Casually Cursed

by Kimberly Frost

  Exceptionally compliant? I thought. That didn’t sound like Momma at all. The spell’s memory loss had regressed her to her younger self. But had she really been so different as a teenager? How young did she think she was?

  I turned to Momma. “How long have you been here? How old are you?” I whispered.

  The corners of her mouth turned down. “It doesn’t matter,” she said, not whispering.

  “It does,” I said.

  “Technically sixteen, but I’m emancipated.”

  I cocked my head. “Doesn’t that word mean free?” I asked, gesturing to the bars.

  She laughed, and it made me smile even though nothing seemed funny about being stuck in a birdcage. I glanced at the queen, who had stepped back a couple feet, but stood watching us.

  “They don’t let witches wander around the Never,” Momma said. “I traveled underhill for a specific reason, and I’ve gotten what I wanted. This is just”—she shrugged—“temporary. They have to be sure of me.”

  “You came to be with Caedrin?”

  Momma nodded.

  “Because you’re in love with him?”

  “Well,” she said, and paused. She walked to the window. “It’s personal.”

  To me, too! I wanted to say. She’d gotten imprisoned for him. I sure hoped they loved each other. “How did you meet?” I asked, so curious I didn’t move an inch while I waited for her to answer.

  A small smirk returned. “I saved his life . . . or thought I did. He thought that was cool. I guess no girl ever tried to protect him before.”

  From the corner of my eye I saw the queen become as still as a statue. Her expression could’ve frozen a raging river to solid ice.

  “But it turned out he didn’t need saving,” Momma said. “In fact, he’d been coming to rescue me.” She grinned. “My sister and I were on South Padre for spring break. One day on the beach, Caedrin came up to me to ask directions, which made no sense, since there were better people—locals—to ask. He wore tan pants that had a drawstring that looked made of twine. He was shirtless, but carried this brown pack, like he’d been camping.”

  Her ponytail swung as she glanced at the bars. The queen was still there, within earshot.

  “Do you want to wait until we’re alone?”

  Momma shook her head. “The queen’s heard the story.”

  “Go on then. You said you saved him?”

  “When we met on the beach, Caedrin and I talked, and there was something between us.” She shrugged. “One of those things where you like a guy and know he likes you, but more intense. After a while, he said good-bye and left. By his questions and the way he looked when he left, I decided he was on the island looking for something other than a spring fling.”

  Momma sat down on a cushioned bench and crossed one long leg over the other. She rested her folded hands on her lap. She didn’t look much like a bird, more like a dancer playing one. She and Aunt Mel were graceful. I’d heard people say so more than once, and had always been proud to hear it. Too bad I hadn’t inherited that. I was small boned and slim, even more so than they were, but when our gym class learned different kinds of dances, my teacher always shook her head and put me in the back. I could do a Texas two-step without treading on Zach’s toes, but that was the best I could claim. I thought about Kismet, so light-footed and able to flip out of trees. Was she graceful? Yes, in an athletic sort of way. But I didn’t think she’d necessarily have been good ballerina material either. I smiled. For some reason, every time I found some little way that we were alike, it made me happy.

  Momma tipped her head slightly. “Later that night, Melanie and I were at a bar. She was flirting like crazy, and we were surrounded by random guys. If boys were a major, that’s what my sister would study in college,” Momma said, rolling her eyes.

  My grin widened. She seemed younger than usual, but also worldly-wise.

  “I spotted Caedrin leaning against a palm tree a few feet from the patio. I wanted to speak to him, but Mel had gone to the bathroom, so I waited for her.”

  She made a casual gesture with her hand. “Meanwhile, I’d seen this other group standing in a cluster between the beachfront bars. They loitered near the place that led to the road and parking lots. I’d noticed them because they looked too dressed up for spring break on the island. Black lace and hooker heels? The guys in silk shirts and trousers? Come on. A couple times, one or two would peel off from the group a few minutes after a good-looking girl or guy passed them. Then one laughed, and I caught a flash of fangs. Normal people wouldn’t have seen them, but witch eyes,” she said, touching her temple. “A gaggle of bloodsuckers, looking for easy prey. A couple of them had begun to stare at Caedrin, which wasn’t a surprise. He’s tall and gorgeous, and the light catches him more than it does a regular guy. I don’t know why I didn’t realize he was fae when I talked to him. I guess because I’d never met a faery before. Even the smell of honey and apple cider didn’t register. So close to the ocean, the smell of fishy salt water had been too strong. Anyway, he walked past the patio and went down the dark path toward the street. Four of the vampires went right after him. So did I.” She smiled. “I carry a spring-loaded stake in my purse. Don’t ask me how I thought I’d use that one weapon against four bloodsuckers.” She rolled her eyes, her smile widening. “In those moments, you don’t really think.”

