This Changes Everything by Denise Grover Swank Read Free Book Online Page A

who loves you fiercely.” Her voice
softened and Ellie strained to hear. “Don’t go for the flashy men, Ellie.
They’ll only break your heart. My friends thought your daddy was boring, but he
gave me a life full of so much love . . .” Her voice broke and fear filled her
eyes. “There’s so much to tell you and not enough time.”
    “Momma, please,”
Ellie cried. “ Pleasssse . . .”
    “ Oh, Ellie ,”
she whispered, sounding devastated. “I wanted to protect you from the ugliness
of the world, and I brought it to your front door.” Her eyes fluttered and her
grip on Ellie’s hand loosened.
    Ellie watched her
chest, waiting for Momma to take a breath and when it didn’t come, Ellie
grabbed her shoulders and shook. “Momma! Please, Momma! Don’t leave me all
alone. Mommaaa aa ! ”
she screamed, shaking her mother and getting no response. She collapsed on her
mother’s bloody chest, the smell of copper filling her nose as cries racked her
body, ignoring the warm, sticky liquid covering her cheek and clothes.
    Daddy had told
her to protect Momma and she had let him down. What would he think of her now?
    She sobbed on her
mother so long that she felt the warmth of the body beneath her begin to seep
away. Opening her eyes, she saw the shadowy figure of an older man with white
hair and a white beard floating over the staircase. She should have been
frightened, but somehow she knew he belonged to the voice that had helped her.
    “Ellie, you are
strong and brave. When it is your time, you will make an excellent Curse Keeper.”
    She lifted her
head in an exhaustion so deep she thought she would drown in it. “You said the
man who killed Momma was a Keeper. I don’t want to be a Keeper anymore.”
    “Elinor, you are destined to be a Keeper. It was foretold from the beginning of time. You are more
special than any Keeper before you. I’ve been waiting centuries for you to
arrive. The forces of nature have finally heard my plea and sent you so that I
may finish the job I began with your ancestor, Ananias Dare. Tonight begins a
chain of events that brings us to the end.”
    “ I want my m omma ,”
Ellie wailed in anguish.
    “Daughter of the
sea and witness to creation, your first sacrifice has been made.” His light
faded slightly, and he sounded sad.
    “It will be the
first of many.”
    Ellie was too
tired and in too much misery to care what he was saying. Luckily, the man
seemed to have a similar idea in mind.
    “Tonight the
unraveling of the curse begins. But I will take all memories associated with
the curse from you, so that the events of tonight will be locked deep in your
mind. I need you to be willing to accept your role when the time comes.” The image
moved closer and his voice softened. “But you will also lose all other memories
of the curse. They’ve already begun to slip away. You will believe it is
because you told Claire, and you will be filled with a heavy burden of guilt.
I’m sorry, but it is the best way.”
    Ellie looked up
again, shaking her head as confusion overwhelmed her. “I don’t understand.”
    “I know, but one
day you will. When the time comes for you to know, you will remember everything.”
    Then the light
faded and he was gone, leaving Ellie with her mother. She looked down at her
hands, realizing they were drenched in blood. Holding them out in horror, she
glanced down and saw blood covering everything—her mother, her nightgown,
Bunny, the floor. She started to scream.
    A door downstairs
banged and Ellie screamed louder. The bad men had come back, but she couldn’t
make herself get up. She couldn’t leave Momma. Sobbing, she grabbed her mother’s
arms and shook. “Momma, get up! Momma, please ! ”
    “Ellie!” her
father shouted in panic downstairs. “ Ellie ! ”
    She heard his
footsteps on the stairs before his horror-stricken face appeared. His feet
faltered, and he fell on his knees on the top step.
    “Oh, God. Oh,
God.” He crawled toward them,