Crowns and Curses

by V. B. Marlowe

  Everly Academy 2:

  Crowns and Curses

  V.B. Marlowe

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or, if real, are used factiously.

  Copyright © 2019 by Tiffany Nicole Smith. All rights reserved. No parts of this book may be copied or reproduced in any matter whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews. Printed in the United States of America.

  Cover design by: Deranged Doctor Design

  1

  Isleen

  "It shall not be death, but a deep sleep of a hundred years, into which the princess shall fall."

  Briar Rose, Wilhelm and Jacob Grimm

  IN THE DARKNESS OF her bedroom, Isleen rested at her vanity talking to her favorite person—herself. Admiring her reflection in the mirror, she took her brush and ran it through her shoulder-length flaxen hair.

  “Dru got out. She actually got out.” Isleen stared into her own piercing green eyes. “Do you know what that means? For her, there are no more curses. No more being stuck in this stupid academy. No more looking at the same people day in and day out. She can have a life. She can have whatever she wants.”

  Isleen wouldn’t say that she missed Drusilla, otherwise known as the girl from the Princess and the Pea, but she could admit that Dru annoyed her slightly less than the other girls. Dru's curse had been pretty awful. She was cursed by a witch with a terrible skin condition that only presented itself at nightfall. During those unfortunate hours, anything that touched or even grazed her beautiful mahogany skin caused her intense pain. Now Drusilla was free from that affliction. Not only that, but she could do what she really wanted with her own life—become a doctor or scientist or whatever it was she dreamed of becoming. The details of Dru's daydreams never interested Isleen much, but now that Dru had the opportunity to turn her dreams into reality, Isleen seethed with jealousy.

  Isleen had always been hungrier than the others when it came to finding an elixir and breaking her curse. She’d always been willing to do anything—things the other girls would never do. But now, now that she’d seen that a way out was truly possible—now that she knew the witches would hold up to their end of the bargain and relieve them of their curses, she had to get the next elixir. She had to get out of Everly.

  Sighing, she set her brush on the vanity and lay across her bed. It was 3 AM. Everyone else in the estate was asleep. She wished she could join them in their slumber, but she could never sleep. She was no Sleeping Beauty or Briar Rose. The story written about her had it all wrong. Although she wanted to sleep, she would never experience it. No matter how exhausted she was or how much she needed just a tiny escape from her life, sleep would never come. She wondered what it felt like to dream. She’d never been able to and had always thought it was unfair. When other people spoke about the lovely dreams they had, she wanted to scream. Sometimes she would close her eyes, lie very still and wait to see what happened, but nothing ever did.

  Twenty-four-seven Isleen lived with the restless, tired feeling of needing to sleep and not being able too. She loathed it. Her eyes burned and watered until she placed slices of fresh cucumber over them. Not being able to mentally check out and recharge made her cranky and sometimes her tired mind played tricks on her. The lack of sleep often caused paranoia. She always thought people were after her or plotting against her. At times when ominous voices spoke to her, but she had no idea where they came from or how to make them be quiet.

  Eternal insomnia had its benefits though. While the others slumbered, Isleen had extra time to plan her next move. She could get a lot done in those wee hours of the morning when the rest of the house was sleeping.

  Isleen was determined to be the next one to leave the estate, but she had to try a different approach. Among the ten girls, two alliances had formed. That had been Isleen’s idea. Divide and conquer. She was pleasantly surprised at how easy it was to get the girls to split themselves into teams. Little did she know that forcing them to choose sides was not going to work in her favor. Most of them hated her, so she should have expected the outcome.

  Before Dru left, there had been five princesses—Isleen, Tress, Lily, Dru, and Marina. She'd thought by forming a princess alliance that would have given her at least half of the house and then she'd only have to woo one other person over to have the majority. Unfortunately, Lily, who probably hated her the most, didn't understand the way things worked. Isleen thought it was foolish of her not to use her royal heritage to her advantage, but Lily didn't see it that way. She liked to preach that all the girls were equal. Isleen tried to get her to understand that Ms. Beatrix, the headmistress of the academy was a fairy who’d been given the job of protecting princesses, so they needed to use that to their advantage too. Unfortunately, no one else seemed to get that.

