Curse Reversed

by Rebecca Royce

  Kim put her hand on Eleanor’s arm. “I should not have brought up Ava while Mitchell is sleeping in your bed.”

  Clearly, Mitchell’s privacy spell didn’t keep the Enforcers from knowing things. “We’re friends. I don’t really get to feel sad even if I do. But hey, I’m crazy. Just out of Prestige. Who knows how I react to things? I should still be there, right?”

  “When in doubt, put yourself down, and then no one can think anything about you that you haven’t said aloud. I get it. I used to do the same thing. Maybe sometime we should have drinks that have alcohol in them instead of coffee. Except that would be highly inappropriate since I work for you.” She stepped back. “Good luck on your test. And, friendships can be complicated. Like the one you have with Mitchell. But sometimes they’re not. That’s why they’re complicated, right?”

  She was a married ex-Enforcer, she probably understood complicated really well. “I… I am as much sad for Mitchell’s pain as I am for the idea that he loved, or loves, someone else. It’s… odd. I can’t really pinpoint all of the things I feel. As for the other thing, you work for my grandfather.”

  “He pays me. That’s true. But make no mistake, Stefan and I work for you.”

  The school sent the questions using a spell that presented them right in front of her. She did the answers to best of her ability and waited for the next one to show up until it was finished. Eleanor breathed out and waited. Ten seconds later her score appeared.

  She’d passed and with outstanding marks. Eleanor jumped to her feet. That was fantastic.

  Another question appeared, and she paused to read it. Shall we send your scores to any universities that might be interested?

  Would there be any schools that would want a half-witch who spent time in Prestige and places like it? Could she even consider that?

  She almost said no but couldn’t make the word come. What if no one was interested? She sighed. “Yes, send them.”

  Maybe some place somewhere would like her last name or have pity on half-witches or something. Her mood dampened by having to make that decision, she left the library looking for Kim. She wasn’t there. Or at least not visible. Given their previous jobs, they probably knew how she’d done already.

  She put her hands in her pocket and made her way back to her bedroom. Eleanor entered quietly, finding Mitchell still asleep. Another hour had passed. Well, her news could wait until he got up. She sat down next to him on the bed, stretched out her legs, and grabbed a book off the bedside table.

  There was enough light to read. She lost herself in the story she’d been reading about a witch sea captain finding a woman lost at sea.

  Two hours later, Mitchell finally stirred. He rubbed at his eyes, waking up, slowly. “Wow. I… Hi. What time is it?” He sat up. “I’m stiff. I must have slept all night. Don’t you have a test to take? Are you going to be late?”

  He was so befuddled. She kissed his forehead. “Good morning. It’s lunchtime. I took my test. And I’m glad you slept well.”

  He blinked rapidly. “For real? That’s like twelve hours. I’ve never slept twelve hours. Well, at least not since I was a kid. Hi.” He kissed her, not on the forehead but a quick peck on her lips. “How did your test go?”

  “I passed.” She’d just leave it at that.

  His whole face erupted in a smile, a big one. “That’s fantastic. I am so happy for you. See? You are officially a high school graduate. Check that off. You are a doer. You got an idea and you made it happen.”

  He was really gushing and Eleanor was in no way used to that. Her grandparents might grunt a good job and move on. They’d never cared whether or not she finished school. They were pretty sure they’d have to support her forever so whether or not she went to school was really neither here nor there to them.

  Mitchell pulled her into a hug. “We need to celebrate. I have to go back today. But when you come—tonight, maybe?—to surprise me, we can go out to eat. How does that sound? Or I can go ahead and come back next weekend.”

  She never did get to answer him. Eleanor woke up in her head aching, mouth dry, post-episode way that told her she’d been through a doozy. She wasn’t in an institution so she couldn’t blame the dry mouth on medicine. Maybe it was just part of it.

  Stefan stared down at her. His eyes were kind, which was a change from the hard gaze of their initial meeting.

