Chapter Four:
Duke:
Over the next week, Dwight and I convinced Hope to stay home from the hospital. Delia picked up some of her shifts, especially since she felt responsible for her getting sick. When I asked her why, she said that she had missed the signs, that some of Hope's patients, not terminal ones, but other patients were getting out of the hospital faster than was expected. Dwight, Nathan, and I took turns looking after Hope, not even trying to hide the fact that we were worried about her. Dwight usually looked after her while Lizzie was in school, Nathan was with her when Paige was home with James, and I stayed with her overnight.
"Come on, Sis," I said waking her up. "It's time for yoga."
Hope stirred before shuffling to the bathroom. When she came out, she had changed and was ready to go. We drove back to the Cape Rouge and started our yoga routine, which seemed to relax us both. After we were done I put my arm around her.
"How are you feeling, Hope? Honestly?"
"Kinda like a prisoner, Duke."
"You scared the hell out of all of us."
She looked out onto the horizon.
"I didn't mean to. I'm sorry. But how long are you guys gonna keep me on a 24/7 watch?"
"Until we're sure that you're not going to burn yourself out and collapse again, Hope. I told you, I like having a sister. I don't want to lose you. I'm being purely selfish here," I said acting arrogant.
She whacked me and I started laughing.
"I was only sick for about a day and a half or so. That's not that bad…"
"Hope, it didn't take you that long to recover from bringing me back from the dead. So whatever you've been doing at the hospital is affecting you badly."
"It's not just the hospital, Duke," she said barely loud enough for me to hear.
"What did you say?"
"I wasn't just helping some of my patients at the hospital, Duke," she said, looking me in the eyes as she said it this time.
"Then what else have you gotten yourself into, Hope?"
"Nothing, really. I'm not involved with anything else or doing anything for anyone else."
"Then explain."
"I'm still practicing magick, Duke. Exploring and connecting with my new surroundings. The energy here is so much different than back in Massachusetts… even in Salem. I feel stronger connecting with Haven, but I guess I didn't realize how the new energy would affect me when I worked with it."
"What does that mean?"
"It means that everything you do comes with a price, Duke. Even what I do, which I don't intend harm to anyone, comes at the price of taking energy from me, sometimes worse. I guess that connecting to the energy of Haven, tapping into it when I worked, I hadn't considered it might not want me using the energy on anyone else."
"Are you sure the energy isn't from the Troubles?"
"I'm sure, the energy from the aether, which caused the Troubles, has been gone since we came back to Haven together. This is the energy of the land and water itself."
"So why would Haven attack you for trying to help people, Hope?"
Before she could answer me, Sasquatch showed up. Hope clammed up. I had a feeling she knew the answer and was afraid of telling me the truth.
"Am I interrupting?" Squatch asked.
"No, we were just talking about me being on lockdown, Dwight," Hope replied before I could tell him I was in the middle of an important conversation with her.
"Hope, we'll finish this talk tonight? No matter what it is, you can tell me. I'm not gonna be upset at you, Sis."
"I'm not worried about upsetting you, Duke. I'm worried about hurting you. We'll talk more tonight," she whispered to me as she gave me a hug and kissed my cheek.
Dwight:
"Do I want to know what happened back there?" I asked as Hope and I were driving back to my place.
"Just more about why I got so sick that night you came to see me," she replied.
"And there's something you're not telling him?"
She nodded.
"Why, Hope? None of us can help you if you won't tell us what happened to you."
"I told you what happened. That was true. I'm just thinking about the possibilities of what caused it and I have an idea, but I don't want to say anything unless I know for sure. And for me to know for sure, I need some time alone… I need you guys to trust me."
"Trust you to do what?"
"Technically? Part of what I need to do on my own will involve bloodletting."
"You mean…"
"I need to spill my own blood."
"Hope! You can't be serious. Isn't there another way?"
"If it's what I'm thinking, not really. Offering my blood to connect is really the only way to forge the connection to get the answers I need. But that's only part of it. If I'm right, I'll need to figure out how to fix it before Haven becomes too dangerous for me to stay."
We reached the house and went inside. I asked her more about what she was thinking was the issue. She gave me vague answers, obviously trying not to give too many details without knowing anything concrete herself. The more I looked into the eyes of this woman that I could not deny I felt something for, the more I worried for her.
