The Hoodoo Apprentice: Allure Part 31

Chapter Thirty-three.

We load the last box of artifacts into the golf cart just as the sun rises over the salt marsh. The cemetery is so tranquil it's hard to imagine all that happened here overnight. But it did, and we've got Cooper's freedom to prove it.

The joy I should be feeling is overshadowed by the lingering dread from Sabina's truly demented threat. Why would someone deliberately set out to destroy another person's happiness? To crush not only the love in their heart, but also those responsible for putting it there? If Sabina makes good on her promise, everyone I care about is in danger. That means my father, Jack, Miss Delia, and especially Cooper, will be walking bull's-eyes.

My only hope lies in the fact that Jack and I will be leaving St. Helena in ten days to return to Was.h.i.+ngton, DC, and Cooper will be back at boarding school, far from my danger zone. Maybe, after we get Miss Delia released from jail, if we lay low and I don't mess with anymore hoodoo, Sabina will realize I'm not a threat and she'll give up on her vendetta.

Ten minutes later, we pull up to the Big House. Dad is sitting on the wide front steps, his arms crossed. He doesn't look happy.

Oops.

As we climb out of the cart, Dad races up to us. "Emmaline Claire, don't take another step!" His face is creased with concern as he heads right for Cooper. I freeze, stunned by his ferocity.

Dad grasps Cooper's arms and stares directly into Cooper's eyes. "Who are you?"

Cooper's eyes stretch wide. "Uh, what's going on, Uncle Jed?"

Jack races up to Dad. "Everything's fine, I promise."

"Stay out of this, Jack. Go stand with your sister." Dad grips Cooper harder. "Forget the Uncle Jed stuff. You're not going to wiggle your way out of it this time by acting dumb. I know something's changed. I can feel it. So tell me, who are you?"

"Cooper. I swear."

My chest sinks. Did the boo hag suck my father and mess with his mind, too?

Dad searches Cooper's eyes, then drops his hands in frustration. He darts toward Jack and s.n.a.t.c.hes his shoulders. "Are you in here this time? Is that how this works? I don't know how, but I'm going to stop you. You won't steal my son."

A chill races over my body. Dad's memories haven't been screwed up. He obviously knows more than we realized.

Cooper, Jack, and I exchange looks. It's time to let him in on our secret.

"There's something you need to see." I take his rough, calloused hand.

A minute later we're at the entrance to Beau's study.

"What the-" Dad asks when I push on the busted mahogany door. Strange, that he doesn't seem to care that it's cracked or that we're venturing into a forbidden room.

"It's a long story. But I promise to tell you everything after you've seen what's behind this door."

I turn the lock and twist the k.n.o.b. The room is exactly as we left it, except the note we left the boo hag is lying on the floor by the open window. It must have flown out of here in a rage.

The secret bookcase door is wide open.

Dad's jaw drops.

Jack crosses the room. "Come on. It's not half as impressive as what's behind it."

Jack leads the way to the secret stone room. Beau's skin suit is lying in the middle of the floor, more shriveled and desiccated than just a few hours before.

Dad falls to his knees. His head drops into his hands and his shoulders shudder with what can only be silent tears.

Oh no. We didn't prepare him for what he was about to see. He's probably in shock, or maybe even thinks we're murderers.

I stroke his shoulder. "I'm sorry. It isn't what it looks like. We can explain."

Dad lifts his gaze to meet mine, a wide smile across his face. The deep creases are gone and there's a brightness to his eyes I've never seen before. "I don't care how you did it, but I'm glad you did."

That's unexpected.

"Dang." Jack laughs.

"For real?" I ask.

Dad nods. "Where's the creature that was in Beau's skin?"

"Gone. Burned up in the salt marsh forever," Cooper answers.

Dad rises to his feet and squares his shoulders. He looks taller than usual, almost strapping. "From the moment your mother called this morning, waking me up, I knew something had changed. I felt...free. I could speak my mind and do as I chose. I haven't felt this way since I was a teenager. It's been more than a quarter of a century." He glares at the carca.s.s lying on the floor. "Somehow that...monster stole my friend when he was just sixteen. And that same day something happened to me that enslaved me to him, stole my free will, and forced me to do his bidding even though I didn't want to. The only thing I could do on my own was keep things clean and orderly to somehow protect them from his filthy reach."

