The Broken Curse

by Taylor Lavati

  "Why? You should hate me by now. I know that you're hurt, and I've broken your heart." I scoot across the couch, putting distance between us. My sadness is replaced with fury—anger with myself.

  "I don't know how to make this clearer." He looks away from me, almost like he can't stand the sight of me.

  "What?"

  "I love you." He stands and comes closer to me, never letting up on his pursuit. He stops in front of me and drops to his knees on the carpet. His hands find my thighs, and his warmth instantly fills me. "Whether you hate me or not, I still love you. Because you're you and I know you're going through a lot, so I understand. But I still love you. It won't change, I promise."

  "What if you're not my soul mate?" His green eyes widen at my question, but he doesn't miss a beat. I can't look away.

  "Then I'm not. It doesn't change the way I feel deep in here," he says, clutching his chest with one of his hands.

  "I'm just so scared."

  "It's okay to be scared. But you can't let your fears run your life. Be scared; be worried. But when it comes down to it, persevere. You're strong, Eury; act like the woman I know you are."

  I lean forward and grab onto the fabric of his black shirt. I bunch it in my hands and tug him forward. I lean onto his chest, my face nestled against his shoulder, as his arms wrap around me like a warm blanket. Ari is comfort. Ari is peace.

  "I'm sorry," I murmur into him, my voice captured by his body. I hold onto his waist as he crouches in front of me, never letting go.

  "I love you," he whispers.

  I clutch him like my life depends on it. When sleep comes for me, I almost let it take me away. But a loud bang resonates through the house. I jump back from Ari, like a teen caught making out by her parents. I look for the source of the bang.

  "Thank the gods," Cristos says as he comes down the stairs.

  "Hey," Ari says over his shoulder. Ari fixes his shirt that I've crumpled up and stands to greet him, pushing away from me.

  "I'm so glad you came by, Ryder. It was getting real annoying having this sad sap around lately. At least now he won't be such a terror."

  "You're kidding, right?" I ask Cristos, a smile in my voice.

  "Of course, he's kidding." Ari helps me up from the chair, and pointedly glares at Cristos. Cristos chuckles to himself and walks past us to the kitchen. We follow, and when we enter, Cristos is rummaging through the refrigerator, mumbling something about a hearty sandwich in his stomach.

  "So, are we going to create an army?" Cristos asks, looking up from his dark lashes. I look to Ari who just looks straight at me, as if asking me the same question.

  "Yeah. We are going to war."

  "You don't sound so sure," Cristos teases.

  "Leave her be." Ari steps in front of me, territorial-like. "She can make her own choices, and we have to respect them."

  "Really?" I narrow my eyes on Ari. "Like how you've already been finding people for said army?"

  "Wha—How?"

  "You forget I get these things called dreams. I may have seen an exchange between you and Professor Onassis."

  "You really should stop spying," Ari chides, running his hand up my back to my neck. My entire body erupts with goose bumps, his touch an icicle against my skin.

  "I didn't mean to! It just came to me."

  "Right." Cristos exaggerates the word, his skepticism clear. I grab a piece of lettuce from the counter and chuck it at him, but he easily dodges my attack.

  Before I know it, a piece of ham is catapulted towards my face. I use Ari as a shield and hide behind his towering form. Unlucky for him, the flying meat nails him in the face.

  "Can we not make a mess of my kitchen?"

  "Soften up, will you?" Cristos says, taking a piece of ham and eating it from the bag of cold cuts. I grab onto Ari's hand and lead him to the counter, and we both sit down across from Cristos.

  "Have you spoken to your brother?" Ari asks. The atmosphere seems to change almost instantly the second the words are out of Ari's mouth. I look at Cristos. His body stiffens.

  "No. Orpheus has though."

  "Is he coming?" Ari questions.

  "No."

  I leave Ari's house soon after the strange exchange between him and Cristos. I feel like they need some time to talk one on one, and I was just getting in the way. It's too late to go to Professor Onassis and tell her that I'm okay with creating the army. So, I head back to the dorms instead.

