The Zero Curse

by Christopher G. Nuttall

  The first new teacher was a stick of a man who would only be interesting as the subject of a dissection. Maybe that was why he’d decided to teach Xenobiology. Mitch already disliked him; Xenobiology was his worst subject and he hated dissections. At least with the Twisted Curse gone no one was likely to try dissecting him. Mitch swallowed, he could have done without that mental image, he’d seen enough dead teachers. Nikola patted him on the arm and gave him a reassuring smile.

  Next was the new chemistry teacher, Mitch didn’t pay much attention to her; he wasn’t taking chemistry anymore and with any luck his brother wouldn’t try dissolving the teacher’s chair again. She was followed by Little Red Riding Hood.

  Mitch froze, his eyes widening. He gripped his seat with whitening hands, his bile rising. Little Red Riding Hood, no doubt she had a real name but that was how he knew her. He’d danced with her at the Dance with the Dead and then he’d watch her rip Superman’s throat out and…

  “Breathe Mitchell,” Nikola whispered, one hand on Mitch’s shoulder. Mitch gasped, drawing in a deep, shuddery breath, followed by another. Mr McCalis was telling them Red’s real name but Mitch couldn’t hear it over the screaming in his head. The snap of Miss Band’s neck replaced by the carnage of the Feast for the Dead.

  “What’s up Mitch?” Bates asked.

  “She’s a vampire,” Mitch said staring at the petite figure on stage. She didn’t look threatening, he couldn’t even see her fangs from back here but he knew that they were there. On Bates’ other side Mindy giggled. She was a necromancer, she’d probably worked the vampire thing out already.

  “She looks kinda familiar,” Bates said, peering up at the stage.

  Mitch swallowed, Adnan would not appreciate it if Mitch threw up over him.

  “It’s ok Mitch,” Nikola said, “they won’t let one of the teachers eat you.”

  Mitch nodded. He’d never been able to relate the horrors of the Dance with the Dead to Bates, or the resulting nightmares, but Nikola had heard all about them. No doubt he’d be hearing even more over the next few days. Nikola coughed, withdrawing his hand, and Mitch felt the panic rising once more.

  “Hey, didn’t you dance with her?” Mindy asked, her voice slightly too loud. Mitch cringed, surely their teachers would hear her. They didn’t and Red was still on stage. Mr McCalis must have said her name, but he’d missed it and now she had an excuse to eat him.

  Nikola patted his shoulder and whispered reassurances and Mitch tried to remind himself that she hadn’t eaten him last time they’d met. Once she’d realised that he was underage she’d told him to leave. He kept telling himself that, the fear and panic giving way to a soothing wave of calm tinged with magic. He blinked.

  “You’re an empath?” he hissed at Nikola.

  “Not really,” Nikola replied, “this is the limit of my abilities but it felt like you needed it.”

  “Thanks,” Mitch said. Rational thought was beginning to reassert itself, telling him that, although he’d missed the announcement of what she was teaching, there would be plenty of chances to learn Red’s name before his first class with her, and that she would probably be fired if she started snacking on the students.

  “Don’t mention it,” Nikola said. He raised his free hand to his bleeding nose and blinked at the blood.

  “Nikola?” Mitch asked, doing his best to ignore Bates and Mindy’s whispered conversation about Red and the Dance. He had not asked her to dance because she looked like Hayley; that was like saying he and Nikola looked alike because they both had blond hair and grey eyes. Never mind that Nikola kept his golden curls hanging around his face in a way that would have infuriated Mitch, or that he was built like a stick insect.

  Nikola’s eyes widened, his grip on Mitch’s shoulder tightening as he swayed. He was still using his empathic magic and Mitch could feel something else creeping in along with the calm, a harsh edge that worked its way through his brain and set alarm bells ringing.

