A Curse of Flames

by Sophia Shade

  He rolls his eyes.

  “But…” I continue. “I’m really sorry. I didn’t know you would get in trouble. I still don’t know how everything around here works…you know…since you don’t really do much mentoring…as my mentor.”

  “Are you done?” he asks.

  “Um…I guess,” I say. “With that part at least.”

  “Well, get on with it then.”

  “I really need to get back to the human realm,” I say, leaning forward on his desk and giving him my best begging eyes. “So if you could just open that portal back up, I’ll be on my way. I promise not to die, and I’ll come back when I’m ready.”

  “No,” he says, eyes on the paperwork on his desk.

  “But my mother is missing,” I say, slapping the desk. “She’s gone! I need to find her. She could be in danger. She said it wasn’t safe and…”

  “She’s missing?” he asks, standing suddenly.

  “I…I thought you knew,” I say, surprised by the—for him—sudden outburst of concern. “You said she would be fine when I tried to tell you before.”

  “I just thought she was…gone or something. Not missing,” he says. He stares out the window, shaking his head, then looks back to me again. He seems surprised I’m still standing there. “But she will still be fine,” he says quickly as he sits back down.

  “Are you kidding?” I ask. “I can see you’re worried, just as much as I am. Why are you placating me?”

  “I promise you, she will be fine,” he says. “And I can’t let you go back. You know that.”

  “If you don’t open that damn portal,” I say, getting hot with anger, “I will find another way back myself. Whatever it takes. And don’t think I’m not capable. I’m sure you heard what happened earlier tonight.”

  “You’re right. I did.” He holds up a hand, and then sucks all the heat right out of me. I plop down into a nearby chair. It’s like he sucked out all my energy as well.

  “What the hell?” I ask. “Don’t you care? It’s my mom…”

  “You have unique gifts, Imogen. You’ve shown all of us that. We can’t risk you. Faerie needs you.”

  “And I need my mom,” I shout, my anger returning. But Damon’s hand is still up, sapping my energy as quickly as it can return.

  “Let me ask you something, Imogen. What makes you think she’s missing?” He leans against his desk. “Maybe she just went for a stroll. She wasn’t expecting you back.”

  “I…” I hesitate for a moment. How much should I tell him, considering he’s trying to get in my way? Then again, he’s already in my way, so I need to try anything I can to get him on my side. “I went into the locked room near Headmistress Shadowburn’s office. The forbidden room. I saw a vision in the orb. In it, my mom was missing—”

  “That whole room is treachery,” he interrupts. “Almost everything in there is a lie.”

  “One truth and two lies, right?” I say. “Erick told me. I saw other things in there, too. Those things must have been lies, because when I went home, she was missing. That part was true. She was gone, but her car was there. And she left a note, something about it being dangerous. She didn’t even finish writing it. The note just stopped midsentence! She’s not safe. I have to find her!”

  “You shouldn’t have gone into that room,” Damon says.

  “That isn’t the point,” I snap back.

  “We’ve tried everything to either break the curse or bind the room, but people keep finding a way in,” he says, rubbing his forehead. “Yes, it does tell some truths, but they aren’t worth the trouble. Wars have nearly been starting over the lies that room tells. You could have gotten yourself killed.”

  “Yeah, well, I didn’t,” I say. “I escaped. But Mom didn’t. She’s missing and—”

  “What do you mean, you escaped?” he asks, always glomming onto the wrong thing. Why doesn’t he care about Mom?

  “I don’t know,” I say. “Someone was following us. We were able to get away, but if I don’t hurry back, I won’t be able to find out if they have Mom or where they are keeping her!”

  “You’re sure they didn’t follow you here?” he asks.

  “I’m sure,” I say firmly. “Now, please, pay attention. The important thing is that Mom is gone, in danger. I need to find her.”

  “Catherine will be fine,” he says. “She’s resourceful.”

