Sam

Google search: curses

"Magic spells which are placed upon people with the intention of harming them. The misfortune intended by curses can range from illness, and harm, to even death. Curses are declared to be the most dreaded form of magic, often called black magic, and are believed to be universally used. The principle purposes for them to be "laid" or "thrown" are for revenge, and also for protection of homes, treasures and grave sites. Curses can become effective immediately or may be dormant for years. Curses laid on families have been known to have plagued them for generations."

•••

I was throwing rocks at Millie's window.

If someone had asked me, right then, Sam White, what do you think you're doing? I wouldn't have had an answer. Honestly.

It was five A.M., the sun was hidden behind the clouds, and I was wide awake and full of questions.

I'd waited a full day after the fight between my mom and Brandon's mom, Bridget, and my late-night car-conversation with Brandon. The day had been spent with my laptop, fruitless Google searches that did nothing but make me nauseas with all these possibilities, and texting Brandon nonstop. It hadn't been until the eighth time I'd locked myself in my bathroom because I was questioning my sanity, once again, before I'd realized I had to talk to Millie.

I lobbed another rock up at Millie's window, wincing at the crack that resonated through the quiet neighborhood. I knew I hadn't broken her window, but I was making a hell of a lot of noise and there was no way she could still be sleeping.

I took a few steps back until I pressed against the fence separating her backyard from her neighbors'. The light in her bedroom was definitely on. She was either not in her room, or ignoring me.

I tossed a handful of pebbles this time. I was not going to let this go. If Millie wouldn't answer my calls or texts, or the rocks at her window, I'd walk right up to her front door and demand she tell me what the hell was going on.

I was so done, so tired of being left in the dark.

Brandon hadn't been able to help me: he'd skirted all my questions and calls and texts, responding "ask Millie" or "it's not my place to tell you" each time. I knew he regretted saying anything, and he was now making up for it by refusing to tell me Millie's secret.

And if this was real, if Brandon wasn't just fucking with me, if I'd heard the conversation between our moms correctly, I was freaking out. While my Google searches were pretty unhelpful on anything that had to do with Millie Clearwater and her family, they had managed to do one thing: terrify me.

One site had said that a curse laid on families could last years, and were used to cause harm. The idea of "black magic" had even been thrown around in more than one website, and those two words put together were enough to set the hairs all along my body stand on end.

I'd even googled the Clearwaters themselves and, just like the rumors said, Millie wasn't the first Clearwater girl to be involved in a mysterious accident.

Irritation flashed through me, and I yanked my phone out of my pocket. I was terrified for her, scared of this "curse" being a real, tangible thing, and she couldn't even talk to me for a few minutes and explain?

Sam White: stop fucking ignoring me

Sam White: I can see that your light is on!

Sam White: come down! We need to talk

Sam White: I'm not messing around, Millie. This is serious!

Millie Clearwater: um...

Millie Clearwater: Sam, I'm not at home.

I froze. If she wasn't home...

"Sam?"

I jumped and spun around.

A girl emerged from the side of the house, blonde hair in disarray around her. Even though I knew it wasn't Millie, my heart practically skipped a beat as Clea stepped off her porch and onto the grass between our houses.

Her arms were crossed over her chest, keeping her creamy cardigan shut against the biting sea-wind that was blowing toward us from the waterfront. She didn't look like I'd woken her up, and I had a sinking feeling that she was the one inhabiting Millie's room, with the lights on.

"Are you okay?" Clea asked, shoving one hand into her bed-dreaded locks.

"I am so sorry," I said hurriedly, dropping the rest of the pebbles gripped in my hand. "I thought Millie would be in there..." My voice trailed off, and I stared at her.

"She's not home." Clea squinted at me, one eyebrow raised.

"Yeah, I know, she just told me, and I'm so sorry. If I had known I wouldn't have --"

"Are you okay, Sam?" Clea interrupted, walking closer to me.