  With a roll of her wrist, her hand made an “and then” gesture that Edie sometimes made. “I did kill one of them. But the others would’ve dined on witch blood if he hadn’t been what he was. You’ve never seen anyone move like that. He took them by surprise. In an instant he’d double-loaded his bow and sent arrows through the hearts of two vampires at once. The other was so stunned he was clumsy in his lunge. He opened his mouth to call out, but barely made a sound before Caedrin shoved an arrow into his chest.” Momma shook her head. “‘What are you?’ I asked him.” She licked her lips. “He said, ‘Did you know they were throat rippers when you followed them?’ I nodded. He laughed and then said, ‘I wanted to draw them away so I could deal with them before they targeted you.’” She tilted her head, and her red ponytail swayed to the side. “I asked him, ‘What makes you think they would’ve come after me?’ He said, ‘How could they have resisted?’”

  I smiled.

  “That made me laugh,” Momma continued. “‘They probably would’ve because of my sister. She draws attention wherever she goes,’ I told him. He asked, ‘Is she very like you? I couldn’t tell from where I was. It’s hard to notice anything other than you.’ I asked if he was serious, and he said, ‘Certainly.’”

  Momma shrugged. “My sister and I are identical twins. But Caedrin sees something more than what’s on the surface. From the beginning he came straight for me. And I went straight for him.”

  I thought about that. I’d known that feeling—initially with Zach, who’d been my first love, and later with Bryn. In a room full of people, there was an awareness of where that one guy was, and an invisible force pulling me to him. “Go that way,” something inside me would say.

  “Did you spend the rest of the spring break with him?” I asked.

  “I met up with him on and off. He didn’t want to meet my sister or my friends. He had stuff to do, but he wanted to see me. On my last night I told him I had to go home to Houston the next day. He wasn’t happy. He said he’d been sent on a mission by his queen and would have to return underhill when he finished it. But he wanted to see me again. I told him I’d be out of school for the summer. He wanted to know when I’d be free. I told him the date that summer break started. I’d been planning to get a job and take a vacation in Mexico with Melanie. But he said he’d come for me when school ended. He told me to plan to go away with him. And that’s what I did.”

  “Was . . . Did your sister get mad that you decided to leave?”

  “Maybe a little. But Melanie can fall in love in fi
ve minutes. And if she’s going to meet a boyfriend, Timbuktu’s around the corner, you know? So she couldn’t exactly give me a hard time. I told Momma Just that I was going on an exchange program for the summer, and Melanie played along.”

  “You call your momma ‘Momma Just’?” I asked. This was the other thing I really wanted to ask about. Now that I knew that my granny Justine Trask in Houston had been my great grandmother, I wanted to find out what had happened between Momma and Mrs. Hurley. When I’d asked Aunt Melanie about Josephine, Aunt Mel had gotten tears in her eyes and said her momma was someone she never talked about. She said she couldn’t.

  Momma glanced at me. “Just is short for Justine. It’s her first name. It’s also short for justice. She always treats people fairly.”

  “Most girls would simply call her Momma. Is there a story there?” I asked.

  Momma’s gaze settled on my face. She seemed to reach past my eyes right into my head. She couldn’t actually do that with her magic, especially in the Never, where her powers didn’t work, but when I was a little girl she’d always known when I was fibbing or angling for something. She could read me like a book.

  “I was born in London, but I live with my grandmother in Houston. She’s the mother of my heart.”

  My mouth opened, but it took me a few moments to come up with any words. “How come?” I asked.

  “My mother and her sister did things I couldn’t forgive. So my sister and I ran away from home when we were thirteen.”

  “All by yourself? From England to Texas?” I asked with wide eyes.

  She nodded. “We had company.”

  Aunt Edie, I thought. But she couldn’t have helped them if they’d been kidnapped or hurt.

  “What did your momma do to make you leave like that?”

  “We have a family ghost. They forced her to spy for them. If she didn’t do exactly what she was told, they punished her. They trapped her in increasingly small spaces, stealing her energy so she couldn’t wander and travel to places she loved. Her closest friends in New York were gone by the time she was able to return there; the place they’d haunted was demolished, and our ghost still doesn’t know what happened to them. We hope they crossed over.”

  “They kept her a prisoner?” I asked, shocked.

  “My mother’s highest priority is the community of witches. The future of witchcraft in general is the most important thing in the world to her. More important than her own family. When she was really strict, our ghostly aunt encouraged us to rebel. I suppose my mother resented that. She began to keep us apart from our aunt Edie. My sister and I accepted that when we were small, but then Melanie found out what they were doing to Edie, and we couldn’t stand it. I decided to protect our aunt from them. I decided to take her out of their reach.”

  “It was your idea to leave?”

  Momma nodded.

  “That must’ve been a hard decision.”

  “No, it wasn’t. Not for me. My sister was the one who wasn’t sure about leaving our life in England.”

  “How did you convince her?”

  “There was no real debate or discussion. I just said I was leaving and would never be back. I didn’t consider Josephine Hurley my mother anymore. Melanie chose me. She chose to help rescue our aunt from forced servitude and cruel punishments. It was the right thing to do. That’s what got us through. You see, we didn’t get away clean. We were caught and put in shackles and held in a dungeon by the witches’ association.” Momma smirked. “Our mother tried to make us too terrified to run again. It did scare us, but it made us mad as well. Melanie became very determined. We were both good at sleight of hand and glamours. Our aunt was great at them and had helped us master them. We put a death glamour on ourselves. When our captors checked on us, they were shocked and terrified that our mother and her sister would hold them responsible for our deaths. I lifted the key from one of the witches who was guarding us. They left us alone while they tried to decide how to handle things. We escaped.”

