Read It and Weep! (10 page)

Charlotte pulled out her phone and scrolled through her recent messages. She handed Lauren her phone. Lauren handed hers to Charlotte. Each of them read the other's texts.

“Char, I'm scared. This is just too weird. Maybe we should show these to the police or something. They could maybe trace them.”

“I thought so too,” said Charlotte. “But I have this really funny feeling that they won't be able to find out where they came from. They might not ‘come' from anywhere.”

“I hope my aunt can help us,” said Lauren.

“Me too.”

It was a ten minute walk to Aunt Marina's house.

“Is it my imagination, or is the sky getting dark really fast this evening?” asked Charlotte, looking at the dark clouds roiling ominously above the tree line. The full moon was rising, and it looked enormous against the horizon, shrouded in gauzy gray clouds that zoomed past.

“Maybe,” said Lauren. “Come on. Let's move faster.”

They passed by the library, which was closed up for the night. The beautiful old building looked spooky with no lights on inside. As they walked past the old, gnarled tree in the front of the library, a flock of crows that was roosting in the branches suddenly began chittering, cawing, screeching as the girls passed by.

“Did you hear that?” asked Charlotte, clutching Lauren's arm.

“Hear what? Those crows?”

“No. Not the crows. The whispering! I heard someone whispering my name! Just like I did in the woods.”

Lauren shook her head. “I didn't. I was focusing on not getting bird doo on me. Maybe it was the wind. It's gotten really windy out here.”

As if to emphasize her words, a sudden gust blew across the sidewalk, sending fallen leaves twirling and dancing in a wild waltz around their ankles.

“Are we almost there?” asked Charlotte.

Lauren pointed. “It's right here.”

“I swear I hear someone following us. Can you hear footsteps in the dry leaves? Or am I crazy?” Charlotte asked, the panic barely concealed in her voice.

“I don't hear anything. The next house is Aunt Marina's. Come on. Let's run.”

Aunt Marina threw open the door to greet them before they'd even mounted the front steps.

“Hi, Lauren. This must be your friend Charlotte,” she said, beaming at Charlotte as she and Lauren hurried up the stairs. “Come on in, girls. It looks like it might rain again. And they're predicting nasty weather for the weekend. Lots of thunderstorms and even a tornado warning. A tornado would certainly be unusual for this time of year.”

The girls stepped into her front hallway. Charlotte felt a huge rush of relief when Aunt Marina closed and locked the door. Inside it was cozy and warm, and there were delicious smells coming from the kitchen.

Aunt Marina wore a zip-up sweatshirt and jeans. She bustled around, showing them where to hang their jackets. “Well, I've cooked a ton of food for us,” she said cheerfully. “I made curried vegetables and brown rice, and I even bought organic popcorn for us to eat when we watch a movie tonight!”

Aunt Marina showed Charlotte and Lauren into the guest room, where there were two twin beds made up with colorful quilted bedspreads.

It wasn't until after dinner was over and the dishes were finished that Lauren brought up the card.

“Aunt Marina, remember that card I showed you a few days ago?”

“Of course. The Wheel of Fortune card,” said Aunt Marina, setting down her cup of green tea. “Is it giving you trouble?”

Charlotte and Lauren exchanged uneasy looks.

“Well, yeah,” said Lauren. “W-we think it's cursed. It brings bad luck.”

Taking turns, the girls blurted out the story. The weird coincidences. The texts. The sort-of awful and truly awful things that had happened to whoever happened to be in possession of the card. Whoever wasn't passing it along.

Aunt Marina listened carefully. She didn't laugh. She didn't scoff. She kept nodding, and then shaking her head with dismay at the bad stuff.

“Do you think we're crazy?” asked Lauren when they'd finally finished.

Aunt Marina shook her head. “No. I don't. When I first saw the card, I thought the message on the back was silly, but after everything you've told me, I believe you're right about the card and its powers. I've heard of such things but never actually seen something like this.”

“Is there anything we can do?” asked Charlotte.

“After what we know it can do, we don't want to pass it along to someone,” added Lauren. “Even if we put it back in the book and it went to someone we don't know.”

Aunt Marina stood up. She tapped a finger thoughtfully against her lips. Then she scooped up Cinders, who'd been sleeping next to her on an empty chair, and began pacing, stroking his head as she did so.

The girls said nothing. It was clear that she was thinking about what to do.

Finally she stopped pacing and turned toward them. “I think I know something we can try to get rid of the curse,” she said. “We'll have a ceremony. Tonight.”

Charlotte and Lauren exchanged glances. A shudder ran down Charlotte's spine.

Outside, Charlotte realized, it had begun to rain.

“We'll do it here, in the kitchen,” said Aunt Marina. “Lauren, find some candles and holders. I'll be back in a few minutes. I just need to consult my references. I've never done anything quite like this before. I guess there's a first time for everything,”

A few minutes later Aunt Marina called the girls into the kitchen. By now the rain was pouring down outside, and Charlotte thought she heard the distant rumble of thunder.

Aunt Marina had changed out of her jeans and sweatshirt. She'd put on a billowy purple blouse over similarly billowy dark silk pants, and she'd taken her hair tie out so that her long blond hair tumbled around her shoulders. She'd spread a red tablecloth over the kitchen table. Three candles, of different heights, flickered in a small cluster at the center. The overhead, recessed lights cast a wan glow over the room. Charlotte smelled something like cinnamon and assumed Aunt Marina was burning incense somewhere, although she couldn't see it.

“Sit,” she commanded them.

The girls sat.

