The Keeper's Curse

by Diana Harrison

  She felt her mom’s firm hand on her shoulder. “We have to go now.”

  She didn’t want to know where they were going, so she didn’t ask. The three of them walked out of the master bedroom, Emmy heading towards the staircase to go downstairs.

  “No, honey, not that way.”

  They were heading in the opposite direction, towards her brother’s old room.

  Alex. She hadn’t seen Alex in five years.

  The room was used as a storage closet now. They made their way through the boxes until her mom stopped at the far end where the old dumbwaiter was. It had been boarded up for so long Emmy had almost forgotten its existence, being told that it had been broken since before she was born.

  Without hesitation Annalise clenched her fist and smashed right through the boards that had closed it off. Emmy’s eyes widened. The splinters clattered to the floor, the sound echoing as if for emphasis.

  There was not, as she had always been told, a dumbwaiter on the other side of the boards. Instead there was a small corridor made out of mouldy-smelling wood, and at the end of this corridor emanated a milky, yellow, glowing light. She squinted to get a glimpse of what was causing it, but it was too bright.

  Her parents started to cry again. They lead her through the corridor. She was morbidly curious as to what was at the end of this hall, so she kept walking with only an occasional nudge from her mom. Her heartbeat sped up the closer she got, her pupils contracting more and more, and by the time she reached the end, she saw it clearly.

  Against the wall a bright gold sceptre was positioned into the ground at about her eye-level, and perched on top of this sceptre was a glass ball. Extending from the sceptre was a collar of gold encircling the ball, holding it still, and engraved on the collar, all the way around, was the word Methelwood. Narrowing her eyes until they were nearly shut, she was able to make out what was inside the glass ball and gasped.

  It was like a snow globe, in the sense that there was a little scene inside, but unlike a snow globe, the scene was alive and moving. On the brink of the glass wispy clouds visibly stirred, but never quite left the perimeters of the ball. Most of the glass ball was shrouded due to the clouds, but she was able to make out flecks of mountains on the edges and a few treetops. She could just faintly hear the noise of wind and bird calls.

  The technology was impressive, but she didn’t quite understand. What was this used for?

  “Come, give your father another hug,” Annalise commanded.

  Emmy turned away from the globe and obeyed since she didn’t know when she was going to see her father again. He squeezed her tightly only for a moment, then pulled her back to look her in the eyes.

  “I love you,” he said, enunciating clearly to make sure she understood. “If I could do it all over again I would still choose this. I would still marry your mother. I would still choose you and Alex. I would choose you over a lifetime with anyone else. Do you understand?”

  She didn’t, but she nodded anyway. Her vocal cords were growing tighter and tighter, nearly frozen.

  Her parents exchanged another “I love you” and embrace. Reluctantly Annalise tore away from him, grabbed Emmy’s arm, and turned towards the globe.

  Before Emmy could give her father one last goodbye, Annalise cupped the globe with her hand, and the world fell away.

  Her body turned to jelly as she was dragged into what felt like an implosion. From what she could gather, she was being pulled inside the globe. The only thing holding her steady was her mother’s arm. The world began to swirl around her like a manic merry-go-round in a prismatic kaleidoscope of colours. Her stomach heaved, emptying its contents. While she was aware she was on her feet, she felt the sensation of falling, vertigo, and lack of air, causing her to throw up a second time.

  After a minute or so it finally stopped, and she yanked her hand out of her mother’s. She didn’t realize how weak she was without her because for the third time that night she fell to the ground, shaking uncontrollably.

  Her mother fell to her knees beside her, her face tearstained. Emmy looked down, noticing the red and black tartan carpet beneath them. She raised her head, looking around. They were somewhere else. Not her house. The place was unrecognizable, but she knew all she needed to know. She was no longer at home.

  “I’m sorry,” her mother cried. “If I had warned you, you wouldn’t have come.”

  Emmy couldn’t speak, but her eyes must have indicated that she was only wondering one thing. “He couldn’t come with us, Emmy,” said her mother.

