The Cursed Girl, #1

by Maria Vermisoglou

  He looked at me curiously, ignoring the insult. “You seem to know a lot despite the fact that you are just a peasant girl.”

  I gave him a cold look. “Maybe peasants are not as stupid as you think they are. Just because we don’t have the teachers you have doesn’t mean we don’t learn.”

  “I am sorry to have offended you, but I am not familiar with normal life. The palace’s life is what I have always known.”

  Obviously! “If I may make a suggestion, don’t take for granted that everyone except royals is stupid. You may be surprised.”

  “Thank you for the advice. I will keep that in mind.”

  We talked some more before we said our goodbyes. Once he left, I was alone with only my faithful cat Midnight. You didn’t know Midnight? She was the most loyal, smart, beautiful cat a witch could have. Her fur was gray with black lines, and had green eyes. Midnight was a familiar. Familiars were special animals and were a protector and a guide for witches so they could learn the world of magic. Usually, familiars were in a cat form, although you might see other forms too. Familiars chose the form you were more likely to be comfortable with. I scratched Midnight behind her ears. What am I going to do? Was it stupid that I chose to stay away to help people? We live hundreds and thousands of years, but humans were lucky to live until eighty. Inside me, though, I felt like I was making the right choice, and I just hoped that everything worked out.

  As weeks passed by, things only got worse. The Spanish army had left days ago and was sending more soldiers to help against the enemy. The king had already left, and we had learned about the fights from the guards who were gossiping in bars. I, on the other hand, had something good going on in my life for once. I had found something to do with my life, something good—a job. Are you crazy? You might ask. In the middle of a war? Yes, in the middle of a war, I had found a job. I was making medicines and sometimes food ingredients from herbs I gathered in the woods.

  Many people milled around outside my shop because I was good. There weren’t any healers left, and nobody knew where else to get medicine and medical treatment. My mom had a shop like this a few years ago, and I used to help her with it. I had picked up a few tricks from the Academy too. One day while I was opening the shop, I saw Alec. “What are you doing here?”

  He smiled kindly. “I heard someone talking about a girl who has magic hands with herbs, and I wanted to check it out.”

  His words made me nervous. “But I am not doing any magic,” I said. Speaking about magic was dangerous, especially in times of war.

  “It’s an expression. But they say you are really good with medicine.”

  Right... an expression. “Oh. Well, I don’t know... I am doing the best I can to help people.”

  “And you are doing it very well. I don’t see as many sick people as I used to.”

  I raised an eyebrow. I didn’t know Alec knew the village so well that he noticed who was sick and who wasn’t. It was strange for a royal to be taking notice of normal people—you didn’t see that often. “So, how can I help you?”

  He bit his lip. “I am looking for something difficult...”

  That intrigued me since I liked challenges. “Difficult as in?”

  After some thought, he responded. “Word is that the enemy has a powerful poison and that’s why we are losing, so I figured that maybe you knew something...”

  Huh? “You are losing the war because of a poison?”

  “I know it’s a bit crazy, but it’s the best explanation we have. No one can kill an army as large as ours within a few weeks.”

  I knew something that could kill them that quickly—demons, witches, warlocks, and vampires—but I didn’t tell him that. “Can you tell me the side effects and any additional information? I will look into it.”

  He looked relieved. “Thank you.”

  I wondered if he thought I was going to say no. How could I? He was so kind and his request was so selfless. Alec was always thinking about others’ needs and never his own. That was one of the reasons I wanted to protect persons like him. With a gentle bow, he left, and my day at work, continued like it did every day: helping people and listening to news about the war.

  Sometimes people brought me gifts of strange herbs they came across in the market, in their houses, or in the woods. I kept them so I could study them at home to determine whether they were poisonous or if they had some usefulness. People were terrified from the war, but they stayed to help others.

