Curses Read Online Free PDF Page B

would have been short on would have been air.’
    ‘And fire,’ Chuck added.
    Rhea nodded. ‘So does this information help us in our endeavour to be rid of this entity?’
    Max thought hard about it and then cocked an eye at them. ‘I’d have to do some research,’ he stated, obviously not wanting to commit to the quest in a hurry.
    ‘Would you? Please ,’ Rhea begged, using her large blue eyes to best advantage. ‘I’d be more than happy to pay you for your efforts.’
    ‘Of course.’ Max relented and forced a smile. ‘But for the time being, I advise you to be nice to the entity if it makes its presence felt. Don’t do anything to rile it.’
    ‘Oh, don’t worry,’ Rhea said, emphatically, ‘I won’t.’
    6. A Current Affair
     
    When Rhea returned home, she was surprised to find the front door locked and that her key would not unlock it.
    ‘Goddamn it!’ she grumbled, giving the door a kick before she headed off around the house to the back door. ‘Why the hell is it locked anyway?’ The workmen had all gone for the day, but Phillip’s car was still in the carport. ‘Phillip!’ she called as loud as she was able. ‘Phillip!’ Rhea gave up, figuring he must be working on his construction.
    On reaching the back door she was completely stunned to find that it would not open either. ‘This is ridiculous!’ she decided. They never locked this door.
    She resigned herself to walking across the hot, dusty distance between the house and the construction site to find Phillip and see if he could explain why he’d locked everything — perhaps he’d thought it best because he was not close at hand to keep an eye on the house. Surely he hasn’t changed the locks?
    ‘That’s a bit paranoid,’ Rhea concluded. ‘Who the hell would be bothered travelling out here to commit a burglary?’
    Phillip was not working on his solar project, nor was he in the huge shed. ‘Oh, damn.’ She grabbed herself a drink of water, before traipsing back to the house. ‘He’s got to be inside.’
    She banged on the door, calling his name for several minutes, then, fed up with waiting, she went around peeking inside the windows to see if she could locate him.
    Rhea was about to give up when, through the bathroom window, she spied Phillip’s feet; he was laid out on the laundry floor. ‘Phillip!’ She banged on the window. When she could raise no response from him, her fear for his wellbeing urged her to grab the closest hunk of timber and smash the bathroom window. She quickly cleaned away the excess glass and managed to hoist herself inside, only sustaining a couple of minor cuts in the process.
    ‘Oh, Jesus,’ she uttered upon finding he was unconscious. ‘Phillip?’ She slapped him around the face a bit, whereupon he stirred.
    ‘What?’ he grumbled, annoyed to wake up with a thumping headache. ‘What happened?’ he asked, realising where he was.
    ‘I was just about to ask you the same question?’ Rhea appealed. ‘Are you all right?’
    ‘Yeah, I think so.’ He raised himself, with some help from Rhea, holding on to his aching head. But when Rhea touched the back of his neck he winced. ‘Ouch.’
    ‘You’ve got a bad bump back here.’ Rhea took a look at the area that was giving him grief. ‘Did you knock your head on something?’
    ‘No …’ He sounded uncertain about that and endeavoured to explain. ‘I was throwing my dirty clothes in the wash, when I thought I heard dripping water. I started looking about for a leak when I thought …’ He paused, smiled and shook his head.
    ‘You thought what?’ Rhea encouraged him to voice his observation.
    ‘I thought I smelt sea water,’ he shrugged, ‘and then my lights went out.’
    Remembering that the priest had noted the same smell, Rhea’s jaw dropped.
    ‘Is something the matter?’ Phillip queried, noticing his wife’s stunned expression.
    Rhea was not given the chance to respond. Her eyes had drifted back to the glass debris on the