A Curse of Flames

by Sophia Shade

  Ohdows Hall isn’t the only hall helping, I realize. More and more students are coming away from the wall. Water Fae are trying to extinguish the fire I’m pulling into me, but their magic is just turning to steam. They don’t stop trying, though. I can’t tell what the Air Fae are doing, but the fire seems to be choking out a little. If it’s as simple as magical science, my guess is they are starving the fire of oxygen.

  If we die, we die together. This place is family.

  And that’s exactly why I can’t let them die. I can already see the efforts to stop this bomb are hurting the rest of my Fae family as much as it is Dannika.

  I try to find some other side of myself, some source of magic that comes from another part of me. I just need to be more right now.

  Groaning at the pain, I pull twice as hard, hoping it doesn’t kill me. I can’t wait to find more power inside of me. If it’s there, it will fight to survive.

  I overload my system with as much of the magical bomb as I can all in one go. I can nearly see it zapping from existence, but the room is spinning. I feel faint. Like I’m going to explode.

  That’s when it happens. In that moment, right before I’m sure I’ll die, my power comes forward. I nearly vomit from how dark it feels, from the way it seems to snuff out the good me at the same time it snuffs out the fire of the bomb.

  But it works.

  The fire is gone.

  The room is deadly silent, and I don’t feel right at all. I feel like part of me died under the power of that bomb.

  The dance floor is totally black with char marks. I look around, trying to see who died—trying to find out who is the arm with the bracelet. But everyone stares at me from around the edges of the room, frozen in shock.

  Erick bursts into the room moments later, and it’s only then I realize he hadn’t been in here with us. It’d been so crowded there was no way for me to know.

  “What the hell?” he shouts. “Who locked this—what is going on here?”

  His eyes go wide as his gaze pans the room: The half-built root wall made by Ella and her friends, the steam floating through the air from the efforts of the water Fae, Dannika’s burns that are only just starting to heal, and then me.

  Me without a scratch on me.

  Everyone starts clapping, cheering, and talking loudly at once. Ella runs over to us. Dannika and I slowly get to our feet.

  “How…?” Dannika tries to ask as she examines me. “Just…how?”

  “I…I don’t know,” I say. “I guess I just trusted my magic would want to survive.”

  “That was incredible,” Ella says. “You saved our lives.”

  “Everyone helped,” I say quietly.

  But I know the truth. It was me. In the end, it was some dark part of me that took ninety percent of that bomb into my body all at once and somehow survived it.

  As much as I hate that darkness, it saved us. And with each passing moment, I start to feel more like myself, like that darkness is slithering back down deep wherever it came from, no longer choking out the good in me.

  Headmistress Shadowburn enters the room, her hand over her mouth. “What happened here? Who would do such a thing?”

  I start to pull away, hoping this is over, that I’ve thwarted whatever my vision was trying to tell me. But I just want to get out of here. I need to get back to the human realm.

  I pull away from Ella and Dannika and head to the door, but Erick is still standing there. So is Caleb.

  “Imogen,” Caleb says. “What happened?”

  “Are you okay?” Erick asks.

  I push past them, away from the growing noise of the crowd in the remains of the common room. “Just stay away from me.”

  “Wait,” Caleb calls. “What’s wrong? I think we need to talk.”

  I roll my eyes and glance at him. “Yeah, we do, but not now.”

  As upset as I am that he has a girlfriend—or worse, a fiancée—that concern is low on my totem pole right now. Besides, it makes sense. He needs someone his family approves of. An Unseelie chick. Was she wearing a tiara? Probably. A freaking Unseelie princess.

  So yeah, it is something we need to talk about. But not until I find Mom.

  “Imogen,” Erick says as he grabs my wrist.

  With no hesitation, I blast him with a fire bolt. He’s caught totally off guard and flies back into the wall, then crashes to the floor. I make chains of fire and bind him in them.

  Caleb just stands there, his mouth agape.

