This Curse

SEVENTEEN



“It’s pink? The door is pink?” I snorted at the gateway to unimaginable horrors. “What is it with this place?”

Jamie looked like a bed sheet, she had gone so completely pale.

“What?” I chuckled. “This is a joke, right?”

“They say that if it looks sweet in Hell then run as fast as you can in the other direction. Smoke and mirrors, remember?” She took a small step back.

I turned, examining the entrance with new respect. I was so out of my league. I had no idea what I was doing and I was dragging Jamie along for the ride. “I am so sick of this!” I threw my hands in the air, “We’ve come too far! I’m going in. Rub your stone Jamie.” I turned to her and grabbed her arms. I knew that this was going to get bad. She had done enough. It was selfish and stupid to risk her safety any further. “Rub the stone and go home. Staying here is madness!” I frowned at her, willing her to listen.

She snapped her attention to me and glared, color flooded her ashen complexion. “I’ll have you know that my brother is behind that door and I’ll be damned if I’m letting you order me outta’ here!” She was angry; her little body was shaking with fury. Good, I thought. Better fury than fear.

I smiled. “Alright you hairy little spitfire, but only if you’re absolutely sure.” I looked deep into her eyes, waiting for doubt to reveal itself. When none did, I backed off.

“Open the door.” She placed her hands on my shoulders and spun me around. She kept one steadying hand on my arm as I reached for the knob.

It turned easily. “Well, that wasn’t so ba…” My feet were jerked from the floor and my arms flew backward like twigs as a vacuum of screaming wind sucked me into the cavernous room beyond the innocent looking door.

I was screaming when I opened my eyes. “Holy, hell!” I croaked, as I tried to force my body to move. I managed to lean a little on my elbow when a screech flew from my mouth. My body rose off of the ground then I was slammed hard into the cold, solid surface of a wall. A painful grunt echoed off the wall beside me, letting me know that Jamie had suffered the same fate.

I opened my eyes and winced at the throbbing pain flooding my head. “Whoever is responsible for this shit had better guard their nut sack!” I seethed, feeling my little Yoda feet dangle in mid air.

“Hush!” Jamie gasped. She was twisting and struggled against the wall. “You’ll only make it worse.” she warned.

We were trapped against the wall, held in place by demon magic. The kind I was so afraid to chip away at. I could free us as far as I could tell. I just didn’t know who was watching. I looked around the room and felt my anger war with my mounting fear.

The room was awash in blue light. A huge rounded glass tank burbled and bubbled in the center of the floor and inside looking horrible was Seth. I gasped. His skin was pruned and puffy looking like a specimen in a jar.

This wasn’t good. I wanted to send out a thought to him, to wake him or make him move but then thought better of it. He appeared to be unconscious and from the stillness of his body, I could only assume that he wasn’t faking it.

Someone had interrupted our telepathy, someone with a lot of power and if that someone was still listening I would be wise to keep silent. I looked at Seth. His poor body was so waterlogged and limp. Obviously, that creature must have had an idea that Seth was speaking to an outsider. The only question was, did they know it was me?

I was pissed. We’d come so far, only to be caught so close to our goal. No way was I going to just hang here like a piece of ugly art. I looked around the room. No one seemed to be around. My anger was winning out over my good sense and I looked at Jamie, prepared to warn her of her sudden fall. I wanted out of here, and if using my magic could accomplish that, then we were so out of here.

I froze. The look on her face was one of sheer panic. “Please, don’t? Just trust me on this,” she begged, frightened.

“What aren’t you telling me?” I whispered.

“She is trying to get you to shut your wretched, wrinkled mouth, mongrel,” Lucian rounded a set of tall cabinets and smirked at us. “What have we here?” he slowly approached. “A couple of bent little witches? We were told to keep a look out for you. It seems you never showed up at the council hearing. Someone is quite curious about that.” He folded his arms and looked at us with disgust. “I personally couldn’t care less. You are like smelly little roaches, and I have things to do.”

