The Curse (H. Academy Series #1)

“Why didn’t you stop me?!” The whining voice pulled me out of my peaceful slumber and I opened my eyes slowly. Amma stood at the edge of my bed, still in the dress she wore last night, her makeup smeared all over her face.

“Because she almost killed Bella.” Another voice joined and my head snapped in Morta’s direction.

“I broke her bone, she’s fine.” I murmured, defending myself, and buried my head back into my soft pillow.

“I don’t even remember how I got back to my room last night!” Amma whined again and I grunted. “Guess I’ll sleep when I’m dead.” I mumbled. “So, what happened?”

“It was the damn lust charm,” Amma sat on my bed and lowered her voice, “I slept with him. I slept with Dean.”

“Oh, damn!” Morta laughed out loud and joined us on the bed.

“Oof, that’s going to be tricky.” I chuckled. “Wait, Thar didn’t stop the party?”

“Thar never stops the party, that’s why we always want him to be in charge if things get out of hand.” Morta shrugged.

“I slept with a guy that has a boyfriend! Who does that? What does that mean?” Amma buried her face in her hands, soft moans escaping from her throat.

“Oh, sweetie, that’s okay. You’re not the first one.” The grin on Morta’s face didn’t disappear.

“You should’ve stopped me!” Amma’s muffled voice sounded torturous.

“Sorry, I was busy cleaning Bella’s blood off the floor.” Morta looked at me pointedly.

“She attacked me first!” I checked my phone absentmindedly, done with excusing myself. It was enough that Thar gave me the piece of his mind last night, everyone else’s preaching would simply fly over my head.

“Why did you sleep with Dean?” Morta turned to Amma.

“I don’t know, because he asked? Because I’ve never in my life been so turned on? Because this damn school is crazy? Choose one.” Amma managed to lift her head.

“Girl, you need to take a shower.” I looked over her messed up face.

“Because he asked? Seriously?” Morta commented. “We gotta teach you how to say ‘no,’ girl.”

“Well, I’m not used to people bluntly asking.” She grimaced. “I can’t believe I did that.”

“Was it any good, though?” I asked, deciding that turning this into a fun anecdote was a way to go.

“Oh, it was amazing.” Amma’s eyes went wide. “Maybe it’s due to my inexperience, though.”

“Well, then you’ve nothing to worry about, you had fun.” Morta said.

“We all went a little crazy last night.” I tried comforting her. “Hey, I broke a girl’s bone and then almost jumped my teacher’s bone.”

“You did what?!” Amma and Morta said at the same time.

“How is that more scandalous than breaking Bella’s leg?” I frowned.

“What happened? What did he say?” Amma asked, obviously forgetting about her, far more real, sex life.

“Nothing happened. But the lust charm was affecting me and I didn’t think those things were contagious.” I wasn’t really ashamed of it, Thar realised I was under the influence of a lust charm and reacted accordingly.

“I wouldn’t mind sleeping with him with or without the lust charm.” Morta admitted.

“Neither would I.” I agreed after thinking about it. He was excruciatingly handsome and after realising what a good man he was, it wasn’t difficult imagining having something more with him. But still, he was a teacher.

“What about Bella? How did he react?” Amma asked.

“I have to work with her on a project for Black Magic and he sprinkled a wise word here and there.” I shrugged.

“Ooh, shit.” Morta exhaled, staring at her phone. “Leon broke up with Bella.” She shoved the screen in my face.

“I don’t care.” I crawled out of my bed and proceeded to the bathroom. Fortunately, today’s class started at 9am, so I had some time.

“You should, I mean, he left her because of what she did to you.” Amma jumped in and I turned to her, looking suspiciously at Morta’s phone in her hand.

“He’s an idiot.” I brushed it off and opened my closet. The day was surprisingly sunny, so I decided on a long-sleeved, cotton dress in the colour of gingerbread. I paired it with knee-high black boots and dark red earrings in the shape of marbles.

Just as I was looking over my outfit in the mirror, a shadow crept over the room. The sun disappeared and coldness spread through my body. Unable to suck in a breath, I turned to Morta and Amma, finding shock on their pale faces. My body shivered from the cold and for a moment, it felt like something was trying to suck out my soul.

And then it passed, just like that. The sun returned and I inhaled deeply, cherishing the air in my lungs.

“What the hell was that?!” Tears streamed down Amma’s mascara-covered face.

“Something passed through the school.” Morta shivered.

“I did not sign up for this!” Amma screeched.

“Amma, please, go take a shower.” I approached her and put my hands on her shoulders, gently lifting her up. She mumbled a couple of ‘okays’ on her way and I closed the bathroom door behind her. Once we were alone, I turned to Morta.

“Shit is going down, isn’t it?” I asked.

“One more strange occurring and the school will call for your dad, and my mom most likely.” Morta arched her eyebrow, making me sigh. The last thing I needed was my father parading around my school.

“We should get ready for class.” I changed the subject, knowing there was nothing more I could say without sounding like I was predicting impending doom.

While I was putting on mascara, my sleeve fell down and I noticed the pentagram on my wrist. One more point was painted black. Dread passed through me, making my heart beat and my spine straighten. But I decided not to say anything.

“Morta...” I called for her and I saw in the mirror that she lifted her head. “Do you still want to meddle in whatever’s going on?”

“Hell, yeah.” Morta grinned.

“Good.” I didn’t know where to start, but I was certain I wouldn’t let this slide. My gut told me this was connected to my grandmother and I would make it my life’s mission to get to the bottom of it.

The first class was Black Magic, which Morta passed last year, so Amma and I were the only ones headed to the atrium. Nervousness crawled through me once I stepped into the classroom, facing everyone who saw me last night. A couple of people actually moved away when I walked by them, like they were afraid of me.

