Anew

62

Heather had just left to pick up coffee from The Millhouse when Scarlet heard a knock at her front door. Looking out the peephole, she saw Nate.

She opened the door. “Hey.”

“Morning,” he said.

She invited him in and shut the door behind him, politely asking, “Can I get you anything? Water? Milk?”

“Do you have Lucky Charms?”

Scarlet parted her lips. “Uh…maybe. Do you want Lucky Charms?”

“If you’ve got them.”

Scarlet smiled and led him into the kitchen to make him a bowl of cereal. Like he was a four-year-old or something.

“So, what’s up?” Scarlet poured Lucky Charms into a bowl.

“I’m here on Tristan’s behalf. Because that’s what I do. I run around town doing things for the Archer brothers. I’m like an underpaid personal assistant. Except they don’t pay me at all, so yeah. I’m more like a servant.” He smiled and held up a small box. “Tristan wanted me to bring you this.”

Scarlet grabbed the milk from the fridge, poured some into the bowl, handed Nate a spoon, and took the box from his hands.

She opened it to find a brand new cell phone.

“He wanted me to tell you that he’s ‘not sorry he threw your phone away’ but he is ‘sorry it took so long for him to get you a new one’.” Nate made air quotes with his hands, then took a big bite of cereal.

Scarlet was surprised Tristan remembered to replace her phone at all. “Well, thanks for bringing it by.”

He nodded. “So, how are ya doing with all the curse stuff?”

“Oh, you mean my death destiny? I’m doing splendid.”

He nodded. “No, I mean the actual curse. Gabriel’s curse.”

“What do you mean?”

Nate stopped chewing. “He didn’t tell you about his curse?”

“He told me the arrow was cursed. Not him. I thought I was cursed.” Alarm bells went off in Scarlet’s head.

“So, you don’t know about his love curse?”

Scarlet’s mouth dropped open. “Love curse? Uh, no.”

Nate slowly finished chewing his bite, like he was thinking something over, and swallowed. “You not remembering the past is strange for all of us. I mean, we’ve been through this several times and you always remember. Like always. I bet Gabriel didn’t tell you because he didn’t know how.”

She was getting impatient. “What’s the love curse?”

Nate pressed his lips together. “The curse on the arrow that killed you was directed at Gabriel, not you. Your ‘curse’ is just a side effect. Gabriel was cursed but you and Tristan sorta got roped into the whole mess when Tristan went all ‘bodyguard’ on you.

“Okay, fine. So I’m not really cursed, I’m just screwed. Great. What’s Gabriel’s love curse?”

Nate took a deep breath. Gabriel is cursed to never know love…without you.”

“What?”

“Yeah. Raven cursed Gabriel to never know love without you, and then she killed you—in an attempt to make him live without love for the rest of his life.” Nate took another bite. “Of, course, Tristan sorta messed up that plan when he jumped in front of the arrow because, surprise, Scarlet comes back to life!” He waved his hands in the air with a cheesy smile.

Scarlet blinked several times. “Gabriel can only ever love…me?”

Nate wiggled his spoon in the air. “Well, he can date and flirt and all that but real love, or I guess you could say true love, is impossible for him—unless he’s with you.”

Scarlet shook her head and took a step back. She was Gabriel’s only shot at true love?

“But that’s….that’s so unfair for Gabriel.”

Nate took another bite and fished around in his bowl. “Well, that’s the thing about curses. Rarely ever are they fair.” He gestured to the marshmallows in his bowl. “My favorites are the green ones.”

Scarlet blinked before shaking her head. “But what if he doesn’t want to love me? What if he wants to be with someone else?”

“He only wants you. You make him happy, you know?”

Scarlet’s mouth dropped open. “But happy isn’t enough. He deserves love.”

“Oh, I definitely think he loves you.”

“But does he have a choice?” Scarlet couldn’t wrap her mind around Gabriel’s curse. He couldn’t know love without her? All the years Scarlet wasn’t alive were years of hopelessness for him. It was cruel. More cruel than any curse should be.