  I sprint up the stairs and go straight into my dorm room. I don't have a key and, luckily, it's unlocked. It's dark in the room, and strangely quiet, so I flick on the light right beside the door.

  Kara screams from her side of the room, and I jump back in alarm. Immediately, I see Kara and Junior, completely naked. I scream and slam my eyes shut, covering them with my hands just to make sure that I don't see anything.

  Luckily, I know the room like the back of my hand. With my eyes shut, I use my back to follow the wall to the bathroom. I can't see a thing, but I can hear their panting and my stomach rolls with disgust. This is a nightmare.

  "I'm going to take a shower!" I yell as I quickly uncover my eyes, face the bathroom, and slam the door shut behind me. I turn on the shower so that it drowns out the noises that most likely will start to come from my bedroom.

  I take an excruciatingly long shower, knowing that I don't want to go back into my room any time soon. With nobody else on campus, there's plenty of hot water to go around, and from being on the hard bench all day, my back is a little sore.

  I soak my body with extra soap. I lather it in my pores. I wash my hair twice with shampoo and then once with conditioner, actually leaving it in for a minute like the bottle says to. My fingers are raisins by the time I shut the water off. I actually feel faint from the hot steam.

  When I get out of the shower, I grab a pair of pajamas from the bottom drawer of the bathroom where I keep a spare, and then knock on the bathroom door to alert my friends that I'm coming back.

  "Is it clear?" I ask as I wiggle the handle, not leaving anything up to chance. I want to make sure that they know I'm coming and dress appropriately. I don't want to see Junior naked again for the rest of my life.

  "Yes!" Kara yells back.

  I go into the room, peeking only my head in to make sure it's clear. Kara is sitting on her bed, her legs crossed over each other, her makeup and hair back to their perfect state. Kara's cheeks have a light blush to them: embarrassed from me walking in on them or the vigorous activity she just participated in. Junior is already on the computer, playing some video game—Call of Duty it looks like from here.

  "So, what's up?" Kara asks me as I put my things down and hop onto my bed.

  "I'm sorry," I tell her, shaking my head.

  "Excuse me?" She tilts her head to the side, a smile trying to break through her stone-like composure. It's like she's never heard the words before.

  "I'm sorry," I repeat, smiling.

  "Junior, did you hear this?" Kara asks as she leans over and pulls his gaming headset off his ears. "Ryder apologized to me. She does have a heart!" Kara falls backwards onto her bed, clutching her heart with both hands. She sighs and shuts her eyes. Then she bounces back up and grins at me.

  "Yeah, yeah, yeah," I mutter.

  "Hey," Junior says over his shoulder, a quick wave, before returning back to the game.

  "So, do you accept?" I ask her, leaning my ear forward to hear.

  "Duh. So, now that we're good, what's going on?"

  "I decided to do the army after all. I got cold feet when I saw the vision last night, but I think it's what's best. My dreams can change, so we'll just have to make sure that you're always safe."

  "I knew you'd make the right choice!" she yells as she leaps from her bed to mine and envelops me in a hug. I fall backwards, Kara on top of me. Surprisingly, for the first time in a while, I don't mind the love.

  CHAPTER TEN

  yes

  First thing in the morning, I get geared up for a lo
ng day of tough decisions. Kara is sound asleep in her bed, with Junior's body wrapped around her like a boa. But, she needs to prepare, too. I refuse to let anything bad happen to her. So, she's about to get a dose of tough love. Today will be her first day of training with me.

  I have to make sure that Kara is one hundred percent prepared for this war, or I won't bring her. It's as simple as that. But, I know that being left out would crush her spirit. So, day one begins now.

  I creep over to her bedside and, luckily, she's on the outside of the bed so I get easy access. I peel Junior's arm from her neck and move his leg, which is draped over hers, so she's freed.

  "Kara," I whisper, not wanting to wake Junior, too. I know how he is when he's woken up before he's ready, and it's not a good scene. Being on the receiving end of a tired and grumpy Junior is not somewhere I want to be today.

  She moans a little as I tap her shoulder and whisper her name, but she's not waking up at all. So, I pull her towards me, her leg and arm falling off the bed. But, it doesn't work.

