The Keeper's Curse

by Diana Harrison

  “As weird as they look to you,” Alex reminded her, “you look as weird to them.”

  “But I look like them.”

  “Only a little. You resemble Dad a lot more than Mom.”

  She fought the urge to bury her face in his chest to avoid the stares, and just as she was about to give into this idea, they reached Jade.

  “Alright then, I guess she’s in my hands now,” Jade said. She didn’t seem to exhibit any signs of resentment, which relieved Emmy.

  “If anything happens,” Alex said, facing his little sister. “You tell me, and I’ll come get you. I don’t need to be in class, it’s only the first day.”

  She nodded a little too enthusiastically, trying to mask her anxiety. He messed up her hair, unsettling the ribbon tying it back, and disappeared into the school.

  “Okay, we had better head to the administration office,” Jade chirped. “Everyone knows you’re here already – don’t look so surprised! Nobody has been brave enough to attack security in years. Your mom’s a hit. Anyways, you already have your form filled out so all you have to do is sign it and we can head to class. Alex asked me to take the same theory classes as you so I can help you out. You’re stuck with me all morning.”

  Emmy didn’t know whether to be touched or annoyed at Alex for putting that responsibility on her.

  They opened the double oak doors which lead into the front foyer. It was just as majestic inside; the panelled walls were varnished, and the floor would have glistened if it hadn’t been covered by an enormous Persian rug. The gold-outlined windows were a story above them, slanted to give them the most amount of light possible, casting shadows on the animal heads lining the walls.

  Jade grabbed Emmy’s arm before she could take it all in, leading her down the main corridor, around a corner to a door with a gold plaque on it that read “Front Office”.

  “This is the principal’s office, and administration,” she said. She didn’t even knock upon entering, dragging Emmy in with her.

  The principal’s office must have been in the back, because all Emmy could see was a mahogany desk and a little woman behind it that Jade greeted as Ms. Spillet. Despite never seeing Emmy before, Ms. Spillet recognized her immediately. The receptionist went over the basic protocol of what was and wasn’t tolerated behaviour at Urquhart. She told Emmy quite frankly that if she used her powers in theory classes, she would face a week of suspension for every offense.

  Emmy took all this in while signing her name on several pieces of paper. She thanked the woman and the two girls left the office.

  “Great. Now we had better hurry, we have International Relations in five minutes.”

  Alex had told her in half-comprehensible explanations the outline of the school and where everything was, but she had never really formed a map in her head. They went through a seemingly endless assemblage of corridors, all of them containing mounted lit torches, growling animal heads and/or tapestries depicting blood-splattered battles. Emmy noticed a fondness for decapitation in the hangings.

  They made it just in time as the teacher got up to begin the lecture. The room was circular with seating around the edges and upwards like a miniature Roman amphitheatre, and in the middle a platform was positioned where the teacher stood.

  She had a hard time paying attention, too curious to stop herself from looking around. She caught snippets of the lecture – mostly to do with places she had never heard of – but for the most part she just stared at her classmates and the room. Her eyes trailed the wall hangings, the octagonal columns two storeys high, leading up to a ring of windows near the ceiling –

  Emmy saw it again. The bird. She looked to her left and right and behind her, and as she suspected, nothing unusual was going on. It just stared straight at her with those bottomless, unnatural eyes. She bowed her head down towards her notebook, jotting notes to make it seem like she was paying attention, but when she looked up again, it was still there. It was hard to decipher if it comprehended any more than a regular bird; it tilted its head and ruffled its feathers, but its gaze never wandered from Emmy. She wished she had something to throw to knock it off the ledge, but figured it wasn’t something worth getting suspended on the first day over.

  The bell rang after what felt like an excruciating amount of time. Emmy threw her book bag over her shoulder and sprinted out of the room, waiting for Jade at the threshold.

  They continued on to their History class, which Emmy found incredibly hard to follow since she didn’t recognize any of the names of people, places, and events.

