Book of Curses (The Renning Chronicles)

by L. D. Hutchinson

  “Well, thank you then.” I smiled at her. I mean, yeah I was grateful, but she still didn't have to do this. I walked into the living room and sat on the couch. Christie followed me and sat on the seat beside me setting her food and coffee down on the table for a moment.

  Tom came out a few minutes later, his dark hair plastered in damp clumps around his face and neck. He stared at us then the food and blinked a few times as the realization of, there being food set in.

  “Food?” He asked walking towards us. He stopped mid step when Christie pointed to the kitchen. He quickly came back out carrying a plate of food, coffee and the book from last night with a few sheets of notebook paper underneath of it. His balancing was a bit off, and I was worried that everything was about to end up on the floor, I grimaced as I watched him.

  “What is that?” Christie piped up; the curiosity was thick in her voice, and I just continued to watch him.

  Tom set his plate down on the table, taking a piece of bacon off the top of it and chewing it as he propped the book up on one knee and the papers on the other one as he looked from me to her smiling impishly. He seriously looked a little too high and mighty at the moment, and I was starting to wonder what he'd figured out.

  “This was a book I got for like fifty cents at the bookstore because people won't buy it, apparently it’s cursed or something, a lot of religious people were telling the store to burn it. However, the person working there insisted it be sold, it was twenty some dollars; I had fifty cents; he said he'd take it if I'd take the book.

  I mean, I’ve never seen this guy before, and you make me go there all the time Ray. He said he was the manager, and rarely came out because he's usually too busy, so I didn’t argue over it.” Tom smiled a little while looking at us, and then he let out a soft sigh and nodded toward the book. “Anyway, let’s get this over with.”

  I looked over at Tom then at the papers he had sitting on his lap with curiosity. I hadn't felt this much excitement in ages; all three of us managed to huddle closer together as we started scanning the papers with the same interest.

  Tom sorted the papers with a strange speed as he looked them over with his bright green eyes, then he furrowed his eyebrows and letting out a sigh, he set them down and looked at us. The papers were on Christie's lap now, but Tom looked a bit frustrated as he looked at her. He shifted his body again, and I couldn't figure out what the hell he was doing.

  “Can we switch seats? It’d be easier if Ray, and me were sitting next to each other.”

  Christie nodded her head quickly, grabbed her plate and jumped up next to Tom. The two of them swapped seats with each other and then plopped back down. Tom was now sitting next to me with the papers in his hand.

  He set the book down on his left knee, and then handed the papers to me as he gave me a lopsided smile that I had to laugh at. “I can translate it quickly up here,” He gestured to his head as he cleared his throat for a second and kept on speaking. “You need the papers more.”

  “So, read it!” Christie said impatiently.

  Tom grunted his irritation at Christie for her interruption, then nodded at the papers before shaking his head for a split moment. I don't think he was enjoying this too much at this early hour. “Take the first half, read up to Sita.”

  Clearing my throat, I looked down at the papers and scanned them before I started to read out the first line on the paper for Christie to hear, I was laughing inwardly at what was written there.

  “Goddess Amamai; Hear our cry, let your lust for death and youth make our plea be heard. We challenge the four gods in their own eternal war, let us be the targets of the hell, and test your strengths. God Aerbael Corves, we ask for your patience and skill to see the logic and hope within our words.” I ended where I was supposed to and gave them an odd look. "Sounds like someone tried too hard to come up with a ritual chant."

  Tom chuckled a little for a moment nodding at me as he started to continue where I had left off, clearing his own throat he started speaking.

  “Sita Karlue, bring with you your jokes and sinister games, let me be the one to outdo you in your own game. Maldre Itltahl, bring your ways of war and death, may my own strength be greater than your own. Hear this oath, that we will bring an end to all your ways, we are the keepers of peace and hope, the saviors in which will help save them all.” He stopped speaking and then looked at me smiling a tight little smile. I shook my head a bit.

  “That’s kind of stupid. I mean really; it's like a child’s sto-” Christie cut herself off mid-sentence. We all turned to look at the book as an echoed click went throughout the room, the book opened slowly, as if a pair of invisible hands was opening it with loving care. It was now revealing its interior for us all to see.

  “Ok, that’s a little creepy.” She said swallowing in a loud gulp, as she stared at the book in sheer horror.

  Tom grabbed one side of the book as I grabbed the other side; we opened it fully and gazed at the images that were drawn inside. There was a map of what looked like six different lands, beautifully drawn in the most exact detail I had ever seen inside a book of this age.

  Each land had a different setting to it, and changed drastically so that you could see the difference easily. There was a woman drawn with the most flawless skin and gorgeous face that I had ever seen, but there was an uneasy look that gleamed in her eyes. I would almost swear they were gazing into my own, but that thought was crazy. I shook my head at my own imagination running away on me. There was another drawing to her left that was made entirely of yellow and white here and there; it combined to create the shape of a centaur encased entirely in light.

