Cursed

31

(Don't worry, I haven't forgotten this story, I just got into a bit of a writing funk after finishing Jett). 

*Unedited*

"What's next on the list?"

Lily was the first one to speak after Sal's explanation.

The silence that had settled over them all wasn't entirely uncomfortable but it wasn't exactly friendly.

For a second or two, no one spoke. She heard the rustling of paper as someone found where they had stashed the map and list. It wasn't too long before Derrick responded to her.

"Some sort of chalice, I'm not even going to try pronouncing the name, from a Vihara." He stopped reading and groaned at that, "oh my god she wants us to steal from a Buddhist monastery."

Lily couldn't believe what she had just heard. She had kind of hoped that the whole thing would be made up of them just hopping from forest to forest picking wildflowers or something. She hadn't even considered that they'd be stealing from people. It didn't sit right with her. What would she be willing to do to break her curse? To try and help break Salvatore's? Was it... was it all worth committing a crime for?

Derrick seemed to about as relaxed as she was at the idea.

"We can't do this..." He spluttered as she heard him slam the paper back down on the table it had once occupied. "This is... this is sacrilege. I can't do this! I am Buddhist!"

"Babe," Alina spoke softly, "if it really bothers you, you can sit this one out."

"You can't be okay with stealing," Derrick retorted, voice tight in a way that told Lily that Alina was trying to strengthen her persuasion skills using her hands.

"Normally, no," Alina conceded with a sigh, "but it's for Lily and she's one adoption paper away from being my sister."

Lily frowned at that. She didn't want Alina doing something that she didn't want to for her benefit. "We don't have to do this, you know? It's not too late to turn back." She suggested, even though quite a large part of her didn't want to. It was the most free she'd felt in so long. Besides, it was the first time out of any school based activities that people were taking her and her directions seriously — they had followed her throughout the woods with little hesitation.

It was the first time in a long time that she felt truly important.

Truly needed.

And perhaps it was selfish of her, but she didn't want it to end.

"Are you kidding me?" Alina replied, incredulously, "if we turn back now then everything that happened today would have been for nothing!"

"I asked you guys to come with me to gather ingredients," Lily pointed out, "not commit a string of felonies."

"This is Elvira we're talking about. As if you didn't even consider that she may ask you to do something illegal." Alina retorted, "besides, I can see it on your face Lily, you don't want to turn back and neither do any of us. Right Derrick?"

She heard Alina's boyfriend sigh but it was more of an exaggerated sound than it was out of genuine annoyance. "Right."

***

"I know I'm blind but I can still feel you staring at me," Lily muttered from where she was leaning against the window of the caravan.

His gaze flicked up to her face at the words. The setting sun highlighted the angles of her face in a wash of golden light. The rune like scars surrounding her eyes seemed almost ethereal, as if the pale skin itself was glowing. Coupled with the milky nature of her irises it almost looked as if she were radiating with power beneath the thin confines of her skin. If he had had a camera on him, he would have taken a picture. Despite the chaos of what had happened that day, she looked so grounded. Some part of him just liked the idea of solidifying the moment of calm, of the way she bit on the inside of her cheek as she thought, breath fogging up the transparent surface of the window.