by Lucia Ashta
Copyright 2018 Lucía Ashta.
All rights reserved.
Published by Awaken to Peace Press.
This book is a work of fiction.
Cover design by Mirela Barbu.
Edited by Elsa Crites.
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About Castle’s Curse
There are some risks worth taking, no matter how bad the odds.
When friends are in danger, the magicians of the academy will do whatever is necessary to save them—even if the friends are ghosts.
The Sorcerer has underestimated the staff and students of the academy. But they’ve underestimated him too… and he has no qualms about using the darkest of magic against them.
He’d rather them dead than alive. But the magicians are about to bring the fight of his life.
For Catia, Sonia, and Nadia,
always for you,
with all my love.
What at first appears to be a curse might,
in fact, be a blessing.
Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Spirited Escape - Book 10
Make a difference
Acknowledgments
Read more by Lucía Ashta
About the author
Chapter 1
There wasn’t all that much I was certain about the Magical Arts Academy, except that nothing ever turned out the way I thought it would. Which didn’t give me a whole lot of confidence that this time would be any different. The senior magicians had come up with a plan in what seemed like too short a time, and then set it into motion the very next morning before the rising of the sun. Before there was much time for reflection—or doubts.
That was my theory. They were hurrying to put the plan into action before they had the opportunity to consider all the reasons why it wouldn’t work. Of course, I wasn’t sure I was correct. After all, some of the magicians had been practicing magic for a very long time, long enough, surely, not to charge headlong into a course of action with no chance of success.
But my concern wasn’t the uncertainty of success, but rather the probability of failure. I know, I know. After I died and came back to life I promised myself I wouldn’t be meek, which essentially meant I’d cull courage from wherever I could, and use it. I’d also proven to myself that the only way to do serious magic—or at least the one way I got it to work for me—was to deny fear and have pure, unwavering faith.
Well, that’s what I was working on right now. Faith. Trust. Pushing away the big, huge, ginormous ball of fear that threatened to consume me if I let it.
I couldn’t even manage to scrounge up internal embarrassment at how much I wanted to tuck tail and run. The circumstances were just that outlandish... and just that unexpected.
Nando and I had gone from being students at the academy, if Gustave had his way not even involved in discussions about how to take on the SMS (Sorcerers for Magical Supremacy), to being in the trenches. Well, not exactly, but close enough to make me quake in my boots, which I was actually wearing this time. Why? Because apparently one wore boots when the plan was to take down the evil mastermind of the magical world.
“We’ll be fine,” Nando said, but he didn’t look as confident as he usually did. His expression was strained, as if he wore his smile only for my benefit. It was exactly the kind of thing I would do, so I didn’t believe for a second that what he’d said was what he thought.
“They’ll get in and out and rescue Albacus all on their own. They won’t need us,” he added in equally unconvincing fashion.
“Really? Then why are we here?” I asked, unable to ignore the glaring fact that we were hiding in a shallow cave near the big, bad sorcerer’s castle.
“You know why. They didn’t want to leave us at Acquaine all on our own in case, you know.”
I did know. How could I forget? Even before I arrived at Acquaine the SMS had been trying to kill Nando and me. “I guess they don’t have all that much confidence in their wards then, huh?”
I didn’t mean to be so morose, but I was having trouble restraining myself, especially since Nando was the only who could hear me at the moment.
“You saw that even the Grand Witch Giselle had difficulty infiltrating the wards.”
“I did hear her say that. I also saw her stride right into the parlor, meaning she got through the protections no matter what she said.”
“Yeah, but she’s a grand witch.”
“And neither you nor I understand what that means, other than it sounds impressive.”
Nando’s lips twitched, but he didn’t deny what I said. We’d been waiting to learn magic since first becoming the inaugural students of the academy. The staff magicians were filled with good intentions, but we’d barely managed to sit through a few standard classes—if you could call classes of magic standard.
So far, nothing had gone to plan. Which brought me right back to why I was struggling to resist my desire to clutch at Nando’s arm and never leave this place, even if it was a cave in the middle of nowhere.
Nando tried a different tactic. “We’re here with some of the most powerful witches and wizards in the magical world. We basically have an army of dragons, firedrakes, and hellhounds. We’re only here so we can be close and they can protect us. They’re not counting on us to help them.”
“First of all, we don’t have an army of anything. We have one dragon, who’s injured by the way. We have fourteen firedrakes and eight hellhounds, and one of them has a belly swollen with pups. That’s not an army, Nando. That’s a....”
Well, I didn’t exactly know what that was. My life had become bizarre faster than my vocabulary had the chance to catch up.
“I think we should go with army. It will make you feel better,” he said.
I was pretty sure Nando was as confused and desperate as I was, and saying whatever popped in his mind to distract me—and perhaps himself.
