new Diana," said the thing. Its voice was a thin hiss, suggesting an air leak with words. "Have you come to seal me, New Diana?" I dodged as the tail buried itself where I had been.

Despite the fact that the situation was scary I couldn't help but be annoyed. I was nothing like my whatever-great-grandmother. "Summer!" I hissed back at him.

"What is this nonsense that you are speaking?" he demanded.

"MY NAME IS SUMMER!" I shouted at him. One of his legs grabbed me and at that time I noticed that he had two toes. Didn't do me any good, they were both wrapped around me.

He--I think that he laughed at me. It sounded like someone bending and unbending an air hose. "You think that you can be your own person? Your very actions are dictated by the curse you're under!" His front right foot reached out and pinned me against the wall. His foot only had two toes (they were opposing each other) but I couldn't move and I was having trouble breathing. "I know about your curse, New Diana. I know what you'll become, because all of you become it."

The toes loosened their grip a little bit; just enough to talk. "I am my own person!" I squeaked.

"You will do what you will do, and this house will survive," he said. "As I will do what I will do." His tail switched to where it was in front of me. "I may not know what your life has been, but I know what it will become. Consider this a mercy, New Diana."

"What?" I gasped breathless. The sharp tail lashed towards my body and I stared in horror at it. I closed my eyes so I wouldn't have to see it actually cut me to pieces. There was the sound of something tearing and thick hiss. I opened my eyes to see Damian holding the tail away from me. The thing opened his mouth to scream and Botolf dashed in under Damian and threw a silver cup at him. The liquid (a mix of my blood and rosemary leaves, go figure) sloshed into the thing's mouth and it vanished from sight. I slipped to the floor coughing.

"That was a close one," said Botolf surveying the scene. "And it’s going to take forever to clean this up." Despite that, he sounded pleased for some reason.

Damian put his hand on my shoulder. "Are you all right?" he asked.

I nodded. For some reason I was having trouble breathing and my vision was going dim--again. "I--take it--that was--the Abscomb?"

Something in my voice made Botolf come over for a closer look. "What's wrong?" he asked as I started gasping. Each breath seemed harder to take than the last and I couldn't control my muscles.

I never heard the answer because at that moment I lost consciousness.

 

 

I woke up groggily. I wasn't in my room, which was a surprise. It was a small room, about half the size of mine and decorated in white instead of red. I was also wearing a dress that wasn't mine. (I knew this instantly because I didn't wear dresses.) I sat up slowly, my head was spinning.

Damian was in the room. He put his hands on my shoulders and said, "Easy now. The blood of the Abscomb is deadly. You got some of on your clothes." He looked away and added, "I had to get you out of those clothes, so I put you in something I had stored away."

I swung my legs over the edge of the bed and waited for my head to stop spinning. "I don't remember it bleeding," I said.

"His blood doesn't look like blood," said Damian. He was steadying me.

"Oh." There wasn't much else to say. After a while I felt better and slid from the bed and to the floor. I walked away from the bed until I caught sight of myself in the mirror. I wasn't wearing just any dress; I was wearing a wedding dress. As if that wasn't bad enough, it was my grandmother's wedding dress.

 

Chapter 6

 

I looked just like the portrait of my grandmother that was on the dresser of my room. Damian came up behind me while I stared at my reflection in horror as the pieces clicked together. His whole demeanor had changed. He put his arms around me and rested his chin on my shoulder. "A long, long time ago," he said, "I met a man who was starving in the woods. In exchange for letting him live in my house and eat my food he said that I could marry his daughter." He ran a finger down the cheek opposite the shoulder he was resting on. "But only if I could catch her after telling her that she'd marry me. I couldn't. However that man who was your ancestor, Young Summer, felt that he had to repay my hospitality in some way so he set a geas over his daughter. She was fine, but her granddaughter was called to the house, for me to try again. And so on, and so on, until you came."

I broke free of his grasp (which was surprising in and of itself since he was stronger than me) and ran out of the room. As I was heading down the hall I tripped on the hem of the gown and fell flat on my face. I stood up, gathered the folds of the dress in both hands, and knotted it over my hip. It left my legs a little chilly, but that was alright since it meant that I could move freely. It was a nice dress, made of silk, satin, with cotton lace over it.

I couldn't help but get angry at my ancestor who had the nerve to curse every other generation to this! I was willing to bet that the other things that happened were just side effects. It was a good thing that man was dead or I would have slugged him. I may have been weaker than Damian, but I doubt that I would have been weaker than my ancestor.

