Descendants Academy: Young Adult Urban Fantasy, Belle Malory [motivational novels for students .txt] 📗

A few seconds later, the kettle began to whistle. Breaker poured a cup, stirred the leaves about, then pushed it toward me. “Drink first—small sips.”

I did as he asked, noting an earthy, bitter taste. It wasn’t bad, but unlike any tea I’d had before.

After a few sips, Breaker took my cup and held it between his palms. He stared long and hard into the leaves, nodding every now and then. “Oh,” he said, rubbing a hand through his hair. “Oh my.”

I sat on the edge of my seat.

“This isn’t looking good, deary.”

I swallowed. “Can the curse be removed?”

“Of course,” he said, like it was a dumb question. “All curses can be removed, one way or another. The question is in the how.”

I smiled, relieved to hear that. “I’ll pay you whatever—”

“I’m not referring to payment. I speak of sacrifice. Ye must give up something in exchange for yer freedom.”

Right. Jett had mentioned that, too.

“What kind of sacrifice?”

He rubbed his jaw, thinking. “Must be bodily sacrifice, yes…”

Oh God. I was afraid to ask.

After several long moments, Breaker let out a breath. “Your womb.”

“My womb?” I gasped.

He nodded. “Giving up your ability to have your own descendants will break the chains that bind ye and yer sister.”

My jaw dropped. Both Jett and Hazel looked just as stunned. “But…I would never be able to have children?”

He shook his head. “Sorry, deary. Should ye decide yer willing, I can perform the procedure today. Be wary, it is a long, painful one that requires many potions and surgery. Ye will hallucinate, face yer demons, and the pain will be terrible. Ye must be ready for this. I only ask for two wots as payment. I’ll leave ye to think it over.”

Breaker disappeared into the other room, leaving us all in stunned silence.

When Jett warned me about this, I never imagined the cost would be so high. I couldn’t help thinking of my childhood baby dolls and stuffed animals, remembering the way I would cradle them, pretending to be their mother—the one I’d never had. I never knew what having a mother was like, and if I did this, I’d never get to be one, either. Well, that wasn’t true. There was always adoption. At least, there was in the human world. I wasn’t sure about Mythos, a place where bloodlines mattered more than anything else.

Hazel was the first to find her voice. “No, this is too much,” she said, sounding worried. “You can’t do this, Sheridan. There has to be another way.”

Jett didn’t say a word. Her sharp black eyes were full of quiet understanding. She knew as well as I did, that no price was too high.

“If there was another way, my dad or my grandfather would have found it by now.”

Their gazes twisted around me painfully. Hazel shook her head and got up. Her hooves thudded across the wooden floor, and she left, slamming the door behind her.

Jett took my hand. “Don’t worry about her. Creatures are primal things. She can’t understand this.”

I closed my eyes to shut them both out. I couldn’t worry about their thoughts. Their emotions. I needed to clear my head. I needed to figure out if I wanted to do this.

The first image that filled my head was of Riley. The two of us, happy and carefree as children, playing with our unicorns and dolls. Could it ever be like that again?

“I’m going to do it,” I said, without opening my eyes. I held onto the image of my sister instead. Who cared if I never created life—at least I could give Riley back hers. I could take back my own. It was enough. It would have to be enough.

25

After Jett left to follow Hazel, the Curse Breaker led me into the back room and gave me a vial of potion. I laid on the wooden floor, and he surrounded me with candles, herbs, and rock salt. Then, he started to chant. The chanting seemed to last for hours. After a while, time didn’t make sense. The potion he’d given me had kicked in, and the hallucinations were starting.

Shadows from the candlelight moved at sharp, irregular patterns. There were also voices. At first, unrecognizable, but they slowly became clearer. Riley’s, my dad’s, and Connor’s were all there in the background of my mind. Whispering, and later, other sounds. Like the sound of fire when it roars to life.

Behind the Curse Breaker, his curtains began to burn, just like they had in Riley’s bedroom. “Fire,” I gasped, widening my eyes.

“Hush,” he whispered, continuing on with his chanting in his rough, scratchy voice.

Beads of sweat filmed against my skin. I knew the fire wasn’t there, but the heat felt real. I could feel the flames as they blazed around the room, sparking and lashing. Soon, I was drenched in sweat, my skin hot to the touch.

Riley suddenly appeared, standing at my feet in her favorite lacy sundress, her strawberry blonde hair left down in loose waves. “You always thought you were better than me,” she said, just like she had only moments before I stabbed her.

You’re not real.

I closed my eyes, trying to ignore her. Breaker warned me this would be hard. No matter what happened, I had to get through it.

“Even now, you think you deserve him more than I do.” She kicked my foot, and I swear I felt it. “And why, Sher Bear? Because you behave? Because you listen to Dad, don’t go to parties, do drugs, or get into trouble? Because you’re good?”

I opened my eyes.

She was still there. Except now, the top right side of her dress was pooling with blood. I blinked, wishing she would disappear, but she stayed at my feet, smirking.

“Or maybe…” She tilted her head to the side. “Maybe you think you’re better because your mother is the woman Dad chose.”

What the crap.

Riley never said that the night I attacked her. She shouldn’t even know. Then again, she wasn’t supposed to know about magic either, and