The Curse (H. Academy Series #1)

I wasn’t always haunted by nightmares. There were days when I slept calmly and peacefully. But lately, I couldn’t close my eyes without my brain conjuring up a demon. Waking up without being covered in sweat has turned into a rare privilege. If it weren’t for those nightmares, Goddess herself could not make me join this wretched Academy.

Stumbling out of my beautiful bed, I headed for the bathroom. The day seemed gloomy, perfect for the beginning of classes. Since Professor Lange ditched me yesterday and I slammed the door in Leon’s face, I had no idea where the classes were held. The safest strategy was to wake up early enough and look for the classrooms.

But no being should be awake at 6:30AM.

I opened the door to the bathroom, only to be scared out of my wits as I almost ran into a black-haired girl that applied lots and lots of eyeliner on her face.

“Oh, Goddess, what the hell?!” I shouted and the girl turned to me with a blank expression.

“Did I scare you?”

“Yes!”

“Good.” She turned back to the mirror, adding a finishing touch of her makeup. Her hair almost fell over her eyes and I stared at her tight, red, leather body-suit and her fishnet stockings. She was extremely thin, which made her Doc Martens boots seem really big.

“What are you doing in my bathroom?” I finally looked around, enjoying the huge marble tub and perfectly polished sink. The bathroom was massive and contained three separate sinks, a shower and three separate lavatories. Last night, I simply strode to the toilet, not even bothering to turn on the light.

“Your bathroom? This is our bathroom.” Another voice reached my ears and I jumped up as a petite redhead exited the toilet. Her face was freckled and her eyes azure blue. The clarity of her expression and her wide smile seemed welcoming and warm.

“We share a bathroom?” I noticed another, white-painted door across from mine.

“Yes. You’re the only one with a separate entrance. So not fair.” The redhead rolled her eyes and offered a hand. “I’m Amma. Well, Ammelise, but please, don’t call me that.”

“Jade.” I took her hand, enjoying her friendliness. I had already prepared myself that no one would be friendly, which made this a surprise. The goth girl offered her pale hand, too, but she never looked back from the mirror. She seemed unsatisfied with her attire.

“Morta.” She said and I frowned.

“Morta?”

“Goddess of death.” Morta turned to me, her face completely emotionless. “You’re Jade Montgomery.” Here we go, I thought and sighed.

“Yes.” I nodded. Morta’s face twisted in a strange way, almost as if she was trying to smile.

“Sweet.” She said.

“Wait, why is that sweet? Are you, like, the queen or something?” Amma jumped in and I shot a puzzled look towards her. Someone that didn’t know my name must have lived under a rock in our world.

“Amma’s parents are human. She doesn’t know anything about our world.” Morta continued fixing her eyeliner, even though her silver eyes almost disappeared in all the black.

“Ha, you’re lucky.” I told Amma. “And I am no queen.” I didn’t want to get into details.

“This world doesn’t have a queen.” Morta murmured. “We’re a democracy. Well, as much as anyone’s a democracy. We choose an Arch-Mage, but he or she is always a member of one of the most powerful families.” Morta explained quietly. I finally got to the mirror and combed my silver hair.

I’ve always loved my hair, it was voluptuous and long. The colour was natural, so lightly blonde that it appeared silver. Sunshine could be a problem, but nothing a small spell wouldn’t fix. I looked into my sleep-deprived, dark brown eyes and thought of ways I could bring life into them for the first day. My face was quite symmetrical, nothing stood out. My mother always said I had the classical type of beauty, very elegant, very eternal. I wished I felt that way.

“Wait, if your parents are human, how come you got the fancy room?” I asked Amma, hoping I didn’t come off as rude. But she smiled sweetly and slightly rolled her eyes.

“Money, hun. My parents agreed to donate for the renewal of the entire eastern wing.” Amma sounded embarrassed while she said it and I understood her. Her money made her as much of an outcast as my status made me.

“What about you, Morta?” I asked, applying foundation on my pale face.

“My mother is our generation’s Chosen.” Morta laughed bitterly, like that name has brought her nothing good in life.

“What’s a Chosen?” Amma asked.

“Every generation has a Chosen, it’s a person chosen to communicate with the Goddess by Goddess. The position is life-long.” I explained, noticing that Morta rolled her eyes so far up she could see the inside of her brain.

“And what about you, Jade?” Amma asked innocently, her eyes wide.

“Well,” I sighed, not used to being the one that had to explain my family, “My father is one of the last dark mages.”

“I wish I had black magic in my veins.” Morta sighed.

“No, you don’t.” I felt triggered every time someone said some bullshit like that. “It’s not a gift. Especially when everyone treats you differently because of it. People either envy me or are afraid of me, try living like that.”

