The Curse (H. Academy Series #1)

It looked infinite. Black and empty. As if it did not just devour life in its path, but time and space, as well. Like I could walk right into it and come out on the other side. It smelled dead. Rotten.

My body went on autopilot once again.

I grabbed the girl and pushed her out of the ooze’s path. Eugene sprinkled the salt on the floor in front of the door, but it was futile. It just crawled across the walls. I reacted on instinct, fear disappearing under the burst of adrenaline.

I put both my palms on the floor. Magic surged through my body. Strong. Determined. It sparked at the tips of my fingers. I pushed it out, letting it overwhelm me. Letting it murder my enemies, whoever strong they were.

“Keep pushing it!” Fire burned beside me. Eugene’s fire.

The girl’s screams reverberated in my ears.

Morta showered me with questions.

“Jade! What do I do? Tell me!”

I didn’t know.

All I knew was that we needed to keep this contained.

The more magic we used, the more ooze we attracted.

Our magic wasn’t enough. The ooze broke through the wooden door, eating it in its path, and managed to push through Eugene’s salt. I didn’t have time to think.

The moment the ooze crawled towards my palms, I lost my focus, and magic ceased.

“Fuck!” I shouted, and pulled myself away.

“Jade!”

“Draw the protection!” I grabbed the chalk and drew the line from wall to wall, trying to simultaneously channel magic into it.

“It’s separating us!”

The girl jumped to Eugene’s side right as the ooze reached the other wall, separating the hallway. My heart thudded in my chest as I finished the messy symbols around me, creating a barrier.

“Morta!” I pulled myself off the floor. “Draw!

Morta dropped on the floor and mimicked my drawing, her hands shaking and tears streaming down her face. Fuck. They wouldn’t make it.

“Jade, call Darth!” Eugene was still channelling his magic.

Fire burst from his hands, but once it reached the ooze, it barely grazed it. It was invincible. The damn thing was invincible. And more came. More and more. Spilling out of the door like a waterfall, colouring the walls black.

I searched through my pockets for Amma’s phone and found Darth’s name.

The phone rang once.

“No time.” I cried, desperation overwhelming me.

“Jade!” Morta shouted. “The protection is not working!”

I glanced at the drawing. Something was off.

“Wrong side!” I pinned the phone between my ear and my shoulder, and kneeled on the floor, pointing at my own drawing. “This to the left, this to the right. Come on!”

I put both of my palms on the floor and pushed out magic. We needed help. Now.

“Jade?” Amma answered the phone.

“Fucking finally!” I shouted, tears sliding down my face. “Send Darth! Now!”

“The curse isn’t off yet!” Panic overtook Amma’s voice. “His magic won’t work!”

Crap. I needed to call Thar. Amma didn’t have his phone number.

“Amma, please.” I cried, gaze jumping to Morta, Eugene and the girl.

The ooze ate Morta’s drawing, making them retreat a few feet, separating us further.

“I’m coming.” Amma’s shaky voice reached from the other end.

The phone slipped from my shoulder, but I had no time to pick it up. The flickering lights around me died out, devoured by the ooze. It would trap me. It would suffocate me within my weak protection spell, and I’d die here, alone.

Magic coursed through me; desperate, scrambling for survival. It burst through the tips of my fingers, stopping the ooze in its place. I blubbered, snot and tears covering my face. I couldn’t stand on my two feet anymore.

Looking up, I saw Eugene’s strained face, lit up by fire. It switched from bright deadly red to a much weaker, much pinker flame. He couldn’t do it anymore. He couldn’t keep up. Morta managed to from a circle around them, but it wouldn’t hold forever.

“Call Thar!” I yelled. “Someone call Thar!”

“Morta!” Eugene kept his focus on the ooze, which slowly surrounded them. “Back pocket!”

I gathered all strength left in me and let magic into every pore of my body. I could push through it. I just had to focus. Slow and steady. Patience.

I let the magic gradually reach the ooze. Not all at once. Slowly.

It moved a few inches.

“Okay, okay.” I took in a deep breath and stretched my fingers. “I can do this.”

“Guys!” Amma’s voice almost broke my concentration. “Where is Thar?”

