Book of Curses (The Renning Chronicles) (20 page)

I pulled on the dress and nearly ripping it back off just as fast when I saw how it looked on me. There was too much skin showing, way too much. The front was cut into a diamond
shape;
it barely covered most of my chest. I could see my sides with ease, no matter how hard I tried to hide them by pressing my arms to my sides. It amplified any curves I had, and made my hips flair out.

The entire back of the dress was bare, a thin strap held the top in place over my chest, and was made almost like
a
halter-top, at the neck
at least
. I really didn't know how to react when I looked into the mirror.

“M-morana.” I tried to call out in a hoarse, squeaky voice. I cleared my throat and then tried to call again. “Morana!”

A few minutes later, I heard movement in the hallway, and then she appeared. Shutting the door behind her as she came in and looked me over with a blank face at first, I was starting to have a mini panic attack.

“It’s perfect!” She said smiling brightly, as she clapped her hands together.

I stared at her as if she had totally lost her mind.
Perfect
? How is this perfect, it was horrible, and it looked like there was clothing missing
everywhere?
No one should have to wear anything like this, and I made sure she knew that was how I felt about it.

“
Perfect
?” I screamed at her in pure horror,
and then
let my voice drop down to a whisper. “I feel naked!”

“Don’t be absurd, you look sexy.”

“You’re insane Mora.”

“Insanity is my best feature; trust me, you look good, the boys will trip over themselves when they see you.”

I let my mouth twist into a grimace as I looked at her,
and then
slowly let out my own sigh.  “Yeah, ok.”

“Change back and come out, kay?”

“Sure.”

She looked at me, then smiled brightly and left the room. I stayed where I stood for a minute longer, staring at the dress. The longer I wore it, the more it didn't seem so bad, but I was still kind of frightened to be seen out of this house with it on, or what if the strap broke? So many scary thoughts.

Pushing them all away I slid out of the dress, laid it onto the bed carefully, and picked up my clothes. Pulling them on as fast as I could manage I looked myself over, and then gazed down at my arm. There was a small, pink, irritated looking scar that ran from my wrist up most of my forearm where I had gotten hurt, my own little reminder of why I needed to learn to fight.

I looked in the mirror fast, nodded to my reflection, and then turned around going out to the hallway. I walked down it slowly to the living room where everyone was piled and chatting happily. Tom, Fang, Dolphus, Layre and Nickel were locked in a
conversation;
Morana was listening and speaking here and there, nodding her head. Talon stood off to the side leaning against the wall, arms crossed over his chest and eyes tightly shut.

Eyloff was intently listening to the others, there was a grimace on his face, and I noticed every so often his eyes shifted towards Talon. His fingers looked like they were itching to turn into a fist and hit him. Nixon on the other hand, he was…
nowhere
in sight.

“Looking for me?” Nixon asked in a whispered voice as he snuck up behind me from the kitchen. I practically jumped, and turned on my heel to face him looking as normal as I could make myself.

“Just wondered where you went.” I smiled a bit towards him, crossing my arms.

“Looking around,” He shrugged his shoulders a bit,
and then
I saw a mocking smile slip over his lips. “You sounded mortified backed there.”

“Really?” I asked him, frowning a bit.

“Yeah,” He tilted his head to the side, obviously thinking about something, what I didn't know. “Hey, go with me to the ball tonight, so I can piss off Raven.”

“Piss him off, why would you want to do that?” I asked him, trying to hold back my laugh. It caused me to end up smiling like
an
idiot at him.

“Because, it’s fun, you don’t have to if you don’t want. You can always have him follow you around like a lost puppy, asking you to dance with him all night.” He said to me, raising both his eyebrows for a moment before he smiled. 

“Yeah, I’ll go with you.” I replied to him, wincing from the thought of Raven following me around. Every time I saw him he followed me around, asking me fifty questions, and hitting on me. I'd about had it with that stuff.

“Good.”

“Think we should get back in there?” I inclined my head toward the living room.

“Probably, come on.”

We walked back into the
room;
Morana didn't even give me a moment before she drug me into the conversation. I actually decided to listen too. Her and Tom were talking about going to the ball together tonight,
and then
asked Dolphus and Nickel about them going.

