The Curse (H. Academy Series #1)

“What am I looking at?” Thar squinted at my hand and the paper, making me point at the words written under the sign. He opened his mouth to read-

“Don’t say it out loud!” I stopped him. “The spell is immediately triggered.”

“It’s a word spell? Those are very rare.” Thar examined the paper while I examined his face. There was a small scar above his lip on the right side. The five o’clock shade peeked through his skin, making me wonder what he looked like with a beard. His lips pursed and his forehead wrinkled as he read the two small words on the paper. I wanted to run my fingers through his hair, at the mere thought I imagined how soft it must be.

“What’s a word spell?” I asked once I realised I was day-dreaming about him in front of him.

“It’s a spell engraved into words. Usually, magic belongs to certain people, elements, plants, rarely animals. But this spell belongs to these words, they own the magic.” He explained, his dark eyes finding mine.

My heart skipped a beat when our eyes connected and I realised how close we were. Instinctively, I pulled back, creating a situation even more awkward.

“Why are they rare? The word spells?” I asked, trying to occupy my mind with an actual problem, not ogling my teacher.

“They are extremely inconvenient.” Thar said. “Every time you say the words out loud, the spell comes to life.”

“Oh, good to know.” I murmured, remembering the horrible mistake of reading those words out loud. “How do you recognise a word spell?”

“If you open up your magic, you should be able to feel it.” Thar said and I decided to try it out. Slowly, carefully I opened up my shields and let my third eye wander around. And truly, the words emitted power. Like an energy field opened within those words, whereas all other objects in the room emitted nothing.

And this was certainly magic, black magic.

“It’s black.” I whispered.

“Yes.” Thar took the notebook.

“What-”

“Unbind the evil.” Thar answered my silent question, deep seriousness appearing on his face as he looked at me. “Did you say these words out loud?” Underneath the serious, teacher tone, something else stirred. The twitch of his lips was a sign of worry, even fear.

“I might have.” I mumbled, not in the mood to get scowled. “But I burnt the original page and sprinkled it with salt, so it stopped.”

“Okay,” Thar nodded, “Quick thinking. What does the spell do?” I wanted to smile at the compliment, but the next piece of information was going to darken the mood.

“I don’t know what it does, Thar,” I tasted the words on my tongue, “But the feeling I got was the same as the one in the main hall. The same slimy, oozy touch crawled up my magic.”

Thar leaned towards me, his eyes widening. He skipped a breath as he took the notebook from my hands and gave it another look. He flipped the pages like a maniac, taking in everything written inside. I prayed to Goddess he would know what any of this meant.

“Whose notebook is this?” He pointed his fingers towards the small book, which was actually mine and the spells were neatly copied from my father’s. I caught Thar’s gaze, afraid of his reaction.

Some part of me feared he was in on the entire thing and that he would hand me in to my father.

“I stole it from my father.” I held Thar’s gaze as firmly as I could, hoping he could see my honesty. He blinked a couple of times and his gaze escaped to the book, then back to me.

“What?” He opened his mouth slightly, as his eyes darted all over the place. The book, my wrist, my eyes.

“I copied the text while I was in his office.” I said.

“Is that why you were listening to the meeting? How did you even listen? I was certain my shields were up.” This genuinely seemed to worry him and I felt bad.

“About that,” I pulled the hem of my dress down, which relentlessly wanted to put my legs on display, “We used a potion spell. Apparently, it’s extremely weak. And we created a diversion by throwing the party.”

“I’m pretty sure you violated at least one rule.” Thar grunted. Ha, how was he going to react once I told him I enchanted him? I sighed.

“I had to know whether he was going to tell you anything about the spell.” I murmured. “I had to know whether all the teachers were in on this.”

“Which means you decided you could trust me with this. Why?” Thar’s gaze turned gentle and I averted my gaze.

“Because you stood against him.” I shrugged, knowing that was the one and only reason. “You said we should learn more about black magic and I agree with you. I think there’s much more to this than meets the eye.”

“There are always issues the High Council doesn’t want to share with the common people, not even the teachers. But this seems extremely important, I don’t understand why your father would hide it from us. Maybe the Headmaster knows more.” Thar inhaled deeply, a deep frown forming on his forehead.

“I think you need to contact the Headmaster.” I suggested, knowing I couldn’t outright assume something bad has happened to the Headmasters just because they didn’t approve crap on Witchipedia.

“You’re right. Okay, you made a good call coming to me with this. I’ll definitely contact the Headmaster.” Thar nodded and stood up. “You should keep practicing here.”

“Wait, I wanna go with you.” I got up hastily.

“There’s no reason for you to come with me, Jade. These are serious matters and I need to take care of it on my own. I’ll have to be careful around other teachers, as well, to see whom I can trust. It’s best if you stay out of this.” Thar pursed his lips, like he already knew I would protest.

Like an unbearable like kid, I stood in front of him with my hands on my hips.

“I want in on this.” I demanded. “I told you because I needed help, not because I wanted you to take over.”

“Jade, it’s too dangerous. Do you really want to be a part of something as serious as this?” He asked me, looking me up and down. “You should enjoy your time here, learn something, have parties, kiss some boys, deal with rumours. You don’t want this.”

“You’re wrong.” I countered. “Look at this.” I showed him the sign on my wrist. “It’s the same goddess damned sign. Maybe I didn’t want to be involved with this, but I can’t stay on the side-lines if it concerns me.”