“Calling him!” Morta had the phone against her ear.

Amma approached the ooze like a scientist might approach his test subject. With curiosity and respect. Then, she stretched her fingers and closed her eyes.

She was a freshman. A girl that found out half a year ago that she had magic. And she had a better grasp on it than Morta and I combined. Her focus was absolute. Her resolve unwavering. And even though she didn’t have an element, she used all the knowledge she possessed to push the ooze off.

She took a step forward, her foot hovering above the ooze. My heart stopped beating.

The ooze scattered.

“What?” My glance jumped between her and the oily slime. “What?”

“It came to me ten minutes ago.” She made another step, her fingers outstretched, her eyes still closed. “We should have drawn the symbols on the soles of our shoes.”

“You’re clever.” The girl we saved looked lost, her lips spread into a goofy grin, her eyes hazy and dry.

Eugene’s fire turned purple, dying out with each passing second.

“Just go!” I shouted. “Just run back! I’ll wait here for Thar.”

“No.” Eugene’s expression distorted, his eyebrows furrowing and mouth upturning. “Thar said to keep this hallway clear. So they can pass through.”

I nodded and kept pushing the ooze back into the room from the other side.

“You’re so brave.” The girl murmured, and not paying enough attention to her bit me right back.

She took a step backward, towards the wall, her eyes glued to the dead boy’s rotting body sliding onto the floor, the dead skin turning into ash and breaking.

“No, stop!” I shouted.

Too late.

“Wait!” Eugene’s concentration broke, as did his magic.

The girl had already leaned against the wall, and the ooze slid to her with ease, as if the path towards her had been carved into its memory, into its DNA.

“Watch out!”

“Move away!”

The ooze first touched her shoulder, and the girl screamed out, her face distorting.

Amma reached for her on instinct, her magic wavering, too.

“Let her go!” I screamed, my voice hoarse. “Amma!”

The ooze devoured the girl with impossible speed, crawling right over her heart and eating the flesh underneath. The wide eyes, the open mouth, the outstretched limbs – all stuck in their movement – formed a dead, terrified grimace.

Amma moved away from the dead girl and tried to regain control over her magic, but her eyes widened and a scream tore through her throat.

No.

No.

I scrambled towards her, magic bursting through me with more intent than ever, and I hit the ooze crawling across the girl from the floor. It stopped in its tracks. Unlike Amma’s screams.

“Jade!” She shouted, staring at her hand like it was a foreign body. “It’s eating me! It’s eating me. It’s breaking my-”

“Do something!” I screamed, eyes glued to the black tip of Amma’s finger.

The ooze touched her. It touched her finger. And it was climbing up. Absolute panic seized me. My mind turned to mush. No. No. Do something.

Amma stumbled backwards and fell on the ground, ugly tears pouring down her cheeks.

“Amma!” Morta grabbed the girl under her armpits and pulled her away from the ooze, but then quickly moved away from her, terror colouring her expression as she examined her own hands. “What do I do? What do I-”

“Cut it off!” Amma’s voice broke, eyes glued to the blackness eating the flesh of her palm. “Cut it off!”

“No, no, no!”

“Jade!”

I couldn’t move.

“Eugene!” I shouted, but he was desperately trying to keep the ooze at bay.

It climbed up to Amma’s wrist.

“Meat cleaver!”

“No.” Eugene’s eyes widened. “I- I can’t.”

“Cut it off!” Amma stretched her hand out and pulled as much away from it as possible, like she could separate herself from it. “Please, now!”

“Eugene!” I stomped on the ground.

His gaze jumped from the ooze to Amma, then to me, “Keep it away from us.”

I nodded.

He grabbed the meat cleaver from the floor and reached Amma. My entire soul rebelled against what was about to happen, but Amma’s screams and the ooze climbing up her arm convinced me it had to be done.

I put both of my palms on the floor, something cracking inside me at the sight of Amma’s pained expression, Morta’s terror, and Eugene’s uncertainty.

I had black magic.

I could do this.

