The Curse of Betrayal (A Curse Books)

by Taylor Lavati

  Trial number two—running. See this one, I feel a little better about since Ari taught me about that turbo charge trick or whatever. Plus, I would really love to show off in front of Magdelina—the man stealer.

  When we get to the other side of the gym, a group of guys surround Magdelina while the girls form their own group standing on the other side, sneering at the attention the boys are giving Magdelina.

  Kara meets my gaze and rolls her eyes, and I love her so much more for it. I don’t know whether she liked Magdelina or not before meeting me, but she’s definitely on my side right now. We hang out together while we await instruction.

  “I don’t get it,” she starts to say as we lean against the brick gym walls. “I’m old enough. I should have powers already.”

  “I just started noticing mine this summer.” I try to make her feel better.

  “I’ve even tested running and shit. I know what to do. My body just doesn’t work.”

  “I’m sure you’ll get it soon. You’re almost eighteen. It will happen.”

  “Promise?” she asks me with optimistic eyes.

  “Pinky promise.” I reach my pinky out for her to take, and she links hers with mine. I pull my hand up to my face and kiss my fist and then wait for her to do the same.

  “You’re kind of awesome,” she tells me, smiling with her perfect white teeth.

  “You are, too, Kara.” I smile back, loving how our friendship is growing by the hour. Magdelina takes charge of the class, and my good mood instantly falters.

  “All right, everyone, over here,” she sings out to us. Her voice grates on my every last nerve. Just the pitch and sound make me want to punch something—preferably her face. This lady is turning me violent. “We’re going to do the sprinting in heats. Groups of five at a time will go and the top two will move into a winner’s heat. The last five standing are the most advanced. Got it?” she asks and a few people mutter “yes.” I don’t even bother to address her.

  I hang in the back of the crowd with Kara, wanting to see a few heats before I have to go. I’m starting to second guess my abilities, and I’m dreading running in front of all these people. It’s embarrassing. Kara links her arms with me, giving me the comfort I definitely need.

  “All girl group,” Magdelina yells, while her eyes search through the crowd for mine. When they meet, I hold the look, not wanting to come off as weak but that only antagonizes her. “You two. Let’s go,” she snarls, pointing between Kara and me. I feel bad that I’ve dragged Kara into the bad side and know that Magdelina will hate her just by association.

  “You got this,” Kara whispers, giving me a pat on the back before lining up next to me. I place my front foot on the white line and my back foot is a few feet behind, giving me leverage to push off when we start. I try to hype myself up, but honestly, I’m more nervous than anything as anticipatory butterflies roam my stomach, making me nauseous.

  Before I even realize we’re starting, a large boom goes off. Everyone else goes, but I stand up straight, looking around to see if someone was freaking shot! Mikey screams at me from the sidelines to run, so I turn and run—like a human. I look stupid as people lap me over and over again. I remember what Ari told me and turn on my special turbo-speed. I kick it to high gear and start moving faster, gaining more and more speed with each step.

  I think I see Kara fly by me, lapping me, but who the hell knows. It’s all going so fast and in such a blur. Before I know it, another shot goes off and I stop dead in my tracks once I’m over the white line.

  That was a nightmare come true.

  I bend from my waist and breathe in and out, catching my breath. I’m so incredibly out of shape it’s a joke. I try to regain composure, but my heightening frenzy is only making my lungs shrink.

  Kara comes to my side and rubs her hand up and down my back, soothingly. I can tell by the pained expression on her face that that didn’t go down too well for me. I bow, not really caring—it’s only gym class after all. I keep telling myself this so I don’t completely break down.

  “One and five, you were the fastest.” Magdelina says, shooting me a happy smirk. “You two,” she points at me and Kara, “pretty much the worst running I’ve seen all day. You can go sit on the bleachers and wait,” she sneers.

  Bitch.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  controlling the crazy

  “I hate her so much,” I complain to Kara in the locker room after class. I can’t stand the way Magdelina kept smirking at me, antagonizing me, yet when Ari was around, she put on this little happy face and ignored me altogether. I lean against the locker, crossing my arms and groaning out noisily in frustration.