  After the class, the two girls headed to the cafeteria for lunch. Emmy mumbled about needing to get to a library as soon as possible, which Jade seemed to find funny, as if she had never heard of a library before.

  “I’m going to make you eat lunch with me and my friends,” Jade said, pulling her arm again. “Alex told me you’d object, so I’m not giving you the option to leave.”

  Emmy smiled faintly, ignoring the knot in her stomach. The last time she had made new friends she had been eight.

  The cafeteria was very bright, like every other room in Urquhart, due to the many lancet windows, dim sunlight behind a thick blanket of cloud reaching the glass. Jade skipped through the clusters of circular tables over to the far end where there was a table of five people, with two seats still empty.

  Jade sat down, shouting out a hearty hello, while dragging Emmy into the seat beside her. Emmy lowered her face.

  They chatted for a few minutes, and only when she heard a boy say, “So, who’s the new girl, Jade?” did she finally raise her head.

  Across from her was a handsome black boy with dreadlocks pulled back from his face, smiling at her.

  Jade threw an arm around her as if they had been friends for years. “This is Emmy, Alex’s sister, but of course you knew that. Emmy, this is Teddy.”

  She accepted his proffered hand.

  “Of course I know who you are! You look just like Alex, all soft and fragile and gooey –”

  “Teddy!” Jade exclaimed.

  “What? She does! Emmy, trust me, it’s a compliment.” He took a bite out of an apple in his hand. “You look normal enough to me. Hey, do you want me to take you out flying tomorrow? It’s a lot of fun.”

  Jade, who had started talking to another friend, perked up her ears at the statement. “Teddy, no! She’s not ready, she just got here last week.”

  Teddy threw up his hands. “Relax, I’ll just put a pair of solators on her. Nothing will happen.” Jade gave him an admonishing look which he responded to with a charming smile. “I’ll watch her the whole time, I promise. So Rookie, what do you say?”

  “Emmy, you’re under no obligation,” Jade said, straightening her back.

  Teddy opened his mouth to agree with Jade, but Emmy interrupted. “Actually, I kind of want to,” she said, surprising herself and the other two. “I’ve always wanted to fly,” she added.

  As silly as this sounded, it was true. To actually fly sounded terribly exciting and she was curious to see how it worked. To reassure Jade, Emmy held up her arm, revealing the glinting crystal ring around her wrist. “I can’t go crazy, it’s impossible. Teddy will be in full control.”

  Jade’s expression darkened. “Which is exactly what I’m worried about.”

  But Teddy just winked at her when Jade turned her attention elsewhere. Emmy resisted the urge to giggle.

  The friends all started talking again, and Emmy was left to once again study her surroundings. She had only been there for half of one day, but she felt the anxiety slowly dissipating in her stomach. Despite their unusual appearance, everyone seemed relatively similar to her humans back home.

  She was staring out the window into the courtyard when once again, she saw it, staring at her with its beady white eyes. Emmy stiffened, trying to appear casual. Maybe if she stopped worrying about it, the bird would lose interest and go away.

  She lowered her head again and played with her fingers, trying to calm down
. She started taking diaphragmatic breaths like the technique she had learned in a psychology textbook. She closed her eyes and let her muscles relax, counting the seconds of her breathing in her head. Like she always did when she was upset, she slipped inside herself, as if she could feel her inner core, a tiny light warming her up. She began to relax, when something radically different happened.

  She began to hear a voice in her head.

  … I did everything he said, and now he wants me to do the double recommended time? Who does he think he is …

  Emmy’s eyes flew open and she nearly fell out of her seat. She jerked around, looking for the voice in the sea of chatter in the cafeteria.

  … You can t least try to be supportive, you know. Look, I know this stuff is important, but I’ve mastered it! It’s like he’s punishing me. Does he want me to have no social life whatsoever?

  It was definitely coming from inside her head. The voice’s echo ricocheted inside her skull like butterflies were inside, madly trying to escape.

  I just want you to say something! Anything at all …

  “Gah!” she cried, shoving her chair backwards and standing up.

