Cursed: The Girl Who Shook the Earth

by E. C. Farrell

  She shoves a bag of blood into Ash’s hand when he opens his door, then jogs around to my side and presses a water bottle into mine. “Don’t move yet,” she says. “Either of you. Drink all of this while I check Ash’s back. Not a word of what you’ve found out until that bottle and that bag are empty.”

  Kia glides again to Ash’s side of the car. As he drinks slowly, she walks her fingers down his back, a wrinkle between her brows. “Case made the right decision. That blade nicked your spine. You very well might have bled out before you could get help otherwise.”

  Wiping his mouth, Ash nods. “What happened with Jeremy and Max?”

  “It was awful.” Kia supports herself against the open car door. “They came out here for some reason and were arguing. When I heard their raised voices I tried to intercede, but that was when Masera arrived. He had with him the howler, a pukwudgie, and a handful of magic users. They were too much for us. Sillia...didn’t make it and Nayeli was injured. I’ve called Tamara and she’s on her way.”

  I crush the empty water bottle, throat thick with fear and sadness and fury. “Is she finally going to help us go after Masera?”

  “I’m not sure,” Kia says. “We’ll have to see when she arrives. Which should be any minute now.” She lifts onto her toes to look over the roof of the purple monstrosity, then lowers back down and paces the gravel.

  Ash offers me his hand and tears blur my vision and my nose starts to run again. I wipe it on a sleeve with an aching arm. My skin itches from the constant jostle of magic. Taking a deep breath, I hold it in my lungs, hoping I can get control before the Amazons arrive.

  “Are you hurt?” Ash asks Kia.

  She waves a hand absently, still graceful even in such a state. “I’ll be fine. Slightly battered, but healing quickly. Far more concerned about Jeremy and Max.” Kia rubs her forehead. “And now Finn too. What were you going to see him about?”

  I explain what Ash and I found out from my mom. When I get to the part about my dad being a high fae, Kia stops her pacing, staring with lips parted in shock until I end with the fight at Finn’s house and Yaritza disappearing with him.

  “Our theory is that Masera has my dad too,” I say.

  “That would certainly make sense.” Kia traces her lower lip with a fingernail. “I’m sure Ash told you how powerful high fae are.”

  I nod. “Any idea why they would want Finn?”

  Lacing her fingers together and pressing them into her chin, Kia shakes her head. “I’m not sure. As a lower fae he has very minimal magic, though...he does have incredible amounts of knowledge. It’s possible he knows something that will help Masera.”

  The sound of tires on dusty cement cuts into our conversation. A trio of Amazon delivery trucks pulls into the parking lot behind us. They park on either side of Ash’s car and pour out around us. Tamara leads the way with Dharma at her side. Fear rakes my raw nerves and choses this exact moment to stoke my out of control magic. The ground shakes as I stand.

  Dharma growls low in her throat, claws extending from the tips of her fingers.

  Kia greets Tamara, the two women kissing each other’s cheeks before stepping apart. The Amazon leader then turns to me and Ash. “I already know what’s happened to the water spirit and pureblood, but it’s my understanding that the two of you have had your own troubles as well.”

  I rub my nose with a sleeve, considering Ash’s warning from before about possibly being sent to the fae realm. With the way Dharma feels about me, I’ll have to be even more cautious in how I offer information, because there’s no way I’m getting myself benched for this battle.

  “We found out a little more about where my magic comes from,” I say. “It’s connected to the fae realm. So we went to see Finn again to try and get some more information. Yaritza beat us there. She took him.”

  Dharma’s snarls. “Connected to the fae realm how?”

  My temper tilts toward snapping and tremors vibrate from my feet along asphalt. I open my mouth, but Ash cuts me off, saving me from saying something stupid. “What does that matter right this second?” he asks. “Shouldn’t we be focused on rescuing our friends? I know you don’t want to risk your mission, or your spy, but Jeremy doesn’t have time left, Max either, and we have no idea what they’re going to do with Finn or...” His eyes dart to mine, then back to Tamara’s. “We can sort out all the details after we save them.”

