Thankfully Jason kept quiet.
“How do you know?” Clara asked, intrigued despite the book’s negative energy.
“The references.” Lauren gently flipped through the pages. “A lot of these pages are worn with age and it looks like they’ve been ruined by water, but there are legible words.”
“Like what?” Clara leaned over to get a better look.
“Curse and offering,” Jason said, his tone cool and slightly sarcastic. “I told Lauren you’d probably be able to give her some insight.”
Jason’s wariness stemmed from the fact that the diary mentioned the Corwin Curse. He obviously didn’t take the words seriously.
Lauren did.
As she should, Clara thought. “Sit tight.” Clara rose and retrieved a book from her personal library. “This has a chapter that explains the origins of curses, how to set them, break them, things like that. I don’t like to deal with negativity, so I’m more than happy to help you understand the offering involved with this curse.”
“That would be great,” Lauren said, her tone eager.
Clara perused the book until she came to the chapter she remembered, then she skimmed the pages to refresh her memory. “Well, here’s what I can tell you. Offerings are used in different ways. They can be for worship or devotion,” she said, reading from the book. “Or to be more specific in the case of the Corwin Curse, the diary could indicate that something was offered as a gift in return for placing the curse.”
“This is ridiculous.” Jason sounded annoyed. “Even if some crazy witch thought she placed a curse on my family, who’s to say things like curses and spells even exist?”
“Who is to say they don’t?” Clara asked, staring at him pointedly.
He frowned but said nothing.
Lauren had winced at his use of the term crazy witch.
“Does it say what the offering was?” Clara was reluctant to touch the diary again.
Lauren had no such concerns and began to flip through it. They sat in silence as she thumbed through page after page, slowly scanning each one before moving on.
She shook her head. “It’s really hard to read, but it talks about an offering and then-” she turned some pages, squinting as she looked for writing that was more legible “-something hidden in the heart of the house.” She frowned. “How odd.”
“Nobody ever mentioned an item important to the family? Something that might be missing?” Clara studied the young woman’s serious face.
Lauren shook her head. “Not to me. I wonder if my sister knows anything. Not that she could tell me if she did.” At the mention of her sister, Lauren’s shoulders slumped down.
She obviously loved her family despite everything.
Jason reached for Lauren’s hand. “We could go see her and you could talk to her. Even if she doesn’t answer, it might make you feel better.”
“You’d do that for me?” she asked, surprised.
Jason nodded.
“Thank you,” she said. “We’ll talk about it later.”
Interesting, Clara thought, observing the dynamic between them. Jason mocked the curse. He didn’t want to deal with the journal. But when it came to Lauren’s feelings, he was right there for her. Though her distress had been caused by people who’d deliberately hurt his family, Jason wanted to ease Lauren’s burdens. Even more clearly, she accepted his comfort and relaxed when he offered it.
Just as Clara thought, they were meant to be.
“You two hold the power to break the curse,” Clara said, closing her own book.
“How?” Lauren asked.
“Curses are traditionally broken by returning the offering.”
“But we don’t know what that is!” Lauren’s frustration was clear.