The Thousand Year Curse (The Curse Books) (20 page)

I lay on the pavement for a couple of seconds unable to do a thing. Three Days Grace,
Animal I Have Become
pounds into my ear drums and everything else is silent, frozen. I revel in the screams as they lull my brain to sleep.
 

A black set of boots appear next to my head. Hands try to pull me up but I bat them away. "Just go. I'm fine here. Leave me." I mutter to my killer. I kind of like it down here. It's nice and cool. I could probably fall asleep on the ground.
 

I start giggling at how stupid that sounds. I must have hit my head or something—I'm delusional. "Hey, would you mind pinching me... I'm dreaming." I tell to the person who hit me. Yup. I have officially lost it.
 

"Ryder. What's wrong with you? Did you hit your head?" He asks me. It's a manly voice. I barely hear him through my music. The voice is so familiar to me.
 

"Ollie?" Gaining some sanity, I shield my eyes from the headlights of the car, finally able to see his face and it's contorted in worry. Deep bags are darkened under his eyes that weren't there earlier today.
 

My night flashes to the forefront of my mind and I turn livid. "Or should I say Orpheus." I all but bite out at him. I roll my eyes in his direction plastering a scowl on my face. This lying son of a bitch.
 

"What did you call me?" His eyebrows pinch together as he offers me his hand to get up. I decline him, flipping over to my stomach, pushing myself up off the pavement. I dust off the gravel and dirt on my back and knees. I'm a hot, sweaty mess.
 

I take the loud buds out of my ears and shove them into my sweatshirt pocket. Quickly, I survey my body to make sure I'm okay. There's no visible blood and I'm not really in pain. I don't think my mental pain qualifies.
 

"That is your name, right? Orpheus. Oh great musician God or whatever." I practically spit at him, waving my arms animately.
 

I like him so much, even love him I thought and yet he's still pretending with me. I wish he'd just tell me the truth. I'm so sick of being played. He let me fall for him pretending to be someone else.
 

"Aristeus told you, didn't he? That selfish bastard." Ollie says, pacing down the middle of the road. "Ryder, I swear I was going to tell you. I just needed time. I was scared you'd run from me. I'm sorry. Please. We're meant to be together." He cries out stopping in front of me. He reaches for me but I bat his advances away.
 

"Don't tell me what I should do, Ollie." I push his chest needing to lash out at someone. "I can choose who I'm with. If you hadn't lied it would have been you! What else was a lie? Do you only care for me because you have to?" I ask him unable to control my emotions.
 

"Of course not, Ryder!" He cries advancing on me again. His touches will only melt my defenses. Right now, I have a right to be mad. It isn't just a little lie.
 

"I don't trust you anymore." I whisper, shaking my head at the admission. I want to so badly.
 

"What can I do?" His hand finds my face and cradles it lovingly. "I went to Hell and back for you, and I'd do it again. Please, Ryder. You're my soul mate. I love you more than my own life. Believe me. Please, don't leave me again. I'm tortured every single time you die. Just please let me try again. I screwed up, okay?" He looks so upset pleading for my forgiveness. My heart aches for him but he hurt me too.
 

"Yeah, you did." I say leaning into his hand as it strokes up my cheek.
 

"What can I do, Ryder?" He asks again, practically begging me. Despite him lying, I do love him. I can't help it. I don't want to lose him. I need him now more than ever.
 

"Love me." I press myself against him, chest to chest letting him comfort me. He wraps both arms around my waist as I cling to him. He trails kisses up my neck landing a final one square on my lips. I completely fall under his spell. He kisses me with more passion than I've ever felt.

I can't help Ari's face in the back of my mind. Something about him just won't leave me alone. I try to banish the thought and focus on Ollie's kisses—the soft feel of his lips on me.
 

His strong tongue plunges deep into my mouth leaving no thoughts left for me. I moan into his mouth causing him to smile against me.
 

He tears his mouth from mine and we are both panting, gasping for air. I lock onto his eyes questioning him, not knowing where we go from here. I need more answers but this time I need them from Ollie. Am I going to die? I want to trust him fully again but he has to win it back.
 

"Now what?" I ask him continuing to stare into his eyes.
 

"Let me take you home and we can talk." He says. I nod as he lifts me off my feet, carrying me like I'm weightless.
 

I notice the huge dent on the front of his car as we pass it. I'm not twig but there's no way my body would make that big of a dip. I don't even think farther because the last thing I need is more questions unanswered.

I let him carry me to the passenger side and gently puts me in the seat. Shutting my door, he walks over to the driver side and starts the truck up. This time I'm ready for the roaring engine.
 

We ease into the drive and I realize I'm drifting to sleep. The bumping of the truck rocks me in a soothing motion. I sneak a glance at the clock on the dashboard but can't make out the red numbers.
 

I wake up with a start. Sweat covers me as if I was swimming in the ocean. It's a freaking sauna in here. I quickly look around trying to figure out where I am.
 

I instantly think I am in a dream again. I confirm that suspicion when I notice the bed I'm laying in. It's extravagant yet completely foreign to me. It's a beautiful room, don't get me wrong but it's clearly not mine. The room is barren, almost like a jail cell. The walls are stone giving off a cold vibe. There are no pictures or posters on the wall. No TV or desk.

