"Hello?" I answered trying to hold my phone between my shoulder and my ear and at the same time tie my bath robe.

  "Hey pickle head, what are you doing?" Sean asked.

  "I'm about to take a shower." I replied tying my robe successfully without my phone falling off.

  "It's twelve in the afternoon. What have you been doing all morning?" Sean asked and I rolled my eyes at him even though he can't see me.

  "I was cutting our lifetime bucket list short since I only have two years to live." I replied. It has been a week since the Azura incident and I have accepted my fate, not completely though. I sighed and held my phone with my hand.

  "Stop spitting out nonsense. I'm coming over with Scarlett so get ready. We thought of a solution" Sean said and I smiled.

  "So you and Scarlett.." I trailed off.

  "Yeah, we are starting little by little." Sean replied playfully and I heard someone cough in the background.

  "Wait, are you talking about the both of us?" I heard Scarlett ask.

  "Mhmm" Sean replied.

  "Nothing is going on between us." Scarlett said immediately and I laughed.

  "She's still in the denial stage " Sean said sighing, "get ready we'll be over there in ten minutes."

  "Sure.." i said sighing before hanging up. I entered the bathroom and saw my reflection on the mirror. My brown curls are all over the place, my eyes are red and swollen, my skin was dry and I reeked, i look like shit.
 
   After I was done, I went to my closet and took out a simple white tee shirt that had ' stay in bed ' written on it and a pair of denim shorts, there is no point in looking pretty, it's not like I'm going anywhere. I put on the outfit, put my hair in a messy bun, took my phone and headed downstairs. I saw my uncle on his way up and I stopped in my tracks. I've only seen uncle Russell twice, the first one was when he was going to work and the second was when he came back from work in the middle of the night, that's all.

   "Good afternoon." I greeted and uncle Russell sighed.

   "Camilla, can we talk for a minute?" He asked and I nodded. We went to the couch in the living room room and sat down. "You don't know how sorry I am for everything that has happened. I shouldn't have left the attic open when I knew you were coming over. Nothing is going to happen to you, I promise you that." He said all in one breath and I gave him a sad smile.

   "It's not your fault." I reassured, "it's not like you knew what the machine could do. It's just bad luck in general."

   "There is no such thing as bad luck. We'll find a solution, I'm sure of that." uncle Russell said positively.

   "Sean and Scarlett are coming over. They said they might have a solution. We'll see what they got." I said before looking around noticing something different, "where is Fredrick?" I asked.

   "I haven't seen him since breakfast. He has been quiet lately." he replied and as if on cue, Fredrick stumbled downstairs. Uncle Russell and I rushed to him and guided him to a seat

   "Fredrick, are you ok?" I asked worriedly and he coughed up blood.

   "What's today's date?" He asked almost inaudibly and I looked at my phone.

   "5th of August" I answered immediately and Fredrick groaned. Uncle Russell started dialing a number, probably an ambulance.

   "Today's my birthday" Fredrick said weakly and I was confused, what's he trying to say? "Today is the day I mark forty." uncle Russell dropped his phone on the floor out of shock.

   "The curse..." I trailed off and Fredrick nodded. The doorbell rang and I walked towards the door absentmindedly. I opened the door and Sean stood there grinning widely before noticing my expression.

   "What's wrong? Are you ok?" He asked immediately and Scarlett walked towards the front door looking for something in her bag.

   "Camilla, do you have a.... What's going on? Is there any problem?" She asked immediately and I just opened the door allowing them to enter. Fredrick coughed again and this time more blood came out of his mouth. "Oh my God!" Scarlett yelled, "have you called an ambulance or something?"

   "What's wrong with him?" Sean asked rushing to his side.

   "Today is his fortieth birthday" I simply stated and Sean froze.

   "So it's true.." Scarlett muttered.

   "What's the plan you guys thought of? Maybe we can save him before it's too late." I said.

   "It wasn't actually a plan more like a plea." Sean said scratching the back of his head.

   "What he's trying to say is, the plan we had was to try and beg Azura or maybe bargain with her." Scarlett said and I sighed.

   "Let's go then. It's not like we have a better plan" I said and the three of us rushed upstairs leaving uncle Russell with Fredrick. Scarlett hurriedly drew the pentagram and placed Azura's book in the middle like she did before and started casting the spell. Black smoke filled everywhere again but this time I wasn't scared of the smoke but worried about Fredrick's life.

   "Oh, it's you kids again." Azura said stretching her hands.

   "Azura, we need your help please!" Scarlett said immediately. Azura just looked at her and laughed.

   "Someone's life is at stake right now. We need you to break your curse." Sean said, this is the first time he's speaking to Azura, I thought before shaking my head, not the right time. Azura laughed again, louder this time.

   "Why are you laughing? This is a serious matter and all you can do is laugh." I said irritated.

