The Curse (H. Academy Series #1)

We barely slept. Amma allowed us to rest after dinner, but she woke us up at 9pm, with fresh coffee and tea, and a bunch of new highlighters. I yawned as I glanced at the vintage clock that hung from the wall, 4am.

“Amma, you’re insane.” Morta rested her head on the book.

“Yeah, I thought you had healthy habits. Like, I assumed we’d do a cleansing ritual and eat only organic food, but you’ve stuffed us with coffee and made us suffer.” I closed Intro to Black Magic 2 and rubbed my eyes.

“Sacrifices need to be made if we want to become the best possible versions of ourselves.” Amma skimmed through the book and at this point, I wasn’t even sure she was reading.

“I thought we wanted to become better, not best.” Morta arched her eyebrow.

Amma closed the book shut: “I’m sorry, okay? But Jade can use black magic, your mother is a powerful priestess-”

“She’s not that powerful.” Morta cut her off.

“Whatever. My parents are human. And I entered a world I didn’t know existed three months ago. Now, I have to learn how to fight a demon. I know the two of you aren’t scared, but I am. So, give me credit for doing everything I can.” Amma leaned into her chair, first signs of exhaustion showing in her eyes.

“We’re scared, too.” I nodded, letting the fear show on my face for once. I was hiding it well throughout last two days, but I was also getting tired. “Morta may be too stubborn to admit, but I’m not. And we don’t know what we’re doing, either. But exhausting ourselves isn’t going to help. So, how about, you sleep all day tomorrow and let Morta and me gather information?” I suggested.

“And when am I going to sleep?” Morta scoffed.

“When you’re dead, Morta.”

“Can’t wait.”

Amma glanced between the two of us and squinted once realisation hit her: “You two are going to do something against the rules if I let you off the leash.”

“What? No. No way.” Morta puffed, but she was too tired to pull off a good act.

“I promise we won’t get caught?” I said, my thoughts interrupted by the buzzing of my phone. Amidst the books and the magic, it was easy to forget phones even existed. “Shit, my father is here.” I read the message.

“I guess you could ignore him until morning.” Amma murmured, but my phone buzzed again. An incoming call. I showed it to the girls and they chuckled.

“He really won’t let you sleep?” Morta asked through the chuckle.

“As you’ll learn soon enough, my father doesn’t respect anything.” I ignored the call and headed for the bathroom, splashing some water on my face. Every fibre of my being wanted to stroll out in front of him in my PJs, but that wouldn’t score any points for me.

So, I settled for the cherry red, chiffon, button-up dress with cuffed sleeves that reached just above my knees. The design was walking the line between girly and mature. The elegance prevailed, making me look like I knew what I was doing. I combed my silver hair and let it fall loosely over my shoulders.

“I think I’m gonna go to bed.” Morta yawned.

“Are you sure you can talk to them alone, Jade?” Amma asked, yawning immediately after Morta.

“Yeah, they’re going to ask me what happened. But I doubt they’ll tell me anything more than what we already know.” I sighed.

“They’re not going to tell us anything ever, even though we’re in the middle of it.” Amma’s head finally dropped on the table, exhaustion kicking in.

“Yup. That’s why we’re going to involve ourselves without their knowledge.” Morta dragged herself to the bathroom and began to take off her makeup.

“I’ll let you know how it goes.” I shut the door behind me. In the meantime, dad called three more times and sent a message telling me to meet him in the teacher’s lounge. My gut clenched at the mere thought of facing him in front of all the teachers. Why couldn’t have my mother been a black magic user? She was so much easier to deal with.

I left the western building, feeling the chill in the air as soon as I stepped out. I loved October, but it was dangerously close to November and that meant snow and freezing temperatures. Which I wasn’t a huge fan of.

The empty backyard of the school was eerie. I hugged myself as I walked ahead, trying not to look at the darkness around me. Like believing there was a demon-like creature in your room, you had to not think about it, stop imagining it. I pushed the thoughts out of my head, but my gaze glanced towards the bushes and trees. Screeches, creaks and rustles awaited there; each sound more unnatural than the last.

Feeling prickles across my skin, as if someone watched me, I ran to the main building, forgetting all about unnecessary courage. The lobby was dark, as well as the marble staircase, but I heard voices coming from behind the walls. I followed those sounds and knocked on the door of the teacher’s lounge, light coming from behind it.

“Come in.” A muffled voice said and I pushed the door.

Light momentarily blinded me and I squinted as I walked in. All the teachers were inside, their faces even paler than mine. Were they also pulling an all-nighter? I thought as I skimmed over the coffee pot on the massive, lacquered table in the middle full of papers and books. Teachers sat around it, pens in their hands and worry on their faces. The entire right wall was covered with huge, Victorian windows, reaching the floor and the ceiling, covered in burgundy curtains. On the opposite side, infinite bookshelves decorated the wall.

Teachers lined up the table and my father, Dereck, stole the spotlight, sitting at the head of it. My gaze met his stern, black eyes, concern and calculation pouring out of them. My father rarely looked anything but calculating, yet tonight, or this morning, something else clouded his features. A twitch grasped his lips, giving the lack of that all-knowing vibe away. The black beard hid it, but I knew his face well. He cleared his throat the moment he saw me and looked away which took me by surprise. A wince gripped my face but I wiped it off on purpose, trying to relax.

“Father.” I coughed out. “It’s four in the morning.”

“Considering everything that happened, you should’ve already been up.” Damn him to hell, I was already up. Subconsciously, my eyes found Thar’s and his nervousness comforted me.