There is a bed, two nightstands, some lamps, and doors. There's also a window but the bottom of it is blurred out. I'm not tall enough to see out the top part so I try to jump, to at least figure out where I am. I am still too short. Damn, my height.
 

I go to the first door revealing a girl's closet. There are only dresses in the closet—no pants or shirts. There's not even skirts in there. They look like a milk maids, all floor length and puffy. There is not one thing in there that I would even consider wearing.
 

I shut the door and move on to the next one. A bathroom. There's nothing really special in there so I shut it quickly and move to the last door. This place is seriously boring. They should put a painting on the wall or something to spruce it up.
 

The last door leads to a long, stone hallway. The hallway is dark with only faint light coming from the fixtures on the wall. The lighting is spooky in here with shadows dancing on the walls. I can't figure out which way to go so I pick the right and start walking.
 

It feels like hours until I reach the end. I'm left with three options—two doors on either side of me and a staircase in front of me. I'm not sure if people can see me when I'm dreaming or not so I don't want to open a door and blow my cover.
 

I get down the stairs and am left with yet more options. This place is freaking ginormous. There's another hall and a couple of open rooms. Then there's the front door. I could go outside but I have a feeling I should keep exploring. I should look for Ollie or Ari since usually they are the stars of these dreams. I hear some voices coming from the hallway and decide it's a sign that I should head that way.
 

The hallway dumps me into some sort of formal dining room. A group of people sit down at the table talking in harsh tones.
 

I quickly jump back, hiding behind a small table in the hall. I peek over, searching their faces trying to decipher them. The man at the head of the table seems to be the boss around here since he lectures the others on god knows what.
 

The lecturer is quite scary looking. He is a large man, at least six five and weighing at least two hundred and fifty pounds. To be honest, he looks kind of like what I would assume a viking looks like with dark brown hair and a beard.
 

He has on a black turtleneck and black slacks with some sort of cape like looking thing on top. His persona emits evil and the room gets eerily cool chilling me to the core. His stance and expression seems dangerous like he's searching for prey. For some unknown reason, I am not afraid.
 

As I look at the faces, I can't help as my eyes drift to the woman sitting next to him. She is strikingly beautiful with long flowing brown hair much lighter than the mans. The way she is looking at him is very sexual almost like she is undressing him with her eyes. It is unsettling making me blush from embarrassment. I feel like I am a voyeur about to watch them have sex right now on that table for all to see.
 

A door slams behind me causing me to jump from the noise. A girl runs in sobbing from the front door. She has light brown hair that frames her face perfectly yet her face is covered with her hands.
 

She is crying loudly and can barely walk a straight line. She sways side to side tripping over her own feet a couple times as she storms into the meeting slash dining room.
 

"I hate you!" She screams out, dropping her hands as she walks right up to the boss man. She slaps him across the face causing the other guests in the room gasp in response.
 

The beautiful woman leaps up grabbing the girl's shoulder. She turns me around while restraining her. It is in that moment that I recognize the girl. She doesn't look exactly like me but I recognize her spirit. She is me in a different time. One of my reincarnations, I guess.

"Eurydice, calm yourself." The woman scolds as she continues to hold my soul tight. Me from the past collapses in her arms, grasping onto her like a lifeline.
 

It is a little weird that this woman consoles me since she doesn't seem very nice from here. She looks like the evil stepmother from every Disney movie combined into one big evil woman. The big man walks over and takes my soul away from the woman. He pulls her forward so she stands alone, facing him.
 

"What happened? Please, tell me." He begs looking like he really does care.
 

"I died, again! I'm so sick of dying over and over. Please just end this. It's not worth it. It kills them both. Stop this curse! I beg of you." I start sobbing again. The man looks to the woman, with concern in his eyes. The woman comes over, taking his hand in hers giving a knowing look and they both face my soul together.
 

"Eurydice, did they both find you?" My sobbing increases and a soft yes escapes my lips. The woman's face instantly falls and I can tell it upsets her.
 

"I want to die." My soul says and then my vision ends, the blackness taking over.
 

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

the note

"Ryder, what's the matter?" A voice calls out, breaking me out of the darkness. I can not stop crying as an eruption of sobs washes out from inside of me. Unable to control it any more I let everything come out. I don't care how unattractive or stupid I look.
 

My life is a lie. I am destined to die over and over again—for what?
 

I am
not
going to let this happen again. I'm tired of it. I'm tired of feeling this pain. And now I realize that I will have to go to Hell for who knows how long since both Ari and Ollie have found me. It could be hundreds and hundreds or even thousands of years.

It is all starting to click into place. The first vision I had of Ari and Ollie deciding who got to meet me makes sense since they both didn't want to lose me for that long again.
 

Which one loves me more though? Which one do I love more? I mean, I don't love Ari, at least not yet.
 

What is wrong with me? My life is so confusing. I can understand why I wanted to die like that before. I can't even imagine what the boys go though. Year after year, life after life, death after death.