The Cursed Girl, #1

by Maria Vermisoglou

  I stared at her. “With the what?”

  “The carriage. He is a royal even if he is your friend.”

  “Oh, no, no, no.” Don’t tell me he did such a stupid thing.

  “What?”

  And I thought he was smarter than Jonathan. “I can’t believe him. Now everyone will know where we live and that’s dangerous. If a dragon breathed fire on the roof, it wouldn’t be more conspicuous than that. Why didn’t we make the house invisible?” Sensing that I was upset, Midnight licked my hands.

  Ritta seemed untroubled. “Relax. The carriage came three streets below to pick him up. He isn’t stupid.”

  I relaxed a little. “Still, I don’t like the thought of people roaming these streets. They will show up in the door and see us casting... it’s dangerous.”

  She shook her head. “I doubt it, they have manners. They are not royals. You just have a higher demand of manners than most people.”

  “That’s not true. I don’t. I just think that everyone should retain a certain standard—”

  “I’ll let you rest,” she said with a smile and left the room. My mother came into my room and brought me food. I was starving and ate it in a matter of minutes. While I ate, my mother said nothing. Weird, she usually commented about any visitors I had. Maybe she liked him. Why else she would let him in? She left without a word. I was so tired, I fell asleep before I knew it.

  I woke up in the morning with no memory of dreams. Dreams were dangerous for witches because sometimes dreams could come true. If you saw someone get shot at your dream, then that someone would get shot. The only thing you could do was try to save them before it happened. For a witch dreams were prophetic. They could tell the future, present, or past, and they could warn you. You could be awake or asleep—it didn’t matter. But you couldn’t save everyone. We tried to save as many people as we could, but we couldn’t save everyone.

  The next morning was calm, and after examining my leg, my mother said I was better and I would be able to walk again tomorrow or the day after. Finally. I had missed the shop and the people, their kindness, and their little gifts. I liked observing them since you could learn a lot by observing a person. I heard a knock on the door, and my skin turned cold. No, not again.

  Fortunately, it was my mother’s friend Linda. Linda was not entirely witch and not entirely human, like me. I liked her. She was polite and easy to like. She and my mom could talk for hours and hours about anything and never get tired. They kind of reminded me of me and Ritta.

  Ritta came to my room later, and we talked, but about less “difficult” subjects today, if you know what I mean. The day passed without any weird incidents, and the next day I was much better. Although I walked with difficulty, Ritta helped me and I went to the shop anyway despite my mother’s objections.

  The Eviction

  We sat and prepared for the day. We had our hands full, and everyone came here to talk to me or buy something.

  After a while, Ritta said, “If we knew you had a gift for botany, we would have opened a shop up there.”

  She meant the White Land. “I don’t have a gift. I just like helping people.”

  She just smiled and we continued to work until closing time. “Wow. That was... busy,” said Ritta, sounding exhausted.

  I rolled my eyes. “You think?” I saw the door opening again and I called, “Sorry, we are closed.” Why didn’t I keep my mouth shut? It was him, obviously. Would he ever stop chasing me? Obviously not. I tried to remain calm.

  “Do you want me to turn him into a toad?”

  I looked at Ritta. That was a strange change of attitude. I didn’t ask why because I was tired of the whole “doomed thing” subject, and it was nice to have someone on my side. “I am still thinking about that.”

  “I am sorry, but we are closed,” Ritta said. “Come back again tomorrow.”

  Jonathan said, “I am aware of that, but I would like to speak to Miss Eva.”

  Of course, he wanted, but he didn’t think that maybe Eva didn’t want to talk or that Eva couldn’t walk out to see him. And why Miss Eva? Although he didn’t know my name until recently, he was always asking for things and he never used miss with my name. Ritta looked at me.

  I sighed. “I’ll talk, but from here since I can’t walk.”

  “And you accuse him of bad manners.”

  “I would never bother anyone in need. I would have helped him instead of bothering him. And that is an exception, not bad manners.”

  Before I could say anything else, the door opened with a bang, and four armed soldiers came in. One of them advanced and stood in front of me.

  “Who is the owner of this shop?” he demanded.

  I looked at him angrily. “I am. What do you want?”

  He opened a parchment and read: “By order of the king, you are hereby forbidden to continue this business. Therefore—”

  I didn’t let him finish. I was sick and tired everyone trying to kick me out. “Give me that. I can read, you know. I am not stupid.” I took the paper from his hands and read it. Reason for closure? Your services are not needed. Not needed? People were starving and my services were not needed? Was the king insane? “I see. If my services are no longer required... Since it seems it’s my last day in the shop, let me enjoy it in peace. Now begone.”

  They looked at me astonished. Obviously, they didn’t expect to be treated like children or that a girl could boss them around. Then Jonathan took a step forward. “What is going on in here? You can’t do that,” he said in a commanding voice.

  Realizing the heir was in front of them, the soldiers froze. “Your Highness, we didn’t realize...” the one who had held the parchment said. The rest of the soldiers bubbled excuses. “Shouldn’t you be at the palace? It’s dangerous to be alone out there.”

