I'll need a vacuum.

32

I sat up, panting, watching the curse crumble into dust. I deactivated my power, and put my hand on my hip, to withdraw it immediately, surprised to feel a humidity on it. I remembered then that I was hurt, and not just a bruise. The adrenaline had temporarily made me forget the hole in my side, and my now deactivated power no longer allowed me to anesthetize my nerves. So I screamed in pain and collapsed, surprising Maki who looked at me horrified. She ran up to me, leaning over to examine me. I tried to regain my composure despite my gasping in breath from the sudden pain. I regained control over the rest of my energy to release it into my wound and heal myself. The radiant warmth of my power and feeling my cells rapidly repairing and healing slowly calmed me down as Maki tried to help me, crouching beside me.

"Molly ? Breathe, you'll be fine, I'll find someone to help you !"

I waved my hand to dissuade her, before catching my breath to whisper.

"It's okay, I'm going to take care of myself, don't worry. Make sure there's no curse around, or a human prisoner, you never know."

Fortunately, she listened to me and after a last worried look, got up to search in the rubble. It took me a long time to clean my wound and heal it properly, but I was really proud to have succeeded. With shaking hands, I joined Maki after I finished. I had exhausted all my energy and was exhausted.

"Maki.. Are you okay ?"

"Yes, I am ! I'm worried after you ! How can you walk ?"

" Look."

I turned to show her the smooth skin of my belly, still sticky with my blood and which appeared through the new hole in my sweatshirt. I tapped on the surface, like a little drum.

"It is repaired ! So now it's your turn ! Are you OK ? Are you hurt ?"

Maki shook her head in denial.

" I'm fine, I only have scratches and bruises."

She turned her gaze to the other rooms in the distance.

"There is nothing here. The bones of the human victims disappeared at the same time as the curse, we will never know if it was indeed the child we were looking for. I didn't see anything around. It is better to go back."

I agreed. I didn't want to stay here any longer, too many dramatic events had just happened to me and I had to digest it all. We left the place to join our driver and the car. Maki had retrieved her weapons and explained succinctly what had happened. She doesn't say that I destroyed the curse with my fists. I fell asleep during the trip, and once we got to school, we met in the main kitchen where Yaga, Nanami and Shoko were chatting. Maki recounted the mission in great detail, and the fact that we failed to save the child and the other people.

"They were all dead already. I only saw their corpses, Molly, on the other hand, thought she saw the child at first."

I took the rest of the explanation, just to exorcise myself what had just happened.

" I heard a child scream as soon as we arrived in the place, and I saw him afterwards. A little 5 year old, crying and he looked alive. I picked it up, but the curse landed and the fight started."

I took a painful breath before continuing. My words felt heavy on my lips and putting words to what I had seen reminded me of how awful it was.

"The... the child seemed perfectly normal to me, I hadn't noticed that he was emitting cursed energy. Truth be told, I didn't even feel the curse coming into the room until Maki noticed it. Anyway, she yelled at me that I was holding a skeleton and not a kid, and the baby's skin suddenly slipped. There was only a skeleton left that strangled me. I had a hard time destroying it."