  “He loves you, just remember that,” Kara whispers before bending at the waist to untie her shoes.

  “But he hooks up with her? Like I don’t get it.” I try to work it out in my mind as I speak aloud since I don’t get why he would do this to me. Did he think I’d never meet her? Did he think he could get away with this?

  Probably. It just feels a lot like betrayal.

  “Why don’t you just talk to him about it?” Kara suggests, lifting her tee over her head, revealing her perfect little body.

  “This is why I love you!” I exclaim, loving how rational she is. I jump up and give her a huge hug. She giggles and then places her hands on my shoulders, separating us.

  “I’m the best. Tell me something I don’t know.” She shakes her hips as she shimmies into her short grey dress.

  “I’m going to go find him,” I tell Kara as I grab my bag from my locker and slam it shut behind me. I grab the small dial and hook it to the locker, giving it a twirl before dropping it against the metal.

  “Good luck, girl,” she encourages me, giving me a small nod. I run out of the locker room and realize I have no idea where he is at this time. I find some girls from gym class loitering in the hallway. “Hey, where’s the teacher’s office?” I ask a pixie haired girl.

  “Office is that way.” She smiles over at me. “You’re the new girl, right?”

  “Yeah. Ryder.” I reach my hand out to shake, and she takes it cordially.

  “Kristin,” she says, and then I go my separate way. I’m directed to the coach’s office by a few other kids I ask along the way and come up to a tall wooden door that’s closed shut. There’s no window on it, only a plaque on the wall stating office. I knock on the door and wait for it to open.

  “One second,” Ari’s deep voice rings out from behind the barrier. I wait, anticipation welling inside me. I cross my arms nervously, not sure what to do while time seems to stretch on forever. I turn around, ready to leave and talk to him another time when the door creaks open.

  First, I see Ari and his green eyes staring at me like I’m the last person on earth he wants to see. Next, my eyes are drawn to the woman behind him, fixing her clothing and hair like she’s all disheveled and sexed up. My eyes expand, and I see red. Instead of ignoring my rage, I let it take over.

  “Are you freaking kidding me, Ari?” I pierce daggers at him while backing up a few steps, needing the distance between us. I can’t believe this. But I have to; my eyes saw it as clear as water.

  “It’s not what it looks like, Eury.” He reaches his hands out to me, but I back up farther, wanting him to stay away from me. He pursues me, coming to my side to talk, but I can’t deal with this right now. I turn on my heels and start walking towards the hallway. “Eury, please,” he says from behind me, but I ignore it and push faster, holding back my emotions.

  I keep going, never looking back. I faintly hear harsh whispers behind me, but I don’t even care what’s going on. I need to get out of here. I run the rest of the way outside of the gym. Once I shut the door behind me, I let myself slow down and try to contain my rapid heartbeat.

  I turn back, and when I see that no one is following me, I slow my pace completely. My head starts to clear, and I realize that I have no idea where my next class is. I have one more class to get through before I can allow mys
elf to break down. I grab the schedule out of my pocket and check for a room number.

  Great: administration building. I start walking towards the building with my head all jumbled up. I swear, it’s negative degrees with the icy wind volleying through campus, but I don’t even feel it. I get to the admin building and head up the stairs to a group of offices.

  My class, developmental training, is apparently a one-on-one conference with a trainer, who’s basically like a guidance counselor. Dread consumes me thinking that this person is going to ask about my life and dig into my inner psyche. I don’t like talking to people about my life, let alone this weird situation with Ari and Ollie.

  Especially right now—after seeing Ari and Magdelina together, behind closed doors probably after a heated make out session. My brain is messed up and filled with crazy emotions that I’m not even ready to sort out. I’m not sure anyone could understand how I feel right now. And my emotions are all over the place. At any second, I may burst.