  Breathing heavily, she turned her attention to the table where everyone was staring at her.

  Jade was to her side at once. “Is everything okay? Do you need to see a nurse?”

  “Did you hear that?”

  “Here what?”

  What was she supposed to say? A voice? There were hundreds of voices around them.

  “Nothing,” she said. “Just ringing in my ears. I thought I heard a voice. Sorry.”

  “Alright well, we’d better be heading to class. You have equestrian studies next, right?”

  “Yeah.” She had no idea.

  “You better get to the stable. It’s on the other side of the school out back, it’s quite a walk. Persephone has that class too, she’ll take you there.”

  “What?” came a nasty voice behind Jade.

  Emmy moved to the right to get a look at who had just spoken. She was a tiny Arabian girl, not any taller than five feet. Short black hair furled her little face, her brown skin painted with heavy dark make up. Her kohl-rimmed eyes roamed Emmy with disapproval, like she would rather rip her own arm off than have to talk to her.

  “Er,” Jade said. “This is my best friend, Persephone. She’ll happily take you.”

  “Will I?”

  Jade gave her a “not now” expression. “Yes, of course you will. You’re a really experienced rider, aren’t you?”

  Persephone leaned back in her seat and crossed her arms. “Yes, I am.” She gave Emmy another look up and down and sighed. “Okay, then, let’s get going, Alex’s Sister.”

  Jade beamed at her, giving a quick goodbye to Teddy, the boy beside him, Lennox, and Ivory and Ebony, the two other girls at the table. Emmy snorted a laugh at their names, although nobody else seemed to find this funny.

  Persephone pivoted on her heels and headed out of the cafeteria, and Emmy followed suit. She tried to study her from the side without being too conspicuous. It was very hard to believe this girl was Jade’s best friend.

  “She likes your brother,” Persephone said, interrupting Emmy’s thoughts.

  “Sorry?”

  “Alex. Jade likes him. If Alex asked her to watch out for you, which I’m sure he did, no doubt she’ll take you under her wing.” She paused. “Jade does that. It’s like she has a need to take in any stray that comes in here. She brings all the misfits together. Like me.”

  Emmy tried to keep her amusement to herself at the idea of someone liking her rock-headed brother. She could sort of see it; they seemed to have a lot in common and had similar personalities, something that couldn’t be said about Jade and Persephone. However, it didn’t surprise Emmy much that Jade liked to help people who needed it, like herself, or Persephone.

  Persephone was right: the walk was long. It was made worse that the two of them had nothing to say to each other. Persephone didn’t seem interested at all in Emmy’s unique background, and Emmy was too scared to say anything to her in case she got angry or ignored her.

  The cold air bit at Emmy’s skin unpleasantly when they got outside, and even more so in the stables where it was moist and dark. Boots and helmets of all sizes lined the far wall, Persephone helping Emmy find the proper sizes in silence.

  She sat on the bench, gazing at all the horses in their stalls. It was the biggest stable Emmy had ever seen, with over forty horses, their muzzles breathing out puffs of frosted air.

  The lesson for the beginners was taught by a woman everyone called Foxe, who didn’t look much older than Emmy herself. While she was passionate about her subject, Emmy found her to be rather condescending, not even letting them get on the horse even though the majority of them had ridden before.

  Emmy stared longingly at Persephone on the field, riding a beautiful beige palomino, seeming to be having a swell time jumping over hurdles while attempting to throw a lance at a target board.

  Too soon however, it was the last class of the day, the one Emmy had been dreading since the moment she got up. Peacekeeping.

  “Come on, we have to hurry up!” Persephone urged her as she took off her boots. “If we’re late the coaches will make us make us fight them, or each other. And no offense, but I’d probably kill you.”

  Emmy suppressed a groan, picking up the pace. She had her tracksuit on within thirty seconds.

  The two of them sprinted out of the stables and across the grounds towards the edge of the forest. Emmy didn’t question as Persephone seemed to know where she was going, but they were getting farther and farther away from the school.

