The Cursed Girl, #1

by Maria Vermisoglou

He bowed. “As you wish.”

  I went outside with Ritta and I mounted Sunshine.

  “It’s so beautiful. It suits you. You have the same height.”

  I scowled at her. “You know I don’t like jokes about my height.”

  “You tease me about eating flowers...” Ritta frowned. “When do I get to learn how to ride?”

  “Right now. Hop on.”

  She climbed up easily behind me, and we crossed the palace grounds. We went into an open space, and I taught her how to ride Sunshine, although Ritta needed a taller horse since she wasn’t as short. When we were going to my house, Ritta asked, “Where are you going to put her now?”

  “Maybe I should have made a room for her.”

  She shook her head. “Now you think of it.”

  Yes, because I was busy. “You know, she’s a smart horse. I am sure she can roam the city without eating from strangers. Can’t you, sweetie?” Sunshine neighed.

  “You can have Midnight supervise her since they seem to be friends,” Ritta suggested.

  “She will learn, I am sure,” I said. “I don’t have any doubts.”

  My mother came later for dinner and I showed her the horse. She liked Sunshine and she didn’t need lessons. She knew how to ride and made some circles around the house and performed some riding tricks.

  The Assault

  Two days later, I informed the customers that I was not taking orders for the day because I had something to do. That something to do was actually a very difficult task: Midnight’s bath. I hadn’t washed her since our return, and she wasn’t clean after walking so many streets and tunnels throughout our journey. It didn’t help that the streets here in Spain were being rebuilt and were dirty and full of dust.

  I filled a bucket with water and soap and put it in the bathroom. I recruited Ritta and we locked doors and windows so Midnight couldn’t escape. We took our positions and—Knock! Knock!

  “This is not happening.”

  Ritta laughed. “Saved by the door. Who is it?”

  I shrugged and went to the door, and opened it an inch.

  “You don’t need to keep the door closed. I am not going to hit you.” Jonathan laughed. “I just came to say hello.”

  “I know, but you came at a bad moment. You can pass by later.”

  He frowned. “Is something wrong?”

  “Not yet.” I wanted to get rid of him so we could take care of Midnight’s bath, but he wouldn’t go away.

  “Can I help?” I wondered how much patience Alec must have to deal with him sometimes. “No, thank you. Goodbye.”

  “Actually, he might help,” Ritta said from behind me.

  I turned to her. “How?”

  “Well, we can use a third person in this.” Yes and no magic.

  Jonathan slipped inside and left the door open.

  “The door,” I yelled. Midnight ran, but Jonathan was faster and kicked the door closed. “One of these days, I am going to kill you.”

  “Why?” Jonathan asked.

  Ritta explained because I would explode if he said or did anything stupid again. “Midnight. Today she’s not getting out without her being... cleaned.” He seemed to understand and Ritta told him what to do.

  He shook his head. “I thought you were joking when you said it, but you actually do it.”

  They cornered Midnight, and I grabbed her and plunged her inside the bucket with the soap. She yowled and cried. Heavens. Someone would think I was murdering her. I held her tightly and Ritta rubbed her and cleaned her. Then I put her in the other bucket with the clean water to wash away the soap. Jonathan took a towel and dried her. I put her down and she seemed to be saying I accompany you all this time and that’s how you treat me? I unlocked and opened the door and she ran away.

  “Isn’t she going to get dirty again?” Jonathan asked.

  “No, because she knows it means another bath. Cats are usually very careful with their appearance. They don’t get dirty.”

  “When is she coming back?”

  I shrugged. “Tomorrow. After tomorrow... when she stops being mad about the bath and she wants to be fed.”

  Ritta took the buckets for emptying, and I took care of the towel with Jonathan following me. “So... I hoped we could talk.”

  Why? There is nothing to talk about anymore. “So, talk.” I hung the towel to dry and started cleaning the dishes.

  “Well... my uncle got a life sentence in jail.”