  “Don’t trust him,” I tell him. “Find the ministers. He killed Professor Crowsfly.” I survey the damage done, thinking about the lives that could have been taken. “I don’t think he did this, though,” I say, thinking of the magical signature that didn’t match his. “But he might know who did.”

  “What?” Caleb asks. “Are you crazy? Why would you think that?”

  “Imogen,” Erick calls as he struggles against the bonds. “What are you talking about? Imogen!”

  He continues yelling after me as I run out of the building. I have to find a way home.

  I run through the woods, my heels sinking into the mud. Branches snag my dress. Half my hair falls around my face. I don’t care. None of it matters if anything happens to my mom. She’s the only family I have in the world. In either world. She has always been there for me. We’ve always had each other. I have to help her.

  I make it to the faerie door I came through last time. When I hold my hand up to tell it I want it to open, a vine of ivy wraps around my wrist.

  “What the…?” I pull at it with my other hand, but then another strand wraps around my other wrist, pulling my hand away.

  “Shit,” I yell. “What the hell?”

  I call up my fire, trying to burn the ivy, but another strand wraps around my waist. Another one pins my arms to my sides. I struggle to free myself, but it’s no use. The ivy is too strong. Then, the vines twist, turning me around.

  “Ella!” I gasp.

  Ella is standing there, her hands outstretched as she controls the ivy.

  “What are you doing?” I ask. “Let me go!”

  “What are you doing?” she asks. “It’s like you’ve gone crazy!”

  “I’m not crazy,” I say. “I have to go back.”

  The ivy tightens around me. “I can’t let you do that,” she says. “Not like this. You attacked Erick, and I saw what you did back there. That time, it saved us. But with that kind of power, and how angry you are right now? I can’t let you wreak havoc in the human realm. The consequences could be devastating.”

  “I have to go back,” I say. “My mom is missing. I have to find her.”

  “What?” Ella asks, and the ivy loosens a bit. “How do you know?”

  “I received a…” I can’t say vision. “A message. She’s missing. I have to find her.”

  “But what about Erick?” she asks. “Why didn’t you just tell him? Why did you attack him?”

  “He’s dangerous,” I say. “He killed Frieda Crowsfly.”

  “No,” she says, shaking her head. “That’s not possible. What makes you think that?”

  “I saw him,” I blurt before I can stop myself. I’m desperate for her to release me so I can go find my mom, but now I have to tell her how I know. I scramble for how to explain myself without telling her about the vision. “I…I mean, I saw him go into the woods that night. I didn’t see him kill her, but I know he was there. I’ve given him so many chances to come clean and tell us what happened, why he was there, but he has only lied and hidden the truth from us. You can’t trust him.”

  I feel the ivy loosen a little bit more.

  “How can I trust you?” she asks, her expression falling. “You’ve been acting strange ever since you got back here.”

  “Have I ever lied to you?” I ask. Okay, I actually have, and I’ve kept an insane amount of secrets from her. But she doesn’t know that, and they are all for her own good. I have to trust she will believe me now.

  She loosens the ivy
enough I can shake them off. “If you go back,” Ella says, “you can’t come back through unless someone is here on this side waiting for you to open the door.”

  “I know,” I say.

  “But you were about to leave,” she says. “You didn’t tell anyone what was happening. What was your plan for getting back?”

  I sigh, rubbing my wrists where the ivy scratched them. “I didn’t have one. All I could think about was getting to my mom.”

  “Okay,” Ella says. “I’ll stay here. I’ll wait for you to come back.”

  I close the distance between us to wrap her in a big hug. “Thank you!”

  “Just hurry back,” she says as she squeezes me. “I don’t know how long I can wait. There’s still a curfew in effect. If the ministers of justice find me, I don’t know what they will do.”

  I nod quickly, release her, and then turn toward the faerie door and motion for it to open.

  The rippling pool of the Shadow Veil between the Fae realm and the human world appears.

  And I run through it.

  As I run, my heels get stuck in the sand. Sand, not dirt. I breathe a small sigh of relief. I’m in the right place. It’s still night. The moon is big in the sky lighting my way. The waves crash on the beach. There isn’t another soul in sight. I rip off my shoes and run barefoot across the soft sand to stop from sinking again.

