Chapter Eight The Curse of Radiance Riley

Laura couldn't believe what she just heard while sitting outside the door of the infirmary. Carly was going to die. She ran, tears streaking wildly down her cheek, back around the corner to her dormitory. She reached the room, shaking violently, and collapsed on the floor. "Laura!" Cameron, who had been staring out the window, screamed as Laura hit the ground. After a few minutes of fanning Laura, she came to. "Laura, what happened." Laura was still shaking. "Sh-sh-she i-i-issss g-g-going to d-d-die!" Laura studdered. "W-what?" "I-I h-h-heard Dun-Dun-Dunken and B-Ben-Beningo t-talking." "About what? Please calm down." "Four other girls before Carly, all died the same way, same time, tonight, screaming. All at the same time a girl was murdered." "Who was murdered?" "Radiance Riley." "I've heard that name before. Where have I heard it?" Cameron, Jade, Laura, and Shayla stayed up the entire night for news of Carly's condition, but it never came. They did nothing for Halloween, celebrating was out of the question. No news came for a week, and they knew by then that they would of heard if Carly had died. News of Carly's panic attack spread quickly throughout the school. Sierra even had the nerve to make fun of it, but was silenced when Jade hit her with a dancing curse before breaking out into tears. What if she died and they didn't tell them? The questions pondered and piled up like crazy. Finally, a week and a half later, the news came. Carly had been sent to the local wizard hospital, St. Theresa's Hospital for Critically Corrupted Witches, Wizards, and Other Magical Beings, and had just returned to the school's infirmary. At last, they were going to see her. They were going to see her caring smile, her big brown eyes. That day after lunch, the five, and Michael and Adam, went to the hospital wing. When they got there, Nurse Canden was standing near the front as if she was a seating hostess. "Can I help you?" She said with a stern look on her face. "We'd like to see Carly Terella, please." Jade said. "Sorry, no visitors." "Excuse me?" "Is there a problem?" "We need to see her. We need to see if she is okay." "Miss Terella is fine, she is resting now and very weak. She almost died, you know, that silly curse of that Riley girl." "Curse?" "Please leave!" "No, not until we see Carly!" "NOW!" They scurried away, down the hall, thinking of nothing but… "Radiance Riley…Radiance Riley...where have I heard that name?" Cameron pondered. "Are you talking about the Riley murder?" Michael asked. "Yes, yes, do you know the story?" "Not by heart, but there is a book in the library on it. I remember passing it when I was looking for a topic for my potions paper. She was mentioned this term in history, not much was said, except she was the first killing of The Guiltless. She died on the morning of October 31, 1795 at exactly fifteen years and fifteen days, to the very second. That's all I can remember." Cameron yanked his arm hard down the south hall. "Run, we need to find that book!" She pulled Michael in a sprint, leaving their friends behind. They turned the corridor, nearly slipping, to the vast library. The library was full of thousands of books, all in their own proper place. It was it's own tower, stretching up as far as it went, too many floors to keep track, usually, nobody makes it to the top floor, which is the restricted sections. "Okay, where did you find it?" Panted Cameron. Michael, who had his head between his knees, pointed up. "Biographies, eighth floor, can we-ahh!" "No!" Cameron yanked Michael's arm and began to run up the stairs. Almost out of breath, Cameron and Michael reached the eighth floor biographies. "Okay," panted Cameron, "She lived….in the…eighteenth….century….she should…..be over….here." They walked around to the book shelves with the "Eighteenth Century" sign over it. "Okay, Radiance Riley, Radiance Riley…R...R...R, okay, Richardson, Riddle, Rie, Riff, Riga…umm…Ooo! Riley! Umm…Dawn Riley, no, Ed Riley, no, Here it is! Radiance Riley, The Tale of the Unfortunate Curse. Curse?" "Maybe it is something to make it sound more dramatic?" "I sure hope so!" Cameron and Michael sat at a nearby table behind the bookshelves, which went deeper back than the tower was wide. They flipped to the first page. There was an absent painting labeled Radiance Elegy Riley 16 October 1780 31 October 1795. "Only fifteen days after she turned fifteen." "Isn't Carly's birthday October 16th?" "Yeah, it is." Cameron began to think. What connection could this Riley girl have with Carly? One, they shared the same birthday. They turned to the next page. "'Radiance Riley was one of the most talented young witches if her time. She started schooling at Majorika on 1 September 1791 at age ten. Teachers raved that her abilities to perform magic was much more developed than most second and third year students.' Where is the part about her death?" Cameron flipped through the book until she came to a page saying "'Chapter Fifteen, The End of a Prodigy, The Start of a Curse.' This is it! 'Radiance Riley began her fifth year as usual…… she began receiving letters from an anonymous sender…..They communicated back and forth, until early Halloween morning, they decided to meet. The letter instructions of the letter were to meet this person 'in the far north clearing of the Iniquity Forest on the east side of the campus in a fancy white dress'. Excited, she did so, and was found dead by the Killing Curse a week later' What about the bloody curse?" Cameron flipped through the pages to a page with six pictures of five girls, one picture was empty. The first was labeled as Radiance's absent picture was in the beginning. The second one said Persephone Lillian Peters 16 October 182231 October 1837. The third one said Juliet Abigail Jiggins 16 October 186431 October 1879. The fourth picture was labeled Mona Madison Meeks 16 October 190631 October 1921. The fifth was labeled Harriet Rebecca Harley 16 October 194831 October 1963. The empty picture made Cameron gasp as it read Carly Cecilia Terella 16 October 1990death to be determined, but will most likely occur 31 October 2005. Tears welled in Cameron's eyes. Even the predicted death of Carly was too much to bear. What if she was dead. Then, Cameron saw something in the other photographs that she didn't notice before. Michael and her gasped at the sight as she shed a tear that fell onto the page.