Page 5 of Cursed (Court of Isles #1)

Chapter 5

“So we’re not going to talk about the siren?” I asked Silas. “Not at all?”

An hour had passed since that dreaded altercation. Silas plodded on ahead, our horses trudging deeper and deeper into The Forest as the silence from all angles grew suffocating.

“What is there to say?” Silas’s voice was tight.

I was finding it hard to get a consistent read on this man. Once in a while, he’d give me this glimpse of kindness and softness. I believed Silas cared. The question was what he cared about?

Did Silas care about me? Did he care about breaking the curse? Did he care about me only because he thought I could break the curse?

Over the last hour, I’d convinced myself it was the latter. Not that I needed a lot of convincing, because I was pretty sure my hypothesis was correct. It was the only way to explain his hot and cold nature toward me—so inviting for fleeting moments, then hard and stony the next.

Silas’s answers were short now, a nod to his mood. So I went with easy questions that had easy answers. Or at least impersonal ones.

“How does a mermaid become a siren?” I asked, desperate to keep conversation going so the silence was kept at bay.

Silas cleared his throat. “Their blood is drained.”

“Who would do that?”

“Evil beings.”

“Why would someone want a mermaid’s blood?”

“What is this, the mermaid inquisition?”

“I’m just trying to understand.” My voice came out meeker than intended. I tried again, ensuring my voice was strong and sturdy. “I’m new to this place. You brought me here, lest we forget. I didn’t ask for this.”

“I’ve forgotten nothing.” Silas’s face was stormy as we rode side by side. “What were you thinking ?”

“What do you mean?”

“I told you it was a trap,” Silas snapped. “I told you it was a siren.”

“You said it might be, and I argued it might not be.” I took a deep breath. “It’s not a crime to give people the benefit of the doubt.”

“It is in The Forest. It’s a death sentence.”

“I don’t regret helping her. ”

“That’s a foolish thing to say.”

“Don’t call me a fool,” I told him. “Helping people is the only thing I know how to do in this life. It’s not a job, it’s a calling, and I won’t be told to stop.”

“You won’t be told to do much of anything, I’m gathering,” Silas muttered.

“Do you have a problem with that?”

“Of course not. However, if you’re so passionate about helping people, why don’t you help the ones who deserve it and leave the monsters alone?”

“I get it, Silas. I get that you want to keep me around to break the curse. I know that’s why you brought me here, and I know it’s why you’re working so hard to keep me alive.”

“You’re oversimplifying a complicated situation.”

“I’m just telling the truth.” My words were razor-sharp. “I’m fine with this situation, just so long as we’re clear about it.”

“What do you mean?”

“I might be human,” I said, even as the words tasted strange on my tongue, “but I’m not stupid. I know I’m a pawn in your greater plan. You’re trying to save your island, or something noble, and that’s wonderful for you. But if I might die playing this role, then we break your curse on my terms.”

“What are your terms? ”

“The first is that you don’t treat me like I’m stupid,” I said. “I’m here as a transaction for you, and I can see that. Let’s be up front and call it like it is. A deal.”

“Alessia.”

“Also, I want straightforward information, and I want your support,” I said. “I trusted you enough to come here. I have no clue why I made that choice, but I did, and now I can’t unsee… this .” I gestured to the wild and wonderful world surrounding me. “Don’t keep secrets from me. When I ask questions, answer them honestly.”

“You’re not here as a transaction.”

“Look me in the eyes,” I said. “Tell me I’m not here because you believe—for some reason that I can’t fathom—I am the only person who can break the curse that is killing your people.”

Silas looked at me, his gaze heavy. Then he looked down at the forest floor.

“That’s what I thought,” I murmured. “So we’ll do it on my terms.”

I took his silence as reluctant agreement.

It was another twenty minutes before he spoke. Like he was extending an olive branch. A nod to the fact that he’d heard my terms and was willing to accept them. Of course he was—I was beginning to understand that Silas would do anything for the people he cared about.

“Only a person with truly evil intentions can drain a mermaid’s blood,” Silas said. “They are creatures of sunshine and joy, and to take one’s life force and create a monster is true horror.”

“Thank you,” I whispered. “For trusting me.”

Silas looked straight ahead as our horses pushed onward. “Mermaid’s blood is extremely valuable for many reasons. I don’t know all of them, but it’s rumored to have incredible healing qualities. It may be able to slow or prevent aging. It can enhance powers or be used in elixirs and potions, and much, much more. I don’t know the extent of it because it’s a banned substance, and I have no interest in associating with it.”

