The Keeper's Curse (6 page)

“
It’s the hub of our world,” Jade said, holding up a pair of
trousers to Emmy’s waist. “They have the courts, the best
universities, and all the governors of the orbs live there –
everyone important, really. It’s where you’re going to take your
admission exam.”

“
Yeah, anyway,” Alex went on. “Methelwood was created
specifically to use whenever Ministrial has a problem. Whenever war
breaks out – and it happens a lot – Ministrial calls on us. That’s
why we’re so educated in politics and war.”

As Jade
undid Emmy’s bodice to see if the one she bought would fit her, she
asked, “Do you have to get a job in peacekeeping?”

“
Only when there’s a shortage of applicants,” Jade said.
“Which there isn’t now.”

“
Don’t worry, Em,” Alex said, trying on his new blazer. “Your
dreams of being a psychologist aren’t dead.”

It was
funny how quickly he was able to read her, as if they hadn’t been
away from each other for five years.

Jade and
Alex began chatting about the peacekeeping class, comparing their
scores. From what Emmy could gather, there were the morning classes
(theory – classes like politics, history and science) and afternoon
classes (practicum – classes like yoga, fencing and archery). There
also appeared to be an extra grade. Crafters had to stay in school
until they were nineteen (which was their legal adult age),
suffering through a grade 13.

That
evening Emmy moved to the backyard to start practicing. Alex had
promised to train her every evening for the next three months on
how to use the palewraiths properly, something she would hold him
to.

“
It seems so random,” Emmy said, backing away from Alex to the
edge of the forest. “Sometimes I can summon one and sometimes I
can’t. Can you talk to them?”

“
It’d be nice,” Alex said, “but no. The thing you have to keep
in mind is
you own them.
People use their hands to move them but you don’t
have to – it’s a mental thing.”

“
They seem to pop up when I’m mad,” Emmy said.

“
Yes, they tend to be more sensitive when your heart rate goes
up, because that would be when you need them, especially if you’re
scared.”

“
So I need to train myself to get upset?”

“
Pretty much.”

At first
she was hopeless, feeling stupid waving her arms around. But the
more frustrated she got with Alex, the more frequent a palewraith
would pop up in front of her, even if it was only for a second
before fading away again.

She slept
well that night, exhausted by the practice, and the following day
was just as busy. Alex had brought home school forms to fill out
regarding class scheduling and enrolment, a task that proved to be
difficult to do since she didn’t have proof of citizenship, which
every crafter received after their admission exam.

By the
time Alex led Emmy up to her room for bed that evening, she had
spiralled downward into a panicky mess.

“
They had a list of crafts on the application, and I didn’t
know which ones I had,” Emmy wailed, as Alex pushed her onto the
bed. “I don’t even know what a craft is!”

“
I’ll give you a list of the crafts in the morning,” he said
calmly, leaning down to kiss her forehead. “It’s just another word
for ability. Now clear your head and get some sleep.”

He
sounded so much like their father the back of her eyes started to
burn. She tucked herself in as Alex let himself out and climbed
down the ladder. She tried to empty her head, which proved to be
impossible. Emmy wasn’t fond of school in general, but now she was
downright terrified.

Her eyes
lingered on the moon, once in a while seeing a visible change in
its position. Was she going to get any sleep? She began counting
stars, and when she ran out, she counted trees. The boughs
encircled her little window, and that was when she noticed
it.

There had
been something on one of the branches all night. At first she had
thought it was some sort of growth, but then it ruffled, and a
light flashed her way. Emmy got to her feet and went over to the
window, pressing her face up against it to get a better
look.

It was a
silver raven with pure white eyes, staring right at her.

Get a grip
, she told herself, but
she felt a prickle in the back of her spine. She had never seen an
animal look so directly at her, eyes so unmoving from her
face.

She shook
her head, pulled down the blind, and trudged back to bed. Emmy fell
asleep with two white lights glaring at her through the
curtain.

Chapter 4

Urquhart Institute

The
compulsion to vomit on Monday morning died with Alex and Jade, who
kept her busy by drilling her with information on what to do.
Alex’s list of crafts, of what different crafters could do with
palewraith magic, was settled in Emmy’s pocket:

Transposer – can
move things with mind

Driver – can make
someone do anything with a verbal command

Breaker – can
teleport

Flyer – self
explanatory

Elemental – can
control an element (subgroups: salamander (fire), nymphs (water),
sylphs (air), and gnomes (earth)) – usually only one of the
four

Shifter – can
change the body into any shape (includes invisibility)

Strapper –
abnormally superior physique; very strong, very fast etc

Like Alex
had informed her, while palewraiths could do much more, crafters
were limited to only physical powers such as these. Jade explained
that everyone was a transposer (like Emmy herself), with the
ability to shift the palewraiths, which was the bare minimum to be
a crafter. She took that moment to declare she was a strapper as
well, one of the more specialty crafts.

In the
excitement, they almost forgot to inform her that Jade was in her
grade and would be able to help her the whole way along. Emmy
figured it was probably the polite thing to insist she could get
along on her own and she didn’t want to bother Jade, but she was
too scared Jade would agree with her and run off.

Jade
couldn’t seem to slow herself to walk at a leisurely pace and
trotted ahead of Alex and Emmy, smiling all the way.

“
She’s going to give me diabetes,” Emmy said.

Alex
laughed. “Jade? She’s harmless, just a little hyper is all. Are you
warm enough by the way?”