  Finally, the house appears, up on the hill. My thighs are burning from running so far and hard, but I can’t stop now. I’m almost there.

  I book it up the wooden stairs that go up the middle of the hill, my breathing rumbling in my chest. When this is over, I need to work on my cardio.

  “Mom,” I call as I reach the deck. When I get to the large back porch, I see that the house is dark. I bang on the windows. “Mom!”

  No answer. No movement.

  I run to the deck door and turn the knob. It’s locked, so I bolt to the front door. I turn the handle, and the door opens. I’m not sure if I should be worried or relieved, but I’m at least glad to be in the house.

  “Mom,” I call repeatedly as I run from room to room.

  No answer.

  Oh, gods. This is just like my vision! It was a prophecy. It showed me the truth. So I’m certainly not crazy. But I need to find my mom, make sure she’s safe, and then get back to Callador and save them from Erick.

  I run up the stairs to the second floor to Mom’s bedroom. Pushing open the door, I step inside.

  A puff of air hits me in the face, something sickly sweet smelling.

  I cough and gag. Oh, shit. It’s not air. It’s gas!

  After I back out of the room, I turn down the hall. But it’s too late. I cough again before falling to my knees.

  I try to crawl away, but I collapse.

  When I open my eyes, the world is gray…hazy. Am I still just groggy? I’m not sure. I stand and rub my head. I’m a little dizzy, but it soon passes.

  Where am I?

  It’s not home. The building I’m in has the soft lines and curves of a Fae structure, but I haven’t been here before. Well, the more I look, the more it seems a little familiar. I walk to a railing and look down. I see Caleb standing there, his back to me. Then he turns around.

  No, it’s not Caleb. It’s someone who looks similar, though. Does he have a brother?

  That’s when I realize where I am. The same place I was when I had my vision from the orb of Caleb and the Unseelie king. I’m at the Unseelie Court.

  My mom charges into the room, right up to the guy who resembles Caleb. She’s younger. Like my age. So that’s probably not Caleb’s brother. His father? Uncle?

  I strain my ears, but I can’t hear what she is saying. She’s mad, that much is clear. It’s like trying to listen underwater. I must be having a vision of some sort. Maybe I’m hallucinating from the gas.

  I try to go toward my mom, but my feet are rooted to the spot. I can only stand and watch.

  “Mom,” I shout, but she doesn’t look at me or acknowledge my voice or presence in any way.

  By this point, both Mom and Not-Caleb are mad. They’re pointing at each other and arguing. Other Unseelie court members appear. They watch from around the room and along the railing near me. They don’t interfere in the argument. It’s like they’re waiting for something as well. No one takes any note of me. It’s like I’m not even here.

  Mom turns away from Not-Caleb, but he grabs her by the arm and forcefully turns her around. She slaps his face. He pushes her to the ground.

  Oh, hell no. That’s not gonna fly. No one treats my mom like that.

  I raise my hand to shoot him with fire, but my hands are stuck to the railing, just like my feet are cemented to the floor. I struggle to free myself, but it’s no use. It’s like I’m completely glued in place. All I can do is watch helplessly.

  Not-Caleb steps over my mom, and his hands turn to flame. He raises his arm to strike her.

  “Mom,” I cry, but my voice barely carries. It merely floats up in the air and disappears.

  But Mom isn’t helpless. She raises her hand, and flames shoot into the man’s chest, knocking him to the ground.

  I blink. Wait…what? Did I see that right?

  I had thought I was seeing into the past, something terrible that happened. But this isn’t possible. Mom doesn’t have powers. She’s human. So then…what am I seeing?

  Mom jumps to her feet and stands over the man. She says something to him, and he swings his leg, knocking her off her feet. They struggle, but Mom is handling herself.

  The Fae who are standing around smile and chuckle to themselves as if they’re just watching TV.

  What is wrong with everyone?

