From Bad to Cursed

I did let my fingers trace its intricate leatherwork. You didn’t often see craftsmanship like this—like our old house, stu

I gently lifted the front cover and looked at the title page.

In impossibly elaborate script, it read: LIBRIS EXANIMUS.

Exanimus …? I felt like I’d heard the word, but I couldn’t recall where.

What could be keeping Megan? I turned to look for her.

She was four feet away, standing perfectly still.

“Oh!” I said. “You startled me.”

Her eyes were wide and curious. In one hand, she held a book of matches. In the other, a bottle of lighter fluid.

“We protect your dwelling with our blood and our lives,” she droned.

Then she lifted the bottle of lighter fluid and doused me with it.

Time seemed to stand still, and I saw the moment suspended before me like I was watching it happen to someone else. Me, dripping noxious fluids; Megan, impassive as a statue.

“What—?” After a few blinking milliseconds, my brain caught up with reality. “Megan, stop!”

She stopped. Her blank eyes fixed on me. Then she raised the bottle again.

I didn’t try to talk anymore. I just ran.

She chased after me, flinging lighter fluid as she went. I felt the liquid in my hair, on my clothes. My shirt was soaked in it. The fumes rose up and stung my nostrils.

She cornered me against the wrought-iron fence and sprayed me with the last of it.

“Megan, this is insane!” I said. “Think about what you’re doing.”

She looked down at the bottle and dropped it into the soft grass, wiping her hands on her jeans. For a second, I thought I’d gotten through to her. She didn’t look homicidal; she looked perfectly normal.

Then she opened the book of matches and pulled one out.

Before she could light it, I plunged forward, dodging her, and raced across the street, down the sidewalk toward our town house. I could tell she was behind me, not only keeping up but gaining.

“Kasey!” I yelled, taking the front steps in one leap. “Kasey!”

She pulled open the door. “Alexis? What’s wrong? Why are you wet?”

“Megan’s trying to kill me!”

Megan came tearing up the front walk, trying to light a match as she ran.

I stopped and looked around the house for something we could use to defend ourselves.

But my sister had it covered. As Megan flew into the house, Kasey stuck her leg out, sending Megan sailing through the air and landing hard on her stomach. The matchbook skidded harmlessly across the tiles.

“What is going on?” Kasey asked.

I started tearing my clothes off. “Megan tried to kill me,” I said. “She was going to set me on fire.”

“What are you talking about?” Megan sat up, looking like she’d woken from a heavy sleep.

“You? Me? Matches?” I said. “Ring a bell?”

Megan looked up at me, wincing and pressing her fingertips to her eyes, as if to wipe away tears. “What? No…I just felt really peaceful all of a sudden.”

I knew it wasn’t her fault, but I was shaking with anger and residual fear. “Well, I’m glad you find tranquility in attempted murder.”

My sister’s face was gray. “Where’s the book? Did you burn it?”

“No.” I pulled off my pants and dropped the matches in the kitchen sink. “Megan had better things to burn. It’s still outside.”

“I’ll go get it,” Kasey said, backing toward the foyer. “Are you sure you’re okay?”

“Do you mean, am I going to try to kill Alexis again?” Megan brushed her hands off. Her knees were hot pink, and a small bruise was forming on her chin. She touched it and sucked air sharply through her teeth. “I doubt it. I don’t even think I can stand up.”

Kasey skittered out the door and I stood at the kitchen sink in my bra and underwear, splashing water on my face, for once not caring if the floor and counters got sloshed. I could still smell the lighter fluid all over me, still recall the vacant look in Megan’s eyes. If I tried hard enough, I could imagine the brutal heat of flames coating my body like a second skin.

As I patted my face down, I heard Megan make a sound that was a cross between a grunt and a squeak.

“Want ice?” I asked. Not waiting for an answer, I got two bags of frozen peas out of the freezer and tossed them to her. She draped one over each knee.

“Sorry, Lex,” she said. “I swear, I didn’t mean it.”

My laugh came out like a huff. “Well, yeah, I hope not.”

“I don’t understand what happened.”

“We were threatening the power center,” I said. “It reacted, that’s all.”

“I guess,” she said.

The front door opened and Kasey came in, the rectangle of blue velvet tucked under her arm. Now her colorless face was punctuated by two pink cheeks from the effort of ru

She set the book on the countertop and flipped the cover open to reveal the title page. LIBRIS EXANIMUS.

I was about to say I’d heard the phrase before when Megan made a fist in front of her mouth. “The Ouija board!”

I felt supremely stupid for not making the co

Kasey was already headed back to our parents’ bedroom, where Mom’s laptop was. It was the only computer in the house. The fact that it lived in our parents’ domain meant our research options would be severely limited once the workday was over.

Megan held on to my arm and limped along beside me down the hall. Not wanting to drip lighter fluid on my parents’ carpet, I stayed in the tiled hallway with a towel wrapped around me, while Megan hovered over Kasey’s shoulder as she typed.

“‘Libris,’” Megan read. “‘Book or volume. Exanimus’ …”

Kasey sighed and sat back.

“‘Lifeless,’” Megan said. “‘Dead.’”

“So we have a dead book,” I said. “Or a live book with somebody dead living in it. Somebody who doesn’t want anything happening to his ‘dwelling.’”

Megan turned back to Kasey. “So what was the oath for? What did we promise?”

“Hold on,” Kasey said, ru

“I’m going to take a shower,” I said. “If I got a static shock right now, I’d go up in a fireball.”

I shampooed my hair three times and loofahed my body to a bright shade of coral before I was satisfied that I was really noncombustible. By the time I put on a new shirt and a clean pair of jeans and set my other clothes to soak in a cold tubful of water, twenty minutes had passed. I went to my parents’ room and plunked down on the bed next to Megan. “Any progress?” I asked. Kasey was too busy studying the screen to look up.

Megan shot me a heavy glance and handed me her notebook, where she’d been jotting notes as they worked.

I PROMISE LOYALTY TO HE WHO GIVES ABUNDANT (JEWEL/COSTLY GIFT/TREASURE?) AND (GRACE/FAVOR?).

I INVITE HIM TO A (UNION/CONNECTION?) AND SWEAR THAT UPON HIS CALL I WILL RETURN A (JEWEL/COSTLY GIFT/TREASURE?).

TOGETHER WE WILL (GROW/PRODUCE?) AND BESTOW HONOR TO HE WHO IS _________________ IN THIS SACRED VESSEL.

THIS I SWEAR TO THEE, ARALT.

“It’s Gaelic,” Megan said. “Irish.”

“What’s the missing word?” I asked.

Suddenly, Kasey raised her head slowly and turned to look at us, her lips open. She licked her dry lips and shook her head.

“Kasey, spit it out,” I said.

“Noble,” Kasey whispered. Just as I was thinking, Well, that’s not so bad, she went on. “Vigorous…lusty.”

“Lusty,” I repeated.

Megan sat back. “Ew.”

Kasey was starting to look like this was all too much for her. I was about to suggest we take a break, when the doorbell rang.

We broke into action all at once. Kasey scrambled with her notes at the computer, Megan wrapped the book up and limped back toward her book bag, and I ran to Kasey’s room to peer through the blinds.