  Red had slunk off the stage and Mr McCalis was holding a moment of silence for Dr Dalman before introducing the new principal. Bates and Mindy were still having their whispered conversation and everyone else was beginning to fidget. Blood dripped off Nikola’s chin, he hadn’t used his magic to summon a tissue through Mitch had seen him do so when he was too sick to get out of bed.

  “I would like you all to welcome Ms Saris to the Academy,” Mr McCalis said. A woman stepped onto the stage, looking as if she’d just come from the boardroom of a fortune 500 company and her proportions were so artificially perfect that Mitch immediately filed her under inhuman. Whatever she was she didn’t belong here.

  The empathic calm vanished, replaced by an instant of shock that was rapidly overwritten by pain. Mitch gasped, biting back a whimper, and Nikola’s hand dropped away, leaving him with only phantom sensations.

  “Hey,” Mitch said, tentatively patting him on the shoulder and relaxing when the empathic magic failed to materialise. Nikola was doubled over, his head in his hands, blood dripping steadily from his nose. “Nikola?”

  He glanced up at the stage, Ms Saris was making a speech. Everyone else was pretending to listen. It didn’t sound like she was saying anything other than the usual rubbish and even if she had been Mitch wasn’t sure that he cared.

  “Come on,” he whispered, though he wasn’t sure Nikola was listening. “Let’s go.” He rose, gently pulling a trembling Nikola to his feet and shaking off Bates’ attempt to keep him in his seat. He was suddenly glad that Nikola had insisted on sitting at the end of the row.

  Nikola swayed, his gaze unfocused and Mitch put an arm around him. They shuffled towards the nearest door, Mitch taking most of Nikola’s weight. He wondered what the deal with Ms Saris was. Nikola was hypersensitive to magic and that usually manifested as migraines, nosebleeds and nausea. He’d probably be fine once they got him away from Ms Saris, though Mitch had no intention of stopping before they reached the infirmary. Fortunately it wasn’t far; the infirmary had been built close to everything.

  Nikola pulled away and threw up and Mitch barely caught him before he could fall. They skirted around the pool of vomit and out of the back-door, Mitch casting a final look at the stage. Ms Saris was saying all the usual things but her voice sounded curiously empty, as if she was reading off a script. She wasn’t demanding to know why two of her students were trying to slip out though, so Mitch ignored her.

  Mr McCalis was walking towards them but he’d always been reasonable. Mitch didn’t think he’d mind them slipping out. Nikola had admitted to throwing up on him before and he knew how much Nikola’s physiology left to be desired.

  They shuffled outside and Mitch cursed when he saw the cloud of smoke dominating the sky and the rain of ash settling around them.

  “Not the fucking war again,” he muttered. The Earth was a big place, surely the Eternity War could be fought on some other corner of it. Nikola coughed and threw up again, adding vomit to the blood already staining his shirt.

  “We’re almost there,” Mitch said, using a little magic to strengthen himself and accelerate their shuffle. The ground shook, almost overbalancing them. On any other day Mitch barely would have paused, it hadn’t been much of a quake, but today his eyes were drawn to Mt Ruapehu in time to see a fresh gout of ash and smoke erupt into the air.

  Nikola’s trembling worsened and Mitch remembered that he’d had seizures before. He’d never said how to recognise one though, or what to do. Mitch settled for hauling Nikola up the steps to the infirmary and pushing open the door. It had only been a small earthquake.

  “The usual room,” the nurse said, looking up from the desk, “I’ll get the doctor.” Nikola seemed to relax a little once they reached the private room; he had said that it was warded against outside magic. Mitch managed to get him onto the bed and find a box of tissues and a bowl for him to throw up in and then he had nothing to do but pace.

  “I had hoped to wait a little longer before seeing you again,” the doctor said, stridin
g into the room. “I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised though.”

  Mitch felt the tingle of magic, a diagnostic spell he guessed, and Nikola threw up.

  “I’ll do this the old fashioned way then,” the doctor said, beginning a more mundane check-up. “How are you feeling Nikola?”

