Broken Curse

5

I inhaled sharply, and the cold air hurt my lungs. Maybe this was purgatory. According to some, purgatory was worse than Hell since it was neither good nor bad. I’d never believed it until now. I could go insane here if given the chance.

There had to be a way out. I pushed my legs into a run and waited to find something.

But total blackness surrounded me.

Maybe shifting would help. I’d never felt blind before, and it unsettled me. Turning into my wolf could be the key.

I called my wolf forward, but nothing happened. She was there but inaccessible. That was when the gravity of the situation hit me directly in the gut.

My wolf couldn’t help me. Was that why I could only see blackness? Was this what it was like to be fully human? I couldn’t bear the thought of not having my wolf or Aidan.

“Why am I here?” I yelled at the top of my lungs and fell to my hands and knees.

It was so disconcerting because I’d stopped, but I didn’t feel anything.

Fear wanted to take over, but I held on to some sense of sanity. If I lost myself, I wasn’t sure what would happen. Would the person who’d spoken strike me with lightning?

“There has to be a reason I’m here.” I tried to ignore the pain that came with each intake of air.

“You must ask the right question,” the deep voice rang all around me again.

Oh, wow. The right question. “What am I supposed to do?”

No response yet again.

Okay, I had to think. Us combining our blood in the diary had been the last thing to happen before I’d woken up here. Did it have something to do with that? “Is this where I learn the rest of the prophecy?” Was this the next step in the puzzle?

Mocking laughter surrounded me.

Well, that wasn’t a promising sign. I forced myself to my feet again, refusing to cower in front of whomever this was. They were getting a high from my weakness. “Okay, so if this isn’t to reveal the next step, it has to be something else.”

If I wanted out of here, I had to figure out what the right question was. Something deep inside me had known that all along, but I’d needed to get my meltdown out of the way.

I had to get some of the nervousness out of my system, so I began pacing. Maybe exercise would clear my mind. The first words the entity had spoken repeated inside my head. “You said I’m not worthy.” That had to be a hint. “How do I become worthy?”

Light flashed all around me, and I shut my eyes. It had been so dark. So, this had to be what it felt like for a human when lights suddenly turned on in a room. I blinked and glanced around, taking in the entire scene.

The trees reminded me of my pack home back in Mount Juliet, Tennessee, but instead of the houses I knew, there were small log cabins similar to what we’d found in Ojai, California. “What the …”

“Watch your language, my child.” The voice that had been mocking me came from right behind me. I spun around, and the breath was almost knocked out of me.

The woman was older than me, but her features were so damn similar to mine. Her hair was a light blonde; however, her eyes had more blue in them. Even though her chin was smooth and I had several inches on her, we could easily be family members.

“Who are you?” I forced my eyes to leave hers and glanced around the area.

“You should know the answer to that.” The woman smiled, but it didn’t meet her eyes.

“Where are we?” If I hadn’t known any better, I would have thought this was the Rogers pack lands from many hundred years ago.

“It’s our home,” she said slowly, and the weight of the knowledge hit me right in the chest.

“Then you’re the …” No, it couldn’t be. I had to be going crazy. “… original witch.” There, I’d said it.

“Very good.” She nodded and took a step toward me while her long dress billowed behind her. “My name is Endora.”

Knowing the original witch’s name unnerved me. With the lilies in her hair and sun-kissed skin, unlike most of the pale witches now, she looked as one with nature.

“How is this possible?” Had I gone back in time, or was this a dream? Well, maybe calling it a dream was a stretch. I was talking to a dead woman after all.

“Magic never dies.” The original witch spread out her arms and spun around and around. “When a witch dies, they don’t go into oblivion like other races do.”

“Into oblivion?” That sounded so isolating. “What about Heaven and Hell?”

“Oh, those antiquated notions.” She shrugged. “I never spent much time on them since I knew I’d live forever just like you will.”

“You died giving birth.” This had to be a nightmare.

“In one sense, but I’m now part of nature and, in some ways, more alive than ever.” She dropped her hands, walked over to a tree, and touched its bark.

I was going to drop that whole heaven-and-hell conversation because we needed to focus on the immediate issues at hand. “If I’m not worthy, how come I’m here?”

“Because you still can prove your worth. It’s not hopeless … yet.” She turned back around with a huge smile on her face. “You see, I always knew you would make it closer than the others and would be the only one who would ever be able to become my retribution, so I’m here to give you a hint.”

“Look, I’m not here to punish anyone. I just want wolves and witches to live in peace.” It was that simple. I didn’t want Aidan and me to be on the run for the rest of our lives.

“Maybe that’s your goal, but by accomplishing that, you’ll be solidifying my master plan.” Her laugh was full of angst and hunger.

“How do we look so much alike?” I shouldn’t have been worried about that, but our likeness was too uncanny not to ask.

“Because you’re my great, great …” She trailed off. “Let’s just say I am your ancestor. I’m not sure how many greats should be in front of my title. It was so long ago.”

“How is that possible?” I was half-witch and half-wolf.

“Well, both your mother and father are my descendants—granted, very distant family members—but they originated from me just the same.”