My first destination was Sally's room. I had the idea of getting Sally, Emica, Felix, and me hidden away until the boat came. Her room was a mess; all of her belongings were trashed. (The belongings that had come with the house however, were just fine.) I knew the look of that mess, the things under the bed had gotten them. It was stupid! I went through all of the trouble of warning them several times not to look under the bed and they did anyway? What was wrong with them?

A wave of dizziness swept over me as the knot holding the dress up came undone. The walls and furniture faded until I was in a forest. I turned and saw Damian, but a much younger Damian dressed in the clothes that the pioneers that colonized the American coastline wore, walking in the woods. It was a grey, cloudy day, and it was raining. I couldn't feel a thing, but I assume from the way that his breath plumed that it was really cold in the forest. Damian stopped when a shadowy form approached him. "What do you want?" he demanded.

"What do I want?" asked the form. "I think that the better question would be, what do you want?"

"What?" asked the young Damian. "That makes no sense."

"You are fated to perish in these woods," said the shadowy figure. "Are you going to die as yourself or as a pathetic withered husk of a man?"

"I would rather not die at all," said the young Damian.

"Ah," said the shadow, "that makes better sense than you know." In a move too quick to track the shadow was at Damian's side and sunk fangs into his neck.

The scene faded out back into the room and I climbed onto Sally's bed because the dizzy spell hadn't left yet. Soon enough another scene entered my mind. I had the impression that a lot of time had passed, I wasn't sure how much. The clothing had changed a little, but it still didn't look like anything that people I knew wore on a daily basis. The forest had also changed a little, mostly because there was now a house in there. I recognized it as the one I was in now. A skinny, disheveled man in ragged clothing approached the house and knocked on the door. Damian answered the door and let the man inside.

Here's where things get kind of fuzzy, like movie reel on fast-foreword. I saw the man (better fed and clothed now although still ragged) take a woman, a girl, and two little boys into the house. The two little boys became victims of his experiments and Damian approached the girl. Terrified, she ran. Images blurred together at that point, with the same girl (or other girls that all looked the same, it was hard to tell) coming to the house for one reason or another, meeting Damian, and escaping again. (I was right; the other parts of the curse were a side effect.) My grandmother in particular had kissed Damian--and then stabbed him in the heart with a knife that she had purloined from the kitchen. Underlying all of these images was a sense of desperate, unshakable loneliness.

That's where I paused. I fought with myself about the idea that flitted through my mind. Damian wasn't really that bad of a guy, he had saved me after all. Several times. Yet his entire attitude and demeanor had changed when he had come up behind me after I looked in the mirror. Was that simply part of the curse as well? I knew that the curse turned the parts of life that should be the best into the worst, but what if it wasn't part of the curse? What if it was a glimpse of how Damian really was?

Then there were the missing three to think about. There was no way that I could rescue them from the under-bed kingdom, but Damian could. Of course, to get his help I'd have to go back. There was a part of me that was really mad at Sally and all set for leaving her there. After all, if she hadn't blackmailed me, none of us would have been in this mess. But, there was also Emica and Felix to think about.

I made my decision. I stood up and went to find Damian. On the way I found Emica and Felix, or what was left of them. (I only know who they were because of what happened later.) I found Damian right where I had left him, in front of the mirror. For a moment before he saw me he looked worse than lonely. As if his heart had been broken and mended and broken again. Which, if the visions I'd had were true, it had. When he saw me he walked over to me and kissed me. And then--we talked. "I'm not old enough to get married," I told him.

He stared at me in disbelief for a moment. "You're not?" he asked. I don't think he was expecting me to take that tone.

"No," I informed him. "I'm not. I won't be old enough for another four years."

He smiled a strange smile that sent shivers down my spine. (To this day I'm not sure if they were good shivers or not.) Then he reached in his pocket, pulled out a necklace, and put around my neck. "Then we'll talk about it in four years," he said. Then he pulled back. "But that's not why you're here, is it."

I sighed. "No, it's not," I said.

An hour later he had rescued the creatures under the bed from Sally. Apparently she had thought that they were all just the cutest little things and had tried to dress half of them up while she managed to drug the other half. Typical of Sally, I felt sorry for the poor creatures. (I also contemplated sending her back.)

On November first, promptly at nine in the morning, Mr. Zimmerman arrived to take Sally and me back to the mainland. As we were in the boat heading home Sally said, "I guess that means that the curse is broken now."

I fingered the necklace, it had a pendant of a heart shaped lock and a key, and thought about that. There was no doubt in my mind that I was on the right track to breaking the curse that stupid ancestor of mine had put on my family. "No," I said, "I think there's still a long way to go."

 

 

Damian and Botolf watched the boat drive away. Damian even pushed the fog out as far as he could to watch them go away.

Botolf snorted. "That one's just like the rest of her brood, she's not co