The Curse (H. Academy Series #1)

The number of parties we were subjugating traumatized students to has become alarming.

Even the teachers thought so.

Professor Darth’s expression when he read the invitation circling the classroom bordered somewhere between horrified and confused. He decided to ignore it, judging by the shake of his head, and put the piece of paper down. Before he turned to the board, he let out a heavy sigh and rubbed his temples. I felt sorry for the man.

“Do you think anyone’s going to show?” Morta sat on my right.

“Why not?” I whispered back. “We’ve already had a party after those deaths. Two, actually.”

“Yes, but the new students might not be up for it.” Amma leaned from the left side. “They’re probably not used to it.”

“Parties or demons?” Morta asked.

“Silence.” Professor Darth’s hoarse voice reached us and we shut up. “We’ve got a lot of ground to cover today.”

He faced the classroom, “First, I want you to have the opportunity to ask whatever you want regarding the recent events at the school. I know you must have a lot of questions, and I’m here to answer them as best as I can.”

Our classmates stopped whispering amongst themselves and faced the blackboard. I imagined they had plenty of questions, but no one knew what they were allowed to ask. Fortunately, Morta had no such issues.

“Professor Darth.” She raised her hand. “Do you have any new information on the black ooze?”

His thin eyebrow slowly lifted, “Black... ooze?”

“Demonic entity.” I said.

Professor Darth looked thinner than the first time I saw him. The black robe he had on ate him up completely, his pale hands looking like branches sticking out of the sleeves.

“Yes.” He answered. “As far as we know, it’s not sentient.”

The word caused silence I’ve never witnessed in a classroom before. Amidst the chaos we’ve experienced, no one stopped to take in this simple, terrifying fact. We’ve always known it, we’ve always been aware of it, but we’ve buried it so deep it just hasn’t reached our consciousness.

Demons were sentient.

They thought, felt, planned.

“Fuck.” Morta cursed out loud. “I forgot demons are sentient.”

Professor Darth didn’t even acknowledge her cursing. Instead, he walked to his table and leaned against it, his palms gripping the sides.

“That’s what makes them so terrifying, isn’t it?” He spoke. “We always think of them as animals, driven by instinct, needs, impulses. When we describe them, we use words such as nesting, hunting, marking, or territorial, solitary, feral. Those are descriptors of animal behaviour, but they’re not animals at all.”

The feeling of being watched suddenly overwhelmed me. The idea that something hunting us wasn’t a rabid animal, but a thinking, feeling entity made everything I’ve done so far seem... pointless.

“People have summoned them.” Professor Darth continued, looking lost in his own words. “Talked to them. Asked them for favours. We’re not dealing with something that wants to eat us and move on, we’re dealing with something with an agenda, a plan. It wants. Strives.”

“Well, shit, prof!” Leon let out a chuckle in the front row. “That’s one way to make us run for our lives.”

Once again, Professor Darth didn’t acknowledge the swear word. He just shook his head, the haunted expression disappearing. The tension in the room somewhat eased.

“What attacked the school is not a demon, though.” He said. “It’s a demonic entity. A slimy secretion they leave behind, a-”

“Ooze.” I helped out, which earned me a small smile from Professor Darth.

“The ooze doesn’t seem to be sentient.” He said. “It acts like an animal, perhaps even like a lower life form. It’s attracted by warmth, movement, and magic. Especially magic.”

Amma scribbled down everything he said like a maniac.

“So, it should be easier to defeat, right?” Morta asked.

Professor Darth’s gaze zeroed in on us with a slight squint, “Easier. Not easy. You’ve all witnessed what happened the last time we tried to fight it.”

“Morta.” I whispered without moving my lips.

“Yeah, but if the white magic had worked, it would have been a feasible feat, right?”

“If the white magic had worked, it would have been easier. Not easy.” Professor Darth said through his teeth.

“Morta.” I hissed.

“Just asking.” She offered a sweet smile. “Trying to figure out how many of us are going to die the next time it attacks.”

“Morta!”

The commotion in the classroom was instant. Students faced our row, their faces pale and expressions fearful.

Professor Darth cleared his throat, drawing the attention back, “There is nothing to suggest that something like this will happen again. Our protection is strong, we’re prepared, and the best people in the field are working on figuring out what’s going on.”

Oh, this hit the wrong spot.

“There was nothing to suggest it would have happened the first time around.” I said.

Amma palmed her face, “You’re no better than Morta.”

But Professor Darth’s hands dropped by his sides in a gesture of defeat. His gaze jumped around the room, but not landing on students once. No, he was looking at the walls. Someone might have interpreted it as him trying to think of what to say, but to me it looked like he was checking if someone was listening.

His gaze focused on the classroom, “I want all of you to listen to me very carefully. If the demonic entity attacks again, I want you to run as fast as you can.”

I’ve never seen students grab their notebooks and pens so fast in my entire life.

Professor Darth began pacing around, stepping into his teacher mode, “It’s attracted by movement and warmth, yes, but those seem to be overridden by magic. If you use magic next to it, it will attack you. If you run, you stand a chance.”

Amma wrote in her notebook, too, but her notes looked somewhat different. The person closest to the ooze shouldn’t be using magic. Someone can distract it in the background. We can predict its movement.

She raised her hand, “Professor Darth.”

He stopped pacing.