  Emmy scrunched up her face, pleading silently with her mother who only gave her a look of desperation. Emmy started to cry before her mother confirmed what she already knew.

  “I’m sorry, Emmy. You can never see your father again. You can’t go back home.” She smiled bitterly. “This is your home now.”

  Chapter 2

  Methelwood

  When Emmy’s eyes adjusted, she noticed they were in a dome-shaped room reminiscent of a hotel lobby. To her left was a pair of heavy oak doors with golden knockers, and on the right, a grand staircase with plush, dark, red carpet. At the top of the staircase a hallway tunnelled so that Emmy couldn’t see the end of it. She rolled on her back, seeing the sky through the ceiling made of glass, and realized vaguely that wherever they were it was no longer the middle of the night. It was sunset.

  “Get up,” her mother’s harsh whisper ordered.

  Emmy opened her mouth to ask what had just happened, but her throat was still frozen, and all that came out was a whistling sound. She seemed to have lost her voice.

  She heard footsteps behind her and suddenly realized they weren’t alone. Two enormous men headed towards them, clad entirely in black, but this was not what got Emmy’s attention. They had the strangest faces she had ever seen; the edges of their faces were sharp enough to cut, and had eerily bright eyes with luminous, almost transparent, skin. They looked, Emmy had to admit, exactly like her mother.

  “Greetings from Methelwood,” one of them boomed from the other side of the room. He spoke in an accent Emmy had never heard before, comparable only to that of an Irish lilt with a lisp. “What’s your business, Madam?”

  “I live here,” Annalise said tersely. “Now please, there’s someone I have to see, so if we could skip the interrogation –”

  “Sorry, Ma’am, rules are rules,” the other one said, trying to appear apologetic. “This should only take a minute. Do you have some identification with you?”

  “Look, I’m really in a hurry.”

  By this time the men had reached them. Emmy noticed they both had what appeared to be a bow and a quiver of arrows slung over each of their shoulders.

  One of them turned to Emmy, scanning her up and down, his eyes falling on her suitcase. Their faces were even more severe up close.

  “You live here, huh?” he said. “Ma’am, please, some identification.”

  Her mother sighed. “All right, fine,” she said, stuffing her hand in her pocket. The men didn’t know her, but Emmy recognized that look in her mother’s eye and prepared herself to run.

  “Emmy, honey, I need to check in your suitcase,” she said in deadpan voice. Annalise didn’t wait for a reply, kneeling over to unzip it. Without warning, her mom flipped around and held out her hand, palm open. A black cloud materialized in front of her, light as bright as fire burning inside it like the one in the living room.

  Emmy backed away as her mother jerked her hand forward, and the cloud slammed right into the two men, knocking them over like bowling pins. Annalise grabbed her daughter’s hand and began to run towards the oak doors. Emmy looked over her shoulder, seeing the two men already up. And, just like her mother had done, they held out their hands and shot the strange glowing clouds towards her mother and her.

  Were her mother and the men controlling the clouds?

  Annalise came to a halt, her eyes blazing, and focused on the roof where a chandelier filled with candles hung. Without even raising her
arm this time, another cloud enfolded the chandelier, breaking it off from its hook, and it flew directly towards the men. Not bothering to look back to see if they were okay, Annalise clamped her hand onto Emmy’s and ran.

  The two of them pushed the doors open together, and Emmy gasped when the sharp air cut into her lungs. It was much colder than Montréal, wherever they were.

  Without so much as a blink, Annalise picked Emmy up, placed her on her back, and told her to hang on. Emmy wrapped her arms around her mother’s neck and when she did, Annalise began to run again, as fast as ever. Emmy’s weight should have slowed her down, but it was like she wasn’t even there.

  They definitely weren’t in Montréal any more. The building they had been in, from what Emmy could tell, was surrounded by nothing but forest. Annalise didn’t seem surprised at all by this, like she was expecting it. She took the small flagstone path in front of them, either side lined with glowing lampposts. They ran through an endless slew of trees, deeper and deeper into the forest, away from the only visible building. The trees were a blur as they shot by, tall and roofed with snow.

