?There’s a wishing well by the gazebo I’ll eventually pass. There’s always someone there every time I pass it making a wish. Hoping and praying that whatever it is will come true. That the god or goddess watching over will answer and grant them whatever it is they want.
?But the other well. . . the discarded, hated, forgotten well. . . the cursing well. . . that is one no one goes near.
?When magic with its infinite definition and limitlessness is part of the equation, things like superstition and karma and fate are not to be toyed with. The humans believe in these things for a reason even with no proof of magic or things impossible. They hold weight and power no matter the world or universe.
?Just as you don’t make wishes to dying stars, you don’t makes wishes through curses.
?Except when you have nothing left.
?Except when youarenothing.
?The scent of nature and earth blinds me as I run without seeing. Dodging the huge trunks when I can but not slowing when my shoulders clip them or my face hits the lower hanging branches or my shins collide with fallen debris.
?I stood before that fifth door within and then looked at Thorne. I looked at my fated andmadeour fate undetectable.
?It won’t last long. Our souls will continue trying to pull us together until we see that line connecting us and cement the bond. Our primal instinct continuously drawing us together over and over and over again.
?He will wonder why he still has feelings. Why he is constantly drawn to me. Why he has an obsession and possessiveness about me. His soul warring with his mind. So I need to be quick and Iwishto no primordial or thing above that this will work.
?I wish because hope is a faith in luck and I have no luck. I wish because prayer is a faith in the gods and goddesses and they have never done anything for me. I wish – because wishes go above it all.
?It feels like I run for forever and yet I break the edge of the tree line in seemingly no time. Continuing to run past that exact wishing well I had described and the gazebo next to it. Past the small groupings of trees and through the space between to the three buildings that make up the extra classrooms.
?To the cursing well. To what I wish will be my salvation.
?The ornate fountain is huge. Its diameter at least thirty feet and the stone center piece extends a good fifteen feet up. The shower of water falling around like a dome. The stream constant and strong enough that someone could be hiding within and you would never know.
?Coming to a stop at the edge, the stone edge only comes up to my hip, but within it’s bottomless – unlike the wishing well. Once made, you cannot take back your curse. Not unless you were to continue swimming as far as you can below until you simply die there.
?It’s not all bottomless though. There are ledges and steps throughout, though they shift and move so actually finding them is the issue.
?I take my hat off and start pulling my crewneck off. Dropping both and my MP3 player beside my feet, then I start toeing off my shoes and socks.
?Despite it being called the cursing well and looking like a dark pit from hell, these waters are the safest anywhere. The only thing residing are curses, but they do nothing to you until you make one. And to make a curse, the first step is getting in.
?The air bites into my exposed skin but I welcome it in because it cools the burning of my scars. I’m betting on the fact that it’s a school day tomorrow and freezing outside right now for everyone being in doors. There shouldn’t be a reason for anyone to be out, so therefore there shouldn’t be a reason anyone sees my scars.
?Unless, of course, they’re like me and wanting to make a curse.
?Pulling down my leggings, I drop them beside everything else and then grip the stone edge. Shivers race up my spine as I swing my leg over and dip it into the water. If I thought it was freezing out here, the water is a death-stilling cold.
?Gritting my teeth together, I don’t think and fall in. Letting the frozen depths swallow me whole.
?There’s always a chance it won’t work. Just as not all wishes come true, the same is for curses. But until I find a permanent solution to ridding my soul of this body, it’s the next best thing.
?I swim down and down and down. I swim until my body goes numb and I can barely make my limbs function. I swim until my lunges are ready to explode. I swim until I’m able to make my curse.
Ten
Mavyn – Novam 15
The chill in the air feels like shards of glass in my lungs as I round the last corner of trees and slow on the incline towards the tree line. Jullia beside me with Hanna on her other side follow my lead and the three of us come to a walking pace.
?I tug the wires of my earbuds as I rest my other hand on top of my head. Jullia and Hanna do the same as they continue walking to cool down and regulate their breathing. Asher and Callahan appear a second later both drenched with sweat.
?Instead of continuing a walk or raising their arms up, Asher falls forward to rest his hands on his knees with Callahan doing his best to breathe deeply without heaving. Jullia comes up to my side to watch them with me as she jogs in place.
?“You would have thought we made them do like six marathons back to back,” she grumbles to me as she winces at her boyfriend.