I didn’t want people to fear me. My mom always said that I intimidated people with or without my magic and it didn’t feel so good. I sat next to Amma and pretended my notebook was very interesting as I felt the stares on my skin.

Lifting my gaze, I caught sight of Bella, her eyes were puffed and red. Regret surged through me. The last thing I wanted was for her relationship to break. I thought behaviour like that was a part of their dynamic. He looked at another girl and Bella threatened the girl’s life. The fact Leon actually left her was beyond surprising.

My thoughts were interrupted by Thar Adara when he entered the atrium and I momentarily lost my ability to breathe. His face was pale and the warmth from his eyes was gone, replaced by deep concern. We locked eyes for a mere second, but it was enough to sense the worry. Whatever happened today was far more disturbing than we guessed.

“Good morning, class. Considering the recent events, I changed the syllabus a bit, so we’re going to talk about some things that would usually come later on.” He put the book down, that simple movement gave away the hurriedness, the rush. “If anyone has any questions, please, ask away.”

“Professor Adara, what happened today?” A redhead whose face I didn’t see asked. Murmurs followed her question, whispers coming from all directions. No one knew, but everyone had an opinion.

“A weak demonic activity passed through the school. The electricity went down temporarily and the shadow blocked the sun. It lasted shortly and didn’t stop on its way through the school.” Thar pinched the bridge of his nose and I almost felt the headache that must be forming in him.

“I thought this school was safe!”

“Didn’t you say that demons cannot come in?!”

“Are you going to evacuate us or are you waiting for someone else to drop dead?!”

Voices clashed in front of me, almost visible in the thick air. I wanted to scream at them to shut up, I wanted them to know that there is nothing we could even do against a demon.

“Enough.” Thar said sternly, not once raising his voice. But the entire atrium fell silent, because the tone of his voice was so menacing that even I couldn’t talk. Still, I raised my hand.

“How do we defend ourselves against a demon?” I asked, feeling all eyes on me. But I saw only Thar’s, deep and concerned. Something else lingered behind them, though, something much more insecure.

“I’m glad you asked that, Jade. There are rumours that only black magic can defend against a demon, but those simply aren’t true. Teachers in this school, white magic users, are more than capable to banish a demon. And this activity was fairly weak.” Thar turned to the board and drew shapes with a chalk. “These signs will protect you. I suggest you draw them on the doorstep in front of your room and under your windows.”

I copied the signs in my notebook. Amma did the same, her expression so terrified I thought her heart would give out.

“But,” that same redhead raised her hand again, “black magic is better against demons, isn’t it?”

Just as Thar was about to open his mouth, Bella interrupted.

“Black magic users are descendants from demons, of course it’s better.” She snickered and looked into my eyes. Of course, I would have to deal with her hating me amongst everything else.

“Are they really?” A thin, pale boy asked.

“Some say so.” Thar nodded, briefly catching my eye contact. “There is no real evidence that black magic users came from demons, but yes, there are stories. And the truth it, black magic is better at defending against demons. Fortunately, we have a black magic user more than we had last year.”

I wanted to scream at him for dragging me into this, but I plastered a polite smile on my face instead. I didn’t appreciate the attention, not when it furthered the already existing opinion that I was dangerous.

“Maybe she can break the demon’s leg.” Bella said.

“Goddess, would you quit already?” I rolled my eyes. “You attacked me because your boyfriend was staring at me while your hand was in his pants. The fact that you’re attacking me is everything that’s wrong with our fucking society.”

“Jade!” Thar warned me, while everyone in the atrium oof-ed at my words.

“What? I’m done being bullied by her.” I crossed my hands in front of my chest and watched Thar put his on his hips. Bella, to my utter surprise, began to cry, which made me roll my eyes all the way to my corpus callosum.

“Okay, that’s enough. The tension is high in the entire school. Bella, do you want to take a moment?” Thar asked and the girl nodded. Now, I was going to be the villain again. She shot a mean look my way as she exited the atrium.

“Now, let’s continue. As I said, white magic is efficient in banishing demons and the teachers in this school are more than capable of protecting you. That is why, we need to stay calm, above everything else.” Thar kept on talking and I glanced around the atrium.

A couple of eyes were on me, one pair particularly evil-looking. A boy, very tall and very lean, with greasy black hair glued to his face. A smirk danced on his lips and I felt naked under his stare.

“It all started when Jade came to the school.” He said suddenly, stopping everyone and everything in its tracks. I turned my head to him, unable to come up with a clever retort. The image of the pentagram on my wrist was burnt in my mind.

“That’s enough, Philip.” Thar leaned onto the cathedra and looked at the boy. But Philip seemed determined to throw shade at me.

“You can’t tell me it didn’t cross your mind. For years, this school’s been safe and then, Jade comes,” he said my name like it was something disgusting to eat, “and suddenly, demons began swarming through the school.”

“Out.” Thar said, my gaze jumped to him, as did everyone else’s.

“I was just-”

“Out!” Thar shouted, catching everyone by surprise. “Professor Lange will hear about this.”

“Wait, what? Why?” The evilness disappeared from Philip’s eyes as his eyes darted between me and Thar.

“You’re intentionally instigating students against Jade, without a shed of proof or even a clue about magic. These sorts of accusations will not be tolerated in my class.” Thar stared the boy down, until Philip got up and left the atrium, all eyes on him.

I caught Thar’s gaze and something strange passed between us, understanding, comfort, support. Still, I wondered whether there was something true in Philip’s words. The same day I showed up, a murder occurred. The pentagram on my wrist was filling up with paint in the same moment the demon flew through the school. And, if that wasn’t enough, my grandmother passed in the same manner as the girl that was murdered.

Maybe Philip was smarter than given credit. Maybe I somehow started this.