The Broken Curse

by Taylor Lavati

  I turn around and look at the wall calendar above my desk. I'm a month behind, so I pick up the page and see that it's June second—my birthday. There's a large cake drawn in the small box around the date. I inwardly groan and turn back to see Kara standing there with a sash in one hand and tiara in the other advancing in on me like a shark to blood.

  "Seriously?" I groan as she positions the princess gear on me. I remain still, letting her have her moment of glory. She loves this, despite my clear annoyance. Kara gets one night out of me and then I'm going back to the training center. Let the hours of counting down begin…

  "Ryder, it's your birthday. We have to celebrate!" Kara yells, clapping her hands when the tiara is secure over my long, brown hair. "Everyone is coming down for the party tonight. Since, like, nobody is on campus, we decked out the dorms. Get ready, because in a half-hour, we're partying."

  A knock sounds at the door as I sit on the bed and chat with Kara while she prepares for the party. I walk to the window to turn up the fan because the humidity in the air hangs heavy; my hair feels like it's melting off my head. Instead of fixing the air conditioning, Kara just opts to wear fewer clothes. Despite working out like crazy lately, I still have no desire to prance around in the equivalent of a bikini.

  It's funny, because I notice she's wearing the same pink and brown cowboy boots she wore on the day we first met. But instead of a dress, she's wearing tight pink jean shorts that show off her tanned and toned legs and the very lowest part of her butt cheeks.

  She has on one of my tank tops, and it definitely looks better on her. She fills it out better, as I've started toning up and working out. I look down at myself and cringe at my outfit, but just don't care enough to change. Kara already forced me to shower and actually wash myself—her words. Then she made me change from my leggings into shorts, so that's enough effort. Plus, it's my birthday. People can't be mean to me or tell me what to do—although I guess Kara is doing just that by making me go to the party.

  Another knock bangs on the door and since it's apparent that Kara isn't going to get it, I walk over from the window and swing the door open. Ollie is standing with Junior beside him, both posing and smiling. I lean up on my tiptoes and give Ollie a kiss on the lips.

  He elongates the kiss and effortlessly lifts me into his arms. He walks us back a few steps, twirling us in playful circles, and I open my eyes, despite the fact that we're still kissing. I see Junior skip over to Kara and plant a wet one on her. I shut my eyes and try to focus back on Ollie's kiss.

  Ollie finally puts me down and then pats my butt when I turn to go back to my bed to sit. Ollie has a bag in his hand, which he puts on my desk before he comes over to sit next to me. He's literally radiating happiness in thick waves that I just can't ignore. I perk up a little just from being in such close proximity to his positivity.

  "So, what's the plan for your big one-eight?" Junior asks. He comes over after loving on Kara and gives me a one-armed hug. I return it and then shrug my shoulders since I really don't know what's the deal. This is Kara's thing, not mine.

  "Wait until you see it, babe. The girls and I went crazy on the first floor. We decorated, and there's tons of food and drinks." Kara pauses to take a breath and then adds, "Ollie you brought the beer, right?"

  "Yeah, it's in the bag." He nods towards my desk where the brown bag is.

  "I'm almost ready," Kara says, leaning forward so her face is right against the mirror. She's putting on some bright red lipstick, taking her getting ready to a new level. She already was ready before she had to add more. "There." She caps her tube and places it back into her purple makeup bag before smacking her lips in the mirror.

  Kara waves us over towards the door, and Junior and Ollie jump up almost simultaneously like trained dogs. I zone a bit, trying to prolong seeing a bunch of people I don't want to see, but they wait for me in the doorway, so I hurry behind them.

  We get to the first floor; Kara was right, they went extra crazy. The lights are dimmed way down, but they've lined the ceiling with string lights in an array of colors. It's like the house from Christmas with the Kranks.

  Groups of people hang out in the red and blue lit halls, leaning against the walls, chatting and drinking. Kara makes the first left but doesn't actually enter the room; instead she just looks inside, nods, and then moves on as if inspecting the rooms for perfection.