“Hey, my mother is the Chosen. Do you have any idea how many death threats I received in my life?” Morta finally put her makeup down and shot a dirty look my way, her eyes glowing angrily, the first real emotion featured on her face.

“Uh...” Amma murmured, interrupting our staring contest. Her azure eyes darted between us and her bottom lip slightly trembled. “Do I have to fear for my life?”

“Sure.” Morta broke her gaze. “Let’s be honest, everyone thinks a whole story for ourselves is a privileged treatment, but it’s really to avoid the possibility of someone poisoning us in our sleep.” She puffed, causing Amma’s eyes to widen.

“Don’t listen to her.” I rolled my eyes. “We’re perfectly safe here.”

“Only if you know how to use the black magic flowing through your veins.” Morta gathered her makeup kit and shot us both a dirty look as she exited the bathroom.

“Is she serious?” Amma asked me while I returned to fixing my face.

“You’re safe with me, trust me.” I said, but I knew it was a lie. If someone really intended to hurt us, they would probably succeed, especially since I neglected my witch heritage most of my life. Amma didn’t seem convinced, begging me for reassurance and biting her lower lip. “Look, nothing’s gonna happen to us. Nobody would mess with me because of my dad and if you stick with me, no one will touch you.”

“Okay.” She nodded slowly. Quietly, she returned to getting ready for classes while I applied mascara, trying to give my face some life.

Nightmares took their toll on me, especially since I decided to come to the Academy after all. Leon wasn’t wrong when he asked me about my grandmother, she did something to me in order to gain power and youth. Except, I didn’t really know what. My parents have frequently asked me if something was wrong but nothing ever was, up until three weeks ago, when the nightmares began and the constant sensation that someone was watching me.

Unwillingly, I shivered, attracting Amma’s attention. But I simply shook my head and disappeared out of the bathroom. There was something else I needed to handle now and that was fitting in into this wretched Academy.

I returned to my room and chose an emerald turtleneck sweatshirt paired with a waist-high leather black mini-skirt and my favourite knee-high boots. Silver broche in the shape of letter H found its place on my chest. I combed my hair one more time, letting it fall loosely over my shoulders.

To my surprise, Morta and Amma were waiting in front of my room. Morta in her red leather body-suit and short shorts, her fishnet stockings and Doc Martens, and Amma, in a vintage, wool lace dress in the shade of ivory that reached just above her knees. The dress went incredibly well with her azure eyes and her red hair. Both girls had H’s on their clothes, Morta’s hung around her neck and Amma’s cotton version was embroidered in her dress.

“I thought we would have uniforms.” I murmured as we left our story and proceeded through the long hallways of the western building.

“They want us to express ourselves. Trust me, you’ll see all kinds of things around.” Morta said, smiling smugly. “My outfit is going to seem chaste in comparison.”

“So, the first class is Demonology. Oh, I can’t wait!” Amma squeaked right next my ear. She handed a hand-written sheet to me, containing our schedule.

“Morta, I thought you were in second year.” I noticed, realising she knew a lot more about this place than me, or even Amma.

“I failed Latin and Healing Magic and Demonology and Intro to Potions.” Her dead-pan expression told me it was nothing unusual.

“What’s the worst subject?” I asked, I might as well learn something while I was here. Sure, I needed only basics, but knowledge was power in any case. Passing on an opportunity like that would be dumb.

“Depends on what you’re into.” Morta said. “I hate Healing Magic, that’s why I failed. Demonology is pretty tough, because it incorporates a lot of different subjects, including Latin.”

“I heard Black Magic is hard to pass.” Amma interrupted and I winced again, something I really should stop doing when triggered.

“That’s because most of the students don’t have an affinity for it. The Professor teaches how to defend against black magic, but none of us are users. Surely, Jade will find that subject extremely easy.” Morta smiled at me and I fought the urge to stick out my tongue.

We entered the classroom, the half-circumference atrium with tables made out of dark wood and huge windows reaching all the way to the ceiling, covered with wine-coloured curtains. The pale light spilt over the atrium, making it look depressing.

I looked over the students in the atrium, taking in their snobbish expressions while they smirked in my direction. Or was it Morta’s direction? Hard to tell.

I caught sight of Leon, whispering something to a brunette by his side. His eyes darted towards me and every time I caught his gaze, he smirked. The girl’s heavily made up face distorted as she looked at me, making her uglier than she was. The tight black dress she had wrapped around her naked legs and chest was far from appropriate for school. Her red lips widened in a smile, devilish, at best.

“That’s Bella, Leon’s girl.” Morta whispered to me as we sat down.

“First or second year?” I asked.