I put my hand on hers and I felt the same connection I had the first night. She stopped talking and looked into my eyes. In that moment, everything stopped, nothing else mattered, there was only me and Hope. It was perfect. With my other hand, I grabbed her around her waist and pulled her into my lap, so our faces were only inches apart. I wanted to kiss her, to kiss away her uncertainty, to hold her in my arms and make her feel safe, to be whatever she wanted me to be.
Leaning in to her face, I kissed her, softly at first, not wanting to push anything she didn't want. When she seemed to like it, the kiss became deeper, and she put her arms around the back of my neck as it did. The kiss got more passionate, and I only wanted her more.
"Dwight…" she said, slightly breathless, trying to stop the kissing. "We shouldn't do this right now…"
"Why?" I asked as we both kept kissing each other, Hope running her nails down my back, making me moan deep in my throat.
"Something… wrong… with… me…" she struggled to get out as I kissed her neck. "Need… need…"
I stopped myself. She wasn't trying to stop because she wanted to. Hope was worried about what was wrong with her. I could feel how much it bothered her, how it scared her a bit. Instead of letting things get out of hand, I pulled her into my arms and just held her in a reassuring way.
"How can I help you do what you need to so you can try to figure this out?" I asked, both of us still breathing heavily.
She stayed quiet for a minute. When her breathing slowed, she snuggled into me, and I knew I was doing the right thing.
A few hours later, McHugh met Hope and I at the lookout point. She had some supplies on her, and McHugh looked skeptical.
"You want me to do what, Dwight?"
"Watch her. Make sure she doesn't black out again. She needs to do some kind of ritual and I know Nathan and Duke aren't gonna let her do this. Just keep your distance and trust her. If she faints, get her out of here, and bring her to my house. I can help and keep you off the hook with Crocker."
"Why are you risking this?"
"Because she needs this. She thinks it might help her understand why she got sick. And she needs to use her blood for this ritual. Crocker really wouldn't like Hope doing something like that. But if doing this can give her a direction to help her, to help us figure out what to do to help her, then it's worth the risk."
"You really care about her, don't you, man?"
"Yeah, I do," I said, looking away from McHugh over to where Hope was setting up for her ritual. "Just watch her. I have to go get Lizzie from school. If you need anything, call me."
"Will do."
Hope:
I knew Dwight had left, going to pick up Lizzie. My personal feeling was that he couldn't stand the idea of me hurting myself after the two of us finally stopped trying to ignore the fact we both felt something for each other. So McHugh was about 15 yards away from me, not close enough to interfere, but close enough to notice if I wasn't okay. I was okay with that. McHugh still felt guilty about hurting me when I first came to Haven. He still felt like it was his responsibility to keep me safe if anyone asked, so I knew I was safe in his hands.
I prepped the herbs, anointed myself with oils, and then, started the fire. Slowly, I began sprinkling the herbs into the fire, making my intent of clarity on whether there was an issue of my channeling the energy of Haven with my magick. Once all my herbs were in the fire I picked up the knife I had with me to add the last ingredient… my blood. With a deep cut on the palm of my right hand, I squeezed my hand into a fist, making the cut bleed more as it bled into the fire. Finally, I sat down to meditate on my answers.
I was seeing Haven through the years as it was Troubled. I saw Duke, killing people to end their Troubles and steal their Troubles. I saw another brother, Duke called him Wade, who was tricked into activating the Crocker Curse, and becoming addicted to the power that came with it. I saw Duke kill him to protect a Troubled woman he clearly loved. I kept seeing images like this, the times going further in the past, but it was obvious they were all ancestors of mine and Duke's. These men were all Crockers who had activated the curse for whatever reason and ultimately, they lost themselves to the curse before being killed. Suddenly, a spirit appeared in front of me.
"No spawn of a Crocker will ever use the energy of this land to maim the people of this land again. You, daughter of Crocker, are not welcome to call on this energy to cause harm to anyone here. Every time you attempt to use your magick in Haven, you will be punished."
"But I…" I tried to say.
"You have been warned," the spirit responded before pushing me out of the vision.
Being forced out of the meditative state left me shaky. Within seconds McHugh had his arms around me. Suddenly my fired blazed before going out on its own.
"What the hell was that?" McHugh asked me.
"That was the spirits of Haven giving me a warning," I said, my body shaking as if I was freezing in his arms.
