The Cursed Girl, #1

by Maria Vermisoglou

  “Jealous? Of what?”

  “Of Demon.” I didn’t get it. Why would Jonathan be jealous of him? He is a king after all. “Why would he be jealous of Damon?”

  “Zero brains. Because Demon liked you.”

  “He can’t have known he liked me.”

  “Yes, he could. When you like someone, you notice everything concerning them.”

  That might make sense to someone like Ritta but not to me, and it wasn’t my fault Jonathan felt jealous. “I didn’t know that.”

  “Oh. I did a little research about the healing thing...”

  “Yes and?”

  “Well, it’s not an heir thing.”

  “So every witch can have it? But you said only witches with pure hearts...

  “You didn’t let me finish. I meant that you don’t have to be an heir to possess it.”

  “But why do I have it? I thought we got our powers and developed them, and we didn’t get new ones.”

  “Maybe you always had it and didn’t know?”

  “Maybe, but there wasn’t a need to heal someone else before... except myself.”

  “Well, you can’t heal yourself with that power. The power is for others.”

  “Always. I have to go. Talk to you another time, sister.”

  “All right.”

  “Give Mother my love.”

  “I will and kiss Midnight for me.”

  Midnight put her paw on my bare leg and meowed. “She says she loves you too.”

  The connection was lost and I became aware of my surroundings again. Where was I? I had not been paying attention when I was talking to Ritta, and I had walked a huge distance on the beach. I sighed. “Come on. Let’s go back, Midnight.”

  When we reached the inn, I went to the stables first to see the horses and give them some carrots.

  When I went inside, the woman in the entry room asked, “Do you need help getting upstairs, miss?”

  “No, thank you. My cat will help me,” I said, and Midnight walked closer and pushed against my legs to have me walk in the correct direction. She meowed when we reached the stairs.

  When we reached our room, the door was open, and Jonathan stood in the doorway. “We heard Midnight and we thought something was wrong.”

  I went inside and closed the door. “No, but I am supposedly blind.”

  “Right. Where have you been? You were out for hours.”

  “Just walking on the beach. There are actually imprints of waves in the sand.”

  Alec smiled and I saw they had set the table.

  “Why did you set the table?”

  “Because you always set it and do everything. We thought it was a good change,” Jonathan said.

  “Thank you.” We sat down to eat, and someone knocked on our door. I had the knife in my hand immediately, and the boys picked up their weapons. Midnight meowed and waved her tail. “Maybe it’s someone good. Midnight seems to trust the guest,” I said.

  “Better be prepared,” Alec said.

  “Who is it?” I asked.

  “It’s me. Alicia.”

  So that’s why Midnight was happy. I opened the door and saw Alicia and her brother. “What are you two doing?”

  “Can we sit with you to eat? Our parents agreed. Please?”

  “Of course,” Jonathan said while Alec hid the weapons.

  “Great. We have brought some food too.”

  We set their dishes on the table and we ate together. They shared their food with us, and we shared ours with them.

  The boys told funny stories, and the children laughed and shared their own funny stories. After eating, they wanted to help with cleaning, but I didn’t let them. “It’s all right. Go to bed and we will see each other tomorrow.”

  Alicia nodded. “Yes. We can go to the market together. Goodnight, Evangeline.”

  After they left, the boys stared at me. “Why did she call you that?” Alec asked.

  “Well, apparently, Eva is a rare name, so it would be strange if I shared the same name with the thief, so it was altered.”

  “Oh. Evangeline...” Jonathan tried my new name.

  “No, I don’t like it,” Alec said, and Jonathan agreed with him. We finished cleaning and went to bed. It had been a long and a tiring day, and more like this would follow, so it was better to be rested.

  The Search

  The next day we met Alicia’s family. We went with them to the meeting place where there was a market.

  There was a guard at the entrance to the building for the meeting. “Password?”

  Alicia’s father said something to him, but the children couldn’t enter.

