Instrument of Peace (Symphony of the Cursed Book 1)

by Rebecca Hall

  “You should be grateful, Cursed One.”

  “Grateful?” Mitch spluttered, tasting blood as it dribbled over his lips and down his chin.

  “Without the Twisted Curse you would not stand before me and the Fallen have long since given up their experiments on human souls. As I said, you should be grateful.”

  Mitch gaped at him, unable to understand what he was saying. The Twisted Curse wasn’t responsible for him huddling on the lake shore while blood streamed down his nose. He had no idea who or what the Fallen were beyond the fact that they hadn’t been covered in class yet. If they really did experiment on human souls they probably wouldn’t get to them until their last year. Mitch hadn’t even been sure that the soul was real.

  “Wh–what do you want?” he asked. Cullum wasn’t shaking him any more. He blinked afterimages of pain out of his eyes but couldn’t see him anywhere, he’d probably gone to get help. Or he’d just run away. Mitch had no intention of going anywhere until this damned lizard gave him an answer that made sense. He wasn’t sure he could go anywhere, he suspected trying to stand would prove to be a mistake.

  “I want to live.”

  Mitch just stared at it. Wanting to live was all well and good but he was reasonably sure he couldn’t hurt it while it could incapacitate him with a single giant flipper. It had almost incapacitated him already with its psychic outside voice.

  “I’m not going to hurt you,” Mitch said when it became clear that the monster was waiting for a response.

  “Tell them,” it insisted, its multitudinous voice shivering with fear even as it threatened to knock him out. “The Fallen One, the Burning One, The Lone Warrior. They must stop, tell them to stop.”

  Who the Hell were they? Mitch wasn’t even sure it was referring to three separate people, it wasn’t as if those titles were mutually exclusive.

  “Stop what?” he asked spitting out a mouthful of blood. The world was beginning to spin around him, his vision darkening, and he could still feel the blood trickling down the back of his throat.

  “The Eternity War,” the Taniwha replied, propelling itself back into deeper water and leaving behind an imprint that was already being eroded. “The Twisted Curse. Tell them to make an end to it.”

  “How?” he yelled, almost spitting his head open, but the Taniwha had already slipped back under the water without even a ripple to mark its passage. “I don’t even know who they are,” Mitch muttered. His nose didn’t seem to be bleeding quite so heavily but his head was still pounding unpleasantly and even the thought of getting up was nauseating. He dragged himself across the beach instead, wincing with every movement, and scooped up a handful of water to wash away the blood. A couple more handfuls and his face was clean and his hands numb. He didn’t want to think about what kind of state his clothes might be in.

  He inched back a little and sank onto the damp sand, so long as there were no rogue waves he’d be safe until he could get up. He thought about what the Taniwha had said but most of it made no sense. Perhaps he’d be able to find something in the library. The names had sounded vaguely familiar but he couldn’t recall where he had heard them.

  “Mitch! Mitchell!”

  He winced and sat up just in time for his brother to cannon into him, followed by a far more restrained Bates.

  “Think you can get up?” Bates asked.

  “Maybe,” Mitch said, pushing his brother away. Bates offered him a hand and pulled him to his feet. Mitch staggered into him and would have fallen over if Bates hadn’t caught him.

  “Infirmary,” Bates muttered half carrying him away from the lake. Mitch focused on not tripping both of them, actually supporting himself was beyond him.

  “What happened?” the doctor asked, shining a light into his eyes once Bates had deposited him on one of the beds. Mitch was beginning to hate the infirmary.

  “Taniwha,” Mitch managed to mutter.

  The doctor shook his head, “You’re the first person it’s spoken to in almost sixteen years.” He put the infernal light away and came back with a couple of pills in a paper cup and a glass of water. Mitch downed both gratefully. “I won’t pry,” the doctor said, “but you should take heed of what it told you. It never speaks without a purpose.”

  Mitch resisted the urge to roll his eyes. He’d just been given an important and meaningful message and he had no idea who to deliver it to.