  After a few minutes her mother stopped, barely out of breath.

  “You can get off now,” she said, and Emmy obeyed. She had to pry her hands loose. Her entire body was frozen, still clad only in her pyjamas.

  They were standing in front of another structure that, once again, seemed to be the only one in the vast forest. Unlike the grandiosity of the last building, it appeared to be built by amateur hands. It had a quaint look to it with a thatched roof and decorated with bells, ribbons, and lights of the brightest colours. Painted across the front were the words, “The Noir Beanery”. Emmy could smell coffee and chocolate and hear rowdy laughter inside.

  She followed her mother, who headed inside. Annalise opened the door, causing a bell to ring, although no one could hear it. It was packed. There weren’t nearly enough tables or chairs, with customers sitting in the decrepit corners, socializing with their friends with coffee and pastries in hand. Orange lanterns lined the roof. The walls were covered in dark pretty shades of gossamer, interrupted only by the two arched fireplaces on either side of the room. The weirdest music Emmy had ever heard was playing in the background.

  She followed her mother through the crowd, occasionally bumping into people who didn’t seem to notice. Emmy kept her head down, not wanting to look at their faces, which were just as pointy and overly bright and colourful as the men who fought her mother. They made it to the front registers which didn’t have nearly enough cashiers. Annalise rested her arm on the counter and shouted, “Jade!”

  One of the cashiers, a tall, redheaded girl around Emmy’s age, jumped up and turned around. She looked at Annalise and furrowed her brows for half a second before recognition dawned.

  “Mrs. Rathers!” she shouted. “What are you doing here?”

  “I need to find him, you need to get him now,” Annalise panted. “Is he here?”

  Jade nodded, picking up on Annalise’s urgency. “Yes, yes. Come on.” She ran around the counter to them, leading the way to the side of the registers and through a back door. A narrow staircase hid behind it. Annalise seemed to have no problem keeping up with Jade’s bounding steps, but Emmy was becoming exhausted from the night’s events. When they reached the top, they were in a living area.

  “Alex!” Jade called. “You here? You’ll never guess who’s here to see you!”

  Emmy’s heart skipped a beat. Did Jade say what she thought she said?

  She heard footsteps coming their way, growing louder and louder.

  “Jade, I’m practicing,” came a low voice muffled by a wall’s distance. “This better be important or I’ll –”

  A door opened, and what came through was a young man. Despite the popular hypothesis, he had turned out to look nothing like their father. The stocky build and dark hair was all Annalise, while Emmy turned out to be the blonde and skinny one like her dad. But his eyes – the dark navy-blue eyes were identical to her own. Emmy covered her mouth with her hands. Her voice was still lost, but she mouthed his name. Alex.

  He had a look of dazed amazement on his face. His gaze on Annalise was brief before turning to his sister. She didn’t think he would recognize her.

  “Emmy? Is that really you?” He didn’t wait for a reply, but instead strode across the room and threw his arms around her. He was shaking with incredulous laughter. “I can’t believe this. I can’t believe you’re really here, that it finally happened.” He drew himself back to look at her. “Holy crap you’ve gotten tall. And your face ... I wouldn’t recognize you on the street! And your hair –”

  “Listen Alex,” Annalise spoke over him. Her harsh voice made Emmy wince. “We can talk later – I need you to get your things. We’re getting out of here.”

  Alex tore his eyes off from Emmy’s. “What? Leave where? Mom, the new semester starts next week. I can’t just leave in the middle of the year.”

  “Yes you can. I assaulted two security guards at the complex. They can’t find me, you know that, or I’m done.”

  Just then another woman who looked like an older version of Jade came into the room. With the loose dress she was wearing, accessorized with bangles, necklaces and a shawl draped around her shoulders, she had to be, without a doubt, the owner of the coffee shop below.

  Her stunned expression matched Alex’s. She put a hand over her heart. “Annie! Oh my goodness!”

  “Vera please, I need some food, clothes, and weapons if you have any.”