  “Password?” the guard asked us, and Alec said something to him, and the guard let us pass, or so I thought. “You can’t enter, miss.”

  “Excuse me?” I had not expected that.

  “Women are not allowed in here.”

  “Do you know who I am? If it wasn’t for me, you wouldn’t live.”

  He shrugged. “You are not allowed in here, and you have purple eyes.” That was the second time someone said I have purple eyes. “I have green eyes. Are you blind? And it doesn’t make any sense whether I have purple eyes or green.”

  He stood firmly in the entrance. “You can’t enter. You are a woman and you have purple eyes.”

  Alec heard our raised voices and turned around. “She saved our lives more than we can count. And she is with us.”

  “I don’t care. She can’t enter,” the guard said.

  I shrugged. “Let it go. He is stupid. I will just wait here with Alicia.”

  The guard crossed his arms and glared at me. “She is a woman and she belongs at home.”

  He was insulting me now? I was furious, and I wanted to kick him. Before I could, Jonathan punched him and he fell. When he stood, his nose was bleeding, and the skin around his eye was turning purple and swelling.

  I smiled and stood in front of him with my hands on my hips. “Now who has purple eyes?”

  I looked for Alicia and her brother, and we started exploring the market. “Why didn’t you enter?” she asked.

  “I am a woman and I can’t enter,” I said.

  “But my mom entered, and she’s a woman too.”

  “She is married. Sometimes a couple counts as one. Don’t bother to try and understand it. It’s prejudice against women, and it happens in many countries. The only country that has treated me well is Italy.”

  She nodded. “In Italy, they say that women are strong and do many things, sometimes more things than the men, and should be treated equally if not better than men.”

  I smiled. “When the war is over, I am going to settle there.”

  “Yes. Yes, please. And bring your family too.” Alicia beamed. “You will teach me archery and how to fight with a knife.”

  “That would be nice.”

  We toured the different stalls at the market, and I bought necessary things: food, rope, special mixtures to change hair color, and, of course, herbs. I also bought some new clothes for us because our clothes were worn out or had holes too big to mend. Alicia bought things for her family too. When we were finished shopping, Alicia asked, “Do you want to go and watch the sea? I haven’t seen it since we arrived.”

  “Yes. I want to swim,” her brother said.

  “Is it going to be a problem, Alicia?”

  “No, my parents let me go wherever I want, and they know I will come back. Besides, I am with you.”

  “I will leave Midnight here to guide my friends or your parents to the beach.”

  “Doesn’t she want to go swimming too?”

  I shook my head. “Never.”

  I instructed my cat to guide the boys or Alicia’s parents to the beach, and the three of us went to look at the sea. The sea was a clear blue, and there were people in the sea. “Do they go in the sea regularly?” I asked, and Alicia nodded. “And what do they do?”

  She looked at me strangely. “They swim mostly, and others fish and gather seashell
s. You haven’t gone to the sea at all?” I shook my head. “Spain does have a sea, right?”

  “Yes, but it is not part of our regular activities. We don’t enjoy things usually. If we do, it is only in the afternoons, and activities like this are for the rich people. We have to work to earn money to feed our families.”

  “That’s sad. So you don’t know how to swim?”

  “I actually do. Jonathan taught me in Bologna.”

  “That’s great. Then we can swim. We can put some old clothes on since they are ruined anyway, and I have towels to dry off when we are done.”

  I raised my eyebrows. Did she always take towels with her? I did, but we were runaways. We found some trees where we could change our clothes. Alicia held the towels to hide me from sight while I changed, and I did the same for them. We walked into the sea, and it was colder than I thought it would be.

  “Move so you don’t get too cold,” the boy said.

  I moved my arms and legs. I put my head under the water and opened my eyes. I pulled my head out of the water quickly. “Ouch. It hurts to open your eyes in here.”

  Alicia laughed. “It’s the salt.”

  The sea had salt? The rivers didn’t, but maybe the sea was different. I tasted it and it was salty.