  I look from person to person, trying to see if I recognize anyone, anyone who I can talk to after I wake up and get answers, but I don’t see any familiar faces.

  But then I see someone partly hidden in a shadow, watching the fight. He doesn’t seem to belong. He isn’t dressed like the Fae, his hair is short, and he’s wearing glasses. I have a feeling he’s human—but who is he? What’s he doing here?

  When Mom takes a rather sharp whip of fire to the face, the man takes a step back, his mouth falling open. He’s clearly upset by what’s happening, so why isn’t he stepping in to stop it? Is he afraid he’ll be attacked, too?

  Mom and Not-Caleb seem to have run out of steam. The man is on his back, laying with his head on the ground as he tries to catch his breath. Mom paces around him like a victorious tiger.

  She raises her eyes up to the people around the railing, a satisfied little smile on her lips. They nod and murmur their approval.

  Then her gaze falls on me.

  She winks.

  Chapter 18

  Imogen.

  My eyes are closed. I’m sleeping. Everything I saw at the Unseelie court, it was all a dream. I’m so tired. I just want to stay sleeping. It’s safe here.

  Imogen!

  Groaning, I know I have to open my eyes. I need to wake up. I could be in danger.

  Mom!

  I sit up with a start.

  “Imogen,” Erick exclaims.

  I let out a scream and scoot back. “Get away!”

  I’m no longer on the floor in the hallway, but instead on the bed in my room.

  “What is wrong with you?” he asks. “Take these bonds off me.”

  He holds up his wrists, revealing my fire chains still firmly in place. Thank gods. I didn’t think they would hold—just buy me some time—but thank goodness they did. Although, I’d hoped the ministers would catch him before they dissolved and lock him up. How did he even get here like that?

  Erick glares. “Imogen,” he says, his tone edgy. “Take them off. Now.”

  “Back off, jerk,” I say. “I know what you did!”

  “What? Save your ass from that poison?” he asks.

  “You killed Professor Crowsfly!”

  “Are you crazy?” he asks, his mouth falling open as he stumbles back. “Fuck you for even thinking t
hat!”

  “I don’t think it,” I say, jumping off the bed. “I know it. I saw it. I got into that room—the one you tried to hide from me—and I saw everything.”

  “The one I tried to protect you from, you mean,” he says. “That room is dangerous. I saw your silly paperclip in the door and knew what you were up to, so I hid it.”

  “Why?” I ask, crossing my arms. “Why did you hide the room? And don’t call my lucky paperclip silly. Give it back!”

  Erick rolls his eyes. “It’s in my back pocket. Take it.”

  I reach into his back pocket. Damn, his pants are tight…like his ass. Ugh! What is wrong with me? After digging the paperclip out, I put it safely in my own pocket.

  “Now tell me about the room,” I demand.

  “The room is cursed,” he says. “I thought you knew.”

  “Caleb said something about that…” I frown, remembering the first day I’d seen the room. But, of course, Erick wouldn’t want me to get inside, to learn what he’d been up to. “It was calling to me. It had something to tell me, and it did. It told me my mom was missing, that you killed Frieda, and that Caleb has a fiancée at court.”

  “The curse is trickery, you dope,” he says. “The orb only tells one truth and two lies.”

  “You would say that,” I mutter, glaring at him. “How do I know you’re not trying to trick me? It said my mom is missing.” I wave my arms around to indicate the empty house. “And that’s true.”

  “Then that’s the one truth,” he says. “And…yeah, okay, it’s probably good you found that out. If she’s really missing, I’ll help you find her. But that’s the only truth. I didn’t kill Professor Crowsfly.”

  “Is my mom missing the only truth?” I ask, my arms crossed. “Or the first truth? I don’t have any way to test the others.”

  He groans. “Oh, come on, Imogen! You’re a smart girl. You go on and on about your instincts. Do you really think I killed Frieda?”

  No, I think, but I don’t say it yet. In fact, every vision I have had that implicates him feels…wrong. It’s like something, or someone, wants me to believe Erick is the killer even though I know it isn’t possible.