  Jonathan looked at them, and the kindness I usually saw in his eyes was gone. “Why are you bothering these girls? What is this you stated about closing this business?”

  The soldier in the front was clearly nervous. “Your father, the king, ordered this business to be closed because it is not needed.”

  Ritta said with a calm voice, “Not needed? Not needed? And who treated the people before we opened this shop? Who? You? The king? Who treated the wounded from the war? From a fallen tree? Who cured the soldiers from the poison? And who healed him?” She pointed at Jonathan. “You?” She was on a roll.

  Jonathan smiled and said, “As you can see, soldiers, your services are not required. This shop is the only thing the poor people have for medical treatment. You are dismissed.”

  “But—” said the soldier.

  “Do you disobey the order, soldier?” Jonathan asked.

  The soldiers were trembling. “No, no, Your Highness.” The soldiers started walking away meekly but I knew better. I counted in my head, and one of the soldiers turned and threw a knife at me. Then I used one of my knives to deflect the knife hurtling at me, and then I threw one of my other knives at him, barely missing him. “Next time I will not miss,” I yelled.

  The soldier froze for a moment and then turned and ran.

  “Coward,” Ritta yelled.

  I pointed at the retreating soldier. “I hope you don’t have many of those men in your army.”

  Jonathan looked at me in awe. “Since when you can throw knives like this?”

  I sat down. “Since forever.”

  He looked at me thoughtfully. “I will talk to them about this.”

  “No need. A coward has its own punishment.” Being a coward was punishment enough.

  “You seem to know a lot about weapons even if you are a woman.”

  I gave him an icy look. “And what does that mean?”

  “I only meant that girls don’t usually involve themselves with weapons.”

  “We have to protect ourselves somehow, and I don’t use weapons to attack like most people but to defend myself.”

  I picked up a basket and started taking jars from shelves.

  “So
you are threatened a lot?”

  Why can’t he leave me in peace? “More than the average human,” I said without turning.

  “Why’s that?”

  I turned to face him, and he stood there looking at me in wonder. “I am a bad person and whoever comes close gets hurt.”

  He looked at me and said, “I don’t think you are a bad person. I think you are a good person with bad experiences.”

  How would he know? All this time he hadn’t been scared of me, and I didn’t know why. I shook my head and continued picking up jars and herbs. Then he realized what I was doing.

  “What are you doing?”

  I looked at him strangely. “I am gathering my things to move out.”

  “Move out? Why?” he seemed kind of angry.

  “And I was starting to think you are not totally stupid. Well, my friend, this was my last day at the shop, and I have to move out, or they will kick me out by force.”

  He looked confused. “You don’t honestly believe they will come back, right?” He smiled as if I was the stupid one.

  “They will always come back, but I don’t blame them. Not even the one that threw the knife. They are just afraid.” He was naïve if he thought he had everything figured out. This war was just the beginning.

  “Of what?”

  “The king. If they weren’t, they would have listened to you.”

  When I saw the expression on his face, I knew I was right. His father was a cruel monarch. He took what he wanted and made wars to expand his land, but he never cared for us, the simple people who struggled every day. And when I helped poor people, he was afraid the people would become loyal to me. Like many rulers, he feared he could lose his throne if the people in his kingdom gave their loyalty to someone else.

  He didn’t realize I didn’t want any of that. I just wanted a simple happy life—something I knew I would never have. His son wanted a happy life helping his people—especially the poor—a view his father didn’t share because like all royals he thought we were pests.

  Jonathan said, “I will fix this. You will have your shop back.”

  That was sweet of him, but it was impossible. “You don’t need to do this for me. I can go elsewhere to find something to do for a living.”

  He was determined. “You saved my life and the soldiers’ lives. It’s the least I can do. I can never forget that. I might get you the shop back, but it won’t repay my debt until I save your life. That’s why I want you to stay.”

  I looked at him and rolled my eyes. “You? Save my life? What a joke. You put me in more trouble now than when we were strangers.”

  He grinned. “You never know.” His grin left his face with my next words. “And you put my life in danger,” he asked silently the question.

  Leaning my leg on the table, and moved cautiously, took some jars, and placed the jars in the basket. I tried to stretch farther, but I wasn’t careful enough and I fell down.

  He ran to help me. “Are you all right? Are you hurt?”

  “Of course, I am hurt. I have injured my leg because of you.” I looked at him angrily.

  He looked at me shocked. “You injured yourself for me?”

  No, not for you, exactly. Technically the injury was an accident. “I was just helping a friend who had been nice to me.”

  He looked pleased. “So I am your friend?”

  I am not going to turn him into a chandelier, not going to turn him into a chandelier, not going to... “I was not talking about you. Alec is my friend.”

  He looked offended. “And what am I?”

  “An acquaintance.”

  He smirked. “You may think I am an acquaintance, but you are wrong.” He helped me to a chair.

  “Keep telling yourself that and you might believe it.”

  He looked at me pointedly and then left.

  Ritta returned from the back room. “What happened here? She said looking at the broken jars and spilled herbs.

  “I fell.”

