The Curse of Sunderwood

Chapter 2

I accepted the warm, wooden cup of tea and readjusted my skirt as I sat on the bed.

After the tears of our reunion, Jean changed me out of my damp clothes into something of hers. The navy-blue fabric was softer than I imagined, but thick. It was almost too warm when paired with the tea.

"I thought I would hate life without running water and Mexican food," Jean said as she joined me, "When I first came here, I was confused and terrified. But I grew to love the people. And I felt free from the pressures of busy ER's and narcissistic doctors."

"And our parents."

She nodded with a wry smile. "Here and there I've benefited from the lack of their nagging."

I scoffed, "Compared to my weekend with them, this place is heaven."

Jean's eyes rolled over me, "You're not nineteen anymore. Are you still kid who threw parties before the day of the exam, and then texted me at one AM about math formulas."

I grinned, but I was still embarrassed, "No... I dropped out of college to travel the world after you disappeared. Where there was a beach there was me. I did some other things like hiking and archery."

"Archery? Isn't that what you got an award for in ninth grade? That's crazy and amazing all at the same time! I can't believe you weren't disowned."

"No, but they were close to it. I probably would have been better off."

Jean frowned, "Meg, please don't say that. I had hoped you mended things when I disappeared."

"I might have if they showed me any feeling. We didn't talk about it. We didn't show our grief. They couldn't even bring themselves to pat my shoulder." Scowling into my drink, I bit my tongue before I ended up in a rage.

Jean pulled me into a hug. "Oh, Meg." She always cared for me when it felt like no one else did. She hated the feud I had with our parents, but I knew that mother could get under her skin. After all, she was supposed to marry a doctor, not work for one.

"What about you? What happened in this alternative reality the last five years?"

Jean smiled and glanced up, "Hmm, well... it's not exactly an alternative reality. Nathor – the village wizard who helped me settle into this place – described it as an alternate dimension. Don't look at me like that, I'm serious! I may not know the details of magic in this world, but he does, and it makes sense... sorta. But anyhow, I like it here. I like the people. Life can get rough, but... Nathor made it easier for me. We built a life here."

I scrutinized her expression as she stared wordlessly into empty space. "Jean. You aren't dating this guy, right?"

She hid her face with her cup as she pretended to sip, "Maybe we're a little past the dating phase."

"What!" I gawked at her, "You married an alternate dimension Gandalf?"

"No!" she waved a hand at me, "I did marry a wizard, but this isn't Middle-Earth. The wizards here are a race of magical beings who live super long. Nathor may be a couple hundred years old, but he's technically my age."

Shaking my head in awe, I wondered if the rest of this world was going to be as much as a learning curve as discovering the legitimate existence of a fantasy race and magic in the same sentence.

"I don't know what's more unbelievable: you marrying a wizard, or you marrying at all."

She took a deep breath, "I know. Crazy. Who am I?" Her eyes lowered, and her shoulders drooped. Her smile disappeared, and she placed a hand on my knee. "You might have noticed something's wrong here. What you see is only the beginning." She licked her lips, "There is a curse on this land and everything in it. It happened just before I came. Nathor, he... he is their protector. When he couldn't help them here, he had a responsibility to stop it." Tears welled in her eyes and she tried to blink them back. "He left a year ago and hasn't come back. He made me promise I would stay for them."