Page 119 of A Curse On Black Lake
“What happened to her?” Eliana asks.
I puff out a breath and look up at the stars. “We don’t know. Dad drove her three hours to some hospital that could diagnose all kinds of things, they couldn’t figure it out either.”
“Did you come to Grams?” she asks.
“Honestly, I’m not sure what he did. I think a part of him was dying with her. He didn’t like talking to me about it on the phone, even if I asked constantly. I was in and out of town because I had to go to the police academy.”
“Sounds like she hung on for a while,” she whispers like she doesn’t want to disrupt the stars.
“She did. My teenage years through my early twenties. She died a month after I came home to be a deputy,” I tell her.
“No one could tell me why. The doctors suggested that it was some kind of genetic disease, but I don’t think it was.”
“Why do you think that?” she asks.
“Because one day we went for a swim in the lake. We were moving cattle, and then a few days later she got sick. We thought it was the water, or many other things. But it wasn’t. None of it made sense. I—” I pause because I’ve never said this out loud, but with everything that’s happened, I don’t believe it’s too far-fetched anymore. “I think it was this town.”
“The curse,” Eliana whispers.
“Do you really think it is?” I ask her.
She hums, still looking at the sky. “I believe it’s what killed my Grams too. There is power in words, Killian. I think Cassandra Radcliffe cursed every single soul that steps foot in Black Lake, past and present, and it doesn’t matter if you leave. It gets to you.”
“Have you thought about leaving?” I ask her.
“I have, but I won’t. The Greers have been here for generations, and the last thing I want to do is disrespect my ancestors by leaving what they built.”
“Yeah, I get that. I don’t think I could even if I wanted to. No one would probably buy this land, and I don’t know where I would go.”
“I don’t think there is anywhere else for me,” she says.
We go quiet while looking up at the tiny dots filling the sky.
The warm breeze brushes over us, and through the trees. I could live in this moment with her, the peacefulness of it all. Tired of the stars, I turn my head to watch her again, and it’s irritating. Every time I simply look at her, I fall a little more.
She sighs. “I love that sound. It’s what I think the ocean sounds like. When you left Black Lake, did you see the ocean?” she asks.
I watch her lips move and listen to the breeze going through the trees. I can hear it. “Yeah, the training camp was in Houston. On a weekend off, some buddies and I went down to the coast in Galveston.”
“What’s it like?” she asks.
“It’s huge, and warm, and various shades of blue, like your eyes.” She smiles, and I continue. “It’s beautiful. Have you ever been out of Black Lake?”
“I’ve been to a few surrounding towns. But that’s it. I love the water. I’ve always wanted to know what the ocean felt like.”
I tug her to my side and press a kiss to her head. “Maybe we can go one day.”
Her hand rests on my chest, right over my heart. “I would love that.”
Chapter forty
Eliana
Birdschirpandawarm breeze caresses my hair, waking me up, tucked into Killian’s side. The Spirits become a low hum in the back of my mind. My body aches from sleeping on the ground. I know we need to get up, but I’m far too content to move.
Killian groans and rubs my back.
I sit up, and he grins. “We’re lucky no snakes decided to make a home next to us,” he grunts.
