It was a seemingly peaceful Thursday morning in Dragon Tower. Perfect for something to go wrong.

"Umm…Serafina?" Fethris asked as I was walking down the stairs into the main room. He sounded both confused and a little concerned.

"Yeah?" I asked as I stepped off the last stair.

"Your eyes are glowing again."

"What?" That didn't make sense, I think I would notice if I was bleeding…

Wait. What was today's date?

I ran past him and went down the other set of stairs almost quick enough to trip.

Celica was mercifully already gone so our bathroom was empty.

I couldn't decide who to hate for this more, Artemis or Merripen.

Stupid periods.

Stupid curse.

I felt a warm itch in my left wrist.

I hate everything.

(*********)

I sat down at our usual spot at breakfast and was allowed all of three seconds of peace before someone said something.

The brave soul unknowingly incurring my wrath was Russel.

"Your eyes are glowing," he pointed out.

"Yes. I am aware." There goes the itch again. Just on this side of being painful. I let out a loud sigh. "No. I can't do anything about it."

"Someone's grumpy." I heard Angelina mumble to Celica.

Yes. Yes I was.

"Okay then." Russel gave a sideways glance at Jarec. "In other news, we are four days out from the History trip."

"It's going to be fun," Angelina commented. "A change of scenery for a few hours."

The itch calmed down at least. Small mercies.

Deep breaths Serafina.

I could manage this for a few days. I just have to not stab anyone or get too upset, lest the curse start zapping people.

It would almost be funny if the curse was less dangerous.

Maybe with training I can use it to zap the people who annoy me instead of it zapping me.

I doubted I was ever going to get that lucky.

(*********)

Jarec was fidgeting next to me in Spellcraft.

"It's not going to go away," I told him.

"You are aware of how strange seeing someone's eyes glow for that long is, right?" He whispered back.

"I got that impression."

I held in a sigh.

"Have you talked to anyone about…" He gestured vaguely towards my face.

"The prevailing theory is that the curse is somehow responsible. Not really sure how it works."

I knew that mana flow was a natural part of how my body was supposed to function and that the curse disrupted it. How that disruption affected the rest of me was still to be determined. But there was nothing I could do about any of that right now.

My left arm was resting on the desk and I rolled it to the side to look at the spot where the scars and curse mark were. I couldn't see them through the gloves, but I didn't need to.

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If I clenched that fist hard enough I could feel where the damage had been done.

I closed my eyes and just tried to focus on breathing as a cramp wave spiked.

They were worse this time.

Which was apparently making my glowing eyes problem harder to ignore. It was even bright enough that I could see bits of pink light reflecting back at me from the desk.

I hate this curse.

(*********)

Alchemy wasn't as much fun as I would have hoped.

"Today you will be partnering up with another pair." That one sentence was the source of my misery.

"Nice to meet you," I offered as a greeting to the Banshee and Kraken whose names I didn't know but probably should learn.

The Kraken ignored me to glare at Celica. "Fel'Graces."

Celica gave a smile that was more intimidating than friendly in response.

The Banshee actually tried. "I'm Melody Geon." She reached her hand out to me.

I shook it, "Serafina Stewart."

The Kraken rolled his eyes.

One of two being friendly I can work with. Maybe Celica and him can keep each other busy.

I was in the middle of sorting metal samples by size with Melody when she gasped suddenly.

"Your eyes." The wonder in her tone said more than enough to make me let out a tired sigh.

Celica, helpful as ever, scoffed.

Bits of pink light reflected back at me again. "It's…" I wanted to say normal but well… I settled on, "nothing you need to worry about."

"Anubis said you were a weird one," the Kraken, whose name I still didn't know, said.

"Yeah well if Anubis wants me to care about her opinion she can bother talking to me properly instead of relying on hearsay and rumors from people I don't know," I snapped.

Melody flinched.