  I stared at her. “Who were the people who captured you?”

  “Members of the Conclave. Our aunt Margaret’s colleagues.”

  “They sent the Conclave after you? When you were thirteen?”

  “I’m glad they did. It convinced Melanie they were capable of anything. She was sure that if our mother got us home, she’d lock us up for months. Or do the worst thing imaginable: She might separate us. When we got to Houston and told our grandmother Justine what happened, she called England and told her daughters that if they set foot in Texas, she’d consider it an act of aggression. It could’ve turned into an all-out war. Momma Justine has powerful friends who don’t like answering to the World Association in England. They consider American witches independent. They wouldn’t let English witches come for us without putting up a fight. We’re American witches now.”

  “But you’re underhill in Great Britain. With the Seelie.”

  “No one hates the World Association of Magic more than the Seelie court. So we have that in common.”

  “Um, have you told them that? Because right now you’re dressed up like a cartoon and living in a birdcage room.”

  “That’s a little thing.” She paused and added in a low voice, “I never did mind about the little things.”

  I froze. I knew that line.

  Momma shrugged her brows, and my mouth went dry.

  That sentence was from an action movie where the girl with strawberry-blond hair was a spy and assassin. I wasn’t supposed to watch it, because I was too little. But I’d snuck into the room and hidden under the couch. They’d caught me when they heard my wrappers crinkle. I’d been eating Hershey’s miniatures.

  Before I’d gotten caught, I’d seen the way they trained the girl to pretend everything was okay even when it really wasn’t. I’d had a lot of questions about that. Edie had explained how a person sometimes had to hide what she really thought so she could get the chance to escape. I hadn’t understood at the time, but I’d never forgotten the way the girl had pretended not to be scared or sad about the violence all around her.

  I never did mind about the little things, the girl had said. And in the end, she’d gotten away and was free.

  By saying that line, I knew what Momma telling me: She was pretending not to mind the birdcage and costume, even though she did. She was biding her time.

  Without saying so, she also told me something else, something that made my heart slam against my ribs in excitement.

  Momma watched that movie after I was born. If she remembered it, my momma didn’t have amnesia at all.

  24

  I DRAGGED MY eyes from her face. Obviously she had her reasons for pretending that she’d lost her memory. I looked over my shoulder toward the bars. The queen had backed up.

  The sound of something being dragged over the floor made Momma walk to the bars. A moment later a stone wall began to slide into place, blocking our view through the bars.

  “What the hell?” I yelled, rushing forward.

  “You want privacy, don’t you, Kismet? Well, this should give you plenty.”

  I shoved my hands through the bars, trying to push the wall away, but it was too heavy. Someone—or likely more than one strong creature—was putting it in position. The room fell into shadow, with the only light coming from the one small window.

  I continued to try to dislodge the huge stone barrier, but I’d have needed bigger muscles and more leverage to shift that mammoth thing. After a few moments I slapped my hands against it in frustration, panting from the effort.

  I looked over my shoulder. Momma folded her arms across her chest as she stared at the sand-colored stone.

  Then she muttered, “For fuck’s sake.”

  My brows shot up.

  Glancing at my surprised face, she gave a sheepish smirk. “Sometimes a four-letter word is the only one that really fits
.”

  I smiled. Then I laughed, and she chuckled, too.

  She walked to the desk and lifted the glass sitting on it. She offered it to me. I drank the water while she lit a candle. She stood near the flame, as if waiting for it to do something besides burn. The candle seemed to be handmade and smelled of earth and herbs. An insect buzzed near it, and Momma made a sharp move, slamming the overturned cup down, capturing the insect under it.

  My jaw dropped.

  “A bug, but not the usual sort,” she said. “One of her spies,” Momma whispered.

  I strode to the desk and peered through the glass. Sure enough, there was a tiny pixie flying in circles in the small enclosure.

  The pixie flew toward me, bumping against the glass and shaking her fist furiously.

  “Well, if you weren’t spying, you wouldn’t be in there,” I said with a shrug. “We have to get out of here,” I said to Momma, looking around for something long and heavy to wedge against the wall. Zach and Bryn would eventually come looking for us, but I didn’t want the false wall to make us impossible to find.

  “She must have figured out that I palmed a key,” Momma said, pulling the band off her ponytail. Hooked to the band was a brass key that had been tucked into her hair, hidden from view.

  “Where—”

  “All witches need to be good at sleight of hand. I would’ve made a great pickpocket,” she said with a wink. “Do you remember me teaching you?”

  “Yes,” I said, recalling it suddenly. I’d been able to palm things. I’d used it to cheat at cards. I remembered showing off for Zach’s daddy when we were little. He’d gotten a big kick out of me.

  “Show me,” she said.