The Curse (H. Academy Series #1)

I had no idea where to go to avoid students seeing tears running down my face, so I stayed in the basement and paced back and forth in front of the training room. The hallway was empty, and I appreciated it.

How was I supposed to get involved and stay out of it at the same time?

My father was still my family.

If he turned out to be evil, what would that say about me?

I couldn’t get involved half-assed. It was either nothing at all or all in. The stakes were too damn high for me.

I sat on the floor and glanced at my phone. Twelve minutes and then I’d have to return to the training room. The door to my right opened.

“Hey.” Amma came out. “You okay?”

“Yeah.” I wiped away the tears. “Did Dean tell you we had a cat fight?”

“Something like that.” Amma sat next to me. “I came to check up on you. And I needed a break.”

“Did you find something?” I faced her. “Anything at all?”

She shook her head, “There’s nothing wrong with the ooze. The substance is the same as in all the books. It behaves normally when in proximity to magic and light and warmth. Darth tried hurting it using his magic and it didn’t work. But his magic works normally on everything else.”

Her head bumped against the wall, and she took in a deep, shaky breath.

“So, it responds to magic, but cannot be hurt by it? Awesome.”

“I don’t know what else to do.” Amma whispered. “Darth neither.”

I sighed, “There must be something wrong with it.”

“Whatever it is, we haven’t found it.” Amma looked at me, “Why were you crying?”

“Because we’re being attacked by demons and no one knows what to do?”

“That’s fair.”

My shoulders slumped, “Everyone hates me.”

“Why would anyone hate you?” Amma turned to me fully, her azure eyes wide and surprised.

“Because of Leon.”

“Oh, that.” Amma chuckled. “No one hates you. Except maybe Bella. But that’s understandable.”

“Then why is everyone bitching about it all the time?”

“Because they worry?”

That pissed me off more than it should have.

“I’m a big girl, I can take care of myself.”

“Morta just doesn’t understand.” Amma shrugged. “You know, why you like him.”

“Maybe because for all his faults, he’s never judged me.”

“I get that.” Amma looked away. “But Morta’s scared that he’s leading you down a dangerous path. He doesn’t care about any of this, you know? Demons, death, danger. He’s going to leave this school in his Porsche the moment things get tough and leave us behind. Plus, it’s not like he’s stopped flirting with other girls when you started sleeping with him.”

I took in a sharp breath, “I didn’t need to know that.”

“Yes, you did.” Amma said. “Because you forgot about it.”

I leaned against the wall, “I’m just so fucking terrified all the time. And the more I think about it, the less sleep I get. I need something to help me cope. He’s a good distraction.”

“We’re all terrified.” Amma shrugged. “But we don’t leave everything in ruins because of it.”

“Is that what you think I’m doing?” I looked at her.

“I think you’re running away from it.” Amma said. “And I understand that. I also understand that Thar has repeatedly told you to stay out of it, but I’m begging you not to. We trust you. Maybe that’s stupid and reckless, but we’re counting on you.”

She was right, as always. They’ve been giving me mixed signals, but I’ve known from the start which path I needed to pursue. Staying out of it wasn’t in our best interest. We needed to get involved. No, we needed to get to the bottom of this.

“You’re right.” I sighed. “Pretending like none of this is happening is compelling in its own way, but I can’t continue like this. I’m sorry for not showing up to practice.”

“It’s fine.” Amma offered a small smile. “Although, if you skip one more time, I’m very soon going to be a stronger witch than you.”

“You’re already a stronger witch than me.” I mumbled.

“It’s not worth much if white magic doesn’t work against demons.”

“It feels like we’re missing something.” I said, glancing at the door to Darth’s office.

Amma saw where I was looking, “He’s approaching this from a Demonology professor perspective, trying to figure out what’s wrong with the demon, but I still think something is wrong with our magic.”

“Yes, and Thar just wants to kick the demon until it drops dead.” I said. “Maybe we should try a conversation.”

Amma chuckled, “I’m not sure we’ll have time to talk while it’s trying to eat us alive.”

The door to Thar’s training room flung open and Bella walked out, “There you are.”

“Oh, fuck me.” I buried my head between my knees. “What?”

I glimpsed her black heels walking towards me.

“Thar asked me to come get you.”

I grunted and raised my head, “Alright, let’s do this.”

“For the record, I asked to work with someone else.” Bella crossed her hands on her chest, her red fingernails long and glossy. “Thar agreed.”