  So that left Isleen outnumbered with her four-girl alliance, and now that Dru was gone, that number was down to three. She had to think of a way to get two more girls over to her side, and she had to do it fast. She ran down the list of girls in her mind.

  Tress was her number one girl. She'd been Isleen's best friend and a great ally. Tress was loyal to a fault and would do almost anything Isleen told her to. She also had an extraordinary power. The story Rapunzel was based on her. Tress had the longest most beautiful hair anyone had ever seen. Her greatest feature also doubled as a dangerous weapon. She could make her hair grow and use it as a rope or whip or whatever she needed. Tress always had Isleen's back no matter what.

  Marina was also a useful ally although she wasn't as loyal as Tress and she was way too friendly with the others for Isleen's liking. She also hated how Marina tended to disagree with Isleen in front of the others. No matter how many times Isleen had asked her not to, Marina wouldn't stop. She wasn't as easy to control as Tress, but Marina had something none of the other girls had. She still had a living family and the greatest motivation to break her curse and leave Everly. Mermaids lived for thousands of years, so unlike the others whose families had long perished, Marina had a home and a family to get back to. Unfortunately, she was bound by a curse that made her both human and mermaid. She had to take a swim in salt water every two hours, or she would die, and she could only stay underwater for a short amount of time. She could never return to her home in the ocean until her curse was broken.

  Marina, the Little Mermaid, was the daughter of King Triton and the princess of the entire ocean. Isleen tried to make Marina understand why she was so much more important than the other girls, but Marina refused to see it.

  That was it for Isleen’s alliance. She thought about who else she might be able to get to her side.

  There was Allison, the girl who’d been driven mad after her adventures in Wonderland. Although she was getting better, her mind wasn’t all there, and she was still very much dependent on other people. Allison still needed help feeding and dressing herself and wasn’t allowed to be left alone for too long. Isleen thought that she could take Allison under her wing and get close to her. Maybe if she pretended to care for her, she could gain Allison’s trust.

  Jolie was next on her list. Although she wasn't a princess, Jolie's father had been a wealthy businessman and held a high place in society. Jolie was a striking beauty, but she transformed into a grotesque creature at night. Isleen could use that. She could get Jolie to see how wonderful her life would be if she could be beautiful all the time. Isleen couldn’t imagine how horrible it must have been to live part of your life as a monster.

  There was also Gretchen. Gretchen had a cursed brother named Henry who was still alive, or at least she thought, running around in the outside world looking for her. She endured incredible
stomach aches at night along with an insatiable desire for sweets. On the plus side, Gretchen could whip up a recipe for anything. A soup that could make an ugly duckling beautiful; a doughnut that could give you supreme intelligence; and even a poisonous cookie that could make you take your last breath. Isleen thought that would be a great talent to have at her disposal. Even more importantly, Gretchen was a savage—but in a useful way. She had killed a witch by pushing her into her own oven after eating parts of the witch's candy house. That was badass in Isleen's book.

  As far as the other three girls—there was no way she’d ever be able to get them on her side, so she mentally crossed them off her list. Lily, Tigerlily from Peter Pan, hated her. She was the one who started the whole "Izzy" thing. Isleen hated that name. It wasn't the regal name her parents had given her. Izzy was a silly, childish nickname and she was seventeen—practically a woman. She had retaliated by calling Lily "Lil", but of course, that never caught on with the other girls who adored Lily. To Isleen, the girls thought Lily could do no wrong. Scarlett, Red Riding Hood, felt the same way about Isleen as Lily did. Isleen referred to Scarlett as "The New Girl" because Scarlett had only been there for half a year while the rest had been there for two centuries. Scarlett and Oriana, AKA Goldilocks, were best friends, so Ori hated Isleen just because Scarlett did.

