Cursed

by Monica Wolfson

  When she’d asked Cady about her fascination, she told Sasha she wouldn’t understand.

  “She’s my mother,” Sasha said losing her patience. “What isn’t there to understand? Why do you think she’s so great?”

  Cady paused thinking. “She’s Willow Bean. Your mother is very cool Sasha, trust me.”

  That wasn’t an answer.

  Jenna’s interest seemed more basic. She couldn’t get enough of her mother’s stories about her strange clients. There was the woman who required a house with four bathrooms even though she lived alone, and the man who restored his authentic historical home down to removing the plumbing and electricity and building an outhouse in the backyard. She dropped his listing when he refused to get modern plumbing.

  “I need to talk to you mom,” Sasha said suddenly uncertain. Willow Bean paused before responding, her mouth parted slightly. She seemed uncomfortable with Sasha in the room. Sasha’s mother crossed the room and took her phone out of her purse. She fiddled with it. Sasha assumed she was trying to find a reason not to talk to her.

  “How about before dinner?” Willow Bean said after consulting her calendar. “I have to talk to Dominic. It’s urgent. I’ll come by your room, ok?”

  Disappointed that she was ranked below Dominic in her mother’s scheduling, she slinked to the door without responding. She knew when she wasn’t wanted. She closed the door behind her softly.

  She was about to walk down the hall and reconsidered. The glass doors were paper thin. It wouldn’t hurt to listen for a while.

  Her mother seemed breathless as she spoke. Sasha crouched onto her knees to hear better.

  “I’m pretty sure it was Nefar,” Willow Bean said.

  “That’s impossible,” Dominic said. “I have put up charms. Vania shouldn’t be able to find us.”

  “I didn’t say he saw me,” Willow Bean said. “I saw him.”

  There was a grinding noise that blocked some of the discussion.

  “The question isn’t whether he can see us it’s is it possible?” Gigi said, sounding irritated.

  There was silence for a few seconds. Now Dominic sounded less irritated.

  “I’ve used every ounce of knowledge I have to keep us safe,” he said carefully, “But I guess nothing is 100 per cent.”

  “We need to find a place to hide Sasha,” Willow Bean said. Fear struck in Sasha’s heart as she listened to the fear in her mother’s voice. She felt goose bumps on her skin.

  “We can’t risk him finding her,” Willow Bean said. “He’s not here for any of us.”

  “Don’t be ridiculous,” said Dominic sounding dismissive. “How are you going to explain it?”

  Sasha heard her mother moan. “I don’t know,” she said sounding like she was crying. “She knows there is a threat out there. I told her I’d handle it.”

  “And we will,” Dominic said in a reassuring voice. “Magic can’t hurt her. You know that.”

  “We’ll think of something,” Gigi said. “Don’t panic. We can’t afford to panic.”

  “I suggest you tell her everything and we’ll face the attack together,” Dominic said. “We don’t hide.”

  Her mother sounded shrill when she responded. “I can’t tell her the past 17 years have been a lie. She won’t forgive me. We need to find another way. This isn’t about pride Dominic. This is my child’s life and I want to keep her safe.”

  Sasha heard Dominic sigh.

  “We’ll hire someone to shadow Nefar,” Dominic said in a conciliatory tone. “Will that make you feel better?”

  Her mother must have nodded because there was no response before Dominic said, “Fine. That’s settled.”

  Sasha scrambled to her feet afraid she’d get caught eavesdropping. She ran soft footed down the hall to her bedroom.

  Sasha didn’t want to go into hiding. It meant she’d never see Evan again. Even though he said he didn’t have time for her, she still held hope that they could be friends. Or that maybe he’d change his mind. It wasn’t totally unrealistic. He had said he liked her.

  She couldn’t tell her mother anything about the fireball attack. It would only worry her more and encourage her to devise a plan to keep Sasha safe. She had to make it seem as if there was no threat.

  Sasha was desperate for answers and wanted to know what her mother meant when she said the past 17 years have been a lie. She’d have to stifle her curiosity. It wasn’t worth the risk. She’d rather be ignorant than alone.