“I see.”

Silas surprised me by extending a hand in reply, gesturing to our surroundings. “We’re here.”

“Where is here?” Even as I looked ahead, I could sense something was off. I just couldn’t tell what was wrong. “I don’t understand.”

Silas didn’t speak, just waited. He gave me time, space, to figure it out for myself.

I slid off my horse, feeling Silas tense with each step I took forward.

I eventually came to a stop as I realized that I was staring at a portion of the island that had been completely overtaken by the curse. I lifted a hand and extended it, feeling a vibrating wall of energy. It shimmered in the air, almost invisible to the naked eye, more of a sensation than a visual .

“The wards?” I dropped my hand to look at Silas.

He nodded.

“I expected something different.” I glanced through the wards like they were a fun mirror, distorting the lands beyond.

I’d expected a black wasteland, a land where nothing lived, nothing thrived—a land of death and destruction. Beauty choked out by an awful enchantment.

Instead, the land before me looked as lush and green and filled with shadow as the rest of the forest, but something about it wasn’t right. It was too still, too quiet, too lifeless.

The forest behind us was built on small details: the flutter of a bird’s wings, the slither of a snake, the crack of a branch. Ahead was filled with nothingness. An emptiness that made my heart feel hollow and my body weak with desperation. A land of hopelessness and endings. There was no life, no beginning, only a flat nothingness.

“Who did this?” I asked. “Why?”

“The Isle has not been without its threats over the years,” Silas said. “We’ve had difficult times to be sure. The Faction attacked the people here not all that long ago. We have had our battles. But this...” He shook his head. “When the wards fail, it will be a total annihilation of the island and everything that lives on it.”

“ When . Not if?”

“When. ”

“Has anyone tried to break the curse?”

“We’ve had the best people working on that very task. The Ranger Program, Spellbinders, The Mixologist, the Sixth Borough, MAGIC, Inc.” Silas’s shoulders slumped in defeat. “No one’s had any luck.”

“How is that possible?”

“We’re not entirely sure.” A ghost of a smile flitted across Silas’s face. “If we knew, it would already be done. Our best guess is that the magic required to break this curse is a type of magic we don’t have access to. The most we’ve been able to do is put up the temporary wards, but those are only meant to reinforce our defenses, not fix the root of the problem.”

“So if breaking the curse isn’t possible yet, what are the other options to stop it?”

“We’ve been looking into separating the spell from its power source. These gargantuan-level curses are created via Spellbinders. They operate under a specific set of logic and instructions. They’re highly customized and require so much continual energy that they need a power source to function.”

“A power source,” I echoed. “Like a wizard?”

Silas looked at me like I’d suggested Voldemort himself might be behind the curse.

“It’s possible for a magical being to power a curse,” Silas said finally, “but that is not a sustainable solution in the long run for a curse of this size. It would sap the person of magic and energy, and when they withered away, so would the curse.”

“Are you suggesting the curse is attached to a non-living power source?”

“That’s almost certainly the case. Power sources can be any number of things—from particular magically charged artifacts to manufactured generators.”

“If we were able to find this power source and destroy it, would the curse…stop?”

“Sort of.” Silas frowned. “But before we can break the power source, we need to identify it first. That’s a problem in and of itself. Once we do that, then we need to physically locate the source. Then access it. The source will likely be protected or guarded, either by spells or brute force.”

“Sounds super fun.”

“Let’s say we do all of that,” Silas said. “And we successfully destroy the power source. Some curses would wither away at that point. But a curse of this magnitude likely has clauses written into the spell for when the power source goes out. For example, it might switch to using another generator.”

“You’ve got to be kidding me.” I threw my hands up. “Evil overlords have backup generators for their curses these days?”

“It’s a possibility we must consider,” Silas said. “For the purpose of this conversation, let’s fast forward and pretend we were able to destroy all sources of power—backup and otherwise.”

“Effectively draining the curse of its power and leaving it to die off.”

“Yes. Except that a curse of this size would not just vanish in an instant. There is a lot of pent-up power in a situation like this, and it needs somewhere to go. The dangerous part is that the curse would break free in a last-ditch effort to complete its pre-programmed task.”

“You’re telling me that the curse is going to kill everyone on The Isle if we do nothing,” I said. “And if we break the power source, it might still kill everyone before it dissipates and becomes benign?”

Silas waited a moment. Then, “Yes.”

