The Curse of Azalea

By Noorain Banday

I was five the first time we went camping with the rest of my scout troop. I had lots of friends back then, the kind who didn’t really care about my past or how weird I was. Whenever we went on hikes, we would pretend to be trees together. I remember looking for frogs with the rest of the troop. I used to adore frogs. I loved listening to them sing to each other, and I would always go searching in the ponds near my house for them.

That all changed when my parents started taking loans without paying them back. Ever since then, my friends slowly disappeared, and now I only have Rowan. Although, at the moment, I’m not even sure I have him.

“Ethel? Do ya hear any of that?” A voice snaps me out of my thoughts. I realized that Rowan is standing with a strange lady I’ve never seen before.

I only sort of listened to them speak, and all I know is they’re talking about some curse and the capital of Azalea. Even though we were new here, the Azaleans had welcomed us as a part of their community.

Only after Rowan finished talking to her does he explain the situation to me.

“Do you know that evil potion that’s turning everyone?”

I nodded with a shudder, remembering seeing more than one person kill their entire family and burn their houses down.

“She told me the potion is located in the center of the capital city. It causes a curse from ‘a friend ye hold close to yer heart,’ whatever that means. If we want to prevent more destruction, though, we cannot do this alone. She suggested we combine our natural powers.” He hefted a knapsack and continued, “Everything we need is in here, filled with what she called ‘essentials.’ But we must only use them in case of an extreme emergency.”

I was still confused, but Rowan assured me that we could take a quick train with money the eccentric woman gave him.

So that’s exactly what we did.

I must say, Rowan taking care of things was a nice change from me having to do all the thinking. It was even the slightest bit fun.

On the train, I let my mind shift back to the memories—to before.

My family has always been quite peculiar. Some people may think they ignored me, but that’s simply not true. They gave me one of the most important jobs in my family. I was the only spy, and I was the best at it, too. Being five feet means that people are bound to ignore me. I wish it didn’t happen this way. I wish I wouldn’t be as affected by constantly feeling alone. It doesn’t help that my fashion sense is nonexistent, as I only wear shades of grey. Still, everyone tends to underestimate me, and then I invariably prove them wrong.

My family loved me—well, they loved my spy work. If I wasn’t what they needed, they probably would have kicked me out, just like they did to all my—former—brothers and sisters.

But after my young siblings came of age, everything changed. They were more observant, quieter, and less argumentative. So they took my job.

Suddenly I had no purpose and nowhere to go.

Until I found Rowan. He didn’t care about my weirdness, and he never asked about my home life.

“Pardon my interruption, but what if we’re stuck here forever?” The worried look on Rowan’s face almost made me start laughing.

Live here? In Azalea?

“What’s wrong? I know it’s not exactly your mom’s bakery, but I think I could live a pretty interesting life here.”

“I’m serious, Ethel. I know yer family basically deserted ye and left ye to live by yerself, but me mam is probably worried. She actually cares about me, ye know.” The sharpness in his tone strikes me deep.

I blinked. “Oh, stop,” I said. “You’ve had the best life, haven’t you? Without me being by your side, you probably would have gotten kidnapped. I’ve saved you from all your problems, and this is how you repay me?” By how he dropped his smile and the light in his eyes faded, I went too far. “I’m sorry. I… I shouldn’t have…”

He turned away, but the hurt in his eyes remained. Giving him some space, I stared out of the window, watching the trees pass by in a blur.

I suddenly thought of the frogs back when I was little. They were just like me. They could switch between land and water, just like I could switch between having friends and then having none. Thing is, I can’t choose between the two.

Finally, we reached the capital. We stepped off the train and walked toward the deserted marketplace. I glanced back at Rowan. I didn’t know what to expect, but I knew that we would face it together.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Noorain Banday is a sixth grader with a passion for writing, especially creative fantasy stories. In her free time, she enjoys playing music (violin, guitar, cello, and clarinet). She enjoys activities with her two rambunctious, younger, overly energetic, sisters. One day she would like to travel to Australia (her parents say it’s too far for a plane flight).