My stomach sinks as his words set in. Somehow, the day the Beaumont Curse took hold of Beau, it also sunk its teeth into my dad. Now I get why he put up with Beau's viciousness and why he's such a huge neat freak. Judging from what I gleaned at the cemetery, Sabina helped the boo hag inhabit Beaumont bodies, so it's reasonable to think she must have had a hand in my father's servitude as well. But what exactly connects a soul-sucking hex like the Beaumont curse with becoming a modern indentured servant? A chill races up my spine as a terrifying thought comes to mind: if the boo hag had possessed Cooper, would Jack have been forced to serve Cooper, too? Is that why Beau kept insisting that despite all the Guthries' attempts to the contrary, they always ended up working for Beaumonts?

Dad turns back to us, a look of utter astonishment on his face. "How did you all know? And how did it not take either of you?" He searches Cooper and Jack, then notices Jack's severed middle finger for the first time. He gawks. "What happened to you?"

Jack runs his hand through his jet-black hair. "It's been a weird summer."

"Emma saved us," Cooper says.

Dad spins toward me, his mouth agape. "Emma? My shy, flower-loving, artist girl? How?"

I sigh. "I haven't had much time to paint lately. But I have gotten into hoodoo magic." I pull my lips into a half grin, knowing that I'm probably shattering his image of me, but that's okay. We'll ease him into the truth slowly.

Jack beams. "She's amazing. You should have seen her call up a bunch of dead Gullah ladies to help kill a pack of plateyes, then break a couple of flesh-eating, soul-sucking curses, and crash a tidal wave into the boo hag. She's even got her own archnemesis now, another dead root worker who created the curses almost three hundred years ago. But I'm sure she can handle that psycho after a little more training from Miss D, the hoodoo ninja warrior lady. Of course, we'll have to bust Miss D out of jail first."

Thanks, Jack. Way not to ease him in.

The blood drains from Dad's skin. "I think I need to sit down." He stumbles to the small desk and chair on the side of the small stone room. As he goes to prop his elbow on the surface, he knocks over a stack of papers.

I bend down to scoop up the scattered pages. Most look like accounting sheets for Beaumont Builders, but one is old and yellowed. My fingers tingle as I grasp the thick parchment and squint hard at the tiny, old-time handwriting. It looks like a family tree with two major branches that must go back at least fifteen generations. The names are Beaumont and Guthrie. I can't help wonder if, and how, each one of these people had been impacted by Sabina's curses.

Dad grabs my hand, drawing my attention from the doc.u.ment. "Are you okay? You haven't been injured, have you?"

I grin and place the papers back on the desk. "Yeah, I'm good. It's not as bad as it sounds. Besides, after we help Miss Delia with her, uh, legal troubles, Jack and I will be back in DC and this will all die down. I'm not planning on working any hoodoo back home so there's no reason for my archnemesis to bother us anymore." I frame the words with air quotes as I toss Jack a disapproving glance.

Dad shakes his head. "This is your home now."

"Yeah, for the summer. But we're out of here in ten days," I say.

"That was the plan, but your mother called this morning to say there's been a last-minute shake-up with the staff at the archeological site in Jordan. She's been offered a grant to continue the work and lead the project. It's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for her. If she takes a sabbatical this year and makes a couple important discoveries, she could make full professor soon. I told her to take it."

I step back, bracing myself against the cold stone wall. Stay? In the Lowcountry? And face Sabina? My mind spins at this unexpected turn of events.

Jack's brow creases. "But what about soccer? The school paper? My friends? I've got a life I've got to get back to."

"There's a school here that's got plenty of clubs and teams you can join. I'm sure you'll make new friends," Dad says.

"But you're always so busy with the plantation. And with Beau gone, you might not have a job. Unless Cooper wants to keep you here." Jack shoots Cooper a glance.

Dad laughs. "Actually, Beau made me Cooper's guardian, so I'm the one who makes the decisions. At least until Cooper turns eighteen. Then it's all on him."

Cooper crosses his arm. "I don't want to go back to boarding school. I want to stay here. Learn about the plantation."

Dad smiles. "Great idea."

Jack's brow is still furrowed. "Do you really want to handle us full time?"

Dad sits up in his chair. "Are you kidding? This is my chance to finally be the father I always wanted to be but never could. And if what you've told me is half-true, it sounds as if you all might need a little more parental supervision. Or at least help. So what do you say, Emma? You ready to stay here with your old dad? Maybe I can even help you with this archnemesis of yours."

"Ugh, I guess I don't have much of a choice do I?" Despite the air-conditioning, the room is suddenly stifling. I need to get out, now, and breathe some fresh air. "Excuse me, I'm not feeling so well." I sprint from the room and race down the main hall.

My dad might have been forced to serve an evil boo hag and robbed of his free will, but he's obviously clueless about the seriousness of the danger Sabina poses. Until this moment, I didn't think much of her threat because I figured if I skipped town, all of this would blow over.