  As I pass the door, I peek in. It's almost pitch black except for a strobe light in the middle of the room. It's like a lightning storm with all the flickering. I try to sharpen my vision to see who's in there and what's going on.

  "Boo!" someone yells right into my face. I scream and jump back, about to punch whomever just scared me, when I see Mikey's grinning face emerge from the darkness. I glare at him and shove him backwards by the shoulder.

  "What the heck is your problem?" I growl at him, my adrenaline trying to work its way down from its abrupt spike. I push him back a few feet, my strength overpowering his, but he bounces back fast with his electric energy.

  "Lighten up, Ryder. Your party is sick." Mikey slings his arm around my shoulders and tugs me close. "Wait until you see the hook up room," Mikey whispers in my ear, and I glare up at him, knowing that he's just playing around..

  Ollie must notice the interaction because he comes over to us, his eyes darkened and narrowed on Mikey. I roll my eyes, but don't have it in me to put up a fight.

  "Hands off," Ollie snaps, physically removing Mikey's hand from my shoulder and replacing it with his own. I smile at Mikey, but let Ollie take the lead. It doesn't really make a difference to me, and I'm not in the mood to start an argument.

  As we walk forward, I glance back at Mikey, who's already retreating into the strobe-lit room. I hear people clap as he enters. I feel bad that Ollie's so possessive, especially with Mikey, since nothing would ever happen between us.

  I listen to Kara as she gives us the grand tour of the rooms she's using for the party floor. Hookup room, dance room, game room, blah, blah, blah.

  When we get back to the front of the dorm, I notice that more and more people have come in. I don't even think some of them attend Demi God Academy. I'm sure that Kara sent out a Facebook message to everyone including a postscript that they should tell their friends, too. I would say I know about a handful of the people present. Though, I'm anti-social, so that may be my own fault.

  Luckily, with the amount of people being so large, and continuing to grow, I'm able to lose my friends in the crowd relatively fast. I tell Ollie that I'm heading to the bathroom and slip out of the party.

  I use the back staircase and take the steps two at a time, running from the music and the people and the noise. I consider going back to my room, but change my mind and pass by the fourth floor. That's the first place people will look for me. Instead, I go to the top floor, which is blissfully empty. The noise from downstairs is just a faint boom, and I revel in the peace.

  Nobody has moved in, and nobody is expected to for at least another month so I know that I'm alone. I pass the common room and notice that it's unlocked, so I grab a chair from around the desk and pull it towards the end of the hallway.

  At end of the hallway, there's a window that overlooks the entire campus. It faces the front of the dorms, and just faintly I can see the black fence in the distance. The corridor has no lights on, so I can see out of the window perfectly and be comfortable that nobody can see me back.

  I place the chair right in front of the window and sit down, kicking my feet up against the windowsill. I gaze outside into the nearly pitch black evening and let out a long, exasperated sigh. The student center lights are off. All of the halls have their lights off, too. Some of the teacher's houses are still occupied, and tiny yellow lights shine though their windows, but they're so far away from the dorms that I can barely see their twinkle.

  The stars are shimmering tonight. The North Star is just in front of me, begging me to reach out and catch it. I wish that I was a dreamer. I lean back in t
he chair, my body exhausted from my work out today.

  My formerly scrawny arms and legs are now muscular and lean. I've never been in better shape, and it's all thanks to my rigorous training. I try to get at least three or four hours in the gym per day, and most of the time, today being excluded, I succeed.

  I shut my eyes and envision my plans. I picture Hermes's face and how it will look as I drain the eternal life out of him with my new muscles. I see myself sprinting around him and catching him off guard. I picture Hades's smug grin as I sprint through the Underworld and ruin his plans, restricting him to the Underworld for all of eternity. I feel a tang of pain in my chest, but ignore it.

  It'll all be worth it in the end. Even if I die.

  "You couldn't save me." Her voice rings out in my head. My eyes dart open as I look around the empty hallway. I must have fallen asleep. I rub my eyes and try to adjust to the now flickering fluorescent lights up on the ceiling. The hallway is exactly like when I fell asleep, only now the lights are on but the walls are darker, painted a morbid black.

