Page 15 of The Knights of Gaia

“Wait, you don’t actually think either of those things will happen, do you?” I took a firm grip of my braid; it was easier to hold on to than intangible things like virtue or kindness.

“I doubt you’ll go bald or evil, but that doesn’t mean there will no fallout from this experience. Magic always leaves a mark,” he said. “Even if you can’t see it.”

Well, that certainly was foreboding.

I looked around. “What happened to that big Cursed One?”

“The monster is gone,” replied the invisible stranger. “Its soul is at peace now.”

“I hope there aren’t any more of them out here.”

“There aren’t. I checked while you were…busy.”

Busy. That was one way of putting it.

I must have flinched because he added quickly, “I’m sorry. I couldn’t pull you away from the tree. If I’d broken the magical connection, it might have killed you.”

“It’s not your fault.” I shivered. Now that the wildfire in my body had finally burned out, I felt so cold. “This happened because of me.” I squeezed my arms to my chest. “And my stupid plan.”

“Actually, it was a pretty decent plan. And it would have worked too, if not for the Cursed Ones.”

“What were they even doing out here?” I wondered. “We’re deep inside Bayshore. They would have had to make it past dozens of towns, dozens of fences to get here. Unless…” I stared out at the bay beyond the swamp. “Maybe they swam here?”

“The Cursed Ones are afraid of the water,” he told me. “They can’t swim. Their bodies are too dense. They simply sink to the bottom.”

“So, I guess they can’t breathe underwater?”

“No. Thankfully, that is not one of their powers.”

“Yeah.” I shivered. “Thankfully.”

My glance flickered to an old, crooked tree at the edge of the swamp. Someone had carved a crude drawing of a Cursed One into the cracked trunk, right next to the words, ‘Long Live the Rebellion’. It seemed a lot more people snuck into the Forbidden Zone than I’d thought.

I shook my head and looked away from the tree. “That last Cursed One was different than the other two. Bigger. Crazier.”

“It was older. The longer someone has been infected, the more the Curse changes them,” the invisible stranger explained. “Every day, they grow bigger, stronger, more savage, better at hunting. Their sense of smell improves. The old ones can smell a human from many kilometers away.”

“There was something else different about it. The big Cursed One was wearing chains around its wrists,” I remembered.

“Yes. I noticed that too.”

“It’s almost like…” A flash of red amongst the green leaves drew my attention.

I started walking toward the forest at the edge of the swamp. The muffled footsteps told me the invisible stranger was keeping pace right beside me.

“I know how the Cursed Ones got here,” I said quietly, as I plucked a bright red scarf from a tree branch.

Then I ventured deeper into the woods, peeling back the foliage to find the discarded remains of a pair of shoes. They lay in long shreds, like something had split them open from the inside. A few paces further, there was another ruined pair of shoes—and beyond that, a tattered bundle of brown fabric that had once been a shirt.

“The scarf belonged to Finn,” I said. “And the shirt was Sean’s.”

“Who are Finn and Sean?”

“They are…theyweremy classmates. Until a Cursed One got them.” My throat constricted. “And made them Cursed Ones too.” I turned away from the graveyard of clothing, all that remained of the two boys’ humanity. “Those first two Cursed Ones we faced, they must have been Finn and Sean. They snuck into the Forbidden Zone tonight. They couldn’t have been more than a few minutes ahead of me when the Cursed One got them.” I shook my head. “How could the Curse work so fast? How could it strip away their humanity so fast?”

I felt a hand on my shoulder. “That’s how it works: fast,” he said. “Sixteen years ago, the Curse nearly wiped out humanity before we even knew what was happening. I’m afraid that once the Cursed One caught the boys’ scent, it was already too late for them. People with magic are immune to the Curse; those without are not.”

“This was no accident.” I squeezed my fists so hard, it hurt. “The big Cursed One was wearing chains. Someone must have brought it here and tied it up, knowing it would eventually break free of its chains…” My thoughts snagged on a single phrase, a single memory. “Have you heard of someone called the Black Knight?”

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