Never Fear (18 page)

“
Honey? Why don’t you drop
your mask back into the box,” she said with a calmness she didn’t
really feel.

“
That’s okay. I’m not done
looking at it. It’s amazing!” her husband replied.

“
Please? I want to rewrap
it and put it back under the tree. Come on, now. You need something
to open on Christmas morning,” she pleaded.

He looked up at her, frowning, but did
as she asked and dropped the mask back into the box. She quickly
folded the flaps in, being careful not to allow the relic to come
into contact with her skin.

“
Belle, you can help me.
Why don’t you go grab a roll of wrapping paper?” she chirped, a
little too brightly.

“‘
Kay. What color, Mommy?
The red or the white?” Belle hopped off the couch to do as her mom
asked.

“
Doesn’t matter, baby.
Whichever you like best,” she responded. Surprised by her mom’s
uncharacteristic flexibility, Belle took off upstairs.

That evening Diana returned with a
bundle of sage. She asked Holly for permission to do a ritual she
called “smudging,” which she said would protect the family from
evil spirits. Holly agreed, and Diana lit the bundle, wafting the
smoke around all the rooms of the home. Afterward, Holly felt a
sense of well-being return, and for the first time in many days,
she began to hope that this strange ordeal would soon be
over.

She tucked the kids in early, reading
each of them one of their favorite Christmas books. She then headed
to bed herself, confident that she would be getting a good night’s
sleep for a change.

She couldn’t have been more
wrong.

Around 1:00 A.M.., she awoke again to
a bizarre sound. It sounded like children’s voices humming or
singing. Panicking, she got out of bed and threw on her robe. She
opened the door and listened for the sound. She heard it again,
louder this time. It seemed to come from Belle’s room, and the
knowledge made her blood run cold.

She flung open Belle’s door, dreading
the worst, and yelped when she saw her daughter. She was standing
in the corner of the room between the window and her closet. Beside
her was a shadow figure, not much taller than Nicky, and the two of
them were chanting something in an eerie singsong voice.

Chris appeared in the doorway,
startling her, and she screamed again. Her heart pounded in her
chest, and she listened closely to hear what her daughter and the
ghost figure were saying.

“
It’s not going away,”
Belle sang, staring straight through her mother.

“
What? What is it,
sweetie? What’s not going away?” Holly whispered. Her legs felt
like wood and she couldn’t move.

“
It’s not going away. You
can’t make it go away. It’s not going away. You can’t make it go
away,” her daughter continued to chant.

Then Chris joined the chanting, and
with lead in her stomach, Holly knew what they were telling her.
What the mask was telling her. It, along with its curse, was here
to stay, and she was helpless to do anything about it. The smudging
hadn’t worked. Nothing would work. The thought both terrified and
infuriated her.

She ran to Chris and grabbed him by
the shoulders. Shaking him, she cried, “Chris, wake up! Snap out of
it!”

“
We’re not going away. You
can’t make us go away,” her husband responded.

Holly shrieked and, without thinking,
slapped her husband’s handsome face. He blinked, and instinctively,
she slapped him again. “What the hell, Hol?” he shouted.

Immediately the chanting stopped and
the figure by the window disappeared. Chris’s eyes grew wide with
fear. Holly grabbed his hand and pulled him to Belle’s side. Their
daughter’s eyes filled with tears and she flung her little body
into her parents’ arms, sobbing hysterically.

“
It’s okay, honey. You’re
okay. You’re okay,” Holly murmured into her hair. Chris lifted
their daughter up and carried her back to their room to spend the
rest of the night. When finally she calmed enough to go back to
sleep, the couple moved to the window seat to talk.

“
You really scared me,
Chris. What the hell is going on?” she demanded.

“
I don’t know. I don’t
even know how I wound up in Belle’s room. All I remember is hearing
those damn drums in my dreams. I think I was having a nightmare.
The next thing I knew, you were hitting me,” her husband replied,
clearly shaken by the experience.

“
It’s the mask, Chris. It
must carry some sort of curse. Diana’s looking into it, but we’ve
got to do something about the kids. They can’t be here with this
going on.”

“
You’re right. I’ll call
my mom in the morning. I’m sure she’d love to have the kids come
stay with her for a few days before Christmas. She’ll spoil them
rotten.”

“
I really hate to send
them away. I had so many things planned to do with them over the
break. Are you sure she’ll be okay taking care of Nick?” She
couldn’t see any way around it, and hoped Chris’s parents would be
up to the task of caring for the kids until they could figure this
whole thing out.

“
They’ll be fine. I’ll
call in the morning,” he repeated. “Let’s get some
shut-eye.

It tore Holly’s heart to pieces,
watching her kids get into their grandma’s van, especially Nick,
who tried hard to look tough and brave with his crutches. She
hugged each of her children a little longer than necessary, and
profusely thanked Chris’s mother, Mary. Chris had told her he and
Holly wanted a few days to themselves to finalize their Christmas
shopping and party preparations, and Mary had been more than happy
to accommodate them.

The house felt incredibly empty after
they left, and Holly couldn’t help feeling a little bit sorry for
herself. Chris spent the afternoon with his buddies at the country
club, so she had plenty of time alone to process all she’d been
through. She hadn’t heard from Diana yet, and she wondered if her
friend would truly be able to dig up a solution to this terrible
predicament she found herself in. She sure as hell didn’t know what
to do about it.

*

In fact, she didn’t hear from Diana
for three more days. During that time, the drums and shadows
continued to haunt her at night. Chris was barely speaking to her.
She could only guess that the anger and confusion between them was
a side effect of the curse, and she desperately needed things to
return to normal.

