Casting Curses

  “Kelson, what are you doing?”

  “I figured it was time to do a thorough cleaning. Since we don’t have any guests right now, this is the perfect time to go about it before the holidays hit.”

  “I suppose you’re right. Hopefully, if the ritual goes as planned tonight, we’ll be able to start booking guests again this coming week.” I realize that I was tense, worried about the ritual and whether it would work. I couldn’t permanently exist without my powers, but if the ritual didn’t go as planned, I was concerned that the allergy might become permanent. Or that I’d have to sell the Bewitching Bedlam to get away from it.

  “Stop worrying,” Sandy said. “I can see it in your eyes. You just have to trust. That’s all we can do for now—have faith. We’ll worry about the future once it’s over and done with. And if we’re lucky, we won’t have to worry about it at all.”

  I nodded. “You’re right. Okay, we should get the parlor ready. Actually, I’m not sure where they want to hold the ritual. All Alaysia told me was they need to hold it in the house.”

  The doorbell rang, and I motioned for Kelson to continue what she was doing. “I’ll get it.”

  Sandy and I found Alaysia and Leroy waiting on the porch. They were carrying large bags, probably ritual gear. I stood back, ushering them in. Max and Gregory popped out from the living room, and I introduced Gregory to the two professors.

  “Greg’s a bard.”

  Alaysia’s eyes glittered. “I don’t meet many bards. How do you do?”

  After the pleasantries were out of the way, I asked Leroy and Alaysia where they wanted to set up. Leroy pointed toward the stairs.

  “In the secret room, where else? That’s the most likely place for this to work.”

  That was the last place I wanted to be. But I led them upstairs and Kelson followed, carrying Franny’s painting. “Should we bring Aegis up here, since he was affected by the curse as well?”

  “It might be a good idea.”

  I glanced at the clock. It was nearly four thirty. “I suppose we should we leave him locked in his coffin.”

  “Another good idea. Can you manage carrying it up the stairs and getting it into the attic, though?” Alaysia asked.

  I glanced at Max and Gregory. “Well, we have two very strong, handsome men…”

  Max snorted. “Go on, woman. All right, all right. We’ll bring your boyfriend and his coffin up. But you owe me a good dinner.”

  “You mean a meal out, I hope. Unless you want a grilled cheese sandwich or boxed mac and cheese.” I stuck my tongue out at him and he grinned. Really, Max was a good-natured guy. I was grateful that Sandy had found him.

  As Gregory and Max headed toward the basement, I brought a stepstool out for Leroy so that he could open the trapdoor. When the ladder was down, we trudged upstairs and I turned on the lights. Now that the wall was down between the attic and the secret room, it was easier to see into the back corner. Kelson handed Sandy the painting and darted back down the ladder. She returned carrying two high-powered LED lamps and plugged them in toward the back, showering light into all corners.

  Alaysia began opening the bags they had brought and setting up an altar in the center of the secret room. Shivering, I folded my arms across my chest and wandered over to one of the walls, staring at the cuneiform writing. Now that I knew what it said—at least paraphrased—it made me more nervous than it had before.

  “Are you sure you’re ready for this?” Sandy said, standing beside me as she held onto Franny’s painting. Franny was staring out of the glass, looking more frustrated than ever.

  I nodded. “I have to go through with this. I have no idea what’s going to happen, but I hope to hell that I come out the other side.”

  By the time I turned around, Alaysia had set up an elaborate altar. She had set up a folding table, and over it she had placed a deep shimmering purple tablecloth with gold trim. In the center she had placed an amethyst chalice, and encircled it in a ring of obsidian and moonstone spheres. To the left side of the chalice she placed a black obsidian dagger, and to the right side, a bowl for incense. She took what looked like a human skull from her bag and set it in front of the chalice, then scattered blood-red rose petals around the table. Their scent filled the air, heady and intoxicating. On the right side of the skull, she placed one carved out of clear crystal, and on the left side, one carved out of obsidian. From a second bag, she shook out a long purple gown and handed it to me. It looked similar to the gown I wore for ritual, only this one had gold trim and a gold sash that tied at the waist.