  “Hi.” Sadness weighed down on her.

  He smiled at her. “The energy in the room moved like you might be waking. I haven’t been standing here staring or something. That would be weird. I try not to be overly weird.”

  Eleanor had no idea what she was supposed to say. “There’s nothing about me that isn’t weird. How long was I… not right?”

  She had to come up with a better description of it than episode. But she’d work on that another time.

  “Four days.”

  “That’s typical. Three to five days. One time I went much longer. That really scared everyone. Is… Mitchell okay? He was in here with me under a privacy spell.”

  Mitchell nodded. “Oh sure, you didn’t hurt him. Or anyone. We have your book. That privacy spell? That works for most witches. Sure. For us, it’s an indication to mind our own business. Which we did. To an extent. But we heard the switch over and we got in here. You’re okay. No one was hurt and you… I mean it was as described. That’s fine.”

  Kim walked through the door. “Hi there. You’re awake. Good. Hungry?”

  She really wasn’t. “Would it be okay if I just… lie here? I mean, I don’t know the protocol of this. I am nine times out of ten in an institute when I wake up since they ship me off when I’m out of it.”

  Stefan touched Kim’s back. “Sure. Whatever you need. We’re here, not far. Everything is going to be okay.”

  When they left the room, she lay back on her pillows. Everything was not going to be okay. For the second time, she’d done that in front of Mitchell. Tears flowed down her cheeks. And forget college. That would never work. She couldn’t be having episodes in classrooms. No, she’d just stay as she was, as she’d always been.

  That was safer, for everyone.

  She rolled over. The pillow didn’t smell like Mitchell. That was how many days had passed since he’d been there.

  Eleanor had to stop thinking about him. He wasn’t reality. Like college wasn’t. Like happiness wasn’t.

  Chapter 7

  Eleanor refused to be bored. There were always things she could do and people she could help. The local library needed books. She carried some in, waiting for the librarians to spell them out of her hand, which they did about a minute after she walked in. Coming out, she found Stefan leaning against a building watching her.

  “Thanks for the help with the books.” She did her best at sarcasm as she waved her hand at him.

  He waved back. “You looked like you had it. I try not to interfere when people are doing things on their own. Pisses people off.”

  She sighed. Well, it wouldn’t have pissed her off but whatever.

  Eleanor made it home in time for dinner. Unlike usual, they were alone at the table. The relief to not have to make conversation fled the second she realized that meant her grandparents intended to have a private conversation with her.

  That couldn’t be good.

  “So that Mitchell Sharpe,” her grandmother said over the soup dish. “You know he stood up his last fiancée and was hexed?”

  Eleanor rubbed the back of her neck. “I did know that, yes.”

  “All of that being said, he’s a Sharpe. We’d be happy to pay to make that match happen and maybe the fact that he’s slightly tainted himself means he’d be willing.”

  She waited for the punchline, but when none came she knew her grandmother had to be serious. “Mitchell is my friend.”

  “Where did you meet him?” Her grandfather chimed in for the first time as the food floated from the table, one course changing for another. Salad. Eleanor was so full from the soup, which had cr
eam in it, she wasn’t sure how she was going to eat anymore. But she was going to have to. That’s just how this went.

  She waved her hand in the air. “Around.”

  Mitchell could share his business or not. His time at Prestige was not their business. Her grandfather sighed.

  That was the last they spoke about it. The rest of the meal she choked on her food. Paying Mitchell? They really thought everybody could be bought and sold.

  And maybe that was true for most people, but not for Mitchell Sharpe. He might not be her forever—how could she really have one—but she would always think of him as the most honorable person she ever knew.

  Kim stood in the hallway, looking at one of the paintings on the wall. She tilted her head to the side. “Is there rhyme or reason to why some paintings are in certain places?”

