The Curse of Betrayal (31 page)

“Hey, Meg. We have to go back soon,” I call out. I start packing up my homework and books that I’ve sprawled in my personal studying area on the bleachers while they finish brawling. Ari and Meg run to me when I’m just about finished packing, both sweaty, and Megan with a few bumps and bruises covering her arms.
 

“Ready?” Megan reaches her hand down to help me up from the bleachers. I grab it and heft myself off the seat with a groan. My back is so incredibly sore that even a full hour massage wouldn’t fix it. I swing my backpack over my back, trying to find a comfortable way to hold it, and then follow behind Ari to the dorms. It’s not as chilly as it has been, but the nip is still in the air. The wind has picked up, but it no longer burns my face. Now it’s more of an annoyance.

I’m ready for spring. Even though it’s rainy, you can wear rain boots, jump in the puddles, and wear short sleeves. I’m getting really annoyed with wearing turtlenecks, puffy jackets, and layers. We get to Aphro Hall, and Megan swings open the door for us both.

“Thanks for your help.” Megan blushes, averting her eyes to the floor as she speaks to Ari.

“Anytime. Just practice your form and you can take down any attacker,” Ari says. Megan walks into the building, and I track right behind her. I turn to say goodbye to Ari, but he pulls me into him so his nose is touching mine. “Sorry,” he mutters, his intense eyes focused solely on me.

“For…” I whisper back, trying not to break the trance he’s created,

“Beating you up.” He smirks down at me, bending his neck so his head rests on my shoulder. My arms rise up and wrap around his firm body involuntarily. I twist my hand in his longer-than-normal hair, combing the silky strands.

“I guess it’s all right.” I kiss the top of his head as his nose nuzzles into my neck. He looks up and meets my eyes again with a fiery stare. He presses his full lips to mine and pulls me into a whirlwind of love, spinning us around in fast circles as he kisses me. He breaks our embrace almost before it even begins and then retreats into the darkness of the night. I look around, thinking it’s some joke that he left me here high and dry, but he’s gone.

CHAPTER TWENTY THREE

aribelle

I open the door to my bedroom, and Kara sits up on her bed, her eyes leering. I leave Megan down a floor in her room, knowing that Kara was going to drill me with questions. I put my bag on my desk chair and face her.

“Where the hell were you, sleepy pants?” she sarcastically asks, squinting at me.

“I was, uh, studying. I needed Megan’s help,” I explain, trying to come up with the best excuse ever, my brain only moving so fast.

“You’re lying through your teeth.” She glares at me, crossing her arms over her stomach. I look into her blue eyes and guilt washes over me. I feel so shitty lying to her, but I promised Megan I wouldn’t betray her. I’m stuck.

“I can’t tell you.”

“Please? You don’t trust me?” she asks, forming a pouty lip.

“I do!” I tell her, hoping she understands. “I just promised I wouldn’t say anything.”

“I won’t tell anyone. I promise.”
 

“Swear?” I ask, caving.

“Swear,” she answers, and I make up my mind. I’ll just tell her and pray she doesn’t tell a soul. I want to trust her; it’s just her gossiping worries me, but I know she wouldn’t do it on purpose.

“Megan asked me to help her train so she’s a better fighter. She feels weak compared to all of us, so I helped her, along with Ari. She was really embarrassed so please don’t say anything.” I walk up to Kara and take her hands in mine, pleading that she understand the severity of it. I don’t want Megan to know I betrayed her trust.

“That’s not even a big deal,” Kara finally says.

“I know, but she was embarrassed so please don’t say a thing.”
 

“Fine,”she says, smiling since she got the story. I smile back and roll my eyes as I retreat to my side of the room. “Thanks for telling me.”

“Of course,” I tell her as I go into the bathroom to change. I put on my pajamas and then hop onto my pillow filled bed. Kara’s already tucked in, and after saying our goodnights, we both retreat to the blackness behind our eyelids.

It’s a dream. But a vision-dream, not a dream-dream. Oh god, I’m going crazy. I open my eyes once the queasy feeling in my stomach recedes and frown when I look where I am.

It’s a big city. There are skyscrapers all around me, jutting high into the sky. But I’m not in a skyscraper; I’m in a park. I look around me, taking in the lush, green landscape. By the feel of the air, it’s a spring day—light and pleasant, but not chilly.

I’m sitting on a park bench, dead centered within the short gates. There’s a group of young children, around five or six years old, running around by a duck pond. They laugh while throwing little pebbles into the pond.

I look around me, but nothing is familiar. I try to look at each person’s face, but none stick out. I stand and walk towards the street. I see storefronts and apartment buildings. As I turn onto the main sidewalks, I see him.
 

Ollie.

He’s walking away with a brown haired girl glued to his side. Before I even glance at her face, I know she’s me in a past life. Her mere essence calls to me, and it oddly feels like there’s an invisible string connecting us to one another.

I don’t know where they’re going or why, so I slink into the shadows, following them. They stop a few times, only once going into a building. But my dream self comes out with a blue bag in her hand. I try to look at the label, but the image turns fuzzy.

I inch closer, but it’s like a hologram, blinking in and out. The edges being to dim, and I can only see straight ahead. It’s ending. My vision is ending.

I focus on Ollie, trying to stay in the vision, but it’s useless. I can’t stay here. I fall back onto the cement, and before I know it, I’m stuck in my boring dorm bed. Damn-it. I wasn’t done with that one. I slam my eyelids shut and try to recreate the dream.

