by Jimi Alan
Alice Corey and the Hollows Curse
Alice Corey
and the Hollows Curse
Jimi Alan
This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either the products of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously.
Alicy Corey and the Hollos Curse. Copyright © 2019 by Jimi Alan. All rights reserved. Printed in Canada and the United States of America.
Design by Alan G Brown
For my siblings.
My brother and my sister have been there for me for as long as I can remember. This is for them.
Chapter One
The Letter
Screams charmed through the row of houses outside of the city of Toronto. A quiet part of the roaring city with brick houses close together. The sound of a fire alarm erupted from the house, causing the neighbor door to wake up to the sight of terror.
Inside the house, flames covered the walls roaring up the sides. A cloaked man faced off against the mother, who waved her hands. Powerful enough, a blast of energy erupted from her fingertips, shattering the glass of the houses around them.
Flames shoot out of the house as her voice echoed. “Get Alice.”
Trying to save their daughter, the father reached the upper level of the house. He reached the cradled, wrapping his arms over the blanket. A whimper came from the child he wrapped in the blanket. He held his daughter in his arms, staring at her silver moonlight eyes.
The father muttered to his child. “We will always be with you forever.”
His wives voice screeched with the flames down below. She warned her husband with her yell, sending another burst of energy out of her hands. Covering the cloaked figure before her with the power remaining in her vanes.
The father drew his wand from his pocket. He held his wand in his right hand with his child cradled in the other. With his wand pointed at the door, his eyes widened at the sight at the door.
Spiraling around the flames gathered on the wall, a portal to a doorstep appeared where the wallpaper once stood. Flames from the fire gathered together.
The father looked over his shoulder at the portal. He saw a cloaked body of a woman standing on the other side of the portal. She said two words.
“Aperta Porta.” A necklace with a pendant of a tree around her cloaked neck sparkled in the light. “Jacob.”
His name felt familiar coming from her lips. Reaching towards her, he saw the figure his wife was keeping downstairs appear on the staircase. His eyes widened as he drew his wand.
Touching his daughter, the woman reached her hands through the portal. Her hands wrapped around the child, taking her away from her father. The child cried as the father flicked his wand at the figure by the staircase.
A ball of light shattered out of the father’s wand. Soaring across the room towards the staircase, where the figure stood unexpecting the power that came soaring his way. The woman’s red eyes shimmered at the sight of her friends standing on the other side. She pulled the child out of the portal towards her chest. Her mind filled with memories as she yelled his name.
“Jacob.”
Her cry echoed in his ears. The figure flicked the wrist making his wand spark in time for the burst of light to rip through the cloak, blowing the figure out of the window behind him.
The father fell to his knees, too weak to move from the spell he harnessed at the figure. He looked over his shoulder at his daughter in his friend's arms. Smirking at their eyes locking for the first time. Flames engulfed the portal, covering the house.
“Proxima porta.” The woman’s voice cracked with sorrow.
Her eyes spotted the father on his baby daughter’s bedroom floor. She had seen enough. The portal shimmered closed, as a wall of flames engulfed the room.
Silence covered the street behind the woman. She leaned down to the doorstep, moving her arms away from the blanket wrapping the child. The woman looked down at the baby she saved from the flames. Her heart sank in her chest. She knocked her cloaked knocks onto the door before her. She listened to the people in front of her.
Her hands left the door. Walking away from the doorstep as the child cried out for her father to cradle her in his arms. She flicked the hood over her head, covering her face.
Each step she took, she listened as the door creaked over. The sister of the father looked down at her niece. She placed her hand up to her mouth, with joy in her eyes. Picking up the child from the cold doorstep. She knocked the baby in her arms, hoping she would calm down. Taking a step inside their house, not knowing what happened moments before.
Fourteen years have passed since the fire had engulfed at the Corey house. Their daughter had grown with each year that past, knowing her parents had perished in the flames. No harm came to the child, leaving her untouched from what happened.
She walked down the paved street with her uncle by her side. Alice reached the cobblestone path of the graveyard. Her uncle past her the flowers he held in his hands. White tulips in a bouquet for her mother and a single white rose for her father. Their daughter smiled as she looked down at the flowers. She touched her hands on flowers, hoping they would appreciate them.
Taking a step away from her uncle, Alice held the tulips in her left hand with her father’s white rose in her left. She walked down the cobblestone path by herself. Her footsteps echoed in her ears.
Each breeze hit her with a chill. She kept her steps shallow with sorrow for each year which passed them by. Taking a step closer to where her parents lied.
Two marble headstones sat before her. She looked down at the pile of autumn leaves, which found their way were her parents lay. Alice took a deep breath in. She leaned down to her parents' graves.
Laying the tulips on to her mother’s grave. She lifted her hand off of the grave were her mother laid. Her hand grazed over the leaves, which piled in front of her mother’s name. She brushed the leaves away. Her mother’s name ‘Martina Corey’ looked scratched from a few years back.