I was digesting this all like I might a ghost pepper. My eyes were watering, and I wasn’t sure I could choke it all down.

“Silas, if this is all true—then why on earth do you think I can do anything about it?” I asked. “If you’ve tasked the best paranormal people in the world to break this spell, and they’ve made no progress, what do you expect me to do?”

“It’s because—” But Silas stopped at the look on my face. “Alessia?”

I’d frozen as he’d started to speak, because I’d seen it—a glimmer, a whisper of magic dangling before me like a sheer curtain. The temporary wards were close enough to touch. I could see them visibly. If I took just a few steps forward, I had no doubt black veins would creep over my body. The curse would grab ahold of me, and I’d perish quickly.

“You can see the wards?” Silas asked curiously, ignoring my question. “Visually?”

“I’m not sure,” I said. “A little bit? Like a rainbow in an oil spill. A glint of something bright against darkness, but it’s elusive, like I can’t quite get a good read on it.”

“Nobody else can see them.”

“What about you?”

“Not like you. I can sense them, but I cannot actually see the magic.”

“Why me?” I repeated to Silas. “Why do you think I—alone—have access to magic that could break this curse?”

Silas moved toward me, closing the distance until we were inches apart.

“Because you’re special,” he said. “I have a theory, but—”

“Dammit.” A new voice broke the silence, interrupting anything Silas might have told me. I felt disappointed as the voice continued. “The curse has encroached further than I thought.”

I stepped away from Silas, feeling like I had to catch my breath from the close proximity. A tall, handsome man in all black appeared between a set of trees, oblivious to the way my heart was racing. Silas’s gaze seemed to have trouble leaving my face.

“Ranger X.” Silas turned toward the man finally, giving a nod. “I’d like you to officially meet the Doc. Alessia, this is Ranger X.”

“Officially?” I asked. “Have we run into one another before?”

“No,” Silas said, “but Ranger X knows everything that happens on this island, including your arrival. He’s the head of the Ranger Program—the Rangers are the protectors of The Isle—and also Lily’s husband. I’m sure she’s told him about you.”

Ranger X shook my hand firmly. His eyes were kind, but his look was all business.

“The curse’s spread is accelerating,” Silas said. “I just repaired the wards near here last week.”

“They’re not holding any longer?” Ranger X’s gaze was hard, his jawline set. “What can we do to help?”

“Did you bring what I asked?”

Ranger X nodded, pulled some vials from his pocket. “This is all Lily has right now of the Fortifier. She’s making more, but the ingredients are hard to come by, and the creation takes a while.”

Silas accepted the vials. Ranger X’s gaze slid to me.

“By the way, Doc,” he said, bowing his head so low it gave me a start. “Irina wanted me to thank you for all your help. Henry is doing wonderfully. ”

“I’m glad to hear it,” I said, still mystified by the bow from Ranger X.

Was it a nod of thanks? A method of greeting outsiders to the island? I hadn’t forgotten the siren’s words or her deep bow, either. I couldn’t help but feel like I was missing an essential piece of a larger puzzle.

“Silas,” Ranger X said. “Can I have a word in private?”

“It’s okay,” I said. “You’re wondering why he brought me with him to the wards. I don’t blame you.”

“Alessia can hold her own in The Forest,” Silas said in answer. “For example, she just performed surgery on a siren.”

“There’s a siren nearby?” Ranger X’s voice was sharp.

Silas heaved the sigh to end all sighs. “Not anymore.”

“If there’s a siren in my jurisdiction,” X said, “I need to take care of it and—”

“I said ‘not anymore.’” Silas cocked his head toward me. “This one over here thought it would be a good idea to do surgery on one and then send the siren on her merry way.”

Ranger X turned a completely blank stare on me. “You actually tried to do surgery on a siren?”

“I thought she was a mermaid!” I exclaimed. “Long tail. Pretty hair. Water dweller. I was working with the information I had. I’m new here, remember?”

“I told you it was a trap,” Silas said. Apparently we weren’t done with that argument. “You should have listened.”

“She was hurt. I was only trying to help her.”

Ranger X lifted a hand to pause our back and forth. “You’re telling me that you tried to perform surgery on a siren and lived to tell about it?”

“I didn’t just try ,” I said, a little defensively. “I completed it. Pretty good job too, if I say so myself. She would’ve died if I hadn’t stitched her up and saved her from the curse.”

“You saved her from the curse?” Ranger X asked. “You banished the curse from a siren’s body?”