  “Lousy,” Nikola groaned and curled up, burrowing into the pillow. “It’s too bright.”

  “We’ll close the curtains in a moment. Do you want something for the pain?”

  Nikola nodded.

  “Ok I’m keeping you here for the rest of the day.” He glanced at Mitch, “you can stay until second period.” He left, returning with a couple of pills and a glass of water which Nikola choked down. “I’ll send someone to get you a change of clothes,” he said before leaving. Mitch closed the curtains and resumed pacing.

  “You’ll wear the floor out,” Nikola croaked.

  “No I won’t,” Mitch said, sitting on the edge of the bed where Nikola could see him. “Hospital floors are pace resistant.”

  Nikola managed a tiny smile and a laugh that turned into a cough.

  “So much for not missing the first day of class,” Mitch said.

  “I should have stayed in bed. I’m a mess aren’t I?”

  Mitch nodded, forcing himself to look at Nikola when his gaze wanted to flick away from the blood covering his face.

  “How much longer can you stay?”

  “Ten minutes,” Mitch said, glancing at his newly repaired watch. He’d been pacing for longer than he thought. “Are you really alright?”

  “For now,” Nikola sighed. “Give it a few months and all the hormones and neuro-chemicals will mess up my brain again but for now I’ll manage.”

  “Oh good,” Mitch said, rather unconvincingly. “Maybe the war will move away by then.”

  “It won’t,” Nikola said, running a hand through sweat soaked hair. “Ms Saris is an angel and she wasn’t the only one there.”

  “Fuck.” So much for closing the loopholes in the school wards. It would be nice if that actually surprised him.

  “Very articulate,” Nikola breathed, his eyelashes fluttering. Mitch hopped off the bed and helped him pull the blankets up.

  “I’ll come visit later.”

  Nikola mumbled something in reply, his eyes closing, and Mitch left him to sleep.

  Angels. An angel was in charge of the Academy. They were all completely screwed.

  First Day

  Today clearly wasn’t Mitch’s day. First he’d missed Maths for the assembly from Hell and now he had Teratology. Last year Teratology had been tolerable right up until the incident with the paper planes, this year it was being taught by a vampire.

  Mitch saw her as soon as he walked through the door and made a beeline for the back of the class. He wanted to just turn around and walk out but she’d probably notice and he didn’t want to start the year by getting on the vampire’s bad side. He didn’t even know her name yet and he couldn’t ask with her standing at the front of the room.

  He pulled out his books and pens, fighting the urge to huddle under the desk and cower in fear. He should have stayed in the infirmary and watched Nikola sleep. Nikola would never try to bite him. At least there were eleven other people in the room with him. If she decided to eat them all he’d have time to escape. Unless she started with him. She probably would.

  “I’m Miss Bordeaux,” she said, standing at the front of the room and making no attempt to hide her needle like fangs as she talked. Chairs scraped as a few of his classmates inched away. Mindy was actually leaning forward, but she thought zombie horses were fun. “And I’m a vampire.” Her gaze flicked to the back of the room and Mitch gulped, drying his hands on his pants. She definitely remembered him.

  “As such, it behoves me to tell you the truth before any silly rumours start. If you arrive late, disrupt the class, fail to complete your homework or misbehave in any way I will be putting you in detention. I will not bite you, compel you or throw you into a wall or any of a dozen other things that vampires are always doing in bad movies. You are just as safe in here as you are in any other classroom.”

  Mitch would have found that a lot more believable if he hadn’t seen a teacher killed in this classroom the year before and she hadn’t been smiling at them with a mouthful of hypodermic fangs that were perfect for draining the blood of misbehaving students. He suspected that some of his classmates felt the same though a couple were relaxing, lulled into a false sense of security. Mitch carefully stayed where he was, not wanting to attract any kind of attention and resolving to do his Teratology homework first.