  I’m thrown off by the use of her first name. And resourceful? What does he know about her? The only time he ever saw her was the first time she brought me to the faerie door. He wasn’t happy to see her there, a human staring into the Fae realm. He clearly thought less of her then, so why compliment her ‘resourcefulness’ now?

  Unless…

  “You know my mom?” I ask. “Is there something you aren’t telling me?”

  “Hmm?” Damon raises an eyebrow. “Oh, everyone here knows what lengths your mother went to keep you from us. She doesn’t give up easily. Believe me, she will be fine.”

  “No. That’s not it. It’s something else.”

  He’s not telling me the whole truth. I can feel it. The way he said her name was too…familiar. But Damon’s lips are pressed together. He’s not ready to cop to anything yet.

  “Does my mom have some sort of history with the Fae?” I ask him. “Like, with the Winter Court?”

  “Why would you ask that?” he asks, standing fully now away from his desk. “Humans can’t even come to Fae. Headmistress Shadowburn’s wife is the only person with that level of exception.”

  “Yeah, I know,” I say. “But when I was back home, I got sprayed with something. It made me pass out, and I saw a vision of her. Here, in Faerie.”

  “Tell me more about the spray,” Damon says, crossing his arms. “What did it smell like?”

  There he goes again, focused on all the wrong things. But at least he seems to be hearing me out now, so I continue.

  “It was sweet, like sickly sweet,” I say. “But very light. It went up my nose and right to my brain. I passed out.”

  “Sounds like nightscape,” he says, nodding. “It’s a rather common drug. Any skilled botanist can make it. It just causes a person to pass out.”

  “Just to pass out?” I ask. “No visions? Because I definitely had a vision.”

  I’m hoping I’m not revealing anything I shouldn’t. The visions seemed different from my Dark Blessed visions, so I’d assumed it was from the gas, not from my curse.

  “Well, in a deep sleep like that, you might have some lucid dreams or something,” he says. “That’s a probably all it was. Why, what was the vision about?”

  Since he hasn’t exactly been forthcoming about my mom, I think maybe I should keep my vision about her and Caleb’s dad to myself for now.

  “Nothing really,” I lie. “It was just here, here. I guess my imagination just went into overdrive from the drug.”

  “Hmm,” Damon says, narrowing his eyes. “So, you had a vision…or you didn’t?”

  “Nothing memorable,” I mumble.

  “Are you saying you’re not sure your mom is in danger?”

  I keep the growl brewing under my breath to myself. “I guess I overreacted,” I say through clenched teeth. “You’re probably right.”

  “Imogen…”

  I stand up. “No, it’s fine. I better go. It’s getting late.”

  “Well, if you do have any side effects, be sure to let me know.” Damon gives an attempt at a reassuring smile, but it feels awkward coming from him.

  “Will do,” I lie. As I start to head out, I pause in the doorway. “So, you aren’t going to help me find my mom then?”

  “Just drop it,” he says. “She will be fine. Focus on school.”

  I leave his office without saying another word. I can’t believe he hasn’t learned a thing about me since I started here.

  There’s no way I’m abandoning my mom.

  But there are a few things I need to do before I try to go back. I can’t do this alone.

&nb
sp; First, I head to Ella’s room.

  “Imogen,” she says as she leaps off her bed toward me. “What happened? How did you get back?”

  “What happened to you?” I ask. “Are you okay?”

  “I’m sorry I had to leave,” she says. “The ministers, some of them were searching the woods for errant students. You weren’t the only one who tried to go into the woods after the festival. They weren’t very stealthy, though. I heard them coming and was able to get back.”

  “It’s fine,” I say. “Erick found me.”

  “So…everything okay there now?”

  I nod. “Yeah, you could say that. He explained everything. Then he showed me a portal to come back.”

  “A portal?” she asks. “What’s that?”

  “It’s a faerie door that’s always open,” I explain. “People can come and go from it as they wish. Or at least, it was. Mr. Clawfire was waiting for us when we got back and closed it. Now I’m trapped here again, and Mom is still missing!”