  The woman named Vera laughed and shook her head, not taking the command very seriously. “You just got here. What, I’ve taken in your son for five years and not so much as a ‘thanks’? So, is this your daughter?”

  Alex beamed and wrapped an arm around her. “Yes, this is Evangeline. But everyone calls her Emmy. So come on, tell us how it happened.”

  “She hasn’t spoken since we got here,” Annalise said. “I think she’s in shock. Now Vera, please, I need some supplies before someone comes to arrest me. They know I’ll have to come here first to get Alex. I’ll have to relocate to another orb.”

  Vera calmly went over to Annalise and put her hands on her shoulders. “Annie, relax. Just spend the night and we’ll work it out tomorrow. You must be tired.”

  “We need to leave now!” she shouted in a horribly high pitched voice. The whole room froze in an awkward silence. “They’re coming to arrest me! I don’t have time –”

  But she was cut off by the sharp sound of the wind, like an arrow whizzing by. Again, Emmy saw a cloud appear in front of them. It circled around and around, and when it dissipated, standing in the middle was a person. Her greyish-blonde hair was pulled tightly away from her face, making her appear stern, which made sense; she looked very angry.

  Annalise grabbed Emmy’s hand, ready to run again, and the woman’s eyes narrowed.

  “Don’t you dare Annie,” she said.

  At that moment the front door burst open, and several men dressed in black stormed in. Two grabbed a hold of Annalise, one on either side, and another secured Emmy in his grasp. She struggled for a moment before realizing it was pointless; her thrashes didn’t even budge the man.

  “No!” Alex cried, running towards them, which only ended up in him being tackled to the ground.

  Jade backed into the corner, but Vera stepped forward with a determined brow. “Circlet please,” she said, keeping her voice calm. “Don’t hurt them, they’ll go willingly. Please, Alex is still underage and Evangeline doesn’t know what’s going on.”

  The stern-looking woman snapped her gaze to Vera. “You’re on dangerously thin ice, Mrs. Woodworker. I would suggest you keep quiet. You’re lucky I don’t arrest you as well.”

  “For what?”

  “For aiding a fugitive!”

  Emmy started to understand just how bad the situation was. Fugitive. Arrest. Her mother running from the security guards. She understood enough. She wriggled in the guard’s grasp, but he see
med to be made of iron.

  “Circlet,” Annalise said. “I will go with you, I’ll do anything you want. Just get your cretins off of my children.”

  Circlet smiled without mirth, giving her a vulpine glare. “If I release you, you’ll try to run again. I’m not stupid. And I’m terribly sorry, but I need to interrogate them.”

  “Oh please, like I don’t know that you’ve been harassing Alex ever since I left him here.”

  “I’ve treated him with nothing but the utmost respect.” She turned to Alex. “Right, Mr. Rathers?”

  “Yes,” he said through gritted teeth. “But Emmy doesn’t know anything. Don’t summon the palewraiths again, they’ll scare her.”

  Circlet’s eyes fell on Emmy, and they softened significantly. “Well, I wouldn’t want to scare your little sister.”

  “Circlet, I said no!” Annalise spat. “Do what you want with me but find her another home. Don’t make her live here. Not Methelwood.”

  “What exactly will you have me do with her then?” Circlet queried. She strutted over to Annalise until they were only inches apart. Even with heels on, Circlet was significantly shorter. “You take her out of the orbs, mate with a human and breed two half crafters, then you only bothered to inform them they were crafters as teenagers? Do you realize how far behind she’ll be when she goes to school? How old is she?”

  “Fifteen.”

  “Wonderful – she was supposed to take the admission exam years ago. There’s no way she’ll be able to survive here, not to mention you’ve probably coddled her in some safe little neighbourhood without her ever experiencing fear a day in her life. Escaping to the real world and breeding with a human – I’m sorry, Annalise, but I have no choice but to arrest you for the double offence.” She raised her hand, signalling the men to release Alex and Emmy. “I don’t want to upset your family any more than you already have Annie, so Alex can stay with the Woodworkers for as long as he wants. Until I can find a home for Evangeline, she can live with me. I’ll take good care of her.”