The Heir Of Dreams And Curses

Where I give myself up to the enemy

Lucretia tied our hands and gagged our mouths, even though I said we were coming willingly, and took us to Jake's house.

Jake's house was big though nowhere near as huge as the Academy. Like many houses in the neighbourhood it was painted dark in color with teal sticks lights on the front doors and near the windows. It looked like someone's cozy idea of a home, if you didn't know who lived inside and his family tragedy.

As soon as Jake took in the sight of us, he smiled viciously at Lucretia. It was unnerving how twisted and sick his smile looked.

"You've done good," he said, looking at her like she was a valuable tool. "Very good."

"Please, spare the congratulations," I replied. "We handed ourselves in. We wanted to talk to you eye to eye."

"And what would be the reason, Ryan?" Jake looked at me with pity. "You finally understood what was going on with you, and you decided the weight was too much to bear?"

He made a mocking face at me, as if to say I was too inexperienced to struggle with the curse's weight all on my own.

"Ryan has been incredible," Edgar couldn't help but say. "You, instead, could never hope to cope. Ryan even defied the curse's will, and..."

"Stop right there, freak," Jake laughed. "Who knew you could even praise so much another person? Either way, who's interested in your opinion anyway? As if you knew something of magic either way."

"My powers are back, so now I'm better than you," Edgar commented.

"At healing magic," Jake replied. "And only at that. Now, that's a limit. Do you know what I've always hated? Enlighteners can mostly heal. Jurists cannot heal. I hate limits. There will be no limits to my powers after I am cursed."

"Try," I taunted him. "Come and get it. Oh, you don't know how? I'm sorry. I must have mistaken you for a limitless, powerful all-knowing being."

In that moment, Jeff asked what we were all thinking. "Wait, is Lucretia the only person who's helping you?"

"What's the problem? Hadn't I succeeded in doing everything my way either way? I also have kidnapped someone this very morning, and you didn't even notice."

Alice put her hands on her temples. "I've been having a very strong headache since this morning," she said. "Now I know why. Jake has the detective, Risa! We have an Empathetic String, remember?"

I heard Jurji whispering to her, "You go look for your friend. We'll keep Jake and Lucretia busy."

Agnes gave a mirthless laugh. "I wouldn't have guessed it was only the two of you. Pathetic! And by the way, you didn't do everything your way, Jake. We stopped your rebels from starting the war."

Jake became very pale. He couldn't shrug it off. It was a big deal.

"That might be true," he conceded at last. "And we're greatly outnumbered. But that doesn't matter, because I'm still waiting for my third and biggest ally to come. Once you see him, you will understand that it will be all over for you."

"Thomas Johnston! Yes! We know," Raegan said defiantly. "Just because he's a politician, doesn't mean he can't be killed just like anyone else, if it comes to it."

"Raegan..." Jurji tried to reason.

Jake appeared a bit puzzled at Raegan's words. "... Yes. You know who my ally is, I must congratulate myself with you. However, I still think I'm always one step ahead of you."

"How?" Agnes was enraged. "We're seven, and we have other allies working somewhere else. We're all skilled, and one of us is a ticking bomb of power. You should be afraid of us. But maybe... you just don't want to admit that you've lost."