  Rationally he knew that she couldn’t go around eating students. It would probably get her fired. Hell, it was probably in her contract. Mr McCalis wouldn’t have hired a vampire if she was going to eat them. She’d even tried to protect him at the Dance, she’d told him to leave. Mindy had made him stay. He glared at the back of her head. If he had to pick between the vampire and the zombie horse wielding psychopath he knew which one he’d choose.

  “To answer what I’m sure will be your next question, I was turned in the battle of Neuve Chapelle in 1915.”

  Mitch supposed that explained her conservative attire. Vampires were photosensitive, not inflammable, but the knee length dress and stockings had to be hot. She didn’t look like a terrifying monster, not so long as her mouth was closed anyway, she didn’t look like a teacher either. She looked all of sixteen. Perhaps that was how old she’d been when she died, vampires aged very slowly.

  “The use of magic in warfare was outlawed shortly afterwards, making me one of the youngest vampires in existence. Are there any questions?”

  Mindy’s hand shot into the air, everyone else seemed to be trying to avoid eye contact. Mitch had a few questions himself but they weren’t the sort you asked out-loud. He silently promised himself that he’d never miss a deadline.

  #

  “This can’t possibly be good,” Mitch said. Sam nodded in agreement.

  “First day never is,” Hikari said. “It almost reminds me of the time on the lake.”

  Mitch winced; at least they wouldn’t be swimming in the Academy gym. At least he devoutly hoped not. Hikari was right; they’d replaced Rodrigo with Hayley, Rodrigo had left after the Twisted Curse was removed, and there was no Gwen but it was basically the same line up as their insane flag collection test.

  “Doesn’t look like there are any flags this time,” Adnan said, waving at the obstacle course set up before them. It looked suspiciously shiny and metallic to Mitch’s eye. Why would they need a wire rope swing?

  “No ice either,” Hikari added, “unless you want to make some for us Mitch? It’s hot in here.”

  “You could give us a little breeze,” Mitch replied. He almost wouldn’t have minded another lesson on the lake, as long as it didn’t freeze. The gym was almost insufferably hot. “You don’t think it’s fire do you?” Offhand Mitch couldn’t think of anything that would challenge a cryomancer, an aeromancer, a thermomancer, a shape-shifter and whatever Hayley was but his teachers were far more creative.

  “Could be,” Sam said, inspecting the obstacle course. “None of this will burn, or melt unless they do freakishly high.”

  “I wouldn’t put it past them,” Mitch muttered.

  “They’re not cursed any more Mitchell,” Hayley said, “they won’t try and kill us or overlook a fatal accident.”

  “They might.” Maybe they weren’t cursed but sane people didn’t hire vampires and angels. Especially not angels. At least there was nothing out of the ordinary in the obstacle course. Hurdles, climbing walls, rope swings, nets, monkey bars… It all looked completely normal and safe and there was nowhere for a monstrous giant weta or over-sized spider to hide.

  “I think it’s all steel,” Sam said.

  “Oh joy.” Their teachers could do all sorts of creative things with steel.

  “Do you think it’s booby trapped?” Hikari asked. Mitch shuddered, it wouldn’t su
rprise him if that rope swing was over a pit of hydrochloric acid. He was convinced that the Academy got a bulk discount on the stuff.

  “What do you think?” he asked Hayley. She didn’t seem to be as worried about their impending doom as the rest of the class.

  She shrugged, “we’ll find out soon enough.”

  Mitch rolled his eyes and turned as the door opened. It wasn’t like their teachers to be late and whoever it was, was unlikely to let them continue their speculation. Not all of their magic classes actually involved magic, he’d had to learn Tai Chi last year, but the first one of the term always did.

  It wasn’t their teacher.

  “Sorry I’m la… guess I’m not then,” Gwen said, looking around. Mitch scowled, he usually tried to avoid his ex. He had hoped that they wouldn’t have any practical magic classes together. Gwen was an illusionist; her skills didn’t have a lot of overlap with his.