Page 66 of The Curse of Ophelia

“Don’t be ridiculous,” Jezebel began. She and Tolek had spent the last hour arguing over who had slain the most wolves, while Rina cleaned our wounds one at a time and made us all eat something for strength. I had been careful to keep away from Jezebel and Cypherion until my blood had stopped flowing, nervously watching Tolek for any hints of pain. He’d come in contact with my blood hours ago, but I was not sure how long the affliction took to set in.

I twisted my hair between my hands—which were now clean thanks to the last of the water in my canteen—ignoring my desire to insist on moving.

“I’m being pragmatic, Jezzie,” Cypherion responded, not unkindly. “We don’t want to be on the tundra when the sun sets.” We all glanced up to it. It had passed its highest point hours ago and begun its descent, dimming the clear blue of the sky as it went.

“Are you sure?” Tolek asked, eyes boring into his friend’s with an intensity he rarely let others see. He stood with his hands locked behind his back, but his fingers fidgeted as anxiously as his eyes. I resonated with the pain flowing from him.

Cypherion nodded, though, and four sets of hands moved to help him to his feet.

After a minute of struggling, he was standing. Cyph was standing, with his arms around my sister’s and Tolek’s shoulders. He limped forward, his right leg dragging through the dirt as he winced. “It might take a bit longer to get back to normal. Maybe a visit to the Bodymelders.” The minor clan whose power specialized in influence over healing, muscular repairs, and physical strength would certainly be able to restore Cypherion’s balance if our mountains could not fully mend him.

“I bet you’d have a great time there,” Tolek said. “Oh, shall we make a wager on it? What about—”

“No bets on this,” I interrupted, then looked only at Cyph. “You’ll heal.”

I believed it fully because I had felt that magic heal near fatal wounds to my body. I knew what it was capable of. He would heal.

As I turned toward the volcano, grabbing Sapphire’s reins to walk her, I heard Cyph murmur to Tolek, “What bet did you have in mind?” and I smiled to myself.

*

We walked slowly to cater to Cyph’s limp and our exhaustion. Every inch of my body ached, begging for hours—days—of sleep that I couldn’t indulge. I shut out any hint of weakness and channeled my energy into that of the mountains. Draw from it, heal body and spirit, rise stronger. That was my mantra in these final moments of calm.

When the sand turned to pebbles and the pebbles turned to rocks, we stopped. We had arrived at the base of the Spirit Volcano.

Though I felt as if I was leaving a piece of myself behind, I walked Sapphire to an area near the entrance to the volcano where it was clear that other warriors had tethered their horses before us. I left her loose though—I didn’t want her tied up when I was gone.

Her eyes were endless pools of crystalline water when she stared at me. I tangled my fingers in her mane, bringing my lips to her nose. “Thank you for everything, girl.”

Her exhale brought a stinging to the back of my eyes, and I couldn’t help but hug her tightly, running my hands along her soft neck. Assuming I survived what waited for me in that volcano and the Curse did not take my life yet, I would be a new warrior the next time I saw her.

When I pulled back, she nudged my shoulder, as if to tell me to get on with it. To claim my destiny.

I met the others at the entrance to the pathway up the volcano when they were ready. We took in the towering mass of darkened rock before us. Ash and embers spewed from the mouth over a thousand feet above our heads, falling to the ground and sticking to our skin. Along the base of the volcano, the ash turned the ground a murky white color, like that of dirty snow. We stood at that line, holding our breath.

A tremor ran along my spine at the thought of what lay within those impenetrable granite walls. The Spirits that would decide my fate, awakened to deliver me to destiny or death. That eternal presence stalked me, drawing me to it. The essence waited beneath the lava for me to face it.

Alone.

When we reached the rim of the volcano, that would be the step of this journey when I said goodbye to my friends and dove headfirst into the unknown, be it to life or death. The ascent would be as far as they could go. The rest would be up to me, for it was my test to face. Their lives would not be risked in that forbidden sea of orange-and-red flame.

The thought of that goodbye stung more than I expected, tearing the breath from me. I looked at the group now, realizing how firmly I depended on each of them. For so long, I had ripped these relationships apart, but they clung to the tatters.

I ran, but they chased me.

When I isolated myself in a cave of my own making, my brigade fought through the darkness to reach me. With gentle smiles and calming hands, shoulders to cry on and moments of silence, but also with tough love and heartbreaking realities.

They were here. Beside me until the end.

Always waiting for me to come back to myself. And to them. They wrapped their spirits around my heart and held on, rocking me while I thrashed and soothing me until I was ready to return. Provided that warmth of home for the day when I opened my eyes, so that I may not run in fear.

Home. Despite the outcome of this journey, I had found my way home to them. Since the moment the Curse planted itself in my blood, since the improbable appearance of an Angel in my bedroom, I had been clawing my way upward so that I may meet my fate with a resolved spirit.

As I stared up at the world of fire and ash swirling above me, I felt the four unbreakable presences at my side and closed my eyes in peace.

-PART THREE-

TISIPHONE

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