Her blood felt like it was boiling from the scratch on her mother’s headstone. Alice fixed the flowers to lay in front of her mother’s name. She leaned forward, kissing the top of the headstone.
Alice looked down at the leaves in front of her father’s grave. She brushed the leaves away as she had to her mother’s grave moments before. Her hand engraved the cold marble of the headstone below her father’s name.
Lowering her hand in front of her father’s headstone. She let a tear slither down the side of her father. Her grip on the white rose made it fall from her hand. It landed on the ground in front of her father’s name. She looked at it, perfectly placed like it was meant to lay where it dropped.
Alice leaned forward to her father’s headstone. She placed her hand on the top of its smooth surface. Her lips pressed on the cold marble surface, which remained of her father. She pulled away from her father’s headstone.
The wind made the wind’s rustle, making Alice’s eyes catch a white spec in the leaves. She moved her hands towards the white spec of paper. Her hands brushed the leaves away from the piece of paper.
Below the leaves, a letter stood. Alice looked at the damage on the letter, wondering what grave it was on. She saw a stain next to the name on the front. ‘To Alice’ was written on the front of the letter.
Flipping the letter over, Alice saw some words scribbled on the back. ‘When you are alone, open this letter’ was written on the back. Her eyes noticed a stamp keeping the letter closed together, made of a red seal keeping it closed.
Stuffing the letter into her pocket, she fought the urge to open the letter. Alice took a glance around the graveyard. Her uncle was the only perso
n in sight. In her gut, she knew someone was watching her, just out of sight.
Alice rose from the graveyard. She looked down at her parent’s headstones. Her voice was soft like a whisper as she spoke to them.
“It’s been almost a year.” She looked down at her father’s name. “I know you’re probably got some great advice for me. I’ve been struggling with Biology again. I don’t even know why I thought I could ace that class. Maybe I get that from…”
Her eyes darted over at her mother’s headstone. “You. Well, that’s what Serena says. I guess you know who dropped off this letter?”
She waited for a second as the wind drifted past her. Alice looked over her shoulder as her short blond hair drifted with the wind. Her uncle looked bored as he watched her from the cemetery gate.
Alice sighed as she looked back at her parent’s grave. “I don’t know why I still do this. All that’s here are bones.”
She walked away from her parents' graves. Her footsteps quickly scampering away. Each step she took was faster than the last one she took. Her eyes stayed down on the ground, with her hand wiping the tears away from her eyes.
Alice brushed her tears away from her cheeks, hoping her uncle Cedric wouldn’t notice the redness in her eyes. She took a deep breath in, as her hands became fist in her pockets. For just a moment, she felt completely alone as she reached the end of the cobblestone path.
She stopped for just a second. Looked back at her parents headstone, she felt angry towards them for leaving her. She wished they were by her side, standing with her each proud moment she had.
Her uncle's hand touched her shoulder. “Let’s go.”
“Yeah.”
Alice agreed with her uncle. She wanted to remember her parents as the two souls her aunt and uncle told her about. But she felt like those two people they described were nothing like her, in any way.
Her uncle locked his arm with hers. They walked together down the street. For a second, Alice caught a glimpse of a figure standing be the bushes beyond the cemetery fence. She guessed some kids were playing around their, probably the ones who scratched her mother’s headstone.
Walking down the street, Alice and her uncle Cedric walked up the pathway to the doorstep. Her arms stayed locked with her uncle. Her opened the door as they walked into the house.
Alice hooked her jacket onto the wall beside the door. Her white shirt was baggy over a light blue tank top she wore underneath. Her uncle closed the front door. Taking his jacket off of his back and onto the hook beside his niece.
From the kitchen, they heard a familiar voice. Her aunt had come home early from work. She had been working late for the past couple of days, trying to get enough hours for her to get some time off.
Serena shouted. “Is that you, honey.”
Cedric smiled. “We went by the cemetery on our way home.”
Alice took a step towards the staircase. Her uncle placed his hand onto her shoulder. She knew he was worried about her. Cedric had always been like that towards her, making Alice feel like she was his own daughter.
She said no words, but he knew what she needed. Her aunt never understood her like he does.
Alice walked up the staircase. Her uncle followed her aunt’s voice towards the kitchen at the end of the entryway.
He took a step into the kitchen with a smile on his face. He sat down at the stool beside the kitchen island. On the other side, Serena stood with her hands in the sink. She wiped the dishcloth over the dishes from the night before.
“How many times have I told you.” She complained to her husband. “Don’t leave food on you plate. But it into the compose, once your done.”
Alice took a deep breath in. She scrubbed a few of the plates as her eyes darted over at Cedric’s face. She thought of what to say.
“How was your visit?”
Cedric sighed. “We picked up some flowers for them.”
His wife asked. “Tulips for Martina?”
“Yup.” Cedric placed his hands on the countertop. “And a single white rose for Jacob.”
