Page 118 of Cursed

“Please,” it whimpered and its form flickered briefly. “I didn’t mean to—”

“What did you want to tell us?” I demanded.

“Avril…” The shade’s voice cracked, and its watery gaze seemed to drift past me, fixating on something unseen. The water that cascaded down its frail body did not disturb the surface of the water it hovered above, but around it, the black waves churned. “They tried to take her. Dario… he wanted her.” It faltered, as if recalling a memory too painful to hold. “He thought… He thought he could control her— But it was impossible—”

“Control her?” I echoed in confusion. “What do you mean?”

“Kidnap…” The shade continued, trembling as though the very notion of it terrified him. “Her father attempted to seize her… to harness the power he thought she held.” Its watery violet eyes darted around before returning to me. The wound on the shade’s neck oozed blood, dark and sludgy, and it soaked into the shoulder of his ragged nightgown. “But there was more… he gave her something…”

“What do you mean?” It was impossible to keep the desperation out of my voice. The sun was rising, and the harbor was getting busy—I’d be discovered soon. My brothers would definitely have noticed I wasn’t following them—

Fuck.

“Foolishness…” The shade was fading, its voice trailing off. “She is… the key….”

“Wait!” I shouted as the shade shimmered and sank back down into the dark water. Waves splashed against the pier and the salt stung my eyes. “No! You can’t just fade out! I haven’t released you!”

But it was too late. A wrenching sensation clawed at my chest, taking my breath with it, and in an agonizing instant, the wound in the shade’s neck opened wider, and a gout of dark, viscous liquid poured out of it and covered the figure’s chest and torso. Its mouth opened and elongated into a horrifying caricature of pain and horror before the creeping ooze covered its face and blotted out the watery violet eyes. The shade’s tortured groan echoed in my ears as the figure shivered, and then the rivulets of gore flowed down into the water and disappeared. I was frozen in place, kneeling on the concrete pier, staring at the ripples on the black water as the echoes of the shade’s words reverberated through me.

It made no sense.

Gibberish nonsense. Riddles and half-truths.

I didn’t know what I’d been hoping for, but it wasn’t that.

I swayed just a little—weakened by the effort of bringing the shade back to this plane on my own.

I tightened my wounded hand into a fist and the cut on the side of my palm ached and stung.

A waste of time—and my magic.

I could hear Titus’ scornful voice in my mind.

“Did you expect a treasure trove of wisdom? It’s a dead man’s spirit, not some oracle.”

Lucian hadn’t told us much about Dario’s betrayal. We only knew that it had turned the Necromi to a different path.

But Avril’s father had attempted to kidnap her—she had only been an infant.Why?

I stared at the darkened waters; the rising sun’s gleam suddenly shattered the shimmering reflections. The splashes of the waves faded into silence, as if the harbor itself was holding its breath. The finality clawed at my insides, leaving behind a hollow ache.

I gritted my teeth and pushed myself to my feet.

I pulled my jacket over my shoulders and pulled my phone out of the pocket. Five missed calls and some angry text messages.

They could wait.

I looked out towards the harbor, where the first rays of the morning sun were sparkling on the water. I imagined the body trapped beneath those dark waves, its secrets locked away forever with it. A shiver ran down my spine and I pulled my jacket tighter around myself; not from the chill in the air, but from the cold tendrils of dread that tightened in my gut.

The spectral wail of Craster’s shade echoed morbidly in my mind, and his haunting words lingered like a foul taste in my mouth. “Foolishness… She is… the key…” The same words I had parroted back to him over and over, as if repetition would lend them clarity. It hadn’t.

Avril was... a key.To what?Had her father tried to kidnap her because he believed she held some sort of power? Or was it something else? But why would he put his own daughter in harm’s way? And what power could make a man do such a thing?

My mind drifted back to the grimoire—and the blood sacrifices that were required to unlock its secrets.

What had Dario sacrificed for his power?

What else had he been willing to give up to gain Lucian’s position?

---