Witchling (Curse of Kin) Read Online Free PDF

to pull at me, and I was torn.
    “Okay, Jasper. I’m not saying I believe you, I’m honestly trying not to, but I want the story again. Just the facts, and then we can discuss it. All of us.”
    He pulled himself up and moved to stand in front of the fireplace, his hands behind his back very much like the professor that he was. “Edrith was banished without her powers after a serious indiscretion. She used her wiles to marry a landholder, and he died a mysterious death. Then she tricked, harassed, and conjured up magic and demons that she had summoned to take the land from others in the area. Her son tried to elope with my daughter. When she found this out, she waited until I was away from home with my sons collecting rents and seeing to my tenants’ needs and then she came over with her soldiers and killed my wife and daughter.”
    Jasper coughed to clear his throat. “When we arrived home, only the servants and their children were left alive. We headed for Edrith’s home, but found that Mari had already taken the matter into her own hands. She destroyed all that Edrith had built up over the years. Her children were left to fend for themselves along with her servants.” Jasper looked into the flames and then continued.
    “Mari explained that at her death, Edrith cursed me and my family. No one could erase that curse unfortunately, but Mari was able to make it easier. Each third generation that followed would have one female child who would have the ability to break the curse. It was up to me to try to convince the chosen ones that they had the ability to do so. So far I have failed miserably.” A dark frown appeared on his brow. It was replaced with a wistful smile. “Now I can see why. None have been strong enough, not like you are going to be, Nera. None have had the heart that you do. If you break the curse, it means I can finally grow old and not relive my life again and again.”
    He paused and shook his head, doing little to lift my doubts. “Eternal life is not all it is cracked up to be, child. I have seen and lived enough. I want to experience the joys of old age. My body is tired, and my mind constantly feels like overload. I want to join my dear wife and daughter in the next life. It is time for you to take the reins that have been handed to you. It is time to grow with your powers, Nera.” Jasper lowered himself into the chair by the fireside and leaned his head back, closing his eyes.
    “Why me? Even if I believed you, why me, and what am I supposed to do with this curse? I mean, if you can’t break it, how could I?”
    “Nera, what if it is true?” Brie butted in, looking to Jasper, then back at me. “What if you really are the witchy person Jasper has been waiting for?”
    “What if, what if,” I cried. “What if I don’t want to?” I jumped to my feet and faced them, hands clenched by my side.
    “Can you not do what you were born for?” Jasper whispered, his head turned my way.
    “I still don’t get why you think it is me. I am just a normal teenager, and I want to stay that way. Why should I change?”
    “You are far from normal, Nera.” A small smile twitching at the corners of his mouth was matched with the twinkle in his eyes. He leaned forward in his chair. “There are so many things about you that make you stand out from the crowd. Just as there are many things that you will learn over time that will help you realize this.”
    “Like what?”
    “Telepathy, Nera. That is what your dreams are. You are picking up on other’s thoughts, even those of the dead. You will learn how to filter the important thoughts from those that need to be ignored. That will take time, and for awhile the voices will probably drive you to distraction.”
    “Yeah, that sounds like so much fun.” I couldn’t keep the sarcasm from my voice.
    “It can be, Nera, once you refine it.” Jasper laughed, a short, tired sound.
    “What else can she do?” Brie looked at him, her big eyes shining with