The Curse (H. Academy Series #1)

Three days have passed since I talked to Thar. He wouldn’t even look at me in class, and I was too ashamed to come talk to him. Right now, he was pacing back and forth on the cathedra and explaining to the class the fundamental differences between black magic and white magic. I wasn’t listening to him, but I was staring, hoping he’d finally meet my gaze.

Nothing.

I was sorry for hurting him, but I meant what I said. He wasn’t doing enough. We were seconds away from a disaster, and he was acting like patience was what we needed.

“Does this look good?” Amma slid her notebook to me.

The page in front of me was full of symbols, mostly runes for protection, but also bits and pieces of the Enochian script – the language of angels. I understood none of it, but it looked exactly like the drawing in Eugene’s demon capturing book.

“Perfect.” I mumbled. “It’s been perfect all five times you’ve shown it to me.”

“It’s tricky.” Amma was growing exponentially more nervous as the party approached. “Every letter has to be in the right place, otherwise the whole thing breaks apart. Eugene says he’s not that good at rune creation-”

“You’re good.” I interrupted. “Now put that away before Thar sees it.”

“Fine.” Amma took back the notebook. “How are we on the party front?”

The Winston Academy students were supposed to arrive tomorrow morning, a week after their school has been attacked.

“Everything is going according to plan.” Morta leaned closer from my right. “Leon made sure we could use the male dorms, and we’ve got more booze than I’ve ever seen in my life.”

Morta and Leon were the party committee.

“What about the lust charm?” I asked.

“Leon took care of it.” Morta said. “Honestly, I’m afraid someone is going to overdose.”

The bell rang. As we exited the classroom, I glanced at Thar again, but he busied himself with the papers. With a heavy sigh, I continued down the hallway with Amma and Morta.

“I’m not sure about this.” Amma stared at her notebook, almost bumping into people in front of her. “This is too difficult, I’m not even done with the first semester-”

Morta hooked her arm and pulled her out of some students’ way, “If anyone can do it, you can.”

“That doesn’t make me feel better.”

“Okay, how about you’re our only chance?” Morta grinned.

Amma let out a squeal, “Don’t even say that!”

The sun has set over the H. Academy. The sky has switched all shades or orange, red, pink and purple, before settling into deep dark blue.

One more day.

Tomorrow, we’d have to go through with this absurd plan. The cards were in place. Amma and Eugene knew the spell, we had all the ingredients, Morta and Leon planned the welcome party. All we had to do now was make sure everything went according to the said plan. Which was the difficult part.

Morta closed the windows in Amma’s room once we reached it. The dim lighting from the orange table lamp and the ascending moon enveloped the room. Amma went to the blackboard, which was now completely covered with random bits and pieces of the plan, pointers, and a bunch of runes she practiced drawing. The stack of books on the floor grew exponentially, and by now I was pretty damn sure we’d pass every exam in January. Or at least Amma would.

Amma grabbed the sponge and erased everything from the blackboard, leaving only how to catch a demon in three steps and the accompanying steps. Morta sat on the floor and I sat in the armchair.

“Step one.” Amma faced us. “Figure out the spell.”

My heartbeat quickened, “Done.”

Amma gulped, “If you say so.”

“You know the spell.” Morta agreed. “Eugene knows it too.”

“I will be there.” I added. “And black magic works against demons. We’ve all seen it.”

Morta nodded, “If shit hits the fan, Jade’s firing up Thar’s protection spell and we’re getting the fuck out of there.”

“Okay.” Amma squeezed her fingers. “Okay. Fine. I can do it.”

Then, she added a checkmark next to step one: figure out the spell.

My gaze dropped to step two, “Create a diversion.”

Morta looked at me, “The party is organized and we have so much alcohol that I’m scared someone’s going to die.”

“Oh, Dean will do a tarot reading.” Amma said. “That’s magic.”

“And we have plenty of lust charm.” Morta said.

It was my turn to squeeze my fingers, “Leon isn’t answering my texts.”

“Oh, for fuck’s sake.” Morta grunted. “You have to be at the party, Jade. Your father will have his eyes on you the entire time. If you sneak off alone, he will follow you straight to Amma and Eugene.”

“I know.” I rolled my eyes. “Leon will leave the party with me, he’s just playing hard to get.”

“If you leave with Leon, everyone’s going to assume you’re just going somewhere to fuck and not that you’re plotting against the Vice Mage by drugging students so you could catch a demon.”

“Don’t worry about it.” I said. “He’s not going to be able to resist.”

Morta’s gaze cut through me. It was possibly the most judgemental stare I’ve ever experienced.

“What?” I sighed.

“Why do you even like him?” Morta asked. “Is it all the tweed or the casual misogyny?”

I eyed her, “Well, it’s not his academic prowess or romantic gestures.”

“Look, I never judge shit that happens under the influence of the lust charm, but anything more than that-”

“It’s nothing more.” I said.

Morta wasn’t convinced, but she didn’t say more.

“Can I put a checkmark next to create a diversion?” Amma held the chalk between her fingers.

“Yes.” I mumbled. “Leon will be with me at the party.”

He’d better be, or else I’d truly stop talking to him.

“Alright.” Morta stood up. “Step three: catch the demon. Sounds vague.”

“Yeah, that part is tricky.” Amma stared at the blackboard. “And we’ll know its outcome tomorrow night.”

“Let’s add step four.” Morta approached the blackboard, stole Amma’s chalk and scribbled, “Don’t get caught.”