I breathed in, magic pulsating through my body. It wasn’t strong. It wasn’t tactful or thought-through. It was wild. Uncontrollable. Desperate. It poured out of me in waves, ready to destroy anything in its wake, good or bad, friend or foe.

Morta tore a strap from her shirt and tied it around Amma’s upper arm, careful not to touch the ooze. Then, she squeezed. Amma fell on the ground, her eyes rolling back. Eugene’s hands shook as he put the sharp edge of the meat cleaver against Amma’s skin.

The world stopped for a second.

I knew what I had to do.

Eugene wavered, unable to hit Amma’s arm. Another desperate cry left her lips as the ooze ate through her flesh. Her fingers did not exist anymore. All that was left were black veins and deep dark red blood spilling on the floor, then turning to ash immediately.

Thar’s lessons came to me in one strong wave. The magic emphasizer. The single cool spell he gave me. I drew it on the floor, then placed my palm over it.

This is about precision, Jade, not destruction. You need to be able to direct your magic to one particular point without destroying everything around you.

“Eugene.” I grunted. “Do it. Now. I’ll guide your hand.”

My magic wrapped around the meat cleaver, and Eugene raised his arm.

“One.”

Eugene’s hand tightened around the tool.

“Two.”

My heart thudded.

“Three.”

The meat cleaver fell on Amma’s hand and I pushed it down with my magic, cutting down a straight line through her skin, her muscles, her bones. Blood splattered everywhere around. Eugene screamed. Amma screamed. Morta tightened the strap around Amma’s upper arm.

Magic went wild inside me, as if pissed off that I dared control it. It hit into the ooze, pushing it away, burning it, destroying it. It overtook me. It controlled me.

The world blurred before my eyes. Blood, sweat and tears all became one. I staggered back, not watching where I was going. The screaming around me turned muffled. Fire illuminated my field of vision. Eugene burned Amma’s wound and stopped the bleeding.

She fell on the floor, her face awash with sweat and tears, pale as chalk.

Voices filled my head, coming seemingly from every direction.

Magic burst around me.

Shaking my head, I focused on my surroundings.

Someone grabbed my shoulders, “What. Happened? Jade? Jade?”

“I’m alright.” I was terribly dizzy. “Amma is not.”

“Sweetheart? Oh, Goddess.” Lorenia’s voice rushed past me. “What happened?”

“Guess.” Eugene said.

I shook my head again and blinked a few times.

The hallway was full of people.

“Jade?” Thar had his hand on my back and the other on my arm. “Are you okay?”

“Yes.” His face came into focus. “The ooze-”

“You killed it.” Thar stepped away, and I glanced behind him.

The hallway was empty. Black ash covered the floors. Dead. Unmoving. The stone-like barrier blocked the hole in the door. I put it back into its dormant state.

“Goddess.” I glanced at Amma.

Lorenia put her hands on her arm and whispered soothing words. Amma’s eyelids fluttered. Blood covered her clothes and her hair. The rest of her hand was gone. The cut just under her elbow was clean, straight.

“The hallway is secured!” Thar shouted to someone behind me. “We move. Now!”

Dozens of students walked past me, each glancing at me with something eerily familiar in their eyes. Not gratitude. Not awe. Fear. They feared me. But I didn’t care. I caught sight of Dean and Bella, each of them bruised and bloody.

I couldn’t handle it anymore.

Leon wasn’t among them.

“Thar.” Magic rumbled under my skin. “Thar!”

His expression softened, but my magic didn’t like it.

“I couldn’t find him.” He whispered. “We- we gathered everyone alive we came across. This is everyone.”

The number of students cooped up in the hallway was too small. Too few survived.

“Break the curse.” I said, determination thudding through me. “And reclaim the building.”

“Jade, you’re going back into the training room.”

I laughed, “No, I’m not.”

He reached for me, but I took a step back.

“Jade.” Thar used his stern voice. “You’re not going to find him alive.”

It hurt more than I ever thought it would.

“Then I’m going to find him dead in a ditch.” I ground my teeth. “But I will find him.”

My magic circled me like a shield, and when Thar tried to grab my hand, he couldn’t pass through.

“Jade!”

I turned on my heel.

“And then I’m going to find my father.”