  I check my front pocket for my phone, but it must have died. I press the power button but nothing happens. I stand up from the chair and start to head back downstairs, since people probably miss me from my own party. I grab the chair and start to drag it down to the common room. When I step out, a figure down the hall halts me, rooting me in my place.

  "Megan?" I call out, praying that my eyes are deceiving me. That's impossible. I step forward, and at the same time, the figure moves forward. She's right under a blinking ceiling light, and I can make out her features perfectly now. I rub my eyes and then look again. Something is wrong.

  It's clear that it's Megan. Her brown hair is long, like it was when she died. Her glasses are on, but her eyes glare beneath them, glaring at me. I just don't understand what's happening. There's no such thing as ghosts. I know that, but the fact that she's standing in front of me signals that I'm wrong.

  "You killed me, you bitch!" Megan screams, her voice shrill and angry. But her face doesn't move as she yells. The expression stays the same. Her mouth doesn't even open to speak the words. She just stands there, still as stone. I look from left to right to make sure this isn't a sick joke.

  "I'm sorry," I tell her, tears streaking down my face now. "I couldn't save you. I'm so sorry."

  Her eyes sink back into her head and shut. "You deserve to die."

  "I do," I answer, nodding my head in agreement. I step forward towards her, but she suddenly vanishes, and the ground swallows me whole. I fall.

  CHAPTER THREE

  savior

  A warm set of arms wraps around my waist and lift me up from the ground. I refuse to open my eyes. I refuse to let anyone see me this vulnerable. My knees ache from falling on them, but the physical pain is nothing compared to my emotional trauma.

  "Shh. You're okay."

  "Leave me alone," I mutter as I try to wriggle out of the arms encircling me. He lets me go. I turn my back on the person and cover my face with my hands. I try to bury my feelings deep within me, try to shove them down into my gut and never let them resurface, but for some reason the vision is just too powerful. I feel too much to hide it.

  I fall to my knees again and sob, tremors of pain jolting through my body. With my face still covered, I crumble into myself, wanting the ground to eat me up. Wanting to disappear.

  "Eury, you're okay," the voice says again. Only this time, his voice is so clear that it cuts right to my heart. Hearing my nickname roll off his tongue makes my heart slam against my chest and my stomach flip-flop itself.

  "I can't feel this anymore," I say, pressing my hand against his chest as if I might actually break. I feel the familiar thump of a heart. I let myself look up into Ari's light green eyes, and for once in the past three months, I feel okay—safe even. And for the first time, I don't ignore it. I don't have a choice to look away when he stares at me with such compassion that it burns.

  "Let yourself cry. It's okay, Eury. Let go." His voice is soft and coaxing me. I listen to his words and obey. I let it all out. My anger, my frustration, my hate, my sadness, my grief. I push it out like I'm expelling a demon from within me.

  He pulls me into his arms and lifts me up effortlessly, cradling me against his firm chest. I let him carry me into an abandoned room and lay us down on the bed together. I can't stop the tears now even if I tried. Three months of forgetting, of burying, gone. All my walls I built have crumbled and fallen through my hands like sand.

  Ari holds me against his chest tight, as if he is afraid that I might make a run for it. But to be honest, that's the last thing on my mind. Time passes as I cry into his shoulder, relieving myself of all the pain that I carry.

  Finally, I pull in a breath and actually let myself exhale. I push the air out of my lungs and my body relaxes into Ari—our forms molding together with each intake of breath. My tense shoulders sag, my beaten down muscles release.

  "Do you feel better?" he asks into the black room. I nod, because I don't trust myself to speak just yet. I push back so I'm not nestled in his shoulder and look across the pillow at him.

  He's changed, that much is blatantly clear. His bagged eyes look worn down from not sleeping at all. His face is pale, almost like he's been sick. I want to ask what's happened to him, but I already know the answer. His pain is my fault. His change is my fault.

  But my pain is his fault. My change is his fault.

  He hurt me, betrayed me. He gave my mother up to Hades. For what?

