Evermore (Emily Chambers Spirit Medium Trilogy #3)(13)

I sat.

"What is it?" Theo asked. "What has he said?"

"Nothing yet." I nodded at Jacob. "Go on."

He closed the book. "You won't find the answers in any of these, I'm afraid. Not this time, although the villain is using a curse."

"We thought as much. It's definitely caused by a curse," I told George and Theo. "Why won't we find information about it in one of these books? They're riddled with all sorts of useful incantations."

"Not this one. It's ancient and few people know of its existence let alone the precise words. It's considered so dangerous that the custodians of the curse have never written it down."

"Custodians?"

"A Romany clan."

"Gypsies!"

"What about gypsies?" George asked.

"Thieves the lot of them!" Theo spat.

"Steady on," said George. "Surely not all of them are as bad as their reputation suggests."

"They are. Every single one." Theo crossed his arms. "They're taught how to pick pockets when they're barely out of the cradle and graduate to horse stealing and worse by Cara's age. A group of them camp near our farm every summer, and every summer we lose sheep from the fields and tools from the barn. One year they stole the bread right out of the kitchen."

"Brazen," muttered George.

I told them what Jacob had said about the ancient curse causing the havoc in the Waiting Area. "You said it was shocking," I said to him, "but uttering an old curse is not terribly earth-shattering."

"The manner in which it’s delivered to the Waiting Area is," he said. "The Administrators had difficulty determining how it was happening because the method of its delivery is so astonishing." He shook his head. "I still cannot believe it."

"Tell me. I am in suspense."

He set his unblinking gaze on me. "The one delivering the curse must be dead."

"Dead!"

"Who's dead?" George asked.

"Aside from the obvious." Theo indicated the book Jacob had been flicking through.

"The cursor is dead," I told them. "He or she delivered the curse into the Waiting Area by dying first. So that's that then. The villain is dead and most likely somewhere in the Waiting Area right now. Goodness knows why they would want to destroy the very system they're now dependent upon to crossover. All you need to do is tell us how to reverse the curse, or who we need to speak to. If we must find a Romany, then so be it."

"You won't get a straight answer out of a gypsy," Theo said. "They lie as adeptly as they steal."

"You don't understand," Jacob said. "The curse has not been spoken only a single time, it has happened twice now, and the Administrators are none the wiser as to who did it."

"Twice? So there were two people involved? How remarkable to have two people prepared to die to achieve such an end. At least they're gone now. Oh Jacob, this means your murderer is dead!" I clasped his hand but he shook his head.

"You're right in that there may be more than one person involved, but not in the way you think. You see, both times the culprit has not stayed in the Waiting Area after he has delivered the curse. He, or she, returns here to the living realm."

"Here!" I shook my head. "That's not possible. Dead is dead."

"Unless he's brought back to life."





CHAPTER 4





Good lord! Brought back to life after intentionally dying? To put oneself through such an ordeal in order to deliver a curse was truly extraordinary, and incredibly dangerous. It was the act of a desperate individual.

"Emily?" George bobbed down to look me in the eyes. "Are you aware your mouth has flopped open?"

"What did he say?" Theo asked, resting a steady hand on my shoulder.

I repeated Jacob's words and was met with gasps of horror.

"But...why?" Theo asked. "Why go to such lengths?"

"Because he hates me," Jacob said. I did not repeat his words for Theo and George. We all knew the story of Jacob's murder, of how his killer blamed him for Frederick's death although we were not sure how that could be his fault.

"Because he has nothing to lose," I said, answering Theo.

Jacob's gaze held mine. "Or nothing to live for." He may have been faint, but I could see violent waves of emotion rippling through him. He knew he was the cause of the turmoil in the Waiting Area, albeit indirectly, and it troubled him deeply.

"If he must die to deliver the curse," Theo said, frowning, "why can't anyone up there identify who it is?"

"A good point," I said. "Surely the Administrators have seen them come then go again."

Jacob shook his head. "There is a moment of uncertainty, where life hangs in the balance and death has not fully taken hold. It's very brief, but in that time, the spirit is in transit."

"In transit?"

"Traveling from this realm to the Waiting Area. It's like a long, dark tunnel with a light at the other end. No one in the Waiting Area can see into it, including the Administrators, yet the spirit cannot see out either."