  “Why are you wasting time not telling us the truth?” Dharma asks, her words slurring as her teeth sharpen into fangs.

  Taking a step forward, Kia lifts a hand. “Ash is right, bickering will get us nowhere. We already know the origins of Case’s magic are complex, what we don’t know is where Masera has taken our people. You likely do. And I’m sure I speak for all of us when I say we want to help get them back.”

  “It isn’t as simple as that,” Tamara says. “We—”

  Dharma talks over her leader. “Out of the question.”

  Frustrated, I clench my fists, completely losing control of my magic for a split second. Long enough to crack the ground under our feet. Dharma stumbles, growling as fur sprouts out along her arms. She jabs a finger at me. My heart clenches.

  “It’s like I said. This one is far too dangerous not to be under the watch of the Tribunal.” She turns to Tamara. “You know I’m right.”

  “Surely we can discuss this later,” Kia says, touching Tamara’s shoulder.

  The Amazon leader shuts her eyes. “I’m afraid I have to agree with my lieutenant. Besides, if we were to allow her anywhere near Masera, he might get hold of her. We can’t risk arming him with anyone else. You can understand that. Can’t you?

  Kia presses a hand to her mouth, eyes distant. I hold my breath. Then she nods and my stomach sinks like an ugly rock.

  “I’m sorry,” Tamara says. “Dharma?”

  Before the shifter, or any other Amazon can take a step in our direction, Ash lunges in front of me and shouts one, single word. “Stop.”

  Power pulses out from him, rippling the air like waves of heat, and all the women waver.

  Skin stinging with shock, I gape at the group. My brain catches up a second later and I react, slamming my heel into the asphalt, shaking it hard enough to send them all stumbling. As if we’d already agreed to it, Ash and I dive back into his car, and speed away from The Mercury Room and our would-be allies.

  “WELL THAT WAS A TERRIBLE idea,” I say around a gasp, cranking in my seat to watch our tail.

  “I know.”

  “I’m not saying I disapprove.”

  Ash huffs a weak laugh. “That’s a relief. Good to know after breaking two of my moral codes in one day.”

  Clenching my leaf necklace in a fist, I turn back around. “If it makes you feel better, the first was my fault.”

  “It does, actually,” he says, hooking down a side street.

  I can’t help it. With all the information we’ve learned today on top of my raw nerves, sheer terror, and slowly slipping control, I giggle. It goes on for way too long. By the end of it, I’m gasping. Wiping new tears from my cheeks, I pull in a long, slow breath.

  “Do you think Kia will be okay?”

  Leaving her behind sucked like a vacuum, even if she was going to allow the Amazons to take me away.

  Ash gives a noncommittal grunt, his skin still a lot more pale than normal. “Tamara and the others won’t do anything to her, I doubt they’d even try to arrest her, especially since she didn’t help us escape.”

  “You basically gave her plausible deniability so she wouldn’t have to make the decision. Good call.”

  Spinning a curl around my finger until it chokes off my circulation at the tip, I wipe my free hand on my jeans, guilt churning in my stomach. Then I remember Kia’s nod of agreement with Tamara and Dharma. I can’t know what her plan was, or if she even had one, but the betrayal stings.

  I shake my head and focus on the more important problem. “Now, how are we going to find our friends?”

&n
bsp; “Elaxi,” Ash says, turning the corner onto her street. “It’s the worst case scenario, but now that my dad has Jeremy, she should be able to scry on him.”

  “I understood all of the words surrounding ‘scry.’”

  “Sorry,” Ash says. “Paranormalese. Basically, she’ll be able to locate Jeremy since she’s met him.”

  Bile slushes up my throat as we get out of the car and half-jog, half stumble across the lawn to Elaxi’s home. “So, if I meet a witch, she’ll always be able to tell where I am?”

  “Scary thought, but thankfully no,” Ash says, knocking on the door, then scanning the street. “To put up the shield, she would’ve learned everybody’s vibrations so the people who belong wouldn’t get locked out.”

  The door slides open and Elaxi’s ready smile fails immediately. “What happened?”

  “Too many things,” I say. “In summary, Jeremy and Max were taken by Masera and after a disagreement with the Amazons, Ash and I are on the lam.”

