The town of Myerigrad was as busy as it ever was during the warmer months, streets packed with business and pleasure alike. As the main hub between Zmeiva in the west and Hulvolk in the east, it served as the primary artery between the nations, particularly at this time of year where there was less danger of snow blocking off roads for weeks. Needless to say, there were plenty of northfolk from both nations packing the street and hawking their wares.
In this chaos, the four students of St. Myriak’s did their best to navigate the crowd. Their chosen formation served them well; Amelie’s shock of pink hair made it easy to keep track of her lead, while Mellick’s presence at the back helped usher the still somewhat unsteady twins. As the prefect had suspected, neither of the pair seemed particularly comfortable out on the streets. Ishmael hadn’t been the type to walk through the town even on a good day, and today was certainly on the worse side.
After a bit of struggle, though, they arrived at a quaint little building, walls painted in pale pastel compared to the brown and gray bricks on either side of it. The display window was draped over, obscuring any look inside, but there was a small hanging sign above the door: ‘Terry’s.’ Amelie whirled around, gesturing grandly to the door. “Here we are!” She pronounced.
“Is it closed?” Mellick asked, jabbing a thumb at the closed door. “I was expecting something a little…louder.” There was no shortage of competing food places around, after all.
“No, it’s open,” Amelie said with a shrug. “Terry’s not into the whole ‘crowd’ thing. You’ll see when we go in. Come on!”
And with that she was gone again, pulling the door open to reveal what looked like a fairly normal hallway. Mellick sighed as he watched the twins exchange another glance before going inside. What was going through their head, he wondered? He’d have to ask once they were in. He filtered in behind them.
The interior was remarkably plain: pale pink walls, wooden floor, a couple of white doors on either side, and what looked like a lectern at the end of the hallway. The hallway split in half into a T shape behind the lectern, and it seemed like there were yet more doors to either side. Amelie strode up confidently to the lectern. “Terry! You there?”
Just as the rest of them caught up to Amelie, a small slat in the wall behind the lectern slid open. A sheet of paper slipped through and onto the lectern. Mellick leaned over to read it. “Here. You brought friends.”
“We’ll be quiet, I promise,” Amelie declared. “I’ll even forgo the usual spot, if it’ll make you more comfortable.”
Another sheet through the slat. “I only have one room big enough. Last one on the right.”
“We’ll take it! Thank you, Terry!” Amelie nodded, then gestured to the rest of them. “Come on!”
The last room on the right turned out to be another barebones room, though the largest one they’d seen so far. A table with six seats, lit by a few high-set windows and a ceiling light right above the enter of the room. Menus already seemed to be laid out, along with a pad of paper and a pencil. Amelie immediately sat herself in a seat, gesturing to the other side. “Take a seat. When you know what you want, we write it down and put it through the vent over there.” She gestured to the air vent beside the door.
“What an odd place,” Mellick muttered, taking a seat in the corner opposite Amelie. “Is it designed for privacy?”
“Exactly that,” Amelie replied, already scribbling an order out on the pad of paper. “Terry’s shy, so they made a place where you could feel like you were eating alone. I come here a lot to work on projects.”
“What…kind of projects?” Ikhan asked. He and Seda had taken the other seats on Mellick’s side.
“Oh, I’m a music major,” Amelie replied. “I come here to compose. Bring my miniature keyboard and everything.”
“A music major…there aren’t that many of those at St. Myriak’s, are there?” Mellick asked.
“Nope! I’d rather have gone to the Midlands, personally. But here we are.” Amelie passed the notepad back to the center of the table. “Since we’re sharing, what are you all studying? Ikhan and Seda first.”
“History…”
“...History.”
Amelie turned to the twins. “Oh, that would explain all the books! And why a Southlander would come all the way up here for schooling. St. Myri’s library is second to none, after all.”
Ikhan nodded. “...Yeah. We were…working through the library…since we got here.”
“That tracks,” Mellick said, passing the pad of paper over to the twins. “I don’t think I ever saw Ishmael without a book in his hand.”
Amelie’s gaze shifted to Mellick. “And what about you, Mellick?”
“Mage studies. Alchemical focus.”
“...Really?” Amelie cocked her head. “That’s surprising. I know it’s St. Myriak’s other big offering, but I really had you pegged as a history type.”
Mellick shook his head. “You’re not the first person to say that, but nope. I’m about as alchemically-focused as you can get.”
“Huh.” Amelie shrugged. “Shows what I know. You studying medicines?”
