The Crimson Key (19 page)

Just as I got up from the computer
, my phone rang.

“Ephraim!”

“Hey, you sound excited to hear from me. I like it,” he joked.

I moved outside by the pool and could tell the connection was getting bad.

“Ephraim, can you still hear me?” I worried that I would lose this call. I waited so long already to hear from him, what if I couldn’t tell him this important news?

“Yep
, yep. I’m here, what’s wrong?” He could tell in my panicked voice that something was off. I paced the pool area and tried to think of what to say that would make sense. Your mom is an evil witch probably wouldn’t work.

“Where is Lynley?” I asked instead.
I could still hear static on the line.

“She’s sleeping. What’s wrong
, Brylee? You’re starting to worry me.”

“I don’t really know how to tell you this
, but just bear with me okay?” I told him everything, from start to finish. The journal from Hala and how much information I found out about the sisters. I told him the things they did to innocent people. How Hala’s grandmother was killed for her talent. He gasped but I kept going on. This was the scariest horror story I had ever had to reiterate in my life. But it had to be done.

“Ephraim
, there is something else and it’s huge.”

“Don’t be afraid to tell me
, Brylee,” he reassured me.

“Hala found a picture of Evangeline Barclay and it is not the ghost I thought it was. I thought she was the blonde that lives in my house but … but it’s not. She must be the sister
, Agnes.” I was struggling to tell him this. “The thing is the picture of Evangeline looks a lot like someone I know.”

“Oh no
, who is it?” he asked.

“Check your email
, Ephraim,” I told him. I could hear him go to his desk and fire up his laptop. A few mouse clicks later he let out a choked gasp. He saw it and he knew what I was thinking.

“It can’t be her
, Brylee. It just can’t. I mean, that’s my mom.” I didn’t say a word. I had to let him come up with his own explanation for what was really going on. “She
is
acting strange lately, and she is really protective of Lyn. More so than usual.”

I flopped myself down onto a lawn chair and felt the heat soak up my tears. I cried because I was helpless and I didn’t know the truth. This shouldn’t be happening to us. It was all way too bizarre. Yet
, it was still happening and no matter how much I wished it would go away it wouldn’t.

“Ephraim
, it’s her and you know it is. I didn’t want to tell you this, but she threatened me one day to stay away from Lynley. I think she is Evangeline, and we have to find out how.” I was honest with him, yet he still had a hard time with it. “I know this is hard for you, babe. I wish more than anything that I could be there with you and we could figure this out. But for right now promise me that you and Lynley will get away somehow and just … I don’t know,” I mumbled.

“You want us to go away.” He understood. “I can do that. I can take her away for the weekend. She is healing pretty well so I think it will be a good time for us to take a little trip.” I sighed with relief just knowing they would at least be out of that house for a little while.

“Good, take a trip and get her out of the house.”

There was silence on the other line. I waited a moment before I said anything. It sounded like he wasn’t there anymore. “Ephraim?”

“I’m here but Lyn is gone.”

“Wait
, what do you mean?” Panic coursed through me.

“I came into her room to tell her to pack and she’s gone
, Brylee. She was just here.”

“Check the whole house
,” I said. I could hear him opening doors and calling her name. Then he screamed her name and my body crumpled.

“Lynley!”

“Ephraim? Ephraim, what’s going on?”

His breathing became labored
and I could tell he was running. I had no clue what the hell was going on.

“She’s with her right now!
I can see them.” I could hear glass breaking and I bit my lip.

“What’s going on
, Ephraim? You’re scaring me.”

“I just broke into your house because my mom and sister are in the corner room
, Brylee. Where is the key to that room?”

Suddenly the memory of the key missing out of my drawer came to me. Someone took it out and it wasn’t Agnes; it had to either be Lynley or her mom
, Evangeline.

“It’s gone! It went missing before I left. I should have told you. I need to be there
,” I said as I stood up and ran up to my room. “I will be on a plane today. I will get there. Don’t do anything stupid.” All I heard was static on the other line. “Ephraim, are you there?” He was gone.

I threw a small bag together and pulled out my emergency credit card. My parents were going to flip out
, but I had to go home. I couldn’t sit here and let Ephraim and Lynley go through whatever they were out there. I pulled out a piece of notebook paper and scribbled that I had to go home because Lynley was in trouble. I set the note on their bed and left.

The desk clerk called me a cab and I reached the airport in record time. I was first in line to purchase tickets and I prayed I would find a decent flight that left soon.

What I got was a direct flight to Philadelphia leaving in ten minutes. Even though it cost way too much money I bought it and ran through the airport to security. It was my lucky day because I flew through there as well. I finally sat in my seat on the plane and turned on my cell phone. Ephraim’s phone rang and rang. I could only imagine what was going on right now. Actually, I didn’t want to imagine it. So for the seven hour flight I chewed off every single fingernail. Finally when they were gone I resorted to reading those awful airline magazines.

Nothing helped to distract me besides my rumbling stomach. I hadn’t eaten breakfast or lunch
, and now I was starved. The woman next to me happily crunched away at her peanuts and I felt like taking them from her and yelling at her. Why was she so happy? Here I sat on the edge of my seat and she ate frickin’ peanuts with a smile on her face. With a deep sigh I asked the stewardess for an extra bag and a cup of soda. She must have seen that I was starving, so she gave me three bags and a full soda. I thanked her and gobbled it all up. Finally, as the sugar flowed through my body I felt a bit better. I laid my seat back and fell into a very restless sleep.

