Never Fear (17 page)

“
There must be some reason
why she thinks It’s okay to not give you my messages,” she
accused.

“
Dammit, Holly, I don’t
know what to tell you. I don’t know why she didn’t give me your
message. And I don’t know what’s going on with you and Nicky. He
probably overheard you telling me about your nightmare and got
scared too. I don’t know. But I do know I don’t deserve this. I
don’t need to be interrogated in my own home. I’m tired. It’s been
a long day for both of us. Why don’t we just go to bed and talk
about this tomorrow?” He reached out a hand to her, beckoning her
to follow him upstairs. She hesitated, but in the end she took his
hand. She was still fuming inside, but what was the point in
hammering on him now? They’d figure it all out tomorrow.

“
Wish those kids would
knock it off with the drums,” he mumbled, climbing the stairs. She
agreed, though the sound seemed to be fading away.

*

Holly drifted into a fretful sleep,
the worries of the day still heavy on her mind. She’d been so angry
at Chris—to the point of rage, and she was having a hard time
processing it. They never fought. That was one of the things that
all their friends admired about them as a couple. It was so unlike
her to just see red like that, but if she was being honest with
herself, she was still more than a little miffed. She couldn’t
believe he’d been so dismissive about hers and Nick’s nighttime
terrors, or that he’d suggested it was her fault that Nick was
having these experiences. She’d been very careful not to mention
anything in front of either of the kids, and she knew in her heart
that it hadn’t been because of her influence. All these thoughts
and emotions haunted her dreams, and she tossed and turned until
something suddenly woke her.

She lay still in the darkness,
listening for whatever it was that had startled her awake. She
heard the sound of drums the same as before, but there was
something else. A shriek or howl of some sort that seemed to be
coming from downstairs.

“
Chris! Chris!” she
hissed. “Wake up. Do you hear that?” “Hmm?” he stirred slowly,
opening his eyes. “There’s those drums again. I’m gonna call the
cops. They’re disturbing the peace.” He sat up and swung his legs
over the side of the bed, but the next sound he heard stopped him
dead in his tracks.

The shrieking sound came
again, louder this time, accompanied by an inhuman growl and the
slamming of a door downstairs. Something
was
in the house! Realizing this,
they both jumped out of bed. Chris grabbed the baseball bat he kept
under his side of the bed, and Holly threw on her robe. Before they
could even move toward the bedroom door, they heard another door
slam downstairs, and then a clawing, thudding sound that traveled
up the stairs. Holly screamed and bolted for the door. All she
could think of was Nick, alone and vulnerable in his room with some
monster pressing down on him, intent on doing God only knew
what.

“
Holly! Stop!” Chris
reached for her, stepping in front of her with the bat. He flung
open the door, and she darted behind him running for Nick’s bedroom
door. Chris stepped behind her, turning his back to her and
toward—whatever it was. He followed her, backing toward her and
Nick, the baseball bat poised and ready to do damage to the unknown
person or creature that had invaded their home. As she opened
Nick’s door, Holly turned to glance over her shoulder. Seeing the
gigantic shadow beast bearing down on them, she grabbed Chris’s arm
and dragged him into the room with her, slamming the door shut
behind them. They heard the loud thud and felt the impact of a body
crashing into the door. There was a high-pitched howl and then
silence.

Breathlessly, both of them looked at
Nick and were astounded to see that he was sound asleep. His
expression was peaceful in his dreams, and it seemed as if he
hadn’t heard a thing.

“
Did you see that?” Holly
whispered, her expression one of sheer terror.

“
What the hell was it?”
Chris replied, gripping the bat so hard his knuckles were
white.

“
I don’t know. Is it
gone?”

Chris took a moment to catch his
breath, then slowly opened the door to the hallway, peeking out
through the narrow space. He saw nothing and heard nothing, not
even the drums from before. Opening the door slightly wider, he
carefully stepped out into the hall, looking both ways as he moved.
There was nothing there.

