Flipping the sign at the front door was always her favorite part of the day. Today, she did it with a particular smile and with almost a bounce to her step. Madame Alcantara was not back yet and Genie was enjoying the illusion of freedom; of neither having to work, nor serve the old witch.

She took back her seat behind the counter and opened the old cash register with the familiar ‘pling’. These days she always somehow expected to find nothing but cobwebs and dust inside. Even though there was still some money in here, but never enough to just take it and make a run for it. How far would she get with barely 100 Coppers? Principia, maybe. But if Madame Alcantara did not find her there, someone else surely would. Someone who would treat her with less compassion. Someone who would use her Curse ruthlessly to their own advantages.

She collected the little rust and silver colored coins into a small leather sack and closed the register with a thrust of her hips. Holding the money like this made her realize how little it really was. Yeah, taking it would definitely do more harm than good.

She took the money to the back of the shop where she could lock it away safely. There was never a lot of money stashed in here each evening. It wasn’t Madame Alcantara’s only source of income anyway. In fact, it was barely a source of income at all. The sole purpose of the shop was to keep Genie busy and in her place during the day. And it was better that way. As much as she dreaded her work, nothing frightened her more than the prospect of ever leaving this place.

That was the problem with not holding the rights to your own powers: She was nothing without someone’s voice speaking the truly magical words that set her abilities off. From there, she could only stir its outcome into a general direction and that only to a certain extent. The responsibility was barely hers. She was dangerous, a loose weapon. In the wrong hands and with the right words she was holding five different kinds of catastrophes at the tip of each finger. Even in clueless hands, severe accidental damage could be done faster than she could ever react.

The old witch was not alone when she came home. Genie could hear the voices of two men entering the shop alongside Madame Alcantara’s hushed, scratchy way of speaking. She had retreated into the kitchen corner of the backroom in order to prepare two cups of tea because the old witch liked her to be obedient without having been given direct orders. She also liked her tea at the end of a long day. But today she seemed unpleasantly surprised to find Genie still awake.

“Catalina, darling” Something was always off when the old witch called her by her birth name, using that sweet and sticky honey voice. Whomever she had brought along was still left in the front shop, possibly listening. “Would you mind going upstairs for a bit? Give us some privacy”

Yes. Yes, she did mind. After all, she was raised to be paranoid about someone uncovering her Curse, terrified of the consequences. She nodded anyway, but instead of bowing her head, she was facing the old lady who had raised her for the bigger part of her life. Who, unlike her family, had never been scared of her and what she could do.

Madame Alcantara’s hair had always been grey, yet, she did not appear as ageless as she once used to. Her skin was still eternally smooth, but it had started crumbling around the corners of her eyes and mouth.

Genie left the two steaming cups of tea standing and headed through a beaded curtain door. One foot already on the first step, she froze suddenly.

No. Not this time.

This time, she wanted to know what was going on. She was old enough. In a split second, Genie decided to draw back and hide around the corner. She couldn’t oversee everything from here, but she could hear every single word.

“Can I offer you something? Tea? Coffee?” Madame Alcantara asked. There was no answer and Genie expected that it probably meant ‘no’, yet she could hear the dishes clank against each other and the counter. It sounded like her hands were shaking.

“That is a lovely shop you’ve got here…”

“Thanks” The words came out too stiff to even pretend to be genuine.

“I imagine it must be tough to own a tourist shop like that in Lumeena. Supply clearly outstrips demand by far” The smooth voice sneered.

“Why are you asking? Wanna invest?”

“No, thanks”

Again, Genie could practically feel the awkward tension like a hot and cold sensation in her stomach.

“Good. We’re closed anyway” The old witch never really looked like she was capable of such sharp words. Genie knew all about her manipulative weapons of kindness and pretense. But if the old witch ceased to be fake, things were really about to go down.

“How can I help you then, gentlemen?”

The male voice did not respond to that question directly. “Are you the only one living in this place?”

