Chapter 8

After the day that I had, I wasn't surprised when sleep claimed me quickly. I hoped for a dreamless night of rest to recharge so I could face the surprises that I was sure the next day would bring. I should have known that I was not going to be that lucky. Once again, I found myself in darkness, the only light that I could see came from moonlight shining through what appeared to be a window with bars on it. My brain started analyzing what was going on. This had to be a dream brought on by delayed trauma from the day I'd had. I'd never been that aware during a dreaming state, but this seemed to be a day for firsts. I figured I'd just see where it went and pull myself out of it if it got too disturbing. I shivered and was surprised that it was from the cold damp air on my skin. It was so real that a part of me believed that I had been transported into a nightmare. I felt my throat close over with fear when I heard a scrabbling noise in the darkened corner of the room. I tried to wake myself up but, despite the belief that I was in control of this situation, I couldn't wake up no matter how hard I pinched myself.

"Who is that?" I called out as I backed away from the noise, hoping that it was some harmless little rodent.

The darkness took shape and I could just make out that it might be human, although that could have been wishful thinking on my part. The shape slowly moved toward me, sliding across the floor. A face peered up at me when the light shone across it and I gasped in horror.

"Flora, what happened to you?"

Her hair was matted, and her clothes looked filthy. The smell coming from her was horrendous. If I hadn't seen this woman in bed only a few hours ago, I would have sworn she had been left in what looked like a dungeon for weeks.

"Who are you?" Flora's quavering voice sliced through my own panic.

"My name is Sadie Goodwin. Maude and Margot brought me to help you. They think we might be family." Sure, I could have gone into the whole kidnapping story, but sometimes you just have to let go of the details and stick with the big picture.

Flora shook her head as if trying to wake from a very deep sleep. "Why am I in this place? I don't remember how I got here. I just remember waking up and not being able to get out."

I squatted down next to her to bring myself to her eye level and reached a hand toward her. Part of me was curious to see if this was a dream. It had to be a dream. My hand rested on her arm. Dream or not, this felt pretty real to me.

"Flora, you're not really in here. Your body is currently lying in your bed with Isobel keeping watch over you."

"But what's happened to me?"

I licked my lips. Out of everyone who knew about this situation, I was by far the very worst person to explain it. "We think you have been cursed."

"Who?"

"No idea."

"How?"

"Not a clue."

Flora focused on me. It looked like the confusion was starting to drift away. "Do you know anything?"

"Barely more than you do."

A sharp laugh burst out of Flora and she focused on my face. "Did you say we're family?"

I shrugged. "To be perfectly honest, I have no idea. The current theory is that I am Jasper's daughter."

"Collette's son," murmured Flora.

"Yeah, the guy was barely there for my conception, so I don't have any definitive evidence, but Maude's pretty confident of her theory."

Flora reached out, put her hand over mine and closed her eyes. When she opened them again, she grimaced. "You definitely have Harstone blood running through your veins."

She didn't exactly make that sound like it was a good thing.

Flora paused as if she had started thinking again. She scrambled back out of my reach. "Did you do this to me?"

I was shocked. "You think I put a curse on you?" I threw up my hands. "Before today I didn't even know curses existed. I didn't know about witches or werewolves or centaurs. I had a nice normal life and now I've been dragged into this nightmare." I looked around the dungeon I had found myself in. "Literally."

"What did they do?"

I didn't need to ask who she was talking about. "They thought you overdosed or something, so they went looking for family members to assist with a healing spell."

Flora snorted. "I'm shocked one of you was willing to help."

"I wouldn't exactly call me willing."

Flora's head dropped. "Tell me."

I sighed. "They knocked me out and tossed me in the trunk of their car."

"Those idiots."

"Look, I'm kind of fine with it now. I can understand why they got so desperate."

Flora looked up at me. "That's pretty forgiving of you."

Maybe I was forgiving, or maybe there was something inside me that felt that it was the right thing to do, regardless of how I ended up in the middle of this situation. "I guess so." I was also beginning to think that this wasn't a dream, or at least not a normal dream. "I need to know anything you can tell me about who would want to curse you. We've got a limited amount of time to get you out of whatever this is, so anything you can tell me that will help us would be great."

Flora dropped her head and wiped her hand across her eyes. "I don't know who would curse me. I've made some unpopular decisions over the years, but a curse is a really strong reaction."

"Okay, so we don't know who put this curse on you. How do we break it?"