  I thought his uncle deserved worse. “Oh.”

  “He was questioned, but I doubt you want the details.”

  More insults? No thank you. I continued scrubbing the plate in my hand, even though it was clean. “Not really, he can’t harm anyone but the rats now.”

  “You didn’t stay in the house I gave you.”

  “It felt strange, and I did a good job on this one.”

  “How did you do it?” He laughed. “Don’t tell me you can build houses?”

  I shook my head. “No, I pulled in a favor.”

  He gave me a questioning look. “If you do something for a person for free, then he owes you and you can ask a favor in return for the service you provided.”

  He nodded. “Interesting. Do I owe you for saving me?”

  That’s a bit complicated. “No, I think we are even. You saved my life and I saved yours. End of story.”

  He didn’t seem satisfied; of course, he wouldn’t. I didn’t know why, but I didn’t want any favors from him. I heard a noise so I turned, but nobody was there. I dried my hands.

  “What happened to your arm?”

  There were red marks on my arm. “These are Midnight’s claws. Trust me, you don’t want to feel them. She’s a fighter cat.”

  “I got scratched by her once, so I had a small taste of them.” He smiled. “Do they hurt?”

  Why do you care so much? They’re just some marks. “Not much. They will heal eventually.” I heard the same noise again and turned, but there was still nothing there.

  “Is something wrong?” Jonathan asked.

  “I keep hearing the noise...”

  “The wind maybe,” he speculated.

  “The wind... is not likely to make that kind of noise.” I looked out the window and saw a shadow. Ritta! The window broke and the door was knocked down. I pushed Jonathan to the floor and pulled out my silver knife. There were three man-like beings. They looked like men but they weren’t. They had superhuman abilities in strength and agility and were much faster, but not much clever. They used blunt force to fulfill orders from other beings, like warlocks, who don’t want to get their hands dirty.

  They didn’t have a specific name, but Ritta and I called them “men for hire” since they didn’t question orders. Witches usually didn’t hire them, but I had an idea who had hired this group.

  “Who are you?” Jonathan said as he stood.

  They didn’t respond—at least not to him. “You committed a great offense, and you must die.” Their voices were like a razor.

  A great offense? Maybe it was a great offense to the princess, but to me, it was justice and truth. “Leave my house immediately,” I yelled. I pretended I had not heard them speak since Jonathan couldn’t hear them. Humans couldn’t hear telepathic communication.

  They took out their swords which were poisoned. Poison? Not again. I had been poisoned by one poison and now I had to face another. They attacked, and at the last minute, I jumped away, pulling Jonathan with me.

  “I can take a sword. You don’t have to rescue me,” he said.

  “Their swords are poisoned. Aim below the arm and on their shoulders. These are their weak points. On three: one... two... three.” We jumped toward them with our weapons at the ready while Ritta splashed them with cold water from behind. Jonathan slashed and kicked at the men.

  Ritta yelled, “They’re down. It’s over.” We gathered near the bodies. “I’m fine. Anyone injured? Eva?” Ritta asked.

  I looked at the bodies. One... two... where is the third
? There were only two bodies. One was missing. They didn’t vanish since they weren’t vampires or demons that turned into ashes. Where was he? I looked around.

  “Eva are you all right?”

  I ignored Ritta. No, I will not be all right until I find the last one. I spotted him when he was attacking, and I did something stupid: I pushed Ritta and Jonathan away, and I threw my knife at him, but I felt his blade in my side. It was painful and then I saw a white light and then I blacked out.

  I saw clouds again, so I must be dead again, or maybe that was before death like there was the Earth, the atmosphere, and then the galaxy. I had no idea if I was dead or where I was. Would I come back again or I would march toward the end? And who would decide it? I wanted to decide it. I wanted to help people, make more drawings, see my cat, my friends, and my mother. Why couldn’t I decide it? I want, I want... I will!

