Adversity (7 page)

“
Why? You’ve always wanted to rid yourself of this stupid
curse. Why change your mind now?”

He
refused to look at me. “I like things the way they are.”

“
You like… have you always been so jaw-droppingly stupid, or am
I only just now seeing the real you?”

He
growled at me and flared his nostrils.

“
Don’t pull out the wolf crap on me,” I said, barely
controlling a snort of indignation. “She’s going to die. Have you
forgotten that?”

“
She won’t die. I won’t let anything hurt her.”

“
Are you forgetting diseases? Car crashes? The million and one
other things that might kill her before her time?”

“
Her dad’s a doctor. And I’ll keep her away from traffic.” He
gave a twisted half-smile. “Maybe you’ve already changed the curse
and made it so she won’t die.”

“
Nathan, I…”

“
Nobody’s taking her away from me, okay?”

He
brushed past me, leaving me standing there open-mouthed. He had
officially lost it. Perdita was going to die, and he was prepared
to let it happen, just to keep his stupid bond with her. I was
pretty sure she would allow him to do nothing, too.
Idiots.

They
thought they could fight the curse, control it, but they were
already completely infected. They couldn’t see straight for the
power controlling their destinies.

Well,
they were both lucky they had me. I still had enough brains left in
my head to make sure I ended the curse before anyone else got
hurt.

One way
or another, once and for all, I would make it end.

***

Kali

Every
day, when she left the village, he followed her. She didn’t know
his name. She knew little about him at all, but she felt she could
trust him. There was no wickedness there, and she wished she could
hold his palm in her hand and see a happy ending for him. He was
honourable, taking it upon himself to protect her because his wife
had gone out of her way to cause her harm. The women in the village
had gossiped to her in loud whispers, telling her that Marusya had
it in for her now. She wasn’t afraid, and she kept the delicious
secret of her defender to herself.

Still,
the women whispered mean, ruthless tales of Marusya’s weaknesses,
and how she had always lived, friendless and strange, outside the
village. She took care of the house while her mother lay in bed all
day before she died. From what, nobody knew. The women were
mean-spirited, but their comments went beyond simple dislike. The
women were afraid of Marusya for some reason. Kali could hear it in
the tremor of their voices when they spoke her name. They scorned
her because they feared her.

“
It’s such a waste of a handsome boy,” said a pretty young girl
with corn-yellow ringlets and dreamy eyes.

“
Boy? He’s a man at least a summer since,” said an older woman
with a husky laugh. “I hear he has his eyes on you.”

Kali
raised her eyes instantly, but the woman wasn’t speaking to her. In
fact, half the time, they seemed to forget she was there at all.
She had picked up a lot of information this way, plenty of secrets
and gossip, and she really shouldn’t have been as surprised as she
was by the lack of morals in the village. This particular village
seemed different than others, darker in some way. She saw the
shadows haunting the streets and knew the people were drawing them
in somehow.

The blond
girl sighed dramatically. “He danced with me once, before the old
hag got her claws into him.”

“
Claws are right,” another said. “Claws made of gold.” Her cue
for more cackling laughter.

“
But,” she added, “
he
came along and paid me double after she smashed my
eggs on purpose. She was spitting mad, but he didn’t listen to her.
He was brought up well by his mother. It’s a terrible pity what
they had to do with him.”

Grave
nods all around ended that conversation, and Kali swallowed a
scream of frustration. She needed to hear the rest of the story and
listened for more mentions of Marusya’s husband, but the women had
already moved on to another topic. She hadn’t even picked up his
name, as all of the men were referred to in their relation to the
woman taking care of their homes: husband, brother, or son. The men
had no real identities there.

Kali
rushed through the rest of the mostly predictable readings in her
hurry to return home. She knew he would stop accompanying her
eventually, but every time he walked behind her, she caught at
least one glimpse of him before he left. The entire day was worth
that one look she allowed herself. The more she saw of him, the
more she longed for him.