  “Don’t drink it. It’s not good,” the boy said.

  “We should watch our stuff too,” Alicia said.

  “Don’t worry. I see everything.” I had put a spell on our belongings so no one noticed them.

  When we were cold, we got out of the water. We used the towels to dry ourselves a little, but the sun was strong and we dried fast. “You know, if I don’t stay in Italy, I will stay here. This is my second favorite place.”

  The boy clapped. “Mine too. I love the sea.” Midnight came from nowhere and licked my hand. “Don’t let her lick you. You still have salt on you,” Alicia said. “You should, you know, when you get in your room.”

  Good thing she remembered not to say take a bath or Midnight would have fled, and I didn’t know the place well enough to chase her. I stopped Midnight from licking me. “Salt is not for eating, darling. Come on. Here is some water.” I gave her a bowl with some water and she drank it really fast.

  “Salt makes you thirsty,” the boy said.

  I picked up Midnight. “So what did you come to tell me?” I heard footsteps and voices, and I turned to see Alec and Jonathan walking toward us.

  “You leave us to a boring meeting and you go and have fun? That’s not fair,” Alec said.

  “Not my fault.”

  “It was totally unfair not to let you enter. Stefen asked where you were and tried to convince the guard that he should let you in, but it was like he was talking to a wall,” Alec said.

  “That’s why I am having fun and learning new things.”

  “Please don’t tell me you went swimming in the sea?” Jonathan asked, and the silence spoke for me. “Ah well. Next time we will join you. At least that guard got what he deserved.”

  “I doubt it,” I said.

  “What did you do to him?” Alicia asked.

  “I punched him in the face. He didn’t have good manners.”

  It was not about manners; it was because he insulted me. I tried not to blush.

  “Yay.” The boy clapped.

  “Hey. It was a great punch,” Jonathan said.

  I looked at him indifferently. “Maybe.”

  He threw his hands in the air. “When are you going to admit that I did something good?”

  “Not today.”

  He scowled and Alec laughed.

  “Alicia, we better go before we catch a cold. You have to, you know, too.” The children laughed, but someone missed the point as always.

  “You know? What’s that?”

  The boy explained before I strangled Jonathan for his ignorance. “If you stay with the salt, you will want to scratch.”

  “Ah, yes. You have to take a bath.”

  No! Midnight ran off, and I turned to Jonathan. “I am going to kill you. Now you go and chase her.” People stared at us, but I don’t care. He would bring my cat back or I wouldn’t ever talk to him again. We left Jonathan to search and we returned to the inn. Alec took my hand and guided me since the innkeeper believed I was blind. Fortunately, it was Alec. I would have killed Jonathan for certain this time.

  I bathed and by the time I was finished, Alec had set the table for three and prepared the food I bought at the market. I kept glancing at the floor to see Midnight, like she would materialize and come to sit on my lap, but she wasn’t there. I paced. Where had she run off to this time? Maybe I should go after her. I sighed and sat at the table to eat. The fish was good, but I could only eat a few bites. Before Alec could tell me what had happened at the meeting, the door opened, and Jonathan came in with Midnight in his arms.

  “Midnight,” I cried and took her from him. I hugged her and petted her. She licked me and put her head on my stomach—she did that when she was scared. I placed a kiss on top of her head. “It’s all right, darling. You are safe.” I fed her some fish and she went to sleep on my lap. Jonathan sat and ate, but I ignored him since I was still mad at him.

  Alec cleared his throat. “So basically, the meeting was about how we are united. You didn’t miss anything important. There is still war in Germany, but we already knew that, and they talked about the slaughter in Paris. They will contact us when they form a plan, but I think they are waiting for something to happen to do this, but I don’t know what.”

  “I see. Who talked?” I asked Alec but Jonathan answered.

  “The leaders. They seemed serious and nice, but we will see. They recognized us both and thanked us for being there. They apologized for the vague answers to Stefen and said that they deserved the pigeon biting.”