  When I opened my eyes, it was cold and all I saw was white. I sat up slowly and looked around; I was weak, so weak. I was in the hospital. I hated the hospital because it was small, dirty, and white. Even in this new building, it was still cold and dirty. It was no wonder people didn’t want to come here or were sad when they were here. This place gave feelings of being unwanted and alone. So alone.

  “Dear, you have to stop almost dying because you are going to cause me a heart attack,” my mother said and hugged me softly. She touched my cheek. “I know why you did it. Why you always do it.”

  “I am not dead?”

  She smiled a little. “As you can see.”

  “But I was.”

  “No, just unconscious.”

  “All the other times I was unconscious? All the other times I thought I was dead and I saw the clouds?”

  She nodded. “You were in a mid-death situation. It’s when you are on the brink of going in either direction, but you are the only one who can decide where to go. If your will is strong, then you can come back. And, darling, you have a very strong will since you came back not one but three times.”

  “So the queen was wrong?”

  Sadness filled her eyes. “Yes, but then again, Lily was never good with diseases. She just liked plants and flowers. The queen was...”

  “I am sorry,” I said.

  “She was my best friend, but she went down fighting and it’s good. Every one of us wants to go like this.”

  Maybe every witch, but I don’t want to go down like this. I want a peaceful life. Is that so wrong?

  “Ritta came to visit you, but she had to go take care of some things.”

  “Take care of what?”

  “Some part of your house is destroyed, so she located someone to help with that. And your friend Jonathan came to visit you, but then he left along with Alec for some business. They will be back in three days.”

  Three days... but what day was today? “How long was I unconscious?” She pursed her lips, so I take a guess. “Five days?”

  “Darling, you were unconscious for two weeks.”

  “That can’t be right. You are joking, right?” How could I be unconscious for two whole weeks?

  Her worried face showed she had told me the truth. “We really thought you were dead this time. We were really worried. We didn’t understand what happened either. Ritta said you were attacked by three men for hire, but who could have sent them?”

  “The third didn’t die in the attack. I knew there were three. I saw them, but the others didn’t notice, and I saw him just in time when he was attacking so I attacked too but... their swords are poisoned. I am sorry... it was stupid.”

  She caressed my arm. “Yes, but darling, the poison didn’t do that to you. The poison barely affected you. We healed you, but there was something else making you stay in this state, and we didn’t know what it was.”

  The white light. “I remember attacking, then the pain, and then I saw a light, it was strong.”

  My mother thought about it. “Maybe he was a special man for hire.” There are special men for hire too? “They are more dangerous than the normal ones.” Obviously. “When they die, then the object which they wish to destroy dies too.”

  I shrugged. “But I am right here.”

  “I don’t know. That is all very strange... but men for hire have never attacked a witch before.”

  “And they were hired by a witch.”

  She stared at me. “Excuse me?”

  I told her what had happened with the princess because I think she ordered the attack.

  “And you tell me this now?” She scowled at me.

  “It wouldn’t make a difference. The princess usually doesn’t attack her own subjects.”

  She sighed. “You are right, but she is not an ordinary princess. She is elected and not by birth. She is always afraid of losing her throne.”

  There is that question, asked silently, again: why don’t you become a princess? Because I want to live.

  “These are from your friends.” She pointed to some sunflowers, a wooden box, and a small velvet box. The sunflowers were from Ritta and they made me happy. Ritta always knew how to cheer me up.

  “Oh. That’s from Alec, Mother.” I took the wooden box from her. “It’s pretty.” I opened it and inside was a wooden horse—an exact copy of Sunshine, I was happy. “He made me another one of Midnight. It looks exactly like her, and she thought it was a real cat.”

  My mother laughed. “He is very skilled.”

  I nodded. Yes, he was in many things. I opened the velvet box and inside was a silver necklace with green stones, and I knew exactly who had made it.

  “It’s beautiful,” my mother said.

