The Curse (H. Academy Series #1)

Eugene and I stood on each side of the door and Amma was squatting by the cardboard. The smell of the herbs overwhelmed my nostrils when she moved the cardboard, and I appreciated a little nature in these dark hallways.

“There’s a protection spell around the main hall.” Eugene put his hand on the door handle. “I don’t recognize it, but I think it keeps the ooze inside dormant. Once we walk in, it might come alive.”

My heart thudded, “Just what I needed to hear.”

“You can step inside the circle.” Amma said, making me look at her. “Just don’t erase the runes.”

“What about the plants? What if I accidently move a leaf or branch?”

“It’s okay, plants can move.” Amma stared at the cardboard. “But be careful when you hold the jar. If you erase even a dot, we’re screwed.”

My palms immediately began to sweat. I wiped them off on my skimpy dress and grabbed the other handle.

“Wait.” Eugene took his phone out, gaze sliding across the screen. “Okay, Vice Mage Montgomery just left the party and he’s returning to his chambers. Morta saw Lange entering the teachers’ quarters and Thar is still at the party, a drink in hand.”

My heart thumped at the thought of him drunk.

“Let’s hope he doesn’t go looking for me.” I murmured.

Eugene raised an eyebrow, “Does he look for you often when he drinks?”

I ignored the question and squeezed the round door handle, “I’m ready when you are.”

“Ready.” Amma grabbed the edges of the cardboard.

Eugene nodded.

He and I pulled each side of the double door open. It screeched against the tiles like it’s been closed for years and not mere weeks. My senses opened up on impulse, and wintriness trickled down my spine. Terrified to look inside, I glanced at Amma instead and caught her staring ahead, eyes wide and clear, lips parted, and gloved hands clutching the cardboard.

“It’s all black.” The words slid off her lips. “Infinitely black.”

Then, I glanced inside.

The entire main hall, from the high double ceiling to the floor, was completely covered in the dormant black ooze. Amma was right; its black was so deep and dark it almost looked like you could step inside it. Under the light of the moon coming through the broken windows, it shimmered. Marble. It looked like marble; frozen, unmoving, cold. But not dead.

Never dead.

I felt its magic crawling up and down my shields, probing, touching, looking for something. Energy coursed through my veins, desperately wanting to shake this slimy feeling off.

Without a word, Amma pushed the cardboard inside the room, touching it only with the tips of her fingers, like she thought it became contagious the moment it entered the room.

“Jade.” Eugene whispered.

“Alright.” I nodded, heart thudding in my throat. “Okay.”

I pressed on the cardboard with my right foot, scared it would break under my weight. When it didn’t, I stepped right behind the glass jar in the centre of the pentagram. My skin grew clammy and sensitive. Fear wrapped itself around my body, squeezing breath out of my lungs.

I squatted, careful not to touch the runes drawn around me. Amma put her heart and soul into each line on the cardboard. It would be a shame if my nervousness ruined it all. It would also be a shame if demons ate us because we screwed up the spell.

I put my fingers on the jar and allowed the magic to flow through me and into the jar freely. It wasn’t a particular spell, just energy, but I’ve never been more reluctant to use magic.

For a few seconds, nothing happened. Eugene, Amma and I weren’t breathing, our lungs full of expectation and fear. The only sound in the main hall was the quiet hum of my magic shaking the jar.

Then, the shimmering of the marble-like ooze disappeared. Melted.

Fuck.

Pieces of the black ooze, some on the floor, some on the walls and ceiling, turned liquid and slimy. It slid off the walls, crawling over the still dormant ooze. It made a sound too; a scattered, high-pitched staccato. A laugh.

Not sentient.

It was not sentient.

The black ooze crawled towards the cardboard, fighting for the crack in Amma’s spell, a door left open just for it to enter. A scream gathered in my throat and my spell wavered, but I kept going.

It was not sentient.

It did not see me. Feel me. Know me.

Hands trembling and pain gathering in my throat, I pushed the magic into the jar.

“Come on.” I whispered, blood pumping through my limbs, forcing me to move.

I held my ground.