I did my best not to lean into Nando when I noticed Walt and Marie approaching. Walt and I hadn’t discussed what he’d said about me when I was dead. We hadn’t had the chance, but even if we had, how would that conversation go exactly? So, when I was dead I heard you say you wished you’d kissed me.... Yeah, we weren’t ever going to have that talk. All I did was get embarrassed when he was close, then think I was ridiculous, and pretend I hadn’t reacted to him in the first place.
“They’ll be leaving soon,” Walt said once he was right in front of me.
I nodded, scrambling to think what to say. But the truth was that I was completely out of ideas. How could I come up with something hopeful to add? The only people who wanted to help us navigate this world of magic were about to head into a confrontation from which they might not return. Of course, I’d come back from death, but I was pretty sure that was only because it wasn’t yet my time. That couldn’t be argued for someone like Mordecai, who’d already lived more than three-hundred years.
Whereas just weeks ago I didn’t believe the world of magic was anything beyond a figment of the imagination of unhinged citizens, now not only did I know it was real, but I actually possessed magic. From the little bit I’d experienced thus far, my magic was strong and held plenty of potential.
I needed these magicians to teach me. I wanted them to also teach Nando. He’d given up so much to take care of me when our parents
left that I wanted him to have a chance to discover the extent of his greatness. I had nothing but confidence in my brother. He was good at everything. If I had skills in magic, I was certain he must too.
I probably wanted that for Walt and Marie as well. I hadn’t known them for long, but it was long enough to believe that I liked them. And I was terribly curious about what abilities the newest members of the academy might have, especially Simon. Delilah had alluded to powers so important that the wicked Maurisse wanted to control them. Since Simon’s parents both had magic, and his was apparently quite strong, I suspected his brother and sister had talents as well.
I wanted to learn everything about magic, not watch my one shot at achieving that march or fly—or whatever it was they were going to do—to their deaths.
“What’s wrong, Isa?” Walt asked, startling me from my thoughts. “You look... upset maybe.”
Immediately, I began to fluster at his attention. Just as quickly I realized my reaction was absurd. I’d been around Walt plenty before without acting like a fool; there was no reason to begin now. Not when at the rate our lives were going there wouldn’t even be an opportunity for first kisses.
I forcefully pushed thoughts of him wanting to kiss me from my mind, and it worked. When I spoke, I sounded much more like my usual self. “I am upset. Of course I’m upset. Our teachers and protectors are about to storm a huge fortified castle with hardly a plan.”
“It was your plan to do it this way.”
“I only made a suggestion. I didn’t expect anybody to consider it a particularly good idea. Especially not when it means they’re just going in there with no better strategy than to take down anyone they encounter.”
Marie drew next to Nando, as I expected she would. The doe-eyed blonde seemed to favor my brother. I hadn’t had a moment to talk to him about it, what with all the dying and coming back to life business. I wondered if he realized she liked him. I wondered if he liked her.
In her smooth voice, Marie said, “Magic runs in our family. Our parents decided to delay our education in the magical arts, but Walt and I have been around it, well, always. You’re at a disadvantage here. You’ve never heard of Mordecai or Giselle or even Marcelo. We have. We’ve also heard of Wizard Meedles and Count Vabu, even Madame Pimlish.”
“Really?” This was definitely news to me.
“Absolutely. We’d heard of nearly all of them before arriving. That doesn’t mean everything we’d heard was accurate. You know how the rumor mill goes. But we’d heard of the new witch who doesn’t use spells but instead works directly with the elements in a way no other magician does.”
“Clara.”
“Yes. We’d even heard whispers of Brave and Gertrude. We’d definitely heard of Humbert, the dragon Arianne took from the dark and terrible Count Washur.”
“What? Really?” I gasped.
Marie smiled. “Indeed.”
“What about Sir Lancelot? Or Mathieu and Sylvia?”
She shook her head, fine blonde strands sliding across the shoulders of her dress. “No, we hadn’t heard of them, though I wish we had. Life is much more interesting with Sir Lancelot in it.”
Walt chuckled. “That’s for sure. I hope we get to have classes with him again.”
“I hope we get to have any classes,” Nando said.
“I think we will,” Marie said.
“Our parents have known Mordecai most of their lives, family friends and all that,” Walt said.
“True. What I’m trying to get at,” Marie said with a tinge of impatience, “is that these are no ordinary witches and wizards. They are some of the finest.”
I realized what she was trying to do, and I was grateful for it. But I couldn’t help worrying. “What about the SMS though? From what’s happened and what our teachers have said, those sorcerers are really accomplished.”
“Some of them are, I’m sure, but not all. The SMS has strength in numbers, and in the sorcerers at the top of their group.”
“Like Maurisse and Miranda?” Nando said.
