She suddenly interrupts herself, and from the way she's frowning, I get a bad feeling. What's going on? She turns around, and stares somewhere behind us, looking concerned. I get off Liam's lap and on my feet too. It can't be one of the witches, I would have felt it...
"Mara, something's happening to your friend," she mutters.
What...? Holy Moon Goddess, Kelsi!
I start running in the direction she and Ben walked off to, the same direction Selena was staring at. I hear Selena and Liam running behind me, but the fear of something happening to my best friend is making me faster than ever. Fuck, not Kelsi!
I spot them just a couple of minutes later on the sidewalk, and something's definitely wrong. Kelsi is bent over in a weird position, with a panicked Ben next to her, and she's... puking on the grass. What the hell? I accelerate to get to her side, and from Ben's expression when he spots me, this isn't just food poisoning.
"Mara! I don't know what's going on, she felt sick all of a sudden, and she began... puking..."
She isn't just puking; there's a weird dark liquid coming out of her mouth, and I'm pretty sure I haven't seen Kelsi drink anything but some beer tonight. What the hell?! Ben is holding her hair back, and Kelsi is trying to calm down, but she shakes her head.
"I'm... okay..."
"Shut up, boo, you're not okay at all," I growl. "Ben, help her sit down."
He nods and immediately obeys, helping her sit down on the grass before Kelsi pukes again in an impressive waterfall of a thick liquid. I realize whatever’s coming out is not just black; there's a lot of worrying dark red too.
"Someone call Ayesha," I yell over my shoulder. "Ben, did anything else happen?"
"I swear, nothing," he says. "We were talking about one of our movies, and all of a sudden, she went super white, and she said she was going to vomit..."
Just as he says that word, Kelsi makes a sour expression, and I have to step aside as she pukes some more... Damn, how much came out already? There's literally a pond of it right next to us! If this goes on, Kelsi won’t–
I light my fire. What is that stuff? I approach my hand to try to burn it, and as I expected, it reacts, the liquid suddenly boiling and making smoke under us. I frown and try burning it some more.
Spark appears next to me, hissing at that stuff. Yeah, I thought so too...
"Oh, gross!"
I turn to Ayesha, who just arrived, making a disgusted face.
"You've seen something like this before?"
"What do you think?" she sighs. "This is clearly Dark Magic, and a stupid curse. Your friend is human; she played all afternoon with witchcraft books, she probably got this from opening something she shouldn't have..."
Damn it. This is really not what I needed. Kelsi being cursed too! I glance over at the dark red pool and quickly move my fingers and hands again, creating a magic circle. I'm a fucking witch too and if I want to save my friend, I will. I focus until my circle is strong enough, and send it onto the little pool of blood.
The liquid fumes and makes disgusting sounds as it slowly boils on the grass, leaving the area barren. However, it doesn't just disappear. Underneath it, engraved in the soil, new runes appear, not the ones that I made myself. I wanted to find how to undo that curse, but it looks like I found its maker instead. I decipher them in less than a minute. Those are geographical coordinates, and it's close; I can already guess where they lead... Ayesha sighs.
"Well, looks like you got yourself an invitation..."
"Mara, what do we do?" asks Ben, visibly worried for his girlfriend. "Can you do something?"
I put my hands on Kelsi's forehead and stomach. I don't even feel the curse... Damn it, how could I let such a thing happen?! I'm a fucking idiot! Ayesha stays carefully away with a grimace on.
"That bitch Ravena..."
"I told you to be careful of that cursed bitch of a raven," says Ayesha. "I wondered how you guys had gotten your hands on all her lackey's stuff, I guess she did put some sort of trap on it..."
I hope no one else is getting sick like Kelsi. She was the one who spent the most time on those things, and Moon Goddess knows where this curse was or how many more people it can affect; I'm very worried about her. Even without my magic, I can tell she has one hell of a fever, and whatever it is she's puking, it can't be good. Not when there's this much non-identified crap coming out of her mouth...
"Ben, carry her. We're going to take her to the closest hospital for now."
"You can't do anything?" asks Liam with a sorry expression.
"This is an Earth Witch's magic, and clearly, I'll have to go meet her, she wants us to settle this directly. All I can do is buy us some time... We have to resort to the good old human way... and ask Nora."
