From Bad to Cursed by Lana Harper

Author:Lana Harper [Harper, Lana]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
Published: 2022-05-17T00:00:00+00:00

18

Not in This Alone

In Rowan’s car, I rested my temple against the rain-lashed window, my mind feeling like a hot-air balloon snared by a tornado, helplessly awhirl.

“Did you need me to stop by a pharmacy?” Rowan asked, darting a look at me. “Grab something to tide you over?”

“Thanks, but no. I can wait until I get home.”

Even though we’d driven in separately, I’d asked him for a ride back to The Bitters, citing an oncoming migraine as an excuse. I did feel too shaky to drive, like my rising tide of panic might escalate too fast once I was back behind the wheel, threaten to swallow me up.

When Rowan offered a healing spell, I’d declined, claiming that I didn’t want to impose.

What I really didn’t want was him peering inside me when I felt like such loose-spun chaos. Even if what was wrong with me wasn’t physical, who knew what weakness he might sense in me that I didn’t want him to know?

By the skeptical look he’d shot me as I climbed into his immaculate, eco-friendly Nissan—pine scented, and conspicuously lacking in any of the snack wrappers and empty soda cans that rolled around the shadowy wells of my own car—he wasn’t totally buying my migraine bit. But he was also too distracted by what we’d learned to press me further, clearly ruminating as we drove. Gripping the wheel too hard, face dark with the knowledge that one of his own could have cast a curse on Holly after all.

But all I could think about was Lark, and her gorgeous, pristine designs. She was really doing the thing, living her most creative life, the way I only dreamed about for myself—and felt racked with guilt for even dreaming. That she was doing it meant it could be done, if you were brave enough, or if you had your family’s unconditional love and support behind you.

Would I ever have either of those things? Would that kind of life ever happen for me?

The turmoil and confusion spiraled ever tighter, concentric circles with less and less white space between them, crowding out any rational thought and leaving behind only electrifying panic. An iron band constricted around my head, and my entire body crawled with nerves, a twitching, restless, terrible feeling that burrowed deep beneath my skin. Demanding that I run, that I move, that I not let myself be trapped, Or Else.

I only realized I was hyperventilating when I heard Rowan repeating my name with growing concern, his voice a distant warble that reached me as if from a tunnel’s length away.

“Isidora?” he was saying, eyes flicking between me and the slick windshield. Rain rolled down the glass, branching and dividing, forming patterns that seemed somehow sinister, like cryptic glyphs. “Issa . . . damn it, Issa, what is going on with you? You feeling okay?”

The panic crested then, crashing into and over me, a towering wave that closed over my head while a sickening column of fear spiked from my guts to my brain.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.