The Curse (H. Academy Series #1)

If we hadn’t already been scared out of our wits, we would have been now. Amma lit the candles around our summoning circle and nervously jumped around to check whether everything was in order. The combined strength and talents of our little group should be enough to invite the spirit into the room.

We were doing it in the hallway, the same place we’ve create the little black frog, Dominic, who now ominously ribbited, as if trying to tell us we were making a terrible mistake. Or, we read into the little guy’s ribbits because of how terrified we all were.

Morta found an Ouija board and placed it on the tiles in the middle of the room. The sole purpose of the board was to allow my grandma to communicate with us somehow.

“Alright.” I shuffled nervously on the floor. “We’ve got everything we need; salt, candles, my grandma’s notebook, a black magic repellent,” I pointed at Dominic, “And the recklessness and stupidity of any person summoning a spirit.”

“This is going to go so wrong.” Amma squeezed her fingers, pursed her lips and grabbed her notebook again. “I feel like we’re forgetting something.”

“Oh, come on.” Morta rolled her eyes, her Marten’s pushing the Ouija board away as she stumbled on the floor. “Life begins at the end of your comfort zone.”

Amma squinted, “I’d say summoning a spirit shouldn’t be within someone’s comfort zone.”

“We should hurry.” Morta ignored her. “The Halloween party is starting and those are wild.”

“Did you know the average score of our school dropped significantly over the past two years?” Amma sat on the floor, her notebook still in her hand. “Something terrible has happened between Thar’s generation and ours.”

“Yeah,” I snickered, “Leon joined the school.”

“It’s all these parties.” Amma shook her head. “Nobody is focusing on their grades!”

“Such tragedy.” Morta nodded solemnly, just a touch of irony in her voice. “Many regrets.”

My phone, resting on the floor, buzzed against the tiles.

Where are you? My father.

“Shit.” I cursed, nervousness biting my veins. “My dad is texting me. What if he knows we’re up to something?”

“Ignore him.” Morta suggested. “Tell him later you were chocking on some cock, so you couldn’t answer.”

My eyes narrowed to slits.

“Goddess!” Amma squeaked. “Why are you always so crude?”

“I’m serious.” Morta shrugged. “It’s Halloween. Only losers won’t be getting laid tonight.”

“Thanks.” I pursed my lips. “I love when my friends think I’m a loser.”

“You’re being voluntarily celibate, that’s your problem.” Morta eyed me. “Come on, let’s get this over with. I, for once, don’t want to be a loser.”

“Okay.” I cleared my throat and glanced over the two girls, praying to the Goddess we had what it took for this to work. “Amma, do you know the spell?”

“I’d know it if you woke me up at 5AM.” She mumbled, her eyes wide and terrified. “Grab my hands, come on.”

The three of us held hands and stared at the Ouija board on the floor. The dark-wood thing stared back, unmoving, and I pondered over how something so plain could be so dangerous.

As Amma closed her eyes, magic burst around us, potent and strong. My veins constricted with power and my breath caught in my throat.

“We call on the spirits on the other side of the veil.” Amma murmured. “We call on Mathilda Montgomery and ask for her advice in these troubling times.” Amma’s left eye squinted open. “Jade, tell her.”

I cleared my throat, pushing down the rumbling magic, “Grandma? It’s Jade. I know we’ve never met or anything, but I’d very much appreciate it if you came to talk to us. I’m... I’m lost. I don’t know what to do. Dad seems to be hiding something and people around the school are dying. We... we need help.”

Wind whooshed around us, but nothing aside from that happened. The magic coursing through my veins grew stronger and even more potent, until it devoured my body from inside out, filling me with its dangerous sparks from head to toe.

Amma looked at me, her grip around my hand tightening, then continued, “We call on Mathilda Montgomery to ask for her advice in these troubling times.”

“Please, grandma.” I murmured. “If you can help us, please show up. We need you.”

I had no idea who this woman was, whether she was crazy or evil, or if she would even want to help, but there weren’t many things we could do aside from try.

Amma’s grip around my hand loosened, as well as Morta, as nothing happened for more than five minutes. I sighed and let their hands go.

“Maybe she’s-”

A deep force reverberated through the room; shaking the tiles in the hallway, the windows, burning out candles and moving the Ouija board in front of us. Amma and Morta both grabbed my hands and we stood up instinctively. Fear thudded through my veins, stronger with each heartbeat, as I waited for whatever might come next.

The magic rumbled in my veins, stronger than ever, and as I glimpsed down, I noticed blackness gathering in my wrists and on the backs of my hand, right where my veins were. Panic shook me from inside out. My wide eyes searched for Amma’s and Morta’s, looking for an explanation, but the two girls had even less idea what was going on.

Then, the shaking stopped.

A cold, slimy air slithered through the room and through my clothes, sliding over my skin, making me feel disgusted and exposed.

