Eliza's Shadow Read Online Free Page B

kitchen.
    “Mmm, hmm, not a bit of protection on this house.
Not a bit.” She mumbled shaking her head.
    “I’m finished Miss Cora.” I said wiping crumbs
from my lip with the back of my hand.
    Cora looked at my clean plate and smiled wide showing
off a set of perfect white teeth.
    “Good! Let’s get about securing this house.” She
said and grabbed an old jelly jar filled to the brim with rusty colored dust.
    I followed Cora out the screen door and joined her
on the backyard. She stared at the house in silence for a few moments before
unscrewing the top of the jar and charging toward it. She shook the jar leaving
a smooth unbroken line of rusty dust along the doorframe then moved across the
edge of the house similarly marking each windowsill. I followed her as she
circled the entire house methodically dusting every possible passage.
    When she’d finished, she went back inside
carefully stepping over the line marking the back door.
    “What is that stuff?” I asked hesitantly, since
Cora had offered no explanation.
    “Brick dust” she said in a matter-of-fact manner,
“bars the passage of evil.”
    An icy shiver ran the length of my spine.
    Cora moved to the kitchen counter and began
opening the jars. From them she drew dark shriveled items and smooth white bones.
She carried these items through the house, humming as she walked, and placed
them on shelves and mantels. When she’d finished, she made her way back to the
kitchen and retrieved a jar that looked like it was filled with water. She
dipped her fingertips into the jar and shook them sending droplets spraying
over the floor. As she walked through the house she continued to hum and
sprinkle, hum and sprinkle.
    The rest of that day was a blur. I felt confused
and afraid. I’m sure I ate, I’m sure I dressed, but all I really wanted to do
was sleep. Sleep with the hope that when I woke up the nightmare would be over.
    But when I did sleep instead of drifting further
from the nightmare, I fell ever deeper inside it.
    I dreamed that I wandered down a dark country
road. Deep forest lined the path and from the sound of the night around me, I
knew that I was headed into swampland. I wanted to stop but my legs kept
carrying me forward further into the darkness.
    The road ended in water. Black water stretched out
before me reflecting a clouded moon like a mirror fogged by steam. In the weak
moonlight I could make out the silhouettes of swamp trees. Their strait
graceful trucks towering above the bulging roots that dove into the watery
depths.
    I looked down, into the water. A shriek caught in
my throat. Beyond the glittering black surface, my mother’s face stared back at
me, frozen in terror. Her hands stretched toward me, the fingertips just
breaking the glassy surface.
    Suddenly, cold fingers gripped my arms and pulled
me off my feet toward the water. I fought paralyzing fear to scream.
    “No, no, nooo!”
    Beyond my own frantic screaming, voices swarmed
around me. They were chanting. What were they saying?
    A whisper trickled into my ear, "Eliza, join
us."
    My feet sank into the cold water and slimy
tentacles slithered around my ankles and up my legs pulling me deeper.
    Mercifully, my body juiced with adrenaline shot to
life. I was cold, shaking and sweating. The power of the nightmare was so
intense that it made me physically sick.
    The door cracked. Startled, I pulled my face from
the pillow and gazed sheepishly at Cora standing in the doorframe.
    "What happened, child?" Her dark face
was a mask of concern.
    The memory of the night terror was still so fresh
that it was difficult to speak.
    "I had a nightmare." I whimpered
pitifully.
    She crossed the room. A grim expression spreading
across her face, she sank onto the bed beside me.
    "Can you tell me about your dream? Eliza,
it's important you tell me about it." She demanded as if we were dealing
with a problem more serious than just a nightmare.
    The tone of her voice and the way she squinted at
me, like