“Hey, wake up,” the lady next to me said as she jabbed me in the ribcage. I sat up and ran a hand across my sweaty face. “You were yelling in your sleep. You scared me.” She gave me a dirty look and I wondered where her smiley face was now.

“Gee
, sorry that I had a bad dream. I can’t help it you know,” I shot back. She folded her arms and ignored me. I noticed the hum of the plane had stopped and we had landed. It was awesome that I slept through it all, but I still had to get home.

After pushing past everyone I got a taxi to the house
, knowing it was going to cost a pretty penny. I still couldn’t reach Ephraim, but left him a message telling him I was here. I was all alone in this and I think that sucked the most.

I asked the cabbie to pull the car to the street and avoid the driveway. I didn’t really want anyone to know I was here just yet. To be honest
, I didn’t have any sort of plan on what was going to happen now that I was standing in my front yard. Both houses were dark and eerie. It was night time and a fog had settled around my house. Of course, let the fog land right where I knew the freaky scary crap was happening. I stepped quietly to the side of the house. My intentions were to sneak in through the basement; I wouldn’t use the door because that would be way too obvious. I had no clue what kind of trap Evangeline had set up for me, and I wasn’t going to be the dumbass who walked right into it. Nope, instead I opened up the basement doors and climbed in. A spider ran across my leg and it took everything I had not to scream. I hated them, but for now they were nothing compared to the real evil in my house. I dropped down and pulled the door shut slowly. I looked around for a flashlight, I found a lantern. I lit it and saw something I hadn’t expected to see … the whole basement full of people. Their eyes were terrified and they trembled. These people were not living, they were the Browns. I put my hands up to show them that I meant them no harm.

Violet sat crouched in a corner
, holding her shaking knees. Why were they all down here hiding?

“What are you doing down here?” I whispered. Some of them cried while others shook their heads. They didn’t want to tell me.

“They’re scared,” a man said from the other side of the room. I didn’t recognize him.

“Of what
?”

She’s in this house
, miss. She will not stop until she gets what she wants,” a young woman said to me. “You must get her out of here. We don’t want no trouble.” I pushed through them and silently hoped the door leading into the living room was open. It was locked. I had no choice but to enter the rear of the house now. I turned to them before I left the basement.

“I will get her out of your house. I promise.”

I left the basement frustrated that I had to go into the house with a chance of Evangeline knowing I was there. I had hoped to slip in unknown and have that element of surprise. I looked at the tree by my bedroom. Ephraim climbed it every single night it seemed. I could climb it, too. I walked toward it and I heard something shuffle in the woods. I shined my light toward the sound and saw a form standing by the tree line. It was getting closer to me. At first I froze with fear, thinking that maybe she was outside waiting to trap me. Until I saw this form looked more like a man. He waved his arms, ushering me in his direction. I walked slowly toward the form, unsure of who it was. As I got closer his face became clear. John.

“What are you doing?” he asked me as he pulled me into the brush. “You’re getting ready to walk into a viper pit. I know you’re not that stupid.” I put my hands on my hips. I resented that comment.

“I am trying to save Ephraim and Lyn. That’s a lot more than I can say for you, John Mayhew! You should be ashamed of yourself. You knew who she was, didn’t you?” He nodded his head and that was my answer right there. I was right, their mom was Evangeline all right.

“I didn’t get to choose the family I was born into
, ya know?” he started. “My family has been serving the Barclays since before I was born. So if you’re going to blame anyone, blame them.”

If I had to guess
, I would say it all started with Oscar Mayhew. I remember hearing about all of his wealth. He must have gotten that wealth by serving the Barclays. I couldn’t be sure, though.

“How is she Evangeline?” I asked simply.

“It started when Everett Brown began hunting them down. He had a vendetta and he wouldn’t stop for anything. Not until he found them. My family had a job to hide them, but Agnes had trouble listening to Evangeline. She walked right into his trap. He captured her and waited for Evangeline.” He paused. “Then Evangeline, well she took someone’s body and had her all prepared. You know, for a ritual.” I didn’t follow.

“Ritual?” I asked
, shaking my head.

“Yeah
, she knew he was going to kill them both. There was no way to hide anymore. Especially since he had Agnes. So she found this woman, Carole. She was a lonely drifter, someone who wouldn’t be missed, and she lay her in the Mayhew’s house. She surrounded her by spells to keep her alive just enough so that when she was killed her body would drift into Carole’s.” He pointed to Ephraim’s home showing me where everything went on. “She faced Everett and watched as he killed her sister in your house. Then she ran into the Mayhew home and he followed her upstairs. He thought he had her. He thought he stabbed her in the heart and that she was dead. But after he killed her she left her body and entered Carole’s. Carole died that day in Evangeline’s body.” My head spun as I raced to catch up with him.

“So she traded bodies? When he killed her she switched spots?” He nodded.

“Yep, and she has been living in that body ever since. She posed as Carole and she married Ephraim’s dad years later. We all had to go along with it. We had no choice. We still served her and she still ruled our family.”

I tried to imagine the Carole I knew doing the things he had just said. I remembered when I first met her
; how she struggled to take care of her two children, how she befriended my mother and had us over for dinners. But that was all fake, wasn’t it? She was just playing a role, waiting for the perfect time to act. But why she was acting and using her daughter was beyond me. That I didn’t get. What did she want with Lyn? Did she want Lyn to join her?

“Did she even love her husband and children?”

“Of course she did. Even though she was a sinful witch, she was still capable of love. Until he died,” he meant their dad, “then she turned darker. We hated to see it happen, because for years she was like a normal family member. Whatever magic she did, she did in secret in the Barclay home.” He looked up to the house and then back at me.