I closed my eyes as a burst of pain in my body flooded my vision with dark green. I breathed slowly for a second. "Now can you please just focus on the magnets? I'd rather not have to do a paper on this lab." I said in a neutral tone.

(*********)

Either out of a sense of mercy or because she's paid attention in the past eight weeks Celica waited until I was washing my hands after refreshing hygiene products.

"You seem…grumpier today than normal," she started.

"Please. I don't want an interrogation right now."

"I'm not. Just thinking."

I splashed my face with water and glared at the pink irises staring back at me. I let out a slow breath before deciding to comment. "I'm certain it's because of this," I held up my left hand, the curse out for all to see. "I'm going to have to do some independent study of mana veins. It's made mine behave strangely. Especially when I have heightened emotions or I'm bleeding."

She looked confused as she leaned backwards against the counter, but then I saw the realization dawn on her face. "You're menstruating right now."

"Shh!" I felt and saw my face heat up.

"Oh relax." She rolled her eyes. "But that is very weird. No one else does that."

"Yeah, I figured that much out on my own," I grumbled.

"Any idea why?"

"Not really sure, but Vivian is worried that the curse may have harmed my mana veins over the years or that my body may be trying to compensate for my magic not flowing properly."

She frowned, "Is that possible?"

"I have no idea."

"Have you tried casting like this?"

"This is the second time it's happened. My eyes never glowed before coming here. And last time there was nearly an accident in Pixie Tower because Angelina wanted to read my future. It never occurred to me to try casting."

"We should test a rune."

"I'll try the one by the attic. I'd rather not be in a public space if something goes wrong." Which was a far more likely possibility than things working as intended.

She nodded. "Sounds good. See you there after classes are done."

(*********)

Angelina caught up and started walking with me on the way to Monsters. "Hey, how are you feeling?"

I stared back trying to tell how serious that question was supposed to be.

She gave me a sympathetic smile, "That's about what I thought. I guess the more your eyes glow the worse you feel."

I sighed. "Certainly seems like it, but I think the statement should be backwards."

She nodded. "What a mean curse."

I laughed humorlessly, "It's the worst. I can't wait to break it."

"That's the spirit!" She grinned.

I guess so.

"Your eyes are normal, so that means you're feeling better right?" She leaned in closer.

"Well my urge to stab people has gone down, does that count?"

She rolled her eyes causing me to laugh.

(*********)

I stood in front of my door staring down at the rune on the floor. Celica was down below looking up at me through the railing. Out of the corner of my eye I could see her give me a thumbs up of encouragement.

It occurred to me that maybe this wasn't such a good idea.

"If I have to go to the Healers' again you have to explain to Vivian what happened."

"Such little faith."

"You were there in Alchemy. Anything can happen."

"It's just a rune Stewart."

Here goes everything.

I tapped the rune once with my foot.

Shards of a crystal-like structure shot out of the spot in the floor and grew fast into a mostly stable-looking ladder. It was entirely in my pink.

"Yes!" I cheered.

"Aw look, baby's first rune use."

Not even her mocking was going to spoil this moment for me.

Tentative and careful I climbed up it and pushed the hatch door open.

It didn't even wabble.

I giggled as the excitement bubbled in my chest.

I walked towards the window to admire the view.

Then the hatch slammed itself closed.

Oh no.

I turned back towards it and froze.

There, hovering over the hatch was a nightmare nothing could have prepared me for. A tattered black cloak barely clung to the figure as it swayed in wind I couldn't feel. Five elongated and clawed fingers on skeletal hands. A snarling mouth full of sharp fangs. Eyes that glowed with the same light as the rest of its body.

I knew undead existed, but I had never seen one up close like this before.

Even if it was just an Echo.

One that was looking right at me.

I felt a rush of cold air as the towering figure reached out. I could see gashes in its arm as the hand came less than an inch from my face. I fell backwards onto my butt and looked up to find it gone.

The chill hovered in the air despite it being gone.

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