  She was reading a novel, The History of Love, for her English class when her mother knocked on the door. She came in without Sasha saying anything, closed the door and eased herself slowly onto the end of her bed, keeping her distance.

  “Sorry about that,” she waved her hand toward the door. “It was just business.”

  Sasha was tempted to tell her she’d heard everything but stopped herself. She didn’t want to risk losing Evan. Willow Bean patted her foot through her sock. “What is it you wanted to tell me?”

  She was at a loss. Her mind raced for a fake reason.

  “You want to talk about the amulet?” Willow Bean said frowning. Sasha studied her hand and removed it from the pendant. She laid her hands in her lap. She didn’t know she’d been gripping the necklace but used it as a conversation starter.

  Sasha told her mother what happened when she took off the amulet to show it to her father. There was nothing supernatural in the story that posed a threat to Sasha except her physical response to removing the necklace.

  “Oh that’s terrible, are you alright?” her mother scooted down the bed and gathered her into a hug.

  “Mom, mom,” she said pushing her away. “I’m fine. I don’t understand why I stopped breathing.”

  Willow Bean held the amulet gently. “You have to wear this because it will save your life,” her mother said. “I can’t explain why. It’s a long story and I will tell you soon, very soon about it. But right now just wear the necklace and trust me.”

  Willow Bean’s face creased with worry. “Why can’t you tell me?” Sasha pleaded.

  Her mother’s eyes filled with tears. “It’s a very long story darling and I just don’t have the time. You’ll be full of questions and I want to provide full explanations. I do. It’s just too soon.”

  Sasha could feel her blood simmer with anger. “What does that mean? You never tell me anything. This is utterly ridiculous. Get out. Just get out of my room,” she yelled in frustration.

  “Darling-,” Sasha cut her off.

  “No don’t darling me,” she said. “I’m not talking to you until you tell me the truth. Now get out,” she screamed as loud as she could.

  Willow Bean stood up and smoothed out the creases in her dress. Her father rushed into the doorway worried.

  “What’s going on here?” he said.

  “Nothing,” Willow Bean said as she walked past him into the hallway. “Everything is fine.”

  “It didn’t sound fine,” Martin said.

  Sasha turned over in her bed, her back to the doorway. When her father left, she dialed Cady’s number.

  “I need your help?” Sasha said.

  “I’m busy,” Cady said. “Can’t this wait until tomorrow?”

  “No,” she said.

  Cady picked her up and drove her to a local park. Cady had one of her special milkshake. The rose aroma made Sasha salivate. She sipped as she told Cady about her mother’s plan to send her away to keep her safe.

  “Maybe those guys at the coffee shop were after you,” Cady said. “What other threat was there?”

  Sasha shrugged remaining evasive.

  “So you think this is of the supernatural realm?” Cady asked skeptically.

  “Yes,” she said. “Suspend belief for a minute. Is there any place where I can get help?”

  Cady rummaged carefully through her purse. She found a flyer. It was an advertisement for fortune telling at a new age shop on Fifth Street.

  “How is this going to help me?” Sa
sha asked holding the piece of paper as if it were on fire.

  “I heard there is a guy who works out of the shop that is good with the crystals and mumbo jumbo crap.”

  “Mumbo jumbo crap? How is that going to help me?”

  “Well you said you saw blue sparks? I think it’s a bunch of kabuki but maybe this guy will believe you.”

  “Does this guy have a name?”

  “Not that I know. Just check it out.”

  Cady drove Sasha back to her house and then zipped away with a squeal of her tires.

  CHAPTER NINE

  Gigi was alone in her mother’s office when she arrived after track practice. She was relieved that Dominic wasn’t there because she didn’t want to fight with him about intruding on her mother or getting in the way of the real estate business. She was feeling a little out of sorts and wanted to talk to her mother.

  She wanted to get the truth from her mother and was hoping she could wear her down with nagging. It seemed to be her mother’s recipe to get Sasha to do things and she hoped it worked in the reverse.