“Great, Bella, I don’t care.” I pulled myself off the floor. “Goddess knows you won’t be the first person I reach out to when demons attack us.”

“The feeling is quite mutual.” Bella pursed her lips.

“See you at lunch, Amma.” I glanced at my friend, then glared at Bella, who stood in my way. “What now?”

“For the record-”

“You’ve already said that.”

“For another record.” Bella frowned. “I wouldn’t mess with me if I were you.”

“Really?” I raised my eyebrow, pissed off enough to agree to a fight with her. “What are you going to do? Scratch my eyes out with your fake nails?”

She lifted her hand, fingers spread wide, “It’s gel.”

“I don’t care.”

“Jade, just go train.” Amma pulled herself off the floor behind me.

“No, Bella here has a problem she’d like to settle.” I offered a sweet smile. “So, say whatever you have to say and let’s not talk about it again.”

“You think you’ve won because Leon fucked you?” She came closer, her nose wrinkling.

“You’re the only one that thinks getting Leon is a victory.” I retorted, although something about her confidence made me feel uneasy.

She smiled, “He always comes back to me. Always.”

“Good for you.”

“And in the meantime, you best remember I’m capable of quite a lot-”

“Okay, I’m tired.” I pushed past her.

“Have I ever told you about my cheating ex?”

Amma grunted, “Bella, we really don’t-”

“I told him I’d get back at him for what he’s done!” She shouted, making me face her again. “He thought he could walk around and screw skanks without consequences because of all the magic he was pumped on, but I messed up his STD protection and he got syphilis.”

My frown fell and gaze jumped to Amma, who suddenly came closer.

“Wait, what?”

“That’s right.” Bella put her hands on her hips and pushed her cleavage out. “I knew whom he was fucking, and I knew he’d be in a lot of trouble if his protection spell stopped working-”

“Stop working how?!” Amma shouted, her voice cracking.

My heartbeat picked up the pace and my face felt flushed, hot.

Bella’s hands fell by her sides. Her expression turned confused.

“I-” She turned around and faced Amma, then looked back at me. “I mean- I nullified the STD protection spell I knew he had on.”

“How?” I asked.

“What do you mean how?” Bella shouted. “I- I cursed him.”

Amma looked at me; her eyes scanning my face as if searching for telepathy.

I stuttered, my limbs suddenly stiff, “You don’t think-”

“I do.”

“Okay. Okay.”

Amma and I moved at the same time, reaching for the door to Darth’s office. We bumped into each other, and I took a step back as she pushed the door open. We stumbled inside, finding Darth and Eugene standing over a sample of the captured ooze in a glass container with runes carved all over it. Darth looked up, startled.

“It’s a curse!” Amma and I shouted at the same time.

Darth’s gaze jumped between us, “What are you doing?”

“It’s a curse.” Amma repeated, lowering her voice. “We think it’s a curse.”

Eugene stepped away from the glass, “What is?”

“The- the magic.” I waved with my hands. “We think you might be cursed. It’s-”

“Bella!” Amma shouted. “Come here!”

I moved away from the door, my heart pounding in my chest. Eugene looked at me like I was insane, but I shook my head at his confusion and glanced at Bella who showed up at the door.

“What?” She asked. “What did I do?”

“Tell them about syphilis.” I said.

“That sounds weird.” Eugene mumbled.

“Uh, I mean-” Bella’s gaze flew to Darth. “We’re not exactly supposed to-”

“Tell me.” Darth prompted. “You won’t get in trouble.”

“There was this boy...” Bella looked terrified put on the spot. “He cheated on me, and I knew he’s been using an STD protection spell, I’ve seen him make it. So, I- I cursed it. I cursed him. It nullified the magic and he got syphilis. Which, looking back, sounds like a real shitty thing to do, but he was lying-”

“Enough.” Darth raised his hand and Bella shut up.

For the next few seconds, excruciating silence enveloped the room. Darth looked up and down, his gaze jumping around the room. Then, his eyes finally settled on Eugene.

“It’s worth testing. Get me an egg.”

In the next five minutes, Thar and Morta came to the room, Bella was biting her gelled nails off in the corner, Amma, Eugene, Dean and I hurdled on the same leather sofa, and Darth was standing over the broken egg in a bowl. I felt the urge to bite my nails, too.

Professor Darth grabbed a needle and pricked his finger, enough to draw a drop of blood. He put it over the bowl and squeezed. He mumbled something in Latin in his beard.

The moment his blood touched it, both egg white and egg yolk turned deep, dark red.