  To the right of the woman was what I thought was a man, or well, his body was at least. It was covered in bloody armor that mostly hid his body but failed in some areas. Three heads sat on top of the body, one a horse, the middle one a human head that was eaten away and had flesh hanging to it in rare patches, and then there was a wolf's head.

  Then the last figure drawn on the page was of a large black panther that was so beautiful I just wanted to reach out and stroke it. I'd never seen such a well-drawn panther in my life. It almost looked like a photograph inserted on the page.

  I turned the page after sneaking a peak at Tom to see if he'd finished the page or not, and then we found the writing inside of the book; it was in English this time.

  What power

  Does youth possess?

  I think it,

  Be mine indeed,

  Had I not,

  Grown to be,

  Wretched child,

  Of adversity.

  -Child by Alexia Purdy

  Chapter 3

  _______________________

  “Hah! A prophecy.” Tom laughed as if it was the best thing in the entire world, he looked to me then back at the book. Even I thought this was just sad as hell, but amusing to read.

  “Read it!” Christie begged. Her eyes were even begging when I looked at her. It was so childish and sad to see. “I want to hear.”

  I smiled at her and then bent to see the writing that was twice as small as my own chicken scratch handwriting, it was hard to make out, but I managed. “A girl and boy of human decent will appear to us, their appearance easily identifies them as different from our own, thus helping to prove who they might be, they will bring us hope and peace, end our war, and save our lives.

  Their strength will be tested, though it will be mortal strength at the beginning, easily making them seem unworthy of the title of our saviors. They will be tested in each of the six regions, and learn to control what power was bestowed on them when entering our world. Their blood will be untainted, and in time their true forms will be shown to all.

  Though their hardships will be many that they think they cannot face, they will face them, and those marked at birth with the symbol of the savior's guardians will come forth, only when the blood of the two is sac- Ow!”

  I let out a quick yelp as I pulled my hand away from the book, hearing
my brothers echoing yelp as I stuck my finger in my mouth and sucked on it for a moment. I looked up at him, and he regarded me with a look of sympathy as he shook his own hand, small beads of blood dripped onto his jeans as he did and I realized the book bit us, both.

  “The hell was that?” I yelled, looking at him then at the book just in time to catch the writing on the book starting to change into another language, glowing a bright blood-red color. I was so shocked that all I could do was stare at it in confusion.

  Then the book fell off of our laps and onto the floor with a loud thump. It was emitting a strange white glow that gradually ebbed into a red one. All three of us stared down at the book in horror. Who wouldn't? A book was on the ground glowing like something out of one of the movies we had watched last night.

  “What the hell is going on? Tom! Raine!” I could barely hear Christie's yell as I watched the light growing, brighter and brighter, the pages began to turn wildly as if they had a mind of their own. I jumped up and tried to back away, only to trip into the couch in my efforts and then fall forward painfully onto my knees, cursing at the sharp shocks that radiated up my body from the impact.

  I looked over and saw Tom covering his face with his right arm, glaring down at the book like he could kill it with his looks. I ended up shielding my own eyes from the harsh light soon after, then everything grew silent for a moment as if I had turned deaf, and I started to panic, before the panicking could get very far I suddenly fell through the floor and kept falling.

  A scream ripped from my throat, but I heard nothing, only felt my vocal cords at work. I couldn't see a damn thing and felt my heart speeding up more and more until I finally passed out.

  *****

  I slowly began to wake, the first thing I noticed was that wherever I was lying it was cold and warm at the same time. Then the smell of fresh air, grass and bark hit my senses all at once I blinked my still blurry eyes a few times, until I was able to focus enough to see that trees and grass surrounded me. The clear blue sky was above me, and the warm sun was beating on me; it was brighter than I remembered it being too. That's when my senses starting screaming, "WHERE AM I?" at me.

  All at once, everything came rushing back to me in one big blast, and the panic began to boil up within me. I sat up as straight as I could, looking around at everything I could see, trees, trees and more trees. It seemed to go on forever, then with a quick dread I looked down at myself checking to see if I had been hurt and this was the afterlife, but all I found were stained clothes and slightly dirty skin.

  I took a deep, steadying breath - or as steady as I could manage - and tried to calm down. Once I felt that I was as calm as I could get I decided to listen to the surroundings and see if I could hear a car, or the noise of busy people quickly passing one another to get to work in New York.

  I thought maybe I had been sleep walking and wandered outside town somehow, but even then, there would be some sort of noise, kids playing, the highway, something. However, here, there was nothing, not a house or a building within sight, not a single car engine or wheels scraping over gravel to be heard. I felt the panic grow stronger; suddenly I heard a sound I never thought I'd be so happy to hear - Tom groaning.

  "Tom!" I screamed, practically in tears of joy. I felt the panic starting to ebb away.

  "Ugh, Ra-Raine?" He asked, lifting his head slowly he stared at me for a while obviously waiting for his eyes to adjust, soon he was giving me an 'Are you real?' look. "Where are we? Where's Christie?"

