Queen of the Dark Things Read Online Free Page B

should be. Bony, with elongated fingers.” She shivered a bit, the words getting harder to free, mired in the pits of terrifying memories. “She has long black hair and her eyes, they’re gouged out. Holes with something glowing behind them. Like coals.”
    Mother Ojeda clasped her hands together, wringing them tightly. “The words she spoke. Can you remember them?” She placed a final card, her eyes wide and unbelieving.
    â€œI miss hee ohs.”
    â€œ ¿Ay, mis hijos? ”
    â€œYes! She just kept screaming it. Over and over. What are the cards telling you?”
    Mother Ojeda looked solemnly upon her. “That you’re not lying.”
    â€œWhy would I be lying?”
    â€œMrs. Voss, do you have children?”
    â€œYes.”
    â€œTwo boys?”
    â€œ . . . Yes.”
    â€œBoth still young enough that they need a sitter?”
    Carol nodded.
    â€œAnd you have a home by the water, don’t you?”
    Carol eyed her suspiciously. “Now wait a second, how did you know that?”
    â€œBy the river?”
    â€œThe lake.”
    Mother Ojeda shook her head. “The lake is just a river dammed up. You have found yourself at the mercy of a terrible spirit. La Llorona.”
    â€œIs it dangerous?”
    Mother Ojeda nodded. “Once there was a beautiful young woman, every bit as stunning and radiant as yourself. But she was unmarried, widowed, her husband having died in a terrible accident, leaving her to take care of their two children—both young boys—on her own. She was in love with a wealthy merchant who, while having feelings for her, did not want to marry her. Instead he told her that he did not want children and thus couldn’t marry her. This broke her heart and, desperately lonely, she went home, took both of her boys out of their beds, walked them down to the river, and drowned them both right then and there.
    â€œShe went back to the merchant, overjoyed at her new freedom, and told him that they could finally be together. Horrified by what she’d done, he immediately rejected her, saying that he never wanted to see her again. This destroyed her. She begged and pleaded for him to reconsider, but he wouldn’t have it. He refused even to see her. Now even more heartbroken than before, she hanged herself.
    â€œWhen her spirit arrived in Heaven, God met her at the gates and asked her where her children were. She shook her head. ‘I have no idea,’ she said. ‘I thought they were with you.’ God said, ‘No, I haven’t seen your children. Go back to earth and find them. You cannot come into Heaven without them.’
    â€œThe woman was distraught, confused. She had no idea where her children were. So she came back to earth and began scouring the river. But they were nowhere to be found. Eventually she realized the current was too strong and she would never find them, so she hatched a plot. She needed two boys who looked like hers that she could pretend were her own. She would take them, walk them down to the river, drown them like she had her own children, then march them up to Heaven to prove to God that she knew where her children were.
    â€œThat woman is La Llorona. She wanders the world still, up and down the length of the Colorado, looking for her little boys—or ones who remind her of them that she can claim as her own—crying out, ‘ ¡Ay! ¡Mis hijos! Oh! My children! ’ — so she might finally get into Heaven. And now she has her eyes on your little boys.”
    Carol stared at her incredulously, both horrified by the story and unsure of what was coming next. For a moment her brain spun dry, unable to process what was happening. Then reason began to take hold. She narrowed her eyes. “How much is this going to cost me?” she asked.
    Mother Ojeda shook her head. “Nothing.”
    â€œWhat do you mean nothing?”
    â€œNothing,” she said again,