Other
girls her age had talked in excited whispers about the boys they
liked, at least before they were married, and she had witnessed her
own sisters fawning over boys from afar often enough to recognise
what was happening to her.

The important difference was that the other girls in her camp
took a liking to available boys—to gypsy boys. She was falling for
someone who was all wrong for a million reasons, which didn’t stop
her wishing to speak to him or her dreaming about him. A tremble of
excitement bubbled in her stomach from morning ’til night because
of him, and she had never felt more vibrant. Life thrummed within
her whenever she thought of him. She knew, deep down, that she was
putting a complete stranger on a pedestal, but she felt good and
the situation felt
right
.

Except it
was wrong, in every sense of the word.

Amelia

I woke up feeling… disturbed. Disturbed by the dreams, the
emotions I had felt. I realised I was becoming eager for sleep so I
could catch another image of the dream boy/man’s
face
. I was definitely losing my mind. I
blamed my mental state on the fact my grandmother’s memorial
service was happening soon.

I wasn’t
really sure why we were going through with it. Byron wasn’t
interested, so he paid some woman to look after everything. Opa
hadn’t returned, so he clearly wasn’t bothered. My cousin Jeremy
hadn’t come back at all, even though we’d lost a family member, and
that said it all really.

In fact,
I was the only one looking forward to it. There hadn’t been a
proper funeral and no real chance to say goodbye. The memorial
would hopefully erase all of those memories.

The
morning was hectic. Guests’ incessant knocking at the door made me
feel as though we were running late. Vaguely familiar people turned
up, some not familiar at all, but all of them a piece of Mémère’s
past. And Opa’s.

In the
end, Nathan dragged me to the community hall early. I could tell by
the look on his face that he was tired of getting his hopes up
every time the doorbell rang. Every single time we both started,
thinking it might be Opa, but he never showed. So we sat in the
community hall as people swiftly moved things around in
preparation.

“
We should probably help,” I ventured.

“
We’ll only get in the way.”

I stared
at my brother, unable to look away. Only a couple of seats from me,
and yet he felt light years away. There had always been a distance
between us. Aside from the protective big brother act, he never
really showed me his heart. Once he started turning into a
werewolf, the gulf only expanded.

Then
Perdita came along, and he directed his attention completely toward
her. Even before she knew he cared, she was all he cared about. I
thought pushing them together would bring us closer, but all it did
was shove me onto the sidelines, yet again. Since Mémère’s death, I
had felt completely alone. I knew he cared about me, but sometimes
he forgot I existed. He was the closest family I had, though
sometimes I felt as though I’d lost everyone the day Mémère
died.

Byron
turned up at the community hall and came over to us, but we might
have been three strangers. A constant tension filled the air, along
with uncomfortable silences or awkward conversations. I didn’t want
the atmosphere to touch me, but it clung on tight, and I couldn’t
shake it off.

A
dark-haired woman approached Byron, asking for a moment of his
time. Her eyes were hungry on his, but he didn’t seem to notice. Or
rather, he chose to ignore it. He had closed off his heart a long
time ago, even to us. The brunette had directed most of the work
for the service. I had no idea what her name was, and she never
once met my eyes.

“
Can you two greet people who turn up?” Byron asked before
turning away from us.

With a
heavy sigh, Nathan stood and hauled me up after him. “Let’s go
welcome the natives.”

“
Not just natives,” I reminded as I followed him.

People attending the memorial trickled in, and most of them
getting this
look
on their faces when they took in the colours in the room.
Widening eyes, bemused whispers; it became a little predictable
really.

I was
surprised to see Abbi approach with her parents. Nathan had told me
that most of his classmates would be at the match, instead. Abbi
smiled weakly, but her eyes brightened when she turned to Nathan.
He led her and her parents to their seats, and I followed Nathan to
the front of the room.

