Conjure Island by Eden Royce

Conjure Island by Eden Royce

Author:Eden Royce
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2023-04-12T00:00:00+00:00


Del quietly hurried down the dimly lit hallway, headed back to her room. In the darkened house, shadows lingered everywhere and she had no idea if one of them was the shadow she kept seeing from the corners of her eyes. Nervous, she hummed a few bars of Gramma’s song to calm herself down. Thankfully, the staircase didn’t creak, like the stairs in some of the houses she’d lived in.

Light leaked out from under Nana Rose’s door at the end of the hall. She could see shadows move in that thin strip of illumination, like someone was pacing on the other side. Hushed whispers flooded out as she got closer, and before she knew what she was doing, Del was bypassing the door to her own room to listen at her great-grandmother’s.

She kneeled, her broom in one hand, its handle against the floor. The door was one of those old-fashioned ones with a big hole where the key should go, like the doors in the old black-and-white movies she watched with Gramma on Sunday afternoons. She peered through the keyhole, catching a glimpse of Nana Rose’s yellow dress. This close to the opening in the door, it was easier to hear who was speaking.

“So we have no idea why the protection spell failed?” Jube’s tone was calm and even.

“We don’t,” Nana Rose said. She crossed the room, and Del could now see a narrow table with spherical candles in column-shaped candleholders and a jar containing feathers on the surface. “Perhaps one of the children’s minds wandered, and the boar stampede was simply a coincidence. In any case, Nyla, Harus, and I have seen to it. The protection will hold for the rest of the summer session.”

“My question was not about the boars,” Jube replied. He drifted into the center of the room where Del could now see him. Instead of his white morning suit, he now wore a black one. Apparently, ghosts could change clothes. “I was wondering if anything else could have slipped through when the barrier was weakened.”

At his words, Del froze. That shadowy presence she’d been seeing throughout the school. Could that thing be what Jube was talking about? Her refusal to participate might be even more serious than she knew. Her head spun with the possibility she let in an evil presence. No one else can even see the shadow except me. I don’t even know if it’s real.

“My concern is not imagined threats slipping through the barriers,” Nana Rose grumbled, “but the very real threats on our doorstep. We only have eight students this summer session—the fewest in Vesey history. I have no idea how much longer we can stay open, but the children, no matter how few, need this knowledge.”

Jube stood still, his hands clasped behind his back, as Nana Rose began pacing again. Silence for a few of Del’s speedy heartbeats. Then he said, “What will become of us?”

Someone stepped in front of the keyhole, blocking Del’s vision. “Remember our motto.” Nana Rose’s voice had changed.



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