“She can’t sleep,” I murmur. “Or take care of herself. She has no hope.”
Millie leans into me. “It’s a nasty one.”
I’m still gazing at the woman, noticing her unwashed clothes. The dirt under her fingernails. I can sense that these are symptoms of the curse. She isn’t without money or a home, but she’s lost the ability to be well—physically and mentally.
“Will it kill her?” I ask.
“The curse itself isn’t fatal,” Millie says. “But it could well do the poor woman in. She’s so tired she could walk in front of a bus without ever noticing it was there. Curses of insomnia are very dangerous. And this one has the added twist of self-loathing.”
I watch the curse lying corpse-like across the woman’s body. Unlike the spell affecting the lost girl, which I could see slipping away, this curse is in its peak, thriving. It isn’t going anywhere soon.
“We have to help her.”
Millie takes my face in her hands, turning me towards her and away from the wretched woman. “You aren’t ready.”
“But—”
“The girl,” she interrupts. “The lost child at the back of the car. You might be able to help her.”
I resist the urge to turn back to the other woman. “How?”
Millie glances up at Saul. He nods.
“We’ve been talking, putting our heads together,” she says. “It’s still risky, but I think you should try.”
“Try what?” I’m getting impatient. Seeing the curses is exhausting, not physically but emotionally. My mind and spirit are tapped into a darkness that colors the world in brutal shades, shades of vengeance, pettiness, of power fed by pride. It is a world full of ugly truths that once seen can’t be unseen, and I am sorry to have seen it.
“As I’ve said before, my abilities extend only to identification,” Millie tells me. Her eyes are pinched with worry. “But according to lore and the few records I’ve been able to piece together, you might be able to do more.”
“Can I break the curses?” I ask.
Saul’s voice rumbles towards me. “It’s more visceral than that.”
I shudder at the word visceral, especially coming from this man who I’m guessing has seen his share of guts, given his line of work.
“Your talent may allow you to draw a curse out, like poison.” Millie doesn’t meet my eyes. “When you do that, the spell will no longer affect its victim.”
“Good.” I straighten up. “How can I do that?”
She shakes her head. “Listen, child. You don’t draw the magic only to let it go. You pull it into your own body. If you’re able to do this, you’ll need time to establish your resistance to the curse’s effects.”
I look from Millie to Saul. “What will it do to me?”
Millie is still shaking her head.
“We can’t be sure,” Saul answers. He bends close. I try not to stare at his missing eye. The scars on his face. “Every spellseeker is different. But your body has the ability—in theory—to fight off curses. To destroy them.”
“But there will be side effects at first,” Millie finishes. “And we don’t know how serious they might be. Or if it will even work.”
I pull my eyes off the somber-faced pair and fix my gaze on the girl at the back of the car. She has one hand over her eyes now, having abandoned her attempts to keep her grief concealed.
“I don’t care,” I lie. The truth is, I’m terrified. But I can’t see this other world, these other horrors, and not try to right its wrongs. “Just tell me how.”
Saul grunts in what I think might be respect and Millie squeezes my hand.
“Since I can’t do it myself, I can only guess,” she says. “But I believe your instincts will guide you. You were born to do this.”
Her words startle me. I’d never subscribed to the idea of destiny or fate. The world had always seemed too fickle and unfair for such lofty concepts. But if fate was real, it led me to fall in love with an invisible boy. And I would do anything to save him.
I don’t say anything, but squeeze her fingers in return and then slide away from her. Away from the world. The background rises up, offering the mysterious plane drained of color. The passengers blocking my view of the cursed girl become no more than shadows. I can see right through their insubstantial bodies.
The girl, in contrast, is a stark outline. The curse is already weakened from the short time ago when I first saw it. I watch her for a minute or two, wondering what my next move should be. The tricky thing about instinct is that it’s instinct, not something you generally can call upon at will.
Though impatient, I let myself sit, waiting, watching the curse move. Listening to its rustle. Without prompting, without a conscious decision, I feel a shift in my senses. A stretching, reaching. My spirit gains a focus. Magnet-like strength. And it begins to pull.
I remain very still, breathing evenly. The draw of my spirit continues, creating a link between myself and the spell-ridden girl. The curse stops circling the girl. Wisps of smoke float towards me, leaving her behind. I don’t move, though I’m ready to scream. The instincts at work in my body tell me that the curse isn’t just going to hover near me. The connection I’ve wrought will draw the magic inside me, to wreak what havoc it will.
And then it happens. I draw a breath and the smoke slides into my nose and mouth. With a shudder I groan, leaning over. My head throbs.
“Elizabeth! Elizabeth!” Millie is shaking me.
I raise my head and am back in the world. The train is stopped and passengers are entering and exiting as usual. No one casts a glance my way.
“Are you okay?” Saul asks.
My head hurts, but not terribly—a couple of aspirin would knock out the ache—and otherwise everything seems normal. I sit up, searching for the girl. She’s gazing at the subway map in the train. She begins to giggle. Then she laughs out loud, which does draw stares from her fellow passengers. Her face is alight with relief. She dashes out of the car just as the doors begin to close.
“It worked,” I whisper.
Millie wraps her arms around me. “You are truly gifted.” She plants a dry kiss on my cheek.
Headache or no headache, I feel wonderful. I can do this. I can save Stephen. And maybe I can help countless others.