Free Cursed by Wendy Owens Page B

understand.   What do you mean cursed?” Gabe shook his head as he struggled to make sense of what Michael was telling him.
    “Maybe we should sit down.” Michael said, motioning to the side chairs near the couch.   The last thing Gabe wanted to do was sit and have a rational conversation about Sophie being cursed.   Gabe glanced over and saw her sleeping peacefully.   The rage she had been frothing with in the hall moments earlier was completely gone from her face.
    Overwhelmed by the idea of Sophie being, as Michael put it, cursed, Gabe decided he would in fact like to sit while talking to Michael.   Walking over to the side chairs, Gabe sat in the seat closest to her.   Leaning forward, he scooped up Sophie’s hand.   As he held it, he began to pat it gently.
    Gabe contemplated Michael’s explanation for Sophie’s behavior; he remembered the red ember like spark in her eyes.
    “Michael, her eyes.” Gabe could not bring himself to finish the sentence.   He and Sophie had grown so close over the summer; he was not willing to say she resembled a demon.
    “What is it, Gabe?” Michael urged.   When Gabe continued to sit silent, Michael pushed once more.   “What about her eyes?”
    Taking a deep breath, he decided he had to tell Michael.   He wasn’t sure, but he thought it might help Sophie in some way.  
    “Red…” he final stated, gulping.   “When she got angry, I saw them flickering red.”
    Michael sighed and hung his head low.   “It wasn’t her.   You have to understand that.” Michael whispered desperately.
    “I don’t understand.   How can it not be her?   She knew me.   She knew about us.   It was her, Michael.”   Gabe insisted.
    Michael leaned closer to Gabe.
    “Part of her is there of course, but she is not in control.   It’s the curse.”
    “Wait, I don’t understand.   You have to explain to me what you mean by she is cursed.” Gabe pleaded.
    “She has come in contact with something or someone that has taken control of her faculties.   She may seem like she is still Sophie in most ways but as time continues she will seem less and less like the girl we all love.” Michael explained.
    “How could she possibly be cursed?” Gabe inquired.
    “We started noticing the erratic behavior with Raimie and Dina.   With Sophie exhibiting the same behaviors, we knew it had to be something they had in common.”   Michael explained.
    “Something they had in common?   Like what?   They ate the same thing or what?” Gabe wished he understood more.
    “Not exactly, but I think I know what it is.   Raimie and Dina had traveled to Iron Gate to pick up some artifacts.   Sophie has come in contact with those same artifacts.   Uri and I had started to suspect Sophie might have been infected as well, but we didn’t know for sure until just now.”
    Gabe felt an intense rage welling up in him.
    “Uri knew about this?” Gabe snapped angrily.
    “Neither of us knew anything for certain Gabe.   It wasn’t until things heated up between Raimie and Dina we started to suspect the artifacts.”   Michael insisted.
    “You mean the artifacts you asked her to work with in an effort to keep her away from me?” Gabe exclaimed.
    “Gabe, I didn’t know.”
    “So you don’t deny it!   You had Sophie put on that job to keep us apart.   Does it really piss you off that much to see us together?” Gabe allowed his anger to guide the flow of his words.
    “It’s not that I don’t want to see you two together.   You don’t have all the details.   The Oracle made it quite clear to me that your relationship with Sophie would lead to you leaving the manor.”   Michael said, trying to plead his case to Gabe.
    “Really, Michael?   First off, whatever happened to all of this being my choice?   Maybe Anthony was right and you never really give any of us a real choice.”
    As soon as the words left Gabe’s lips, he regretted saying them.   No matter how angry he was at