  I can’t bring myself to go to training yet. I run around a corner and find a stairwell, devoid of any movement. The building is quiet, and knowing that I have a second alone, I let it out.

  I collapse onto the dirty ground, my bag dropping next to me. My knees hold me up, but my body crumples. It hurts so much; my heart feels like it’s being chopped in a blender.

  I try to be quiet with my hurt, but the sobs that erupt from my chest are hearty and full of hate. My throat burns from the tears refusing to quit.

  “Stop it, Eury,” I tell myself, breathing through my nose. “Just stop.” I pep talk myself. But it’s useless; my emotions refuse to be reeled in.

  I bend down to my knee and bite it, preferring the physical pain to my emotional. I scream into my hands so it’s muffled. The last thing I want right now is someone finding me like this.

  I fold into myself and wait for the pain to recede. But minutes later, it’s still there, and I know I have to go to class. It’s day one, and I just have to get through one more. I’m freaking strong; I can do this. I have to do this.

  I stand on wobbly knees and press my back against the brick wall to the point where my shoulders hurt. I shake out my arms to get feeling back into my body. I shake my head and try to block out my hurt feelings. My chest aches, but I pay it no attention.

  I rub my eyes to dry them and, when I feel restrained enough, pick up my bag from the ground. It feels heavier than before, but I know that’s only because my body is drained. One breath in; one breath out—I’m ready. I leave the stairwell in search of my final class.

  I wrap my knuckles on the wooden door matching my teacher’s office number, and instantly, it swings open, leaving only a stream of wind to flutter along my cheek. I’m face-to-face with a small, frail-looking woman who’s smiling up at me. She is my height, maybe an inch shorter with salt-and-pepper hair. Her hair is up in a ponytail, and as I examine her, I notice that her hair goes far past her butt, almost to the floor. She has beautiful violet eyes that are exotic but look completely normal on her—similar to my mother’s and the resemblance startles me.

  “Welcome, I’m Professor Onassis.” She greets me by shakily reaching out a wrinkled hand.

  “I’m Ryder,” I tell her, clasping her hand lightly so I don’t break it off. My voice is like her hands, unsteady, but I pretend it’s nothing. Her fingers are frozen like little ice cubes, and I want to just wrap a blanket around her and thaw her body.

  “Well, come on in. Let’s get started,” she says, making me nervous. “Oh, don’t worry, sweetie. Today will be easy,” she assures me, picking up on my mood. I wonder if that’s a power. I’ll have to look it up later in my powers textbook.

  Her office is small with a large, peaked window out the back. The room overlooks a courtyard and the front of the school with the high black gates in the near distance. The gates look spooky as they contain us all on school campus. She probably has the best view in the whole place, dead centered on everything. Her desk is in the corner of the room, and the rest is filled with books and a couple couches against one wall. It’s very cluttered yet it looks homey and relaxed.

  “Come sit, Ryder.” Professor Onassis gestures for me to go with her to a green couch. The couch is the color of Ari’s eyes when he’s thinking—I can’t get this guy out of my head! Please, don’t cry again. “So I’ll start by talking about myself a little bit. My name is Cece Onassis. For the record, you have to call me Professor, but when we’re in these meetings, you can call me whatever you’re comfortable with—Cece, Professor O, Onassis.” I nod back to her, liking how hospitable she is. She gives off that loving feel that almost every grandma has.

  “You’re given your one-on-one counselor based on your personality and powers. I’ve heard that you’re a tough cookie, missy. I also know you’ve been experiencing some visions. I, too, possess the gift of seeing, so we can work on that together.” Her voice is so soft and pleasant that I lean forward, loving every word that comes out of her mouth.

  “You have visions?” I’m amazed that someone else has the same thing as me. Obviously, I don’t know much about powers, but I thought I was special, unique.

  “I have for about five hundred years.” She laughs to herself at some joke that flies right over my head.

  “Five hundred years?” I’m not only in awe to meet someone as old as her but I’m honored. It feels like she’s this god that’s full of wisdom to share with just me. Immediately, I feel like I can trust her.

