The Curse of Betrayal (7 page)

I can’t bring myself to go to training yet. I run around a corner and find a stairwell, devoid of any movement. The building is quiet, and knowing that I have a second alone, I let it out.

I collapse onto the dirty ground, my bag dropping next to me. My knees hold me up, but my body crumples. It hurts so much; my heart feels like it’s being chopped in a blender.
 

I try to be quiet with my hurt, but the sobs that erupt from my chest are hearty and full of hate. My throat burns from the tears refusing to quit.
 

“Stop it, Eury,” I tell myself, breathing through my nose. “Just stop.” I pep talk myself. But it’s useless; my emotions refuse to be reeled in.
 

I bend down to my knee and bite it, preferring the physical pain to my emotional. I scream into my hands so it’s muffled. The last thing I want right now is someone finding me like this.
 

I fold into myself and wait for the pain to recede. But minutes later, it’s still there, and I know I have to go to class. It’s day one, and I just have to get through one more. I’m freaking strong; I can do this. I have to do this.
 

I stand on wobbly knees and press my back against the brick wall to the point where my shoulders hurt. I shake out my arms to get feeling back into my body. I shake my head and try to block out my hurt feelings. My chest aches, but I pay it no attention.

I rub my eyes to dry them and, when I feel restrained enough, pick up my bag from the ground. It feels heavier than before, but I know that’s only because my body is drained. One breath in; one breath out—I’m ready. I leave the stairwell in search of my final class.

I wrap my knuckles on the wooden door matching my teacher’s office number, and instantly, it swings open, leaving only a stream of wind to flutter along my cheek. I’m face-to-face with a small, frail-looking woman who’s smiling up at me. She is my height, maybe an inch shorter with salt-and-pepper hair. Her hair is up in a ponytail, and as I examine her, I notice that her hair goes far past her butt, almost to the floor. She has beautiful violet eyes that are exotic but look completely normal on her—similar to my mother’s and the resemblance startles me.

“Welcome, I’m Professor Onassis.” She greets me by shakily reaching out a wrinkled hand.

“I’m Ryder,” I tell her, clasping her hand lightly so I don’t break it off. My voice is like her hands, unsteady, but I pretend it’s nothing. Her fingers are frozen like little ice cubes, and I want to just wrap a blanket around her and thaw her body.
 

“Well, come on in. Let’s get started,” she says, making me nervous. “Oh, don’t worry, sweetie. Today will be easy,” she assures me, picking up on my mood. I wonder if that’s a power. I’ll have to look it up later in my powers textbook.
 

Her office is small with a large, peaked window out the back. The room overlooks a courtyard and the front of the school with the high black gates in the near distance. The gates look spooky as they contain us all on school campus. She probably has the best view in the whole place, dead centered on everything. Her desk is in the corner of the room, and the rest is filled with books and a couple couches against one wall. It’s very cluttered yet it looks homey and relaxed.

“Come sit, Ryder.” Professor Onassis gestures for me to go with her to a green couch. The couch is the color of Ari’s eyes when he’s thinking—I can’t get this guy out of my head!
Please, don’t cry again.
“So I’ll start by talking about myself a little bit. My name is Cece Onassis. For the record, you have to call me Professor, but when we’re in these meetings, you can call me whatever you’re comfortable with—Cece, Professor O, Onassis.” I nod back to her, liking how hospitable she is. She gives off that loving feel that almost every grandma has.
 

“You’re given your one-on-one counselor based on your personality and powers. I’ve heard that you’re a tough cookie, missy. I also know you’ve been experiencing some visions. I, too, possess the gift of seeing, so we can work on that together.” Her voice is so soft and pleasant that I lean forward, loving every word that comes out of her mouth.
 

“You have visions?” I’m amazed that someone else has the same thing as me. Obviously, I don’t know much about powers, but I thought I was special, unique.
 

“I have for about five hundred years.” She laughs to herself at some joke that flies right over my head.

“Five hundred years?” I’m not only in awe to meet someone as old as her but I’m honored. It feels like she’s this god that’s full of wisdom to share with just me. Immediately, I feel like I can trust her.

“Yes, sweetie. I’m living out my last days on this earth right now. Finally aging after so long.” Cece’s voice takes on an airy feel like she’s reminiscing on all of her days.
 

“I’m so sorry,” I tell her. It must suck to live so long and suddenly start aging only to know that death could be around any corner. I can’t imagine the hardships she’s going through. I can’t help but fear my life, five hundred years from now. But I can’t think of that now—it’s a long ways away, hopefully.
 

“Oh, don’t be!” She pats my knee reassuringly. “I’m more than ready.” I simply nod, not knowing how to react to her words “So, let’s talk about you.” My heart thumps heavily going on over drive. I hate talking about me. Although for some reason, I don’t think Cece will judge me. I think she really just wants to know me, the real me.

“Well, it’s my first day so I’m a little overwhelmed. But I really like my roommate. I think I’m doing okay,” I tell her, raising my shoulders. I’m not sure what else to say.

“How have your visions been?” she asks me. She reaches backwards towards her desk and grabs a notebook with tattered edges, placing it onto her lap. She pulls out a small pencil that looks like those ones you use when playing golf. I hate the idea of her writing down what I say, but I don’t let it bother me. I try to trust her before I put up a stone wall.

“They’re strange. It’s just really confusing because sometimes, I see the future and sometimes, I see the past. I just can never tell what’s going to happen or when.” I try to explain to her while experiencing my grief.
 

“How interesting,” Cece mumbles to herself. “You have a little bit of the visions, but I think you have some seer in you,” she pauses, probably because of the befuddled look on my face. “I only see the past. But since you can see the future that falls under seer territory. I can still help you control it, though. Don’t worry.” She scribbles down something in her notebook hurriedly. I wait for her to finish writing so I don’t interrupt.