I do exactly what Professor Onassis taught me: mediate and focus on where I want to go. But it isn’t working. I can’t transport myself back into the vision. I groan in frustration, hating that I still can’t easily control my visions.
 

I roll over in my bed and stare at the ceiling for the next few hours until my alarm screeches at me. I just have to get through my day, and then Professor Onassis can help me get back into the vision.
 

Only a few more hours.

I lie back on the sofa and try to get into my meditative state so I can piece together my vision from last night. Professor Onassis has been working hard with me about my dreams, helping me control them in between our library visits. But clearly, I suck at it since I couldn’t conjure the vision again without her.

Onassis claims that I’m not ready to see what’s in the dream, but I beg to differ. I want to learn as much as I can about my relationships with Ollie and Ari so I can figure out who I love more and who is my soul mate. I haven’t told anyone about my dream searching, other than Professor Onassis, but I need to piece together my life and find a loophole in the curse, too. I let my breathing even—in five beats, out five beats. Professor Onassis massages my face, like she does every time, crouched in front of me.

I squeeze my eyelids shut and pray to be transported back to my dream from last night. I think of Ollie’s face and his dimples. I try to imagine what he was wearing in the dream, which, oddly, was similar clothing to what we wear today. I picture the two of us walking down a city street, but the dream ended so fast that I never actually got to see much of anything.
 

But before I can dissect that, my stomach drops, and I know the dream is coming. I let out one breath, and then I’m transported to a park bench. The air is warm just like last time. I see the children laughing and playing in the park. I look around for Ollie and spot his blonde head a few yards away.

He’s with a girl—me in the past. They’re holding hands and walking away from where I’m sitting on the bench. I stand, getting used to my wobbly legs, and start to stalk them, wanting to know where they’re going. I don’t know what type of dream it is, whether I’m seen or not, so I sneak around, trying to keep hidden.
 

We’re in a city, surrounded by tall buildings. The pair walks into a store. I crouch outside to remain hidden. A few minutes pass before they leave with a blue striped bag.
 

The pair stops to stare at an apartment building. My dream self stands on her tiptoes and kisses Ollie square on his lips, but I can still only see their backs as they face the building, and I’m stuck behind them. Ollie runs up the stairs and swings the door open for my dream self. She skips in, and then they disappear into the building. I count to one hundred and then run up the building stairs, hunting closely behind.

I think I’ve lost them, but then I hear myself giggle from far away, and I follow the shadows around the corner, chasing the noise. I catch them unlocking a door before entering. I try to shadow them, but the door slams right in my face. Their footsteps fade into the apartment, so I take a chance and open the door, letting myself in. I pray to the gods that they can’t see or hear me.

I stop dead in my tracks when I find myself and Ollie in a bright pink room. Ollie bends over and pulls out some blocks from the blue-striped bag. There’s white shelving above a bed, and on each shelf, he places a few blocks in meticulous order. I lean against the wall behind them, holding myself up, my brain thoroughly rocked.
 

“I don’t know why you chose this name, Deedee.” Ollie laughs, shaking his head as he places the last block in its spot. His hair is slicked back and a little piece from the top breaks free from the mold. I have to blink twice to make sure that I’m reading it right, unable to understand the scene playing before me.

“Please, Ortie. You know I just love the name. I dreamt about our sweet Aribelle all night. She loves her name, too.” My dream self cradles her swollen stomach in her boney hands. I feel my heart swell and break, collapsing into my stomach in a million pieces. I try to understand the whole thing, but I don’t understand.
 

I had children?
 

Obviously I’ve seen what’s needed, because I feel the dream ending. But I can’t tear my eyes away from Ollie and myself in the vision. Ollie comes towards me and wraps his arms around the growing baby in my dream self’s stomach. He bends and kisses where her belly button is and then gives it a little raspberry, making my stomach clench and my breath hitch.

But instead of feeling happy, I’m sick. I try to rip myself from the dream and successfully land back in Onassis’ office. But the sick feeling isn’t gone. I’m nauseous, and the vomit is rising in the back of my throat threatens to explode out. I quickly look around the room and find a trashcan. I empty my stomach, until I’m dry heaving, acid tearing at my throat.

Once I’m done vomiting, the sobs take over. I lean on the floor while my brain tries to make sense of this. When my mind can’t take it, I go numb. I sneak a peek over at Professor Onassis who looks shaken up. She doesn’t know what to do, but I don’t care anymore.
 

After she sees me completely lose it, she groans as she bends on her hands and knees to sit with me on the floor. She crawls to my side and takes my head on her lap, rubbing my temples. I barely feel it. I stare blankly at the white ceiling above me and try to count the brush strokes. “I have children,” I mutter, trying to figure out what that means to me. Are they alive? What happens after I die? How is this okay?

“Oh, sweetie,” Professor Onassis cries, pulling my head into her chest. Her tears soak my hair and I know that she’s literally crying for me. For some reason, her emotions bring back mine, and my hysterical sobs return. My throat is dry, scratchy. My eyes sting and feel swollen. I don’t know what the hell to do.

“How is this okay?” I ask, hating this curse and what it’s doing to me.

“It’s not. We’ll figure it out.” She tries to reassure me but fails.

“I have to find Ollie. I have to know what happened to her.” I don’t think. I just stand and grab my bag off the couch. I rummage through it for my cellphone. I dial and wait for him to pick up.