A Witch's Curse

“Lyssa, are you sure you’re ready for this? Professor Garren warned us about trying this spell too early,” Feyre said. I took her words to heart, but continued to scan the shelves and slide open drawers in the apothecary to find all the extra ingredients that I needed. 

“I know but I need to do this,” I replied. “I need to find out where she is.” 

The shop’s black cat purred at my feet and I instinctively stooped down to pet her. She purred and rubbed against my leg before trotting along to someone else. While crouched, I found one of the ingredients I needed, devil’s snare, and made sure to choose the correct measurement from the drawer. 

“Maybe your sister doesn’t want to be found,” Feyre said in a low tone. I stood up straight and looked her directly in the eyes. Part of me wanted to cast her away, but she was my best friend, my only friend at Nyx Darkmore’s School for Young Witches. 

I picked up the smallest jar of phoenix ash and another of moonrock oil. When I shook the little glass jar of oil, it illuminated like an angel's grace and sparkled brilliantly in the natural light. It was fresh. 

Feyre and I made our way to the front of the shop, our black booties clicking on the wooden floorboards underneath us. I eyed a small crystal selection beside the register, debating on whether or not I wanted a piece of sandstone. I would surely need all the luck and empowerment I could get.

The front door bell chimed as a customer entered the shop. I turned to see who it was, half expecting to run into one of our professors and get scolded for gathering ingredients off of school grounds, but it was worse; it was Arawn. His porcelain skin and jade green eyes stood out against the dark wooden walls of the apothecary. He looked at me the moment he entered.

“Lyssa, it’s a surprise to see you here,” he said. 

I placed my items on the countertop and the clerk wrangled them towards the register with his metal hook hand. I stalled for an extra couple seconds, ensuring everything was rung up at the correct price, then turned back to Arawn.

“It’s even more of a surprise that you’re here. What’s a vampire doing in a witch’s apothecary? You know, there’s garlic in here.” 

He didn’t like that I was here - I sensed that he was scheming and I was the last person he wanted to see. But he chuckled under his breath and shrugged his black velvet cloak around his pointed shoulders. “Actually, I’m looking for a gift and you’re just the person to ask.” 

I scoffed. “I’m busy.” 

“You’re not; you’re on your way out.” 

“I’m going somewhere to be busy. Good day, Arawn.” 

I attempted to push past him but his stone cold figure blocked my way. His body turned rigid, unpassable. 

“Don’t make me,” I hissed under my breath. 

“Come on you guys,” Fayre spoke up, taking hold of my arm and trying to guide me away. “Let’s move on.” Her long, platinum blonde curls hit my face and forced me to back up away from Arawn as she wedged herself between us.

Arawn looked down on me, his 6’4 frame like an ominous lighthouse in a storm, but I wasn’t intimidated. He knew very well the potential of my powers, while still weak and immature they were stronger than his. He only had the upper hand in physical strength, but I had the ability to blast him off into the next town, or country.

I huffed and stepped aside, walking around him and out the door. I clutched the brown paper bag which contained the ingredients under my coat, yanked up the furry hood of my black cape, and stomped towards Lavinia Hall - the ladies’ dormitory. 

Arawn wasn’t supposed to be on our side of campus anyway. Vampires were located further out by the lakeside - The Thetrix School for Prodigious Young Men. We, the witches, were located closer to town. However, none of the school’s staff seemed to give a toss because after all, the boys were allowed to go into town and browse for clothes, knick knacks, and buy baked goods. But that was only on the weekends and today was Wednesday. 

The daintiest of snowflakes floated all around, dancing in the wind like confetti and contrasting against the black cobblestone streets. The town’s bell tower rang out and my eyes flickered to the top, checking the time - 4 p.m. The spell had to be performed after six and there was much to set up.

Fayre and I arrived back to our room and she started our fireplace for warmth. I hung up my cape and spun around to another cabinet where I kept our best ritual cloths. The spellbook recommended one made of voile, which we had several. I chose a white one and smoothed it out onto our altar. 

I could hear Feyre sigh with disapproval as she observed me doing the preliminary work. “What if it doesn’t happen?” 

“What do you mean? It will work. I have everything.” 

“But don’t you remember the risks?” 

I placed a crystal bowl in the center and began to lay out all of the ingredients I had bought. “So my powers may weaken a bit, I'll spend tomorrow in bed, and never find out who abducted my sister.”

Feyre tisked in disagreement. “Permanent blindness.” 

A jolt of anxiety electrified my blood; I had read briefly about that side effect but tried to block it from my mind. After all, it was extremely rare. There was a miniscule chance that it would happen to me. 

“I have to try,” I said. “She’s out there somewhere and I’m the only one who can find her.” 

“Or you could just let the authorities find her.” 

“Fayre, it’s been a year without any leads. I haven’t had a single correspondence from her. I’ve sent nearly a hundred letters and cards - nothing,” I said. I went to our bookshelf and pulled the thick, leather-bound spell book out and opened it to the "Seeing Eyes" spell.

My best friend didn’t say much after that and I continued to set up the ritual. Eventually she picked up on her own homework, scribbling on a pad of paper every now and then. The fire crackled delightfully and for the next several minutes, I stared into its flames, getting lost in deep thought. 

Spontaneous combustion was another extremely rare side effect of the spell, but predominantly in older witches. I was barely twenty so I figured I was safe for the most part. It’s not to say it didn’t scare me.

I shook my head, fighting Fayre’s warnings that encompassed my mind. I fixed myself tea and a sandwich then cleansed my body and washed my hair. The spell was quite particular about that bit. By the time I finished, it was finally nearing 6 p.m. 