A pause. It was probably a trick question, even Genie knew.

“We heard you talking to someone in here. Who was that?”

Genie held her breath more than ever. People were not supposed to care about her or her whereabouts. People were not supposed to know.

“Oh, just a servant girl of mine” That was not even entirely wrong. Despite her missing parental figures, their relationship had always been more practical than anything else.

“So is she working for you?”

Her voice was trembling ever so slightly. Hopefully Genie remained the only one who noticed the quickened pace of her words. “She’s just helping out in the house”

“Is she helping out in the shop as well?”

“Never”

The men seemed to know exactly what they wanted to hear and so did Madame Alcantara, so she intentionally avoided just that.

“Madame…” That was the second voice, a little darker and with a dangerous edge to it. “…I wish you would tell us the whole truth about this servant girl of yours”

The moment the words dripped off of the man’s lips, clearly spoken with cruel intentions, Genie knew she ought to cover her ears. But the tingling shock electrifying her veins had already paralyzed her. She closed her eyes, trying to imagine her magic spinning out like a spider’s threads that she could pull back, tangle into a knot and shove into her pocket. For the first time she tried to do more than just stir the results of a careless wish into a direction that would benefit her the most or do the least damage. She tried to actively resist until the tingling sensation began to burn underneath her skin like it was being stripped off alive. She gasped, then bit her lip. The invisible streaks of pure magic seemed to wrap around her body and squeeze her until she could not breathe anymore.

After a fight that felt like ten minutes but could not have been longer than five seconds, she let go with a heavy choking noise.

Madame Alcantara must not have expected her to be anywhere near. Silly old lady, still believed Genie was loyal to her every command. She was in for a surprise.

The old witch’s voice came out reluctant and surprised because she did not know what was happening.

“The girl that was in here is my foster daughter. I took her in a couple of years ago because her family was frightened of her Curse whereas I found great use in it. She dropped her old name and we mockingly called her Genie because that is, essentially, what her Curse turned her into. I intend to keep her safe with me and keep her, along with her Curse, hidden from the world and people like you” The words were followed by a noticeable gasp, then a laughter coming from a different source.

“Well, you won’t need to worry about that anymore. We’ll take it from here, thank you”

Genie heard the steps coming closer, yet she found herself unable to move. There was the bang of a falling chair. She imagined Madame Alcantara getting up and taking a proud stance between the men and her foster child. No matter how much she claimed to hate the old witch, she did not want to know what would happen to her next.

“Get out of here!” By the drastic tone of her raised voice, Genie knew that she was talking to her.

This time, she covered her ears before the intruders could take advantage of her Curse again. And then she started to run, out through the backdoor, not looking back, her hands pressed hard onto her ears. Still, she could hear the men shouting after her, but she could not make out a single meaning behind their muffled voices.

It was already dark outside. Only the colorful lights of paper lanterns on strings were shining their fluttery glow onto the main streets of the town.

19 years of living in Lumeena had done nothing for her knowledge of the geography of the town. When she was little she had grown up sheltered because of her family’s wealth. Later, she had continued her sheltered life because she was cursed and nobody needed to know.

Now she barely knew how to get to the shop around the corner or to the closest part of the beach, let alone how to get away from the men who very likely wanted to kidnap her. With her hands at her ears she feared that she could not run as fast as she would have liked to. But if the men were even remotely close enough, it would only take them a few words to make her freeze on the spot and willingly accompany them. She could not afford the risk.

She first noticed that she had been heading into the wrong direction when the curvy path in front of her began to narrow down. She barely dared to turn her head, the weight of her lifted arms was holding down her neck. But the shadows of her followers preceded them, catching up on her as monstrous black reflections on the sand colored walls. She could hear her pulse rising through the palm of her hands. The beat of her heart was the countdown of the seconds she would have left, passing by irrationally fast.

She was facing a wall, a dead end, and no way to climb over it. Not without using her hands, anyway. Genie twirled around on her feet.

