Curse Broken (Cursed Descent (MistHallow Academy) #3)

13. Vex

13

VEX

“What is it?” Draven asks as soon as Luc has left.

“What?” I place my hand to my banging head and force my eyes to open. Whatever the fuck happened to me in those tunnels has left me with a stinking magickal hangover.

“What do you want to say?”

“Nothing.”

He moves about, getting me a bottle of water and handing it to me. “Fine.”

“Fine?”

“If you don’t want to say it, fine. Whatever, I don’t give a fuck.”

“Are you trying to reverse psychology me?” I ask in surprise.

“No idea what you’re talking about.”

“Sure, you don’t, you fucker.”

His gaze meets mine, and he just stares at me. I don’t know how he gets his expression so blank, like he really doesn’t give a fuck. Maybe he doesn’t. But maybe that’s why I need to ask him. He might comply if he really doesn’t care.

I sit up and take a big gulp of the water. Draven moves over to the window and stares out of it. I trace the rune on my chest that is supposed to make me impervious to pain. It flares brightly and then settles quickly, easing my head along with it.

“I need you to raise my mother from the dead,” I state.

His shoulders tense, and it takes him a few seconds to turn around. “Oh?”

It is a question that has no answer, so I don’t give him one. I simply hold his gaze and wait.

“Why?” he asks eventually.

“Does it matter?”

“Kind of. Is it for personal or business use?”

I snort. “Use? Business.”

“Will it help Matilda?”

“Indirectly, yes.”

“How indirectly?”

“Will you do it or not?”

We come to an impasse, neither of us speaking for a few minutes.

Finally, he speaks. “You do realise that necromancy isn’t as simple as it looks. The dead don’t always come back whole. And they’re not always cooperative.”

“I never said it looked simple. In fact, I think it looks fucking difficult.”

He glowers at me .

“But I get what you’re saying. You don’t know if you can bring her back as the woman she was. I know the risks. But my mother was powerful in life. If anyone could maintain their sense of self after death, it would be her.”

Draven sighs. “Fine. I’ll do it. But you need to understand the risks. Even if she comes back whole, she might not be the same person you remember. Death changes people.”

“I get that. And if you must know, I need her power.”

“What for?”

“Ancestral power is the strongest of all magick. The Praxian force that Matilda now has, bound itself to me too in a big way. The runes…” I touch my chest where they still burn like fuck. “… it infiltrated them somehow, became part of them. Became part of me. I can’t risk losing everything because I wasn’t prepared.”

He blinks. “Okay,” he says to my relief that the inquisition is over. “Let’s go.”

I nod and get up, finishing off the water. I take his outstretched hand, and I transport us past the wards of MistHallow to my mother’s burial vault three hundred miles away. I release him and take a deep breath of the freezing night air.

“Here?” he asks, placing his hand on the cold stone that says Jennifer Well.

“Yes.” I gulp back the sudden attack of nerves. I never knew my mother. She died when I was still a baby, and I was raised by an uncle who did the bare minimum to keep me alive. My entire teen years were spent trying to find a Necromancer who could raise her so I could see her. Failed attempt after failed attempt ripped at my soul until The Syndicate found me and gave me promises that they had no intention of keeping, I realise now, but back then, I was desperate to believe. I did what they wanted, I became their lap dog, but I know now they never actually knew how to give me what I wanted. It was a carrot that kept me in line, and I was the ass chasing it.

Draven, though? He is the real deal. The things I’ve seen him do convinces me he can do this.

He closes his eyes, both hands on the stone. The chilly air whips around us as Draven’s power builds. The necromantic energy flows off him, seeping into the ground and stone. The night grows darker, shadows lengthening and twisting unnaturally.

Draven’s eyes snap open, pitch black and unseeing. The ground trembles beneath our feet.

Suddenly, a spectral form coalesces, filtering out of the stone. At first, it’s just a vague, misty shape, but slowly it takes on more definition when her features emerge. Long dark hair, high cheekbones, eyes that mirror mine.

