Cursed

by Owens, Wendy

  As soon as the words left Gabe’s lips, he regretted saying them. No matter how angry he was at Michael, one thing he could not deny was how much this man cared for him. He had saved Gabe’s life by ending one of his dearest friend’s lives. Gabe was disappointed he let his frustration get the better of him.

  Michael sat back in his seat, his face not displaying any reaction to Gabe’s words. He simply sat there in silence, looking at Gabe.

  Gabe wasn’t sure if he needed to apologize or simply move on and hope Michael would forget his words. At last he continued. “You know how the Oracle is. According to Uri, she told Sophie that the two of us were meant to be. Does it make sense to you that she would tell Sophie we are destined to be together and then turn around and tell you Sophie is going to drive me away? The Oracle is not right in the head. Everyone knows she likes to play with people’s minds.”

  Michael continued to sit in silence, displaying no emotion. Gabe quickly began to think he probably should have gone with the apology instead of continuing down the same path.

  “I’m just saying what everyone else already knows about her.” Gabe added, trying anything to get past the uncomfortable tension.

  “I know exactly what she does, Gabe.” Michael replied in an even and hushed tone. “However, none of us can deny she has ability—a gift. She led us to you after all. You do realize the trackers were within hours of finding you. That’s how close it was.”

  Gabe remembered back to that night he had arrived at the manor. Glancing over at Sophie, he could almost envision her back on the side of the road, battling those demons to save his life. These people had tried to protect him and nurture him, but all he seemed to focus on were the things that annoyed him.

  “You’re right.” Gabe whispered, relenting his anger. “I just want to know how to fix Sophie.” Gabe demanded.

  Michael looked down at his clasped hands. “Uri and I were discussing that before we heard the commotion in the hall. I’m afraid it’s not going to be easy.”

  “Nothing ever is in this place.” Gabe muttered.

  “Honestly, Gabe, I need you for our plan to work.” Michael said.

  “Of course!” Gabe quickly replied.

  “Well, I can’t depend on you until we fix whatever is going on between us.”

  “What?”

  “It’s clear there is tension between us. Uri has expressed to me some of the frustrations you have been feeling. Unless you can trust me completely, the plan we have will not work.”

  “I’ll be fine.” Gabe dismissed, trying to reassure Michael.

  “I am not taking that for an answer, Gabe. We need to have this talk. You have a problem with me. We need to discuss it.”

  “You really want to do this?” Gabe asked, cautiously.

  With a nod from Michael, Gabe continued, “I felt hurt when you brought me here and made all these promises of it being like a family. Then as soon as I move in, you checked out. I barely saw you this summer. Then there is the entire situation with Baal.”

  “What do you mean?” Michael inquired, sincerely concerned.

  “One of the most powerful demons manages to get in my head. I tell you all. Everyone flips out and then nothing. Not another word is said about it to me. Sometimes I feel like I am a sitting duck. Nobody in power here seems to give a damn.”

  “Gabe, just because we don’t tell you everything doesn’t mean the problem isn’t being addressed.” Michael explained reassuringly.

  “Don’t you think I should know what’s going on? I survived a long time without you.” Gabe argued.

  “We don’t tell you what’s going on for your own protection.”

  “What is that supposed to mean? How can that possibly benefit me?”

  “One of the abilities a Guardian has that comes with age is to lock your mind. A lot of demons, especially trackers or a demon with the age and experience of Baal, can get into your head. They can catch glimpses of what you see. It was clear that Baal had found a path into your mind. The more you knew of our plans, the more Baal would know. That is why we kept you in the dark and why I avoided you.” Michael further explained, sympathy filling his voice.

  “Well, that still doesn’t explain why you have been so hard on me!”

  “I know I've been hard, but it was for your protection as well, Gabe.”

  “How about my tests? Everyone thinks I did a great job, except you.” Gabe argued. “I don’t see how cutting me down on my performance is a way to protect me.”

