As soon as the words left her mouth, regret washed over her, and she clasped her hands around her face. The whole carriage was staring at her in shock, Eurydicia especially. She finally pulled herself up, sitting straight, her shock turning to anger.

“Cursed?” She whispered, the word bringing another scrunch of rage on her face. “You think I’m Cursed?”

“N-no, I did not mean that,” Adelaide stuttered out, feeling a sickness buildup from her stomach. “I’m sorry I wasn’t thinking-”

“No, I’m pretty sure you were,” Eurydicia said, leaning forwards into Adelaide’s space. They were sitting on the same bench, Governess Edna and their mother sitting across, watching the scene with wide eyes. Both of them seemed to have been stunned into silence. “You have never agreed with what I do. You are just like them, all of them. Always ready to sink into your role, do what everyone else wants you to do. Admit it, you think I’m a monster, a demon.”

“Th-that’s not true!” Yes, it was.

“Want to ship me off, don’t you Adelaide? Send me to the Other World to get out of your hair? Your life would be so much easier, wouldn't it? Wouldn’t it Adelaide? You could go on and marry and be a docile wife, living out your life with not a single right? What kind of life is that?”

“It’s the life we are supposed to have!”

“No, it’s the life everyone else wants us to have!”

“You know what?” Adelaide said, finally letting everything spill out. If Eurydicia wanted to know what she truly thought of her, she was more than glad to tell it to her. “You’re stupid. Dumber than anyone I have ever meant. You are a demon! Maybe cursed! You would probably fit in with all freaks in the Other World, they would welcome you with open arms! You’ll like them better anyway. You wouldn’t be suffering in the fancy dresses and all the rules, so go off then. Get cursed, get shipped off, see if I care! Quite frankly no one will miss you. We all think you are Cursed already! I’m only saying what everyone’s thinking.”

Eurydicia opened her mouth, looking to want to spill another round of nasty words from her tongue, but then she closed it. A breath was what she took instead, and rather than continuing the conversation, she turned around, facing the window. For a moment, Adelaide felt bad, thinking she had really crushed Eurydicia. Her hand almost went to reach out to try to apologize. Before she could though, her sister mumbled something under her breath, something that lit the fire back up under her bones.

“If anyone’s cursed here, it’s you. And you don’t even realize it.”

Silence. Adelaide found that she was too angry to respond, a million raging thoughts rushing through her head but none of them spilling out of her mouth. It was as if her tongue had suddenly grown frozen. Time passed and it refused to thaw, leaving the entire carriage bathed in the tension that came with silence. 

No one had said anything, not since the topic of curses appeared. Adelaide had yet to say anything because she was too wrapped up in her mind, recalling Eurydicia’s last words. You’re the one who's cursed, and you don’t even realize it. She wasn’t cursed, not at all. There was nothing about her that could possibly indicate that. Not her appearance, not her personality, not her actions. How could she possibly seem cursed? If there was anyone who would seem Cursed, it had to be Eurydicia, not her. Her sister's behavior, her disregard, Adelaide wouldn’t be surprised to learn that she had a curse on her. It would completely explain all of her actions and the treachery she had caused her family.

Being Cursed was something that happened more often than one would think. In her lifetime, Adelaide had heard of many people who’d been unlucky, angering a Curse Giver and gaining themselves unfortune. Whether you were rich or poor, male or female, mother of fruitless, anyone could be given a curse. They were horrible things, changing your thoughts or your looks, turning someone's personality completely around, turning them into a different person. Some curses were mild, and others were large, but each one of them ruined the person's life. Anyone sane, be it friends or family, wouldn't dare let themselves associate with someone who was cursed. It was dangerous and disgraceful, and job hires wouldn't dare to get near someone like that either. Cursed were left out on the streets, forced to roam there and beg. Not that anyone was out to give them anything. Everyone grew fearful, story upon story of women and children being killed by a Cursed raging through the town. People locked their doors, bolted their windows, and stayed away from the monsters on the streets. No one wanted to end up a corpse at the bloody hands of a wicked and angry monster.

The Cursed grew and grew, multiplying day after day until something had to be done. There were far too many of them to kill, and if they continued growing them there was no point, it would only waste resources. Instead, the King decided upon another solution. A law was passed a few years ago before Adelaide was born. Every last one of the Cursed were gathered, rounded up no matter how small or big their enchantment was. A new land had been discovered, one they nicknamed the Other World, and one they had no need for. There was already plenty of room and resources here, even with the growing population. Colonizing another land would only thin their defenses, leaving them vulnerable to attacks. But the country's pride let them refuse to give up the land, even if they didn't need it. So, all of the Cursed were shipped off, though it took years to complete. It was all worth it in the end because after so long of fear and darkness, people could finally come out and see the light. A two-week-long celebration was held, and every year they continued to celebrate it.