  “Please dress in this. Wear nothing else, and go barefoot. Take off all your jewelry as well. You’ll want to take a ritual shower beforehand, using this soap.” She pressed a cake of lotus-scented soap into my hand and motioned for me to leave. “Once you’re done, stay in your room until we come for you.”

  I headed down to my bedroom, passing Gregory and Max in the hallway. They were carrying Aegis’s coffin. I wasn’t sure how they were going to get the coffin into the attic, but I left them to figure that out and went to my room.

  I stripped off my clothes and tossed them on the bed, then carefully laid out the dress and sash. Entering my bathroom, I turned on the water and stepped into the shower with the soap. As I lathered up with it, I realized I was slipping into a trancelike state. I hadn’t expected that, given my lack of magical powers. Making sure I was squeaky clean, an important part of formal rituals, I then toweled off.

  As I dressed, I was startled to find that the top of the dress was composed of two thin straps that covered my nipples, leaving the rest of my boobs exposed. They crisscrossed my chest, looping over my shoulders to attach to the back of the dress, which barely covered the upper part of my butt. The material was filmy and as I tied the sash around my waist, I thought about using quake wax to keep the straps in place. But Alaysia had told me to wear nothing else. Feeling exposed, I sat at my vanity and brushed out my hair, then waited for them to come get me.

  “Please, Arianrhod, Great Goddess of the Silver Wheel, let this work. Let us get back to normal and everything be all right in our household.” But even as I whispered the prayer, I wondered if she could hear me.

  IT WAS SANDY who came to fetch me. I opened the door when she tapped on it and was surprised to see that she was carrying a circlet, a necklace, a wand, a ring, and a pair of golden slippers.

  I started to speak, but she held up her hand for silence. She entered the room and without a word decked me out with all of the gear. She placed the circlet on my head last, and a shiver ran through me. I wasn’t sure what it was from, but everything became very real at that moment.

  She motioned for me to follow her down the hall to the ladder. Leroy was standing there, holding a goblet filled with steaming liquid. He handed it to me and I glanced at him, questioning. He nodded for me to upend it.

  I drained it, then handed it back to him, grimacing at the cloying taste. It tasted like honey and corn syrup and saffron all mixed together. He held his fingers to his lips, and I nodded, keeping the silence. Then he motioned for me to climb the ladder. Once I was in the attic, Leroy joined us, followed by Sandy. They joined Max and Gregory, who were standing to the side.

  Alaysia was beside the altar wearing ritual robes, ornate and embroidered with metallic threads. They were black and silver, and the heavy pall of magic that hung around her penetrated even my magic-blind state. She motioned for me to kneel on a pillow that was on the floor in front of her, and I did so.

  As I waited, she began to intone a chant that sounded as ancient as Ereshkigal herself. I closed my eyes, drifting on her words. I couldn’t understand the words she was singing, but the music caught me up and I soon found myself drifting on the musical currents.

  The incantation seemed to drone on and on, but at one point, I realized I was beginning to understand what some of the words meant. Alaysia was singing to Ereshkigal, asking her to open a gateway.

  A
moment later, there was a sudden hush as Alaysia’s song drifted away. I opened my eyes and found the room was filled with mist. The only person I could see was Alaysia. Beside her shimmered a vortex, reminding me of a magic mirror. She bade me to stand and I did.

  “Are you ready to face the dread goddess Ereshkigal, Queen of the Underworld?”

  It was as though every ounce of courage in my heart drained away, but in its place was utter resignation that this was what I was meant to do. I was terrified, and yet I had no other choice.

  “I’m ready. What must I do?”

  “You must face the guardians of the gates. Do as they ask, even though it may lead to your death. I ask a second time, are you ready to face the dread goddess Ereshkigal, Queen of the Underworld?”

  “I’m ready.” I recognized that this was a formal challenge, a required part of the ritual.

  “I ask a third time, are you ready to face the dread goddess Ereshkigal, Queen of the Underworld?”

