The Broken Curse

by Taylor Lavati

  "Hey!" I pull back my arm and rub it with my other hand. "I really am lost. You don't have to hurt me. Look at you. I couldn't fight you even if I tried. There's no threat here. I promise." I try to talk the man down. I try to boost his ego and prove that I'm just a little girl who really doesn't pose any threat to him. His eyes never stray from mine and their intensity scares me, but I don't back down either.

  "Listen—"

  His sentence is cut off by a loud scream from behind us. It sounded female, but I fear for the worst: that it is Linus. My distraction is over, because the man whips his head towards me after looking towards the scream, and he has fury in his gaze.

  He attacks me. His hand flies towards my face with unreal speed. I bend down, dodging the blow. I kick my leg out towards him, hoping to trip him up, but he's rooted into the ground pretty damn well like a hundred year oak tree. My kick barely makes him budge. I widen my eyes in terror.

  I'm screwed.

  I don't know what to do now. There's no sign of Ari anywhere; I can't even hear him. The livid man steps towards me, and I take two steps backwards, until I have nowhere left to go. The fence presses into my back, the peaks digging into my spine, and the man is so close I can smell his disgusting, sour breath snake its way into my nose.

  He lunges towards me, both hands reaching for my neck, but I duck under them and sprint in the other direction. Luckily, the guy isn't as fast as me, so I'm able to out-sprint him towards the building. I make my way around the side black wall and don't stop until two arms catch me around the waist and spin me around.

  "Stop!" I scream and claw at the arms.

  "It's me." Immediately, his low voice soothes me. I look over my shoulder into my favorite green eyes on the planet. I melt in his arms. But then I remember the scream and the huge guy who tried to kill me.

  "He's coming," I pant out, pointing behind me with fear. Ari looks around my head and sees the man, only a few feet away now and getting closer. Ari only has about a second to prepare for the fight.

  "I'll hold him, you go for the neck, like how we taught you," Ari says as he lunges for the guy. I don't have any time to prepare as Ari tosses me behind him. Ari elbows the man right in the ribs, and the man cries out in pain, clutching his side. I watch and wait for the right time to help Ari.

  The man reaches for Ari like he did for me, lunging with both arms wide open. Ari dives under his arms and pops up behind him. He grabs onto the guy's arms and pins them down to his sides like a mummy. Ari can barely get his arms all the way around the guy's waist it's so large, but he makes do.

  This is my time to intervene. I jump into action and sprint to the man, closing the ten feet in half a second. I know how to kill him: we have to break his neck, so I jump up on his back, using the force from my foot hitting the ground to propel me forward.

  I climb up his torso and use my legs to help Ari pin the guy's arms down, wrapping myself around him. I use all of my strength to bend his neck at a strange angle. I pull and tug, but the damn thing doesn't snap. I swear this tree man is thick as a full A-Z group of encyclopedias.

  "Linus!" I scream, needing his help.

  "I'm sure your friend is dead by now. Just how you'll be," the man growls. Tree man tries to push me off him, wriggling beneath me. Between Ari and I, we hold him down and he can barely move. He's pinned, and we all know that there's nothing he can do about it.

  "Just twist, Eury. Give it everything you have." Ari tries to help me, but his words only make me angry and frustrated. I should be able to kill this guy. I need to be able to do this alone without the pressure that Ari places on my shoulders.

  I channel my anger, my frustration, my hate. I wind up my arm, my shoulder pulling backwards, and then give it everything. The air is pushed out of me as my arms swivel, bringing this man's head with them.

  The snap is loud and revolting, making my stomach roll. As the life is torn out of him, his body falls limp and with it goes me. I crash onto the ground, my head slamming against a rock under the dirt. I swear I can hear my brain shake inside my head.

  My vision spots. White lights float around in front of me. I faintly hear the sound of a whistle and then Linus' face appears in front of my eyes. He crouches down in front of me, staring into my vacant eyes. Before I can stop myself, I'm falling into a vision. And the blackness takes over, blinding me.