"Hope, what can I do for you?"
"Can you give me my thermos? I have a special brew of tea in there just in case something happened. It should help me shake the chills. Then, I need food."
McHugh gave me my thermos, then, while I drank the tea, he cleaned and bandaged my right hand. When he finished bandaging my hand, he packed up the last of my supplies into my bag as I finished my tea before sitting down with me again.
"What are you gonna do about this warning?"
"I don't know yet. They don't trust my Crocker blood…"
"Well, if you knew…"
"They showed me the Crockers through the years, the curse. I know what they've done… including Duke, McHugh. But they were Troubled, like so many in Haven were when they did things they may not have done under other circumstances. My brother… he's not that man anymore. Even with what they showed me, I could tell he fought the curse for a long time, he just lost the fight and wound up being controlled," I explained. "But they are automatically judging me as a Crocker, claiming I will maim and injure the people of Haven. All I've done really is help some patients get better faster. I haven't caused injury to anyone. I need to find a way to prove that. Until I can, I can't use magick on anyone in Haven. If I do, I'm worried their consequences are only going to get worse for me."
"How much worse can it get, Hope?"
"If someone like me is affected enough by what they're doing, McHugh, it can kill them. If I didn't have Delia when I brought Duke back, if I didn't know what I had needed to do, I could have died bringing him back."
He looked at me with a look of shock.
"Are you seriously telling me that when you brought Crocker back, when you've helped anyone you have in Haven in the nearly two months you've been here, you've done it knowing something could go wrong and you could die?"
I nodded.
"Then why do you do it?"
"Because I'm meant to help where I can. I need to figure out why the spirits of Haven are trying to stop me."
Later that night, I was cleaning my palm when Duke came into my apartment after closing the Gull. He rushed right over to me, taking my hand in his as he took over cleaning up my palm. When he got the excess blood off and realized it was stitched and the wound was in a straight line, he looked at me confused.
"What happened here, Hope?"
"I did this, Duke."
"What the hell, Hope? I didn't take you for some chick who cut herself, especially not one who needed stitches! So will you please tell me what is going on around here? First you clam up on me this morning, now I find you with stitches for an injury you gave yourself?! I love you, Sis, but you've got me nervous right now," Duke exclaimed.
I took him by the hand and led him to the couch.
"I'm being punished by the spirits, Duke. The spirits of Haven don't trust me to use magick on anyone here. I suspected it this morning, but I didn't want to tell you without knowing anything for sure, which is why I have the slice in my right hand. I did a ritual to connect me with the spirits of Haven, to make me able to find out why my magick was so out of whack suddenly. And that's what they told me."
"You've never hurt anyone here. Why are they punishing you?" Duke asked angrily.
"Because, while my legal last name is Corey, my true name is Crocker. We both know it. Even here in Haven, people call me the Crocker girl behind our backs. And that is why they don't trust me. They showed me the effects of the Crocker Curse, how all the Crockers who activated the curse were ultimately consumed by it," I said, noticing that Duke looked away from me in shame. "Look at me, Duke. You are not the man they showed me anymore. That man was affected by a curse that was tied to the Troubles, which are gone, just like that man. That doesn't matter to me. You've shown me the kind of man you are and I love you. You're my big brother and I couldn't be prouder of you."
He finally looked at me. There were tears in his eyes. I was pretty sure he expected me to push him away because of his past, knowing the truth of it now. He pulled me into a hug.
"I love you too, Hope. But I can't be selfish. Maybe you should go back to Massachusetts where you're safer?"
"I'm not leaving, Duke. I will find a way to make these spirits see that I'm not a threat to anyone here in Haven, that I'm just helping people. And I think the first step may be to claim the family name that was kept from me to make sure Simon never found me. The spirits' issue could've started with my being a Crocker hiding behind another family name, one that's not connected to Haven."
"How will your grandparents feel about it?"
"I'll talk to them about it. I'm sure they'll understand. But I'm hoping if the spirits see that I'm not trying to hide my Haven lineage it might be a step in the right direction."
"Then what?"
"I may need to do another blood ritual, but it can't just be my blood involved."
"Who else will you need?"
"I need to show them that the magick I've worked has been to help, not harm… to show that I have a higher capacity for love than for hatred."
"So who do you think will work?"
