by Lucia Ashta
Copyright 2019 Lucía Ashta.
All rights reserved.
This book is a work of fiction.
Cover design by Mirela Barbu.
Edited by Elsa Crites.
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Books by Lucía Ashta
WITCHING WORLD UNIVERSE
Sirangel
Siren Magic
Angel Magic
Fusion Magic
Magical Creatures Academy
Night Shifter
Lion Shifter
Mage Shifter
Magical Arts Academy
First Spell
Winged Pursuit
Unexpected Agents
Improbable Ally
Questionable Rescue
Sorcerers’ Web
Ghostly Return
Transformations
Castle’s Curse
Spirited Escape
Dragon’s Fury
Magic Ignites
Powers Unleashed
Omnibus 1, Books 1-4
Omnibus 2, Books 5-8
Omnibus 3, Books 9-13
The Witching World
Magic Awakens
The Five-Petal Knot
The Merqueen
The Ginger Cat
The Scarlet Dragon
Mermagic
Spirit of the Spell
Omnibus, Books 1-3
Omnibus, Books 4-6
The Light Warrios
Beyond Sedona
Beyond Prophecy
Beyond Amber
Beyond Arnaka
PLANET ORIGINS UNIVERSE
Dragon Force
Invisible Born
Invisible Bound
Invisible Rider
Planet Origins
Planet Origins
Original Elements
Holographic Princess
Purple Worlds
Mowab Rider
Planet Sand
Holographic Convergence
Omnibus, Books 1-3
OTHER WORLDS
Supernatural Bounty Hunter
Magic Bite
Magic Sight
Magic Touch
Pocket Portals
The Orphan Son
STANDALONES
Huntress of the Unseen
A Betrayal of Time
Whispers of Pachamama
Daughter of the Wind
The Unkillable Killer
Immortalium
Contents
Castle’s Curse
About Castle’s Curse
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Spirited Escape
About Spirited Escape
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Dragon’s Fury
About Dragon’s Fury
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Magic Ignites
About Magic Ignites
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Powers Unleashed
About Powers Unleashed
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Epilogue
Magic Awakens ~ The Witching World
Night Shifter ~ Magical Creatures Academy
Want More?
Acknowledgments
About the author
About Castle’s Curse
There are some risks worth taking, no matter how bad the odds.
When friends are in danger, the magicians of the academy will do whatever is necessary to save them—even if the friends are ghosts.
The Sorcerer has underestimated the staff and students of the academy. But they’ve underestimated him too… and he has no qualms about using the darkest of magic against them.
He’d rather them dead than alive. But the magicians are about to bring the fight of his life.
For Catia, Sonia, and Nadia,
always for you,
with all my love.
What at first appears to be a curse might,
in fact, be a blessing.
Chapter 1
There wasn’t all that much I was certain about the Magical Arts Academy, except that nothing ever turned out the way I thought it would. Which didn’t give me a whole lot of confidence that this time would be any different. The senior magicians had come up with a plan in what seemed like too short a time, and then set it into motion the very next morning before the rising of the sun. Before there was much time for reflection—or doubts.
That was my theory. They were hurrying to put the plan into action before they had the opportunity to consider all the reasons why it wouldn’t work. Of course, I wasn’t sure I was correct. After all, some of the magicians had been practicing magic for a very long time, long enough, surely, not to charge headlong into a course of action with no chance of success.
But my concern wasn’t the uncertainty of success, but rather the probability of failure. I know, I know. After I died and came back to life I promised myself I wouldn’t be meek, which essentially meant I’d cull courage from wherever I could, and use it. I’d also proven to myself that the only way to do serious magic—or at least the one way I got it to work for me—was to deny fear and have pure, unwavering faith.
Well, that’s what I was working on right now. Faith. Trust. Pushing away the big, huge, ginormous ball of fear that threatened to consume me if I let it.
I couldn’t even manage to scrounge up internal embarrassment at how much I wanted to tuck tail and run. The circumstances were just that outlandish... and just that unexpected.