  Isleen had to admit that Scarlett and Oriana would be great to have on her side. Scarlett transformed into a wolf at night. She’d also killed the witch who had taken the life of her grandmother. Ori shifted into a bear. Isleen imagined her being able to rip a person apart, limb by limb. Having a wolf and a bear on her team could change everything.

  Lily had been given a bow and arrow that never missed its target. Isleen never thought much of that because it didn’t take any skill. Anyone could do it. Lily just had the luck of being one of Ms. Bea’s favorites, so she had been granted a powerful weapon.

  Isleen closed her eyes thinking about Ms. Bea. She was the reason everyone was in their current situation. Aside from Scarlett, no one had come to Everly by choice. They had been sent there by their fathers. Ms. Bea was intent on keeping them imprisoned instead of letting them out to find the elixirs. Not all the cursed children were locked away at Everly though. Snow White and Cinderella were living their lives in the real world where they had found elixirs. Isleen knew she could do the same if she could just find a way out. If they could, why couldn’t she?

  Ms. Bea insisted that they stay at the academy for their safety. Isleen peered through her window and scrunched her face. She could see nothing but darkness because thick, intertwined vines had grown all over the house, blocking all the windows and doors. No one could get out, and no one could come in. Is that what Bea considered safe? No matter where they were, the witches would manage to find them, so Ms. Bea might as well set them free.

  Isleen lay back down, smiling to herself. There was one good thing about the vines though—they had terrified everyone and sent them into a panic. Things could get messy. When people were scared and desperate, they did desperate things. The girls would be more motivated to leave Everly Academy. They’d be willing to do things they wouldn’t normally do. She was ready to take full advantage of that. Isleen clasped her hands over her chest and closed her eyes as evil, twisted thoughts danced through her restless mind.

  2

  Molly Dillinger

  MOLLY DILLINGER YAWNED AND stretched her slender limbs before kicking her legs over the edge of her bed. She reached for her phone. There was no signal, but the screen read 7:30 AM. Molly frowned because it was still dark outside. She shuffled over to the window, pulling her purple velvet curtains open, making a mental list of what she had to do that day. Molly would make herself a nice pot of coffee because she was useless before she had her caffeine. Then she'd go for her routine jog through the park. Maybe she would stop by her favorite store in the mall to see what they had on their clearance rack.

  Once she parted her curtains, she was promptly reminded of the nightmare she was living in. She wasn’t in her apartment. This was Everly Academy where she was being held against her will until she could break a curse. As if that wasn’t enough, she couldn’t go for a run. Mysterious vines covered the entire estate, trapping them inside.

  She glanced at her phone. It had no signal because Ms. Bea had made it so that there was no way to communicate with the outside world. Although Ms. Bea possessed a laptop with access to the Internet, no one else was permitted to use it.

  Molly flopped back into her bed, groaning. The vines posed so many problems. There was a mermaid who needed to get to the pool every two hours to soak in the saltwater or else she’d die. There were also two girls who shifted into wild animals at night who needed to be outdoors for everyone’s safety.

  So many thoughts swirled around Molly's head that it hurt. How had she found herself here? She'd been minding her own business at a job fair when Ms. Beatrix approached her with an offer she couldn't refuse. The headmistress made teaching at Everly Academy sound like heaven and Molly needed a job, so she took it. Little did she know that her students were over two-hundred years old and frozen in time. The girls ranged from ages fifteen to eighteen, and they would grow no older until their curses were broken.

  The Moonhaven Coven was responsible for this. Centuries ago, witches were out of control. They caused death and destruction everywhere they could. The kings of the seven kingdoms gathered their armies and their strongest men and had them to hunt down and destroy the witches. They were successful in bringing them down except for the Moonhaven Coven. This group was more cunning and stealthy than the rest. They were also the most vicious. In retaliation for the destruction of their sister witches, the Moonhaven Coven cursed the children of the kings and the huntsmen. The inhabitants of Everly had until the next blood moon to break the curses, or they would become permanent.

