The many adventures of Iskandar and Coronaria

Jinxed

"Something's not right with you, Coronaria," Iskandar observed as he noticed that Coronaria couldn't use her plant powers, "Your magic isn't working once we arrived in Haiti."

"I know, Your Majesty," replied Coronaria anxiously, "If only I could find the root cause of it, I could regain my powers again."

Iskandar paced back and forth for a while, then suddenly something struck him. He had heard of voodoo practitioners in Haiti and they make bad things happen to people they hate. Iskandar stopped his pacing, and looked down at Coronaria with a thoughtful expression. He nods as though reaching a conclusion. "What you have said earlier," he says, "About how it felt like something was blocking your magic. Perhaps..."

He falls quiet for a few moments, before speaking again. "Perhaps you have been cursed?" he asked. His frown deepened, since the idea made him angry.

 "By a practitioner of voodoo magic? Hmph. What pathetic cowards. They would not think to directly curse me, so they went after you instead."

"But why would they do that?" sobbed Coronaria while her wings drooped, "I have done nothing wrong to anyone once in my life!They have no reason to hate me!"

"Shhh...it's alright," Iskandar reassured, "Once I find out who blocked your magical abilities, they're dead!"

The two began to venture into the countryside of Port-au-Prince, the capital of Haiti.Just then, Iskandar picked up a bad feeling in the air, and it seemed to come from a school nearby. Iskandar stopped walking, having paused in front of the school. His shoulders seem to tense slightly, and his expression hardened . He glanced down at Coronaria, who was still sobbing, and then back at the school. His hand clenched into a tightly balled fist.

"Something's off," he grumbled, the deep, booming voice of his taking on an almost menacing edge, "There's something off about this place."

He glanced down at Coronaria, then nodded his head in the direction of the school.

"Stay close. We're going in."

Iskandar put Coronaria into the hood of his mantle before striding up the stairs. He could feel that the uneasy feeling in the air was getting stronger once he reached a higher floor. Once he reached the fourth floor, he could sense that dark magic was present in the classroom at the end of the corridor. Through a window in the classroom, Iskandar could see a sixteen year old young girl with a voodoo doll in her hand, and she was poking pins into it. He could sense the dark magic that was emanating from the room, and it made him angrier. The anger, however, was mixed with a sense of confusion. Why does the girl look so depressed? His fist was clenched again and the knuckles turned white. Without a second thought, he pushed the door open with such force that it flies off of the hinges, and he stepped into the classroom with a thunderous stride. The teenage girl looked at Iskandar with a fearful look on her face and dropped her doll and pins in horror.

"S-Sir...who are you?B-But still,please don't hurt me..." she stammered. Iskandar looked at her from head to toe, and saw that she had scars on her arms and marker stains on her knees. He looked down at the teenage girl with a stern, yet curious look on his face. He observed the scars on her arms and the stained knees, and his expression softened.

"I have no intention of harming you, child," he said, in a softer tone than expected. "But I do need answers."

He crossed his arms over his broad chest, and leaned against a nearby desk.

"Tell me, what is your name?"

"M-My name is Maria," she began, "And I am a student studying here. I have always believed that nymphs and other magical creatures existed, but the people around me bullied me for it, and my situation didn't get any better when I started my studies here. One day,I came across this doll on a street. I thought it was a stress toy and took it home, and I realised that when I prodded pins into it, my stress seemed to go away. I never meant to harm your little companion, sir. Please forgive me."