  "Do i, in any way, look like I care?" Azura asked and I glared at her.

  "What do you want in exchange? Just help us and we will try our best to give you what you want." Scarlett said and Sean nodded in agreement.

   "Ok, fine. I need one simple thing and once you give it to me, I'll help you." Azura said and I didn't have a good feeling about it. "There is this potion I really want to make but there is one ingredient missing. A human heart to be precise, get one for me and we'll start talking."

   "Where the hell do you expect us to get a human heart?!" I asked angrily and Azura shrugged.

   "It's not my problem." she simply said, " by the way, if you decide to go to the council of Elders to report, just know that a curse can only be broken by whoever placed the curse." she said looking at Scarlett. "One of you kids can sacrifice yourselves, I mean, you are all young, it would make the potion better" she said smiling at Sean who shuddered in return.

   "Isn't there any other thing you want?" I asked her.

   "When you kids are ready with my human heart, you know where to find me" Azura said before vanishing into thin air. I sighed and walked out of the room.

   "Uncle Russell?!" I called out but the living room was empty. I saw a note on the table and opened it.

   "The ambulance came and I'm heading to the hospital with Fredrick. You kids should be safe".

********
   It's been an hour since uncle Russell left for the hospital. Sean, Scarlett and I were seated in the living room doing nothing in particular.

   "Why do the both of you keep staring at your phones?" Scarlett asked and I looked up from my phone only to see Sean staring at his phone.

   "My parents are coming back today. They want to celebrate my dad's birthday here." Sean explained, "they said they'll call me once they get here. Camilla, they keep asking of you. You know sometimes I wonder if you are their real child."

   "It's not my fault I'm so lovable." I said smiling before looking back at my phone, "should I call uncle Russell?, It's been an hour now."

   "You should." Scarlett said and I dialed uncle Russell's number and put it on speak out.

  "Hey Cam, is everything alright?" He asked.

   "I should be asking you the same question. How is Fredrick?" I asked biting my nails.

   "He's um... He's resting." uncle Russell replied and my body went cold.

   "Should we come over?" I asked quietly.

  "No, I'll take care of everything here. You kids should rest." he said sighing and I bit my lower lip.

  "I'll see you later." I whispered hanging up. "I can't believe this."

   "I.. I got to go" Sean said shakily standing up.

   "Where are you going?" I asked following him.

   "Aunt Kharly just texted." He said taking a deep breath, "my parents are in the hospital."

   "What?!" I exclaimed and Sean stumbled out of the front door and I ran after him, "give me your keys, I'll drive." I told Sean and he took a deep breath and threw his keys towards me and I easily caught it. "Scarlett, you coming?"
 
*******
   I didn't even park the car properly and Sean jumped out of the car running towards the entrance of the hospital. I followed him together with Scarlett and we entered the hospital.

  "Auntie, what's going on?" Sean asked Kharly whose eyes were swollen from tears.

  "I got a call from the hospital." she said sniffling, "your parents got into an accident on their way back from the airport." Sean let out a shaky breath.

  "How are they now?" he asked quietly.

  "Your dad is in a critical condition an... and your mum.." she broke out in a fresh set of tears and I rushed to her side immediately holding her, my eyes filled with tears unshed,
"The impact was heavier on her side." aunty Kharly whimpered. Sean fell on the floor and covered his face with his hands.
********
  "You can go home. Sean and I can stay here." I told Aunt Kharly who looked exhausted. Sean hasn't said a word ever since and Scarlett had a shift in the cafe so she left a while ago.

  "Are you sure?" Aunt Kharly asked quietly and I nodded, "ok, I'll be back tonight. You kids take care." she said looking at Sean sadly before walking away. I sat down beside Sean on the floor and he looked up.

  "You should go too." he said quietly.

  "I'm not going anywhere." I said resting my head on the wall behind me.

   "Who's jacket is that?" Sean asked and I looked at the jacket in his hand.

  "Your dad's. Aunt Kharly held on to it all along." I replied, Sean reached into the pocket of the jacket and took out a small book. He smiled sadly at the book before opening it.

   "He spent more time with this book than with his son. When I was little, I always tried to steal this book 'cause I thought he'd forget about it and actually spend time with me. In the end, he finds it and I become invisible."  he said sadly. He opened the book and I saw something strange.

   "First entry: I just found out that there is a possibility there is a generational curse in my family. My grand father, who I never met, died around the age of forty. My father also died around the same age and I fear my son and I might have the same fate"

   "What's he talking about?" I asked and Sean shrugged. He turned the next page and I saw a family hierarchy that started with Sean's name.

" Sean Stewart
I
Franklin Stewart
I
Marcus Stewart Wilard
And..."

   "Fredrick Wilard" I whispered.

*********
    Here's a long chapter for the delay. Please vote, comment and share, it encourages me.

Thanks for reading.

-Korisa