Page 29 of The Sister's Curse

He licked his chops and snored.

I reached over him for the pearl, then tucked it under my pillow. Maybe I’d dream of what my subconscious was fixating upon, about oxbow rivers and tweakers running wild.

Or maybe my mother.

I just hoped my subconscious would shake loose a clue.

—

A woman was singing, distantly.

I opened my eyes in the dark. I heard her, just, through my open window. The frogs had long since gone to sleep, but ghostly singing echoed. Soft rain tapped against the window.

I slipped out of bed and let myself out the front door. Damp grass was cool on the soles of my feet, and soggy moss squished between my toes. I told myself we were in a drought…and all the moss on the property had withered. As I walked, I sank into mud, and my footprints filled with water. I followed the voice among the shadows of trees to the old creek meandering through my land.

“Who are you?” I called into the rain-spangled darkness.

Water rose up over my ankles, up to my knees, and spilled out into the forest. It lapped around the trunks of birch and cedar trees. It swelled, and I felt the creek pull at me, the current causing me to stumble.

The head and shoulders of a woman emerged in the dark. Black hair pooled on the surface of the water. I couldn’t make out the details of her face, only that it had the greenish tinge of the underbellies of certain fishes, the color of ripe corpses.

She reached out, and sharp claws clamped around my ankle.

“You’re meant to be mine. My sister,” she murmured, her voice low and melodious as wind chimes.

Something distant barked.

8

Memory of Darkness

“Anna.”

I jolted awake, shaking a hand off my shoulder. My heart thundered in the darkness, and my hair hung over my face. Hands pushed the curtain of my hair away, and I saw Nick clearly.

“I…What are you doing here?” I registered that we were in the forest. We stood in the creek, water up to my ankles. I couldn’t feel my feet. It wasn’t raining here; the nearly dry creek slithered around us.

“Gibby was going crazy when I got back. When I opened the door, he ran out into the forest. I was barely able to follow him.”

Gibby paced in the water, barking to the east, then to the west, as if he were trying to ward off some awful predator. The fur on his spine stood up.

“What are you doing out here, Anna?” His voice was full of concern and dread.

“I was…dreaming.” I rubbed my eye with the palm of my hand. Oh God. This wasn’t happening again. Not again.

“C’mon. Let’s go back.”

We walked to the house, and Gibby followed, though he occasionally looked over his shoulder and growled at the creek.

I went inside to rinse my muddy feet off in the bathtub while Nick leaned against the bathroom wall, arms crossed.

His gaze was heavy on me. I wanted to reassure him that I was okay, but I couldn’t offer that. Not really.

“You haven’t walked in your sleep since last year.”

When I’d worked the Forest Strangler case. When I’d remembered my father, and my own demons had awoken. But I wasn’t dreaming of him now. Why was this happening again?

I closed my eyes. “I don’t know what happened. I’m working the case on that boy in the pond.” I told Nick what I’d learned so far, what I remembered, what I dreamed…the singing, the thing underwater. The dreams and memories were different, distinguished by that green flash.