Free The Curse Keepers (Curse Keepers series) by Denise Grover Swank

followed me around the corner of the building into the alley behind the restaurant, then up the steps to my third-floor apartment. I usually didn’t mind the stairs, and now I was downright thankful for them. They bought me more time before I was forced to tell Collin the truth about the Ananias Dare artifact.
    When we reached my front door, I paused and narrowed my eyes. I’d almost forgotten.
    Confusion spread across his face. “What?”
    “I don’t appreciate the calling card you left on my doorstep.”
    His eyes clouded in confusion, then alarm. “Did something happen last night?”
    I shook my head. So maybe it wasn’t Collin. “Someone left dead birds on my porch. I’m sure I pissed Dwight off, but he doesn’t seem the vindictive type. At least not with dead animals.”
    Collin walked to the railing and looked over the edge. “How many birds were there?”
    “Six birds in a circle with their feet pointed in. One robin and five blackbirds. A cardinal in the center.”
    “Ellie…” He stopped, an incredulous expression covering his face. “The gate to the spirit world was just opened, and you think your nerdy ex-boyfriend put dead birds in a pattern on your porch?”
    No, I didn’t. But my mind wasn’t willing to make that leap yet. I needed to take this slow. Unfortunately, I didn’t think the spirits spilling out into the world gave a rat’s ass how slow I needed to go. I pushed the door open but hesitated in the entrance. “I don’t usually let strange men into my apartment.”
    “You let in the guy who ran out of your apartment last night. I wouldn’t exactly call him normal.”
    Collin had a point. Still, he made me nervous. Right now all of the curse nonsense was contained to the outside world. Once I let Collin in, the curse would permeate every part of my life, including my personal space.
    Collin noticed my hesitation. “If you’d rather I wait outside, fine. But I’m not sure what you’re worried about. I have no interest at all in—”
    I walked through the threshold and headed for my room. “I got it. No interest. No need to repeat yourself. Come in.” I looked over my shoulder. “And for the record, I’m not interested in you either.”
    Collin followed me in and shut the door. As I shuffled through the pile of clothes on the chair in my room I tried to figure out how to tell him about my relic. There was no point to hiding the truth. He was going to be pissed, but it wasn’t like he liked me anyway. We had a job to do, and we needed the artifact to do it.
    When I walked out, pulling the hem of my T-shirt over the top of my skirt, I found Collin sitting at the kitchen counter, his expressionless gaze on me.
    “About the relic…”
    His eyes narrowed at my hesitant tone.
    “I don’t exactly have it.”
    His jaw tensed, but his tone was conversational. “And who exactly does?”
    I took a deep breath. “A pawnshop.”
    I expected him to yell. I expected him to have a fit. I didn’t expect him to stare at me as though I’d told him it was about to rain. Finally, he sat up a bit straighter. “And why is your artifact at the pawnshop?”
    I walked around him into the kitchen and opened the refrigerator. Anything to keep from having to look at him.
How much should I admit?
The less the better. “I didn’t have enough money to pay my rent a few months ago. So I pawned it.”
    When he didn’t answer, I went against my instinct and turned to look at him. I didn’t know him well enough to read his face. Was he angry but holding it in? Was his mind scrambling to figure out what to do?
    “You pawned your artifact?”
    I didn’t see any point answering. I’d just told him that I had.
    “How could you be so irresponsible? Do you really not take this seriously?”
    I threw my hands into the air in exasperation. “No! Until this morning, no I didn’t take it seriously. Who would?”
    He stood, his hands clenched at his side. “
I
took it seriously. This was a sacred duty,