  “I’ll see if I can find them,” Elaxi says, grabbing her bag from a peg next to the door. “If you’re running from the Amazons, then you need to keep moving. I’ll come with you and cast on the way.”

  She locks up and the three of us sprint back to the car. With another look down the street, Ash peels out and books it toward the highway. Too bad his purple monstrosity sticks out even in thick Houston traffic. At this time of day, most of the rush has thinned out, so it’s even worse. Then again, it might benefit us to have the Amazons following.

  To take out Masera, and save our friends, we’re going to need all the help we can get.

  In the back seat, Elaxi closes her eyes and crosses her legs, cell in hand. She hovers a delicate silver chain with white crystal dangling from the end over her screen. The Maps app quivers a moment, then scrolls sideways until a blue dot pinpoints a specific location.

  “You’re going in the right direction,” Elaxi says. “Jeremy is somewhere in between Fulshear and Brookshire.” She looks between us. “What’s your plan?”

  I scrub my fingertips against my scalp. “I have an idea. It’s horrible, but it could work. Obviously we might have to make some changes after we see exactly where Masera is keeping them, but I think it has potential either way. In theory.”

  Ash runs his hands along the steering wheel before changing lanes. “I’ll take a bad plan over no plan. Let’s hear it.”

  I straighten my spine and roll my shoulders back. “It’s going to involve a little deception, good timing, and a lot of luck.”

  22.

  I SHARE OUR TRIP WITH Kia from my Maps app with quivering fingers. This could go horrifically wrong if they catch up to us before we make it to Jeremy, and they could still refuse to help, but they’re our best hope of an army right now.

  As I do this, Ash contacts Detective Ito. It takes very little to convince her to help us take down Masera.

  The pressure in my chest unwinds slightly, though it definitely doesn’t leave entirely. Especially when we hit a freak shower halfway to the blue dot on Elaxi’s map. In Houston, storms often come without warning, blinding drivers and flooding ditches and retention ponds alike.

  It fills the silence between us like static. Buildings thin into oblivion, replaced by wide, flat rice fields and cattle pastures. Only a few miles away. Closer and closer to the compound, to Masera, to our friends, possibly to my dad, and all I have in my holster is my very unpredictable, very wild power to fight with. How can-

  Something rams the car. We screech sideways, fishtailing on the slick road. Shock prickles across my face and neck and clogs the scream in my throat. The windshield cracks as a hand slams against it. A clawed, scaly hand.

  I let out a garbled screech as Ash jerks the wheel sideways. The momentum flings the creature off the car roof. Its long, black claws dig into the hood, and in that terror-stricken pause, I stare into the face of a furry demon duck.

  My mouth works a few times before figuring out how to form words again. “What...what is...”

  Ash slams on the brakes. His tires kick up mud, and the creature sails backward, crashing into the bushes. Ash throws us into reverse, wheels around, and blasts back down the road, shouting curses the entire way.

  “What was that thing?” I ask, finally getting out a complete sentence.

  “It looked like a cross between a vampire cat and a paddler,” Ash says, upper lip curling. “More mutants.”

  Fear keeps my gaze away from the rearview mirror. Nope. No. I do not want to see that thing chasing after us. My attention will be much better spent on the dirt road ahead. We rumble along it, the rocks and divots in the ground shaking straight into my bones, vibrating my teeth. The purple monstrosity’s wipers struggle to clear the windshield.

  Something nails the back of the car, shoving us forward, and forcing me to look right where I don’t want to.

  The creature claws bear-like along after us, teeth gleaming, eyes glowing. Freaking glowing like some kind of possessed furby. Surrounded by a flurry of creative curses from both Ash and Elaxi, we fishtail again. Rocks fly around us. The creature springs through the air toward the back of the car again.

  Somebody — probably me if the pain in my throat is any indicator — screams as a paw smashes through the back windshield. Out of pure instinct, I twist in my seat, throwing out a hand and sending a narrow stream of vibrating magic over Elaxi toward the creature.

  Its head explodes.