  “Where’s mom?”

  Gigi looked up from typing on her laptop and a warm smile spread across her face. “She’s meeting with the builders of that condo project downtown,” she said. “You can call her on her cell phone if it’s urgent.”

  Sasha shook her head. “It’s not urgent.” She flopped in a chair dejected.

  “Can I help?” Gigi watched her with concern in her eyes. Gigi was one of the only friends of her mother’s that she really liked. Evie was great too, but she was never around while Gigi was always in the house working, brewing tea, making photocopies and answering the phone.

  Sasha shook her head. “It’s between my mom and I.”

  Gig looked at her intently. “Do you want to talk about it?”

  Sasha wasn’t sure how much Gigi would know about the pendant, probably nothing. She wasn’t sure if it was safe to tell her anything considering the whole thing seemed crazy.

  “Have you known my mom long?” Sasha remembered Gigi being around forever like Dominic, although Gigi didn’t seem as close to her mother as Dominic was.

  “Years,” she said. “Decades really.”

  Sasha frowned. “Decades? You can’t be more than 30.”

  Gigi laughed. She scrambled around her desk and found her purse. She dug out a compact, flipped it open and inspected her image in the small mirror. “You don’t know what a compliment that is,” she giggled. “I work hard at looking young, but 30? That is really flattering Sasha, thank you.”

  Sasha was confused by Gigi’s enthusiasm over her remark. Gigi appeared young, much younger than her mother, although her mother was only 42. It wasn’t like her mom was ancient like Dominic. Sasha rolled her eyes and didn’t pursue the topic. She didn’t really want to talk about how young Gigi looked.

  Sasha picked up a magazine on a table and flipped through it not seeing anything. It was one of those trashy celebrity magazines that Gigi loves.

  “Sorry,” Gigi said. “You were saying…”

  “I wasn’t saying anything,” Sasha mumbled staring at a photo of a celebrity who was getting out of a limousine without underpants. “Why do people humiliate themselves like that?”

  Gigi arched her eyebrows and didn’t say anything. Sasha sighed and slammed the magazine back on the table. “Ok,” she said bitterly. “I am not getting along with my mother lately. I know I should care but I don’t. She’s being completely unreasonable and secretive.”

  Gigi propped her chin between her hands and gazed at Sasha sympathetically.

  “Your mother had her share of problems with her own mother,” Gigi said.

  “She did? I don’t know anything about my grandmother. Is she still alive? Where does she live?” Sasha saw an opportunity to get answers and dove in.

  Gigi swallowed and started to fidget as if she was nervous. “I don’t know if your grandmother is alive,” she said in a husky voice and then she cleared her throat. “I never met her. I was just referring to the stories your mother told me.”

  Sasha sat up straight and placed her hands in her lap. She didn’t want to scare Gigi from telling her some stories that she otherwise would never know.

  “Tell me some stories,” Sasha demanded. “Mother never talks about her childhood or her life before she met dad.”

  “Perhaps she doesn’t have happy memories,” Gigi said softly. “Maybe it hurts to remember.”

  Sasha sat back in her seat and thought about what Gigi said. Even if the memories were painful, she still wanted to know about her mother’s early life.

  “You think I should ask her don’t you?”

  Gigi shrugged and gazed out the window. The view was of the front yard and passing cars driving down the street. Sasha relaxed when she saw no car sitting outside her house watching her.

  “Maybe she’ll tell you when she’s ready,” Gigi said picking up her tea cup and refilling her cup from a teapot steeping in the corner.

  “I need answers now,” Sasha said her voice tinged with desperation. She backed off when she saw the concerned look on Gigi’s face. “Forget I said anything.”

  Sasha stormed out of the office, furious at the secrecy in the house.

  Jenna drove slower than normal on the way to school.

  “What’s up with the granny routine?” Sasha asked using the vanity mirror to put on lipstick. It was a muted shade of pink. Jenna glanced at her quickly and then refocused on the road, two hands on the steering wheel.