  Eleanor had asked herself similar questions in the Institute. Come to think of it, there were lots of similarities that went beyond decorating. The rules about dinnertime was one…

  “None that I can tell. I don’t think she has any particular style. People give her things or tell her names of artists. Then they end up on the wall.”

  Kim turned to Eleanor. “Have you let Mitchell know you’re awake?”

  No, she hadn’t done that. “I… I didn’t think to do that. I don’t usually have to tell people. My grandparents don’t care, and the doctors in the institutes know because I’m there. I… I’m nervous because he’s twice now seen me lose it.”

  Kim touched Eleanor’s arm. “I think he would still be here if your grandfather hadn’t ousted everyone from the house because you were not okay. I think you might be misjudging their level of concern, too. I’m new here. But I’ve seen a lot of things in my years as an Enforcer. Sometimes people don’t express their intentions correctly. Anyway, you have my unasked for two cents. Feel free to give me some at any point, too.” She smiled broadly. “That’s all.”

  When she left Kim, she went to her room and sent another communication spell. This time Mitchell didn’t answer, but he might be busy. Or, the dirty voice in her head that made her feel wrong all the time added, maybe he was done with her. The fascination was over and she hadn’t been that good of a kisser. But Kim said he’d wanted to stay so that had to mean he wasn’t totally done with her.

  “Hi, Mitchell. It’s me. I just wanted to let you know that I’m… back from wherever I go. I’m sorry about that. Looks like I’m in a fast cycle for a while. I can’t do anything in half-measures.” She faked her laugh. “So, bye.”

  The night was long. Why was she made this way? Would it help to just take her magic? Not one healer had ever suggested it but maybe that extreme was the answer. Take her magic and make her human like they did to witches with dementia-like illnesses so they didn’t hurt anyone. She flung her arm over her eyes as a blast of magic hit the room.

  She sat up straight. A letter danced in the air above her. Mail? She never got any.

  Eleanor opened it.

  Ellie,

  Did you know your grandparents turn off the phone to the house after ten? I was teaching when you reached out and then I had to do research for tomorrow at the library. If I’d known you couldn’t take my call I’d have done the opposite and spell-called you first.

  So glad you’re okay. Worried about you. I did get yours recorded, and I sent it to my friend who speaks Alurmic. Also, if you could unblock yourself psychically from me, I could go back to sending you messages all day.

  You know… until you come surprise me.

  MS

  * * *

  Eleanor sighed. That was fantastic. She read his letter again and again. No, she hadn’t known that about the phone. Why would she? No one called her, ever. She opened up her magic and wrote a letter back. Right before bed it was harder than it should have been, but she got the job done.

  Mitchell,

  I didn’t know they turned off communication. I’m sorry. How am I blocking you psychically?

  ESV

  * * *

  She waited, dozing off as she did.

  The dreams came fast. She once again walked toward the altar but this time it wasn’t to wait for the man who looked like Mitchell. Instead, she stormed forward.

  “You can’t mean to actually do this?” she yelled at a woman who stood by the altar, her back turned to Eleanor. As she yelled the other woman turned, slowly. She knew enough to believe that the speed by which she was acknowledged was deliberately frustrating.

  Her sister was never slow in anything. “I am. I will live forever.”

  She gripped her sister’s shoulders. “Why would you want to? Why would you mess with the natural order? You could destroy everything. Everyone will die.”

  “No, only those who I deem unworthy. I will have this. No one can stop me.”

  That wasn’t true. Eleanor could.

  Eleanor shot up in bed, her heart in her throat. What a weird dream. Why did she keep dreaming about things happening around an altar? A letter floated over her bed. How had she fallen asleep when she had letters from Mitchell?

  She snatched it and opened it up, driving the dream away. Only it wasn’t a letter from Mitchell. No, she read it several times. Was this for real? In her hand was a piece of paper with a list of five colleges. And they were all offering her a place on their campus if she wanted to enroll. She gasped, covering her mouth.

  Was this really happening? Her elation fled fast. How could she possibly do it?