The two shadows were already shrinking, merging into two silhouettes of men stepping into the tinted lights, wearing spartan and leathery clothes. Every inch of bare skin was covered in winding tattoos. They were wearing traditional Cacuman warrior’s attire. It was ancient. She had read that in a magazine once before. People usually only wore these for celebratory reasons and now it all felt like a cruel joke to her.

Their lips were moving but their words were still safely swallowed by her hands until it was a mere dark mumble in her ears. Though, cursed magic or not, she would not stand a chance in a physical fight.

The two men turned around because they heard something she could not. As they did, they opened up a path for the figure behind them, completely hidden until now.

Genie first recognized her by the way she was carrying herself. She was the same as she was this afternoon, her glowing white hair was changing colors underneath the lights with every step that she took. She was not exactly tiny, but still a good deal smaller than the two warriors who were shying away from her anyway, as though she was made out of pure light. Her fingers were casually brushing the shoulders of both men in the same way she had grazed the cheesy plastic souvenirs in the shop. Like they were something beautiful and fragile, like a queen blessing her loyal subjects. The touch left them standing almost completely still.

It was dangerously easy to be lulled into that false sense of serenity the girl was radiating. Genie nearly dropped her hands, though, no words were spoken and she did not necessarily need to hear. She pulled herself together and just watched.

Standing between the two men, the girl began fidgeting with their collars. She repeatedly tapped her index finger on their collar bones as if she was counting their pulse or deciding what to do next, now that she had practically stopped time around her. No one appeared to notice, except for Genie, watching in awe how the girl had created this bubble around herself and the two men to the point where neither of them was even paying any attention to Genie standing by. It would have been her chance to get away but, much like the men, she was as frozen and glued to the scene unfolding..

The girl turned to the warrior on her right, her movements were smooth, each of them complete, yet faster than Genie could somehow fathom. She pulled the man down to her level and got on her tiptoes, their faces less than an inch apart. Too mesmerized to look away, Genie’s lips parted slightly, like she was suddenly a part of the scene again, putting herself into the man’s shoes.

Their lips met in the same forced, yet natural way that magnets were drawn to each other. His eyes were closed and he melted into the kiss, shrinking in posture. The girl’s grip around his collar grew tighter as his legs appeared to be giving in. Without breaking the kiss, she was crouching down, taking him with her. His attempts to struggle came too late. He was lying motionless on the ground before he had even lifted his arm to resist. The other man was taken down with the same kind of deadly kiss.

Only then, the girl turned towards Genie. They did not lock eyes for long, but it was the girl who looked away first. Her lips curled up as if she only now recognized Genie as the girl from earlier today.

Genie uncovered her ears, slowly.

“What did you do to these guys?” She blurted out, her eyes narrowed. But she was not scared to possibly follow the same fate as the two men. Had the girl been an evil maniac that wanted to kill her, she already could have done that in the shop this afternoon, right?

“They were clearly going to hurt you, weren’t they?”

Genie managed to avert her gaze. Neither of the two men was moving. She suspected that they were dead, but she did not want to ask.

Seeing that Genie would not press further questions, the girl came closer, stepping over the corpses like one would step over a pile of dirty laundry.

“I wonder why…” She raised her hand between them. Genie’s gaze was suddenly drawn to that hand, remembering how her touch had felt. She was longing to feel it again.

The girl lowered her hand. “…but you wouldn’t tell me, would you?”

Genie shook her head.

“Smart girl. Don’t trust a stranger” The girl laughed. It did not feel mischievous or cold. It felt real. “Neither do I…so you gotta believe me that these guys behind me are…” She clicked her tongue. “…let’s say they are taken care of”

Yeah. Genie could clearly see that. She felt little pity for the strange men but she was not going to thank the girl either. People did not ‘take care’ of other people in a family friendly town like Lumeena. It made her wonder where exactly that girl had come from. Especially now that she had somehow popped up in the right place at the right time.