“He would love that.” She knew her brother well. “That I’m sure of.”
“She spoke with them for a while.” He told her. “I think he wouldn’t mind if you visit them every once and awhile.”
“I know.” Serena stopped her hands in the soapy water. “It’s just not the same for me. We have another tradition.”
Cedric picked up the morning newspaper from the countertop. He flipped over the frontpage to the second. Cedric looked over his shoulder with the newspaper in his hands. He spotted a picture on the refrigerator.
In the picture, Serena stood with her arms wrapped around her older brother, who was holding Alice in a blanket. His wife, Martina laid on the hospital bed next to them with Cedric beside them.
Cedric stood a glance at the newspaper in front of him. He could remember that moment as if it were yesterday. He wondered if his wife felt the same.
Upstairs of their house, Alice sat on her bed. She remembered the letter she found at her parents graves. Her hand slid into her jeans pockets. She took out the letter from her pants pockets.
Alice looked down at the letter in her hands. She placed her finger onto the seal keeping the letter closed. Alice looked at the ‘N’ imprinted on the seal.
Gracefully, Alice used her finger to break the seal. She opened the letter, which unraveled in her hands. She looked at letter glancing over the words on paper before her.
Her eyes gazed on the letter.
‘Dear Alice,
You don’t know me, but I was the closest friend you parents had. They left this earth many years ago. For that I am sorry. They made me promise to give you a normal life, until the fourteenth anniversary of their deaths.
I’m writing this letter, because they left you a gift. One that you had no idea existed, for that was their wish. On the back of this page-’
Flipping the letter over, her eyes saw what was attached to the back. A carved handle made out of a black wood with golden bars on the top. Her eyes were memorized by the handle. She placed her hand to the wood, taking it away from the letter.
A small piece of scotch tape let go of the wood, making the handle free for Alice to carry. She stared down at then handle in her palm. Her fingers touched the wand as she analyzed it.
Looking back at the letter she remembered there was more. Her curious mind wondered if it would explain what it belonged to.
‘-you will find a handle. When you are ready to say the word ‘Impendam’ and it will reveal itself to you.
But I do have to warn you, it’s a weapon that she'll never be seen by those without the gift.
Once you say the word, the first step to the legacy you desire will have begun. I am proud of what you choose, just like your parents would be. For they knew you would do what you see fit. They only wished that they were there with you.
Forever and Always,
N’
The letter ended with a signed N below those three familiar words. Alice knew who wrote the letter knew her parents. For they always said, forever and always instead of goodbye.
Alice looked down at the letter. She was curious to know if there was anyone her parents knew who had a name starting with an N. Her mind wandered as she thought of only one name.
She placed the letter down on her bed. As she remembered the word the letter told her to say. Alice took a deep breath in. She gripped the handle tightly with her fingers, holding it before her.
Out from her lips, she muttered the word. “Impendam.”
The gold bands on the top and bottom of the handle glowed brightly. She sparkled for a moment as the top of the wand stretched out from the tip. A rugged pointed tip emerged from the top band of gold. Covered in a spiralling twist of gold and black wood, the wand extended before Alice’s eyes.
Her silver eyes shimmered at the sight she saw. A magical weapon designed for her father revealed to be hers, after all. She thought for a moment, wondering if her
parents both wanted her to see the word. But then, she felt a whisper in her head.
Frightened by the whisper, Alice lost her grip on the wand. Landing on the floor, the wand returned back to the way it was before she said that magical word.
Alice tried to listen to what the whisper said, but she couldn’t understand what it said in her head. She clenched her hands to her ears, as the whisper disappeared. On her bed, she looked at the letter.
She saw there was something written on the back, which wasn’t there before. Alice picked up the letter, thinking if she missed it before.
Reading the letter in her head, the whispering voice warned her instead.
“You made the first step. Congratulations. For the choice you made, tomorrow it will arrive.”
Alice thought the note was strange. She looked down at the letter. Alice watched as the words vanished like a fire sizzling out. She placed her hands up to her eyes, wondering if she was tired from the long day she had.
The handle to the wand sat on the floor of Alice’s bedroom. It waited for her fingers to grace it once more. A feeling it waited for many years to happen.
In the morning, an alarm rang in Alice’s ears. She flopped over to her side, flipping her pillow over her ear. Hoping the ringing of her alarm would be drained out.
The alarm continued to ring as she tossed the pillow on the floor. The pillow landed on the wand she thought was apart of her strange dream she could not fully recall. Alice tossed her blanket up from her body. Slamming her other hand on the alarm in the process.
She let out a grown, hoping she could just crawl back into her cosy bed. A knock on her bedroom door, told her she wouldn’t be able to do such a thing. She glared at the door as her uncle’s voice came from the other side.
He told her. “You got mail.”
For a second she thought her uncle was playing a trick on her. She got mail before, but it was normally addressed to her aunt and uncle from other estranged family members.