Amma’s eyes widened, “That part is the trickiest. I don’t like thinking about the worst possible outcome.”

“My dad catches us.”

“And tortures us until we admit everything we know and then kills us.” Amma finished.

“Oh, come on, that’s not going to happen.” Morta said. “We’re just kids.”

“That’s true.” I nodded. “They’re just going to kick us out of the Academy.”

“That’s worse!” Amma shouted. “I can’t go to regular schools anymore! Everything they do is boring in comparison to this! How am I going to motivate myself? I won’t want to do my homework!”

“Goddess, calm down.” Morta stared at her wide-eyed. “I’d rather be uneducated than dead.”

“You’re right.” Amma took in a deep breath. “Let’s get ready for tomorrow, alright? I have AMSC at 7.”

“What the fuck is AMSC?” Morta asked.

“Application of Math in Spell Creation.” Amma answered. “It’s an elective.”

“Great.” Morta murmured. “I’m going to sleep. Don’t expect me at Intro to Potions at 9. Goodnight!”

“Goodnight, Goddess of Death.” I chuckled, then turned to Amma once Morta left the room, “I’ll leave you to your runes, I have to find Leon anyway.”

“Wait a second.” Amma’s demeanour changed and her expression turned studious as she grabbed a book from under the existing pile on the table. “I have to show you something.”

“Uh-oh.” I mumbled. “You’ve figured something out.”

“Not exactly.” She placed a small, thin, leather-bound book on my hand. “Look at this.”

The book looked ragged and old; but also somehow so fragile it couldn’t have possibly existed for centuries. It had no title. I flipped the page. Swirls and lines and dots covered the pages. It wasn’t random, though, it looked like some sort of script. Language. One I didn’t understand.

“What is this?”

“I found it in the library.” Amma lowered her voice. “And took it.”

“Alright.” I nodded, not truly understanding the point. “It looks like an old spell book. These drawings look like spell symbols. The script is unfamiliar, though. Or maybe I haven’t paid enough attention in class.”

“I thought so too when I found it in your father’s notebook.”

I lifted my gaze from the book, “What?”

Amma marched to her bed and pulled my father’s copied notebook from her night-table. She flipped a few pages and gave it to me.

“Look.” She pointed to the right page.

A circle was in the middle of the page, divided into five pieces, each containing one strange symbol; a triangle with three dots, two horizontal lines inside a smaller circle, an elongated, slated F-shaped structure with the upper line extending, an upturned T formed with dots, and a square cut with two vertical lines. Simple, but unfamiliar.

“I thought they were runes I didn’t recognize at first.” Amma spoke. “Elder Runes or Enochian script.”

My gaze trailed what seemed to be a single written word underneath the symbol spell. Next to it stood reviviscere in my father’s elegant clear handwriting. Even I knew what that meant.

“Revive.” I said in a whisper, afraid to pronounce the word in Latin lest I trigger something like last time.

Amma waved with the leather-bound book she took from the library, her fingers digging into the cover quite carelessly.

“It’s in this language.” She said, wide azure eyes staring at me. “I’ve never seen it, ever. There’s nothing on Witchipedia, nothing in our database, not even in The Witchcraft Manual.”

“Amma, it sounds like necromancy, which means my father is an idiot because we’ve known for decades that necromancy doesn’t work.” I said.

“I checked.” She pushed. “If it’s necromancy, it’s a kind that’s not in our database.”

I pinched the bridge of my nose, pressure gathering between my eyebrows.

“Amma, it’s probably just something you’ve never seen.” I said. “You haven’t been part of this world for too long, you know?”

“I know.” She took my father’s copied notebook from my hand and flipped a few dozen pages. “But there’s another section where he mentions the same language. Read this.”

She put the notebook back in front of my eyes. The language seemed simple in shape and form; the two words in front of me nothing but dots and dashes with an occasional circle. There were two words written next to them in tiny, jagged handwriting. Lingua daemonis.

“The tongue of demons.” Amma said; her whisper carrying a foreboding tone.

My gut squeezed with fear.

“Fuck.” I breathed. “I think... I think I’ve heard somewhere-”

“About the demon language?” Amma cut in. “Professor Darth said they were sentient. It’s not far-fetched to assume they have a language.”

“And spells?”

“Why not?”

My throat constricted, “Hide this.”

“I’ll return it to the library.” Amma nodded. “But not before I copy each and every word in it.”

“I want the photo of the spell from my dad’s notebook.” I said. “I’ll ask Thar about it and play dumb.”

“I’ll send it to you.” Amma said. “But don’t tell him anything about the book. I’m pretty sure I shouldn’t have taken it.”

“Probably not.”

My head began to pound under the overflow of adrenaline, and I needed to breathe in some fresh air.

“One thing at a time, Jade.” Amma put the books away. “Let’s catch black ooze first.”

“Yeah, that’s a good idea.” I turned away from the blackboard. “I’ll see you tomorrow morning for Intro to Potions. Don’t stay up all night trying to figure out runes.”

“Don’t worry.”

When I stepped into the hallway, I took out my phone and stared at Thar’s name. I wanted to call him now, tell him what we’ve discovered. Actually, I wanted him to reassure me that Amma just stumbled upon some outdated script that wasn’t used anymore. But if I called him, I’d be searching for comfort, and he’d said I shouldn’t go to him for that.

With a heavy heart and an even heavier mind, I opened the door to my room.

The smell of weed hit me when I entered. The bottle of witch’s brew stood on my desk.

And Leon was lying on my bed.