  Finally, I just shove her off the bed. She wakes up instantly, catching herself before she face plants on the hard floor. She darts up and glares at me, but I put my finger over my mouth so she knows to be quiet.

  She looks backwards at Junior and softens a bit. But when she looks back at me, she's steaming. She grabs onto my shoulder, her purple nails biting into me, and drags me into the bathroom with her, quietly shutting the door behind us.

  "What the hell?" she angrily whispers at me, her hands flying in the air.

  "We're starting your training today. Let's go!" I tell her, looking at my phone for the time. It's already six am. Usually, my morning run begins around five, so not only is she late, but I'm an hour behind, too.

  "Are you kidding me?" She glares at me with her hazel eyes. "This can't wait an hour or two? When normal people are alive?"

  "No," I state sternly, not relenting. "Get your butt in gear. You have five minutes. Do you want to be in this army or not?" I play into her soft spot. I know she'd do anything to be part of the group, so I use that to my advantage.

  "Fine," she huffs and stomps back into the room.

  Surprisingly, she gets dressed in under five minutes—which for Kara, is unheard of. Her red yoga pants are like a flashing stop sign. Topped with her lime green windbreaker, I know that I won't lose her along the way, no matter how slow she goes.

  "I like to start with endurance," I tell her as we exit the room, explaining why we're running. "We'll do a run, then grab breakfast, and then strength train in the gym. After that I'll let you leave, because tomorrow, we do it all over again."

  "I can't believe I'm letting you do this to me," she mutters, which makes me smile.

  Luckily, she came prepared with her iPhone, an armband, and headphones. She gets all set up as we stumble down the stairs and leave our dormitory. I swear she's like a blind bat because she walks into walls and trips on nothing at all the entire way down.

  "Just follow me," I tell her. She plugs into whatever world she's listening to, and I quietly begin to jog ahead of her. I haven't used my iPhone to listen to music while I run in a while. I prefer the quiet to the chaos.

  I like the peace now. My mind is silent when I get into a cardio zone. I love and crave it almost like a drug. Without my daily runs, I may have gone insane by now. Actually, I definitely would have.

  We round a corner for mile three when two large men jump out from behind the bend. I never even see them until it's too late. Immediately, I lunge forward in attack mode, but Kara is slower. One of the guys knocks her to the side, completely blind siding her, and she falls over like a rag doll.

  I ignore my instincts to attack the man in front of me and rush to Kara's side. I get there before the man can punch her and intervene. I kick him right in the middle of his chest. With my powerful strength, I can feel his ribs bend and crack beneath my foot. He leans forward and clutches his chest with both hands.

  The other man comes at me from behind, trying to grab me around the waist, but I refuse to let him. I jump into the air, pushing myself off the ground, and slam the man behind me in the face with a fast jab to the jaw.

  He recoils, blood trickling down his face and onto his yellow short-sleeved shirt. Knowing they're on the losing end, the two share a nervous glance and then sprint into the woods. Once again, I ignore the need to chase them and check on Kara, who's sitting on the ground.

  She has a sad look on her face, one of defeat and frustration. I sit beside her and wait for her to speak, knowing that I don't want to make this worse. But when it's apparent she won't, I make the first move.

  "You ready to keep going?" I ask her, nudging her shoulder with mine. Her cheek is a little red, but she's not bloody, which is a very good sign. She doesn't look to be hurt, only saddened.

  "It hurts how weak I am."

  "What happened?" I ask, touching various parts of her body to make sure that she's not broken. "Where did they get you? Are you okay?"

  "I mean weak like I'm barely even above a human in strength and speed. I suck at this Nephilim thing."

  "No, you don't." I rub her back softly, nurturing movements up and down.

  "You're literally the worst liar on the face of the planet." She cuts a glare at me, and I can't even rebut that.

  "You just haven't gotten your powers yet. They'll come, I know it." I give her a hug, one of the few I've genuinely cared about in the past few months. "Let's get back to our run. It'll make you feel better," I promise.

  I jump up from the grassy ground and reach my hand down for her to take. She looks up at me and takes my hand, letting me drag her up.