  There couldn't be a worse time for a vision. I just pray that whatever I see will be fast, and I can get back to finding the blood. Ari and Linus are stuck by the black building, and I'm stuck in vision land.

  "We have to keep going!" Ollie's voice finds me, and I notice him a little ways in the distance. There's a pack of gods behind him. I recognize every last one of them. I realize that this vision is parallel to real time. I must be seeing what is happening with the other group right now. This has never happened before, although I've never needed to see anything at the same time.

  "Maybe this was a mistake," Alexius says under her breath to her brother. My heart drops, thinking that we're going to lose them. It would be awful to get this far and have people turn their backs on us.

  "Listen," Ollie says as he turns to face everyone. The entire group stops walking. Their eyes land on Ollie, and they focus solely on him. "You will fight for her or else I will be forced to kill you. We made it this far and now is not the time for second thoughts. This is what is best for mankind, gods, and everyone in between. So, get it together, and get your head in the war. This isn't a game. This isn't for fun."

  He huffs and turns away, stomping forward. Everyone else just stands still in his or her spot, staring at where he was. Kara shakes her head at Ollie's speech, muttering something to Lisa under her breath. She takes control of the situation, replacing Ollie in his spot at the front of the group.

  "He's always intense like that," she apologizes for him, faking a smile. I can tell by the way she picks at her fingernails that she's nervous. "But to be honest, he's right. We all love Eurydice. You've spent the last week or more with her, so you know she has a good heart. She needs us. The world needs us. If you want to back out, back out. But, you'd be letting us down. And right now, we all need each other. So on behalf of everyone, I'm asking you to stay—begging you even."

  Lisa nods at Kara and then steps forward to stand beside her. Slowly, every last one of my friends join Kara, supporting her and me. I've never been more proud of her.

  "Let's go, guys!" Mikey yells, clapping his hands. He jumps up and starts bouncing around, pumping up everyone. He raises his arms and beats his fists in the air with excitement. The gods behind him roll their eyes, but march forward. I smile to myself, as if I was watching a TV show where the team I love got a win.

  "Do you think we should start like group chants?" Lisa asks Kara and the guys, who trail behind the large group. Ollie is way in the front, marching with his knees high. His hands are clenched in fists by his sides.

  "Are you serious?" Shane asks, bemused. He looks furious, his mouth twisted in a frown. His nostrils flare as he tries to contain his anger.

  "It builds morale." Lisa starts to skip beside Mikey, both bouncing now. Kara openly laughs at them, but doesn't join. I can feel her nerves underneath her calm exterior.

  "Chant to yourself. I need to focus," Shane growls at the group and then sprints forward so he's in line with Ollie at the front of the pack. His face is drawn together. He's ready for war; his head is in it.

  "I wasn't going to leave," I hear Alexius say in the middle of the crowd.

  "I know, sis." Lex tugs her into him and they walk wrapped up together.

  "As if we could leave," Nikias sneers, shaking her head in disgust.

  I've heard enough. I have to get back to my war. I have to get back to my task. I need to get the Original's blood. I shut my eyes and search for Ari's face, praying I'm brought back to him.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

  bloody

  "How much time has passed?" I ask as soon as I can see the light again. The problem w
ith the Underworld is that there's always this darkness looming just above. There's no way to tell the time. I guess that's just one of the many problems, but for some reason, right now it really annoys me that I can't see through the fog to tell what time it is.

  "It's been six minutes," Linus says, checking his black watch strapped around his wrist. He flicks the top of it as if it isn't working correctly.

  "Don't worry," Ari says as he reaches down and helps me sit up from the hard ground. All of the blood rushes into my head, and I almost pass out. White spots return, like thick snowflakes, and I pray that I don't go into another vision.

  "Did you get the vial?"

  "We didn't want to leave you alone," Ari says, his eyes narrowed on me. He's perusing me like I'm a bird with a broken wing, and I don't like the vulnerability I feel.