“Does black magic attract the ooze the most?”

“Amma.” Both Morta and I mumbled under our breaths.

“That’s a peculiar question, Ammelise.” Professor Darth looked straight at Amma.

She smiled, “Scientific curiosity.”

“Nothing suggests that black magic attracts it more than white magic.”

His eyes were on us; curious, alert, watchful. Goddess, he figured out something was going on.

“Thank you!” Amma chirped and bowed her head.

The three of us said nothing for the rest of the class. Other students had questions and Amma spent her time listening and writing useful stuff down. Once the bell rang, the three of us rushed through the door before anyone else.

“Alright,” I glanced at my phone, “We’ve got half an hour before Thar starts wondering where we are.”

“It’s our free period.” Morta mumbled. “This is abuse.”

“He’s doing us a favour by making us train.” Amma said.

“Let’s go.” Bella stood between us and waved before my eyes. “Before someone sees me talking to you.”

I looked over the short black dress she had on and raised my eyebrow, “You literally begged for our help three days ago.”

“Well, I must have been on drugs.” She walked down the hallway.

“Bitch.” I said under my breath.

“Come on.” Amma grabbed my hand. “We’re meeting Eugene in the library. Morta, stall Thar.”

“Shouldn’t Jade be doing that?”

My chest tightened, “Thar doesn’t want me near.”

“I wonder why.”

“Oh, shut up.” I mumbled. “Let’s just go.”

The three of us moved down the hallway, passing by students rushing to their next class. Morta turned right and headed down the stairs to Thar’s training room, and Amma and I continued to the library. Eugene waited at the entrance, dressed in black skinny jeans and a bright yellow flannel shirt.

“Why?” I grunted. “Why can’t you be inconspicuous?”

“Did you want me to wear a hood and a robe?” Eugene grabbed the gold round handle and pushed the double wooden door open. “Now, be quiet. Bella is talking to Mr. Anderson.”

The H. Academy library wasn’t the place I visited often; Amma was the one getting all the books we needed. Still, as I stepped into the grand place, a hushed reverence enveloped me, as if the very walls whispered secrets of forgotten knowledge and untold stories. The unmistakeable scent of aged leather and the faint whiff of ink laced the air. Silence ruled inside.

The towering ceiling soared above the lacquered bookshelves, adorned with intricate moldings. The glow of antique chandeliers bathed the place in a warm, golden light, illuminating the mahogany tables that lined the ornate balconies. A few students studied quietly around the tables, the only sound the turning of old pages.

Rows and rows of bookshelves lined the area, each full of neatly stacked books.

Bella chatted with Mr. Anderson – a small, mouse-like man with a crush on her, and he failed to register our entering.

Eugene moved through the row of bookshelves without making a sound, Amma and I at his heel. I looked around, taking in the meticulously organized tomes. Leather-bound classic literature mingled with ancient manuscripts and our workbooks. Some spines were torn from all the page-turning, others barely touched.

As we reached the end of the library, I glimpsed an inner garden through an arched doorway. Despite autumn, greenness ruled inside. Ivy clung to the stone walls, and delicate blooms released their intoxicating fragrances in the air.

“Alright.” Amma said in a hushed tone and opened her notebook, “We need sage, thyme, mugwort, devil’s shoestring, belladonna and datura.”

“You think Lorenia has the devil’s trumpet in here?” I nodded towards the garden.

“Of course.” Eugene approached the archway. “She has everything.”

“Can you recognise all of them?” Amma asked him.

“No problem.” He faced me. “Jade, keep watch.”

Once they disappeared through the archway and all the flowers and vines and leaves hid them from sight, I leaned against the wall and took in a deep breath.

We were allowed to be in the library. We were allowed to be in the garden, as well. But if someone ran into them and figured out they were taking those particular plants, we’d be in a lot of trouble. Even if no one caught us red-handed, Thar would still suspect we were up to no good if we didn’t show up to practice on time.

Deciding to distract myself, I looked around the library. There were hardly any windows in the huge space, but some natural light, coloured green, came from the garden. The other windows were high up with opaque dirty orange glass. I remembered what they looked like from outside, with vines crawling all over them. The garden looked splendid from outside, lively and green, and the forest that spread behind it made it looked like part of the natural wildlife.

I traced the walls with my eyes until I noticed the hallway opposite of the archway. Cocking my head to the side, I tried to remember whether I’ve ever seen it from the outside.

No, the entire northern wall of the main building was hidden behind trees and bushes. If anything was there, no one could see it from the outside. Glancing at the garden, then through the library bookshelf rows, I decided to check it out. I slid down the corridor, as quietly as possible, and reached the dark hallway.

The air was significantly colder in the darkness.

I dug out my phone and switched the flashlight on.

The hallway was short – fifteen feet or less.

There was a staircase at the end of it. Leading into darkness.

“Jade.” A hiss startled me and I almost dropped my phone. “What about keeping watch?”

Amma stood at the entrance to the hallway, both hands on her hips. Eugene was behind her, putting jars with plants in his satchel.

“What’s down there?” I asked him, ignoring Amma’s distraught.

“The old library.” Eugene said. “Old prints of even older books.”

“Anyone can walk in.” I murmured.

“It’s not a conspiracy, Jade.” He let out a laugh. “Just the old library.”

To my surprise, Amma spoke, “Do we have enough time to go down there?”