  "That actually wasn't as bad as I thought it would be," Kara says as we round the corner to the student center. We both slow to a walk and catch our breath, panting and huffing and puffing through the warm air.

  "I told you. It's completely relaxing, and now we get to eat a yummy meal. Make sure to load up on protein and drink like three glasses of water," I tell her, wanting to make sure that she feels okay. "The last thing we want is you getting dehydrated."

  Kara grabs the doors for me, and I enter the dining hall first. It's nice and quiet, only a few people lingering around, most of whom I don't know. I'm sure in the next few weeks more and more people will start to fill it, but for now, it's perfectly quiet.

  After filling our plates, Kara and I sit at a random, vacant table and dig in. We're quiet, mostly because between bites Kara taps away on her phone. It isn't long before Junior and Ollie find us and when they do, both of their faces light up with joy at the sight of us.

  "Hey," I say in between bites. Junior's tray is loaded with all different kinds of sugary breakfast cereals and Ollie's is nearly identical, though he grabbed a bunch of slices of bacon—one of his favorite foods.

  Junior sits beside Kara, and Ollie takes the seat directly next to me. His tray lands with a bang, and I glance over with a question. He smiles, though.

  "Hey," I whisper to Ollie and smile up at him.

  "Hey back." He nudges my shoulder with his. I lean against him as I eat and savor the warmth that floods into me.

  "So, what's going on today?" Junior asks Kara. She grins at him, staring right into his eyes. It's like they can speak in just glances and looks.

  "We're going to the gym after breakfast, but I'll be around all afternoon. Right?" She looks at me as if asking for permission.

  "Yeah. I'll only make you stay at the gym for an hour or two."

  "Where were you guys this morning?" Junior asks, rubbing his eyes like he just woke up. "You totally left without a peep," he whispers to Kara.

  She points her finger at me and says, "Ryder, here, made me go for a run."

  "You asked me to go!" I yell, chucking a Cheerio at her face. She dodges it, but doesn't have enough time to anticipate and react to the next one. I stick out my tongue at her, and she mimics me back.

  "Guess what? A couple guys attacked us on our trail," Kara says, widening he
r eyes like it's actually a good story. I kick her under the table to shut her up. She yelps, and then Ollie glares at me, his eyes wide.

  "What happened?" Ollie frowns and scoots closer to me.

  "It wasn't even a big deal," I try to brush it off.

  "What happened?" Ollie repeats. He ignores me completely and stares right at Kara, his eyes penetrating her.

  "There were two guys. They came at us, and Ryder totally kicked butt. They ran away into the woods before she could finish them off."

  "Are you okay?" Ollie looks me up and down as if checking for injuries.

  "I'm fine. It wasn't even a big deal. They weren't strong at all. And since they ran away, it was clearly just an isolated incident. I wouldn't worry about it." I nod at him, flashing a smile so that he knows I'm sincere.

  "Well, we shouldn't go out alone anymore. Always be in a pair," Ollie says, as if he makes the rules. His arm tugs me close to him, and he kisses me on the top of my head. I lean against him while I finish off my Cheerios.

  I watch as Junior and Kara exchange loving whispers. Both of them have smiles permanently glued to their faces. Junior nuzzles his nose right along her cheekbone and kisses her temple. Her eyes flutter shut as he peppers her with love. They're so adorable it hurts.

  "Come on, Kara. Let's hit the gym," I say after we all finish eating. Junior and Ollie still have food on their plates, but I'd rather go to the gym with just us than with the boys, too. Kara doesn't need distractions—what she needs is to focus her skills and work hard.

  "I'm really tired," she says, faking a yawn. "I think I'm going to have to skip the gym. We'll work up to the two a day workouts."

  "Are you serious?" I ask back, deadpan. I stare at her, wondering why, when I see Junior's arm wrapped around her, the other on the other side. They're totally going to go upstairs and make out. I guess that's her version of a workout.

  "Whatever. See you later," I say as I toss my tray in the garbage bin and head towards the large double doors. Just when I think I've made it out alone, Ollie hollers from behind me, asking me to wait up.