Cursed and Crazed

by Sophia Stafford

  “There is nothing I can teach you, trust me.”

  Deacon pointed at her. “You, girlie, are all of our future. How you were made, your power. We haven’t got a scrap of power between us, we’re a dying breed. You are gonna bring us back.”

  “Me, my power? It’s not the future. It’s a mistake, its unnatural and its gone. I don’t have it anymore. Darius took it. It’s gone.”

  They fell into an uneasy silence, everyone eyeing each other.

  Pushing off the side Jaycen stormed out, reaching the top of the stairs when Suzie caught her by the arm.

  “Wait. We still need you to talk to our guys. They still need to see you.”

  She yanked her arm free. “Why? There is nothing I can give them. I can’t help them.”

  “We’ll keep your secret about your magic. We won’t tell anyone outside this house, but our people need hope. Something to keep going for, you are that hope. You are the face of our revolution.”

  “Revolution? What are you talking about? Right now I’m just a mortal on the run, and I need to get away from here as soon as I can.”

  Suzie’s face scrunched up in disgust. “Oh come on. It’s a few hours. It’s the least you can do after my mom used all her magic on you, saving you.”

  “So that’s what it was.” She had remembered Sampson telling her how his people used magic. How they weren’t powerful enough to just cast a spell, that they had to save up their magic. And her mother used it all on her. All of it. That was huge.

  “Fine. I’ll stay, but only for an hour. After that, I’ll need to leave.”

  Just then Samantha walked up the stairs. “You’re staying? Good. A lot of people will be very happy about that.”

  If she had thought about it much Jaycen would have stopped herself. But she didn’t think about it long, instead, she lurched forward and wrapped her arms around Samantha.

  The other woman tensed. “O-kay.”

  “Thank you,” Jaycen whispered and then quickly stepped back. “Thank you. We’ll be ready to leave soon.”

  Chapter 27

  Everyone was staring at them. They tried to pretend they weren’t, but it was obvious. And they weren’t just looking, they were waiting.

  “You should give them a show. Use your magic on something. I think they’d love that,” Jaycen said, picking up a pair of boxing gloves and putting them on. Their “Club” that they’d been on about, was another medium-sized room next to an old library. Apparently, it got rented out for parties and fundraisers and also training sessions with witches and warlocks. It was strange. The room was old and the equipment worse, but it was all they had, and they all seemed to love it.

  “Yeah, okay.” Gemma squared her stance and help up the pad for Jaycen to hit. She looked around the room. “I know what to do.”

  The room door slammed shut.

  To say everyone loved it was an understatement. They gasped, someone clapped as they all laughed in disbelief. It was insane.

  Jaycen pointed to Gemma, just to let them all know who had done it.

  “Is that really all you can do?” Jaycen laughed, getting ready to practice.

  “Pretty much. It takes so much energy to do anything else.” She shrugged, seemingly unbothered by her lack of magical ability.

  “They use objects to store their magic in, releasing once it’s built up enough for a spell. Speak to them about it, it could be useful for you.”

  Gemma hit the pads in a half-hearted swing. “I’ve read about people doing that. It’s a new age way of combating the lack of magical blood. It’s really interesting.”

  They went a few more rounds before Gemma got bored, “Physical activity is just not for me.”

  Jaycen saw Suzie at the other side of the gym fighting a girl double her size. She was fast, landing blows to the left and right and then knocking her off her feet before she could even react.

  Suzie caught her looking and smiled. “Want to fight?”

  People had caught onto their exchange and excitement was building.

  Yes, yes she did want to fight. “We probably shouldn’t.”

  “Oh go on girlie. It’ll be good for us to see you in action. Just no hitting in the face or the groin. Keep it clean,” Deacon said from across the room where he was teaching a bunch of teenagers with Samantha.

  “No magic, just fighting,” she clarified, walking over and meeting Suzie half-way. She couldn’t tell if this was the best idea in the world or the worst. But goddamn she loved fighting.