“It’s true,” Silas said. “She should’ve let that siren die, but she didn’t. Her selflessness almost got both of us killed.”

“But if you knew she was a siren, that means she bared her teeth...” Ranger X studied me with newfound admiration. “Sirens only bare their teeth when they’re going in for the kill. Nobody survives a siren bite.”

“She didn’t bite me,” I said.

“Whyever not?” Ranger X asked, good-natured but mystified, like he was talking to a toddler who was telling him a tall, tall, tall tale.

“The siren apologized,” Silas said dryly. “Then left her alone. ”

“A siren apologized,” Ranger X parroted in flat-out disbelief. “A siren apologized to you?”

I bit my lip, looked between the two men. “Yes. I saved her life from a terrible curse. Maybe she was grateful. Is it so hard to believe she wouldn’t kill me?”

“Yes,” said Silas and Ranger X at once.

“Not only difficult, but impossible,” Ranger X said. “If she bared her teeth to you, you shouldn’t be alive. End of story.”

“Not this story,” I said.

“How did you save her from the curse?” Ranger X asked.

“Lily gave me some more of the potion,” I said. “A vial for me, and a vial for Silas. I used mine on her, just like how I did for Irina.”

Ranger X closed his eyes, pinched his forehead. “You used your only vial of protection on a siren ?”

“ Thank you ,” Silas muttered, but one glance from me, and he averted his eyes.

“Look, it’s over and done with,” I said. “I saved the siren from the curse. Turns out, I can cure people using Lily’s potion. Can we move on and please discuss the wards now?”

Ranger X just cleared his throat.

If I wasn’t mistaken, Silas gave a soft laugh.

My point was made, and the three of us moved to the shimmering edge of the wards. Ranger X stayed a few paces behind, like he wasn’t quite sure where the curse stopped—like he couldn’t sense it like me and Silas.

I wondered if Silas and I shared some sort of magic, maybe on a hereditary level. Was it possible that I was part Hunter?

“Are all Hunters men?” I blurted.

“Historically, yes,” Silas said.

“Why does she ask?” Ranger X asked. “Hunters are not welcome on our island.”

“I was telling her the legend of the Fae Queens,” Silas said easily. “How the Hunters slaughtered them all. Now, we really must get started patching up the wards. X, this is where we part ways.”

Ranger X extended a hand, shook Silas’s hand firmly. “I’ll let you know when Lily has managed to brew more of her Fortifier.”

Then Ranger X turned to me, and again bowed his head. He turned away, walking through the woods.

“Why do you do that?” I called after the powerful Ranger. “Why do you people bow at me?”

“Bow?” Ranger X asked. “I’m not sure what you mean.”

“I—” I started to explain, but one look from Silas and I quieted. I wasn’t sure if I’d imagined it, or if he’d gave the tiniest shake of his head, but either way, I got the impression that this wasn’t something to discuss for some reason. Not here, not now .

“Please thank Lily for stocking us with her potion,” I said instead. “I’d love to keep more on hand if she can manage it, since it seems like it’s working.”

Ranger X nodded. Then he took a few steps forward and vanished.

“You saw that, didn’t you?” I asked Silas once we were alone.

“Saw what?” Silas wasn’t convincing in his innocence.

“He bowed to me,” I said. “Twice. Isn’t Ranger X kind of a big shot on this island? Why would he bow to me?”

My mind was racing. The siren had also bowed to me. Something wasn’t right.

“He didn’t seem to remember doing any such thing.” Silas gave me a sideways glance, then resumed studying the fat glass bottle Ranger X had delivered from Lily. A magical fortifier of some sort for use in patching the wards. “Maybe you’re imagining it.”

I walked over to Silas and plucked that fat bottle of potion right out of his hand. I waited until he looked me in the eyes.

“Tell me I’m imagining things one more time,” I said. “Just try it.”

Silas sighed.

“You promised me you’d be honest,” I said. “Why are people bowing to me? It’s happened more than once. I’m under the impression that some people don’t even know they’re doing it. ”

Another sigh. Apparently I was really draining Silas’s patience today. Funny, considering I was the one whose wedding had been ruined.

“Alessia, you’re something this land hasn’t seen for centuries. You have a form of magic that is downright...” Silas waved his hands, as if no world in the universe could encompass everything he was trying to explain. “Inconceivable. Especially in this day and age.”

“You’re still not telling me everything.” My fingers wrapped tighter around the potion bottle. “I didn’t ask for much in my terms, Silas. I only asked for honesty.”