Scarlet shook her head again. “He’s been without love all these years and now I’m alive and he has a shot at true love, or whatever but…would it even be real? If he has no other option, are his feelings for me even…honest?”

Nate smiled. “Okay. I think you’re over-thinking the curse, Scarlet. It’s not like that. Gabriel was crazy about you even before he was cursed. You guys were engaged, remember?”

“That was like five hundred years ago, though. Things change.”

“Ha.” Nate took another bite of cereal. “You would think things change but trust me, when it comes to the Archer brothers and their love interests, nothing changes. Ever.” He looked up, caught her eyes, and immediately shut his mouth.

Scarlet ran a hand through her hair. “This is all just such a mess.” Her eyes grew in realization. “If I die again, does that mean Gabriel won’t be able to love anyone for years? Decades even?”

“Uh, no. He’d have to wait until you came back to life. Again.”

Scarlet turned her palms up, angry. “And all because his ex-girlfriend was jealous? How did one girl manage to cast such an awful curse?”

“Well, she was a powerful girl. And she had no idea Gabriel was immortal and would be trapped without love for centuries. Although, if she were alive today, I’m sure she’d get a kick out of that.”

Scarlet bit her lip. “But how come the curse wasn’t broken when I came back to life the first time? I mean, I wasn’t dead anymore. The curse should have been lifted.”

“It probably would have been, except Tristan got in the way. The cursed arrow was coated in Tristan’s blood—so, in essence, the curse was sealed with immortal blood when it pierced your heart. And immortal blood never dies so…neither does Gabriel’s curse.”

Scarlet walked to the far end of the kitchen and leaned against the counter. Part of her wanted to cry for Gabriel’s loneliness. The other part of her wanted to go back in time and strangle the Raven chick for being so petty and malicious.

“So, Gabriel’s never fallen in love?”

Nate chewed for a moment. “Just with you.”

Scarlet closed her eyes in discouragement.

“But, hey! We’re going to find the fountain of youth, so everything will be fine.” Nate’s voice was cheery.

Scarlet shook her head and opened her eyes. “No, Nate. Everything will not be fine. The fountain of youth might keep me alive, but it still doesn’t give Gabriel the freedom to love whomever he wants.”

Which is what he deserved.

“First of all, Gabriel wants you. No question. Second, the fountain will totally fix everything. It will completely undo Gabriel’s curse.”

Scarlet perked up. “How?”

“The curse was sealed with immortal blood, right? So, all we have to do is make the immortal blood inside your heart go away, and the curse will be undone. The fountain can do exactly that.”

“It can take away the immortal blood inside me?”

“Yep. Short of Tristan dying, it’s the only way to kill the blood inside you. The fountain is what gave Tristan, Gabriel, and me immortal life, right? So, the fountain water can counteract any immortal elements it gave life to. Meaning, it can neutralize the immortal effects of Tristan’s blood inside your body, essentially making it the same as your own. Tristan’s blood would die inside you, and the curse would be lifted, releasing Gabriel from the curse allowing you to live, and freeing Tristan of the curse’s effects.”

“Okay.” Scarlet said, letting herself fill up with a tiny bit of hope. “So, if we find the fountain, I won’t die and Gabriel will be free to love whomever he wants.”

Nate nodded. “And Tristan won’t be in pain anymore.”

“Wait, what?” Scarlet pushed back from the counter. “Why is Tristan in pain?”

Nate rolled his eyes and dropped his spoon into the almost-empty cereal bowl. “Did they not tell you anything?”

Scarlet pursed her lips. “Apparently not. What’s wrong with Tristan?”

Nate sighed. “Because Tristan’s blood is inside you, he’s not whole. His body is constantly craving the missing piece of himself that lives in your heart. That’s how he’s connected to you. But that connection is physically painful for him. When he’s away from you, it hurts him. The more distance that’s between the two of you, the more pain he’s in.”

Scarlet sucked in a silent breath.

Great, so I cause him physical pain? No wonder he hates me.

“Is that why he couldn’t go to New York to find you? Because he couldn’t leave me?”