  “Let’s do it.”

  Suzie just ran at her, full speed ahead. Jaycen fell to the floor with Suzie on top of her, smiling like she just won the lottery.

  Nope. Jaycen used her body weight to push her off and got up to her knees. The crowd went wild.

  Jaycen got up to her knees and twisted Suzie’s arm back, her whole-body curling in pain.

  “Give in?”

  Her lips pressed together in pain, Suzie shook her head. She curled her body up as she brought her leg up, kicking Jaycen in the chest.

  “Ooof.” It now hurt for Jaycen to breathe.

  Shaking her arm, Suzie was now on her feet, ready for round two. Jaycen tried to get to her feet but Suzie was there kicking and punching low. She was fast.

  Swinging her legs Jaycen knocked her off her feet. One kick to the legs, a punch to the stomach before she crawled on top of her and held her down.

  She twisted violently, thrashing up and down, trying to get Jaycen off her.

  “Give in?” Jaycen smiled down at her.

  She gave it one more go before finally giving in.

  Everyone clapped as they stood.

  “You’re a good fighter. Do they teach you at your school?”

  Suzie shook her head, trying to catch her breath, “We have gym, but not really fighting.”

  “That was amazing.”

  “Can I fight you next?”

  “Can you teach me?”

  Sampson also came over. “Now that’s going to hurt her ego.”

  Suzie pushed him. “Shut up. I’d like to see you fight her.”

  “Na, I’m not that stupid.” He threw Jaycen a wink before turning to talk to another man.

  Suzie hobbled off as the group surrounded Jaycen, all of their hands reaching out to touch her. Patting her back or to shake her hand. She pushed through them to get to Gemma.

  “She nearly had you back there.”

  Jaycen nodded. “She’s so fast. Can you imagine what she’d be like if she got training like we get at the academy?”

  “She’d be good,” Gemma acknowledged as they head to a seating area at the side of the room where Sampson had gone off to.

  “No, she’d be amazing.” Just as she said it Jaycen saw Suzie leave the room, her head down and Samantha rushing after her. “I’ll be right back.”

  Jaycen followed the noise of Suzie and Samantha until they stopped in the corridor.

  “How many times do we have to go through this? I can’t afford any more lessons.” Samantha folded her arms as Suzie moved in the space around, restless.

  “I’ve told you, I’ll get a job. I can work in the pizza place; I’ll clean after school. I’m not learning anything new here. Please.”

  “Deacon said he’d…”

  “Deacon has taught me everything he knows. He’s not a martial arts expert Mom.” Suzie saw Jaycen then. “Do you need something?”

  Samantha turned to and lifted an eyebrow in silent question.

  “Why don’t you go to a magical school?” Jaycen asked, leaning against the corner of the wall.

  “Why do you think genius?”

  “Suzie,” Samantha scolded her before turning back to Jaycen. “Can we have a minute, please?”

  “Yeah.” Jaycen didn’t head back the way she had come from, instead, she walked around Suzie and Samantha and headed the opposite way. A double set of doors opened, filling the otherwise gloomy corridor with light.

  Jaycen took her first left, deciding it
was better to keep out of view.

  “The odds that she’s here are slim,” a female’s voice said, making Jaycen halter her steps. “If he actually thought she was here he’d have come himself.”

  “Yeah, well. We’ll check the entire town, if we don’t find anything, we’ll tell him.”

  Jaycen pressed her body against the wall as the two women passed, neither of them looking down the corridor she was in.

  Were they looking for her? Keeping light on her feet Jaycen stayed back and watched where the woman was going. Which, of course, was where Suzie and Samantha were still bickering.

  “You know all the free classes around here are useless,” Suzie whined. “I need classes that teach me how to fight with magic. That’s what I want.”

  “Why? What would be the point?” Samantha exploded, clearly neither of them aware of the two newcomers. But they had heard. The two women slowed and listed to Suzie and Samantha argue a little more before they made their move.