“
What’s the deal with her?” I whispered, trying not to look
around.

“
She’s a good friend. I keep telling you that.” He looked
annoyed at my question.

“
She likes you?” I felt the waves of anger roll off him, but
when he spoke, he was completely calm.

“
As a friend. That’s all. Why do I feel as though you’re
accusing me of something, Amelia?”

“
I’m not.” I bit my lip. “I just… Perdita’s my
friend.”

He lowered his voice, his eyes stern. He suddenly reminded me
of Byron, and I had to swallow a hysterical giggle. “And Perdita’s
my mate.
Nobody
can come between that.”

His jaw twitched, and I thought he might keep going, knowing
his comment was directed mostly at me, but he was suddenly
distracted. He turned around, and there she was at the door.
Perdita. For once I was glad he forgot about everything else when
she was around. I hadn’t liked his tone when he said
my mate
. Too possessive.
Too… unlike Nathan.

He moved
toward her without another word, and she stepped toward him at the
same time, apparently unable to contain herself. Watching them
gravitate toward each other was kind of beautiful, in a really sad
way, considering they both knew their relationship would end
tragically, one way or another. The way they felt was so obvious in
how they looked at each other, and I scrambled to take my camera
out of my bag and get a shot of them greeting each
other.

They
touched hands, both of them brightening as one, but the camera also
picked up her dad behind her, and he looked entirely unimpressed.
He was polite to Nathan, but I could see the tension in his jaw and
how difficult it was for him when she walked away. His blond
girlfriend, Erin, laid her hand on his arm as he stared after
Perdita, and he turned his gaze back to Erin, true love softening
his expression. I tried to hold in a sigh. I wanted that. That look
they all reserved for the person who held a chunk of their heart in
his or her hands. I wanted someone to look at me like that and to
love me like that. But I didn’t even have familial love
anymore.

As I took
my seat, I realised Abbi had that same look of longing on her face
when she watched Perdita and Nathan together, and I almost felt
sorry for her. She never had a chance.

Perdita
seemed pleased to see me, although her cheeks reddened as she took
in the room, and she automatically hid behind her long, auburn
hair. All eyes were on her, always her. She might have been the
least assuming person I knew, but when she and Nathan were
together, everyone craned their necks for a good look at them. I
wasn’t sure if it was to see if Perdita’s and Nathan’s feelings
were for real, or to gawk at a mismatched couple. But their
intensity for each other grabbed everyone’s attention and didn’t
let go, as if everyone drank up what the two projected to each
other. Of course, the attention made Perdita uncomfortable whenever
she became aware of it. Which didn’t happen too often; she was
usually too zoned in on Nathan to think about anyone else. At the
service, she noticed, and she squirmed in her seat until she had me
as nervous as she obviously felt.

I tried
to get her attention, to make her feel better, but she was leaning
against Nathan, so she didn’t need me for anything. I stared at a
point on the wall, hoping I would get through the memorial, when
all of a sudden I felt Nathan’s anger like a spike, so strong that
it seemed to hit even me. Perdita winced as his grip on her hand
must have tightened, and I glanced back to see what had grabbed
Nathan’s attention and anger.

Byron.
Jeremy.

Opa.

My heart
sang in my chest, but my grandfather didn’t even look at me as he
took his seat. All feelings of elation left me, and I tried not to
stare at him. Why wasn’t he happy to see me? The memorial service
began, and I tried to pay attention to the stories told, but I
couldn’t because I was confused. I couldn’t ignore the man who’d
taken care of me as a father for all of those years, though he
didn’t seem to be that man anymore. He didn’t even look the same.
His ordinarily short silver hair had grown long. His beard was
almost beyond the irritatingly scratchy stage. But it was his eyes
that got to me. They had no depth, no feeling and were blank,
bloodshot eyes which took us in as if he didn’t recognise us. I
barely controlled the shiver that ran through my body. What had
happened to us?