The black ooze approached, its black, boundless tendrils touching the cardboard, feeling it up, until it finally climbed on it and headed for the jar. Memories resurfaced in my head. Images of people screaming in agony at the mere touch of the ooze.

“Jade.” Amma’s voice was a whisper. “Be ready.”

I couldn’t see her, but I knew she was squatting on the other side of the cardboard circle. I left only my index finger on the jar, every bone in my hand begging me to get away. The black ooze climbed up the jar and slid inside with ease, and I felt the thug at my magic. It ate it. It-

“Its freedom is dire, keep it locked until stars expire.” Amma chanted, her voice stronger now, but still strained. “Its freedom is dire, keep it locked until stars expire.”

“Jade, get off.” Eugene hissed. “Now.”

The black ooze approached the cardboard, climbing over each other, fighting for entrance into the circle of magic, like its very soul depended on it. I stared at it, terrified and mesmerized at the same time. And while the ooze moved in a straight line, not caring about the obstacles in the way, something else moved in the periphery of my vision.

It did not go for the cardboard.

It paced.

The high-pitched scattered sound came from it.

I couldn’t see it, not really. I could only see the sudden shimmer, the subtle move, the bent in the cloak between our world and its. Bone-deep cold gripped me, crippled me, and I couldn’t leave the circle.

It was laughing. Snickering. Taunting me.

Sentient. Demons were sentient.

Are you scared?

No, no. The woods talked. The wind whooshed outside, forming a hollow sound upon entering through the broken windows. Fear was tricking me, making me imagine things. A shape in the dark room in the dead of the night. A voice coming from behind the closed door. The creaking of stairs in an empty house.

“Jade!” Eugene’s hand reached around my waist and he pulled me out of the circle.

I tripped on the way out and slammed into him, gaze flying to the cardboard and the jar. The black ooze had almost completely devoured the glass jar, crawling all over its sides and the runes Amma created. More ooze kept climbing onto the cardboard, destroying our herbs upon contact with them.

“Its freedom is dire, keep it locked until stars expire.” Amma grunted.

I joined her, channelling my magic into the spell, but the black ooze just kept crawling and crawling, swallowing the cardboard and the jar.

“Fuck.” I cursed, and the three of us took a step back.

“It’s failing.” Eugene’s voice remained surprisingly calm. “We need to close the door.”

“No!” Amma shouted. “If we leave the cardboard inside, someone is going to find it!”

“And what do you suggest we do?” I asked, not sure what to do with my magic; keep fuelling it into Amma’s spell or switch it to defence.

Eugene’s protection spell disabled the black ooze from spilling into the hallway, but the damn thing was alive inside. What if it found a crack in the spell? What if it moved through walls?

“We need to kill it.” Eugene said. “Abort mission.”

“No.” Amma kneeled on the ground and put her hands on the floor. “If someone finds the cardboard, they’ll know it’s us. Jade’s magic is all over the place. Thar saw us in the library stealing the devil’s trumpet. I’ve asked Professor Darth about demon capturing!”

Eugene’s eyes widened, “Darth!”

“What?”

His phone was in his hands in an instant, and he checked the messages.

“Fuck, fuck.” Eugene scrolled. “Bella only said she saw Lange heading to the teachers’ quarters, no one mentioned Darth.”

“Guys!” A hiss came from the darkness, and Leon stepped into the soft moonlight. “Why the fuck aren’t you answering your phones?”

Because I’ve dropped it into Amma’s backpack lying on the floor.

“Fuck.” I mumbled. “What’s going on?”

“Bella spotted Darth checking the buildings.” Leon looked like he’d been running. “We tried locating him, but couldn’t find him once he went into the backyards.”

“Okay, we need to leave.” Eugene nodded, eyes wide. “Like, now.”

“What about the cardboard?” Amma rose from the ground. “And the spell? And the devil’s trumpet?”

“There’s absolutely nothing you need to do about that.”

Eugene hopped away on instinct once we heard the voice behind him. My shoulders sagged. Amma jumped behind me. Leon let out a disappointed sigh.

And Professor Darth stepped into the pale moonlight, his expression stern and angry.