“I think I’m ready,” I said as the clock struck six. Fayre closed her book and twisted around in her chair. 

“You haven’t changed your mind?” 

I ignored her question and sucked in a deep breath. One by one, I carefully poured and sprinkled each ingredient into the bowl. Nothing happened during the process, which was expected. It wasn’t until I began to recite the incantation that the temperature in the room plummeted and the fire literally froze up in place. 

I continued. I felt the power surge through my veins and a great beaming light emitted inside of my eyes. I shut them tight. All I saw was a blinding fog, but the more I whispered the spell, the clearer the images became. Little by little, the sounds and smells of the dormitory around me faded out and I focused in on any new ones.

“Ashlyn,” I whispered, calling out to my sister. “Ashlyn.” 

The spoken spell part was over but I continued to repeat her name over and over. Through the blinding fog I started to see something - a human figure. It was tall and slender. I repeated her name again, hoping she might hear it. I was now seeing through my own sister’s eyes. She was alive.

The picture focused on a dimly lit pub. I heard voices in the background of mindless chatter and raucous laughter. Ashlyn’s vision was almost perfectly clear now. 

She sat sideways at the pub’s counter with a tall, half-filled glass in her hands. The tall lanky figure stood with their back turned in front of her.

“Would you look at me?” Ashlyn asked the person, reaching out. “Don’t be like this. I love you.” 

The figure turned around and I felt like throwing up - it was Arawn. He wasn’t dressed in his formal school attire; he wore a regular getup to blend in with the pub’s commoners. A pageboy cap had covered his eyes, but he tilted it upwards when he spoke.

“I’m sorry, darling,” he cooed, looking straight into her eyes. “I was just retrieving something.” He pulled a dark purple box from behind his back and I heard my sister audibly gasp with excitement. 

“Arawn! What is this?” 

“A gift for you, beloved.” He took a seat on the stool next to her as she unwrapped the bow that held the lid on. Inside of it was an opal necklace. 

I tried to scream - I knew what he’d done to it. He had been at the apothecary today for ingredients for a curse. Opals were notorious for such an evil deed. Ashlyn couldn’t hear my screams as she happily clasped the gems around her neck. 

Arawn stepped closer to her, looking deep into her eyes. I felt the most disturbed as I’d ever been and frantically tried to exit the spell. Now that I could detect my sister’s energy, it would only take a quick location spell to locate where the pub was. 

“I know why you were there, Lyssa,” he said, looking back through her eyes. 

“What?” Ashlyn asked, startled. “How do you know Lyssa?” 

Arawn stepped back and let out a boisterous belly laugh that silenced most of the pub. He keeled over onto the bar, slamming his fist on top, unable to control his laughter. 

“Arawn, what’s happening?” Ashlyn coughed and scratched at her neck. “Arawn??” She choked, pulling at the necklace as it tightened around her throat.

I tried to shake out of the spell but it was too powerful, and I was losing my own strength the more I stayed inside it. I screamed, cried, and begged for it to be over.

All of a sudden, Ashlyn's sight went black and I collapsed onto the familiar stone floor of my dorm room.

Fayre was screaming and I felt her scrawny arms wrap around me. “Lyssa! Are you okay? Snap out of it!” 

I felt her fingers reach for my mouth, but I couldn’t do anything about it; I was frozen. Then I felt a hot liquid pour into my mouth and flow down the back of my throat. Within seconds, I regained my own sight and was able to sit up. I spent the next several minutes gasping for breath. 

“What happened?” she asked, her voice frantic. “What did you see?” 

I coughed and answered, “Arawn. I saw Arawn.” I rubbed my own eyes and saw the vial of bloodstone oil and cinnamon that Fayre had given me - she saved my life. 

“Why? How?” 

“Ashlyn was with him at a pub. He gave her a necklace—” I stopped mid sentence and relived the horror in flashbacks. I curled into a ball and the tears poured from my eyes.

 “Why would he be with her?” 

“You know why,” I shot back through my tears. “Payback.” 

It was an accident. A simple vanishing spell went horribly wrong and Arawn's own sister ended up in hospital, in a coma for two months. I had been fooling around with magic in town, illegally, and hurt an innocent civilian. It ensnared mine and Arawn's paths forever. He threatened, rather promised, revenge in exchange for not turning me into the school authorities. 

Feyre helped me to my bed and wet a rag to wipe the sweat off my forehead. It wasn’t two seconds later that there was banging on our door.

“Oh no,” she breathed out. “They’re here. They heard us.” 

I forgot about all the noise I made and now was certain that the school authorities were outside, waiting to see what was going on. 

Feyre scurried to the door but  I couldn’t make out what exactly they were saying. She wasn’t with them long before she locked the door and returned. 

“I said everything was fine, that we spilled boiling water on ourselves. They bought it.” 

Whatever, it was good enough. I was in no condition to care. I had to begin recovery as soon as possible.

Whenever I closed my eyes, however, I still saw through Ashlyn’s. I saw Arawn decked out in his common clothes, holding the fateful box in his bony, pale hands. I could almost feel the joy my sister had radiated upon seeing it. He must have slipped something in her drink, some type of love potion that worked in seconds. 

I had to heal as soon as possible in order to perform a location spell and find Ashlyn, but it would take days and we had an exam in Spells class on Friday. 

All I could do was wait and hope that Ashlyn would stay alive long enough for me to see her for real before her demise, rather than seeing through her.