Persie Merlin and the Witch Hunters - Bella Forrest Page 0,102
flames, curses, and hexes when the lights weren’t too bright. A very important factor in hexwork.
We crossed the lab to Ariana’s personal workbench at the far side of the room: a hulking block of wood, scorched in places, with a slab of gray marble laid across the top. There, she perched on the stool behind the workbench and gestured for us to do the same on the opposite side.
“Sit your arses down. There’s no standin’ on ceremony ‘ere.” She sipped from a mug as she waited for us to take our seats. “Can I get ye aught before we start?”
“No, thank you,” I replied.
Genie smiled a little too sweetly. “I’m good.”
“So, what’s this curse, then?” Ariana wasted no time getting down to business. She was blunt to a fault; it was a characteristic that people either loved or hated, and I sensed Genie might not be the biggest fan. “T’aint ofen that the great O’Hara has summin’ so interestin’ for me to lay me peepers on. If it int monsters, it’s not worth talkin’ about. Int that right, love?”
I chuckled nervously. “This is sort of monster related, but I think it’ll be right up your street.” I fumbled with the copied version of Victoria’s curse, deciding against showing it to her outright in case it was too obvious that I’d gotten it through underhanded means. “Have you ever heard of a curse that takes the abilities of a monster and… combines them with a human, blending the two entities? I should clarify—it’s not two entities existing in the same body; it’s the abilities of the monster melding with human anatomy, which then allows the human host, so to speak, to phase into that monster, usually at times of heightened emotion.”
“Ah, ye mean an Anghenfil Curse. Nasty stuff.” Ariana slurped her tea more vigorously, thinking. “I’ll be honest wi’ya, there hant been a recorded curse of that sort in centuries. The Primus lot used to use ‘em for revenge and stuff, when witch hunters came botherin’ magicals in their villages and that kinda thing. I’ve not seen one in a modern book, mind. I only know about ‘em ‘cause I like to read the dusty tomes.” She winked, making Genie grip the edge of her stool until her knuckles whitened. “Even then, ye wouldn’t find a book about ‘em anywhere ‘ere. I read about ‘em when I were a guest speaker at the Cardiff Coven.”
Well, that would explain the gap in my knowledge. My Welsh was extraordinarily rusty, but I knew that “anghenfil” translated to “monster.” Welsh was the first language of magic, so it made sense that such an old spell would be found solely in their archives. Upon this discovery, I wondered if I had been naïve in assuming that Victoria was involved. If such curses were readily available, as long as one knew where to look, then perhaps her similar curse was mere coincidence. Or maybe I just wanted to believe that.
“It’s funny you should say that, because I was searching through some very old papers that came through from Swansea. I asked for some archival material for a research paper on Welsh monsters, and there was a curse like that in one of the files they sent me. I think it must’ve accidentally found its way in there,” I lied, the words tripping smoothly off my tongue. “But it wasn’t called an Anghenfil Curse. It was called a Fear Dearg Curse. Does that ring any bells?”
Ariana shrugged. “It sounds Gaelic. It’s probably a variation from some magical in Ireland. Magical folks, back then, were always takin’ the raw materials of a curse and adding their own flavor to it. It’s like storytellin’, I suppose—ye know, embellishments and that kinda thing get added each time a tale is told. It were the same with curses, back in the day.”
“Do you think it would be easy to find an anti-curse for a spell like that?” I tested the waters, knowing she would bite.
She grinned. “I’d not be so cocky as to say it’d be easy, but I love me a challenge.”
“I translated the pages as best I could.” I’d finally reached a good moment to show her the curse I’d copied, now that I had a solid excuse. “Do you think you’d be able to make a cure for this variation?” I slid the paper over the workbench toward her. She lifted it closer to her face, squinting as her eyes darted left to right, absorbing the words and