The Keeper's Curse by Diana Harrison Page A

mouth to agree with Jade, but Emmy interrupted.
“Actually, I kind of want to,” she said, surprising herself and the
other two. “I’ve always wanted to fly,” she added.
    As silly as this sounded, it was true.
To actually fly sounded terribly exciting and she was curious to
see how it worked. To reassure Jade, Emmy held up her arm,
revealing the glinting crystal ring around her wrist. “I can’t go
crazy, it’s impossible. Teddy will be in full control.”
    Jade ’s expression darkened. “Which is
exactly what I’m worried about.”
    But Teddy just winked at her when Jade
turned her attention elsewhere. Emmy resisted the urge to
giggle.
    The friends all started talking
again, and
Emmy was left to once again study her surroundings. She had only
been there for half of one day, but she felt the anxiety slowly
dissipating in her stomach. Despite their unusual appearance,
everyone seemed relatively similar to her humans back
home.
    She was staring out the window
into the courtyard when once again, she saw it, staring at her with
its beady white eyes. Emmy stiffened, trying to appear casual.
Maybe if s he
stopped worrying about it, the bird would lose interest and go
away.
    S he lowered her head again and played with
her fingers, trying to calm down. She started taking diaphragmatic
breaths like the technique she had learned in a psychology
textbook. She closed her eyes and let her muscles relax, counting
the seconds of her breathing in her head. Like she always did when
she was upset, she slipped inside herself, as if she could feel her
inner core, a tiny light warming her up. She began to relax, when
something radically different happened.
    She began to hear a voice in her
head.
    … I did everything he said, and now he wants me to do the
double recommended time? Who does he think he is …
    Emmy’s
eyes flew open and she nearly fell out of her seat. She jerked
around, looking for the voice in the sea of chatter in the
cafeteria.
    … You can t least try to be supportive, you know. Look, I know
this stuff is important, but I’ve mastered it! It’s like he’s
punishing me. Does he want me to have no social life
whatsoever?
    It was
definitely coming from inside her head. The voice’s echo ricocheted
inside her skull like butterflies were inside, madly trying to
escape.
    I just want you to say something! Anything at all …
    “ Gah!” she cried, shoving her chair backwards and standing
up.
    Breathing
heavily, she turned her attention to the table where everyone was
staring at her.
    Jade was
to her side at once. “Is everything okay? Do you need to see a
nurse?”
    “ Did you hear that?”
    “ Here what?”
    What was
she supposed to say? A voice? There were hundreds of voices around
them.
    “ Nothing,” she said. “Just ringing in my ears. I thought I
heard a voice. Sorry.”
    “ Alright well, we’d better be heading to class. You have
equestrian studies next, right?”
    “ Yeah.” She had no idea.
    “ You better get to the stable. It’s on the other side of the
school out back, it’s quite a walk. Persephone has that class too,
she’ll take you there.”
    “ What? ” came a nasty voice behind
Jade.
    Emmy
moved to the right to get a look at who had just spoken. She was a
tiny Arabian girl, not any taller than five feet. Short black hair
furled her little face, her brown skin painted with heavy dark make
up. Her kohl-rimmed eyes roamed Emmy with disapproval, like she
would rather rip her own arm off than have to talk to
her.
    “ Er,” Jade said. “This is my best friend, Persephone. She’ll
happily take you.”
    “ Will I?”
    Jade gave
her a “not now” expression. “Yes, of course you will. You’re a
really experienced rider, aren’t you?”
    Persephone leaned back in her seat and crossed her arms.
“Yes, I am.” She gave Emmy another look up and down and sighed.
“Okay, then, let’s get going, Alex’s Sister.”
    Jade
beamed at her, giving a quick goodbye to Teddy, the boy beside