Flora looked at me sadly. "There is no way to break a curse. The witch who created the curse has to recant it."

That sounded like a really bad system to me.

"Why aren't there any witches who can break curses? I would think that's exactly what we need right about now."

"There used to be cursebreakers," Flora said, sadly. "Until it was decided they were too dangerous. The ability usually runs in families, and those families were wiped out centuries ago."

I was shocked at the matter-of-fact way Flora described what must have amounted to a massacre. "Why would anyone think that is a good idea?"

"For the same reason books with curses in them are banned now. Curses are a dangerous weapon in witchcraft. The most dangerous weapon. There are still curses alive today that have lasted for thousands of years. They're the witch equivalent of a nuclear bomb. It isn't only the instant damage they cause but the devastation that can last for generations. The danger of being a cursebreaker witch was that it was so easy to fall over onto the other side of the equation. Nobody knew how to craft an impenetrable curse like a cursebreaker, and too many fell into that trap. In the end it was just considered easier to destroy both sides of that coin."

I felt sick. "That is appalling," I whispered.

Flora put a hand to her head. "Today, we look back at the atrocities of the past and hope we would never do something like that. Unfortunately, even if we were more enlightened, it's too late. The purge of cursebreakers was absolute. Not one of those families survived. The last cursebreaker was killed at least three hundred years ago."

"So, what happens to people who are cursed now?"

Flora gave me a small smile. "Nothing. Curses are so rare in the modern age that the best you can hope for is that the person who released the curse is caught and that the damage can be limited."

"No," I said, trying to project a strength that I didn't really feel. "I won't accept that. For goodness sake, I'm having a conversation with you while I'm fast asleep in my bed." I really hoped that was the case because if I had been transported here permanently, I was going to lose it. "There has got to be something else happening here, something we're all missing." I reached out and grasped Flora's hands. "Now I need you to think. Is there anyone that we can talk to who might be able to help."

Flora bowed her head. After a minute she looked up again and for the first time I saw some hope in her eyes. "About twenty years ago there was a woman called Helen Napier in our coven. She was a very talented witch. As I recall, she was married to a werewolf. My understanding is that he was having an affair." She stopped suddenly. "Never get involved with a werewolf. Monogamy isn't in their vocabulary."

"Kind of getting that message about werewolves."

"Helen found out about the affair. Rather than putting the blame where it should have gone and divorcing the cheating jerk, she decided to put a curse on the other woman."

I winced. "That seems a bit of an over-reaction."

"You would think so," Flora said softly. "Curses are not something to be played with as Helen discovered."

"What happened?"

'Flora looked sorrowful. "Helen was inexperienced, and she was driven by rage. High emotion has a tendency to mess with magic. The curse backfired and scarred Helen badly. She was expelled by the coven. What she tried to do went against everything we believe in."

"That is a horrible story. Why did you tell it to me?"

"Helen Napier is the only witch that I am aware of that has tried to create a curse since I became coven leader. We couldn't confirm it at the time, but there were rumors that her family had a grimoire that specialized in curses that had been handed down to her. It's highly illegal to own this book, but if she does have possession of it, you may be able to find information in it that could help you."

I must have looked confused.

"A grimoire is what we call a book which has magic spells or teaches magic."

I was looking forward to a time when I could have a conversation where I didn't need everything explained to me.

"So, let me get this straight. The only advice you have for me is to go to a witch who was tossed out of your coven for breaking the rules, has had twenty years to let that bitterness grow, and beg to look at a book that it is illegal for her to own. Oh, and hope she hasn't got any better at throwing curses in the last twenty years."

Flora waved her hand weakly in the air. "It sounds so much more difficult when you put it like that."

"Okay, if I get out of here I'll go talk to Helen Napier. Is there anything I can say to her that will make her feel more sympathetic to your cause?"

"Not really. Even though the decision to outcast her comes from the whole coven, I am the one who is ultimately responsible."

"Was her magic bound at least, or do I need to worry about getting turned into a toad?"

"Of course, we bound her magic. We have zero tolerance for witches who use curses."

I started to feel a strange tugging sensation. "Something's happening." I looked into her eyes, hoping this was real and that she was listening to what I was saying. "I will do everything I can, but I need you to not lose hope." I could feel Flora's hand holding me tighter, as if unwilling to let me go, but the feeling that I was fading away grew stronger.

"Whatever you do, don't give up. We will find something to help you."