“I was up. Studying black magic.” My instinct was to defend myself immediately, which was a crucial mistake. Teachers winced and some even outwardly gasped.

“A beginner should not be studying black magic without a mentor. But, I am used to such impulsive behaviour on your part.” He got up slowly, asserting dominance with his every move. The man that straight out refused the position of the Arch Mage. “Tell us, Jade, what happened in the main hall?”

“Well,” my heartbeat quickened on impulse. Something that happened every time I had to justify something in front of my father, “we were eating lunch when the windows broke. The black ooze-“

“Demonic entity.” My father corrected me.

“Demonic entity crawled over the window-sills and began devouring everything in its way.” I fought with all my might against my reaction, but the anger that boiled in my blood must have been visible on my face. “Professors began to fight it.”

“And what were you doing? Standing there?” He interrupted again and I swallowed my heartbeat.

“It all happened in a second.” Another justification. “I looked around, students were screaming and running towards the door. It was locked. I-”

“So, you stayed and watched? Wasn’t your instinct to run for the door, too? Isn’t that the first thing you learn? To run when you’re too weak to fight.” My father crossed his hands on his chest and I felt the temperature in the room rise as everyone tensed. Well, at least this would be awkward for everyone.

“I noticed my classmate getting burnt by the demonic entity and I wanted to help. Professor Lange,” I looked in her direction, hoping this wouldn’t hurt her pride, “wanted to handle it, but white magic wasn’t working.”

She nodded towards me, a small gesture of unfamiliar encouragement.

“Professor Adara,” I almost called him Thar again, “was on the ground, holding his face with his hands. He tried to repel the demonic entity, but he couldn’t do it efficiently with his eyes hurt.”

“And you felt like you were the one chosen to do this dangerous and reckless endeavour.” My father nodded. At this point, I wasn’t sure if I was being questioned or scowled.

“I reached for my notebook. Earlier in the morning, Professor Adara taught us the protection spell and I figured it might work, especially if I reinforced it with black magic.” When no one complained, I continued. “I reached Professor Adara who was still on the ground and I put the notebook on the ground and triggered the protection spell.”

“Ahem.” My father leaned over the table and scribbled something down on the piece of paper in front of him. “Black magic of any kind works, despite the user’s weakness and lack of training.”

With my father looming over his paper, I freely looked at Thar, letting out an ounce of anger and nervousness that gripped my soul. A compassionate half-smile flashed across his lips.

“I created a protection field and managed to take the pieces of glass out of Professor Adara’s eyes and he used his magic to repel the demonic entity.” I finished up, unwilling to go into any details. I definitely didn’t want to describe how I passed out immediately after that.

“Well, the endeavour was certainly brave, but as we all know, there’s a fine line between courage and recklessness. And your behaviour was reckless. If it weren’t for Professor Adara, you would’ve been the sixteenth dead student.” His lip twitched again and I interpreted his words as concern for my well-being. But I was also angry and tired.

“I’ll make sure I don’t help at all next time.”

My father raised his eyebrow. Whispers spread through the room and Thar palmed his face quite loudly.

“Your sarcasm isn’t welcome in the matters as serious as this one. If your fragile ego is hurt, I will let you go lick your wounds, but don’t expect to get another call during our meetings. You’re excused.” My father said and I felt tears prickle my eyes, despite my cold demeanour.

“Fine.” I murmured, failing to conceal the pain in my voice.

“The fact you’re hurt by my words proves your presence is completely unnecessary.”

Thar coughed out loud: “I just want to say that if it weren’t for Jade, we wouldn’t be here having this conversation.”

My heart skipped a beat and my eyes shot up to meet his.

“That is for the Goddess to know and us to speculate.” My father gathered his papers neatly, avoiding eye contact with Thar or me.

“Jade, go get some sleep.” The pretty professor, Lorenia, walked over to me and placed her gentle hand on my lower back.

“I wanted to help.” I told her, letting tears fall freely from my eyes once she turned me towards the door. She was even prettier up close, her eyes were grass-green, perfectly combined with her strawberry blond hair.

“I know, sweetheart, we all appreciate what you did.” She escorted me out of the room and closed the door behind us, leaning onto it in a very much unladylike manner.

“My father is a douche.” I said, letting my anger flow. The lack of sleep and the stress made me relax in front of her without thinking.

“That, he is.” She chuckled. “But he’s the best at what he does. And if someone can help us understand what happened here, it’s him.”

“He’s not going to tell me anything and everyone will assume I’m the one hiding secrets from them.” The pettiness rolled off me and I couldn’t help it. Maybe it was the ego, or my childish need to fit in, but the hurt was real.

“I’m sorry. But it’s not your responsibility to worry about it. I know it’s hard to let it go, but think of it as our attempt to protect you. You’re way too young to trouble yourself with such tragedies. It’s enough you had to witness everything that happened.” Her words were soothing, but I wasn’t the type of person to let things go.

“I feel like I could do more.” I admitted.

“Sweetheart, you’ll have to do more all your life. Enjoy while you have to do less. Now, please, go get some sleep. Tomorrow will be difficult for all of us.” Professor Lorenia smiled sympathetically and went back into the room.

Tomorrow was the funeral for the fifteen students that died. Classmates, colleagues and to some, friends. The lack of their presence made the school sadder, emptier. I wondered how long would that last.

Exhaustion overwhelmed me and I decided it was time to call it a night. Somewhere deep in my bones, I feared there weren’t many peaceful night ahead.