  Several weeks had passed since Alec’s visit, and I hadn’t found anything yet. The army was dying faster than ever, and I was starting to think that Alec might be right about the poisoning. Today I was going to sit at home and search every book I had until I found the thing that was going to cure these people. If I couldn’t cure them then I wanted to at least protect them. I needed to focus on my research, and at home, nobody should disturb me. I was involved in my research when someone knocked on my door. Someone was playing a very dangerous game with my patience.

  Annoyed by the disturbance, I yanked the door open and yelled, “Who is it?”

  “I see you are in a good mood.”

  I took a deep breath. “Jonathan. What are you doing here? Don’t you have anything else to do? Like war plans? Strategies?” I was furious. How could he just stand in my door casually? “Are you insane or stupid? Or maybe both?”

  He backed up a little. “I know you are a little upset, but...”

  Upset? “I have been searching books about something that can cure your soldiers—who by the way are none of my business—and you are asking me out?”

  He stared at me. I was glowering, and in a matter of minutes I would turn into a dragon, spit fire from my mouth, and have him for dinner.

  “I am not here to ask you out.”

  Oops. This is awkward. “Oh.” I sighed. I could be wrong sometimes. “What are you here for then?” I tried to cool off.

  “I am here to tell you that I am leaving.”

  I looked at him as I tried to take in his words. “Leaving as in?”

  He had a sad look. “Joining the army. Father asked for our support, and I have to go. It’s my duty to my kingdom.”

  I felt like I had acid in my mouth and had washed it out with ice. I tried to talk calmly and keep my voice even. “So, when do you leave?”

  “Today. In some hours we will be leaving with some of my brothers and Alec.”

  I felt like I had been punched in the stomach. “I see... well then, may the stars be with you and protect you on your journey.”

  He looked at me as if he was going to laugh. “You are not going to say good luck or goodbye like everybody else?”

  I shook my head and tried not to look at him. “No, and I am not everybody else.”

  He eyed me curiously. “You think I will come back.”

  And he didn’t? Why not? “I don’t think it. I believe it. Is there any reason you can’t? Also, no one has the right to kill you except me.”

  He half-smiled. “Then I will do my best.” He bowed, took my hand, and kissed it.

  I didn’t like that he kissed my hand every time our ways parted. It was making me feel uncomfortable like I was not dressed properly for a dance or something. To tell the truth, I was dressed improperly for this occasion. I wore a simple winter dress and a cardigan.

  He turned and marched down the stairs.

  “Jonathan,” I shouted.

  He turned and looked at me with a hopeful expression on his face.

  “My name is Eva.”

  A smile lit his face. “That’s a pretty name. No wonder you hid it so well. I will remember that.”

  He had finally earned knowing my name. I smiled and waved at him.

  After he left I wanted to crawl into my bed and hide for eternity, especially from painful emotions, but I couldn’t do that. So, I did the only logical thing: I went back to my research and all the books to find a cure for the army. At my request, Alec had brought me every book about herbs he could find in the
palace, and I was comparing what he had told me to see if I could find a match.

  I searched and searched for days and weeks, but found nothing. I still got orders from people coming to buy herbs and potions or to ask for advice about anything from love potions to how to make their flowers look prettier. Who would need a love potion in the middle of a war was beyond me. The crazy thing was that I did it because I needed the money to live and because I liked it. I was careful to stick with “normal” and natural things and I avoided magic at any cost.

  My house was the only exception. No one was in my house to see me practicing magic, and I needed to use it because if I looked through all the books the regular way it would take months. I was tired, but I kept going for the soldiers. I might not know them, but I knew they were good people fighting for the kingdom, for us. And I did it for Alec because it was Alec—you couldn’t deny him anything—he had asked for my help, and he was my friend. He was so protective and kind. I did it for Jonathan too, and I prayed that he and Alec would come back home safely.