Nando and I had gone from being students at the academy, if Gustave had his way not even involved in discussions about how to take on the SMS (Sorcerers for Magical Supremacy), to being in the trenches. Well, not exactly, but close enough to make me quake in my boots, which I was actually wearing this time. Why? Because apparently one wore boots when the plan was to take down the evil mastermind of the magical world.
“We’ll be fine,” Nando said, but he didn’t look as confident as he usually did. His expression was strained, as if he wore his smile only for my benefit. It was exactly the kind of thing I would do, so I didn’t believe for a second that what he’d said was what he thought.
“They’ll get in and out and rescue Albacus all on their own. They won’t need us,” he added in equally unconvincing fashion.
“Really? Then why are we here?” I asked, unable to ignore the glaring fact that we were hiding in a shallow cave near the big, bad sorcerer’s castle.
“You know why. They didn’t want to leave us at Acquain
e all on our own in case, you know.”
I did know. How could I forget? Even before I arrived at Acquaine the SMS had been trying to kill Nando and me. “I guess they don’t have all that much confidence in their wards then, huh?”
I didn’t mean to be so morose, but I was having trouble restraining myself, especially since Nando was the only who could hear me at the moment.
“You saw that even the Grand Witch Giselle had difficulty infiltrating the wards.”
“I did hear her say that. I also saw her stride right into the parlor, meaning she got through the protections no matter what she said.”
“Yeah, but she’s a grand witch.”
“And neither you nor I understand what that means, other than it sounds impressive.”
Nando’s lips twitched, but he didn’t deny what I said. We’d been waiting to learn magic since first becoming the inaugural students of the academy. The staff magicians were filled with good intentions, but we’d barely managed to sit through a few standard classes—if you could call classes of magic standard.
So far, nothing had gone to plan. Which brought me right back to why I was struggling to resist my desire to clutch at Nando’s arm and never leave this place, even if it was a cave in the middle of nowhere.
Nando tried a different tactic. “We’re here with some of the most powerful witches and wizards in the magical world. We basically have an army of dragons, firedrakes, and hellhounds. We’re only here so we can be close and they can protect us. They’re not counting on us to help them.”
“First of all, we don’t have an army of anything. We have one dragon, who’s injured by the way. We have fourteen firedrakes and eight hellhounds, and one of them has a belly swollen with pups. That’s not an army, Nando. That’s a....”
Well, I didn’t exactly know what that was. My life had become bizarre faster than my vocabulary had the chance to catch up.
“I think we should go with army. It will make you feel better,” he said.
I was pretty sure Nando was as confused and desperate as I was, and saying whatever popped in his mind to distract me—and perhaps himself.
I did my best not to lean into Nando when I noticed Walt and Marie approaching. Walt and I hadn’t discussed what he’d said about me when I was dead. We hadn’t had the chance, but even if we had, how would that conversation go exactly? So, when I was dead I heard you say you wished you’d kissed me.... Yeah, we weren’t ever going to have that talk. All I did was get embarrassed when he was close, then think I was ridiculous, and pretend I hadn’t reacted to him in the first place.
“They’ll be leaving soon,” Walt said once he was right in front of me.
I nodded, scrambling to think what to say. But the truth was that I was completely out of ideas. How could I come up with something hopeful to add? The only people who wanted to help us navigate this world of magic were about to head into a confrontation from which they might not return. Of course, I’d come back from death, but I was pretty sure that was only because it wasn’t yet my time. That couldn’t be argued for someone like Mordecai, who’d already lived more than three-hundred years.
Whereas just weeks ago I didn’t believe the world of magic was anything beyond a figment of the imagination of unhinged citizens, now not only did I know it was real, but I actually possessed magic. From the little bit I’d experienced thus far, my magic was strong and held plenty of potential.
I needed these magicians to teach me. I wanted them to also teach Nando. He’d given up so much to take care of me when our parents left that I wanted him to have a chance to discover the extent of his greatness. I had nothing but confidence in my brother. He was good at everything. If I had skills in magic, I was certain he must too.
I probably wanted that for Walt and Marie as well. I hadn’t known them for long, but it was long enough to believe that I liked them. And I was terribly curious about what abilities the newest members of the academy might have, especially Simon. Delilah had alluded to powers so important that the wicked Maurisse wanted to control them. Since Simon’s parents both had magic, and his was apparently quite strong, I suspected his brother and sister had talents as well.