  “I had to do that. The only way we can keep Baal from entering your mind is if you are here, on the grounds. Our clerics have been casting constant protection spells to strengthen the barrier. Sometimes I fear even that is not enough. If you were on field assignments there is no way we could keep you safe.”

  “Why wouldn’t you just tell me that?” Gabe moaned.

  “I couldn’t. Everything had to be believable in case somehow Baal managed to break the barrier and get into your mind.” Michael insisted.

  “So why tell me now?” Gabe asked.

  “Things have changed. If we are going to help Sophie and the others, I need you. Are we past this?”

  Gabe was still frustrated at Michael. But with a better understanding of why he did the things he did, once again, Gabe felt remorseful about his behavior.

  “Yeah,” Gabe replied in an almost whisper and then nodded his head to reaffirm his verbal response.

  “So what’s the plan?” Gabe asked, eager to discover how he could help his beloved Sophie.

  “The curse on the artifacts is a powerful one. We will need to banish the demons behind it to break the spell.”

  “Great. Who is behind it then?” Gabe asked.

  “We don’t know.” Michael replied.

  “Wait, what? No.” The confused words stumbled from Gabe’s lips.

  A second later, the door opened and Uri walked in, quickly moving to Michael’s side.

  “Is the girl alright?” Michael asked.

  “She will be fine.” Uri replied, glancing over at Gabe. Gabe was full of regret for even speaking to Neru. If she had just avoided him, she would have never gotten hurt.

  “I was just explaining to Gabe what we’re up against.” Michael continued. “Even though we don’t know who is behind it, we know where to start. Iron Gate is where the runes came from, so that is the best place to begin.”

  “Great, so when do we transport?” Gabe asked.

  “We can’t use a transportation spell.” Uri explained.

  “What? Why not?” Gabe exclaimed.

  “Do you remember the beach? Michael transported us only a couple of miles and you and I were out for a day. We don’t have the age, experience, or ability to focus like we need to for that distance of transportation. We will have to take the Alicorns.” Uri explained.

  “Fine, when do we leave?” Gabe inquired eagerly.

  “It’s not that simple.” Michael added. “Baal is still tracking you. As soon as you leave the manor, you will no longer be protected.”

  “Well, I’m going.” Gabe snapped.

  “I agree you need to go, but we need to be clever in how we go about it.” Michael said with a smile.

  His grin made Gabe nervous.

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  Gabe glanced over to Uri and Michael as they walked towards the stables with heavy and purposeful steps.

  “So you understand the plan?” Michael asked, looking back at Gabe.

  “I guess, but I’m not sure how comfortable I am with it.”

  “I’m sure Michael wouldn’t send us out unless he thought our chances were good.” Uri chimed in confidently.

  “Look, boys,” Michael began. “I am not going to lie to you. What we are about to do is extremely dangerous. I have no idea how it will shake out. With that being said, I believe it’s the only way, Gabe.”

  “What if the decoy doesn’t work?” Gabe asked nervously.

  “It will.” Uri reassured Gabe.

&nb
sp; “Let's go over this one more time.” Michael began, coming to a stop outside the stables. “Baal will know the moment you have left the safety of the manor. There is no way you will be able to keep him out of your mind at your level, we know that. That means we have to figure out a way to combat him.”

  “I just wish it was in a way that I could defend myself.” Gabe replied.

  “I really believe the best way is for you to be asleep. He’ll still be able to penetrate your dreams, but if you are asleep you can’t give away any details of where you are since you won’t be able to see anything and you don’t know the flight path.”

  “Yeah, while I get the reasoning behind me being asleep, can you see why it’s the part of the plan I am feeling real uncomfortable with? What if he finds us? I can’t exactly protect myself while unconscious.” Gabe’s anxiety over the plan rang through his voice.

  “Honestly, Gabe, if Baal finds us, it won’t matter if you’re asleep or awake, we’re dead.” Uri added.

  “Gee, thanks, Uri. That's inspiring.” Gabe chirped sarcastically.

  “It’s not going to come to that!” Michael exclaimed. “Worst case, if Baal finds you, Uri should be able to transport you back here, right?”

