“I bet,” he chuckled, shoving his fingers through his hair.
“A shadow ritual is performed by a shadow demon to invoke their shadows.” She placed her hands on her hips and sighed like she was bored. “They use a piece of their target and essentially sacrifice it to the shadows. The shadows carry out the curse until the target is seriously maimed or dead.”
That particular demonic curse was also theorized to be able to summon dark magic,according to a passage I’d read specifically about demonic curses and dark magic.
“Soul eaters are capable of the demonic curse of slow death.” Her gaze found mine, and she smiled softly. “It’s when they begin to eat a fraction of a soul, but they don’t devour it whole. Instead, they invoke a curse that slowly eats away at the soul until there’s nothing left. It’s irreversible and always ends in death.”
I felt the glances sent my way, but I ignored them and kept my gaze trained on Dusk.
“Finally, vengeance demons are capable of a generational curse. Their magic essentially latched onto a target and causes them misfortune, illness, or other hardships. It doesn’t kill them, though. It passes onto their children, and only then can the curse turn fatal.” She paused and scanned the room. “Now that you know all of the types of curses, we can dive into why they could be used…”
As Dusk dove further into the basic knowledge of Demonic Curses, I couldn't shake the feeling of being watched.
I knew they were watching me, and I knew they were holding back on taunting me because of Dusk. That was a lady nobody would’ve wanted to mess with. Apparently, even three demons with bad reputations.
I sighed, grabbing the water bottle Hunter had given me and taking a few drinks before putting it back into the bag.
It was only day two of classes, but it felt like it had been so much longer than that. I’d come to the reform academy to learn, but I felt like meeting Hunter, Reed, and even the other three demons haunting my thoughts had overshadowed my purpose of being here. I had to stay focused and learn to be a functioning member of demon society.
It was what I had always wanted, and now I had the chance to do it.
I had narrowly escaped Dex,Grimshaw, and Bram—I mean Hemlock—after Demonic Curses. Something told me I hadn’t actuallyescaped, but rather, they just didn’t pursue me like I’d thought they would after staring at me for so long during class.
It was unnerving.
The door to Bound Dormitory slammed shut as the desert wind caught it, and I stumbled into the cooler air. A few other students mingling in the common area regarded me with curious glances, and my cheeks heated.
I glanced down at my ring, and it was white. With a relieved breath, I dropped my hand to my side and made my way to my room.
When I unlocked and pushed open the door to Dreadful’s and my dorm, white-hot rage rolled through me so thunderously that I felt my eyes tingle, and the small amount of magic I had leftover in my reserves came to the forefront.
Dreadful was pacing back and forth on her side of the room,tossingNebula up into the air as she talked to someone on her tablet.
“Don’t touch him!” I snarled, storming over to her and catching Nebula mid-air. My vision dimmed, throbbing around the edges.
His kitten skull was small—breakable.And she had been throwing him into the air for who knew how long with no concern about his well-being.
“Uh, chill, Gravesend.” She paused andblinked at me, but there was fear lingering in her gaze. “It’s just a weird skull of a cat.”
“He ismorethan that!” The air around us crackled, and from my peripherals, I could see black smoke escaping my lips. “And you are throwing him around like a ball!”
“I-it’s just a skull—” Her voice cracked, and her shoulders shook. “Your eyes are black.”
“You had no right to touch him!” My voice took on a darker tone, and I inhaled sharply, sucking back the smoke.
I felt the magic leave my body as fast as it came, and I brought Nebula to my chest protectively, padding over to my bed and sitting on the edge of it. I dropped my bag next to me.
“Annie? What was that?” the tablet voiced, reminding us both that she had been on a call before this.
I moved Nebula to my lap in my cupped hand and glided my finger over the lines of his skull.
“You’re such a freak…” Her fists balled at her side before she snatched her tablet up and stomped to the door, tossing it open and glaring at me over her shoulder. “I totally feel bad for Death. I can’t imagine such a reputable councilman having such a loser as a daughter.” She slammed the door behind her so hard that it shook the frame.
“Are you okay?” I murmured to Nebula,kicking my shoes off and curling into a fetal position on the bed with him placed between my knees and chest.
Black goo spilled out of his eyes and puddled underneath him on the comforter. “I’m okay, Pandora. Your roommate is terrible, though.”
Tears rolled down my face as I tried to stifle my sobs, but a burst of laughter spilled from my lips. “Yeah, she’s terrible.”