“Maybe we should leave before the peace guards catch us” Genie suggested, although she did not know where to go exactly. She could not return home. Whoever had sent those two men knew where she lived. And what if the old witch had not survived the attack? What would she do then?

The girl shrugged. “The peace guards are usually stationed at the harbor. There’s a lot of fishy folk down there. Smugglers, pirates…Cursed” She sounded like she knew what she was talking about. Maybe there was a way to find out where she had come from.

“What about the Spirits then?” Genie narrowed her eyes. She still tried to sound worried but her intentions had shifted.

The girl clicked her tongue again and twirled on her heels. “Honey, the Spirits don’t come for the already Cursed”

That was true. It was just another one of the many flaws in the system. But it also suggested that the girl was cursed…which was interesting, to say the least.

The girl snapped her fingers and Genie followed like a dog on a leash. “What’s your name?”

“Jara. What’s yours?”

She never had to think twice anymore about that question. “Genie” It was a cruel joke. But what kind of idiot would name their child after her Curse? It might just be the best disguise she could have asked for.

Jara seemed unimpressed by the new companion at her feet. “Look, I saved you. You can go home now” She stopped and turned, digging her heels into the ground.

“I can’t go back home…These guys…and whoever sent them…they know where I live. I think they might have killed my godmother” She sounded more desperate than she intended to. So much for not trusting a stranger. But how else was she going to survive? That girl could kick some ass. That was all she needed right now.

Jara crossed her arms. Her deep brown almond eyes were regarding Genie with an intense gaze like she was contemplating the question Genie had not actually asked but heavily implied. After an agonizing moment, she dropped her arms and shrugged.

“What a coincidence because I haven’t been able to go back home in a long time either. I was going to leave for Aspera tonight. Are you coming with me?”

This was insane. Up until tonight Genie had not dared to leave the shop for longer than a trip to the corner store. Her conversations with strangers had been limited to the bare minimum of customer service. All because people were not supposed to find out about her Curse. Yet, somehow the word must have gotten out there. Two men had known about it; had known about her. They were likely not the only ones.

Then this girl had shown up. Evidently, there had never been a sister she needed a present for and she was unlike any other tourist…if she was a tourist at all. She had knocked out two men with a kiss and no explanation. Despite all that, turning down her offer felt a lot more insane than just going for it.

“Sure, if you insist”

~

When Genie was about six years old, she and her entire family had spent a week's worth of vacation in Cacuma. Until then she had never been on a flying ship, a zeppelin or let alone the Lumeenan harbor. She remembered sitting on top of her father's shoulders so she, the youngest out of six, would not get lost in the crowd of tourists coming and going.

Today she knew that the Lumeenan harbor was the biggest and busiest in all of Secratia because it combined traveling families as well as tremendous amounts of export and import to and from all over Secratia.

She remembered a theatrical backdrop of gigantic ships and zeppelins meant to carry hundreds of people from one place to another. None of them had ever looked real. They were too big to possibly be able to fly and their exteriors had looked too polished to have ever been anywhere else but here underneath the glittery light of the Lumeenan sun.

She remembered how all these people were lining up to get onto the ship that would take them to their desired destination. And she remembered her brothers playfully shoving each other once they got into the line until their mother would shout at them to stop and then shout at their nanny to take better care of the lot.

But it was dark now. There were fewer ships docking to rest for the night, their sails were flattened and their massive shapes looked like a mountain range crowned by the silvery light of a full moon.

There were no people here either, no families coming or going. Not even any groups of sailors packing it up for the night and calling it a day. Only she and a mysterious girl whom she had met less than 24 hours ago, who had not really left her mind ever since and who had saved her life by what seemed like pure happenstance.

Jara

Genie had tried to figure out whether that name gave away any information about where the girl could have come from. Cacuma, maybe. It had these melodic edges to it that reminded her of the mountains she had seen back on their family vacation.