“I’m studying everything I can get my hands on, really. The bigger the base, the better, I always say.”
“Not a bad line of thought,” Amelie mused. “But how much time can you really spend on basics?”
At that moment, Seda passed the pad of paper into the middle. “...Done,” she muttered.
“Oh, great!” Amelie swept up the pad, tearing the sheet off as she stood up. A moment later, the sheet had been slipped between the grate, into the vent. “That should do it,” Amelie explained. “The food will be delivered to the door in a bit.”
“Now then. Let’s get down to the real reason I brought you all here.” Amelie put her hands on the table. “How much do you know about curses, Ikhan and Seda?”
The twins exchanged a glance. “Not…much,” Ikhan muttered.
“We know…stories,” Seda added.
“That’s fine,” Amelie declared. “In fact, it’s probably for the best.” She stood up straight, looking down at all three of them with an edge in her eye that wasn’t there before. “All three of you - Ikhan, Seda, even Mellick. I need you three to forget everything you’ve heard about the Accursed. The rumors will only hurt you. Got it?”
With three nods from the other side of the table, Amelie nodded. “Good. Now, curses are something that’s been mythologized countless times over the years. Every time a major world event happens, you can count on one of the Accursed being at the center of the action. And this is because of a curse’s nature.”
The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.
She locked eyes with Ikhan, and then Seda. “If you take nothing else away from today, take this. Every single curse is different. You probably won’t learn anything by studying other Accursed. But they all have one common factor: A curse is always a result of an outside force. The weight of expectations, an item inadvertently charged with negativity, a Spirit, any number of factors could have played into it. Most importantly...”
“Ikhan and Seda, something or someone did this to you. You may not know what, or you may not want to tell. But that something or someone is out there, and figuring out what did this and why is the key to understanding.”
Ikhan’s eyes widened. “Something…did this to us?”
“Sure did,” Amelie said with a nod. “It could be a lot of things, even a combination. Maybe you were unlucky and picked up a cursed book from the library. Maybe somebody had a grudge strong enough to reach out and afflict you with it. If you have a family, their feelings may have coalesced into a curse that festered inside you for a while.”
“...My family?” Seda’s eyes narrowed. “They…wouldn’t do that.”
“Maybe not intentionally,” Amelie said with a shrug. “Ms. Vellicent and I have seen an Accursed smothered by good intentions before. Or maybe you were blind to your family’s shadows. Either way, we can’t rule it out.”
The twins shrunk into their chairs somewhat. Amelie continued. “The other most important thing. With so much cursed magical pressure on you, the fact that you two haven’t keeled over is key. It means that your latent magic is strong enough to fight back. Like an athlete with training weights, your bodies will eventually adjust to the curse, and your magic will start spilling out.
"In other words, within a month or so, you’ll probably develop secondary magic abilities.”
“Secondary…?” Mellick arched an eyebrow. “Like a mage’s powers?”
“Not exactly,” Amelie answered. “Mages earn magic through years of study and practice. They can train in anything they want, tweaking their magic over time to fit whatever mold until they find their niche. But an Accursed’s magic comes unfiltered straight from their core, their deepest self. It’s usually only one ability, compared to a mage’s bag of tricks. But it’s also much stronger.”
“...Miss Amelie?”
Amelie turned to face Seda. “Yeah?”
“Are you…Accursed?”
Mellick’s eyes flickered. Amelie’s face remained even, but the atmosphere in the room turned a bit colder. “...I am,” she said after a few moments of awkward silence. “What about it?”
“What…kind of curse?”
“I don’t know you well enough to get into that,” Amelie declared. “Drop it.”
“...Sorry...”
Seda shrunk even further back into her chair, practically curling up on the seat. Mellick gave her a sympathetic look. “Is there anything else, Amelie?”
“Those were the important parts,” Amelie said. “It’s easy to talk about the overarching mechanics of curses, but like I said, each and every one is different. There will always be more to understand about a curse. Especially one as unique as theirs.”
She turned her gaze back to the twins. “I’ve never seen anything that splits one person into two, even in Ms. Vellicent’s notes. The differing heights, eye colors, hair colors, and of course the differing physical sexes…Any and all of those could be part of the curse’s effects. I’m sure Ms. Vellicent would appreciate it if you two kept track of any further changes. Think you could do that?”
“...Sure,” Ikhan replied. Seda just nodded mutely.
“Good!” Amelie’s smile returned as a light knock came at the door. “Ooh, our food’s ready! That’s enough of the heavy stuff. Let’s eat, shall we?”