I wanted to learn everything about magic, not watch my one shot at achieving that march or fly—or whatever it was they were going to do—to their deaths.
“What’s wrong, Isa?” Walt asked, startling me from my thoughts. “You look... upset maybe.”
Immediately, I began to fluster at his attention. Just as quickly I realized my reaction was absurd. I’d been around Walt plenty before without acting like a fool; there was no reason to begin now. Not when at the rate our lives were going there wouldn’t even be an opportunity for first kisses.
I forcefully pushed thoughts of him wanting to kiss me from my mind, and it worked. When I spoke, I sounded much more like my usual self. “I am upset. Of course I’m upset. Our teachers and protectors are about to storm a huge fortified castle with hardly a plan.”
“It was your plan to do it this way.”
“I only made a suggestion. I didn’t expect anybody to consider it a particularly good idea. Especially not when it means they’re just going in there with no better strategy than to take down anyone they encounter.”
Marie drew next to Nando, as I expected she would. The doe-eyed blonde seemed to favor my brother. I hadn’t had a moment to talk to him about it, what with all the dying and coming back to life business. I wondered if he realized she liked him. I wondered if he liked her.
In her smooth voice, Marie said, “Magic runs in our family. Our parents decided to delay our education in the magical arts, but Walt and I have been around it, well, always. You’re at a disadvantage here. You’ve never heard of Mordecai or Giselle or even Marcelo. We have. We’ve also heard of Wizard Meedles and Count Vabu, even Madame Pimlish.”
“Really?” This was definitely news to me.
“Absolutely. We’d heard of nearly all of them before arriving. That doesn’t mean everything we’d heard was accurate. You know how the rumor mill goes. But we’d heard of the new witch who doesn’t use spells but instead works directly with the elements in a way no other magician does.”
“Clara.”
“Yes. We’d even heard whispers of Brave and Gertrude. We’d definitely heard of Humbert, the dragon Arianne took from the dark and terrible Count Washur.”
“What? Really?” I gasped.
Marie smiled. “Indeed.”
“What about Sir Lancelot? Or Mathieu and Sylvia?”
She shook her head, fine blonde strands sliding across the shoulders of her dress. “No, we hadn’t heard of them, though I wish we had. Life is much more interesting with Sir Lancelot in it.”
Walt chuckled. “That’s for sure. I hope we get to have classes with him again.”
“I hope we get to have any classes,” Nando said.
“I think we will,” Marie said.
“Our parents have known Mordecai most of their lives, family friends and all that,” Walt said.
“True. What I’m trying to get at,” Marie said with a tinge of impatience, “is that these are no ordinary witches and wizards. They are some of the finest.”
I realized what she was trying to do, and I was grateful for it. But I couldn’t help worrying. “What about the SMS though? From what’s happened and what our teachers have said, those sorcerers are really accomplished.”
“Some of them are, I’m sure, but not all. The SMS has strength in numbers, and in the sorcerers at the top of their group.”
“Like Maurisse and Miranda?” Nando said.
“Exactly like them. The ones at the top are highly skilled, without a doubt. But I think we have more talented magicians than they do.”
“You really think so?” A hopeful squeak colored my question.
Marie nodded, and even Walt, who didn’t seem to be as optimistic as his sister, nodded too.
Walt said, “Marie is right in saying that a lot of the magicians at the acade
my are the best of the best.” He smiled at his sister, as if he didn’t often say she was right, though he clearly adored his older sibling—enough to follow her to the academy despite Mordecai’s initial protests. “They really are some of the best. Our chances are better than you think.”
“Good enough that we won’t have to join the fight?” I asked.
“Let’s hope so, because while our magicians are definitely a match for Maurisse, especially now that Giselle has joined our cause, we definitely aren’t. Maurisse—even Miranda—would crush us into powder if we gave them the opportunity.”
“Thanks for that,” Marie scolded him. “You don’t need to make them worry any more than they already are.”
“I wasn’t worried,” Nando said.
“Of course you weren’t,” Marie said while keeping her eyes on her brother. “I was trying to help them relax.”