Holly followed, silently pulling the
door shut behind her. Her mind jumbled with a million dark
thoughts, and she trembled from head to toe with the fear and
adrenaline pumping through her body. She had to do something. Had
to put a stop to whatever it was that was happening to her family.
An idea began to form in the back of her head, fuzzy in the murky
fog that was her present state of mind.

The mask.

All this chaos seemed to have started
when she’d brought that mask into the house.

*

She grabbed Chris by the hand and led
him downstairs to the living room. She clicked on the overhead
light. Everything looked just as it always did—normal, peaceful
even. Driven by terrible curiosity, she reached for the gift she’d
so carefully placed beneath the tree just a few days
ago.

“
I think it’s this! All
these terrible things ... they started when I brought this into the
house!” she said.

Chris took the box, a stunned
expression on his face. He wasn’t thinking clearly, the fright from
moments before still fresh in his mind. He tore into the paper
without even noticing what he was doing, scanning the room,
reassuring himself that his little family was in no immediate
danger.

When finally he opened the box and
pulled out the mask, Holly could no longer contain the anxiety
she’d felt from the start. “Oh my God, oh my God! It’s this mask!
Look at the expression! It wasn’t like that when I got it, Chris, I
swear. It was smiling.” The mask now held a grotesque snarl where
before its eyes had seemed vacant, its smile vague. The expression
now was one of menace, its cruel purpose clear in the intense stare
it aimed at whomever held it. Holly shivered, disbelief and terror
coursing through her mind.

“
It’s incredible! Where
did you get it?” Chris seemed enamored with the object. It was just
the reaction Holly had hoped for when she’d clicked “Buy It Now,”
but it rang hollow in her ears now.

“
I bought it on eBay.”
Realization dawned. “That’s it! I’ve got to find that seller. Maybe
he can tell us more about this thing and why it’s … haunting us, I
guess,” she rambled.

“
Hmm,” was the only reply
she got from Chris. He seemed taken with the relic, so she left him
to look it over while she hunted down the seller. She fired up the
laptop and logged on to her eBay account.

She clicked to view her recent
purchases, and there it was: a photo of the mask as she’d purchased
it, vacant smile and all. Oddly, the seller’s name was grayed out,
and she couldn’t click his name. Puzzled, she pulled up the advance
search and entered in his seller ID. “The seller User ID you
entered was not found,” the search returned. And that was it. Just
like that, the mystery man from whom she’d bought this curse was
gone for good.

*

When Diana drove up the next morning
with Belle in the car, Holly couldn’t hide her relief at seeing her
younger child happy and whole, nor her fatigue from lack of sleep
from the night before. Still, she politely invited Diana in for a
cup of coffee, and, sensing that something was very wrong with her
friend, Diana accepted.

“
Can I be honest, Hol? You
look like hell. How’s Nick doing?” The concern was evident in her
voice. Diana mothered everyone, and she had taken Holly’s little
family under her wing soon after they had met at a coffee
shop.

“
He’s okay. He was a
little shaken up about what happened, but he rested well last
night—which is really weird. And this morning he’s been trying out
his crutches. Doctor said he should heal completely.” She tried to
force a smile, but Diana could see right through it.

“
What’s up, Holly? Your
eyes are bloodshot, and I’m not buying that everything is hunky
dory. Did you and Chris get into a fight or something?”

“
No! Well, yes, but I
think we’re past that. No, it’s something else. If I tell you,
you’ll think I’m crazy,” Holly responded, debating whether or not
to share the whole story with her friend.

“
Try me.” Diana pulled her
coffee cup closer and folded her arms on the counter, all
ears.

“
Well... it started a week
or so ago. I bought this mask to give Chris—he’s so hard to buy
for, and he always gets me the most thoughtful gifts.” She was
stalling, but Diana was rooted to the spot, determined to hear her
out. “As soon as it came into the house, strange things started to
happen. One of our family portraits fell off the wall and
shattered. It was really heavy, and it was anchored to the wall. I
can’t explain how that could happen. And then, you know, Snowflake
got run over?”

