Cursed-epub Read Free Page A

and still have enough money to send some home to her mother. Listening to the sounds of the streets coming to life as the sun set, Carmella hummed a tune and twisted her thick, dark hair into a bun. The soft light almost made the view pretty, if one ignored the drug dealers and prostitutes setting up shop across the street. In the far distance, sparkling gold bursts of the nightly fireworks shows put on by alchemists employed by the tourist board began to dot the sky over the coast.
    Tiny, but clean, the entire apartment was the size of her bedroom back home. It contained a small kitchen, a bathroom with barely enough room to turn around in, and a living room that doubled as a bedroom. But it was roach-free, and the landlady kept the drug addicts out, so it was good enough for Carmella. Small and safe was better than big and scary, even if she did feel like a scared little rabbit hiding in her apartment at night.
    Soon the smell of roasting peppers filled the air as she made dinner. It was lonely eating by herself, but she was embarrassed to invite her old friends to her crappy apartment. The home she’d grown up in was a beautiful ranch house built by her great-great-grandfather. While most of the land had been sold off, they still owned twenty acres that spread out around the dwelling. No matter how much she hated her job, no matter how much she just wanted to quit and run home to her mom, she had no other choice. It was either work for Miguel or lose her house. Her mother still wasn’t fully recovered after her long illness and Carmella was pretty sure the shock of losing their ranch would kill her.
    Chewing slowly, she tried to make the rice with beans and peppers last. As she ate, her gaze turned to the carved obsidian statue of the Egyptian god, Bes. The image of the squat and bearded dwarf sat on a shelf against the wall, in between pictures of her family and her collection of well-read books. Generations of hands had given the stone a bright, glossy shine. The statue was the last thing her mother had given her before she left home. She thought about the last time she’d seen her mother as she ate her dinner…
    “Take it with you. I'm sorry I can't give you more,” her mother said with tears in her beautiful dark eyes. Guilt hung in a visible mantle on her frail shoulders, and Carmella ached at the thought of leaving her. “I brought him from Egypt with me when I moved to Brazil as a teenager. He has watched over our family for generations, back to the time of the pharaohs.”
    Carmella sighed and took the heavy statue of a squat man sticking his tongue out. When she was a little girl she would often amuse herself by sticking her tongue back out at him and making silly faces. That is until the day she swore the statue winked at her when she did it.
    “Mama, you know I don't believe in your gods.”
    Carmella moved the statue to her other arm, the heavy weight pulling at her shoulders. Her attention was caught by a gleam of light off the curve of the statue, drawing her eyes to how much work had gone into making it, and the skill needed to carve such a beautiful piece of art.  The stone was smooth like glass beneath her fingers as she traced the curve of a curl in his beard. When she’d glanced up, she could easily read her mother’s wish that she take it with her.
    “While I’m honored that you’re giving me such a valuable piece of my past, I’m not leaving him any tributes. I don’t believe in all that nonsense, and I certainly won’t be making him honey and milk for breakfast each day. He’s not real.”
    Her mother looked down at the statue and smiled. “Believe what you will, my stubborn daughter. Bes will watch over you and guard you for me. He's the war god of women and children, protecting them from harm and evil.” Ignoring Carmella rolling her eyes, she continued in the same patient voice she used for teaching at the samba school. “He loves dancing, drinking, and sensual pleasures.