  I wanted to smile, but instead, I looked at the ceiling.

  “Eva? Evangeline? Please. I am sorry. Please talk to me.”

  I turned to him angrily, and because Midnight was sleeping, I spoke in a low voice. “How many times did I say that you shouldn’t say that wretched word? How many times? How many times have I helped you? How many? I do my best to help you, and the least you can do is to show respect to my cat and to me, which I don’t see. Is that so difficult?”

  He stared at me like I had slapped him and I could have. “You almost got my cat killed.”

  He stammered. “I d-didn’t.”

  “She ran off in a place she doesn’t know and neither do I. She could have been killed; a carriage could have run her over or worse. And we were near the sea too.” I stood and went to my bed. I curled up with Midnight and pulled the covers up. I heard them clean, but I didn’t help them. I didn’t care, and I tried to go to sleep.

  I woke in the middle of the night. The boys were sleeping, so I took some food and went to the balcony on our floor. I sat outside, ate my food, and looked at the stars in the sky. They were so bright and beautiful. It was peaceful and quiet, but it didn’t last.

  “Stargazing again?”

  Why was Jonathan always chasing after me? I ignored him and continued eating.

  “We didn’t wake you up to eat because we thought you were tired.”

  I wasn’t tired. I was mad. “If you came here to apologize, don’t bother.”

  He sighed. “I am sorry, really.”

  I finished eating. “No matter how many times you will say it, it will never be all right.”

  He sat next to me. “I know you will hate this, but why do you care so much? In the end, it’s just a cat.”

  She’s not just a cat. “And Alec is just a boy. And I am just a girl. And he and someone else and the others are just people. Who cares if they die?” He paled. “You have Alec and I have Midnight. I always had her even when I was alone. She’s not a pet like some people think. She is there when I am sad, happy, and angry. She’s there to comfort me and warn me and protect me. She is the reason I don’t raise my voice. Animals do this to you. They make you a kinder person. She’s a pa
rt of me like Alec is a part of you. If someone almost got him killed, what would you do? How would you feel?”

  He swallowed and looked guilty and sad. “I didn’t know she was so important to you. I promise I will watch my words around her from now on.”

  I couldn’t forgive him yet, but at least he understood how I felt.

  “You know, when you argue with humans and have a fight, you might be mad and angry and then tell them your feelings and all is solved, most of the time. When you fight with your animal, you are mad at yourself. You can’t tell it why you yelled at it, and when they are gone from your life, it leaves you empty and you can’t fill that emptiness. At least that’s what I have read and heard.”

  He touched my arm. “I am sorry.”

  Midnight must have followed one of us out of the room, and she went straight to Jonathan and looked up at him. He looked down at her and said, “I am sorry.” Midnight put her paw on his foot and then looked at me.

  I gave her some fish I had kept for her. She grabbed it in her mouth and gave it to Jonathan. He took it, and Midnight ran away. He knew what she wanted, but he looked at me first. I nodded, and he cuts a piece of fish and threw it in the air for Midnight to catch. I watched him do that for Midnight several times while I finished eating.

  “You will have nightmares if you go to bed with a full stomach,” he said.

  “No. I won’t,” I said. If anything, I’d have a dream, but I hoped I wouldn’t.

  The Letter

  When I woke up, Alec and Jonathan were already awake. “Good morning, Eva,” Jonathan said, and I just nodded.

  “I see you have made some progress from yesterday,” Alec said.

  I raised an eyebrow. “From where do you get that?”

  “Because you acknowledged him. Yesterday you didn’t even want to look at him and you were ice cold. So now what are we going to do? Are we staying or moving?”

  “Well, there is no reason for us to go if they don’t chase us or if we don’t have to be somewhere else. Do we?”

  He shook his head. “Not yet. They said they will notify us when the time has come for us to join hands—”

  “Excuse me, did they really say that?” He nodded. “Unbelievable.”