Madeline:

We all nodded, hoping he had found something useful for us.

“They were probably doing it because they were afraid that if werewolves ever tried to stop them from existing, they could use those curses or that information to fight back,” Baxter explained when he noticed my mother looked slightly confused about why the humans would want to study something they were leaving behind.

“Exactly,” Daniel said, agreeing with Baxter.

“So, there was a book that had information about this exact curse.”

As he said that, he dramatically opened the book, and the first thing I saw was an image of the monster.

My breath hitched, while Livia hiccuped.

My mother’s eyes began to water.

Baxter, who was sitting right next to me, slowly slipped his hand onto my thigh and squeezed it comfortingly.

I held his hand tightly, staring at the pages through wet eyelashes.

“So, it seems that breaking such a curse is possible,” Daniel explained, making our eyes widen.

“And you know how the sickness even started? Because the curse kept moving forward, being passed on repeatedly. The water is getting dirtier because of the curse. That is why the children are getting sick. It’s a punishment, because the curse can only be transferred to another person when a mischievous soul tries to harm someone.”

He explained it in a way that made sense, making me bite my bottom lip.

I mean, the curse definitely did not start out of nowhere. It started slowly and then grew because, over time, people did not stop being toxic. They kept hurting more and more people by using the curse.

So it made sense that their actions were making little children sick.

“How do we transfer it?” I asked Daniel.

He seemed very confident, which gave me a lot of hope.

A few times, I exchanged glances with Livia and gave her a reassuring nod. She seemed really scared.

I mean, the monster was the only thing she had ever seen in this land. So she wasn’t sure if anything would even work.

But I knew it would.

I had seen miracles happen. I had seen people I thought were dead come back to life and be with me.

So I was really hopeful.

“First, you find the person you want to transfer the curse to. Then you hand the poison to one of their family members, someone they love the most. That person feeds them the poison, the herb, but they don’t lie about what is in the water. The person drinks it.” he paused.

“On the night of the full moon, at the same time, the monster is lured to the well by his beloved family member and ends up drinking water from his beloved’s hands. Same night, full moon, everything has to be the same.”

As Daniel finished explaining, we all looked at one another in silence.

“Okay, first of all, how are we going

to lure

monster to the well? And

What Would it even be wo eh to him? Livia questioned.

“I mean, I’ve never been to that well. I can only show you the images,” Daniel

uttered as he turned the page around.

The moment I saw it, I was stunned.

I recognized it.

“This,” I said, pointing at the well and tapping my finger against the image repeatedly as turned to Baxter Do you remember this

He frowned in confusion.

“Of course you don’t. You have your memories,” I said, slapping my forehead anxiously.

Then my head snapped around as another realization hit me.

None of them would remember because none of them had accompanied me. Then something else struck me.

I whipped my head around and called for my children.

“Elara! Gina! Come over here!” I called anxiously, pointing at the page.

Everyone was watching me as if I were losing my mind.

My children, who had been playing nearby, danced their way toward me.

I quickly wrapped an arm around Gina from behind and pulled Elara close too, pointing toward the pages.

“Do you recognize it?” I asked them.

“Oh, this is the well. This is the scary well. We were there, remember?” Elara said to Gina.

“Yeah, you pushed me and Bodhi down this well,” Gina complained rather playfully.

“Hey, I didn’t do it. Remember I was sick?” Elara responded, immediately defending herself.

“Wait, you know this well?” Daniel asked.

“Yeah, I do,” I said, letting go of my children so they could walk away. “I’ve been to that place before. I know this well.

It all started to make sense now.

“Okay, listen. That well is wide enough for anyone to fit inside,” I confirmed, my eyes

still wide as I stared at the well.

“It is possible,” I whispered under my breath, tears forming in my eyes.

“But we still don’t have the person e going t

transfer the curse to,”

Yuvonne intervened set

everyone to look at one another

“Do you have anyone in mind?” I asked her, since it seemed like she really wanted

to suggest someone.