"Delia for one. I put a protection spell on her that saved her life. You should definitely help. Not only did I bring you back, but I cleansed you of the Troubles in the process, leaving you as you were before you were affected by the curse."
"That's it?"
"I think I might ask Dwight," I said quietly.
"Why do you need Sasquatch?"
He looked at me carefully.
"Oh tell me that you, my Baby Sister, are not sleeping with Dwight Hendrickson?!"
"I'm not," I said defensively.
"Good. He's not good enough for you."
"You're my big brother, Duke. You're never gonna think anyone is good enough for me."
"You may be right, but still…"
"Look, I feel something towards Dwight, something that has been drawing me towards him. He makes me feel safe, makes me laugh, takes care of me."
"And what do I do?"
"I'm not saying you don't, Duke. But our connection is different than my connection to Dwight. I care about him too, I'm just not sure of the extent at this point."
"I can't talk you out of this, can I?"
"I don't think so, Big Brother."
"If he hurts you…"
"You'll do nothing. Just like I told him that anything that happens between you and his twin isn't really his business because the two of you are adults. It's complicated enough that you seem to have a thing for my best friend and I have something for her twin. We don't need to make it more complicated by getting involved in each other's business. Your sex life is your business with Delia, none of mine and Dwight's business. And whatever is going on with me and Dwight, though I can promise you I have not slept with him, will not be yours and Delia's business. I think this will be the only way these two complicated relationships will work. Can we agree on that?"
"Fine," Duke grumbled. "Only because I love you."
"I love you, too. Which is why, even though I'm not ready to go back to work, it's time for you to call off my lockdown. If I'm gonna figure out exactly what's going on with my magick, I can't have a babysitter 24 hours a day."
"Fine, but I want to hear from you every few hours so I know you're not unconscious somewhere and I want you to agree to connect our phones so I can track your phone in case you do black out somewhere. This way I can still find you and make sure you get the right help."
"Only because you're being paranoid with reason and out of love will I agree to this," I conceded.
"Do you need anything or should I head back to the Rouge since you're off lockdown?"
"Actually, Duke, do you mind staying and holding me while I sleep tonight?" I asked nervously.
"Are you okay?"
"Just a little nervous to sleep right now. When the ritual was ended earlier, it wasn't by me. The spirits pushed me out and ended it. I figured if you stayed and slept next to me and they tried to get back into my head, you'd realize and wake me back up," I said, trying to keep my voice from shaking.
Duke just looked at me. I knew he could see that I was scared, even if I was trying to hide it. Finally, he nodded at me.
"I got you, Sis. If anyone tries to mess with you in your sleep, I'll protect you. What are big brothers for?"
I chuckled at him.
"Thanks, Duke. You really are the best big brother I could ever have asked for."
Dwight:
For the two weeks after our kiss, Hope had kept herself busy. McHugh told me what she'd learned in her ritual… and it made me worry more for her safety in Haven. Finally, just before the three week mark, she called me after I dropped Lizzie at school.
"Hope, I've been hoping to hear from you."
"Can we meet up? I wanted to see you."
"When and where?"
"Haven Joe's? As soon as you can get there?"
"I can be there in five."
"I'll meet you there. I'm on my way into town now."
Twenty minutes later, Hope walked into Haven Joe's. She looked different from the last time I'd seen her… her body was more lean, slightly more muscular, and a lot more tanned. It was clear she'd been spending a lot of her time outdoors exploring.
"You look good, Hope," I said, holding her seat out for her.
She smiled at me, which still made me want to protect her from everything that wanted to hurt her.
"You look good too, Dwight."
We ordered and fell into a silence. Finally, Hope broke the silence.
"I don't know what you've been told about what happened that day at the lookout point. But I've been on a sort of personal quest to find myself since."
"What do you mean?"
"I think one of the reasons the spirits immediately distrusted me was that I was a member of the Crocker line who came to Haven under a different name. Then there was my using magick on others. I believe they were automatically assuming that, like my Crocker ancestors who fell under the curse, I was out to maim, injure, or even kill people with my power. So they were punishing me."
"So what can be done?"
"I've talked to my grandparents. They've agreed that it may be safest for me to take on my father's name. We all agree I'm not giving up my family name, I'm going to make it my middle name, but I've started the process of changing my last name to Crocker. I'll worry about the next step after that. I'm worried if I try to do magick on anyone before I do that, they're going to make what happened the night I collapsed on you look like child's play now that they've warned me not to."
