by Rain Oxford
I had already figured out most of it, but not how or when she actually put the curse on me. Watching that crystal melt into my blood was sickening. Knowing that she had been able to make me completely forget it was equally revolting.
But then I realized something was different. Or rather, I saw something I hadn’t seen the first time. My father stood behind her, staring at me with a strange expression. It wasn’t disapproval. Although Merlin said I had an attention problem, at this moment, I was completely focused. And then I realized that he had given me that look before, and it was the same look Merlin sometimes gave me when I gave up on myself.
“Try again.” I didn’t know if it was a memory or the early signs of a mental breakdown, but I heard my father’s voice in my head as clear as day.
And then everything was dark, but I knew all I had to do was open my eyes. Anyone would think the world was a dark place if they walked around with their eyes closed. I was so fixated that I hadn’t realized I had been concentrating on the wrong thing; I was focused on failing.
I pushed the negativity aside. Whether or not light magic could defeat dark magic was never the issue. I could defeat dark magic because I was a magic user. There was no other Ayden Dracre in the world and I definitely wasn’t going to let a little curse take that away. I was the curse breaker!
I will do magic without my staff because I am Ayden Dracre, curse breaker and aspiring librarian. I will defeat the raven’s curse because I control magic; I don’t let magic control me. I have dark magic and that’s a good thing. I’m not a wizard or a sorcerer; I’m whatever I want to be. I don’t have to hurt people with dark magic…
I can, however, break a curse with it.
My eyes didn’t want to open. It was like I was deep in a lake, for sleep was heavy, soothing, and dark. I knew when I opened my eyes that I would be cold, sore, and right back in the middle of a fight. I forced my eyes to open anyway, and light returned to my world.
The first thing I realized was that both the rock I was hiding behind and the raven were gone. The second thing was that Dark Ayden was facing away from me, watching the mirror slowly fading in and out. It was floating in front of the tree.
As if he could sense that I was awake, he turned to look at me. “What is that?” I asked.
He smirked. “You are so near death that the mirror is starting to appear. It will only fully appear when you’re defeated. All it’ll take now is one good strike and I’ll be the victor. I might as well give you a moment to savor it. Savor this, too; when I kill you, I’m going to walk through that mirror, and then I’m going to kill all your friends.”
“Why?”
“Because I can.”
Agony pulsed through me with every beat of my heart as I slowly climbed to my feet. He changed his wand to a sword and charged me. I didn’t even think about failure. I just knew I had to get out. I focused my mind on Merlin and let my magic surge through me, unguided.
A bright flash of light surrounded me and when it cleared… I was standing in front of the mirror. Unfortunately, I was on the side with Dark Ayden. The mirror was still fading in and out, and when I reached out for it, I only felt the solid, smooth surface. He was right; one of us had to die for the other to get through.
I just couldn’t let it be him.
As he turned and started to attack me again, I reached out for my staff. The bottom half remained motionless, but the top half shot into my hand. Without giving myself an instant to reconsider, I turned and smashed the crystal into the mirror. Reflective shards fell to the ground, leaving no way to return home.
“What are you doing?!” Dark Ayden screeched in horror.
“What I have to do to protect my friends. If you get through, you’ll kill them. If I get through, my mother will use me to get magic from the other Sjau. Well, she’s not getting me now.”
“But now neither of us can ever leave!”
I dramatically studied the mountains around us. “I can get used to my new home. What about you?” I was lying, of course; I knew when I let it sink in that I would never see any of my friends again, I would be heartbroken. However, I also knew I was doing what was best for them.
I aimed my broken staff at him. “You can’t hurt me,” he said confidently. “You don’t use dark magic, remember?”
“You don’t know me too well.” For once, I believed in myself as much as Merlin believed in me, and something very strange happened.
Magic flowed out of me, through the crystal, and created the dragon again. No matter how much I accepted myself, I was still only using a small portion of my magic. To use the full amount, I had to believe I could do it.
The dragon was not hindered by my conscience this time, because why should I be worried about the safety of a curse? The dragon descended on him and I felt my body become weak. I was still injured. Spots started forming in my eyes, but that was okay, because I had already defeated the raven’s curse.
Just when I was about to pass out, the dragon dispersed and the energy it took up was returned to me, along with a wave of nausea. I vomited uncontrollably, but it wasn’t food that came up. I coughed and vomited what looked like ink. If I didn’t know it was the leftover remnants of the curse, I would have been pretty terrified.
When there was nothing left to be expelled, I forced myself to stand. I hadn’t realized I’d fallen until then. I turned around, expecting to see nothing more than the vast mountains, and gaped.
The mirror was back, and it wasn’t fading. How, I didn’t know. Fortunately, I lived on a world of magic, so everything that wasn’t explainable was just… magic.
More importantly, I could see Merlin on the other side. I reached into it and found the surface was liquid once again. Cautiously, I stepped through.
Chapter 22
“Did you break the curse?” Merlin asked the instant I stepped through the mirror.
“Yes.” I then saw the staff in my hand and gaped; it was whole again. Furthermore, the crystal was much darker blue than before.