  "Well, we better get going." I dust the rocky dirt off of me as I stretch and crack my neck. I pat my back pocket to make sure that the box with the opal is still there. Ari reaches for my hand to help me up, but I refuse it. Six minutes are gone, and we haven't made any progress. At least my vision reassured me that everyone else is on the right track, in the right mind frame.

  We just need to hurry up and get the vial.

  I walk towards the black building alone, Linus and Ari silent behind me. It looks larger than before—more intimidating. I pause in the doorway, looking up at the top where there's a small window when Ari grabs me.

  "Stop!" he yells, his voice right in my ear. His hand rests on my shoulder, and I'm immediately flooded with energy and warmth. I shrug out of his grasp, hating the comfort that he exudes.

  "We have to hurry," I say over my shoulder, my tone annoyed. I level him with a look that begs him not to bring up our relationship.

  "You're going to use Ollie's blood at the altar, aren't you?" He asks the question that I've been dodging for weeks. Ari usually isn't one to push, but I guess the guy can only take so much. To be honest, I can't blame him. I touch my pocket to make sure the opal is still there again like a nervous tick.

  "I don't know what I'm doing."

  "How could you not know? We're minutes away from ending the curse and you're still questioning yourself? That should say enough." He shakes his head, his nose wrinkling up.

  "Trust me, I have it under control."

  "And how's that?"

  I sigh, knowing that I'm going to have to show him the box. I look back at Linus and nod him over. Although, he already knows about it, maybe he can help me explain it.

  I pull the box out of my pocket. It's wrapped in the royal blue cloth, but I don't pull it off. I don't want to open it by accident and use it up when Ollie isn't here. I look from the box up to Ari, whose expression is completely bewildered.

  "What is that?" he asks, frowning at the box. He goes to touch it, but I pull it back just out of his grasp.

  "It's a magic opal or something. Since soul mates each have half of a soul, this rock will find the other half," I try to explain. I look at Linus for some help.

  "It's from Olympus. My mother heard of it long ago, and we spent the last year tracking it down. When held in front of a soul mate, it will shatter. In front of everyone else, it simply turns black and becomes a useless rock."

  "So use it." Ari reaches for the rock, and I tug it backwards again. The blue cloth falls off and onto the dusty ground, almost pounding when it hits.

  "No!" I yell. I grab the cloth from the ground and cover the brown box with it.

  "She can only use it once. My mother said it would work best if she uses it when both you and Orpheus are together. It will only shatter in front of one of you," Linus explains.

  "This is great," Ari says under his breath as he shakes his head. I giggle at his quick change in pace when he realizes that I do, in fact, have a plan.

  "You totally didn't think I had a plan." I shove his shoulder, and he stumbles backwards.

  "Of course I didn't. You're you." He shoves me back, but it doesn't budge me.

  "Hey!" I slap him on the shoulder. "I totally have been on top of everything. You've been missing in action." I point my finger right at him as he opens the door to the building.

  "You know why I couldn't be there," he says, his voice soft. He stops in the doorway, blocking us from getting in. Linus exhales loudly behind us, but I ignore him.

  "No…"

  "You pushed me away! After the night we had sex you held me at an arm's length. You didn't talk to me."

  "Because you made me feel things that scare me."

  "Can we not do this?" Linus growls as he shoves past Ari and I in the doorway. He basically sprints into the building and leaves Ari and me just outside the door to glare at each other.

  "Let's not do this now. You have the opal. You'll know soon enough." He smiles at me—this deep, secretive smile, and I raise my eyebrows, pinching my eyes together. He's awfully confident now that the decision isn't only in my hands.

  I step into the black building, and Ari comes in right behind me. There's only one main room, but it's nearly full with this large contraption in the middle. It's the same one that I saw in my vision, draining the Originals.

  An overwhelming anger rumbles from within me as I realize this is the spot that my mother was drained and beaten and left to die. Ari takes my hand and his energy fills me again. This time I let him comfort me—I need it to get me through this.

  "Have you found anything?" I ask Linus as I look at the large silver and black contraption in the middle of the square room. It's got buttons all over it, the same as before, with tubes extending to each silver bed. I brush my finger on the glossy side of the big middle sculpture, and it rumbles to life.