  Winter would soon be ending and spring would begin. Flowers would soon start blooming again. This was one of my favorite moments in nature: rebirth. One day an old man came and brought me a small bit of a strange-looking plant with an odd-colored root. He said he had found the plant in the village and had taken this piece from it for me. It was green, blue, and red, and I wondered where it had come from. The man was afraid that the weird root came from outside the world and we were cursed. He had brought me the root so I could figure out how to eliminate it from the world. I raised my eyebrows. “Not all things are bad. Even if they look odd and strange, they might hide a treasure inside them.” I promised I would look into it.

  I placed the plant in a container to keep it safe while I tried to find it in one of the books. When I looked at the plant again, I saw it was ready to bloom. That was strange. Even though spring hadn’t begun yet, the plant should not be ready to flourish this quickly. What was that plant? Was it some type of winter plant? I took some of it and planted it in my garden to see what would happen. I returned to the stacks of books. While I searched for a description of this plant, I petted my cat. Midnight hated winter and had a cold, but it would be over soon hopefully.

  In the morning I woke up and discovered that Midnight wasn’t in the house. If she went out, she must be feeling better. I heard meows from the garden and went to look for her. I opened the window and I couldn’t believe my eyes. My cat was playing with the strange plant I had put in my garden yesterday. The strange plant was now the size of an elephant and it had bloomed. The flowers were amazing. They were like stars and were in all the colors of the rainbow. Aha! I know this plant. This strange-looking plant was the Plant of Wishes, and it was exactly the plant I had needed all along.

  This plant had more than one ability, but not all abilities were known. Each flower had a different ability. Red was for beauty, and if you drank the juice from that flower, it would make you more beautiful. The yellow flower would make you wealthier. The downside to the plant was that if you took too much from any flower, it would be a disaster. Too much of the beauty flower? Everyone would want to have you and so they would fight for you until death, so what good was beauty once everyone was dead? I needed the white flower. It could cure anything—even the deadliest poison—but I had to wait until midnight because that was when the white flower bloomed.

  I waited in the garden until midnight, and suddenly the white flower showed me its petals. It was beautiful, so pure and shiny. I gathered some of it and then headed for the village’s plant. Hopefully, nobody had cut it down and it would still be where the old man had told me it was. Fortunately, it was still there just on the edge of the forest with all its flowers intact. I gathered some white flowers from the plant and hurried home to make some juice for the soldiers.

  I prepared the medicine and then let it boil while I took a nap. Midnight would wake me up when it was done since she was no longer sick. She had been healed by the plant. Cats didn’t need the juice. All a cat had to do was lick the flower.

  Before I fell asleep, I thought it might be dangerous for the village plant to be standing in the open. What if someone took too much of something and got destroyed? It would be my fault because I didn’t do something. The plant shouldn’t be eliminated like the old man had suggested, but it should be removed. Tomorrow night I would move it to a safer land where no harm could come to people from using it. I was here to heal them and help with most of their problems. I would have to contact Alec about a cure too, and with that thought, I fell asleep.

  I woke up from a gentle push on my shoulder. My cat was reminding me that the medicine was ready. I got up and checked it. The medicine was ready, but now came the tricky part. How did I send it to the army? There was no way I could go to the battlefield. Girls weren’t allowed to fight in battles. That wasn’t something that would stop me, but I would have to cast several spells to get through. If nobody noticed my spells, someone would certainly notice when I killed demons. Fortunately, I had another idea. I was going to send a pigeon. Hopefully, it would find Alec and deliver the medicine. I took a pen and started writing fast:

  Dear Alec,

  I hope I am finding you in one piece and your friends too. I finally managed to find a cure for the poisoned soldiers. Please give it only to the ones that are not dead. You also must give it to the ones who are not poisoned, it will act as a protection. I am sending you some vials and I will send you more when I find another pigeon that didn’t go to a honeymoon. This spring is driving them crazy and they took off earlier than usual. Can you believe that?

  Stay safe.

