The Curse Girl by Kate Avery Ellison Read Free Book Online Page A

control over the magic of this place? It does what it wants. And it wanted you. Your father knew that, too, somehow.”
    I was completely numb. My mind spun with memories—my father’s eyes finding mine, his broken voice explaining that he’d gotten lost, that he’d gone into the house for shelter from the storm, that it had demanded he bring me back or it would kill us all. I remembered the mark on his wrist, swollen like a bruise, pulsating with light just beneath the skin like phosphorous had slipped into his veins.
    “He did it for her,” I said, my lips numb as the realizations clicked into place. “My stepmother. She has cancer.”
    Was that a trace of sympathy on his face, or just disgust?
    “He would trade his daughter’s life for her recovery? What kind of father is he?”
    It was hard to think. Hard to breathe. Hard to hear over the sound of my heartbeat in my ears. I’d been sold like a sack of corn. “I don’t think I’m really his daughter. I know he doesn’t think I’m really his daughter. My mother . . .” I didn’t want to finish. I just wanted to cry. But there were no tears. There were never any tears.
    I turned and left the room, and he didn’t follow. I went back to my room and lay on the bed with a pillow pressed to my mouth.
    When the screams from the labyrinth began after darkness fell, I climbed from my bed and took down a fresh candle from the wall.
    Now it was my turn to need somebody to talk to me.
    He’d been waiting for me, I think. His voice echoed in the darkness. He was panting softly, like he was trying to ride out the pain and failing miserably.
    “Bee?”
    “It’s me.” I crept close to him and then reached out for his hand in the darkness. “Are you in a lot of pain tonight?”
    “Yes,” he whispered.
    “What’s wrong with you?”
    “I’m changing. Every night I change into a creature. An animal. Just like everyone else in this cursed place!”
    His hand was hot in mine. A shiver ran up my arm. “A creature? Like . . . a monster?” Suddenly the chains made sense.
    He hesitated. He probably sensed my fear. “…Yes. Please don’t be afraid.”
    “Will you hurt me?”
    “No. I’m chained like a dog so I can’t hurt anyone or break things. So I can’t hurt myself.”
    That sounded horrible.
    “Bee?”
    “I’m here. How are you feeling?”
    “It’s not so bad now,” he said. “It’s nice to have company.”
    “Yes—” It was nice to have company. Someone to talk to who wasn’t going to yell and snarl. My throat squeezed tight with unshed tears, and I drew in a quick breath.
    “Are you all right?” Liam asked.
    “No.”
    “Tell me.” His tone was gentle, despite being laced with pain. It uncorked emotion in me, and I poured out the story to him. I left nothing out—my father, the Beast and his horribleness, the crazy house and the whispers in my room. Drew. My friends. How I was afraid I’d come out and find them all fifteen years older than me.
    He listened carefully. I could hear him breathing in the darkness near me, and it made me feel better.
    “My father didn’t want me,” I concluded, giving a broken ending to my broken tale. Just saying those words felt like I’d swallowed a bunch of rocks. Hurt hung in my chest, weighing me down. My heart was one mass of raw, throbbing pain.
    “Your father is clearly an idiot, because you’re a brave, amazing girl. Right now you’re holding the hand of a werewolf in the dark, just because he’s lonely and in pain.”
    I squeezed his hand, and he squeezed back.
    “I want to get you out of here.”
    “That’s not going to happen,” he said. “Not unless you break the curse.”
    “Are you dangerous if you’re let free?”
    He just squeezed my hand again. I wondered if he was a servant, condemned to this for some unpardonable sin like opposing the witch when she’d pronounced doom on everyone. I thought of Will—did he even care that Liam was down here, suffering?
    “I’m trying to