No one spoke for a minute. The rain outside and the ticking of the kitchen clock were the only sounds. Charlotte darted a glance at Lauren and met Lauren's gaze. Charlotte felt strangely apprehensive. There was so much at stake. So much depended on Aunt Marina's success. What if she failed?

But Aunt Marina had a look of resolve in her big blue eyes, a confidence that reassured Charlotte.

“We'll start by all closing our eyes,” said Aunt Marina in a low, even voice. “We will rid this card of any evil intent.”

Lightning illuminated the dim kitchen. Then thunder boomed so loudly that Charlotte and Lauren both jumped. Charlotte opened her eyes a crack to see what was going on. Aunt Marina appeared to be concentrating so hard she seemed not to have heard the thunder. She remained still, her palms face down on the table, the card faceup between her hands, her eyes closed, her brow furrowed with concentration.

Suddenly Aunt Marina's eyes flew open. She stared straight ahead of her. Charlotte had the strangest impression that Aunt Marina was listening to something. Charlotte could hear nothing but the rain and the clock.

Wait. Was there something else? Was the whispering starting?

Charrrrrrrrloooooooootte.

Lauren had her eyes closed. She didn't seem to have heard. Aunt Marina's eyes were open, and she still looked like she was listening, but maybe she heard something else.

Charrrrrrrrloooooooootte. Stoooooop herrrrrrrr!

Charlotte gulped.

Aunt Marina nodded, ever so slightly. She turned in her chair and reached for something on the counter behind her, something Charlotte hadn't noticed before. Something bright glinted in Aunt Marina's hand. She turned back to the table, and Charlotte could see that she was holding a large pair of pointed scissors, the kind her mother kept in her sewing box.

Aunt Marina picked up the card. She was murmuring something under her breath, but Charlotte couldn't hear it beneath the steady patter of rain.

Stoooooop herrrrrrrr!

“We must rid this card of any evil intent,” Aunt Marina repeated, this time in a louder, clearer voice.

Nooooooooo!

“We must cut its energy in twain.” With that, she opened the scissors wide and snipped the card in half.

Charlotte and Lauren both gasped.

Ahhhhhhhhhhhh!

As soon as the two pieces of the card dropped to the table, the lights began to flicker.

“And in twain again,” said Aunt Marina, seemingly oblivious to the cries Charlotte had heard, to the blinking lights all around them. She picked up one of the two pieces of card and snipped it in half. Then the other piece.

Lightning flashed. Thunder boomed. The lights flickered one last time and went out. Charlotte's blood felt like ice in her veins. The only light in the kitchen now came from the candles, and they were flickering wildly, as though an unseen breeze was trying to blow them out.

Aunt Marina snipped another piece in half.

The candles went out completely.

Snip.
Charlotte could hear the scissors once again.

The candles relit.

Charlotte's hands gripped the edge of the table. Her knuckles quickly turned white.

Snip.

The door to the kitchen blew open, hitting the wall behind it so hard a pane of glass shattered. All the cupboard doors in the kitchen banged open, and Charlotte could hear glasses and cups breaking.

Outside, someone—or something—howled in anguish.

Lauren shrieked.

So she was as scared as Charlotte.

Snip.

Now Charlotte heard a roaring in her ears. Could the others hear it too? It sounded like ten chain saws going in an enclosed tunnel. Deafening. She clutched her ears to drown it out, scrunching her shoulders to ward it away.

How many more snips did Aunt Marina make?

Charlotte didn't know. But suddenly the roaring stopped. The door, eerily, slowly, swung closed, latching gently. Then the electricity came back on.

The three of them looked at one another, blinking, as though awakening from a harrowing dream. Charlotte darted a glance around the kitchen. Two broken mugs and a broken wine glass lay on the counter. All the cupboard doors remained open. Aunt Marina set the scissors gently down on the table. With a dainty finger she began counting the pieces of cut card. But Charlotte noticed her hand was shaking.

“Thirteen,” she said.

“Is it gone?” whispered Lauren. “The curse, or whatever? Is it all cut out of the card?”

Aunt Marina smiled weakly. She drew in a ragged breath. “I don't really know, Lauren. I've never actually tried to exorcise a curse from a card before, if that's what this was. I'm kind of learning this as I go along.” She stood up from her chair and began closing the cupboard doors one by one. Then she found a paper bag and began delicately picking up the broken shards on the counter, dropping them into the bag.

“Should we just throw away the pieces?” asked Charlotte. “Of the card, I mean.”

Aunt Marina turned toward the pieces of card on the table and furrowed her brow. “I don't think so. I think perhaps the best thing to do is to return the card to where you found it.”

“Return it? You mean to the library?” asked Charlotte.

Aunt Marina nodded. “Just in case. Just to be completely sure that the circle is complete and the curse is returned to its origin. And I think you should do it, Charlotte.”

“Without Lauren?”

Aunt Marina nodded again. “Yes, to replicate the time you found it.” She carefully gathered up the pieces using a pair of ordinary kitchen tongs, and dropped them into a plastic bag. Charlotte noticed that Aunt Marina didn't want to touch the pieces of card even though their little ceremony was over. After rummaging around in the kitchen drawers, Aunt Marina found a small metal box, which had just a couple of mints left in it. These she took out, and dropped the plastic bag with the card pieces into the now-empty container. She clapped it shut and handed it to Charlotte.

“Is that it, then?” asked Charlotte in a small voice. “Is it over?”

Aunt Marina hesitated. “As I said, I haven't ever done anything like this before. But I think so. I hope so. Now. How about popcorn and a movie?”

“How about if we watch a musical tonight?” said Lauren. “Something really silly and fun.”

“Sounds good to me,” said Charlotte.

“Me too,” agreed Aunt Marina.