  “Yes. I’m ready.”

  A hush fell through the room, and the mist grew thicker.

  Alaysia motioned toward the doorway. “Then step through, and face the seven gates of Ereshkigal. Return if you can.”

  My stomach tied in knots, I stepped toward the portal, the mist frothing around my feet. I could see myself in the reflection, looking almost like a queen, and I caught my breath at how beautiful I felt at that moment. And then the mirror fell away, opening up into a dark chasm, and I stepped through.

  I FELL, NOT sure how long I was falling.

  Eventually, I came to rest, standing on a dark stone staircase. The dropoff was steep on both sides, and down below, energy roiled in shades of blue and purple and white. The steps themselves were narrow, barely eighteen inches wide, and the sandals I was wearing were slick against the stone. Shaking, terrified I was going to lose my balance and fall over the edge, I began to descend.

  I don’t know how long I went down the staircase, using my arms to keep my balance, but finally, up ahead, I saw another portal similar to the one I’d stepped through. And at the gateway stood a tall figure, as dark as the stone steps themselves, looking carved from the very foundations of the earth. Indeed, I thought perhaps he was stone, this guardian who was every inch ten feet tall. Sparks flew with every movement he made. He was standing in front of the portal and as I approached he held out his hand, warning me to stop.

  “Who approaches the Queen of the Underworld?”

  “Maudlin Gallowglass. I come to make a plea of the great goddess Ereshkigal.” I wasn’t sure if that was what I was supposed to say, but since Alaysia hadn’t prepared me for this part, I had to wing it.

  “As payment for passage, as a symbol of your humility, give me your wand.” He held out his hand.

  Suddenly, I realized that I really was in the middle of the descent of Inanna, and now I really was well and truly scared. I handed him my wand, saying nothing. He took it and stood to the side, motioning to the portal.

  I stepped through it and fell again until I found myself on the staircase once more. Below was another portal, with another guardian. At this portal, I was asked for my ring, and I handed it over. Again, I was escorted through the gateway, and yet again found myself on another staircase. The third time, the guardian asked for my shoes. At the fourth, I offered up my necklace. At the fifth gate, I was asked for my sash and I untied it, handing it over.

  By the sixth gate, I was ready. The guardian asked for my dress and I slid it over my head, standing naked with just the crown left. By now I was shivering, goose bumps rising all over my body.

  I had no magic to protect me, and I was naked, with nothing between me and the elements. But I had to go on trust. The guardian guided me through the portal, and once again I was on a staircase. This should be the last one. Seven gates had the goddess Inanna gone through on her descent to visit her sister, Ereshkigal. At each one she had been stripped of a symbol of her power until she stood naked before death itself.

  At the seventh gate, I handed over my crown, leaving me thoroughly bare. The guardian looked at me, through those dark and silent dark eyes, then pointed toward the portal.

  “Do you still wish to visit the dread goddess Ereshkigal, Queen of the Underworld? Speak now, or forever leave this realm.”

  I wasn’t even sure I could leave this realm if I wanted to. But it didn’t matter. I had come here to plead with Ereshkigal for my household, and for my loved ones.

  “I do.”

  “Then step through, and face the Queen of the Underworld.”

  The portal flared, sputtering with energy. Blue and purple, white, and then red flames came roaring out of the portal, then vanished.

  Naked, terrified, I stepped through the vortex. The world shifted once again.

  THE CHAMBER INTO which I stepped seemed unending, filled with fog and mist. But I noticed nothing else, for in the center of the chamber sat a massive throne carved out of black onyx and marble.

  Atop the throne was the winged goddess, her skin the color of hematite, her eyes shimmering white. She wore a flowing skirt with a belt of silver, leaving her breasts bare. Her wings spread out, massive and bat-like, and she radiated the energy of the grave.

  Her hair hung to her knees, in massive braids that snaked on their own, and she wore a necklace of skulls and a headdress made of bone and stone and crystal. Her lips were full, and she towered over me, at least twenty feet tall.

