The Curse

2.1 | In which, she accepts she is special

MADELINE

Leaning her head back, Madeline allowed herself to close her eyes, and for a moment, let herself breathe. It had taken her close to 2-days to assemble a team, and it was a fight the entire way. Donald managed to find issue with everyone she chose not in his personal good-books. After a heated exchange in the building lobby, they'd made a compromise. She'd include 3 people of his choice, and he'd stay out of her hair.

She'd been delighted by his chagrin when she, as the leader of this little task-force, had been included in the assembling of a group. Until she realised he'd only draw it out and make it as difficult as possible. After grand-standing for the junior researchers of her choice, she'd simply smiled, and nodded from then onward, choosing the path of least resistance, and the path which would lead quickest to the job at hand. As a result, some of the intricate details of the travel were not what she was hoping for, but, she persisted.

In the down-time she'd gotten her hands on in the past few-days, she'd reviewed the task-brief in length. Formulating approaches, and solutions. She knew she was operating at an advantage to all those who'd previously attempted the same - she knew the inherent nature of the issue was not natural, at least, not to humans.

A surprisingly developed town, Veritas, somewhere in the middle of an undisclosed area within jungle terrain, was having trouble with their plant-life, particularly as they put it - and as she'd seen within the sample - everything was dying.

Having exhausted all her options, business and otherwise, she'd searched for hours to discern any information further to what was provided. All she'd found were sensationalised articles on a group, comparative to a cult in the eyes of media outlets. She wasn't surprised they were portrayed as something sinister to the outside world, according to her information, they'd avoided almost all contact with the outside world, until now. It was this very reason, that being the company chosen for the job, was to be considered a huge privilege and a positive media impact

She'd assumed the town must be in greater-peril than the brief described, if they'd broken their out-side world blackout for this. She knew from the specs of magic and creativity found in the samples, that this group weren't human. But, she couldn't quite tell what they were. These people were unsure as to why, or when it started, but they claimed it had been the cause of medical issues, and that specific details would be given on arrival. They may have altered their media-blackout, but they still hid these things from anyone who they couldn't control the communicative patterns of, it seemed. She found it strange, if Richard was a high-ranking member of the supernatural council, would they not trust him? Perhaps, they had very little reason to trust him. She couldn't help second guessing the man, internally of course.

Madeline wasn't sure the company should be feeling privileged to be chosen by whoever their recruiters were, but, she couldn't deny her excitement. The feeling stemmed from a place that was entirely self-serving, but the chance to be tasked to an external job, and one where she had an otherwise indiscernible advantage, was the chance she'd wanted for years. She was prepared to review the difficulties when they presented themselves, which at this point, was the establishment of a relationship with the locals. She knew she'd be unable to address the problems of a town, who were hiding their problems from people they did not trust.

With that on her mind, Madeline closed her eyes, allowing herself to rest. Just this once she'd delegate further work to the rest of the group, she needed a moment to herself. As she closed her eyes, a feeling of nausea overwhelmed her, and everything began feeling wrong.

She was unsure where she was, but her surroundings were various shades of green. She stepped forward, grass-swaying mimicking her movement. Each movement she made towards the forest in front of her, left her further away, if that was even possible.