  “Come back if you still feel sick but you should be fine,” the doctor said. Bates helped him up and they went back to the dormitory, Mitch still leaning heavily on his friend. Cullum trailed along behind them.

  “What the Hell did it do to you?” Bates asked.

  “It just talked,” Mitch said, “do you think there’d be anything left if it wanted lunch?”

  “It’s a herbivore,” Bates replied. Cullum ran ahead to get the door for them.

  “Seriously?”

  “It eats algae,” Bates said, dragging him into one of the TV lounges instead of upstairs to his room and depositing him on one of the couches. “Board games or movies?” Bates asked.

  “Movies.” Board games would be far too much effort. “Can you grab a clean coat from my room?” Mitch asked as they left.

  “I doubt it,” Bates didn’t think much of his floordrobe system, “but I’ll see what I can do.”

  #

  “What do you think it means?” Gwen asked as she carefully applied her makeup in the tiny handheld mirror. Mitch didn’t understand why she hadn’t bought a bigger one. Maybe he should get one for her birthday, he knew it was sometime around now. He’d have to ask Mindy and hope she didn’t tell on him. Mindy was much better at keeping track of such things than he was.

  “If I knew that I wouldn’t be asking you would I?” Mitch asked, hunting across the floor for his shirt. “You’re the one who’s good at puzzles.” He found his remaining sock and tugged it on but there was still no sign of his shirt and he had no intention of venturing out into the girl’s dormitory shirtless on a Sunday morning. “How am I supposed to be its damned messenger boy if I don’t know who it means? Hasn’t it ever heard of proper names?”

  “It’s an oversized lake lizard,” Gwen reminded him, “I’m not sure it would even understand the concept of proper names. Most of our books say that Lacum Dracone are rather disconnected from our world. Those names are probably some long forgotten titles from the time when that message would be clear as day.” She snapped her mirror shut and began putting all of her little brushes back into her makeup bag.

  “So dragging it out of the lake and shaking it until it gives me a straight answer probably won’t work then,” Mitch said, still futilely hunting for his shirt. Maybe the sock monster had decided to expand its operations.

  “Probably not. I would say that you’ll find them, I’m sure I’ve heard of them before, but right now you can’t even find your shirt.” Mitch glared at her but Gwen was too busy fiddling with some convoluted cousin of the Rubik’s cube to notice.

  “Well maybe next time I’ll stop and fold it nicely,” he snapped, running a hand through his hair and wincing when it caught in the knots. That was the other thing he’d have to do next time he went to Taupo, his hair was getting far too long.

  “Now that’ll be something to see, Mitchell folding his clothes. I’ll bet Hell freezes over first.”

  “Didn’t you hear? Hell froze over a while ago,” Mitch said, thinking of Belle and her dream. He frowned; there was something there, a connection that he wasn’t making but whatever it was could wait until after he found his shirt and had brunch.

  “Global warming for the win,” Gwen muttered, inspecting her puzzle she’d twisted into a complex pattern, and pointing to the top of the wardrobe. A sleeve dangled over the corner.

  “You’ve known it was there all along,” Mitch growled, yanking it down and dragging it over his head. It had never occurred to him to look up.

  Gwen laughed, “Of course. But I enjoy seeing you shirtless and flustered,” she whispered in
to his ear.

  “I’m not flustered,” Mitch said though he could feel his face turning red. “Just hungry,” he added when his stomach growled.

  “We better get going then,” Gwen said, “brunch will be over soon and I think it’s waffles today.” Mitch forced himself to hold her hand and walk instead of bolting for the door.

  NO CONTEST

  “Do you think we can sneak out?” Mitch asked eyeing the teachers all around them. The teachers eyed them back, no doubt wondering how they’d managed to finish so fast.

  “Maybe,” Gwen shrugged. Mr McCalis wouldn’t care if they left the Arena, they knew to be back in time for the results to be announced and, more importantly, the bus back to the Academy, but he would care if they used magic. Using magic outside the Academy grounds while on school trips was strictly forbidden unless they were explicitly told otherwise.

