The Curse

Part 5 - Reversing the Curse

I felt fear like I had felt not long ago, when I was stuck in the lake. What else could happen? What had Emerson done?

My parents returned with a glass of water, and after drinking it, I told them I was feeling much better. It was mostly true, my throat no longer felt like it was coated in sandpaper, and the aches in my muscles were not nearly as unbearable as before. But my head was swimming. Fleur gave me a tight lipped smile, but it looked more like a grimace.

The party continued on, while Fleur and I sat in apprehensive silence, waiting for disaster to strike. But nothing happened. Night fell and we breathed out simultaneous sighs of relief. Maybe the curse had already done all the damage it had meant to do. As far as I was concerned, Emerson could marry Viktor Darke and they could live happily ever after. He freaked me out a little. Maybe I would be free to marry whoever I wanted, or not marry at all.

Then the winds began to pick up. My hair whipped around my face, and Fleur handed me a hair tie to pull it back. I gave her a grateful smile and announced I was going to get a sweater from my parents' car. She said she would come with me. Together we made our way out of what was left of Atlantis, passing the lake in the process. Its waters were dark and daunting in the night. I shivered and hurried along. We reached the car, but before I was able to grab my sweater, I heard a sound in a nearby shrub. I slowly approached the sound, even though my instincts were telling me to ignore it.

As I neared closer, I realized it was a person. A small girl. Analia. She stumbled out of the bush, with tea streaks down her face. Fleur had a look of fear on her face.

"The lake." were the only words Analia said before she fell at my feet.

I rushed to her, kneeled down, and held her small body with her head in my lap. There were still tears falling from her closed eyes, even in her unconscious state. Fleur went to get help while I tried to wake Analia. I gently shook her shoulder, but her head just bobbed around like she was a ragdoll. Instead of continuing my futile attempt to wake her, I began to run my fingers through her hair, which was flying free. I couldn't remember if it had been styled in an updo, but I had a feeling she had taken it down after following Fleur and I out of the party.

What was going on?

Analia began to cough, and I patted her back to try and provide any comfort or relief I could. Soon, Gianna and Fleur came hurrying the same way we had come. Gianna was no longer laughing like she had been earlier. Fleur was still slightly limping, and she had an expression that looked full of pain, but she was hurrying nonetheless. Gianna reached Analia and I, and fell to the ground next to her friend. Ignoring me, she scooped Analia into her arms and cradled her small body. She rocked back and forth until Analia stopped coughing.

Analia slowly opened her eyes, looking deathly afraid of something. Gianna let out a cry of relief that her friend was okay, while I rose from my position on the ground and joined Fleur a slight distance from Gianna and Analia.

"What are we going to do Fleur?" I asked her, feeling hopeless. I thought the curse was going to kill her. There was no question now, the lake was not finished.

"Go to the lake," I heard Analia say from the ground a few feet away.

That sounds the opposite of productive, I thought to myself. We barely survived the first time. I lost my engagement, and luckily I didn't mind, but what would it take if we went back. My parents? My life?

Fleur brushed her fingers across her throat, then let out a gasp. She began searching the ground around us.

"My locket! Its gone. I had it earlier but now it's gone. I have to find it" she nearly screeched out. She turned to run back to the party, but I grabbed her when Analia spoke. It didn't sound like her.

"The lake took it, but that's not all it has taken tonight" said the lifeless voice I knew was not Analia. There was something speaking through her.

"The curse of Atlantis has been dormant since it was abandoned a millenia ago. Since it has resurfaced, it has been collecting pieces of the lives of every person that has visited. The curse awoke when Emerson sought to use it maliciously. She took something that was not hers, and now the lake has taken something precious from each and every person here this night."

After the voice coming from Analia's mouth was finished, the small girl collapsed again, unconscious once more.

We're going to the lake, I thought. I shared a look with Fleur and Gianna, and I knew they were thinking the same thing. Gianna lifted Analia, and I opened the door in my parent's car, so she would be as safe and warm as possible. After she was safe inside the vehicle, I hesitated. Did I really have to go back there? After all, I didn't exactly want back what the lake had taken from me. But I knew I had to go, at least to help Fleur and Gianna retrieve whatever it was the lake had stolen from them.

The water seemed even more cold than it was the first time. Fleur, Gianna, and I formed a circle, only this time there was no one in the middle. We began chanting, me trying to remember and mimic the words I had heard them chant earlier. Only this time, I was focused on getting back what Emerson stole from everyone. I was happy without my engagement, but this was not about me. This was about justice and everyone else's right to happiness. As we continued to chant, the winds changed. It seemed as if it changed direction, and I began to feel dizzy. I was able to stay standing in the currents near the shore this time, but the middle of the lake looked like all hell had broken loose. The water was whirling in circles, creating what seemed like a black hole in the center. The jagged rocks suddenly collapsed. One moment they were there, and the next I wasn't quite sure where they had gone.

Before I knew it, everything was calm. There was no wind, and the waves died down to what was normal on any lake. I was breathing heavily, and so were the other girls. We took a moment to catch our breaths, but soon left the lake. I went back to the car to check on Analia, but she was nowhere to be found. Almost like a zombie, I made my way back to the party.

It was absolute chaos. Everyone was grouped around something, but I couldn't see what. I shoved my way to the front of the crowd to see Emerson lying on the ground in a pool of blood. Someone was trying to perform CPR but judging by the amount of blood on the ground, I knew there was no way she could be alive. My breath hitched in my throat and I felt my feet collapse under me.

A few minutes passed before I came back to consciousness. The first thing I saw when I opened my eyes was my mother's panic stricken face. As soon as she saw my eyes open though, I could sense the relief.

"Oh thank goodness," she said. "We thought you were gonna—"

I couldn't hear anything around her sobs, but I was able to piece the story together a little, with some help from Fleur, Gianna, and Analia. Whatever we did in the lake worked. It reversed everything Emerson did, but at a great cost. The lake required payment, so it had taken Emerson's life. She collapsed in the middle of a song, and no one knew what had happened.

Everyone got back what the lake had stolen from them, including me. I was once again engaged to Viktor Darke, and though I was not happy about that, it was the least of my worries in that moment. Everything was back to a somewhat normal state, and we would just have to take it from there.