Emmy
wrapped her new overcoat with ermine lining closer to her. The wind
had picked up, and although it wasn’t snowing, the snow blew
upwards against her already-reddened skin.

“
I’m okay. Hey Alex, you know that glass bracelet Mom put on
me? Should I put it back on for school? It seemed to stop the
palewraiths.”

“
Yeah, probably. You’re right by the way, it does block the
palewraiths.”

They
walked a few more steps, and when he didn’t say any more, Emmy
asked, “What is it?”

“
It’s made from this material called ‘frenum’.” He ran a hand
through his hair, his face quickly turning red. “The reason you
didn’t manifest when you were a preteen like me is because when Mom
would visit me every few months, she’d bring back a load of frenum
and she’d ... pulverize it, and put it in everything you ate. It
kept your powers dormant.”

Emmy
stopped in her tracks, and her jaw dropped. In her white fury she
heard a tree fall behind her.

“
I’d put the bracelet on,” Alex advised.

Muttering
to herself, Emmy took the bracelet out of her pocket and clasped it
on.

“
I don’t believe this,” she shouted, stomping towards the
school. “
I don’t believe this.
Was she
trying
to get herself thrown in prison? Why would she do
this to me and not to you?”

“
I don’t know, she’s always been more protective of you,” Alex
said, with a trace of bitterness in his tone. “You’re the youngest,
I guess. And you’re a girl.”

Emmy
wanted to counter the accusation, but he looked so miserable she
let it go. There was no point in upsetting him further by getting
into the details of how Annalise protected Emmy in ways she hadn’t
with Alex. And she didn’t need to; they were blatant.

Of the
two of them, Alex had always been the more responsible one, getting
into less trouble. Emmy’s friends had always been a large part of
her delinquency, but Annalise always worried the most when Emmy
went off on her own. She never meant to do it, but every once in a
while her mind would wander on her way home from school, and before
she knew it, it would be nightfall, with an itch in the back of her
mind unfulfilled despite being physically exhausted.

“
What were you doing?” her mother would always scream at
her.

“
I was looking for something,” she would always
say.

“
What?”

Emmy
would always tell the truth, and it would always get her grounded.
“I don’t know.”

Still,
she found it curious that Annalise would go through all this
trouble for her. It was so much effort, so much lying, and for what
purpose?

Alex saw
her staring at her bracelet and mistook her expression. “It isn’t
perfect,” he said. “If you get excited enough, a little bit of
powdered frenum isn’t going to stop you.”

She
tucked her hands in her pockets, hiding the bracelet. “Yeah, they
seemed to be more uncontrollable out of the orbs. This is way more
manageable.”

Alex
nodded. “There are wards up around the orbs as well as a wall of
frenum. It’s to keep us grounded. That’s why Dad can’t be here, by
the way, or any human. The toll on our bodies is pretty tough. They
couldn’t handle it.”

The idea
of her dad alone in their house was still too fresh in her mind.
The thought had obviously occurred to Alex too, because neither of
them spoke until they reached Urquhart Institute.

It didn’t
take too long until they reached a wrought-iron gate decorated in
an intricate design of whirls like vines with the two letters “UI”
embossed in the center. Jade opened the gate, and Emmy’s jaw
dropped again.

The
grounds, untouched by snow, were freshly cut, and necklaced by a
low, cream, granite wall. In the middle was Urquhart itself,
flanked between two oak trees, and came across less like a school
and more like a private liberal art’s university. It looked like it
was made out of one enormous slab of rich dark wood, with gilded
outlines of the windows and doors. The flagstone path they had been
on led right up to the front entrance.

“
Are you sure this is the right place?”

“
I’ve been going here for five years so yeah, I’m pretty
sure,” Alex said.

The only
flaw was the clusters of students in threes and fours, bright in
lively conversation, littering the grounds.

At the
front entrance, Jade smiled and beckoned them, and they headed her
way. As usual, Emmy couldn’t stop staring at the crafters, and they
must have noticed, because eyes with colors like malachite green,
midsummer sky and coal black all stared back at her. She focused on
the ground.

“
As weird as they look to you,” Alex reminded her, “you look
as weird to them.”

“
But I look like them.”

“
Only a little. You resemble Dad a lot more than
Mom.”

She
fought the urge to bury her face in his chest to avoid the stares,
and just as she was about to give into this idea, they reached
Jade.

“
Alright then, I guess she’s in my hands now,” Jade said. She
didn’t seem to exhibit any signs of resentment, which relieved
Emmy.

“
If anything happens,” Alex said, facing his little sister.
“You tell me, and I’ll come get you. I don’t need to be in class,
it’s only the first day.”

She
nodded a little too enthusiastically, trying to mask her anxiety.
He messed up her hair, unsettling the ribbon tying it back, and
disappeared into the school.

“
Okay, we had better head to the administration office,” Jade
chirped. “Everyone knows you’re here already – don’t look so
surprised! Nobody has been brave enough to attack security in
years. Your mom’s a hit. Anyways, you already have your form filled
out so all you have to do is sign it and we can head to class. Alex
asked me to take the same theory classes as you so I can help you
out. You’re stuck with me all morning.”

Emmy
didn’t know whether to be touched or annoyed at Alex for putting
that responsibility on her.

They
opened the double oak doors which lead into the front foyer. It was
just as majestic inside; the panelled walls were varnished, and the
floor would have glistened if it hadn’t been covered by an enormous
Persian rug. The gold-outlined windows were a story above them,
slanted to give them the most amount of light possible, casting
shadows on the animal heads lining the walls.