"I really needed to talk to Millie." At Clea's blank stare, I let out a heavy sigh. "You already knew that. Alright. Yeah, I'm fine, Clea, it's cool, really."

"You know, Millie isn't the only Clearwater sister that knows how to talk." Clea smiled and tilted her head toward the porch. "Do you want to sit down for a second?"

Sometimes it was easy to forget that Clea was Millie's older sister. Every time I'd seen her, she was distracted and goofing off and messing around with her sisters or their uncle. It was different with Angel; that girl exuded motherly instinct and strength and power and intelligence. Clea was of another species entirely.

Right then, though, as she led me around the porch to sit on the front steps, she felt like an older sister. She felt like someone I could talk to and someone who would be able to deliver sage advice.

Once we'd settled in on the porch, Clea cupped her chin in her hand and rested her elbow on her knee, turning her head to face me. "You have a thing for my baby sister."

I gulped down the lie starting to form in my mouth. "Yeah, I do."

"She likes you, too."

"She's avoiding me."

"Because she thinks she's too dangerous for you." Clea rolled her eyes as she said it, but I could tell she believed what Millie thought, too.

I barely hesitated before forging on. "Right, because of the curse."

Clea's face paled almost immediately, but she forced herself to laugh. "Right, the infamous Clearwater curse. Really scary stuff."

"My mom wants me to stay away from Millie, too. She was even trying to hire Bridget Smith to do some magic to keep Millie away from me."

"Excuse me?" Clea stopped laughing almost immediately. She was trying to smile and pretend that she had no idea what I was talking about, but I could see the raw anger swirling in her familiar sea colored eyes. "Your mom...Bridget..." She cleared her throat and pressed one hand to her chest. "That's funny, really, Sam, but I should head inside. If you know what's good for you, you'll listen to everyone and stay away from Millie."

Clea began to rise and start back to the front door. I didn't give myself any time to think about what I was doing before I shoved myself up and hurtled between Clea and the door. She pulled up short, her eyes wide and panicked.

She wasn't afraid of me, but of what I had said about my mom and Bridget.

"The thing is," I started, and put my hand against the door to keep her from reaching for it. "Everyone wants me to stay away from Millie because of this illusive curse, right? Well, as far as I've found out, the curse has already begun. What's the point of Millie staying away from me if she's already condemned me?"

"You're not condemned, Sam, there isn't --"

"Stop!" I interpreted her. "Don't even try and tell me there isn't a curse or black magic. The more I think about this, the more it makes sense. You think there's a curse and everyone is freaking out because Millie started it again, with me. I don't know how, because no one will fucking talk to me, but I know that I'm involved in this, and I'm tired of you guys pretending that I'm not."

I closed my eyes briefly. I could see Millie's face when she was saying goodbye in my bedroom and I could hear my mom's voice as she whisper/yelled at Bridget and there was Brandon's face, telling me that Millie was cursed, concern and fear and pity wrapped up together.

When I opened my eyes, Clea wasn't looking at me.

"Millie hoped that if you didn't know, if she could keep her distance from you, she could find a way to break the curse and then this would all be over and you'd both be okay."

I could hear what Clea was really saying, though. "You don't think she's going to be able to break the curse."

"This has been happening for generations, Sam." Clea let her gaze slide to me, sympathy in her eyes. "If no one has been able to stop the curse before, why would they be able to, now?"

"Basically, then, you think Millie and I are both going to die," I said flatly, and this time, I was the one avoiding her gaze.

"Sam...look at me." I did, but I regretted it the second I met her gaze. She looked so much like Millie, my chest hurt. "Millie made a mistake when she dragged you into this, but you're here, and now that you know, I think it's time we all talk."

"What are you saying?"

Clea sighed and rolled her eyes, smiling slightly. "I think it's time we tell you everything."

-Info on curses from: http://www.themystica.com/mystica/articles/c/curses.html--