The spirit turns towards me, her gaze piercing. “Vex?” she murmurs.

Her spirit’s form wavers, becoming more solid as Draven steps back to give us some privacy.

“Yes, it’s me.”

“How? How long has it been? ”

“Twenty-one years, give or take.”

She blinks. “It seems like less, and more.” She reaches out a translucent hand towards my face, stopping just short of touching me.

“My boy,” she whispers. “You’ve grown into such a handsome young man.”

I swallow hard, fighting back the sudden lump in my throat. “I... I’ve missed you. Even though I never really knew you.”

Her eyes soften. “I’m so sorry, Vex. I never wanted to leave you.”

“I know,” I say, though part of me has always wondered. “I need your help. Your power.”

She tilts her head, studying me. “The Praxian force.”

I blink in surprise. “How did you know?”

“I’ve been watching you your whole life. What do you need from me?”

I take a deep breath and hope all my research is correct. “The medallion. Do you have it?”

Her eyes narrow. “What of it?”

“I need it,” I say, trying to keep my voice steady. “The power inside it.”

My mother’s spirit flickers, her expression guarded. “It’s dangerous, Vex. That medallion holds power beyond what you can imagine.”

“I know. Ancestral magick from the Well line. The Praxian is a force that we know nothing about. The forces that are coming for it are?—”

“Annoying as fuck,” Draven grunts. “Sorry!” he adds, holding his hand up. “Sorry. ”

Mum giggles. “Well, you’re not wrong there, Necromancer.”

“I was going to say cosmic, but annoying as fuck works too.”

“Indeed,” she says. “It was buried with me.” She turns back to the vault and holds her hands out. “I can’t…”

“I can help with that,” Draven says, stepping forward. He places his hands on the stone again, closing his eyes in concentration. The ground rumbles and shifts, and a small compartment opens in the side of the vault.

Inside lies a gleaming silver medallion, intricate runes etched into its surface. My mother’s spirit reaches for it, her ethereal fingers passing through the metal.

“Take it,” she says. “It’s no good with me now.”

I hesitate for just a moment before grasping the medallion. As soon as my skin makes contact, the energy contained within it crashes through me. The runes on my body flare to life, burning white-hot as they react to the ancestral magick.

I grunt, overwhelmed by the sheer force of it. Images flash through my mind of generations of Wells, their triumphs and failures, their joys and sorrows. Centuries of knowledge and power, all condensed into this single moment.

“Remember, true strength comes not just from power, but from how you choose to wield it.”

I nod, still reeling from the intensity of the experience. “Thank you. ”

My mother’s spirit fades, her form becoming more translucent. “I wish I could stay longer,” she says, her voice growing fainter. “But my time here is limited.”

I reach out instinctively, though I know I can’t touch her. “Wait—there’s so much I want to tell you.”

She smiles sadly. “I know, my dear. But I have to go.”

Her gaze flicks to Draven, who’s standing a respectful distance away. “Thank you.”

Draven nods solemnly.

She turns back to me, her form almost completely transparent now. “I love you, Vex. I always have, and I always will.”

With those final words, she fades away completely, back into her resting place inside the vault, leaving only the cold night air and the weight of the medallion in my hand.

I stand there for a long moment, staring at the spot where she disappeared. Draven moves closer, placing a hand on my shoulder.

“You okay?” he asks quietly.

I nod. “Thanks.”

“Intent is everything,” he says, getting my meaning. “You wanted this for Matilda.”

If she had come back as a zombie, I don’t think I could’ve handled that. “Yeah.”

“We’d better get back. Big B will throw a shitfit if he finds out we’re gone.”

“He probably knows. We breached the wards. ”

“Great. If my mother wants to kick my arse over this, you can take the blame.”

“Done,” I say with a grin. “It’s the least I can do.”

He smiles back, and I transport us back to my bedroom, gripping the medallion tightly. Now all I have to do is figure out how to get it out of the metal and into me without bringing MistHallow down in the process. Fun times.