"So what can I do for you in the meantime?"
"Just be you," she said, her smile returning.
I reached across the table and took her hand in mine.
"I can do that. I've missed you the last few weeks."
"I've missed you too, Dwight. I've wanted to give in, to call you and go see you, but I really needed to figure myself out."
"Hope, in the last two months, you uprooted your life, moving to a new town, and you've had a lot to deal with. Of course you needed time to figure yourself out," I said reassuring her. "I may have missed you, but I get it."
"I talked to Duke that night… about the possibility of there being something between us," she said looking at our hands.
"Really?" I asked, a spark of hope blooming in my chest. "And what did he have to say?"
"He flipped out until I pointed out that just like I talked you out of his and Delia's business, anything that may or may not happen between us would be none of their business. I kinda pointed out that if the two of you were at each other's throats for being with each other's sisters then neither relationship would work and they're already complicated enough."
"And that worked?"
"When I pointed out you wanted to throttle him when you first realized Delia ran off with him, he backed off."
"You are one amazing woman, Hope," I said as I leaned over the table and kissed her.
The kiss was tender. We were in public. But it felt so natural. After a moment that felt too short, I leaned back in my seat.
"I missed that, Dwight. I'm not sure what it is I feel about you, but I feel a connection to you, something that draws me to you. I've felt it since that first night, after the relaunch of the Gull, when you came to my apartment for coffee. When you put your hand on mine and looked into my eyes, part of me wanted to just go with it, Dwight, but I was afraid of how Delia would react, afraid of destroying all of my relationships in Haven over a guy."
"What changed?"
"Realistically? The way I collapsed and the ritual a few weeks ago made it clear that unless I can prove I'm not like the members of the Crocker clan who lost their shit to the curse, I'm not guaranteed safety. The spirits are watching me carefully, and yes, I'm trying to figure out how to fix the issue, but I'm not gonna waste time. We're adults, Dwight. If we want to explore these feelings, don't we have that right?"
"So this is making you realize you don't want to waste the time you do have in your life?"
"Right. Don't take this as me trying to rush my life so I can do everything as I give up and wait for these spirits to kill me, which I have no doubt they can. I know I can figure out how to handle this. But if all I'm focusing on 24 hours a day is how to figure this out, I may miss something that's right in front of me. I need to find balance in my life, live it to the fullest while I puzzle this out."
"But you're sure you can stop the spirits from targeting you?"
"Yes. I've been taught about spirits that have turned against towns because they fear the changes in the town. It's the same principle here. I'm something new to these spirits. On my mom's side, my ancestry has a deep history in witchcraft. But on Simon's side, they see me only as a Crocker, another descendant of a family line that has caused so much pain and death to the people in this town. Now, even if they understand the Troubles, which were part of the reason the Crockers were cursed, here I come, under a different family name, probably the first daughter in how many generations? And to top it off, I have power that isn't connected to the Troubles, that can't just be ended the way my ancestors have typically met their end, because nobody in town wants to hurt me because I've only helped people. My power comes from the elements around me, from inside me, and from my family that have passed on before me. It's power they probably have not seen in generations, if ever, and definitely not in a Crocker. Maybe they're just worried about me using the power in a bad way, which I can figure out a way to show them that is not my intent. Or maybe they're worried I may channel a Crocker ancestor who will lead me down a bad road. Either way, I'll figure it out, Dwight."
After we had breakfast, we went for a walk along the beach. Before we knew it, we were at her place. She had me sit down on the couch as she went to grab two small boxes, handing one to me. When I opened it, I found a pendant on a cord. The pendant had a dog and moon. I looked from the pendant to her.
"What's this for?"
"Protection. I want to make sure both you and Lizzie are safe while I work this out. This pendant of the dog and moon is a symbol of Hecate, Dwight. She's a goddess of witchcraft. I've already blessed the perimeter of your house channeling her magick, it's something I can still do. This is also charged with that energy. Hecate is also a goddess of ghosts and necromancy, which means if the spirits try to get to you and Lizzie at home, if they try to get past the perimeter I've blessed with her help, she'll protect your home. This," she explained as she opened the other box, "is for Lizzie. I need to give this to her so we don't insult the goddess I channeled for help to charge it. Lizzie is a little girl, a pure, virginal child, exactly the type of child that the goddess Artemis protects. This deer pendant is a symbol of Artemis, blessed with her energy. If anything tries to harm Lizzie while she has it on her, Artemis will protect her. But Artemis isn't really fond of guys, so it's better if you don't touch this. I'll give it to Lizzie directly."