  Uri smiled as he answered, “It won’t be pretty, but we should make it back in one piece, I think.”

  “Baal will never think I allowed you to leave the manor unless I was the one at your side. I’ll travel south on another Alicorn. I will allow the trackers to catch a few glimpses in my mind. They will most likely assume they have cracked my thoughts. If they find me, then they think they will find you.” Michael expounded.

  “This still doesn’t seem like a great idea.” Gabe muttered.

  “Do you want to help Sophie? “ Uri snapped, exhausted by Gabe’s apprehension.

  Not waiting for Gabe to answer, Michael interjected. “Once you are at Iron Gate, you two should be safe. Their clerics will be able to protect you from the trackers.”

  “Okay, well I guess I’m as ready as I will ever be.” Gabe knew how untrue the words actually were. He had zero confidence in this plan, but he would do anything to save Sophie.

  The three walked into the stables. The Alicorns greeted them. They were—as always—ready to assist in any way possible. Michael looked at his two young students. “Haim will make sure Raimie, Dina, and Sophie remain in a deep sleep until you return. Contact me once you arrive. Be safe.”

  Gabe felt terrible for being so angry with his mentor. Everything Michael had done was to protect him. Gabe had treated him with such disrespect in recent nights, he wasn’t sure if his words could change anything.

  “Somnus.” The moment the word left Michael’s mouth, Gabe was consumed by a blackness that hung like blankets all around him.

  Gabe stared into the dark, wondering if this was what it was like for Sophie. A few moments passed. The silence of the darkness had turned into a buzzing white noise. Gabe swiped at the darkness in front of him to see if he could cause any changes in it, but nothing happened.

  Gabe accepted that this is what the entire journey would be like. But just as he did, he caught sight of a white feather falling slowly through the darkness. It fell slow and graceful; Gabe thought it looked to be dancing.

  He had no thoughts in his mind of where it came from or why it was there. He simply accepted it was a beautiful distraction to the darkness.

  A second later, another feather fell and then another. Gabe stared in awe at their choreography. Gabe heard a distant whistling sound. He frantically looked around for the source that disrupted his peace. The louder it got, the more it became clear; it was a scream and not a whistle.

  Gabe’s eyes shot upward. A large white object flew toward him quickly.

  Before he could blink, the object rocketed past him into the nothingness. As it flew past, Gabe could see it was in fact a person. What was worse is that it was his mentor, Michael. He had massive white wings on his back and was dressed in full body armor that looked like something from the time of the Romans and Gladiators.

  One of the white wings was covered in deep, red blood. His screams were haunting, but not as much as the desperate look of fear on his face as he fell past him.

  Gabe shut his eyes tightly and repeated to himself, “It’s not real, it’s a dream. It’s not real, it’s a dream.”

  When he opened his eyes again, Gabe felt a tremendous relief that Michael and the blackness were gone. Instead, he was in a white field that extended as far as his eyes could see. It was covered in a layer of plump, full dandelions. He didn’t recognize the place and was sure he had never been there, asleep or awake.

  “Hello?” Gabe called out, surprised to hear his voice echo in the openness.

  In the distance, Gabe caught sight of a figure standing next to a Cherry tree that was in full bloom. It was too far to make out who the person was. He called out again.

  “Hello there?”

  Still, no response from the figure. Before he could stop himself, Gabe walked toward the figure, calling out again as he came closer. “Who’s there?”

  When he closed in on the figure, he could see the silhouette of girl wearing a white dress. She held tight to a flowing white scarf that blew in the wind behind her. The gust of wind sent little bits of the dandelions flying all around, dancing around her body.

  Gabe inched closer. Slowly, the girl turned to face him. Gabe sighed. Before him stood Sophie, her auburn hair falling perfectly at the side of her face. Her eyes glowed with the intense blue he loved so much. He had lost many hours over the summer gazing into those entrancing eyes. Her pale skin almost seemed to glimmer in the sunlight.

  “Sophie.” Gabe gasped, then fell silent at the sight of her overwhelming and natural beauty.