  Jaycen had nothing to fight them off with, she looked around, only seeing a stack of chairs and a desk pushed up against one of the walls. She stayed back until she saw the women make their move.

  “Stand still and put your hands up.”

  “Who the heck are you?” Suzie demanded.

  “Hey, we’re going to ask the questions, okay? Go stand back against the wall, I want to see your hands at all times.”

  Jaycen peered around the corner to see Samantha and Suzie move to stand against the wall. Jaycen had no plan, no way to fight these women. One thing she knew for sure was that they weren’t carrying weapons, which meant they had magic to use.

  She needed to split them up, and fast.

  “Where is Jaycen Reece?” one of the women asked, her hand up and ready to use.

  Samantha laughed nervously. “Jaycen Reece? Are you serious? She’s dead. Don’t you watch the news?”

  Suzie joined her mother in nervous laughter.

  “You know she’s alive. Where is she?”

  Jaycen ran back to the stacked chairs and table, making as much noise as possible.

  “Go check on that.”

  “There are mortal people here, it’s open to the public,” Samantha shared quickly.

  Jaycen ducked behind the stack of chairs when she heard footsteps approach. She had to take them out fast and with as little noise as possible. She held her breath as the woman passed, and then pounced, jumping on the woman’s back, one arm in front of the woman’s throat while holding the top of her head. The woman grunted as she gasped for air, stumbling backward and crushing Jaycen into the wall. She clawed at her arm but eventually dropped to her knees, and that was when Jaycen loosened her grip as she fell unconscious. It worked, it actually worked. The move was something Jaycen had only seen on TV shows, why weren’t more people using this?

  Grabbing her leg, she dragged the sleeping woman to the side of the corridor, then she picked up a bunch of chairs and headed to where Samantha and Suzie were with woman number two.

  Jaycen held up the chairs, shielding her face from view as she rounded the corner.

  “Neenee, that you?”

  “Your friend went that way,” Jaycen deepened her voice, still hiding her face with the chairs.

  She could feel the other woman looking at her, she picked up her pace.

  “Stop walking, I said stop walking.”

  Jaycen slowed but didn’t stop. “What? Why? These chairs are heavy.”

  “I said stop walking.” She moved in front of Jaycen and grabbed the stack of chairs.

  Jaycen threw them at her, knocking her on the ground. The woman threw a spell out, Jaycen ducked, letting it hit the wall behind her.

  “Oh damn, it’s you.” The woman kicked the floor trying to get away then she threw another spell and another. Jaycen moved, ducking, jumping, and dodging each spell as the woman got to her feet. She picked up one of the chairs and threw it at her. She fell to the floor hard, hitting her head against the ground. Jaycen was over her in seconds, she only relaxed when she realised the woman was unconscious.

  “Are they from Darius?” Samantha couldn’t hide the quiver in her voice.

  Jaycen rolled off the woman and sat on the floor. “Yeah, I think so. Are you two okay?”

  They both nodded.

  “I want to learn how you did that. I want to fight against magic too.” Suzie rushed to kneel beside Jaycen.

  “One thing at a time. We must hide these, there’s one around the corner too. My guess is there’ll be others.”

  The three of them dragged the women into the room next to where everyone was training, they were walking to get the other one when they saw them. A group of men and women all heading to the doors. Jaycen held up her arm, stopping them from walking and rushed them around the corner.

  “You sure they checked in here?”

  “Yeah, I saw them.”

  Jaycen peeked around, counting nine.

  She shook her head, and motioned back, pulling the woman with her.

  “There’s too many,” was all Jaycen said as they went back into the training room, closing the door behind them.

  Samantha turned to her. “You should hide.”

  “I can’t leave you guys. You saw those women; they could have hurt you. These people, they hate people like you. They think that…”

  “Oh we know what they think of us,” Samantha assured.

  Sampson and Deacon walked over. Sampson pulled his sister’s hair playfully. “Why do you look out of breath?”