I looked down, only to find the planchette on the board moving.

“Amma!” I hissed. “Notebook.”

Listening as if on autopilot, Amma dropped on the tiles and grabbed her notebook. The planchette moved, too fast for us to follow, but Amma’s skilled fingers wrote in the notebook. When she turned it around, I dropped on my butt.

Hello, granddaughter.

Oh, crap. My heart hammered against my ribcage, but I tried to keep happy thoughts in my head, just like Thar suggested. This was my grandmother. Perhaps I’ve never met her, but she had some sort of a biological imperative to love me, right? Right?

“Hi, grandma.” I stuttered, my voice sounding way too strained. “I’m Jade, sorry we’ve never met.”

Goddess, I was an idiot.

The plachette moved again and Amma quickly followed the letters, writing the note down.

Such was the wish of the Goddess.

Morta visibly rolled her eyes and I scolded her with my stern gaze. She truly was the type to go around pissing off dead spirits.

“Grandma, we need help.” I continued, hoping spirits couldn’t feel nervousness coming from this plane. “I need to know about the sign on my hand. What is it? What does it mean? Why did it appear when you died?”

Was that too many questions in a row? I glanced at Amma and Morta, hoping they would help, but they were just as clueless as me. Perhaps we should have let someone more experienced help us.

The chilly, slimy air turned almost unbearable once the plachette moved and Amma’s forehead wrinkled as she desperately tried to write it all down.

Media nocte ostium aperit. Signum perficit ante.

I frowned, “What...? What does that mean?”

Amma shook her hand and followed the plachette with her eyes. The slimy air slid down my hands, almost reminding me of something I’ve sensed before. Morta pulled at my sleeve, her eyes trying to communicate something.

Amma turned the notebook towards me.

Your father is lying.

The ground began to shake again, small, sudden quakes spreading through the flooring, pushing candlesticks to the ground, making the plachette on the board move randomly, until it finally flew off and thumped on the ground. The lights flickered, the windows opened and the glass strained.

“Abort mission!” I shouted and pushed myself off the ground, almost stumbling over my feet. “Someone else is here with us. Protection spell, now!”

Morta was the next to stand and she immediately began to chant the simplest protection spell, while Amma stared at the Ouija board, not helping us.

“Amma!” I shouted. “Protection!”

But the girl was busy staring at the board and finally, she grabbed her notebook and scribbled down something. I glanced at the board, only to find the plachette back in place, like it jumped back to the board on its own. I swallowed the rising panic and focused on the protection spell.

And then, Dominic ribbited and everything calmed down.

The lights stopped flickering, the ground stopped shaking and the board wasn’t moving anymore.

“What the hell was that?” I wiped the sweat off my forehead.

Morta tapped the frog’s head, “I think this little guy ate them, whoever they were.”

“Turns out familiars are useful.” I murmured.

“Guys...” Amma whispered and turned the paper towards us. “Whoever was here, said this.”

The end of witches is here.

“Shit.” I cursed again. “Well, this was completely useless.”

Morta came to the window and looked out, “Shit, again. We need to get to the party.”

“What?” Amma raised her head. “Why?”

“Because the ground wasn’t only shaking in here.” Morta squinted. “They emptied the dorms; we need to go.”

Amma grabbed the candlesticks lying scattered on the ground, while I hid the Ouija board in my room and Morta cleaned the wax off the floor. In a matter of minutes, the entire place was clean and the three of us stumbled down the staircase, pretending we had nothing to do with the shaking and quaking.

Teachers went through the rooms, trying to figure out what had happened. When Thar Adara appeared between the teachers and his eyes settled on me, his eyes turned exasperated. I offered a small smile and shrugged, hoping he would understand I had no other choice than to cause a small earthquake.

“What did that mean?” Morta asked once we were out in the fresh night air. “Your grandma’s words?”

“I wish I paid attention in Latin.” I mumbled.

“I’ll translate it.” Amma said. “But not tonight, not while they’re searching our dorms. Goddess, am I ever going to graduate with the two of you as my friends?”

I chuckled, “You’ll be fine. We did nothing wrong, just a small summoning spell on Halloween. We’re probably not the only ones.”

“She’s right.” Morta nodded. “Summoning spells are a natural part of Halloween, as well as Halloween parties. So, kindly, are we going?”

“We should.” Begrudgingly, I glanced at the unanswered message from my father. “My dad is going to ask where I was.”

My stomach turned queasy at the mere thought of talking to my father tonight. If there was only a way I could postpone the conversation until morning.

“Yes!” Morta shouted. “Let’s go!”

“I think she has a lust charm problem.” Amma leaned towards me.

Come to think of it, there was a way to postpone the conversation until morning. If I happened to be in the middle of the lust charm filled dancefloor, it would be far too uncomfortable for my father to try to talk to me.

I grinned, “Probably.”