Celestial Heartbeat (Book One) COMPLETE

Chapter Eleven - The Easy Way Out (REN)

~REN~

I was mad.

Mad at the curse, mad at the stupid Caster woman for filling Evie's head with all these thoughts, and mad at Evie's car for not working.

"It's not that easy." I growled to her. She was adamant that I had to stay alive, that I had to take the way out of my curse. Part of me wanted to laugh at the irony of the situation, but I couldn't bring myself to do it.

"You said I'm like Sleeping Beauty, right?" I found myself saying, I couldn't believe that I was using a Disney film as an analogy. It went against every inch of my nature.

Evie nodded eagerly, looking happy that I was playing along.

"Well, remember how her curse was that she was going to prick herself on a spinning needle and fall asleep? No matter what the king and queen did, no matter how hard they tried to avoid the curse, they couldn't.”

“Maybe they didn’t try hard enough.” Evie protested, her eagerness fading fast. I shook my head at her.

 “They removed all of the spinning wheels in the kingdom. Outlawed them. She still got pricked and fell asleep. No matter what I do, the ending is inevitable."

Evie frowned, it didn't suit her to look sad. It was like seeing a bludgeoned white dove. It was a bad omen in itself.

"Well I don’t think Disney is very accurate. Besides, she got awoken by a true loves kiss." Evie was refusing to let it go.

I barked out a harsh laugh.

"True love isn't a thing."

"Why not?" Evie protested.

"Well why is some love true love, and some isn't? What's the difference? People always think they've found their true love and the next minute they’re off with someone else."

The conversation was getting ridiculous. We were so far from the point that I couldn’t even remember where it was. It was just like her to believe in something as stupid and naïve as ‘true love’. If true love was a thing I wouldn’t be cursed the way I was. My mother and father had been the closest thing to true love that I had ever witnessed. That had not been enough to save them. Besides, love, whether anyone believed in it or not, was a human emotional. A chemical reaction in the brain or something. Curses were magic. Forces beyond comprehending. Love could only shake in its boots at the force that was magic.

I tried the car again and was relieved that it had decided to start. I’d been keeping a close eye on the time all night. It was only going to be getting closer to seven, and closer to me shifting. I didn't want to have to explain that to Evie. It was a complication that I could live without for now. I pulled out from the pub and started driving down the main highway out of town.

"Well... If there's a chance that you can break the curse and stay alive, you should."

I wanted to laugh at her attempting to sign her own death wish but then she kept talking.

"I don't want to have to wake up one day and find that my pub buddy is gone"

Her words stung more than I was expecting them to. The words were simple, she didn't want me to die. But Evie being Evie, she wouldn't want anyone to die. It was the same part of her that believed in things like true love. Nonetheless the concern in her voice was something that I'd gone without in a long time. These days no one cared about me. Not like how Evie just had. Chris and Alex cared about me because they had to... Because they were in the same boat as me. Because three heads were better than two at figuring out how to break the curse.