Diana nodded.

“
Well, that night, I heard
her. She was scratching on the door and whining to get in. But when
I looked, there was nothing there. And I’ve been having these
dreams—nightmares, really. Or maybe it’s really happening. I saw
shadows dancing on the wall. Shaped like people, five or six of
them. Dancing this wild, crazy, I don’t know... tribal...
dance.”

“
Wow, seriously
disturbing, girl. But you know, sometimes stress can do funny
things to us. It can mess with your mind. And you’ve been really
stressed lately!” Diana encouraged.

“
Right. And I thought that
myself. But then Nick fell down the stairs and broke his leg. Which
was bad enough, but yesterday when we got home, he told me someone
pushed him. I tried to tell him no one could’ve done that—Belle was
here with me—but I couldn’t change his mind. He’s convinced he was
pushed. And... he told me he’s been seeing the shadow dancers too.
The way he described them sounded just like what I’ve been seeing.
And the worst thing happened last night. Chris and I both heard and
saw it. It was a shadow too, I think. Only it was more like a giant
dog, and it chased us down the hall to Nicky’s room. Neither one of
us got a wink of sleep after that,” she finished, taking a long sip
of her coffee.

Diana was stunned. “That. Wow. I don’t
know what to say. You think it started when you bought this mask?
What kind of mask is it?”

“
It’s an old, old Mayan
mask. I found it on eBay for next to nothing. The last few months
Chris has been obsessed with ancient Indian cultures, so I thought
it would be perfect for him for Christmas. When I put two and two
together, it must be the cause of all this chaos. I tried to find
the guy who sold it to me, but it’s like he’s vanished into thin
air. There’s no profile for him on eBay anymore and no contact
information. I don’t know what to do. I don’t know anything about
curses, but I think that’s really what we’re up against. I just
don’t know what to do,” she repeated.

“
Let’s see this mystery
mask,” Diana said, curiosity radiating out of her.

Holly led her into the living room,
where Chris was again admiring the mask, staring at it with a
faraway look in his eye. Diana leaned over his shoulder to examine
the relic for herself. Her eyebrows knit together and a scowl
darkened her countenance. She motioned for Holly to rejoin her in
the kitchen.

“
Okay, that thing is
seriously spooky. I don’t like the vibe I get from it,” she said in
a low voice, once she and Holly were alone.

“
Me either. But Chris
won’t stop staring at it. I think he likes it, but it totally
creeps me out, and I really think it’s cursed. What do I
do?”

“
I just might be able to
help. I know some people who may know some people,” Diana
offered.

“
Yeah, that’s right. You
do dabble with the occult.”

Diana chuckled. “I don’t dabble,
darling. I’m a witch. Wiccan. I don’t do curses or any sort of dark
magic. But like I said, I know some people who know worlds more
about this stuff than I’ll ever know, and it could be that they can
help us find some answers.” With that, she drained her cup and
stepped around the counter to embrace Holly in one of her warm
hugs. “Cheer up, Buttercup. It’s going to be all right.”

Holly smiled gratefully and saw her
friend to the door.

“
Oh, and Holly?” Diana
turned back just as she was leaving. “Don’t touch that thing. I
don’t like the way Chris seems so entranced by it. Just try to stay
away from it until we can find out more.”

*

Turning to go back into her home,
Holly felt a sense of relief. At last, someone was on her side, and
that someone was Diana Ramos, a force to be reckoned with. She’d
find an answer to this problem or die trying, and it warmed Holly’s
heart to know this woman was in her corner. She could relax and
focus on taking care of her family.

She walked into the living room and
was alarmed to see that Belle was sitting next to Chris on the
sofa, her little hands running all over the surface of that awful
mask. Diana had warned her not to touch it, so she was certain she
didn’t want her daughter anywhere near it. Her first instinct was
to scold Belle and send her upstairs, but instead she picked up the
shipping box she’d set aside the night before and walked over to
the sofa.