“What’s wrong?”
“I’m not sure. I really did go through the mirror, didn’t I?”
“Yes.”
“How’s my hair?”
“Blond.”
I turned and looked at myself in the mirror. My reflection was completely normal. “I’ve never been so grateful to be me.” After all I had just been through, I decided not to worry about my staff as long as it didn’t start acting up again.
“I am proud of you, and I want to hear about everything that happened, but we should go now.”
“Actually, I’m thinking you should try it. It should work on your curse, too. This might be the best way to---”
“No,” he interrupted fiercely.
I frowned at him. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to offend you.”
He sighed. “If I entered the mirror, I would be unable to protect you. Dessa said that you would die when my curse was broken, not that you would die breaking it. This could be the very event she was warning me about.”
“Mother warned me about this, too.”
“What? You spoke to your mother?”
“I had a sort of… memory. I remembered that my mother somehow took me from the castle. She made this crystal out of a raven, told me that I would become more of a sorcerer the more magic I used, and then said that I would have the chance to break your curse but that I would turn it down. Then she erased my memory so that I wouldn’t fight the curse.”
“Your mother is not a seer.”
“I don’t want Dessa’s vision to cause us to miss our best chance of breaking your curse. Maybe I can go with you to help.”
“That is the Ayden I know. After we speak to Dessa, we can return here. Until then, your quest is not over.”
“But we saved all the Sjau who weren’t evil.”
“Count again. Houda was innocent. Sven kidnapped her so your mother could use her as bait.”
“Why would she take her as bait if she didn’t know I was goi
ng to break the curse?”
“As a backup plan, most likely. Normally, I would insist we not fall into Ilvera’s trap on purpose. In this case, however, we need to save Houda.”
Despite him insisting he didn’t, I was still convinced he liked her. “Alright, then we need to have a backup plan as well. I think we can use everyone’s help. We just have to make sure no one gets hurt. We can cover each other’s disadvantages if we plan everything out. We need to get back to the castle… speaking of which, where are we?”
“I have no idea. Since you can use your magic now, do you think you can transport us back to the castle?”
“What about my mother detecting my transporting magic?”
“Thaddeus painted some sigils on your skin that should protect you from being seen, if only for a moment.”
Confused, I pulled on the collar of my shirt to see that there were sigils tattooed on my chest. I shrugged; it wasn’t important enough to worry about right then. “I’m not sure how far away we are, so it would be dangerous. Plus, I think doing any more magic like that could kill me right now, because I used way too much magic in the mirror land.”
Just then, a round portal opened in the sky. I held up my staff, ready to fight again, until Mason stuck his head through. “Are you going to stand around all day?”
I tossed my staff through the portal and he caught it in order to set it down gently. Then he held out his hand for me to take. I did, and he helped me up. Merlin jumped through without any trouble.
“You really broke the curse, right?” Mason asked.
“Yes.”
“Good.” He smacked me. “Don’t ever do that again!”
Merlin growled, forcing Mason to back away from me. “It’s fine, Merlin. It didn’t hurt.”
“You can’t do everything by yourself, all the time. We could have helped you!” Mason admonished.
“It wasn’t me; it was the curse.”
“Then you wouldn’t have closed the portal if you weren’t cursed?” He looked doubtful, but willing to forgive me.
I shrugged. “Well, I would have done it to protect you, but not because I didn’t trust you.” Merlin groaned. “Anyway, I have an idea on how to save Houda.”
“Ilvera got her?”
I nodded. “Sven, Sotis, and Kalyn have joined my mother, but Houda is innocent.”
“We also need to discuss the other Sjau and the dark council they are forming.”
* * *
Fortunately, everyone had been able to fight off Sotis and Kalyn, who had attacked the castle. As soon as they were safe, Mason used the small magic mirror to watch Merlin and me, so they knew everything, including that we were attacked by Sven. Of course, he hadn’t seen me face the curse.
When presented with all kinds of food that weren’t meat, I found I was ravenous, which was a huge improvement. I also got a hot bath and a good night sleep. Obviously, I didn’t have long to rest, because Houda needed us.
That night, Merlin told me all about leaving his mother to learn magic, the development of his visions, and how his mother died. No matter how much I disagreed with him, he still felt responsible for her death. I wanted to be mad at Baltezore, but he had made Merlin immortal, and I couldn’t hate him for that. When Merlin told me about the egg he protected, I felt like I had forgotten something that was important. Figuring that it would come to me later, I brushed it off.
* * *
Starting in the morning, we discussed the plan at lengths, taking into consideration the fact that my mother had four of us on her side. When Evelyn, Jeb, and Mason’s family arrived from Magnus’s castle and insisted on joining us, I knew we had a good chance. In truth, we were a bit outnumbered, since most of us couldn’t do dark magic. However, I trusted everyone in the room to do their best. Magnus remained at his castle to protect it, along with Sonya. Mist was only four, so she stayed with Magnus and her parents as well.
Evelyn was a young witch, magician, and princess with dark brown hair and matching eyes who liked books and was married to a werewolf. When I learned that the werewolf had kidnapped her father and blackmailed her into moving in with him, I was a little worried. However, it turned out to be true love… apparently.