  I let out a squeak, covering my mouth as the creature’s body rolls off into the ditch. Bits of blood and gore cover the backseat and Elaxi. My stomach heaves, and when Ash slams on the brakes, I yank open the door and puke onto the grass. The sound of the creature’s skull cracking and blood splattering reverberates through my mind.

  After a few more lovely dry heaves, I drop my head in between my knees and cover it with both arms. We need to move. I know we need to move. But I just killed something. Freaky duck monster thing or not, I literally just ended a life by exploding its skull. The Amazons are right. I need to be taken to the Tribunal before I hurt anybody else.

  A hand gently presses into the space between my shoulder blades and someone takes my arms. I look up through tears at Ash, who now squats in front of me, face wrinkled and still so pale. Rain soaks his shirt and mats his hair to his forehead. Gently, he cups my cheek and wipes a tear away with a thumb.

  “Remind me never to piss you off.”

  Laughter bursts out of me with almost the same violence as the vomiting had. I rock back into Elaxi’s hand, gasping for breath, then gently punch Ash’s shoulder. “Risky tactic, but that totally worked.” I rub my temples. “That was truly horrible. I might not be the best person for the front lines.”

  “Taking a life is never an easy thing, love,” Elaxi says, rubbing my back. “I’d be concerned if this didn’t bother you. The important thing is that you’re able to do what is necessary when others are in danger.”

  I run a sleeve across my mouth and nose. “I think I can. Hopefully, I won’t blow up any more heads, because that was seriously gross.” I look over my shoulder at Elaxi. “Sorry for that by the way.”

  “I’d rather be covered in a little blood that’s not my own than the alternative.” She pats my arm, then climbs out of the car. “Nothing a little Houston storm can’t wash away.”

  As she rinses off in the still torrential shower, Ash squeezes my shoulders. “Seriously though,” he says quietly, “I know that sucked and I’d totally understand if you don’t want to do this.”

  I shut my eyes and concentrate on the raindrops rolling down my arms. Powerful magic or not, trauma or not, I don’t really have the training for anything like this. Half the time I can barely control my own vibrations. What if once we’re inside I bring the whole building down on us?

  But I can’t sit on the sidelines while Ash and Elaxi try to save our friends. I won’t.

  Opening my eyes, I give Ash a quick peck on the cheek and a smile. “I’m in coach. Let’s go.” />
  We pile back into the car and start off again. A few minutes later, out of the miles and miles of rice fields, rises one of the ugliest houses in the history of bad architecture. Painted something in the neighborhood of orange and lined with gray metal pillars, this monstrosity surrounds itself with a barbed wire fence, pacing guards, and a series of drones.

  At least five zip over the sharp-sloped roof, across the balcony, and among the rifle-armed men and women marching through the rain-drenched field. These soldiers wear dark brown uniforms and brass bandoliers. They ignore their technological counterparts, ignore each other.

  Recognition hits me. This is the house Jeremy drew on the notepad I gave him, the one haunted by shadows and monsters, the one where his dad kept him prisoner.

  Ash pulls off the road and parks behind a crop of the tallest bushes he can find. We sit a moment, staring through the rain at the compound. Sweat slicks my hands, beads on my lower back. Considering the head start we have on Detective Ito and the Amazons, there’s no telling exactly how long it will take for them to get here. I pull out my cell.

  No messages. They might not be coming at all, not yet willing to risk their people.

  I dig my fingernails into my palm. “Do you think we should wait and see if anyone else is going to show up?”

  Ash drums the steering wheel with his thumbs. “No response from Kia?”

  “Not yet.”

  “We won’t go unnoticed long,” Elaxi says. “And Masera might choose not to wait for the height of Jeremy’s power as he’s already escaped once.”

  “Fair point.” I pick at my cell phone case, then crack my knuckles. “Okay, I’m going in.”

  “Hang on.” Ash cups the back of my neck and kisses me.

  I grip the front of his t-shirt, not giving a flying fig whether or not we have an audience. If everything goes sideways, I’m going to enjoy one, last moment with the boy I’m falling for. I trace his strong jaw with my thumbs, memorizing the feel, equal parts hard muscle and deliciously soft skin.