Now Jara was going to take her to Aspera. A place Genie knew even less about. It was the largest continent, yet few people ever seemed to leave it. It was the place where the Cursed lived because it was easier to hide from society in a place where society barely existed. And they were the worst kinds of Cursed as well. The monsters, the outcasts, the demons, the deranged and deformed. They were living like animals, ruled by no one but the Spirits who had taken their revenge on them a long time ago.

There was no reason for two passable cursed girls to go there. Madame Alcantara used to tell her that this was where she would have ended up had it not been for her. And Genie had believed her. But Madame Alcantara was probably dead now. And at this moment the most rational thing to do seemed to be the exact opposite of what the old witch would have wanted her to do.

Good.

"Stop" Jara's hand flung back, hanging in the air like some kind of barrier between herself and Genie, always careful not to touch.

Genie could hear footsteps, multiplied by their echoes from the ships’ smooth surfaces. She looked past Jara but she could barely discern the pitch black silhouettes of a small group hushing by. The wind was carrying over their mumbling voices. They were too far away to understand a single word but Jara looked like she was still trying. As they disappeared behind the rear of a ship, Jara dared to move and encouraged her to do the same. Suddenly a beam of flickering light ignited the passage between the two ships, throwing shadows of a small gathering on the ship’s wall.

They could hear someone snickering but they still could not catch a single coherent sentence.

Genie expected Jara to stop. It was not normal to be dressed in all black in the middle of the night unless you did not want to be seen. They should not let those people know that it was already too late for that.

Jara stepped forward, into the fuzzy light. Her white hair absorbed the gold like a halo. She did not physically touch Genie but she still felt those invisible strings pulling her closer to the other girl.

The group of four looked like they were having a casual meeting. A middle aged woman was rummaging in one of many wooden boxes stacked up between the four. Another tall man was carrying a box to where a woman was kneeling inside the ship’s open hold. The fourth member of the group was sitting on one of the boxes. His hands were chained but he did not look like a prisoner. Leathery, black wings folded behind his back and his grin revealed a set of fangs. Genie had never seen anyone so obviously Cursed before.

All of them stopped what they were doing the moment the two girls stepped into the picture.

The chained demon flinched and, for a moment, Genie thought he would haul towards them and maul them right here and there. For all she knew, Cursed who looked like that were uncivilized and no better than animals.

Jara crossed her arms and pushed her chin up. She knew exactly who she was up against.

“You look like you’re heading to Aspera” She stated with confidence.

“What makes you think so?” The demon assumed authority but everyone else, including Genie, was anticipating her answer.

“That’s where the meeting takes place, isn’t it?” The guessing game was over. Clearly, Jara knew something that Genie did not. She had planned this.

The demon did not answer her question. His lips twitched like he was baring his teeth and Genie immediately knew that - although it meant nothing to her - Jara’s assumption was right. “And who are you?”

Genie admired her stance. Here she stood between her and the demon that looked like he had arisen from a children’s cautionary tale and she did not even flinch.

“The same as you”

All four pairs of eyes turned towards them, scrutinizing them. They did not look Cursed but neither did anyone else in the group. On the other hand, Genie knew for a fact, that no one in their right mind would come near a Cursed like the demon on their free will if they were not Cursed themselves.

“And how can we help you?” The demon sneered.

Jara pushed back her knees and tightened the grip of her fists.

“We wish to come with you and join the revolution”

Genie was holding her breath, petrified by the overwhelming energy those words unleashed within her. She immediately felt that it was a powerful wish, impossible to hold back or even delay or distort its completion. The spider webs of her magic sprang from her fingertips and slithered into the minds of everyone present. They were altering something more than a split decision or a change of mind. Something changed in the atmosphere and in time and space itself. And, like watching an accident about to happen, she knew that the strings wrapped around herself as well. She could almost feel the pressure around her head and chest. Maybe it was her own breath that she was still holding.

“Very well. I hope you have everything packed” The demon said and Genie forcefully released the air out of her lungs. “We are leaving tonight”