Jeb was a thirty-year-old sorcerer and warlock with dark blue hair, burgundy eyes, and an abundance of jewelry. Obviously, I had an issue with his magic, since warlocks were just fake wizards and sorcerers in my opinion. He explained, however, that his family had no magic. He was a sorcerer, but he had to hide it, so he fused all his magic into talismans, rings, and the like. He sold these real magical items while pretending to be a fake.
“Can we be sure he will not turn on us and join your mother?” Merlin asked.
“What’s your motive for helping us?” I asked.
He frowned like I’d just asked a dumb question. “Because I’m a sorcerer, obviously. She could steal my magic, and I have no doubt she would if I gave her half a chance. I’m sticking with whoever’s against the power-hungry sorceress. Anyone who chooses her side is a fool and just asking to be sucked dry.”
Mason mumbled something under his breath that I missed. Merlin, however, snorted with amusement.
“Since she can only take sorcery, how can she take magic from all of us through me?”
“Perhaps she believes if she can take enough Sjau power, she can become one. Considering people are losing their magic and the Sjau are the exceptions, I can see why she would be desperate.”
I nodded. “You’re right.”
“Who’s right?” Thad asked.
“Merlin.”
“Oh, right, I forgot. He can talk in your head. That’s really weird.”
“Houda isn’t the only one we’re going to try to save. We can’t let my mother get any more power than she already has, and that means getting the others away from her.”
“But didn’t Merlin tell you that Ilvera’s plan is to take our magic all at once?” Gideon asked.
“Yes, but remember who we’re talking about. My mother will have backup plans for her backup plans. If she can’t get us together, she’ll kill all of us who has sorcery. We’re not going to kill anyone; we just need to subdue them.”
“What about sending them to another world?”
“That requires drawing out the portal ahead of time and we won’t be able to do it there. We can bring them back here and either convince them to stay away from her, or send them somewhere they can’t help her.”
“When did you grow a spine?” Thad asked.
Mason and Livia glanced at each other, obviously wondering if I hadn’t fully broken the curse. I pointed to Merlin. “Pretty much when I met him.”
The plan was that Mason’s sisters would transport all of us to a safe place close to my mother so that we would all be at full strength for a fight. Rita would create a defensive ward, since she wasn’t going to be able to put up much of a physical or magical fight. While the family couldn’t use dark magic at all, Mason’s brothers and Mogral could fight physically. Mason was going to save all of his energy for healing.
“Merlin and I will face my mother as a distraction so that Livia can save Houda. Evelyn will fight Kalyn with Gideon’s help, but Gideon, you’re also Mason’s backup. Jeb will fight Sven.”
“Let me fight Sven,” Thaddeus said.
“Um… did you forget about Mother being there?”
He sighed. “She’ll find out about me eventually anyway. I might as well go down in a good fight.” Thaddeus, although not as strong as our other brothers, was a true sorcerer.
“Well said,” Gideon said.
Mason scoffed. “Warriors and sorcerers always have to get their hands dirty.”
“I can disguise you,” Evelyn offered.
“That might slow her down as long as she’s distracted. Except, how in the world are you going to distract her?” he asked me.
“I have an idea.” I held up my bag. “Merlin taught me a spell last night that might be able to help.” We were pretty lucky th
at Livia had all the ingredients we needed. “I haven’t tried it yet, but I’m confident that I can pull it off. Now, Jeb, you will fight Sotis. Do you think you can handle a necromancer?”
“Easily.”
“Perfect. Everyone else…”
“That’s us,” Mason’s eldest brother said for all of his brothers.
“Right. Use your wizardry to protect everyone.”
“Will do.”
“And don’t be surprised by whatever you see Merlin and me do. It’s going to be our big, secret weapon and we don’t want my mother overhearing us talk about it.”
After that, Evelyn disguised Thaddeus. She made his hair blond and his eyes green to start with, earning a sour attitude from him. Then she sharpened his facial structure to make him look older and gave him a heavy tan. At my insistence, she also made him look really thin. Of course, it was just an illusion, but it was pretty awesome to see in person.
Then Masy waved her wand over the table mirror. “Show us the closest safe place near Ilvera Dracre.”
The mirror formed the image of a lake. “I know that place,” Thaddeus said before glancing at me and blushing. I recognized it, too; my brothers tried to drown me there several times.
“Before we go,” I said to Livia, changing the subject, “since my mother could turn my magic dark, does that mean she can turn yours dark?”
“With the same curse, possibly. I didn’t just remove my sorcery, though; I removed the darkness in myself so that I couldn’t create more.”
Once Mason’s sisters created the portal, we all dropped down through it. The ground was covered in green, soft grass. I had always wanted to have snow, but while fighting the curse, I had decided that I preferred the warm weather of Akadema.
“Merlin, can you sense my mother?” I asked.
“Vaguely.”
“Tell me when you can sense other people with her.”
“Of course.”
“Alright, we’ll set up here.”
“Set up what?” Mason asked, confused.
“We’re going to summon a dragon.”