  It was so beautiful and it matched the bracelet he had made me. “He made me a bracelet and gave it to me on my birthday.”

  She raised her eyebrows. “Did he know...?”

  “About the birthstone? No.”

  “Then that’s no coincidence,” my mother said. She didn’t believe in coincidences either.

  I noticed a note in the box and read it out loud. “Will you stop saving my life?” I almost laughed. No, I wouldn’t. King or no king, everyone deserved to be saved as long as they had a good heart.

  “I know it’s not my place to judge, but why do you keep pushing him away?”

  Because it’s dangerous. “He is a king and I am not a human.”

  She scowled me. “Is that all? Do you know how many witches had children with humans? If not for humans, we wouldn’t exist.”

  Is she telling me I am not the only one? Is she telling me I am a human too? “Then why are they so cold and indifferent? I thought they lost their humanity.”

  She sighed. “It’s not their humanity that they lost. Their belief in their home is what they lost. Before, the princesses were good and the White Land so bright you thought it was a star. Now the only thing you see bright is the palace. When you arrive at our home, do you see it shining?”

  “No, it’s not. The white of their houses shines, but not the White Land itself.

  “The princess doesn’t inspire them like the previous did. The White Land shines when her people believe in it and their princess. Now there is none.”

  “That’s sad, but these are not the only reasons. If he dies and I live, what am I supposed to do?”

  She looked at me sadly. “Live.”

  “Exactly.”

  She took my hand. “And what will happen if he dies and you remain just friends? Or he marries someone else because he was tired of waiting?”

  I don’t know. “It will be better for him. She would be better than me and human.”

  “How do you know that? The queen was not entirely human, and some humans are worse than us. If you don’t do something now, you will regret it for the rest of your life, and trust me, it will be a long life. Better do something and regret it because you did it.” She has a point. “Don’t be afraid of giving yourself to someone because he is different from you. You can be you in some moments with me and Ritta and in our home, and with him, you can be you without real magic, bu
t even life has magic, but not everyone can see it.”

  Is she talking about her? About my father? She was right, of course, I know, and I had promised I would give him a chance when we were back alive from the war. We were back, and most importantly, alive, so I should give him a chance when he returns back from his trip.

  Later in the day, Ritta came to visit me. She hugged me and yelled, “Don’t you dare do something like that again.” She had brought Midnight with her. My stupid, angry, smart cat was coming to see me so I wouldn’t be alone. I kissed her. “You are not mad at me anymore?” Meow. She licked me and I guessed that meant no.

  The next day I felt better, so I told Ritta to help me get home. “But you are still weak,” she protested.

  “I can be weak at home. I hate this place. It’s dirty and cold.”

  After many protests, she brought my horse and we went to my house. Ritta helped me to my room and I lay in my wonderful bed. She stayed in my room in case I wanted to move again, but I was not doing anything stupid again. We talked while I rested.

  “The kitchen is repaired now, so you don’t have to worry about anything.”

  “My mother told me you were taking care of that. Thank you, Ritta.”

  “He came to visit you every day.”

  “Who?” I had an idea who she was referring to.

  “Jonathan. He left you a box too. What was it? I am curious.”

  Always. I opened the velvet box that held both pieces he had made for me.

  “Oh. They are very beautiful.”

  I pointed at the bracelet. “This is from my birthday, and the necklace is from yesterday or whenever he left it. He didn’t know about the birthstone.” Then I called my cat. “Midnight. Come and bring me your toy.”

  Ritta raised her eyebrows. “What toy?”

  I smiled and Midnight brought me the wooden cat.

  “Oh. That’s so beautiful. Where did you get it?”

  “It was a gift from Alec on my birthday. He saw how much I loved my cat and this”—I pointed to the brush—“is from Alicia and her family, and the inscription means that beauty is not always seen.”

  She clapped her hands. “How nice and true. When you are back on your feet, we are going to Italy. How about summer?”