Strained

Chapter Nine

It took me two weeks to get on board with Kate's idea of breaking the Curse. In the past two weeks, she stopped at nothing to convince me to try again. She had everyone on her side, so it only made sense to join them. I hadn't purposely been difficult, it had been a process. When Kate explained that the trinities were still there, I saw that she was right. This time, Kate had found three sets of trinities. The first, it was still 2020, so technically we would have until 12/31/2020 to perform the spell. This had surprised me.

The second was that this time we would have Witches, Lycans, and Cursed Ones helping us with the spell. Kate rearranged the spell so that each species would have a part to say. Honestly, it was brilliant. I hadn't believed we had missed that before. Of course, each species was Supernaturally charged and had their own "magic." This would help intensify the spell.

The third trinity was something none of us had expected.

There was a solar eclipse set for the end of December. It was one of the biggest trinities in Witch lore, according to Kate. It made sense, since the sun and moon were blocked, making the veil show through. It would be the perfect time to try to break the Curse.

It really was the only thing that had happened in the past two weeks. Things had maintained their normalcy, other than Kate trying to convince me to break a Curse that would free my Ex-boyfriend and his family from having to drink blood. It was a good thing, I knew this. That didn't stop my nerves anytime I thought about it. Things were going good -- real good, and I didn't want to jinx that.

Jamie and I were still dating. It was so effortless to be with Jamie, it made me even more hesitant about trying to break the Curse. Still, it wasn't fair to Daniel and his family if we didn't at least try. There was still no word from Naomi and her followers, but we knew they were watching us. Every time I moved, I felt someone watching me. Everyone was waiting for them to attack, but thus far nothing.

I was thankful there hadn't been an attack yet, but it only intensified the suspense. We knew they were going to attack, it was just a matter of when. The Coven kept stressing that no one could be left alone, which meant using the buddy system. Unfortunately, I wasn't all for using the buddy system. How could I explain that to Jamie? I couldn't and I didn't want to, which created tension within the Coven.

I was thinking about this as I walked into first period. Daniel and I were stuck being partners, which hadn't been too bad, but still -- awkward. I sat down next to him, waiting for him to make a smartass comment. I was late and so far, any time I was late he made a comment. I think he thought he was being flirtatious, but it came across annoying.

"Happy Friday!" He smiled wide, showing his teeth. I flinched, remembering what those teeth could do. He frowned when he saw my reaction. I shook it off and offered a smile in return.

"Uh, happy Friday," I muttered, then pulled out my notebook. It wasn't always this awkward between us. It took a few minutes for the tension to fall and then we were back to be civil. It was like neither of us knew how to act around each other if we were together. It was one of the side effects of us just being friends.

"Kate told me you guys are gonna take another stab at breaking the Curse," he leaned forward when he said this, taking on a low husky voice. It gave me goosebumps. I grit my teeth.

"That was quick, I only told her last night." I shouldn't have been surprised. Kate moved quickly. She had a mission and when she had something in her head there was no getting around it. No one would be able to stop or slow her down. She was driven, to say the least.

"Oh, was I not supposed to--

"No, it's fine. I just--"

I took a deep breath.