When Diana finally called with news,
Holly was barely hanging onto her sanity. She’d thought of
destroying the mask, but some instinct kept her
waiting—impatiently—for answers that may or may not come. Diana
phoned on Wednesday afternoon to say that Fred at The Wiccan Way
shop had a lead for her. He had connections through a few Internet
forums, and had put out the word about the mysterious Mayan mask
and the strange happenings surrounding it. There was no response at
first, until finally, one woman had made contact saying that she
knew of a medicine man from Guatemala that might have information
that could help. This woman had given Fred the man’s telephone
number, and he had passed it along to Diana.

Exhausted, Holly hung up from Diana,
feeling a renewed sense of purpose. She took a few deep breaths and
gathered her courage. She sat down to call the man, praying that he
could tell her how to end this curse once and for all. She was
grateful the man even had a phone, living in Guatemala.

He picked up after just two rings.
“Mr. Zacapa?” she queried.

“
Yes?” came a distant,
frail male voice.

“
Mr. Zacapa! My name is
Holly Marshall. I’m calling about a mask. Fred Bailey told me to
call you. I’m having a big problem, and I need some help. Can you
tell me what you know?”

“
Slow down,” Diego Zacapa
replied. “My English … not so good. First, tell me. What this mask
look like?”

Holly described the mask, being
mindful to slow her speech and enunciate carefully. The man
listened, interjecting “si, si” once or twice, until Holly had told
him everything.

“
Yes. I know this mask.
This mask cursed,” he began.

“
I knew it. Can you tell
me more?” she breathed. “I appreciate any information you can give
me—especially how to break this curse off of my family.”

“
Ah. Is not easy. This
mask very, very old. Made by ancient artisan. One of my ancestors.
He lived in little village. One day, my ancestor saw a vision. He
saw many bad things to come. He told the village chief about this
vision. Chief did not believe. He told others too. Chief did not
like this. He wanted to sacrifice the artisan.”

“
Oh no! I didn’t realize
they—I mean—your people practiced human sacrifice!” Holly
exclaimed.

“
Not much. Only when
necessary,” Chief said. “If war is coming, we must sacrifice to war
god. So my ancestor was chosen to sacrifice. He prayed to Buluc
Chabtan, god of war. The god heard his prayer and curse mask, which
artisan gave to chief to spare his life. Mask brought many troubles
to village. Many people died, but not chief. He gave mask as gift
to another chief. This chief’s village suffered too, until they
give mask away. And so it went for many years. One day mask
disappeared. It was found again three years ago in cave in
Honduras. In cave, with it, are bones of many men, women, and
children.”

Holly gasped. Why hadn’t she
researched this gift more carefully before hitting that “Buy It
Now” button? “So, Mr. Zacapa, are you saying there is no way to
break the curse?”

“
There is one way. One way
only. You must give mask to another. Your troubles end, but for
other … they begin,” he replied. She couldn’t help but note the
sadness in his voice.

“
Why couldn’t I just
destroy it? Wouldn’t that break the curse?”

“
Oh, no. No. If you break
mask, curse stays with your family forever,” he informed her. “I am
sorry this trouble come to you. Now you must decide. Is not easy,”
he repeated.

After hanging up with the old man,
Holly slumped to the floor.

How in the world could she knowingly
and willingly pass along this evil to someone else? She melted into
tears feeling very much trapped between a rock and a hard
place.

*

When Friday evening rolled around,
Holly’s nerves were frazzled beyond repair. She’d pleaded with
Chris to cancel the party, but he would hear nothing of it. She’d
even reminded him that the spirits haunting them might decide to
make an appearance for their guests, but he insisted that they go
forward with the party as planned.

Ordinarily, Holly was the ultimate
hostess. She thought of everything, and her guests never wanted for
anything. She had done the lion’s share of the party planning weeks
ago, but there were always last minute details to see to. Between
lack of sleep and worry over her moral dilemma, Holly couldn’t
concentrate on any of that, and she worried that she would
disappoint their attendees. At the last minute, she had given in
and hired a caterer at an exorbitant price and left the final bits
and pieces up to the catering staff. All that was left for her to
do was to sip a few pre-party cocktails to try and calm her jangled
nerves.

By the time the guests
arrived, she was into her third cup of liberally laced eggnog and
beginning to relax. She welcomed their neighbors, friends, and
Chris’s coworkers with her usual warmth and poise, and the party
was soon well underway. She circulated among the guests and kept an
eye on their drinks and hors d’oeuvres, seeing that both were well
supplied.
I’ll be
damned
, she thought.
That caterer was worth every penny
.
She knocked back another cup of eggnog and grinned, satisfied that
no one seemed to have noticed that she and Chris were barely
speaking to one another. Almost no one, as it turned
out.

As the evening drew to a close, she
wandered into the kitchen to check in with the staff and see how
supplies were holding out. When one of the girls asked where to
take out the trash, she cheerfully offered to do it herself. She
needed a breath of fresh air, anyway, and she made quick work of
it.

Stepping out into the night, she heard
the sound of women’s voices around the corner on the patio. She
thought it unusual for anyone to be spending time out in the chill,
but was prepared to dismiss it until she heard one of the women
speak her husband’s name.

“
I think Chris is getting
really sick of dealing with her. She’s been so clingy lately. So
the dog died and the kid broke his leg? Woman up and deal with it!
The kid’s leg will heal, and they can get another dog. No big
deal.” It was Carol’s voice. Holly would know it anywhere. She’d
come to loathe it in recent days.

“
I don’t know. That’s kind
of harsh, don’t you think? Either one of those things is terrible,
but having both of them happen at the same time, and right before
Christmas . . . I’d be stressed too. Maybe Chris should cut her
some slack.” Holly didn’t recognize the second voice, but she
appreciated the woman’s words nonetheless.