  Your friend,

  Eva

  I attached the vials and the instructions with the letter addressed to “Alexander of the East Spanish Court” to the pigeon. I hoped it would reach the right Alexander and let the pigeon go. There were too many Alexanders at court, and the only thing I remembered about my Alexander was that he was from the East. My letter was a little informal, but we were friends and we were always joking around with each other. He was my best friend—among humans, of course.

  It was noon, so I went to the shop to serve some customers, and by some luck, the old man was there. “Did you look at that plant I gave you?”

  “I examined the plant and it isn’t something bad, but I will cut it out just to be sure.”

  He seemed relieved. “Thank you.”

  Business was great for the rest of the day, and on the way home, I stopped in front of the plant and said, “I am sorry about this, but you are not safe here. I will move you into a nice place where nobody gets harmed, all right?”

  You might wonder why I talked to the plant. Well, we believed that everything had a soul and could hear us, so we talked to them like we would talk to humans. We would even talk to our food. Before we cut fruits or vegetables or killed a deer, we thanked them. Many times, we got responses, and right now, I thought the plant was telling me that I could go ahead and take it. So I did and put it in my basket to plant it in my garden until the gates of the White Land opened again. When I could go to the White Land again, I would plant it in the square where it would flourish among the other trees. Witches were not like humans. We didn’t take too much of anything unless it was necessary, and we were always careful not to take so much that we might cause a catastrophe.

  Days passed and I sent pigeon after pigeon with the vials containing the potion for the soldiers, but Alec hadn’t responded yet. Did the pigeons get lost? Did the pigeons get eaten by an eagle? Or... No, I would not think of the worst-case scenario yet. It was too soon. Maybe it was stormy down there. There must be a rational explanation.

  It had been a week since I sent the last pigeon, and, still no response. I was going crazy. Should I go there and check? My cat climbed in the window with something in her mouth: a pigeon. “Midnight! Why would you eat a pigeon? I was waiting for this letter for a long time and going mad about it, and you just wanted to eat the pigeo
n?”

  My cat placed the pigeon in front of my feet. An arrow was piercing its wing. “Oh, I am sorry, Midnight. I know you wouldn’t eat a pigeon. Come here. Come to Mama. I petted her and scratched behind her ears. I pulled the arrow from the pigeon’s wing and healed it before I retrieved the letter and opened it. It was from Alec, and it read:

  Dear Eva,

  I can call you Eva, right? Jonathan told me your name. Thank you very much for the medicine. I just waited a few days to see if the medicine had an effect and it did. It is amazing how quickly they recovered. Thank you for saving us. I am sure now we have a chance of winning the war thanks to you. I wish I was there to see the spring coming, but I guess this will be for another time.

  P.S. The package is from Jonathan.

  Your friend,

  Alec

  That explained why the pigeon was late, but not the arrow in its wing. I hoped I would have an explanation when they came back alive. The package? What package? I didn’t see anything, but I checked the pigeon again. A package was attached to its neck, but it was tiny, which was why I didn’t see it the first time. I opened it and inside was a silver flower. A moon flower. This flower glowed at night, and many believed this flower symbolized eternal love.

  I doubted Jonathan knew the meaning of the flower, but it was sweet of him to send it. I hoped that meant he was all right. I noticed something attached to the flower’s leaves. It was a note that said, “I am coming back.” I smiled. Fortunately, Ritta wasn’t here to see me, or she would start some crazy talk about me being in love. I wasn’t in love. He was just a good friend, and he promised he would come back.

  Besides, I couldn’t love a human because witches and humans didn’t mix well. It wasn’t because there couldn’t be love between them, but witches lived many years—too many for humans—and it would just be too painful for me to marry a human and then watch him age and die while I was unable to do something about it. It would be painful even if I hadn’t been in love before I knew that. It was the natural way of things. The problem was that I couldn’t find someone in the witch world that I liked. They were always thinking about magic and demons and the princess. They didn’t talk about anything else, ever. It was like talking about business all the time.