The Cursed became nothing but a second thought in everyone's mind. No one knew how they were doing, whether a society was built, or it was all chaos. Most thought it was the latter, Adelaide included. Many people’s curses had something to do with animals, turning them into human hybrid things. Their nature would completely change, and they would go hunting, act like beasts on the streets. A society couldn’t be built around something like that, not one that could function. A large number of curses also had to do with behavior, turning someone who could have been an angel into the most monstrous demon around. There wasn’t a certain curse that was the normal though. Curses came in so many shapes and forms, seeming to be whatever was on the mind of the Curse Giver at the time.

The Curse Givers were another thing entirely, something mysterious and unexplained even now. Only people who were cursed had ever seen them, and each one seemed to have a different account of the encounter. It was safe to believe them either, who knew what had been changed in their head. All anyone knew was that they did not want to meet a Curse Giver, as the encounters always seemed to end in tragedy. Cruel, malicious, dangerous, those were the words people used to describe them, horrible creatures who took joy out of people's suffering. That was the only thing people were sure of. Through each legend and myth, every story and retelling of the creatures they called Curse Givers, that was the only thing that ever stayed the same.

Though Adelaide had heard of people becoming Cursed, it had never happened to anyone she was close to. She had once met a girl a week before she got cursed, but that was the closest she’d ever gotten. It was difficult to imagine, someone changing so much, because of something that sounded so fictional. At first, she had almost assumed that people had made it up, used it as an excuse to act poorly. That had been debunked though when she learned that there was one other sign Cursed shared. It was a feature that told everyone that there was something evil, something awful happening to a person. The reason why she knew Eurydicia wasn’t Cursed, even with her rowdy behavior.

The Curse Mark.

It was something that Adelaide had actually seen, at the seashore more than once. The beach they visited was near a dock where they transported the Cursed away, in cages of course so they couldn’t hurt anyone. When she was younger she'd been quite a curious and disbelieving girl. She'd always wanted proof of someone's words, and the Cursed were no exception to this. So, while someone wasn’t watching, Adelaide had snuck up close to the dock, still believing that someone had made it up. She was much younger than, not so worried about keeping her image clean. She still had that childhood innocence to her, so breaking the rules was something she did without much thought.

The scene was something she could still picture today, along with the noise. People were rushing around, dragging and carrying boats to the ships. There was quite a bit of yelling, about many things Adelaide didn’t understand, nor did now. It was all sailor talk, swears mixed between their words. Crude people they were, not anyone she would ever want to hang out with. Just another reminder of how lucky she was to be born in the upper class and not… there. The sailors weren’t the ones on her mind though it was the Cursed that held her attention. As soon as her eyes landed on the thing, she immediately knew everything had been true, otherwise, how would someone explain a mermaid? It was an abomination in front of her, something that should never exist. From the waist up, the girl looked just fine, a young median just reaching the years where she would be able to marry. Sandy blonde hair cascaded down her shoulders, curling slightly at the end. Her bright gray eyes were like stones, empty as she stared at the ground of the cage, her lips set into a thin line. She didn't look happy or sad, she didn't look as if she felt anything. She was covered only in a thin, ripped blanket as well, it was strewn across her body, trying to hide the monstrous form she'd taken. Light green scales peeked out from underneath, a fish tale starting just below her belly button. Sparkling in the day, catching the sun's rays and shining as if they weren't something so atrocious and monstrous. Adelaide couldn't help the gasp that left her throat at then, more the plunging of her heart as she learned all of the stories were real.

The other thing different about the fish-like-thing was the mark on her forehead. Two lines connecting at the middle, making a black “x” like shape, almost like a target. Adelaide had heard jokes about quite a lot, that the mark was a target, the place you were supposed to shoot a Cursed to kill it. That used to be the way you took care of a Cursed, killing it to keep others safe and take it out of its misery. It still happened today, though only if one came barging at you. There was no doubt that some people stretched the truth, but in the end, it never did much harm. Adelaide really did believe that it was better to kill the things, it was probably what they would want anyway. Going off to the Other World meant death, probably, and a painful one she guessed. It was showing mercy to give them a quick and clean passing, so personally, Adelaide was for killing the things. Sending them away only furthered their misery.

It was easy for her to say that though, and she knew it. She was sure that if someone she loved got cursed… well, she didn’t know what she would want to do. Eurydicia's face came to her mind, her bouncing dark hair and calculating hazel eyes that could never seem to decide what color they wanted to be. The smirk she would always wear when she found someone looking at her, the high laugher she had that told you just how much fun she was having. The way her shoulders were always high, and the low note of confidence in her voice that could easily be mistaken for cockiness. If she turned into a Cursed, if that wretched dark x appeared on her forehead, would Adelaide have the strength to tell someone to shoot her? To stab her? Could she watch it happen, or would she beg them to stop? She couldn’t say, and she hoped she never would. As much as she was mad at her sister for everything she’d done, she loved her too much to want to send her away. She had only said those things out of anger, and they would make up later, just like every other time they fought. It always ended with Adelaide or Eurydicia feeling guilty, and running back to their sister's open arms. If she had to guess, Adelaide would say that she was going to be the one apologizing. She would be fine with that right after she stopped focusing on how much she didn't appear cursed, and how much Eurydicia did.