Sentence:  Eggie, who cursed me for my <WSD>dread fascination</WSD> with churches, spires, and cathedrals, and such, ordered to hold my head straight as he sketched a neutral diagram of me under a violet ruby cross in the wuthering light, joking a bit that I looked like a weathered fat lady that was floating in mid-air. 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  An obsessive interest in something that evokes feelings of fear or that hurts the person with the interest.