I tried to hide my smile at his ignorance. So far, so good

“Please, let us go, we just got lost is all.” Jamie was a really horrible liar and I cringed, waiting for Lucian to react to the obvious falsehood, but all he did was curl his lip and snap his fingers.

At the sound, Lydia came running to his side. She looked a little haggard, like her skin didn’t quite fit. It sagged oddly at the corners of her eyes, her lips looked like wax. She was falling apart. I shuddered.

“You need me, baby?” she slid up his body and Jamie flinched. Oh great! This could fall apart real quick.

“I need no one, my dear.” Lucian ran his hand down her hair. The action was tender, but the look in his brown eyes chilled me. As if he could’ve just as easily snapped her neck. The look of disgust was back as he gazed at us again. “Inform him. It appears we have the wretched creatures.” At Lydia’s confused expression he sighed, “The witches you lack whit! He demanded we inform him the moment they were found.” and with that, he turned on his heel and left the room.

Lydia watched him go longing in her eyes. I would have felt sorry for her and her pathetic one-sided affection if it weren’t for the fact that she was a lying whore of a demon who needed to be taken out as soon as possible.

Lydia eyed us “You two don’t look like much.” She squinted, examining us like bugs under glass. “How’d you do it? No witch can charm the halls.” I felt like she was speaking another language. Charm the halls? What the hell was she talking about?

She shook her head and folded her arms across her chest. “Oh, come on, everyone knows that only Lucifer can move about the halls freely. You go where you’re told. So, spill it. How’d you do it?” she watched us. I began to squirm. Shit, I had no idea that they knew what I had done. I didn’t try to charm the halls. I only wanted to get us out of the hall we were in and closer to Seth.

I was a total trouble magnet!

She snorted. “Well, you two little maggots will squeal soon enough. No one hides secrets from him.” She watched us for several minutes, and then apparently satisfied that we weren’t going anywhere, she turned and left the room, slamming the door loudly behind her.

“What the f*ck?” Jamie sobbed, her head falling back to connect with the wall. “I think I know who they’re talking about, now. God Gracie, we are so dead,” she sounded defeated.

“It doesn’t matter, besides, we have no time to worry about that, and we have to get out of here.” I closed my eyes and with a thought, we were both back on the ground. “Let’s grab Seth and get out of here.”

The huge tank was made of some super thick glass and a whole lot of metal. We searched for a button or a release lever that would empty him out somehow.

“Can’t you just use your magic?” Jamie whispered.

“This tank is spelled. I’ve been trying to untwist it since I spotted our fine-looking friend here.” I moved along the large control board, reading each button and lever. “There has got to be a release here somewhere.” I mumbled to myself in frustration.

“Maybe this is it?” Jamie jumped and pointed to a large, blue button shining high on the rim of the tank. “This could be it, you think?”

“Or it could be an alarm or a super fast way to make a latte,” I observed with a frown, “but it’s worth a shot.” I looked around for something to crawl on when something else caught my eye. “Wait, hang on.” I picked up a large metal rod and tested its weight.

“You don’t really believe that your yoda-like muscles will be able to break that huge tank do you?” She cocked her hip, folding her arms she scowled at me.

“No,” I sighed in thought, “but if I juice this rod up with some power to amplify the strike, as well as throw some of my Madea mojo at it, that could be enough to do the job.”

“Good thinking. It’s a lot better than pushing the wrong button.” She shrugged and I sighed. This would be a real crappy time to fail her.

“Okay, here goes everything!” I lifted the rod and twisted back as far as I cold go. Pushing my will into the rod, I swung at the glass with all I had.

The huge tank splintered, then in one huge rush of water, it burst and I gasped as water and thick chunks of glass washed over me. My small body was no match for the huge hunks of glass that bombarded me. Searing pain sliced through my leg and the sound of a bone snapping sent me to the ground in agony. I slid in the wave of water, trying to gain my footing through the pain just as Seth’s big floppy body came crashing down upon mine. I struggled to move; Jamie’s tiny screams filled the air as water filled my lungs. The light in the room began to dim and I drifted away in a fog of confusion and ultimately a frightened resolve.