“Unfortunately, I cannot tell you more than that right now for your safety.” Silas’s jaw was set, his five o’clock shadow casting a rough and dangerous aura around him. “I trust you, but you need to trust me in return. You will understand when the time is right, and this is not the time. You’re not ready.”

“But—”

“You barely believe in magic,” he insisted, almost begged. “You are not ready for everything. Give it time.”

“I don’t think we have much time.” I raised a hand, pulling Silas back from the edge of the wasteland beyond. “The wards are faltering.”

Silas looked up, alarmed. “Fates—you’re right.”

We backed up several paces, watching as the curse leaked forward onto fertile, beautiful soil—petrifying it into a still image. Like those old cartoons, when the backdrop is a still image and life happens in front of it. Except if one fell into the cartoon picture frame on this island, it resulted in death.

“Please, Alessia.” Silas extended a hand.

I forfeited the potion bottle. Then I stepped back, resting a hand on my uneasy horse’s head, giving her a few gentle strokes. I was sure she could sense the danger lurking a stone’s throw away.

As I watched, Silas’s hands began to glow. He uncapped the bottle of potion, and a golden shimmer oozed out, coating his hands like gloves. He began to pluck and weave, not unlike the motions I’d used when healing Irina and the siren.

It cemented my theory that maybe we shared some form of magic. It was the only reasonable explanation. So what wasn’t he telling me?

When Silas finished, he wiped his brow. He was sweating and looked exhausted. As he’d worked, his muscles had been on full display, and I’d be lying if I said I hadn’t appreciated the way that man filled out his all-black jeans and T-shirt. It had reminded me of how big he was, larger than most males I’d encountered in New York. Was gargantuan size a feature of all Hunters, or just this one?

“You missed a spot,” I told him.

Silas looked at me, panting, a quizzical look on his face. “Huh? ”

“You missed a spot,” I told him, nodding toward the patched wards. “May I try?”

“I don’t know.” Silas sounded like he genuinely didn’t know the answer. “I’m not sure it’s safe for you.”

“I’m not the one who missed a spot,” I informed him. “I rather think it might be a good idea to do this the right way. Let me give it a go.”

“How can you possibly see that?” Silas glanced down at the fat glass bottle he’d set on the ground. There were a few drops left. He reached down, retrieved it, and handed it to me. “There’s not much left.”

“It’s a small hole,” I told him. “That’s where it’s leaking through and weakening the whole thing.”

Silas took a step back. I held the bottle and studied the fortifying potion inside of it. I didn’t need anyone to explain to me that this was like an enchanted superglue—it wasn’t meant to fix the deep, root issues of what was happening within the wards, it was only meant to buy us time.

The way Silas had patched the wards was clearly meant to create a magical dam and stop the overflow of the curse onto untainted lands. It would eventually crack, and the curse would seep through. Continuous patching wouldn’t be an option, but for now, we needed time. This should buy us a few days at least.

As I poured out the last few drops onto my hands, I felt the magic igniting inside me. The same magic that had ignited when I’d first touched the dagger, the dagger that now resided in the satchel in my horse’s pack. The same magic that had played within my veins when I’d healed Irina first, then the siren.

The golden glow linked with the other sources of magic, and I set to work following the line of Silas’s mending. I plucked and rearranged, creating an almost-invisible magical netting that would hold the curse back. It took me only a few minutes, but it was grueling work, and my strength was gone when I was done.

Silas studied the wards. At least, I was pretty sure that was what he was looking at, but now that the golden glow had grown faint, then disappeared entirely, the wards were back to an invisible shimmer in the air. Nothing more than a fracture between two worlds. A marker between good and evil.

I waited for Silas to comment, like a student waiting to be assigned their final grade. But instead of feedback, Silas merely bowed his head toward me.

“What the hell?” I blurted. “You’re doing it too.”

“Doing what?” he asked.

“You just bowed to me,” I said. “Don’t deny it.”

“I’m not,” Silas said simply.

“Why?” I asked.

“It was a way to acknowledge your power.” Silas sounded like his voice was struggling to remain in control. “You’re magnificent , Alessia. ”

Without further explanation, Silas turned on a heel—almost angrily—and stomped back to his horse. He climbed on, waited for me to do the same, and then kicked off.

His horse broke into a gallop. Mine followed suit, and before I knew it, my hair was flying in the wind. We sailed too fast to speak. We flew back to the land he loved, the land on the verge of collapse—and the people who would die along with it.