–
True to Amelie’s word, Terry’s food was absolutely delightful. Though, St. Myriak’s wasn’t exactly known for it’s cafeteria, so maybe Mellick’s perspective was simply too skewed. Either way, he scarfed down his lamb burger with gusto, savoring each and every bite.
It was almost enough to distract him from the awkward aura at the table. Ikhan and Seda both looked as though they’d been informed of a family member’s death, sullenly picking at their meals with hardly any actual eating involved. Mellick didn’t blame them. In a way, it was like they actually had lost a family member, even if the member was technically themselves.
On the other hand, Amelie was certainly not helping matters. She was actually eating, at least, but she never looked at her plate even as she mechanically forked pieces of egg and beef. Her neutral expression was instead fixed unwaveringly on the twins, gaze laser-focused on the way they were picking at their food. It would be enough to make anybody uncomfortable, especially a pair of uncertain students.
About halfway through his burger, Mellick had seen enough. He lightly cleared his throat. “Amelie?”
“Yeah?” She spoke with her mouth full, not even turning to look at Mellick.
“Could you, uh, maybe not stare at them?”
“Why not?”
“You’re clearly making them uncomfortable.”
The twins paused, looking back and forth between the two older students. Amelie swallowed her food and shrugged. “They’re gonna be uncomfortable no matter what I do. It’s literally their first day of being Accursed.”
“Sure, but do you have to add to it?”
“Yep. First rule of a new Accursed, gotta keep an eye on them.”
“I’m not going to pretend I know what those rules are. But that doesn’t give you the right to treat them like a lab rat, especially after dumping so much on them already.”
“...” Amelie’s gaze swiveled over to Mellick. “And what do you know, huh? Nosy guy sticking his head into business he doesn’t get.”
Mellick’s eyes narrowed. “I’m here because I care, unlike some people.”
“Well, maybe you should-”
“Stop!”
“Stop!”
Amelie stopped mid-sentence as Ikhan and Seda both raised their voices. The twins shrunk from the others’ glances for a moment, but Ikhan pushed forward, meeting their gazes with his piercing golden eyes. “We…can speak for ourselves,” he said, a bit too quietly to be a proper declaration. “We should.”
Amelie leaned back in her seat. “And what do you say?”
Ikhan took a deep breath. “Don’t…fight. You said…yourself, every curse…is different. We…are learning. How to act…separately. So we can…stand on our own. So please. Give us…time.”
Mellick fell back into his chair, cursing himself under his breath. “...You’re right. I shouldn’t be speaking for you two without asking. Sorry.”
“We…do appreciate it,” Ikhan replied. “But fighting each other won’t…help.”
Amelie tapped her fork on her mostly-empty plate lightly. “So is independence your top priority, then? So you can stand on your own?”
“Yes,” Ikhan said. Seda nodded in agreement.
“I have an idea, then.”
Before anybody else could reply, Amelie was out of her chair and across the table, hauling Seda to her feet.
“Wha-”
“What?”
“I have a theory, after watching you two for a bit,” Amelie explained even as she practically dragged Seda towards the door. “You clearly have differences, but you keep overlapping each other. It’s almost like you’re playing off one another. So what if we split you up?”
“Didn’t they just ask to be given more say?” Mellick countered. “Don’t just drag them off with permission.”
“I wasn’t gonna leave with her, duh,” Amelie said, though she still earned herself a glare from Mellick. “At least, not until we get the go-ahead. What do you two say?”
There was a tense silence in the room for a few moments before Seda spoke up. “...Sure.”
“Settled, then!” Amelie practically flung the door open. “You take Ikhan to wherever you usually get clothes, Mellick. I’m gonna take Seda. I’ll pay on the way out, too, so don’t worry about that.”
“Wait, but-”
The door closed before Mellick could properly get a word in, leaving him and Ikhan alone in the room. Mellick sighed and slumped back in his chair. That woman…he couldn’t tell if she was provoking him on purpose or not. Not that her idea was bad, but the way she started moving without any regard for the twins was infuriating.
Well, nothing to do about it now. He looked over at Ikhan. “Well, let’s finish lunch first.”
“Yeah…Mellick?”
“Yes?”
“Thanks. For…sticking around.”
As Ikhan took his first proper bite of his food, Mellick couldn’t help but smile. Even if Amelie didn’t want him around, she wasn’t the one who mattered. As long as the twins wanted him to stick around, he would fight for them. Curses be damned, there was somebody he could help, so he’d see it through.
It’s what his sister would have wanted for him, after all.