Thorn in the Rose {Book 1 Of The Once Upon A Time Chronicles}

Chapter 37: The Curse of the Rose

My body sways from side to side, synching with Dante's slow movements. He shakes his head and neighs as the monstrous collection of clouds hovering above us rumbles. I know my focus should be on the storm that's about to rage above me and the immense danger that I'll be in once lightning starts to crack the sky, but no matter how hard I try I can't seem to pry my thoughts away from the discovery I made earlier today. My grip on the purple book tightens as fragments of sentences twist and twirl and dance in my head, but no matter how hard I try I can't seem to piece them together. How am I supposed to tell Maurie that the woman he lives with, who granted does seem to be horrible, is the reason he no longer had the book that could help him, could help all of them? Unless of course his theory about me being the key is real, which I still don't believe. A loud rumble of thunder echoes above me bringing me out of my thoughts. I grab Dante's reigns and with a quick flick of the wrist, I have him move from a trot to a gallop. 

As I reach the castle's iron gates, large droplets of rain start to tumble from the sky. The booms of thunder grow louder and louder, and I quickly slide off the saddle and pull Dante into a small section of the undercover area that Amelie made for him the other day. The poor horsey needs a home here too, don't you think?  His neighs grow louder and he starts trotting round and round in a squiggly circle with a shaky body as the sky continues to roar. 

"It's okay, boy, it's okay. We won't be here too long," I say as I smooth his slightly mattered mane. Settled by my words he saunters over to the furthest point away from the entrance and lays down.

As I hurry towards the door, the sky is pouring with rain. Upon opening the door, I brush my damp hair aside. Fighting against the sudden winds that picked up out of nowhere I push the doors closed behind me. Sighing, I lean against the closed door and glare at Maurie who is standing by the staircase laughing at me. 

"You having a good time over there, Mr Nice and Warm? Is my discomfort making you feel better about yourself?"

"I would be lying if I said I'm not finding your situation amusing," he says with the corners of his lips curling upward in a small smile. 

"How did this storm pick up so quickly? It wasn't anywhere close to this bad in the village or the forest." An unnaturally loud crack of thunder rattles outside, and I jump away from the window beside me that shakes and cracks from the force.

Maurie chuckles as he reaches over into a dusty wardrobe, pulls out a mostly decent blanket and hands it to me. I give the ancient thing a quick shake before wrapping it comfortably around my shaking shoulders. 

"Storms around here develop a lot quicker. I've always assumed it's part of the curse. It seems the land within the castle's boundary was affected by the spell as well. The plants died and can never grow, the sun never touches this place and anytime there is a storm like this one it, as I said, develops quicker and is worse than ever." 

"I didn't know magic could have such an effect on the area around it."

"Magic is a force all on its own, one that is stronger than anything in this world. It can give the wielder anything that the desire but it always takes something in return. And, from what I've learned these last couple of decades the stronger the spell the bigger the consequences and the more one must sacrifice. It's no wonder the old witches went to great lengths to hide their spell books containing their strongest spells." 

"So a couple of plants died and the sun is allergic to you guys, that doesn't sound like such a major consequence to me." 

He smiles with amusement and shakes his head at my bluntness. "That's because despite the effect it has had on our lives the spell that was done to him and this place is a mild one, strong but mild. The immortality granted to all of us is probably the only part of the spell that took the most."