  “There are people here, looking for Jaycen.”

  Deacon pushed a table against the door, barricading them in. “We need to hide. If we stay quiet, they might just leave.”

  It wasn’t the best plan, but it seemed like their only option.

  “Everyone get down and to the side of the room. Everyone stay quiet.” Deacon ushered the younger ones to one corner where he knelt in front of them. The rest did as he told them, but they looked scared.

  Jaycen stayed as close to the door as she could without being seen, Suzie close at her side.

  Then the door rattled as they tried to open it from the outside.

  “It’s locked?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Wait do you hear that?”

  Then there was silence. Frowning, Jaycen put her head against the wall and listened. She could hear footsteps, slow at first, they didn’t go far. Then she heard the banging of a door that wasn’t theirs. She knew at least one of the women was awake.

  “We need to move, now.” She noticed a small window at the back of the room and pointed to it. “Gotta get as many people out of the window.”

  “We know you’re in there.” The door was rattling violently.

  Jaycen rushed to the window and hit it, smashing it open. “Get as many people out of here as you can,” she hissed running back over to the door and pushing back against the desk.

  Suzie and Gemma were by her side, pushing against her. “No, you need to leave. Gemma I’m going to need your magic. But Suzie, get out of here.”

  “I’m right here with you,” Gemma promised, pushing back with everything she had.

  “You’re outnumbered. I can fight, I can help.”

  “Trust me, when they break this door down there will be no fighting. They all have magic.” Jaycen grunted as the door opened just a little but its force pushing them all back.

  She looked over her shoulder at Deacon, Sampson, and Samantha as they lowered the youngest out of the window.

  She knew it was only a matter of time.

  “Suzie, get out of here.”

  The door blew open. Jaycen Gemma and Suzie all flew back, pieces of wood flying everywhere.

  Suzie got a spell into the dust.

  “No, save your magic.”

  Deacon, Sampson, and a few others all stood behind her, casting their spells into the dust as Jaycen screamed at them to stop.

  “No. Save it, save your magic!”

  Then it did sto
p and for a minute there was no noise at all.

  Breathing heavy, Jaycen couldn’t take her eyes off the blown-in doors. Then the smoke settled, and the people became clear.

  “You want me. I’m here. Leave these people alone.”

  Someone laughed, a tall woman with long brown hair, as she walked into the room. “No. For making us work for it. For knocking out my friends? These people are going to pay for it. You can’t. Your father wants you, but them? They’re dead.”

  “You won’t touch them.” Jaycen got to her knees as more stepped forward. The whole group were here.

  “Darling, you have no authority here. I’ll do what I like. And I want to kill them all, understand? Everyone on your knees.”

  It took a second as people tried to stand their ground. The woman smiled, then sent Deacon flying backward with a spell.

  “No!” Jaycen’s scream was mixed with others.

  “Get on your knees,” the blond woman instructed again as she held out her hands with a threat.

  The others still standing fell to their knees. The cries of the little kids that didn’t get out in time muffled at the back of the room.

  Jaycen held up her hands. “I’m the one….”

  The woman held up her arm as a man walked over to Jaycen and cuffed her hands together behind her back.

  “She secure?”

  The man nodded. “Yeah.”

  “Good. Take her out, we’ll kill the rest of them.”

  Cries. Screams. So much noise as someone yanked Jaycen forward.

  “No. No Gemma! Take me. Don’t touch them. Don’t you dare touch them.” Jaycen pulled and twisted, looking back as she was pulled from the room.

  Someone rushed past Jaycen, moving so quickly her eyes couldn’t see what or who it was. She blinked, as her body was pushed slightly, the pulling in her arm stopped and her panic set in as a blur whizzed around the room. This wasn’t possible, no one could move this fast.

  Then everything stopped, as did Jaycen’s pounding heart.

  “Everyone else okay?” Azrael, the angel himself, was now standing in the middle of the room, as cool as a Sunday morning as he fixed his black shirt.