I put the pendant down and pulled Hope into my lap and kissed her. With everything else she'd been dealing with since the last time I'd seen her, she'd also been thinking about not only my safety, but my daughter's safety. It made that spark in my heart grow stronger, making me come to believe there was a chance that I might be falling in love with her.
I started to kiss Hope. The kiss deepened very quickly, and before long, both of us were topless. Even as we took things further and further.
"Dwight," she said breathless, as I started taking her pants off, between moans. "Dwight, this is a bad idea."
"Why?" I replied, just as breathless. "Don't you want this?"
She undid my button and zipper, pulling my pants down.
"Yes… But…" she started, losing her words as I bit her neck, carrying her to her bed. "Dwight, the spirits. What if they get angry?"
I started kissing her and the next thing I knew, I was inside of her. It felt amazing. Hope cried my name out as I started pumping in and out of her. Looking at her, I knew that I belonged with her, I would do anything to protect her, that I loved her with all my heart.
Hope:
Being with Dwight felt incredible. I wasn't really one to sleep around, hadn't been with anyone since med school. But having Dwight inside of me felt so… natural. Like this was meant to be, the two of us together. I wasn't sure how long we had been going at it, but suddenly I felt a cold chill in the air of my apartment, the energy in the room changed.
"Shit, Dwight, they're pissed," I groaned. I had messed up. "The spirits are angry."
Dwight somehow found the willpower to stop himself from continuing. He helped me get dressed before things fell apart. He had barely gotten his boxers back on when they attacked. Cuts began appearing on my back as if I was being lashed.
"What the hell is going on?" he asked.
"They're angry. My energy… I lost control of it when we were having sex… It spread to you… Exactly what they told me not to do in the ritual I had done," I said between wincing.
"Hope, you're bleeding!"
I was more than bleeding. I could feel my energy ebbing away faster than it did when I resurrected Duke. I didn't have the energy to say anything to Dwight anymore. He pulled out his phone. I could hear him talking to Duke, then Delia, but it sounded so far away. Before either of them got there, I collapsed because of the spirits' attack on me.
Duke:
I got to Hope's house as quickly as I could. Dwight was cleaning her back. It looked really bad… and I was pissed off.
"What the hell happened to my sister, Sasquatch?" I demanded of him, restraining myself from hitting him because he was cleaning her up.
"I'm not sure. She said she lost control of her energy… it spread to me… the spirits got mad… and all of a sudden it looked like she was being whipped, Duke. All of this blood, it came pouring out of her back," he said as pale as Hope, looking like he might cry. "She turned so pale so fast. I tried to find a way to keep her conscious, but nothing worked. By the time I was off the phone with you and Lia she was out. We need Lia to get her. I can't stop her bleeding. I didn't realize the spirits were this crazy, Crocker."
I felt bad for the guy, even though looking at the two of them, I could guess what they were doing when Hope lost control of her energy. It had to suck for them, not to be able to have a normal relationship because these damned ghosts were trying to kill my sister. Not long after, Delia rushed into the apartment.
"Let me see her. The two of you, get out. This might not be pretty. Let me do my job," Delia said as she started pulling out suture kits from her medical bag.
Hope:
I was unconscious because of what happened between me and Dwight for over a week. When I finally came around, Duke called Dwight right away. He knew what happened. I couldn't talk to him about it. I didn't talk about those things. It was too personal. My energy was still weak, but I had survived the spirits' punishment. Things were looking up. When Dwight got to us, Duke warned him that our clothes had to stay on and if anything else happened, he was going to introduce Dwight to his collection of guns. Dwight didn't say anything to him before he left.
"Hope, I'm so sorry. This is all my fault," Dwight said as soon as Duke was gone.
I took Dwight's hand in mine.
"No, it's not. This is on me. I shouldn't have let things go that far," I said focusing on his hand as I took a deep breath. "The spirits warned me not to use my energy on anyone in Haven. That included you. I know that witches tend to spread their energy, connect on a higher level with the people that they sleep with. So I knew on some level there was a possibility there was a risk… especially since you're the first man I've slept with since I was in med school."