  Mitch sighed, it wasn’t as if there was anything for them to do outside. Mitch had visited Rotorua often enough with his family to be familiar with the multitude of tourist attractions and how long they took. A lot of them were outside anyway and the weather was lousy. He wouldn’t have minded luging in the rain but he didn’t think he’d be able to convince Gwen that racing down the mountain side with no brakes would be fun. It would probably ruin her make up. Somehow sneaking out to visit the museum just didn’t seem that exciting.

  “Guess we’ll just have to settle for trouncing these losers then,” Mitch said, glancing at where the rest of the teams in the maths contest were still trying to finish. He’d hated losing to Angel Girl last year but having her on his team was actually proving to be worse. Where was the fun in winning when there was no competition? He hadn’t even had to do anything, he’d just sat there as Angel Girl glanced at the question and then scribbled down the answer. After the first few questions he hadn’t even bothered checking her work, what was the point?

  He tugged at the tie wrapped around his neck and scowled. Interschool events were one of the few times that the Academy insisted upon a uniform and it was uncomfortable, especially the tie. He could have lived with the trousers and shirt, even the belt and blazer were no worse than the things his mother sometimes forced him into, but he hated the tie and the too-tight shoes.

  Gwen smiled gleefully. She didn’t care how they won and she’d hated losing to Angel Girl’s school last year. If the frantic way they were working now was any indication they wouldn’t be a problem this year.

  “I suppose we have to return to our illustrious teammates then,” Gwen said, pushing herself off the balustrade and leading the way downstairs. Together they returned to the main floor of the pretentiously named Arena. Mitch didn’t care how many millions of dollars they’d spent building the damn thing with its carpet tiles laid out over regulation sized courts, it was still just a glorified school gym. Although he had to concede that the heaters were nice, especially with the freezing rain pouring down outside.

  Mitch sighed again as they approached the rest of the team, wishing they had different teammates. He almost would have preferred Nikola to Hayley and Sven. At least it wasn’t Sam and Sven, that would have been unbearable, but Sam had always been terrible with numbers. Hayley seemed content to watch the competition scramble while Sven was leafing through a book. It wasn’t a textbook, but they weren’t allowed to take most of their textbooks off campus. Mitch suppressed a groan when he recognised it as Harry Potter, and sat down next to Gwen, wishing that he’d thought to bring a book while she began to doodle a ridiculously complex pattern on a scrap of paper

  The school bell wailed, signalling the beginning of lunch and Mitch looked hopefully at Mr McCalis. He handed them a bright yellow piece of paper; the local shops wouldn’t serve them during school hours without it, not when they were in uniform. Sven didn’t look up from his book and Mitch wasn’t inclined to disturb him but Angel Girl had already left.

  “Supermarket?” Gwen asked as they went outside. The rain had let up and the school was crowded with groups of girls wandering this way and that. Gwen wrapped herself around his arm protectively. There were more girls in this school then there were students in the Academy.

  “Sure,” Mitch asked. He never passed up a chance to visit the supermarket and stock up on cookies, lollies and chocolate. The checkout lady frowned at their uniforms, no doubt wondering where they were supposed to be, and served them when they presented their permission slip. They grabbed fish and chips for lunch and then headed back to the Arena, Mitch didn’t trust the rain to stay stopped and it was still too wet for them to sit outside.

  “Want to go back upstairs?” Gwen asked, “we’ll just get lynched if we stay down here.” Mitch glanced at the timer, only five minutes were left. A couple of teams had clearly finished and were forced to sit there and twiddle their thumbs while everyone else scrambled to finish on time. One of them noticed Gwen and Mitch and shot them a glare, nudging her teammates.

  “Upstairs,” Mitch agreed when the whole team turned to glare at them. Angel Girl was already sitting in a corner of the mezzanine. Gwen might have joined her but Mitch tugged her down where they could watch everyone else and talk in private.

  “I wish we hadn’t brought her,” Mitch said, unwrapping the greasy newspaper encasing their lunch.

  “We won didn’t we?” Gwen asked. The results hadn’t been announced yet but it seemed likely, unless someone else had a perfect score and they had to have some sort of sudden death round.