“Exactly like them. The ones at the top are highly skilled, without a doubt. But I think we have more talented magicians than they do.”
“You really think so?” A hopeful squeak colored my question.
Marie nodded, and even Walt, who didn’t seem to be as optimistic as his sister, nodded too.
Walt said, “Marie is right in saying that a lot of the magicians at the academy are the best of the best.” He smiled at his sister, as if he didn’t often say she was right, though he clearly adored his older sibling—enough to follow her to the academy despite Mordecai’s initial protests. “They really are some of the best. Our chances are better than you think.”
“Good enough that we won’t have to join the fight?” I asked.
“Let’s hope so, because while our magicians are definitely a match for Maurisse, especially now that Giselle has joined our cause, we definitely aren’t. Maurisse—even Miranda—would crush us into powder if we gave them the opportunity.”
“Thanks for that,” Marie scolded him. “You don’t need to make them worry any more than they already are.”
“I wasn’t worried,” Nando said.
“Of course you weren’t,” Marie said while keeping her eyes on her brother. “I was trying to help them relax.”
“Well I won’t be relaxing,” Walt said. “And I know how good the magicians on our team are.”
Marie glared, a funny sight considering she ordinarily looked so innocent.
“What? Maurisse and Miranda are opponents we shouldn’t underestimate.”
“What I shouldn’t have underestimated is your inability to keep quiet when you should.”
A chuckle slipped out before I realized it. I worked to rein it in fast while Walt looked at me with a mixture of anger and disappointment. I instantly wanted to take the laugh back.
Marie ignored my reaction and his. “Mordecai is one of the very best. You don’t think every wizard manages to live for hundreds of years, do you?”
I wasn’t sure what I thought about that. I hadn’t had much opportunity to consider it.
“Giselle is as good as he is, though she’d probably argue she’s better. And all the rest of them, they have special skills in different areas. We may not have the support of the king or the influence of the brother who has his ear, but we definitely are a powerful team. For goodness’ sake, from what I hear, Clara can use the weather as a weapon.”
“Wow. Seriously?” I asked.
She nodded. “And you’ve heard them. They think you’re similar to her. Who knows what you can do? Who knows what any of us can do? Just because we haven’t had the chance to figure out our powers as much as we’d like doesn’t mean we don’t have them. And you heard them talking about Simon too. If Maurisse wanted him, you’d better believe there’s a good reason for it.”
I thought about it and realized Marie’s pep talk was making me feel better.
She nodded, encouraged. “Mordecai’s runes pointed to you and Nando too, and by extension to Walt and me. All of us might be pretty incredible. Nicholas and Angelica probably also have magic. Their mother didn’t mention it because Simon’s is obviously more unique, but I’d bet anything they can hold their own, especially if they’ve been trained.”
“Unlike us.” Walt sounded a bit resentful.
I didn’t blame him. It seemed as if their parents could have taught them, instead of assuming they had the time to wait until after they came of age. If my time at the academy had taught me anything it was to seize the moment. Carpe diem all the way.
They’ll soon be putting the wind behind their plans. Elwin’s deep firedrake voice entered my mind.
I looked up, surprised. Up until then, we’d only spoken through our thoughts when I could see him. Where was he now?
“What? What is it?” Nando still hadn’t let go of the fact that I’d been dead earlier that day. He was on edge, hypersensitive to my reactions. I suspected he was half wor
ried I’d keel over without warning.
“It’s Elwin. He says they’re about to leave.” At least, I thought that’s what he’d said. Elwin liked to speak in riddles and metaphors.
“Elwin?” Walt said. “Wait. How...?”
“He could hear what she was saying when she was, you know,” Marie said.
“I remember. But she’s not you know anymore.”
Nando wrapped an arm around my shoulders at the reminder of how close he’d come to losing me.
I jumped in before they could keep pondering my death. “He and I can talk to each other now.” I pointed to my temple. “Through here.”
Walt’s mouth dropped open a bit. Even Nando seemed surprised, though I assumed he’d realized what was going on. “Elwin is talking to you in your mind?” he asked.
“Pretty much.” I smiled shyly. “Not exactly the kind of stuff you expected you’d be dealing with when Mamá and Papá left you to take care of me, huh?”
Nando smiled back, true affection shining through. “I never figured my experience with you would be mundane. There’s never been a single ordinary thing about you, Isa.”
“I was super ordinary. So ordinary that I couldn’t stand it.” When I noticed Walt and Marie staring at me, I immediately regretted the personal admission I’d never shared with anyone but my brother and parents.
Now I couldn’t take it back. I was undecided whether to feel embarrassed, stupid, or petulant about what I’d said when Walt interrupted my turmoil. “I can’t imagine you could have ever been ordinary.”
My cheeks colored, I was sure of it. “I didn’t always have magic. I used to just be plain ole Isadora.”