  But, right now, for some reason, I need him more than I care about his betrayal. I feel safe within his arms. I feel loved as he looks into my eyes, but even more so like he's staring into my soul. He sees the real me, and nobody else can strip me like that.

  "I'm sorry." I'm not sure why I say this, only that it feels right in the moment. He doesn't move, doesn't say a word, and I worry that I've upset him somehow. "What's wrong?" I ask him after a few moments pass.

  "I'm trying really, really hard not to kiss your tears away, Eury. But it's literally killing me inside not to be able to comfort you," he whispers.

  "I haven't cried in over three months," I admit to him.

  "Crying doesn't make you weak, Eury."

  "I know."

  "You're the strongest person I know. It's one of the many reasons that I love you. You feel so much, so strongly. Holding it in, carrying it around, it doesn't help you."

  "Thank you," I tell him. I lean forward, closing the space between us and kiss his lips. I forgot what it feels like to be with Ari. I don't want our kiss to end. Ever.

  Love radiates from his mouth into mine in thick, white tendrils of emotion. My heart thrums inside of me, finally taking on a life of its own. Butterflies erupt in my stomach, and the feeling is so foreign that I almost giggle.

  I open my mouth to Ari, wanting all of him. He's tentative, almost as if he isn't sure what the heck is going on. And, to be honest, I don't know what's going on. Only that it feels right. Before I can dwell on it further, his arms wrap behind my back and tug me close to him so our bodies are flush up against each other.

  My bare legs brush against his. His shorts only go to his knees, so feeling his flesh against mine makes my blood boil. I pull my leg up over his hip and scoot closer to him, as if that's even possible. With our legs tangled, I can't tell where I end and he begins.

  His kisses become stronger and harder and faster. I don't have time to think as I try to move with him. My hand dives into his thick head of nearly black hair. My other hand reaches around him, trying to find its own purpose.

  Ari pulls back, our long kiss abruptly ending, and I moan at the loss of him, refusing to open my eyes and face reality. He laughs a little at my frustration, and it's that laugh that made me love him in the first place. I open my eyes, and he's staring right at me—through me.

  "I love you so much," he mutters.

  I open my mouth to say something. I'm not sure what I'm going to say, since my brain is heavily clou
ded with desire. But, before I get a chance to talk, his mouth covers mine again, and I'm lost to him. Completely under his spell.

  He pushes me over so his body hovers just above mine. I can feel the lower half of him resting firmly against me, pinning me to the bed, refusing to let me move. I wrap my arms around his neck and lean up towards his face, the distance too much to bear.

  Our lips never break as we continue to ravish each other. Each move he makes, I mirror it, relishing in his soft lips and thick hair. My hands tug and pull on him while his rake up and down my sides, passionately memorizing my entire body.

  As we kiss, his hands grab a hold of the bottom of my t-shirt, and he pulls it up and over my body. Our contact breaks, but once the shirt is discarded, he kisses me again, barely leaving a second of time where we aren't kissing.

  It's not fair that I'm shirtless and he's not. I move my hands from his hair down his back until I feel the hem of his black shirt. I want him completely bare, vulnerable to me. I pull the shirt up and over his head. Our stomachs are now bare and touching; the heat within me only intensifies.

  He pushes up with his strong arms and sits back in his heels. He reaches down and lifts me up, so we're sitting face to face on the bed. Our eyes connect and it's like I can see our whole future together in just one nanosecond. A simple flash of potential. I make the choice to make love to him right then and there. I'm not sure if it's what I see in his eyes or my own need to be loved in this moment, but it's as clear as night and day. And I act on it.

  Ari must see my decision written on my face, because a sly grin creeps its way up to his eyes. I absolutely love his smile. I reach forward and tug on his pants, undoing the belt and the buckle. He leans back, making it easier for me.

  He climbs down from the bed, and shimmies his pants off, all while I watch from my vantage point on the bed. There's barely any light in this vacant room, so I can only make out his large silhouette. But the darkness only adds to the romance, the mystery, and allure of Ari. It makes me want him close again so I can see every part of him.