  “Yes, sweetie. I’m living out my last days on this earth right now. Finally aging after so long.” Cece’s voice takes on an airy feel like she’s reminiscing on all of her days.

  “I’m so sorry,” I tell her. It must suck to live so long and suddenly start aging only to know that death could be around any corner. I can’t imagine the hardships she’s going through. I can’t help but fear my life, five hundred years from now. But I can’t think of that now—it’s a long ways away, hopefully.

  “Oh, don’t be!” She pats my knee reassuringly. “I’m more than ready.” I simply nod, not knowing how to react to her words “So, let’s talk about you.” My heart thumps heavily going on over drive. I hate talking about me. Although for some reason, I don’t think Cece will judge me. I think she really just wants to know me, the real me.

  “Well, it’s my first day so I’m a little overwhelmed. But I really like my roommate. I think I’m doing okay,” I tell her, raising my shoulders. I’m not sure what else to say.

  “How have your visions been?” she asks me. She reaches backwards towards her desk and grabs a notebook with tattered edges, placing it onto her lap. She pulls out a small pencil that looks like those ones you use when playing golf. I hate the idea of her writing down what I say, but I don’t let it bother me. I try to trust her before I put up a stone wall.

  “They’re strange. It’s just really confusing because sometimes, I see the future and sometimes, I see the past. I just can never tell what’s going to happen or when.” I try to explain to her while experiencing my grief.

  “How interesting,” Cece mumbles to herself. “You have a little bit of the visions, but I think you have some seer in you,” she pauses, probably because of the befuddled look on my face. “I only see the past. But since you can see the future that falls under seer territory. I can still help you control it, though. Don’t worry.” She scribbles down something in her notebook hurriedly. I wait for her to finish writing so I don’t interrupt.

  “So you control what you see?” I try to grasp the concept.

  “I can control when I see something, and most of the time, what I see. Unless of course a vision really wants to come. They have a mind of their own sometimes,” she jokes. I’m just not familiar with the power to be able to joke yet.

  “Wow.” I’m so eager to learn from Professor Onassis. Although she’s hundreds of years older than me, and hundreds of times more knowledgable, I feel like we relate to each other. I feel like finally someone understands me.

&nb
sp; I hesitate to tell her about the curse, but of course, she already knows about it. “Don’t worry sweetie, whatever you tell me will stay between us,” she assures me.

  “It’s just… I’ve never really said how I feel, and then I saw something today that kind of threw me off, so I guess I’m just scared to hear what you’ll say about it.”

  “Why don’t you just start at the beginning, and if it gets tough, we can stop. I’m not here to pressure you. I want you to trust me. I’m here for you and only you.” Her warm eyes look up at me, and I try to find a hidden meaning or something that tells me she’ll betray me, but I come up empty handed.

  I want to trust her, but I guess being stabbed so many times has tainted me. In the end, I let my insecurities go. “I love them both, so much. And it literally kills me knowing that I’m upsetting them.” My throat feels smaller, like it’s closing in on me, but I swallow the knot. “I don’t get why I’m in this curse. I mean, why me? Who am I? Why am I so special?

  “I’m some loser girl from a random town in a small state who had one friend. Then Ollie showed up, and I felt loved, like someone actually cared about me, for me. But of course, it had to be some curse.

  “Sometimes, I think they only care because of the curse. Like it’s not me they love, but they’re forced to love me because of the spell or whatever. I just wish I was normal, human.” I bury my head in my hands, astonished at my verbal word vomit.

  I’m not looking at Professor for fear of the look on her face, but after a long pause, the seat next to me dips down, and I know she’s there. Her arm rests on my back, urging me to look up.

  “I’m so proud of you for telling me all of that. And I promise, you are special. I will help you figure all of this out, I assure you. We will work through this, but you’re doing the best you can with the hand you were dealt, and you are a strong girl.”

  And my composure is shot. Tears stream down my face, steadily getting heavier and heavier. “Thank you,” I tell her between hyperventilated breaths.