Cursed | Book Two of Chosen

Chapter Four: Scarlett

I felt better since I had bit Athena; healthier, anyway. I felt really bad for biting her, though. She didn’t seem bothered or sick at all, however, and I had to assume - and hope - that I hadn’t done any harm to her. 

She was helping by using her magic to hold the wards up, along with the rest of the warlocks. She also set up a magical fire, which Julian cooked on, and Myra, who appeared to be an elf, grew vegetables to go with the meals.

We sat over the fire that night as Jazmine explained what was going on.

"So the Cursed, or the true Chosen, as we like to refer to them as, have been predicted to join together and save us all, or, as they like to think, to overthrow the kingdom.

"As far as I know," Jazmine continued, "Scarlett is one, which is how she survived the vampire bite. Athena may or may not be one, as she's a very strong warlock for her age, but we won't know for sure until we test her blood. I am a much older one, one of the weaker ones, and the other three are older and stronger ones. At the island, which has managed to go on unnoticed by the kindoms' armies, we have older Cursed, stronger Cursed, younger Cursed, with and without powers. All of us are immortal, powers or not."

Jazmine paused for a moment, thinking of what else she needed to add.

"The powerless Cursed, we believe, are not a mistake, not a failure, but, from what we have seen, they are the ones with trauma. The ones whose parents had found out, and abused or tried to kill them. And, they are not entirely powerless, either. They just need to be taught."

Jay, who was sitting a bit further away from the fire than the rest of us, spoke up. "There were rumors in Azreal of a very powerful Cursed Child that was being raised in hiding, possibly being abused, and had their childhood memories taken away by an aged witch. There was another rumor that the Queen was raising a child in hiding, and most likely abused that child. We put two and two together, and we believe the Cursed who was being rumored about was the Queen's daughter." He looked directly at me. "You are the Queen's kid, correct? And the Queen's only kid?"

"Yes," I said, "but there's no way my childhood memories were taken away. I remember many things from when I was younger."

"It was a potion given to the child that wiped all their memories and gave simulated, more realistic explanations to them. As the rumor goes, the child was always causing accidents magically, as this child had developed at an early age, but this stopped when the child was given the potion and was hit until close to death."

"The only problem is the lack of a warlock mark," said Jazmine. "All of the Cursed have them, even if they were only subtle."

"That could be something that was hidden magically from eyes who didn’t know how to see it," Jay said.

Rosalie, who I thought was sleeping, slowly say up.

"I know how to see it. I've seen it since she was born. And I can take the magic off of her."

Rosalie stood up and walked over to me, then knelt in front of me, placing her palm on my forehead, closing her eyes, and muttering something inaudible. And then she stepped back, smiling a bit, and went back to sitting in her corner away from the fire.

"What is it?" I said, as everyone was staring at me, Jazmine and Jay with shocked faces.

"Your mark is a blueish star on your forehead," Athena said.

"What does that mean?"

"It means," said Jay, "that you are the Gifted One, and that means you are supposed to lead us."