“So you control what you see?” I try to grasp the concept.
 

“I can control when I see something, and most of the time, what I see. Unless of course a vision really wants to come. They have a mind of their own sometimes,” she jokes. I’m just not familiar with the power to be able to joke yet.
 

“Wow.” I’m so eager to learn from Professor Onassis. Although she’s hundreds of years older than me, and hundreds of times more knowledgable, I feel like we relate to each other. I feel like finally someone understands me.

I hesitate to tell her about the curse, but of course, she already knows about it. “Don’t worry sweetie, whatever you tell me will stay between us,” she assures me.

“It’s just… I’ve never really said how I feel, and then I saw something today that kind of threw me off, so I guess I’m just scared to hear what you’ll say about it.”

“Why don’t you just start at the beginning, and if it gets tough, we can stop. I’m not here to pressure you. I want you to trust me. I’m here for you and only you.” Her warm eyes look up at me, and I try to find a hidden meaning or something that tells me she’ll betray me, but I come up empty handed.

I want to trust her, but I guess being stabbed so many times has tainted me. In the end, I let my insecurities go. “I love them both, so much. And it literally kills me knowing that I’m upsetting them.” My throat feels smaller, like it’s closing in on me, but I swallow the knot. “I don’t get why I’m in this curse. I mean, why me? Who am I? Why am I so
special
?
 

“I’m some loser girl from a random town in a small state who had one friend. Then Ollie showed up, and I felt loved, like someone actually cared about me, for me. But of course, it had to be some curse.
 

“Sometimes, I think they only care because of the curse. Like it’s not me they love, but they’re forced to love me because of the spell or whatever. I just wish I was normal, human.” I bury my head in my hands, astonished at my verbal word vomit.

I’m not looking at Professor for fear of the look on her face, but after a long pause, the seat next to me dips down, and I know she’s there. Her arm rests on my back, urging me to look up.

“I’m so proud of you for telling me all of that. And I promise, you are special. I will help you figure all of this out, I assure you. We will work through this, but you’re doing the best you can with the hand you were dealt, and you are a strong girl.”

And my composure is shot. Tears stream down my face, steadily getting heavier and heavier. “Thank you,” I tell her between hyperventilated breaths.

“I haven’t done anything yet.”

“That’s the nicest thing anyone has ever said to me. And I guess, I’ve just never told anyone. I feel weightless, free. Like someone actually understands how I feel.”

She nods with her big eyes only on me. “Do you want to call it a day? I think you deserve a break.”
 

“Do you think we can talk more?” I even surprise myself by the question. Letting it all out feels cleansing. I feel like my soul just had a breakthrough. And I barely even scratched the surface.

“Of course,” she tells me, and mid cry, I smile.
 

After unlocking the door to my room, I jump on my bed and collapse into it, letting a sigh roll out. Day one is finally over. I can’t believe I made it through the day without too many issues. I snuggle into the pillow, wanting to take a nap and decompress, but I can’t seem to get comfortable. I decide to take a shower to relax before the girls come over for the sleepover.
 

I turn on the shower, hot of course, and then start undressing in front of the mirror. I glance at the scar on my shoulder left from my trip into the Underworld—the only reminder of it.
 

Rubbing it, I focus all of my attention on the one tiny white strip. That was probably the best trip of my life. I’ll never take that time with Ari for granted. I can’t believe he would cheat on me. I pray it’s all some big misconstrued lie. But I saw—

“Hey,” a deep whisper says very close to my ear. I jump back, readying my fists to cram into whoever’s face it is, when I recognize the jade eyes.
 

“What the hell are you doing here?” I yell out, grabbing my towel off the counter and attempting to cover myself up. I grab him by the elbow and drag him back into my room and lock the door so nobody can sneak in. “What?” I ask him again, putting on my angry face.

“Can we talk?” he asks, his hypnotic eyes boring into me. I gesture for him to go ahead, a frustrated look glued to my face. “I’m so sorry that you came in at the worst time possible but nothing happened. I swear to you, nothing will ever happen again. She was trying to get me to hook up with her. She all but stripped for me—“
 

“I don’t need to know that!” I interrupt him, not wanting to listen to how she was naked in front of him probably flaunting her perfect, tall, skinny body. I shove my fingers into my ears so I can’t hear what he’s saying. I know I look dumb but I don’t even care at this point.
 

“No, god, Eury. She was trying to, and I was trying to get her out, because I needed to talk to you.” He further explains, stepping in front of me and pulling my fingers out of my ears.
 

“Right, Ari. I’m supposed to believe that you turned her down when her perfect body was dancing in front of you.” I roll my eyes at him sarcastically, waving my hands around.
 

“I love you, Eury. Just you! I wouldn’t do that, I swear,” he grovels, grabbing both my hands in his and holding onto them tight.

“Fine, whatever.” I don’t want to listen to him rambling on and on.
 

“Forgive me, please,” he begs me.

“Sure,” I mutter, just wanting to be left alone.

“Don’t do that closed off thing with me, Eury. I know you.” He raises his eyebrows as if daring me to deny it. He bends down and gets on a knee right in front of me. He reaches his hands towards me, the puppy dog eyes working in full force.
 

“I forgive you,” I tell him, holding back a smile at his cheesy theatrics.
 

“But do you really?” He inches towards me. He wraps his arms around my waist while his head presses flat against my stomach.
 

“Yes.” I giggle when his face nuzzles into me, tickling my sides. He clutches my waist, tickling me with fervor, and I fall into his arms laughing uncontrollably. I make sure to hold my towel onto my body so nothing slips out.