The Curse ✔️

Chapter 10: Father beloved

We barely slept. Amma allowed us to rest after dinner, but she woke us up at 9pm, with fresh coffee and tea, and a bunch of new highlighters. I yawned as I glanced at the vintage clock that hung from the wall, 4am.

"Amma, you're insane." Morta rested her head on the book.

"Yeah, I thought you had healthy habits. Like, I assumed we'd do a cleansing ritual and eat only organic food, but you've stuffed us with coffee and made us suffer." I closed Intro to Black Magic 2 and rubbed my eyes.

"Sacrifices need to be made if we want to become the best possible versions of ourselves." Amma skimmed through the book and at this point, I wasn't even sure she was reading.

"I thought we wanted to become better, not best." Morta arched her eyebrow.

Amma closed the book shut: "I'm sorry, okay? But Jade can use black magic, your mother is a powerful priestess-"

"She's not that powerful." Morta cut her off.

"Whatever. My parents are human. And I entered a world I didn't know existed three months ago. Now, I have to learn how to fight a demon. I know the two of you aren't scared, but I am. So, give me credit for doing everything I can." Amma leaned into her chair, first signs of exhaustion showing in her eyes.

"We're scared, too." I nodded, letting the fear show on my face for once. I was hiding it well throughout last two days, but I was also getting tired. "Morta may be too stubborn to admit, but I'm not. And we don't know what we're doing, either. But exhausting ourselves isn't going to help. So, how about, you sleep all day tomorrow and let Morta and me gather information?" I suggested.

"And when am I going to sleep?" Morta scoffed.

"When you're dead, Morta."

"Can't wait."

Amma glanced between the two of us and squinted once realisation hit her: "You two are going to do something against the rules if I let you off the leash."

"What? No. No way." Morta puffed, but she was too tired to pull off a good act.

"I promise we won't get caught?" I said, my thoughts interrupted by the buzzing of my phone. Amidst the books and the magic, it was easy to forget phones even existed. "Shit, my father is here." I read the message.

"I guess you could ignore him until morning." Amma murmured, but my phone buzzed again. An incoming call. I showed it to the girls and they chuckled.

"He really won't let you sleep?" Morta asked through the chuckle.

"As you'll learn soon enough, my father doesn't respect anything." I ignored the call and headed for the bathroom, splashing some water on my face. Every fibre of my being wanted to stroll out in front of him in my PJs, but that wouldn't score any points for me.

So, I settled for the cherry red, chiffon, button-up dress with cuffed sleeves that reached just above my knees. The design was walking the line between girly and mature. The elegance prevailed, making me look like I knew what I was doing. I combed my silver hair and let it fall loosely over my shoulders.

"I think I'm gonna go to bed." Morta yawned.

"Are you sure you can talk to them alone, Jade?" Amma asked, yawning immediately after Morta.

"Yeah, they're going to ask me what happened. But I doubt they'll tell me anything more than what we already know." I sighed.

"They're not going to tell us anything ever, even though we're in the middle of it." Amma's head finally dropped on the table, exhaustion kicking in.