The Curse ✔️

Chapter 30: Runes and Raves

Three days have passed since I talked to Thar. He wouldn't even look at me in class, and I was too ashamed to come talk to him. Right now, he was pacing back and forth on the cathedra and explaining to the class the fundamental differences between black magic and white magic. I wasn't listening to him, but I was staring, hoping he'd finally meet my gaze.

Nothing.

I was sorry for hurting him, but I meant what I said. He wasn't doing enough. We were seconds away from a disaster, and he was acting like patience was what we needed.

"Does this look good?" Amma slid her notebook to me.

The page in front of me was full of symbols, mostly runes for protection, but also bits and pieces of the Enochian script – the language of angels. I understood none of it, but it looked exactly like the drawing in Eugene's demon capturing book.

"Perfect." I mumbled. "It's been perfect all five times you've shown it to me."

"It's tricky." Amma was growing exponentially more nervous as the party approached. "Every letter has to be in the right place, otherwise the whole thing breaks apart. Eugene says he's not that good at rune creation-"

"You're good." I interrupted. "Now put that away before Thar sees it."

"Fine." Amma took back the notebook. "How are we on the party front?"

The Winston Academy students were supposed to arrive tomorrow morning, a week after their school has been attacked.

"Everything is going according to plan." Morta leaned closer from my right. "Leon made sure we could use the male dorms, and we've got more booze than I've ever seen in my life."

Morta and Leon were the party committee.

"What about the lust charm?" I asked.

"Leon took care of it." Morta said. "Honestly, I'm afraid someone is going to overdose."

The bell rang. As we exited the classroom, I glanced at Thar again, but he busied himself with the papers. With a heavy sigh, I continued down the hallway with Amma and Morta.

"I'm not sure about this." Amma stared at her notebook, almost bumping into people in front of her. "This is too difficult, I'm not even done with the first semester-"

Morta hooked her arm and pulled her out of some students' way, "If anyone can do it, you can."

"That doesn't make me feel better."

"Okay, how about you're our only chance?" Morta grinned.

Amma let out a squeal, "Don't even say that!"

The sun has set over the H. Academy. The sky has switched all shades or orange, red, pink and purple, before settling into deep dark blue.

One more day.

Tomorrow, we'd have to go through with this absurd plan. The cards were in place. Amma and Eugene knew the spell, we had all the ingredients, Morta and Leon planned the welcome party. All we had to do now was make sure everything went according to the said plan. Which was the difficult part.

Morta closed the windows in Amma's room once we reached it. The dim lighting from the orange table lamp and the ascending moon enveloped the room. Amma went to the blackboard, which was now completely covered with random bits and pieces of the plan, pointers, and a bunch of runes she practiced drawing. The stack of books on the floor grew exponentially, and by now I was pretty damn sure we'd pass every exam in January. Or at least Amma would.

Amma grabbed the sponge and erased everything from the blackboard, leaving only how to catch a demon in three steps and the accompanying steps. Morta sat on the floor and I sat in the armchair.