  "Eury!" Ari yells and rushes to my side. He wraps me in his arms, and we watch buttons and lights spring to life. It starts to shake, clanking erupting from the middle piece, as the tube with a needle on the end vibrates off the beds.

  And then it dies. The silence is thick. I look to my left, and Linus holds a yellow cord that goes into the ground. Ari and I follow Linus as he pulls on the cord until it just ends.

  "Step back," Ari says as he lets my hand go. He knocks on the ground surrounding the wire, listening for something. After a moment, he punches the ground and a circle opens up about three feet wide around the wire, which just falls further into the hole.

  "Nose goes," Linus says as his pointer finds his nose. I do the same, not knowing what else to do. Ari glares at us, knowing he's gotten the bad end of the deal.

  "You're kidding me right?" he snarls, but it's playful. "I guess I'll jump. Wait until I give you the okay." Linus and I both nod and huddle together, our shoulders brushing. A second later, I hear his thud as he lands at the bottom of the hole.

  "Eury first!" He calls up, his voice sounding very distant. I sit down on the ground, my legs dangling into the pitch blackness. I wave to Linus and then fall into the opening in the ground. My stomach shoots into my throat, but soon enough Ari's arms are around me, catching me at the end of the fall.

  Ari cradles me against his chest, kisses my forehead, and then places me down on the ground beside him. Linus is next, but Ari doesn't catch him. He helps him land safely, reaching for his arms, and the three of us stand in the dark, spinning in circles to try to see where we are.

  "I think it's a tunnel. It must go straight to the black castle."

  "We need the vial."

  "We might not," Linus says, holding up a strange, silver case about the size of a box of tissues. "I found this in a cooler, but it's locked well. I can't get it open so I don't know what's in it."

  "Give it here," Ari says as he reaches for it. He fumbles with the case and tries beating it until it opens. His fist rams into the sides, his fingers jam into the skinny crease, but it's useless.

  "Let me try." I reach for it, but Ari tugs it back.

  "I can do it."

  "Just let me try, Ari." I reach again, but Ari holds it up in the air, away from me. I growl and try to pull his arm down so I can try to open t
he damn thing. As I tug on his arm, the case goes flying into the side of the tunnel. It hits the wall and then falls onto the ground.

  But it cracks open.

  "Thank you guys for your dysfunction," Linus says as he picks up the now open case.

  "Sometimes I just want to kill you."

  "Likewise," Ari says back, raising his eyebrows as if in a challenge. I shove his shoulder, and he wraps his arm around me, holding me to him.

  "Is it the vial?" I ask Linus as he touches whatever is in the case. I lean forward and peek inside. There's a small note, with what looks like a needle filled with blood.

  "I think it's from your mother." Linus hands me the piece of paper and then shuts the case, making sure not to lock it in the process.

  If you're getting this, you are exactly who I knew you'd be.

  Be strong and finish this. I'll see you sooner than you think. —Mom.

  I shake my head as I finish reading the note. This doesn't make sense. How could she know that we'd make it here to get the blood? She's been gone so long, there's no way she'd know our plans. I don't even know what see you sooner than you think means.

  Suddenly, my vision starts to fade and I begin to fall into a dream. I don't have time right now, but it seems inevitable. I don't fight it. I just let myself fall, and before I know it the light returns.

  I know where I am immediately. The smell of bleach is strong. I'm standing in the middle of the crowded room, but nobody notices my entrance. I must be safe, as long as Hermes doesn't show up. However, the last time I dreamt of the room with the draining machine, Hermes was there.

  "I have to leave it for them."

  "You don't know they'll make it here." I notice the people lying on the beds are alive, still breathing. I rush to my mother's side and try to free her from the metal bed, but I have no strength here.

  She doesn't look hurt, despite the fact that her arm is hooked up to a tube, dried blood caking the skin surrounding the needle. Her wrists and ankles are pinned to the bed with heavy metal clasps that are so tight they cut the blood flow to her fingers. To her left and right are the rest of the Originals, excluding the demons of the group.