"Wait. Lia said you started your internship nine years ago. That means it's been at least that long since you've had sex?"
"I've only slept with one other man and that ended ten years ago, when I found out he was one of the professors at my med school. I met him at the bar I worked at before my first year, but didn't know he was one of the professors until right before third year because he only taught third year students. When I got my third year program, he was my gross anatomy professor so I broke up with him. I wasn't going to sleep with my professor. I never would've started a relationship with him if I knew he taught at the school."
"Wow, Hope, I wouldn't have known."
"I don't talk about it much. It's personal. But we're on that level… especially with what happened. It's my fault Dwight… only my fault. Given I've only had sex with one other person and it was a decade ago, I don't exactly have much experience controlling my energy in those situations. I should've stopped you. Can you forgive me?"
"There's nothing to forgive. You didn't ask to be attacked by the spirits for being a Crocker," he said. "But maybe we should keep things a little more PG until we figure things out for your safety."
I gave a sad laugh.
"I think you're right. If I slip again, they're just going to get worse."
Duke:
I was in court with Hope, Nathan, and Gloria. I hated being in court, but Hope needed me. She was making a huge change in her life and she needed to know I was there to support her. I knew she loved me, but I also knew what her mother's family name meant to her… and here she was in court to change her mother's family name to her middle name and take on the Crocker family name. A name that had been cursed for generations.
The judge asked Nathan why he ordered Gloria to run the DNA tests between me and Hope. When he was satisfied with the answers, he called Gloria for questioning. He asked if after her preliminary tests showed that Hope and I shared a father, if she finished the DNA testing to confirm her initial findings.
"I'm old, not retarded, Junior," Gloria replied to the Judge.
I had to stop myself from laughing and I think Nathan and Hope had to as well. Finally, when he had asked all the questions, he granted the name change, declaring Hope's new name to be Hope Corey Crocker. Before he dismissed us he looked at Nathan sympathetically.
"Chief Wuornos, good luck from here on out," he said to Nathan. "As if one Crocker in this town wasn't enough to keep us all busy, now there are two of them."
"Thank you, Your Honor," Nathan said, but I could see he was barely holding himself together.
As soon as we all got outside the four of us cracked up about what happened in the court room. I put my arm around Hope's shoulder.
"I guess you really are a Haven Crocker now, Sis," I said, still laughing. "Just you having the name has put you on that guy's suspicious persons list."
"Did you see the look of sympathy he gave Nathan, here?" Gloria asked, laughing. "He's so damn paranoid. He honestly thinks the two of you are already up to something."
"It doesn't top you putting him in his place, Gloria," Hope said.
"Well, I guess Haven is in trouble with the Crocker siblings in town. We don't really know what you two will do, do we? Duke was an evil genius on his own and Hope over here has the scientific prowess to take that to a new level," Nathan said, still smirking.
"That's right, Nathan. Be very afraid. We Crockers are here to stay," I said pulling Hope closer to me, laughing. "You thought I was hard to pin down before, now I've got a doctor on my side."
It was a good moment. She had been working on fixing her spirit problem since she collapsed nearly three months ago while she waited for the name change to happen. Now it was done, we could take things to the next level… at least after she told the Hendrickson twins what she needed from them. I wasn't going to let her live in fear in Haven. One way or the other, I would make sure that this happiness that she was showing with me, Nathan, and Gloria wasn't the last time I genuinely saw her smile. Delia may not like it, but even she was gonna have to deal with taking a backseat to helping Hope become safe again.
"Come on, Sis. I'll make you lunch at The Grey Gull," I told her.
"Fine, but I'm mixing the drinks," she said, laughing.
"I can't believe how close the two of you got in just a few months. It's been what five, six months that Hope's been here in Haven?" Nathan asked.
"Almost five months, actually," Hope said. "And no matter what Duke was like when he was cursed, he's not cursed anymore. He's an awesome big brother that I love."
Gloria looked at me shocked.
"You told her the truth about that?" she asked me.
"Not exactly. The spirits that have been after her the last few months… They showed her the Crocker Curse in all it's glory, starting with me and working down the family tree. I didn't deny anything. And she won't hold me accountable for it, says that the Crocker Curse was tied to the Troubles, so the curse is gone with the Troubles, as is the man the curse made me," I said looking at my sister, my reminder that I can forgive myself for some of the things I've done.