Once she got bored with the topic, she started going on and on about the people that would be there tonight. How big it would be, and how thrilled she was to have me and Tom going. Her gaze shifted for a split second and landed on Talon, I had to keep myself from smiling when she bombarded him with question after question.

First it was whether or not he had a date,
and then
it was if he was excited. After that it was about if he was going to dress up, or if he was going to smile. She was instantly disappointed when he just glared at her, and didn't bother to answer a thing. He didn't nod, shake his head, anything but glare, and then he finally simply said "No.".

“Jeez, you and Fang should go together, you’re both so depressing.” Morana muttered, flailing her arm around before looking away from him.

“Hey!” Fang instantly yelled, he actually looked upset by what she said.

“Sorry.” Morana smiled at him, trying to make everything better. As nice as she was at times, she made me think of the fake girls from our
High school
. Make them like you as much as possible, fake smiles, keep them happy and you'll get whatever in the world you want from them. It sickened me most of the time.

Talon grunted, yet never once said a word. I looked over at him and I had to actually agree for once, he was depressing. I'd only got him to hold a conversation with me that one time, and yet I was determined to do it again.

He wouldn't budge, no matter what. He, I think, was still mad that he had opened up to me at all. So now he was sulking in his own way, to try and keep it from happening again at all costs. But I was stubborn, so I knew one day he'd have to break, and I'd win.

“Raine, are you going with anyone?” Morana suddenly asked me, getting my
attention
.

“Yes, Nixon.” I replied to her, inclining my head towards Nixon. Suddenly it felt like prom night all over again, that was without all the high school
e
rs, just replace it with Demons, Half demons, vampires and half vampires.

Oh and don't forget a Lycan or two. That was one huge thought that I didn't want to have in my head at all. Most of the time people want to forget prom, for most of us it was annoying or horrible. For the rare few, it was great.

“Really!”  That was when Morana got the scary look in her eyes that made you cringe. Talon looked over at us for a moment, keeping quiet as he eyed us. I couldn't tell what he was thinking, and before I could get too curious Morana started to talk again. “You better look your best Nix, or anyone can take her with the way she’ll look.”

I just stared at her wide eyed, then looked at Nixon who arched his eyebrow looking from me to her. I just frowned, and then looked back to her as if begging to know why she had to say that to him, or anyone else.

“Speaking of which, it’s nearly time Mora.” Layre suddenly announced, and I was ready to turn around kill her for it.

I gave her a look that practically read
'Why did you have to even mention it to her?'
before letting out a loud sigh. This was going to be interesting and frustrating.

“Oh wow,” Morana piped up, and then looked over at the boys, before back to the clock she'd hung up on a wall. “Well get out! We’ll see you there, and you’ll see how stunning I can make Layre and Raine!”

I grimaced over at Tom who just patted my shoulder and followed an extremely silent Talon out of the house. Nixon looked at me, smiled and then whispered. “See you later then.”

He and the others walked out of the house
leaving
me to stare at Layre, and then slowly over at Morana. Before I'd even got to Morana, I noticed the fearful expression on Layre's face, and now I was sporting the same look on mine.

*
**
**

“Hold still!” Morana hissed at Layre, she was like a demon when she was working on us. It was frightening. “Don’t you know how to brush your hair, honestly Layre, and why do you wear it up like this?”

“The same reason you hide here looking disgusting?” Layre spat at her before letting out a yelp as Morana yanked more of her hair out of her scalp.

“What, you don’t want people to see how pretty you are either?”

“I’m hideous; no girl with scars like mine is pretty.” Layre yelled at her, and then gestured to her face and arms. The scars glistened as she moved in the lighting, and
I watched
them intently.

I heard Morana laugh, just as she finished brushing out what was left of Layre's long hair. She was prettier with it down like
that;
I had to admit to that. It was the first time I saw Layre actually look like a girl too, it was strange.

“Now, get your dress on and wait while I help Raine.” She said strictly to Layre, shoving
her
to make her move.

I stood up slowly in the
dress;
I dreaded wearing it outside of this room. I felt twice as bad as I did earlier in
it;
I swore if the top fell off I was going to kill Morana myself. Walking over to her I moved in front of the seat to sit down, before I was practically shoved down into the chair.

I felt the brush on my hair almost right away and started wincing from the pain of it. I felt tears starting to prick at the sides of both of my eyes, and finally decided that if I made it through this, my scalp would never be the same.