  Her eyes grow big, and she takes a step back. “Whoa. That is a lot of information. A portal? Mr. Clawfire? Your mom is still missing? What are you even doing back?”

  “I know,” I say, glad someone finally gets it. “Anyway, I’m glad you’re all right. What about everyone else? The explosion?”

  “All’s fine,” she says. “You know how it is around here. Bizarre magical happenings are a normal part of life for us. If it doesn’t kill someone, talk about it usually dies off quick. But what about you? What can I do to help?”

  “You’re a botanist, right?” I ask. When she nods, I continue, “Do you know about something called nightscape?”

  She grimaces. “Nasty stuff,” she says. She goes over to her bookshelf and pulls down one of her herbology books. “In small doses, it just causes a person to pass out. It’s a controlled substance, because while it could have some legitimate uses like self-defense, it’s more likely to be used nefariously, like in a kidnapping.”

  “Kidnapping,” I say. “Maybe the people who took Mom used it on her.”

  “Did you find some at the house?” she asks.

  “Oh, yeah,” I say with a nod. “I got a face full of it when I was looking for Mom. It was like a booby trap when I went into her room.”

  “A face full?” she asks with alarm. She flips through her book. “In larger doses, it’s much worse. It can cause hallucinations that some people believe to be actual visions.”

  She turns the book where I can read it.

  “But Fae don’t believe in visions,” I say.

  “Who told you that?” she asks.

  “The librarian,” I say. “I was…curious, so I asked her about it. She said visions or other gifts of prophecy are just a myth and there are no legitimate books about them.”

  “Well, that kind of right, I guess…” Ella says. “The majority of Fae don’t have the gift of foresight. And whenever someone in the past has exhibited such powers, they have been viewed with mistrust. They were called the Dark Blessed. They were blessed with power, but that power was dangerous. Brought darkness into their lives if they were discovered. They were often persecuted, exiled, even killed.”

  So Mom was right about that one…

  She takes down a different book, opens it to a page toward the back, and hands it to me. It’s another illuminated manuscript, and there are images of people with stars in their eyes or the universe in their hands. They must be the people who have visions—the Dark Blessed.

  The images show them helping people at first, avoiding plague or flood. But then something happened. A prophet foretold something terrible, and he used that knowledge to advance his own power. He tried to overthrow the courts, kill the kids of Winter and Summer. But the courts united to stop him. Then, the courts turned on all Dark Blessed.

  “So…the kings, they killed all the Dark Blessed?” I ask, fear lumping in my throat. My mom was right.

  “At the time,” Ella said. “But it’s not like the gift was inherited. There is nothing stopping people from being born with such an innate gift.”

  “What are you saying?” I ask. “You think the Dark Blessed still exist?”

  “Of course,” she says. “I think they just stay hidden. After all, if they never tell anyone about their prophecies, who would know?”

  “But what about nightscape?” I ask. “That’s different, right?”

  “Oh, sorry,” she says with a laugh. “That’s in the other book. I just wanted to show you the Fae do believe in visions and prophecy, but we must be very careful about how we tap into it. In large doses, nightscape is a way for people who are skilled in divination to have visions and not risk persecution since it isn’t an innate gift but drug induced.”

  “If someone had a vision while under the influence of nightscape, the vision would be true?” I ask.

  “Well, I can’t say for certain,” she says. “I haven’t done it. I don’t know anyone who has. And there is very little written about it, as you found out in the library, but…” She takes the book from me, and puts it back on the shelf. “Wait. Did you have a vision? Is that why you are asking me all this?”

  Admitting to a nightscape vision wouldn’t be admitting to being Dark Blessed…

  “Yes,” I say. “I saw my mom at the winter court in a fight with Caleb’s dad.”

  Her mouth drops. “What?” she asks. “That’s crazy. Your mom is human.”

  “I know,” I say. “It doesn’t make any sense. Do you think she snuck here once? Maybe she was looking for my dad.”

  “You don’t think…”

  “No,” I say quickly, already knowing where she’s going. “Trust me, there was nothing romantic happening between my mom and Caleb’s dad in the vision.”