Now that Jack and I are staying, I'll have to face her and whatever she's got planned. Not to mention Taneea and Claude, who are probably lurking in the background, planning their next move on Cooper, Jack, and anyone else I care about. And Miss Delia, who's frail and paralyzed and looking at spending the rest of her days behind bars. The deputies can't take care of her in there, at least not the way she needs to be cared for. Plus, how can she possibly teach me the rest of what I need to know from a jail cell?

As I charge through the great room, Beau's words from the Psychic Vision flood back, sending chills over my scalp. He said Cooper and I were destined to get married. What the heck is that supposed to mean? Sabina threw around the destiny word, too, as well as the word, prophecy. How could anyone possibly know what lies in store for any other person? Don't our own choices account for anything? Sabina was so sure she knew Cooper's destiny, yet we've broken both her curses and now he's free to make the life he wants. I may not know what my own life has in store, but I want to be the one in charge.

I rush out the veranda doors onto the back patio. Staring out over St. Helena Sound, I breathe in the warm, salty air.

A screeching caw shatters the silence. My earlobes heat. After my fall from the magnolia, I'd recognize that sound anywhere.

An iridescent black crow bursts from the nearby forest and soars across the backyard, headed straight for me. Flinging my arms over my head, I scream as I crouch for cover. It squawks as its sharp claws graze my scalp and the back of my hand, then takes flight again.

My heart pounds as I peer up at the sky, sure it's headed for another pa.s.s, but it flies off, disappearing into the trees.

Bright red blood oozes from my wound.

I'm no bird expert, but I'm pretty sure that was no accident. And, now that I think about it, neither was my tumble from that tree.

Danger, it seems, is everywhere and it's directed squarely at me. And, by extension, the people I care most about.

Cooper bolts onto the patio. "Are you okay? I heard you scream."

I wipe the blood from the back of my hand and force a smile. "Yeah. I'm good. It was nothing. Just a bird."

"I couldn't stand it if something happened to you." He steps to my side and reaches for my good hand. "I know you said you needed some time, and it's only been two days since we discovered the allurement, but do you think you have it in your heart to forgive me for all the horrible things I said when I was under that spell? Because you know I'd never say them otherwise." He flashes an adorable half grin.

Until a few minutes ago, I a.s.sumed everything would go back to normal and we'd spend the last few days of our summer together in bliss. Because honestly, any lingering hurt I felt evaporated when he swam out of that marsh alive and whole.

But now that we're all staying on the island, Sabina's threats echo in my mind and I realize just how treacherous things might get. Especially for him, since he's the source of my greatest joy, and Sabina has vowed to crush whatever happiness I have.

I have to do what I can to protect him. Even if it means breaking my own heart.

"So...are we okay?" His voice is filled with apprehension.

"You've been my best friend since I was six years old. We'll always be okay."

He tugs on my hand. "That's not what I'm asking, Emma. I want to know where we stand. As us. You and me. Together." He lifts my hand and places his mother's silver locket in my open palm. "Because there's no one in the world I'd rather give this to." The ruby shards glint in the bright August sun.

My stomach drops and my mouth turns dry. "Uh, I can't accept this." My voice quivers as pa.s.s it back to him, then ball my fists and hold them at my sides. I can't allow myself to touch him. His warm, smooth skin will only break my resolve.

"What? Why?" He looks like I've punched him in the gut.

"My feelings have...changed." I force the words from my lying mouth. They taste like poison.

"Is it because of what happened with Taneea? Because I never cared about her. Not for one single second."

I shake my head. "No, I told you before. I know the allurement wasn't your fault."

"Then why?" His royal-blue eyes search mine.

"Because they just have, okay? When I came here, I thought our relations.h.i.+p was just going to be a summer thing, but now that I'm staying for the year, it's too much for me. I...just can't do it. Why can't you accept that and move on?"

"Because I can't. You and I, we're meant to be. And not because the boo hag said it in that vision. Because I know it here, in my heart." He points at his chest.

I jut my jaw and take a deep breath. "Well, I don't love you." My voice trembles over the worst falsehood I've ever uttered.

He drops my hand, and his gaze bores into me. "I don't believe you."

"Well, I wish you would. Because it would make things a lot easier." I set my hands on my hips for extra emphasis. My knees wobble and threaten to give out under me.

Cooper squares his shoulders. "No matter what you say, I know you love me, Emmaline. Or at least that you did. And now that I've got all the time in the world, I'm going to make you fall in love with me again. Because I'm not going anywhere. And we belong together.

Acknowledgments.