“Second, Leon failed Demonology and Bella failed everything. She’s dumb and evil, perfect combination.” Morta snickered. “Girl can’t use magic for shit. Last year, she tried making a thinning potion and accidently made all of her food taste like ash.”

“Sounds like it worked.” I murmured, lowering my voice because a dark figure entered the atrium. The man wore a black robe that reached all the way to his ankles, contrasting his pale face and his short, blond hair. The thinness of his hands and neck was disturbing. But the sternness of his gaze was apparent and the way everyone shut up as soon as he turned to us, made me realise this was not a professor one should mess with.

“My name is Professor Darth, I will be teaching Demonology in the first year, Possessions and Exorcisms in the second. And you will get to hang out with me once more, in fifth year, in Practical Invocations.” He let the huge book hit the table in front of him. “Of course, most of you will fail this subject, so you better get used to seeing me.”

Students kept quiet as he proceeded to explain the syllabus. My attention dispersed once I noticed Amma following each word the Professor said. This girl would be the most valuable player through this year. Hoping no one will notice, I looked at Leon and Bella, both listening to the Professor. But Leon smirked and wrote something in his notebook. Under my hands, on the paper, letters appeared.

You’re staring, princess.

Dammit, I thought and scribbled down a message, using the same trick he used. The point was to focus thoughts on the paper and transfer them to another place. Actually, it was the manipulation of simple molecules, such as carbon dioxide from the air and creating graphite out of it. But it wasn’t a hard spell, children used it without any idea about chemistry.

Did no one tell your girlfriend that she was supposed to wear clothes to class?

I sighed at my own pettiness and tried to focus on the Professor. Growing up in a witch household, I pretty much learnt what this school looked like. I would lie if I said a part of me didn’t want to know more about witchcraft. But after seeing what it had done to my family, how it put a target sign on our backs, I was hesitant.

Jealous? Words appeared under my hand.

“Demonology, as you all well know, is the study of demons. In this class, you will learn about the history of demons in all mayor religions of the world, the ways religion has influenced the idea of demons, what all monotheistic religions share in terms of demons, some common misconceptions and finally, the truth we live.” Professor Darth caught my attention before I managed to come up with a witty response to Leon. This class could be useful to me.

“Excuse me, Professor,” a dark-haired girl in the first seat raised her hand, “are we going to learn about demonic manifestations?”

“That is the subject of Possessions and Exorcisms in the second year, but we will definitely talk about it. In Elemental Magic and Black Magic, you will learn a couple of easy protection spells and what to do if something like this happens to you. But don’t worry, demons are rarely interested in first graders.” Professor Darth smiled, some students joined him.

Jealous of someone who can’t make a thinning potion? Highly doubt it. I answered finally.

She doesn’t need to be smart to do things I need her for.

I grimaced as disgust washed over me.

You’re repulsive. I wrote and watched Leon grin at the paper. Bella seemed to notice and she turned around, shooting an angry glance my way. Immediately, she raised her hand. Great.

“Excuse me, Professor Darth,” her voice sounded like a dissonant violin, “are we going to talk about making deals with demons?”

Morta, who probably heard rumours about my family, instantaneously looked into my eyes and frowned, making me sigh.

“We will talk about it briefly, but as you all know, it is somewhat of a taboo in our society, since making deals with demons is strictly forbidden.” Professor Darth slightly grimaced, letting everyone know he wasn’t satisfied with this question.

“But some mages have done it, right? Some even sold souls to the demons.” Bella continued and looked in my direction for the entire class to see. Silence fell as all eyes in the atrium focused solely on me.

“Ah, I see.” Professor Darth looked at me. “It’s nice to see you joining the Academy, Miss Montgomery.”

“Glad to be here.” I murmured.

“Maybe you should tell us the truth, Jade.” Bella emphasized my name. “We all know demons cause great havoc when they come to claim the soul. I believe we have the right to know whether we’re in danger.” Some students nodded their agreements and I wanted to disappear right away.

“Alright, settle down. Surely, Miss Montgomery talked to the Headmaster about everything regarding these rumours.” Professor Darth spoke directly to me.

Miss Montgomery did not.

“Attention,” The speakerphone above my head voiced its existence, saving me from the awkwardness, “all students and teachers are required to immediately come to the main hall. I repeat, all students and teachers need to come to the main hall. This is not a drill.”

All eyes shot right back at Professor Darth and his face paled. Deep dread washed over me once I saw traces of it in his eyes.

“Alright, one by one. Come on.” He cleared his throat and gestured for everyone to get up. Silent panic spread through the room, grabbing us all.

“What’s going on?” Amma asked as she threw all of her notebooks in her bag.

“Something happened. Something bad.” Morta murmured and we hastily marched out of the room, forgetting petty fights and class syllabus.