  “It wasn’t much of a competition,” Mitch pointed out, raising his voice slightly to be heard over the pack of girls that had congregated below them.

  “Just take the win Mitch,” Gwen advised. They fell silent as they ate, trying to devour all of it before it got cold and sharing a bottle of L&P.

  “Think you can eavesdrop on them?” Gwen asked, jerking her head towards the girls below them, “they don’t sound too happy with us.” Mitch shrugged, with any luck Mr McCalis wouldn’t notice. Even if he did it wasn’t as if he was doing anything obvious and flashy.

  “...ieve she’s with them now.”

  “Really?” someone giggled, “she’s exactly their type. The stuck up little bitch didn’t even pretend to work like a normal human being this time.”

  “I don’t think they’re worried about us,” Mitch said to Gwen.

  “I doubt they’ll be that discerning if they try anything,” Gwen replied, “we are between them and her.” Mitch returned to eavesdropping.

  “...time we taught her a lesson,” someone said angrily. Mitch wished he could see who was talking but they were right underneath him, there was no way to see them without being really obvious about it.

  “Really Aroha?” Mitch ground his teeth together, he hadn’t realised that there were guys down there as well. He wondered if he could give himself the ability to see through walls. “You never asked her to join us and now you’re pissed that she joined the Academy instead. You’re just jealous that you didn’t make the cut.” Mitch frowned, knowing he’d just missed something important but unable to put his finger on it.

  “You’re only defending her because you want to get into her pants, Dion,” Aroha snarled, following her words with a slap. Mitch winced; Gwen was right, if the little bitch did try something they would definitely be caught in it. They should have stayed downstairs with Sven and Mr McCalis.

  “She’s wearing a skirt,” another guy drawled to a round of giggles and coarse suggestions. Mitch felt himself turning red, who talked like that about someone they barely knew? They sounded like a bunch of assholes. Mitch was half hoping that they’d try something now, just to give him an excuse to hit them.

  “Do what you want,” Dion snapped, “I want nothing to do with this.”

  “We’re just having fun man,” whined skirt guy. “Don’t you think it’s time those dicks at the Academy learnt to take us seriously instead of treating us like second rate scum? We’re just as human as they are.”

  “And when their teacher works it out?” Dion aske
d, “we can’t stand up to a fully trained magician.”

  Mitch’s concentration shattered, his magic splintering into a million pieces. Now he knew what he’d been missing before. As far as everyone else was concerned they were students of Rangipo College; no one should have known about the Academy.

  “They’re magicians,” he hissed. He couldn’t help pressing himself against the glass and peering down at them. He knew that the magic schools didn’t take everyone but he hadn’t expected to run into any magicians. A couple of guys were walking away, Dion and his friend he assumed, but there were still five people clustered beneath them and he was prepared to bet that Aroha was the girl with bleached blonde hair and a pissed expression. She probably had a thing for Dion.

  “Are you trying to get caught?” Gwen asked, yanking him away. “What the Hell did they say?”

  “They...” the pane of glass he’d been peering through shattered. If Gwen hadn’t pulled him back he probably would have face-planted onto them. The girls squealed as they were showered with glass. Now that he had every reason to look Mitch did so and saw that Aroha didn’t seem at all perturbed by the inexplicably broken pane.

  “Fuck,” Gwen breathed, “it was that insipid blonde. The little idiot used illusion.”

  “She any good?” Mitch asked. The fact that he hadn’t sensed anything suggested that she wasn’t completely terrible.

  “All brute strength and no finesse.” She glanced at the shards of glass scattered across the floor, “No aim either.”

  “And very determined to pick a fight,” Angel Girl said. Mitch jumped.

  “Friend of yours?” Gwen asked.

  “Only if you want your eyes clawed out,” Hayley flashed them a smile. “Aroha doesn’t do subtle. We were in the same class for four years.”

  “Are all of your old classmates so friendly?” Mitch asked, making for the stairs. It was only a matter of time before someone came up to investigate and order them downstairs.

  “Aroha is special,” Hayley replied.