The Crimson Key Read Online Free

house.”
    Her smile faded and she stood up fast , breaking my trance.
    “Out! You must get out of here.” She pulled me up by my already sore arm and practically threw me out on my butt. “You must never come back , do you understand me?”
    “Why not? What do you know about my house?” I asked as she lowered the doors.
    She peered behind the bars and looked at me with her serious stare. “That house is not just some house. There is real evil there; you may not have seen her yet, but she is trapped there. She is awaiting a dead talker like you to release her. You mustn’t do it, do you hear me?”
    I nodded , still thoroughly confused. “Who is it? Is it one of the Browns?”
    “I can’t say anymore.” She turned and walked away from me , leaving me outside. I stood there motionless, waiting for her to come back, but she didn’t. Instead I shoved on the barred doors and cursed loudly. This whole day went from screwed up to even more screwed up. I was a dead talker, and now there were not only ghosts in my home but one who was an evil ghost. I wasn’t sure if I should believe her or not. She did get it right that I was a medium, but many people know stories about my house. Some are completely false accusations; while everyone is right about it being haunted they don’t have the story straight by far. Except for Lyn, of course she and Ephraim knew the truth because of their dad. He had seen Pearl and Violet.
    “Where have you been?” Lyn screeched as she pulled me up from the ground. I hadn’t realized I was sitting there until now. “I have been looking all over for you. We need to meet your mom for dinner.” I just stared at her. I wanted to tell her , but I didn’t want to worry her. The last thing she needed was to know about more evil in the house than there already was. To be honest, the story about the evil could very well just be the curse, even though Hala had mentioned a ‘she’. I didn’t know who she was talking about, but I wouldn’t worry, I had other things to do. More important things to keep my mind busy.
    “Brylee?” Lyn pulled on my arm. “Wake up!”
    “I am awake, I was just thinking about something,” I lied.
    She gave me an odd look. “Gosh , you look like hell!” She pulled me down the boardwalk to where my mother was waiting for us at a small pizza place that made my hungry stomach gurgle. I couldn’t ever resist New Jersey pizza. It was my weakness and today it was my distraction. I sat down with Lyn as she told us all about her new bathing suit, and proceeded to eat my sorrows away.
    On the way home Lyn fell asleep in the backseat , snoring lightly. I rolled the windows down, letting the sea air fill the car until we reached the woods again. My mom seemed edgy and I didn’t know what it was that she was feeling. If she only knew what I was going through. I imagined telling my parents everything once. The result would be me in an institution, far away from Lyn and Ephraim, caged like an animal and unable to help them.
    Finally , my mom spoke. “I want to discuss Ephraim graduating.”
    “Okay , let’s discuss,” I replied as I rolled up the windows.
    “Well , your birthday is coming up and you’ll be seventeen.” Duh.
    “We know that Ephraim is eighteen now and will soon be nineteen.” She cleared her throat. Where was she going with this? Like I didn’t know how old we all were. “Your dad and I just want to be sure you both are thinking of the long term here. It’s going to be really hard to make a relationship work when he is in college , Brylee.” I sunk into the seat. This discussion sucked!
    “Mom , he doesn’t care about that. We live right next door, we’re still gonna see each other.”
    “That’s what worries me a little. He will expect things from you … like sex.” Kill me now! I had the urge to jump out of the car , but Lyn woke up.
    “Are we there yet?” she asked groggily.
    My mom told her in a few minutes and that was the end of our