  I should have known she wouldn’t have fallen for it. She made me tell the whole story and her assessment of the ordeal was most disagreeable.

  “How romantic,” she said with a dreamy look.

  I scowled at her. “From all that, the only thing you can say is ‘how romantic’?”

  She shrugged. “Well, it is. He basically said he would fight for you and defy his terrifying father.”

  Fight for me? He just said he was going to take my shop back. From where did she gather that he was going to fight for me? “He’s not terrifying. And he never said he would fight for me. He said he will look for an opportunity to save my life. Like that will ever happen.”

  The Ritual

  An opportunity struck us out of nowhere like a falling star. After the incident with the soldiers demanding I leave the shop, Alec and Jonathan fought to find a solution so I wouldn’t lose my shop and the king would be satisfied. I knew nothing would persuade the king. He loved his throne so much that he had lost any feelings he ever had. It was sad.

  In the midst of all this, I received an unexpected invitation from the queen to go see her. That was something new.

  “Why does the queen want to see you?” my mother asked.

  “I have no idea. But it can’t be something good.”

  My mother smiled. “Don’t worry, I knew her from when she was a princess.”

  “You knew her? Like personally?”

  She nodded. “Mhm. Yes, we used to play and hang out all the time like you and Ritta.”

  I was speechless.

  “But when she became a queen, she had a lot of responsibilities. Still, I receive news of her from time to time.”

  “So, she is one of us?”

  She smiled. “Close. She’s a nymph.”

  “And she married a human? A cruel royal?” Nymphs were usually good judges of character.

  “He was not like this from the beginning. He was in love with her, but now it seems he is in love with his power. She loves her children and her husband dearly.”

  I was confused. “Why did she marry at all? Nymphs age very slowly. Won’t humans notice?”

  She cocked her head. “She wanted to fall in love, marry, and have children. That was her dream, and she can change her appearance in the blink of an eye.”

  Maybe she wanted to see me to help with a problem, but what I had learned troubled me. Why would she want to take part in a life that will end so soon? Why fall in love when you know you will lose him so soon? My mother shared stories from when they were little, and before I left for the palace, I felt as if I already knew her. She was a gentle, funny and easygoing type—like Ritta—and romantic too. I had put on a decent dress and my mother braided my hair and said, “She likes braids very much. Before you leave, she might ask you to do it for her. Give her my love and regards, please.”

  So I took my basket with my herbs and headed to the palace. I arrived and a guard guided me toward the queen’s apartments. My arrival didn’t go unnoticed. Jonathan was coming out of a room and saw me. “Eva? What are you doing here?”

  Oh, no. He thought I came for him. “The queen asked me to come.” My guess was right; upon hearing this, his face looked disappointed. “I see—then I will leave you then.” He bowed and left, which was strange. Maybe he had business to attend to, but did he seem a little troubled? I followed the guard, who after several rows of doors—what a labyrinth—finally stopped in front of a door and knocked twice.

  “Come in,” said a woman’s voice.

  The guard left me after opening the door. I entered and was dumbfounded by the magnificent view of the room. It was hard to describe it, but it was like I had stepped into a forest with a river and flowers. The floor was covered with a carpet as green as the grass. The walls were green and brown, the colors of a forest. The ceiling was blue like the sky, and in the middle of the room was a fountain. The chairs were the same forest green and brown, but flowers were drawn on the fabric. There were flowers in jars and in the windows. The f
lowers in the carpet looked so real I thought I could pick them up.

  My mother said this woman was a nymph, so it made sense that her room in the palace was designed to mimic her natural habitat in nature. While searching for the queen in this forest, I thought the king must have loved her very much to make a room like this for her. When I found her, she was in a regal yellow dress shining like the sun. “Your Majesty,” I said and curtsied.

  She smiled and showed me the chair near her, so I sat and looked at her. She was beautiful with black hair and blue eyes—now I know from whom Jonathan got his looks—and a gentle face. She smiled and said, “My dear, I hope I didn’t startle you with my invitation. I have heard so much about you that I had to meet you. You look so much like your mother. How is she? We were close once, but responsibilities have kept me from seeing her.” Her voice was like a river: happy and tinkling.

  I gathered my courage and said, “Why did you want to meet me? I am nothing special.”

  She laughed. “Nothing special, you think? You saved us: my son, our soldiers, and let’s not forget what you are doing for our people. No one who is not special would have done that. And, of course, I have been informed of your other deed with the Dark Forest. They call it the Light Forest now, and nature has been completely restored.” She glanced at me but I looked down. “There is no need to be ashamed. You did well by restoring it to its former state.”

  I looked at her and said sadly, “But I don’t know how. Everyone keeps asking me how but I don’t know.” I was angry now and I didn’t know why. Was she making me angry?

  “It’s all right. Great powers don’t have whys or hows; they do what they must. I can manipulate the nature around me to a great degree, better than anyone like me can. The first time I was like you. I didn’t know how I did it. I just did it. Over the years, I understood that the how comes from your heart, your emotions, and not so much from your techniques or skills. One day I was angry—so angry that an entire forest withered.”