"You guys are really are that close aren't you, Kid?" Gloria asked.
"Yeah, Doc. We are," I answered.
Hope and I left, heading back to the Grey Gull. It was one of the quieter days we would have for a while.
A few days later, I went over to the Gull to check on her around the time we'd do yoga together. I could tell she'd been up for a while. And she was doing yoga poses on the rail outside her apartment. Without calling out to her, not wanting to scare her and make her fall, I ran up the stairs. I stayed close enough that if she wobbled I could grab her. Thankfully, she held the pose and when she was starting to come out of it, I helped her down off the rail. That's when I noticed the cut on her shoulder.
"Hope…"
"They're upset still. I found a way to protect the people who mean the most to me from them. I cast magick in Haven that didn't involve using the energy of Haven, power that is more powerful than them, to protect you, Delia, Dwight, and Lizzie."
"The way they're coming after you, what the hell is more powerful than these spirits, Hope? And how did you protect me without me knowing?"
"As for what's more powerful… gods are more powerful than spirits. And I protected you both by calling on the god of the seas, Poseidon to protect the Cape Rouge, as well as the trident pendant I asked you to wear at all times."
I looked at her and I knew she saw shock on my face.
"You… you can call on ancient gods?"
She nodded.
"It takes energy, just like anything else I do, so I don't do it often. But these are extenuating circumstances. I wasn't going to let anything happen to any of you while I worked all of this out."
"But it made the spirits angrier?"
"Yeah. I was in town, picking up a package from the post office that my grandparents sent, supplies… herbs, oils, things like that. Just as I was about to put it in the SUV yesterday afternoon I felt something tear at my shoulder, nearly making me drop the box. Like they're trying to keep me from gathering supplies. I took care of it as best as I could, considering where it is, but I couldn't really sleep after that."
"We're dealing with this… today. Call Dwight. I'll call Delia."
After we had breakfast and I took care of Hope's shoulder, I drove us to meet Dwight and Delia. I carried Hope's supplies while she sat Dwight and Delia down and told them what she needed. I watched as Dwight became more and more concerned, especially when she flinched as he touched the shoulder that was now injured. Maybe he wasn't that bad for her after all. When she was done talking, I brought the supplies over and let Hope set up.
"Is she really okay?" Dwight asked me as he came to stand near me.
"She says she is, but the cut on her shoulder looked pretty bad, and she didn't really sleep last night."
"So should she be doing this right now, Duke?"
"Considering I know it can drain her energy? I would normally say no. But seeing as how these spirits are attacking her, making her scared to sleep, I don't think there's much of a choice. I don't like this, but no matter what we do, we're leaving her at risk, and I'm removing that option. She's protected all of us. It's made the spirits more pissed off. We need to stop this… somehow."
"I'm ready. Let's get started," Hope called to us.
Dwight and I let her place us on either side of her, with Delia across from her. She lit the fire.
"I'm not 100 percent sure what's going to happen when we mix our blood and I put it into the fire. Last time, I was pulled into a vision by the spirits. This time, the intent is proving that my magick is not meant to harm anyone, that Duke is Crocker Curse-free and not a danger to Haven, that we are capable of love, unlike the many Crockers that came before us and fell victim to the curse," Hope explained. "There is a chance I will be pulled into a trance-like state alone. Don't panic if that happens, it means the spirits are only going to communicate with me. But there is a chance they will pull all four of us in. If they do that, you can't lie to the spirits. They already know our deepest secrets and fears. Lying to them will only make things worse for all of us."
She pulled out a knife, sliced her right palm open and held it over a chalice. After bleeding into the chalice for 20 or 30 seconds, she passed the knife and chalice to me, telling me to do the same thing and pass it on to Delia. When we had all bled into this cup, Hope whispered some words over it.
"Are you guys all ready?"
We all nodded at her.
She got up, started sprinkling the herbs into the fire until they were gone. Then she poured our mixed blood into the flames. When the chalice was empty, she sat back down and told us to focus on what she had told us to. I didn't think anything was working… Until I looked up and saw myself in the police station threatening to kill Vicky, having destroyed the aether core.
"They pulled us all in," I muttered to myself.