  Ella laughed nervously. “Okay, well, that’s good. But how did you even know it was Caleb’s dad? You never met him.”

  “I don’t know, not really. The man just looked a lot like Caleb, but different. And I had a…feeling… You know?”

  Ella nods. “Totally. I think I can help you, though. Or rather, I know someone who might be able to,” she says. “Professor Therese Goodkind. She specializes in divination. She would be able to make nightscape, and she would know more about the visions it causes.”

  “Perfect,” I say. “Let’s go!”

  I grab her hand and head for the door. But as I open it, Damon Clawfire’s body fills the doorframe.

  He glowers at me.

  “You aren’t going anywhere,” he says.

  Chapter 22

  “You can’t stop me,” I yell. I try to burst past him, but he grabs my arm.

  “I can, and I will,” he says. Moving his hands in front of me, he says an incantation. He sparks with red and yellow, his magical signature telling me he just performed a spell.

  “What did you just do?” I ask.

  He turns to Ella and does the same thing to her. “You’re both bound here, to Aos Sí, until such a time as I decide you can be trusted not to run off half-cocked and get yourselves killed.”

  “That’s not fair,” Ella says, the angriest I’ve ever seen her.

  “You can’t do that,” I snap. “I have to find my mom.”

  “Leave it to me,” he says. “You clearly aren’t going to drop this. I will go find her.”

  I cross my arms, still fuming. She’s my mom, my responsibility. I should be allowed to find her. Make sure she is okay. But Damon is hell-bent on keeping me here for whatever reason.

  “Fine,” I say, letting him think he won…for now. But I’m not going to drop this, and even if he finds her and she’s safe, I’m not going to forgive him. He’s not the boss of me or my family.

  “I’ll let you know what I find out,” he says before he turns back down the hall.

  “Whatever,” I mumble. “Come on, Ella. We can at least go talk to Professor Goodkind.”

  Damon turns back to us. “No, you can’t,” he says. “She’s been missing since the Moon Festival. The ministers are look
ing for her, too.”

  After pushing Ella back into her room, I shut the door. I’m tired of Damon inserting himself into my problems.

  “Funny how the one woman who can help me is suddenly missing,” I whisper.

  “It is very strange,” Ella says.

  “What do you know about her?” I pace nervously across the room. “Could she have anything to do with this? Could she have been the one to poison me? Did she have my mom kidnapped?”

  “I don’t know,” Ella says with a shrug. “Divination classes are only for upperclassmen, so I haven’t had a class with her.”

  I walk back and forth, feeling like a caged animal about to explode. I can’t stay here in Aos Sí and do nothing, or just go to class like nothing is happening. Heck, if I went missing, my mom certainly wouldn’t just go about her life. She outran the Fae for a decade to protect me. I’m starting to wonder if she had the right idea. I mean, I’m practically a prisoner here now.

  No, Mom wouldn’t give up on me, so I’m not going to give up on her. I have to do something.

  “I…I have to go,” I say, suddenly remembering something that might help.

  “Where are you going?” Ella asks. “Can I help?”

  “Just back to my room,” I say. “I just need to think.”

  “Let me know if you need anything,” she says.

  “I will.” I give her a hug before I rush out of the room and over to Pyralis Hall, back to my dorm.

  When I open the door to my room, I’m surprised to see Dannika there. She looks a million times better, though. Her burns from earlier are fully healed, as if the whole thing never happened.

  “Where have you been?” she asks. “Everyone is looking for you.”

  I give her a quick rundown about how I went back to the human realm to find my mom, but she was missing, how we were chased, and how Damon now has trapped me in Aos Sí to keep me from finding her.

  “Whoa,” Dannika says. She sinks down on her bed. “That sucks. I can’t believe what a hard-ass Mr. Clawfire is being. I mean, if my mom went missing, I’d go crazy!”

  I sigh, feeling myself calm down a bit as I sink down onto my bed. “At least you and Ella get it,” I say. “I feel like I’m losing my mind!”