  "I don't know." I began quickly, all I knew was that I was freaked out, and I wanted him to know that. "I think; I think it's all a REALLY bad dream, or maybe we're dea-" I was cut off mid-sentence. Letting out a short scream from the sharp pang that bloomed into white-hot pain in my right arm, I glared daggers at Tom realizing what he'd just done.

  "Feel that?" He asked me as he arched one of his eyebrows in a questioning way, he cocked his head to the side slowly trying his best to look innocent.

  "Yes, I fucking felt that!" I snapped at him, letting the venom in my voice seep out as much as possible. I wanted to tear his head off.

  "Not a dream then, I think we need to find a building or some people... Something." He told me, standing up as slowly as he could, as if his body was starting to hurt. I was more interested in what was going on behind him. I was frozen in fear as I looked, I mean yeah, I wanted to find people… but these weren't normal people, or they didn't look the part at least.

  “I think; people found us.” I said to him in a hushed whispering voice, my eyes glued behind him still.

  Tom turned slowly to focus on the group of men who stood behind him. I stood up quickly, nearly falling over in my haste and rushed over to Tom, who was still looking them over.

  “Halt! Who are you?” A male voice boomed; it was like he was speaking through a loud speaker.

  “R-Raine Renning.” I managed to get out. My eyes were wide as I studied them all for a moment.

  “Thomas Renning.” Tom put his hands on me to help steady me when I stumbled over my own two feet for a moment. His attention returned to the men and we both heard murmurs spring from all of them. They kept glancing towards us; I was beginning to wonder what they were talking about, but I was definitely too scared to ask.

  “Are you… Human?” The one who'd first spoken, asked looking us both over again.

  “Yes, are you?” Tom arched his eyebrow as he asked the question.

  “No, I am of Lycanthrope blood.” He announced, keeping eye contact with Tom before carrying on. “You must be the humans of legend. We've all been told your arrival would be soon, and no sane human would wander in our lands.”

  “What?” I asked loudly, that wasn't something you hear every day. “Listen you need to see a doctor. Lycanthrope’s do not exist, well possibly in children’s books, or perhaps Hollywood, but not reality.”

  “Hollywood? What is that?” Another one of the men snapped their heads up, looking at me as if I was the alien.

  “No time, follow us quickly; we’re on our monthly hunt.” The first one stated. No sooner did the words leave his lips than he was walking off with the others following him. I looked at Tom, and he nodded his head and starting to follow. I took a breath and followed after him, trying to keep calm.

  I got my first glimpse then of exactly how many men were standing there, around twenty of them, and four had stayed behind to follow us. I didn't understand what was going on, and I was seriously feeling paranoid about the ones who were behind us.

  We didn't walk very far though, before we heard an ear-splitting howl that seemed to be coming closer and closer. Every hair on my arms and neck rose on end; all of the men froze in place when the one in the lead stopped and grunted...

  “Looks like they've moved closer, just up ahead boys.” The man shouted so loudly I thought I felt the ground vibrate for a moment.

  Glancing over at Thomas uncertainly, I caught a look of his face for a split second. It was a hardened sculpture of worry; his eyes were moving from one area to another. I knew he was trying to remember the way we were going. He was usually only like this when mom brought home a new boyfriend, or was threatening us while someone else was in the house. I wasn't sure what to make of this yet, but I knew from that look to keep on guard.

  After what felt like miles of walking we stopped, we were still surrounded by trees and a large group of people. Men, a few women, teens were now in the crowd, as well as some young children. We were ushered toward them quickly without any explanation or choice. We were stopped before a man and woman who were fully dressed, unlike a lot of the others around us. The man in front waved to the men and everyone else who was surrounding me and Tom. Then he moved in closer to the two of us, looking us over slowly.

  “Queen Arily, King Z’ev, we’ve found them.”

  Slowly, the man who stood before us moved to an inch away from what would've been personal space; he smiled a strangely kind smile. He was dressed in nothing more than a loose-fitting
shirt and leather pants; he walked barefoot without a care. His long brown hair was tied at the base of his neck, and he gazed with his yellow eyes into my own for a split second before pressing his lips into a thin white line across his face.

  “So, you are the chosen?” He inquired, letting his lips form into a slow smile as he bowed to us. “I am the pack leader Z’ev, this,” He lifted his arm, motioning towards the woman who stood next to him, his smile growing even more. “Is my beautiful mate, Arily.”

  Slowly, the woman stepped forward, a pair of brown leather pants and a loose tank top covered her body. Her copper skin was visible against her long, pin straight, black hair her yellow eyes shone as bright as Z'ev's had. She bowed as well, and then stood up smiling the brightest smile I'd ever seen.

  Tom looked at them then me for a moment, and bowed slightly. His face was still like stone, but wasn't nearly as severe as it had been before. “I’m Thomas Renning; this is my sister Raine.”