  Molly had tried everything she could to escape Everly, but Ms. Bea wouldn't let her leave until the girls were freed from the witches' malediction.

  Fighting the urge to curl up underneath her covers, Molly stared at her ceiling. She should have been used to looking at it, but it was like nothing she'd ever seen before. Each square of the tiled ceiling was filled with a beautiful illustration. The intricate drawings, designed by Tress, told the story of Cinderella. Similar creations by Tress occupied different areas of the massive manor. If there were one positive thing she could say about the school, it would be that it was beyond beautiful. Molly had yet conjured up the right words to describe it.

  Her bedroom alone was longer than her entire apartment had been. It came complete with a walk-in closet, a fridge fully-stocked with refreshments, an office area, and a luxurious bedroom. If it weren't for the need to consume real meals, Molly would never have to leave her room. The walls were even painted in one of her favorite colors—lavender. Molly felt as though she were living in a luxurious five-star hotel.

  The quick reminder of her current predicament overwhelmed Molly with sadness. Still, there was not a second to spare. Molly grabbed a lantern resting on her desk and switched it on. She slid her feet into her slippers and tip-toed into the dark, deserted hallway.

  Her slippers hurried over the strip of fancy carpet that covered the length of the hallway. The lantern’s glow illuminated golden sconces mounted to the walls and small pictures of nature scenes. She passed several identical doors with tiny windows in them which led to the girls’ bedrooms.

  She strolled to Ms. Beatriz's office where she would find the headmistress and her assistant, Mildred Halifax, talking about their current catastrophe.

  Without bothering to knock, Molly let herself in. Ms. Bea’s office was just as dark as the rest of the house. Molly didn’t know why they were sitting in the dark, but she flicked off her lantern and hit the light switch. Normally the lavender walls covered with beautiful hand-painted portraits of the girls created a cheerful atmosphere, but that day it was eerily dismal.

  Closing the door behind her, Molly found Ms. H
alifax staring through the window into the blackness while Ms. Bea drummed her fingers on her desk.

  Ms. Halifax’s salt-and-pepper hair was pulled back into a low ponytail. She wore a purple silk blouse and a navy-blue skirt that stopped at her chins. Her tiny, birdlike frame was the direct opposite of Ms. Bea’s stout stature. As usual, Ms. Bea wore her platinum silver hair in a perfect bun with a golden bird pin sticking out of it.

  Neither woman reacted to the sudden invasion of light. As soon as Bea took in the expression on Molly’s face, she held her hands up. “Ms. Dillinger, if we panic, the girls will panic. If we keep calm, they will keep calm.”

  Ms. Beatrix was right. Molly took a few deep breaths before lowering herself into the cushiony chair that occupied the space before Bea’s desk. “So, what are we going to do about this? We can’t stay holed up inside forever, especially not—”

  “I know. I know,” Bea said, her round face showing concern. “Marina can hydrate in the War Room’s pool for now.”

  Molly’s mind traveled to the War Room where the girls kept their weapons. The room also housed a pool filled with salt water, so Marina’s problem was solved. “What about Scarlett and Oriana?”

  Once the moon rose, Scarlett shifted into a wolf and Oriana became a bear.

  Ms. Halifax turned away from the window. “We separated the two and kept them in the basement last night. That seemed to work.”

  “That can’t last long,” Ms. Bea said. “Let’s not forget that they’re wild animals when they transform. They need to eat and hunt.”

  “Can’t last long,” Molly repeated. “How much time do you think it will take to get rid of these vines?”

  Ms. Bea’s hands went to her round face. “I have no idea. I was able to make contact with Owen and Donald. This school is equipped with a PA system that we rarely use. There’s a connection to the groundskeepers’ cottage. They’re working on the vines as we speak.”