  “What exactly do we do in this class?” Emmy asked.

  “It’s different in every one, and the coaches never tell us what’s coming. Although since it’s the first day of classes I’m guessing it’ll be pretty basic stuff, lucky for you.”

  Emmy was finally able to see a group of students in a circle. On the edge of the circle were two men who Emmy assumed were the coaches.

  Persephone pointed to the two, “That one’s Maverick Babbage, and that moron beside him is Nero Flin. They both take themselves seriously, but do not piss off Babbage. He’s the senior coach and will tear you apart if you mock him.”

  The one she pointed to called Babbage looked like a spider with long skinny limbs and a tuff of gray hair. Flin on the other hand looked like a bumblebee, round and buzzing with excitement. They came across as mismatched as Jade and Persephone.

  Jade glared at them as they ran up and whispered, “Where’ve you been?”

  “Relax,” Persephone snapped. “We didn’t miss anything, did we?”

  Only a few seconds later Babbage cleared his throat, silencing the class.

  “Alright, since this is the first class of the semester, we’ll make this a short one,” he said, wheezing to make his voice loud enough. “Every man for himself, no weapons, no contact, just palewraiths. You have the whole forest. Last one standing at the end gets the first checkmark.”

  Emmy felt the blood freeze in her veins. She had to fend for herself?

  Jade must have seen her expression. “Don’t worry,” she said. “I’ll have your back. I’ll make sure you’re not the first one out.”

  “Everyone line up!” Flin called.

  The class obeyed, turning towards the forest and bending their knees as if they were about to run a marathon. Babbage held up a frail white hand.

  “Ready! One, two, three – Go!”

  Jade had mentioned earlier that she was a strapper, someone with impossibly strong physique, and she wasn’t lying. She picked Emmy up, threw her on her back, and ran into the forest. She had a sense of déjà vu of Annalise and her running through the forest, and her mother’s super speed and strength now made sense. The difference was there were no lampposts guiding them this time, although Jade seemed to know where she was going.

  She suddenly stopped, throwing Emmy off her back. “Hide up in a tree
. Can you climb a tree?”

  “Yes, I can climb a tree!” Emmy said, insulted.

  “Excellent. I think someone’s coming. Hurry up.”

  She began to climb, seconding Jade’s hearing something rustling in the trees. She had only climbed a few branches when the prowler came into view. It was a girl with a scowl on her face, intense with concentration.

  Jade threw a palewraith her way, and the girl blocked it in a split second. Emmy watched them, entranced, the two clouds battling ferociously when another player came into view. This person must have been a strapper too, moving so fast Emmy couldn’t even see her. Jade was being ambushed by the two of them but Jade seemed to be handling herself well, shooting palewraiths at them like bullets.

  Should she try to help Jade? Hoisting herself up comfortably on the branch, Emmy unclasped the frenum bracelet and attempted to throw a blow. Nothing.

  An enormous whirlpool of palewraiths came storming at Jade, who bounded backwards ten feet.

  Emmy attempted it again, focusing her attention on the first girl, breathing steadily, trying to find peace within herself and steady her quivering hand.

  And then she heard it again.

  Pivot, left, swing –

  “Sacrement,” she whispered under her breath. “There’s no voice in my head, there’s no voice in my head.”

  Block, kick, right – HA! Did you see that, Rozelyn?

  A palewraith blasted from Emmy, almost knocking her out of the tree. She swung backwards, desperately grabbing onto the branch. Her palewraith, strong and fast, bounded right passed the girl and exploded beside her. The girl looked up; this gave Jade the distraction she needed to knock her over onto her back.

  Jade yelped with joy. “Good job, Emmy!”

  The other strapper took notice of Emmy for the first time, and without so much as a blink, threw a large cloud at her, knocking her out of the tree. Emmy would have fallen onto the ground to a broken back if Jade hadn’t placed a palewraith beneath Emmy, cushioning her fall.