  “I got a speeding ticket yesterday,” she muttered unhappily.

  “That’s not the end of the world,” Sasha said.

  “It will be if my insurance rates go up,” Jenna said bitterly. “My mom could take away the car.”

  “Oh,” Sasha said with no other commentary. She had her driver’s license but rarely drove because she didn’t really like driving and everyone else seemed more than willing to give her a ride.

  “Forget it,” Jenna said. “How’s Evan?”

  “Who?” Sasha made an attempt at being cryptic.

  “Uh, the hot guy from your birthday party,” Jenna snapped not wanting to play games.

  “I told you Jenna he told me he wasn’t interested,” Sasha said glumly. “He doesn’t want to date me.”

  “Oh, I thought he’d change his mind,” Jenna said.

  “Why’s that?”

  “Guys can be so stupid. They like to pretend they aren’t interested when they really are. I figured he’d come around.”

  “I hope you’re right.”

  Sasha sensed her interest in track was slipping as of late. She dragged herself to practice, didn’t engage with the other runners and felt alone in the crowd. She’d started withdrawing after her birthday dinner and wondered if it had something to do with Evan’s rejection.

  She used to love running and now she saw it as a chore. No one made her do it but if she didn’t keep it up she’d get out of shape fast. Running had always been a comfort, a place she could go to think and work out her problems. Now she found her mind racing, constantly thinking about Evan and the impossibility of ever having a relationship with him and it made her sad. She’d tear up while she ran, her breath becoming labored because of the emotions churning through her mind and body. She wished she could turn off her feelings and make herself numb.

  Sasha thought track was a perfect sport for mindless running because she was surrounded by people but it didn’t make a difference. She found herself caught up in her thoughts and not paying attention to what she was supposed to be doing. If anything Evan was bad for her running.

  She was washing her hair in the gym shower after practice when Sasha heard the door bang open. For a second she envisioned Nefar rushing into the shower and attacking her with fire balls. She tense and stopped shampooing her hair until she heard a female voice.

  “Sasha,” a girl yelled. “There’s a guy out here waiting for you.”

  Sasha stared at her soapy hands worried a
t the possibilities.

  “Who is it?”

  “Heck if I know,” the girl said “But I’d like to know him.”

  “What does he look like?”

  There was no answer, the girl was gone. Sasha quickly rinsed her hair full of curiosity. She wondered if it was Evan, and if she were honest with herself, she’d admit she wanted it to be him. She was curious about how he found out where she went to school. She went to a private school and she assumed Evan went to the public school. They weren’t anywhere close to each other, so how did he guess which school was hers? She couldn’t remember showing up in the café in her uniform or telling him about her school or even that she was on the track team.

  Speculating was distracting her and she suddenly realized it could be one of the café robbers outside as well. She didn’t know what they looked like but theoretically one could be good looking.

  She finished her shower quickly skipping shaving her legs or putting conditioner in her hair. She toweled dry, shoved her hair into a ponytail and dressed as quickly as she could considering she was shoving sweatpants over wet legs. She always brought a change of clothes so that she didn’t have to put her uniform back on after her shower.

  She left the locker room and found the hallway empty. A slight drop of disappointment tingled in her belly. Where could he be? She walked down the corridor toward the parking lot guessing that he was waiting in his car and she was right.

  She knocked lightly on the closed driver’s side window and waited for Evan to roll it down.

  “Hey,” she said trying to keep her excitement in check. He’d already rejected her so she’d be an idiot to get her hopes up.

  Instead of rolling down the window Evan opened his door and slipped out. “Sorry for surprising you,” he said. “I just wanted to see how you were. Come here.”

  He slipped his hand around her elbow and guided her around the car to the other side. “Hop in,” he said opening the passenger door. Sasha flopped into the seat, taken aback by the smooth moves and confused by his demeanor. He’d just sent her packing a few days ago, this seemed very contradictory. She was waiting for him to tell her not to get the wrong idea.