  She watched, laughing, as I approached. Her voice echoed off the sides of the chamber, reverberating deep within my core, almost stilling my heart.

  And then the next moment, she was standing before me, now seeming to be barely taller than I was, but her power still overwhelmed me, and it took everything I had to keep on my feet. I knew that here, even Arianrhod could not save me.

  My existence and my return to my home depended solely on Ereshkigal.

  “What is it you seek?” Her voice rumbled through the chamber. I heard moans and groans coming from the fog, and the sounds of bones clicking, and the ghostly rattle of death throes.

  My stomach lurched. I struggled to find my voice, struggled to figure out what to say. Now that I was here, my mind went blank. Finally, I cleared my throat.

  My voice came out in a whisper. “I come to ask for your help.”

  “And what help would you ask of the goddess of death?”

  I took a deep breath. “An ancient sorcerer runs through my house. He’s there because of a curse you laid on him, condemning him to a half-life. He was in an urn, and someone broke it, freeing him. He’s hurting my family. He’s hurting my friends. He’s hurting me. He doesn’t belong in our world and I have come to you asking you to take him. I ask you to undo your curse and summon Etum to the Underworld, where he belongs.”

  I wanted to close my eyes, to squeeze them shut in case she struck me down for being so presumptuous. But I couldn’t. My gaze was fastened on the brilliant goddess. She was as dark as the night sky and yet she was more brilliant than the sun. She was beautiful and terrifying and seductive. And she was staring at me with those white-hot eyes.

  Finally, she spoke. “I have not heard that name in a long time. So Etum runs free once more? I thought I had buried him forever.”

  “The people of my world seem to like digging up the past,” I said.

  Ereshkigal considered my words for a moment. “Sometimes, I suppose you must dig up the past in order to erase the wrongs it harbors in it.”

  Again we stood there for what felt like hours. I was cold, but I was too frightened to even shiver.

  “When you began this journey, you must have realized that there was a chance you would never return. Why did you choose to come into my presence?”

  I thought about my answer before I spoke. It had to be true. She could tell if I was lying.

  “Etum is harming people I love. He’s hurting me. And he will hurt others. He tried to take over a woman who’s gone into hiding, who seems
to be the reincarnation of his lost love. When she realized that he was trying to act through her, she vanished rather than let him use her powers. With his very presence, he threatens anyone who comes into contact with him. Since his curse is on my household, I’m the one who is responsible. I did not willingly free him, and the man who did so accidentally is dead. We already have one death caused by Etum’s presence. I cannot let there be any more.”

  Ereshkigal held out her hand, and a pale light appeared in it. She stared at the light, and it did not waver. “You speak the truth of your heart. You fear me and yet you came to help save others. Perhaps it is time for me to bring Etum into my realm, to teach him the error of his ways. Perhaps it’s time to end the curse.”

  I was about to speak, about to thank her, when she waved her hand. There was an explosion of light and thunder. Blinded, I fell to my knees from the shock. I found myself falling again, down a deep, dark hole, spiraling into an abyss. I screamed, and the next thing I knew, the world went black.

  WHEN I OPENED my eyes, everything seemed out of focus. I blinked. Someone was lifting me, carrying me in his arms. He smelled like cinnamon and vanilla, honey and autumn leaves.

  “Aegis?” My throat hurt so much I could barely talk.

  “Shush. It’s me. You’ll be all right. I’m just carrying you to your bed.”

  “Everything is blurry. I can’t see.”

  “Your vision will clear. Sandy’s called Jordan.”

  Closing my eyes again, I slipped back into unconsciousness.

  “MADDY? CAN YOU hear me?”

  I squinted as I opened my eyes. This time I could make out Jordan’s face. He was sitting on the bed next to me, and I was propped up on pillows, under the covers.

  “Can you speak?”

  I searched for my voice. “Yeah, though my throat burns. What happened? Did it work?” My memories felt scrambled. I had the vague impression of standing in front of a dark winged woman, but I couldn’t remember the details of what she looked like. All I could remember was the immense power that she emanated.