“Yep. Even if he tried to stay away from you, the pain would eventually become too much and he would end up tracking you down just so he could be close enough to not go crazy with pain.”

“But why would he try to stay away from me in the first place?”

Because he hates me?

“Because he doesn’t want you to die. The closer he is to you, the harder your heart beats for him. Part of your blood belongs to his body, and the piece of him living inside you is desperate to find him. So, your heart beats out of control as his immortal blood tries to tear free of your heart and jump back into his. Over time, your heart tears itself in half. When Tristan’s near you, that process speeds up. Essentially, his presence…kills you.”

Scarlet’s voice was barely above a whisper. “He makes me worse?”

Nate nodded. “In your earlier lives, it wasn’t such a problem, but lately…it’s seems the two of you are…more connected.” He paused and looked at Scarlet.

She couldn’t speak. Her chest felt tight…and sad.

Tristan was in pain when he was away from her, but hurt her heart when he was near her?

One brother suffered without love when she was dead. The other suffered in pain when she was alive.

Worst. Curse. Ever.

“Oh, by the way,” Nate pulled a small shiny object from the pocket of his pants, “I have something for you. I was going to just mail it to you but since I’m here….” He got up from the table and placed the small trinket in Scarlet’s hand.

It was a ring—but too large to fit on a finger. On one spot there was a tiny design but, aside from that, it was just a circle.

Scarlet stared at it for a moment. “What is it?”

“I don’t know,” Nate said, frowning. “I thought maybe you would remember. You gave it to me in your last life and told me to keep it safe until you returned.”

Scarlet shook her head, completely confused. “But I didn’t tell you what it was?”

“Nope. I asked, but you said it was safer if I didn’t know.”

Scarlet scrunched her face. “Safer? Were we in danger or something?”

“Not that I know of. Although, you did seem freaked out. But, then again, you were really sick, so I just assumed you were worried about, you know, dying.”

Scarlet took in a shaky breath. It was crazy to think she’d lived several lives awaiting death. Planning for it, even.

But it was even crazier to think she could live several more lives the same way.

“Well…thanks for giving it back to me…I guess.” Scarlet looked at the shiny ring with puckered lips. She had no idea what it was.

“No problem.”

She looked at the immortal boy standing in front of her and tried to imagine living for five hundred years. It sounded exciting, but it also sounded…lonely. Maybe even empty.

Especially if you weren’t free to love whomever you wanted, or if a piece of your soul was trapped in a reincarnating girl.

The curse had been ruining lives for half a millennium.

“Nate.” Scarlet looked at him intently. “This curse needs to end. I don’t care what we have to do—we need to find that fountain.”

He smiled broadly and winked. “There’s the Scarlet I know and love. I like it when you get all empowered.”

“I’m not kidding.” Her eyes burned as she looked at him.

His smile fell. “Okay. Just relax, I know you’re not kidding.” He took a step forward and reached for her face.

Realizing her eyes were probably glowing, Scarlet moved her head away from Nate’s hands. “I’m fine.”

“No, you’re not. Let me see your eyes.” He walked closer to her and tipped her chin up so he could look directly at her irises. “Scarlet. You’re getting worse.”

“I know that,” she snapped.

“No. You don’t understand. Your eyes don’t usually get this bright until the very end. How often has this been happening?”

“I don’t know. Once a day, maybe?”

“Has your nose started bleeding yet?”

“What?”

“Your nose. Have you had any nosebleeds at all?”

Scarlet shook her head. “No. My nose is fine. I’m fine.”

He looked at her with genuine concern. “I don’t know why your condition is progressing so fast this time…something’s wrong. Something’s…different.”

Scarlet shrugged her way out of his hand and stepped back. “Okay, well. We can’t fix whatever’s different about me. So, we need to just focus on finding the fountain so this will all be over with.”

Slowly, Nate nodded, still looking at her eyes. “Okay.”

“We need to find the fountain of youth,” Scarlet repeated.

After a long moment he swallowed and gave her a weak smile. “Then that’s what we’ll do.”