The Soulmate Curse

CLOVE (for memory) - Part 2

To the person who keeps adding furniture in the lobby without the express permission of the Board, did you just add a self-cleaning litter box? Really?! Come on! That cat is never going to leave the lobby! You should know that I have filed a formal complaint with the city rental authorities against what you're doing. RA

Finn smiled at the message on her phone, but immediately felt sad again and her face fell. It was a few days after the VR meetup. She made a frittata for breakfast. As she dropped the pan into the sink, she looked up to the place where Zhen's message about dishwashing and her reply had been pinned for months. There was nothing there now. Zhen had removed the notes. As well as all the labels that had remained on the foods in the refrigerator and pantry. The house was spotless. They no longer pranked each other.

Zhen joined her in the kitchen and set the printer for pancakes before fetching her cup of ice and orange juice. They never saw each other much these days except for a few mornings. For the last few days, Finn hadn't seen Zhen at all before she went to bed. It was always kind of a surprise to see her walk out of her room for breakfast.

"My mum's organising a goodbye party for you this weekend," said Finn. The frittata tasted slightly dry. Everything had been tasting dry or bland lately. "The girls were hoping we could have a sister sleepover."

Zhen walked over to the table with her pancakes. Her perfectly round pancakes. "Yeah. Akemi told me about it. We already accepted the invite."

"That's good."

"Yeah, can't wait." said Zhen. They were being so polite to each other. It was eerie.

"Cool."

There was a beat of silence as they ate.

Zhen cleared her throat. "I'll be passing by the store later today. Did you want me to pick anything up for you? Dinner, maybe?"

"No, thank you," said Finn, trying to calm her thoughts from the fact that Zhen had kind of asked her to dinner. "I'll be home late tonight."

"Oh?"

"Yeah. Jani and the others are taking me to a club outside town."

"That sounds like fun," said Zhen. "I'll join you guys."

"You will?" Breathe Finn, breathe.

"I still have an open invite to after-work shindigs, even though I'm often not there these days, right?"

"Right."

"Speaking of Jani, how is he as a mentor?"

"It's going well," said Finn. She tried to read Zhen, but her face was blank. "It takes a little longer with him, but we're cranking out some pretty cool things for the clients."

"That's good to hear."

After work, a few hours before she would meet up with Jani and the others, Finn walked to the one place where she could always count on feeling a whole lot better no matter what. The clinic was immaculate, painted white and gold. Artist renderings of honeycombs and bees adorned the walls and the shelves were filled with capsules and bottles of every single type of product that could be harvested from a beehive.

"Finn! What a surprise!" said the elderly, elegant and svelte lady stacking one of the shelves with jars of dark brown honey.

"Hey, grandma?" Finn said, dropping her bags onto a seat and going over to give the Darrow matriarch a big hug. She immediately felt better, buried in her embrace.

"You're bleeding tension and uncertainty, my darling," she said in that deep, honey voice that brought feelings and emotions of her childhood streaming up in Finn. Feeling of being safe, and loved, and wanted. It was great. "Come, I have just what you need."

The apitherapy clinic was a community treasure. Run by her grandma for decades now, it was a place to find peace of mind and solace. A place were ailments of all kinds found healing. Finn needed that today. She had all this emotion pent up inside and she just wanted some relief. So, she followed her grandma to one of the clinic beds, took her clothes off and climbed onto the bed. As she lay down, her grandma gently covered her midriff in a soft sheet and started the api-acupuncture session, using live bees to sting Finn in certain acupuncture spots.

"I had a premonition, my dear Finn," said her grandma. Finn liked to listen to her voice. She used to imagine it was what liquid gold would sound like if it had a voice. "Even before your mother told me about Aldo. I had a premonition that the curse was about to lose its power, Finn."

Finn closed her eyes. She really didn't want to talk about soulmates right now. "Mum is going to break it, isn't she?"

"Well, I had this premonition years ago," said her grandma. "I found the note in my book of shadows. The premonition came to me three years ago."

Grandma laughed, her voice rich and comforting.

"It's about time it came true," said grandma. "Maybe now you will have a chance at a lifetime of love."

"Do you think that if the curse breaks, we'll also lose the ability to find our soulmates?" asked Finn.

"I think that you will always find the one you're meant to love," said grandma.

Finn took her time to dress back up, enjoying the tranquillity she was feeling. This serenity wouldn't last long, already being slowly burned away by the heaviness of her thoughts and anxieties, but she would enjoy it while it lasted. Plus, being in the company of her grandmother was always worth it. She looked up at the elderly lady who was smiling softly at her.

"You found your soulmate, didn't you?" she asked.

Finn froze for a few seconds. "Please, don't tell mum?"

"I won't," she said. "But you'll have to at some point."

"I'll tell her. I promise," Finn said a little too quickly. "I just need to figure out a few things."

"Has it happened already? The curse?" asked grandma.

Finn nodded. Her grandmother's face fell, tears close to falling. The curse had started with her and trickled down to them.

"I'm so sorry, Finn," she said, her voice almost breaking.

"Can I ask how it all started?" Finn said, tentatively. "The story isn't in the Darrow Grimoire. Only the curse."

Her grandmother smiled, but it didn't reach her eyes. "I suppose it's time I told you."

She led them to her tiny office and reached into one of the cupboards. She brought out a decanter full of an amber coloured liquid that sparkled in the sunlight that dappled in through the sunroof. She poured each of them a cup. Finn took a sip. Mead. Of course. It was incredibly delicious too.

Her grandma took a deep breath and started, "It was 1990s, I was young, I was stupid and my best friend's boyfriend had the most amazing eyes I had ever seen. What's worse, he liked me back. Those were the days when the TV shows Charmed, Sabrina, The Worst Witch, Buffy, Angel, Free Spirit, and the like ruled our every waking moment. My best friend and I had been dabbling with witchcraft, trying out beginner spells and hexes. She was naturally talented, way better than me. Then, she found out about me and her boyfriend, your grandfather. The rest, as they say, is history."

"Wow," said Finn, finishing off her drink.

"Yeah."

There was a lot more to it buried in the unsaid words. Finn could feel their weight. But she didn't push. Her grandmother was already hurting as it was.