  Sophie pulled at the flowing scarf and wrapped it around her shoulders. Once it was secure, she turned back around to look out over the horizon. She didn’t say a word.

  Gabe felt an overwhelming need to be with her, to be at her side. He began to run towards her. His feet became heavier with every step. Gabe pushed harder, his muscles burning. Looking down, he saw the earth had turned into a thick and heavy clay like mud.

  “Sophie,” he cried, reaching out towards her. She still didn’t turn around.

  Gabe went down onto his hands and knees. He started to crawl towards her through the torturous earth.

  The closer he came to Sophie, the darker the skies grew. Ominous gray clouds billowed together, forming one large mass. The tree beside Sophie, which had been in bloom with white cherry blossoms, transformed into a dead and decaying shell of its former self.

  Just feet away from Sophie, Gabe could see the bottom of her dress had turned into filthy tatters. The mud reached up her dress in a veining pattern. Gabe knew he just had to get her to look into his eyes and everything would be alright.

  He reached out with a shaking hand to grab hold of her dress and force her to look at him. His mud covered hand grabbed hold of her calf through the gown.

  “Sophie, please,” he pleaded, unsure of what he even wanted from her.

  “How could you?” she whispered at last, still not turning to look at him.

  Shocked and confused by her words, Gabe’s mouth fell open. “I don’t understand, Sophie. How could I what?” Gabe begged for an answer to her vague accusation.

  In less than a second, Sophie turned and grabbed the wrist of his hand he had been touching her leg with. She brought her face within inches of his. Her face was contorted, twisted with hatred and anger.

  “How could you just give me to the demons like that?” Her eyes flickered red for a moment and then the color covered them.

  Gabe’s heart filled up with an overwhelming fear at what he saw. Sophie tightened her grasp on his wrist, her nails emerging like claws and digging into his flesh. He stared at her, eyes open wide, unable to speak. In horror, he watched as her flesh turned gray and began to flake away like ash, revealing a molten colored beast beneath long, sharp fangs. The d
ress she had worn burned away along with her flesh. What stood before him couldn’t be described in any other way but as a monster.

  A deafening noise filled his ears. Gabe clenched his eyes shut and covered his ears in pain. When he managed to open his eyes again, much to his horror, he saw he was completely surrounded by toads. The thunderous noise caused his rib cage to rattle within him. Looking back at the monster that had him in its grasp, Gabe realized it had not been Sophie, but in fact, was Baal.

  “She’s ours now!” he moaned, flames flickering and popping around the corners of his mouth. He then let out a wicked cry and released Gabe’s wrist.

  Gabe turned and desperately began clawing at the earth, trying to crawl away from the demon’s grasp.

  “Why run, Gabe? We know where you are. We have her. Why not join us? Otherwise you will never be with her again.” When Baal spoke, the entire earth trembled. Gabe felt like there was a vice gripping around his heart, squeezing the life from it.

  Gabe closed his eyes tight. His entire body shook, overwhelmed with sadness and fear. The toads grew louder.

  “Gabe!” The familiar voice filled the skies. “Gabe, come on! Wake up!” Uri commanded.

  Gabe refused to open his eyes. Baal had already duped him once by appearing as Sophie, he was not going to fall for any more of his trickery.

  Uri pulled Gabe from the Alicorn, repeatedly slapping him in an effort to break the spell. His awaken spell had not worked. Uri feared Gabe might be too deep asleep for him to wake him.

  “Gabe!” he shouted one last time, shaking his friend wildly.

  Gabe gasped, opening his eyes in a panic and flailing his arms in a defensive motion. “Gabe, it’s me!” Uri said, grabbing hold of his face and forcing him to look into his eyes. “Look at me. It’s your friend Uri. You’re safe. We’re at Iron Gate.”

  Gabe gasped, trying to catch his breath. He could feel the pressure around his heart releasing. Realizing it was in fact his trusted friend looking down at him, Gabe let out a sigh of relief. Leaning forward, he wrapped his arms tightly around him in a brotherly embrace.