“Do you think it would be easy for me to constantly worry about you? If I have to step into the danger territory, I would very much appreciate it if I didn’t have to wonder all the time if you put yourself in danger, again.” Thar’s eyes turned angry, which made me like him and dislike him equally at the same time.

“I have never been a problem for you, not once!” I raised my voice, all the pushing aside pissed me off. “May I remind you, I actually saved your ass when we were in immediate danger.”

“That is a completely different thing, Jade.” He kept his tone calm and I had to compose myself because I would otherwise start yelling. “We were unprepared for that attack and your quick thinking saved me. I’m grateful for that. But do you really think you’re ready to face whatever that was head on?”

“That’s why we’re practicing! That’s why I’m here training my magic with you. And all you let me do is write stupid lines on paper and cut bricks in half. How the fuck am I going to defeat a demon? Am I going to threaten it with magical words?” The anger got the best of me and the curses and bitterness rolled off my tongue. I forgot for a moment I was actually talking to my teacher. One that had to grade me at the end of the year.

“I am trying to take into account why this is important to you and I understand it. But could you, please, please, respect my authority enough to admit that I might actually know a thing or two about magic?” His neck-vein popped out and his muscles tensed, but he kept his expression guarded.

“I know you know magic! And I’m not trying to convince you to hand the wheel over to me. But I want you to consult with me, keep me posted, tell me what’s going on!” I demanded.

“Yeah? And what if one of your friends blabs something to the wrong person? Just because you’re strong-willed enough to think you can handle an actual interrogation – which, mind you, would happen if someone suspected you know something – doesn’t mean your friends are.” Thar’s words resonated with me on a logical, reasonable level.

“I never said I would tell anyone.” I lowered my voice, keeping my tone serious, even though my veins stretched with adrenaline.

“Jade, these are serious matters.” Thar stared me down, his eyes begging me to understand. “What if,” he quieted down significantly, “someone other than the demons are behind it? What if it’s your father? What if it’s an entire High Council?”

The way he spoke made me shiver, his voice hit the note of silent desperation. I just now realised the magnitude of this entire thing.

“What if the Arch Mage is behind it? What does it mean?” My lip quivered.

“I don’t know. I have to gather evidence. I wish you could help, but I can’t risk your safety like that. Just imagine what would happen if the High Council was behind this? They would kill us for interfering.” Thar warned. “I think you’re a talented witch, Jade, I really do, but this is a bit out of your league.”

Perhaps my pride was hurt, but the words I said right after were not my wisest.

“Oh, come on, I managed to steal my father’s notebook, without him noticing, distract all the teachers while I listened in on your precious, important meeting because I slipped a listening potion in your drink!”

I covered my mouth the moment the words left it. Silence fell around us as Thar’s eyes sharpened, squinting at me through his thick lashes.

“You slipped a listening potion in my drink?” His voice turned deadly, making me realise how calm he was up to this point, how composed and pulled-together.

“I’m sorry!” I searched for words and simultaneously waged whether I had to run. “You were the only person I could come close to and I needed to know. My father didn’t tell you everything he knew on purpose.”

The anger in Thar’s eyes faltered a bit, sparking hope within me.

“I want to be angry, but I can’t argue that you made the best possible decision.” His throat bobbed as he struggled with saying those words.

“See? I know better than to trust everyone.” I crossed my hands on my chest.

“Why do you want in so desperately?” Thar asked.

“Because!” I took a deep breath. “I would love to follow my passion, even if it might be making out with guys and throwing stupid prank spells. I would love to enjoy my college years. But there’s this sense of duty gnawing at me, Thar, that I can’t ignore.” I tried to explain in a language I knew he would understand.

After all, he chose this profession out of duty.

“Maybe that’s the precise reason why I shouldn’t let you.” Thar sighed, his anger dispersing. “You deserve to be free of this burden, at least for a while. Life isn’t easy. Why would you want it to become so difficult so soon?”

“Don’t you see? I can’t be free of this burden.” I let my hands fall freely down my sides. “All my life, I was in the spotlight because of my father. His actions translate to me directly. If he’s guilty of something and I do nothing about it, his shadow will follow me to my grave.”

“You did enough by telling me.” Thar tried to convince me. “There is no need to risk your life because of his wrongdoings.”

“I can do more.” I pushed. “Even if it means I’ll have to do it without your help.”

“Whoa, there!” Thar stepped towards me and I couldn’t help but breathe in his cologne. “Don’t push me away, Jade. Do you really think I’ll be able to accomplish anything if I’m worried about you all the time?”

“See? That would be counterproductive.” I smiled.

“Sometimes I think you’ll drive me insane.” He sighed. “Fine, let’s make a deal.”

“I love deals.”

“You can snoop around on the side-lines, but you need to be very careful. I’ll contact the Headmaster and subtly talk to other teachers. About your father-”

“I can deal with my father.” I shrugged. “He thinks I’m really dumb so he’s not careful around me.”

“Can you promise me you’ll stay away from him for now?” Thar asked.

“Fine, for now. But, if he’s behind this, I want to be the one to take him down.” I demanded, calling forth my magic, inviting it into my eyes. Thar saw the sparks, because he smiled in a way I haven’t seen before; like a part of him wanted me to wreak havoc.