  He wanted her to surprise him and so that was what she was going to do. Technically, she couldn’t leave the general vicinity of her grandparents’ home without their consent since she wasn’t legally deemed capable of taking care of herself. But since Stefan and Kim went where she did her grandfather didn’t give her any trouble over it.

  He didn’t even ask her why she wanted to go.

  She boarded the train. A second after she was seated, Kim popped into view in the seat across from her followed by Stefan who sat next to his wife.

  “Good call on this timing, Eleanor. I mean not, that you are doing this for my convenience, but I needed to get back to get something to my mom. So the timing is great.” Stefan leaned back in his chair.

  She’d never thought of Enforcers as having mothers. That was a strange thing. They were always so remote, so scary. But then there were Stefan and Kim—ex-Enforcers—married couple with parents. They were really shattering the whole boogeyman deal the Enforcers presented to the world.

  “Ah, I’m glad to help?”

  Kim rolled her eyes. “What he’s not saying is that there is always something to give to his mother. She is needy.”

  “She lived for years with me constantly gone, never knowing when I’d be back or okay. I am trying to be considerate of her feelings now. A benefit of leaving the agency. Just because your mother hardly remembers she had kids doesn’t make it weird that mine does.”

  Kim pointed at him and mouthed the words mama’s boy to her. Eleanor laughed. She couldn’t help herself. They were funny.

  Kim sat forward. “Stefan has something he wants to ask you, but he thinks it’ll be rude. I don’t know. We’re a little… off in that department. For years people simply told us what we wanted or we spelled them to do so.”

  “Ah.” Eleanor swallowed. “Am I in trouble?”

  Stefan elbowed his wife. “I would have found a way to ask her. She thinks I can’t manage basic human contact, and she’s probably right. No, you’re not in trouble. You’re pretty much the nicest person we’ve ever met, so no, not in trouble.”

  Kim laughed, throwing her head back. “She’s very nice. But we don’t meet nice people.”

  “What did you want to ask?”

  Stefan put his elbows on his knees. “Are you sure you’re half human?”

  That had not been at all what she expected him to ask. Not that she’d had any idea whatsoever to expect. “Um, yes.”

  “How sure?”

  Eleanor could remember visiting him in the human
world. Her mother had put her on a train. She’d gotten off and her father had been there, standing there, waiting in the station. She’d done this about twelve times or more until she was ten. Then it had abruptly stopped. Her mother had said she wouldn’t be seeing her father anymore.

  He was… fine. She was too young to realize he was drunk all of the time, but he smelled like liquor, and as she’d gotten older her mind had finally put two and two together to make four. She’d felt so out of place in the human world. First off, she couldn’t use what little magic she had, and her father was even more adamant she not tell people she was half-witch.

  Like the liquor, it had been years before she’d realized that he was embarrassed that she was what she was.

  She had liked the movies. The popcorn. The way it felt to do things for herself all the time using her hands.

  “I’m one hundred percent sure.” She swallowed away the memories. “Why?” It seemed an odd question.

  He ran a hand through his hair. “I feel power. And I’ve never been around a half witch with as much as you before. You feel fully witch to me.”

  “Well, I don’t want to doubt your abilities, but I am really just half. I have little power. Mitchell sent me letters last night, and I could barely bring up enough power to write him back and send it.” He’d never answered her last letter…

  Kim’s eyebrows shot up. “I felt the letters come into you. You’re not under investigation so I didn’t check out who sent them, which was hard since I’m nosy, but I felt them. Mitchell, huh? That’s nice.”

  “You’re so subtle.” Stefan rolled his eyes. “Mitchell is a good guy who had a rough time. Nice to see him recovering. What is your father’s name?”

  “I haven’t seen him in fourteen years.”

  Stefan didn’t move, remaining very still. “Presumably he still has a name?”

  Kim rolled her eyes and smirked. “You don’t have to tell him, but he’ll find out even if you don’t.”