Chapter 6: The Seven-Day Curse"It was Bella! All of this—Bella forced my hand!"
Luna's scream echoed once before collapsing into silence.
No one had expected to hear it.
"You've got it wrong." Jasper shook his head, his voice tight with disbelief. "What does Bella have to do with any of this?"
Luna lifted her head abruptly. Her eyes were bloodshot, unfocused, lit with something dangerously close to hysteria.
"It was her!" she shot back. "Everything I did—she drove me to it!"
"But Bella is..." Selene began, then hesitated.
"Dead?" Luna cut her off. "That's exactly why I brought out the painting."
Her voice trembled—held together by something that did not quite sound like strength.
Selene frowned. "What are you saying? Are you blaming her...for dying?"
A laugh slipped out of Luna, brief and brittle, breaking halfway as she inhaled sharply, like someone trying to keep control of her breathing.
"Bella and I grew up next door," she said. "Our families were so close people used to joke we were one household." Her gaze drifted, unfocused. "I was born seven days after her. Before we started school, we were inseparable."
For a moment, something softer crossed her face.
Then it was gone.
"Everything changed once we entered school. Bella was pretty. Smart. Always at the top of the class." Her lips curled faintly. "Teachers loved her. Classmates admired her. And me? I was always right behind her."
Her tone sharpened with each sentence.
"When I was sorting through my great-grandfather's belongings, I found records about the Seven-Day Curse." Her expression darkened. "That's when it clicked. She hadn't just outshone me—she'd taken what was supposed to be mine."
My breath caught.
The Seven-Day Curse.
The belief was simple enough: people born within seven days of one another were said to carry uneven fortunes, with the earlier birth sometimes thought to hold a slight advantage.
"I didn't believe it at first," Luna said. "I told myself it was superstition. A convenient excuse." Her gaze shifted, settling slowly on Kai. "But after everything that happened... I couldn't dismiss it anymore."
"In college, I started seeing a senior," she continued. "Nothing serious at first. Then one night, at a party, Bella showed up."
Her voice cooled.
"After that, he couldn't stop talking about her. Before I realized what was happening, he ended things with me and started chasing her instead."
Her fingers curled into her palms.
"After graduation, I joined the same company he worked for. I thought maybe fate was giving me another chance." A thin smile crossed her face. "We reconnected. Moved in together. Even talked about marriage."
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
Her hands tightened.
"And then Bella appeared again. As a business partner." She let out a short breath. "He never officially broke up with me. He just stopped talking about the future. Then he quit his job and started his own company..."
Her eyes narrowed slightly.
"I knew he was pulling away. From me."
The silence that followed felt suffocating.
"That's when I understood," she said quietly. "As long as Bella was alive, I would always lose. And it was all because of the curse."
"So once you were convinced," I said, breaking the silence, "you decided to take it back."
---
"Yes!"
The word shot out of her, sharp and full of spite.
"But I didn't want her dead!" Luna insisted. "I just wanted my luck back!" Her eyes shone with a frantic intensity. "I went through everything my great-grandfather left behind. Rituals. Notes. Warnings. There was nothing about breaking the curse."
Her jaw tightened.
"So I stopped trying to break it."
She lifted her chin, like someone backed into a corner.
"She took everything from me." Her voice wavered. "Even the person I loved... never really saw me."
I turned to Kai. "You," I said calmly. "You were the senior she dated."
Jasper and Selene both stiffened, staring at him.
Kai didn't answer. His head stayed lowered, shoulders rigid— like someone waiting for judgment.
"Holy hell," Jasper muttered. "That was you? How did I miss that?"
"Shut up!" Luna screamed. "Don't talk about Kai like that!"
Jasper's expression hardened. "And for him," he said flatly, "you killed Bella?"
The room seemed to grow colder.
"No!" Luna snapped. "Yes, I thought about using dark arts on her. But before I could figure anything out..." Her voice faltered. "She died in that accident."
I narrowed my eyes. "Wasn't that what you wanted?"
"What I wanted?"
She let out a dry laugh.
"She made me feel small for over twenty years. You think I would've let her off that easily?"
There was no hysteria in her eyes now. Only resolve.
"That's why I took out the painting—the Portrait of Aya the Healer."
"You knew what it was capable of," I said.
"Of course." She raised her chin. "It said so on the box. It drains life essence. Traps souls." A faint smile touched her lips. "And it warned: Do not open. Or you may invite evil in."
"And you opened it anyway?" Jasper demanded.
"Of course I did!" Her voice cracked again, edged with something unsteady. "I couldn't touch her while she was alive—so even in death, I made sure she wouldn't rest."
---
"So on the day of the funeral," I said quietly, "you brought the painting to the cemetery."
"Yes."
Her lips trembled. "I didn't even know if it would work. But after that... I always felt like something was watching me." She wrapped her arms around herself. "Cold eyes. In the dark."
"I tried putting it back in the box," she continued. "It never stayed. Every time I turned away, it was back out again—like it wanted to be seen." Her breathing grew shallow. "I couldn't sleep. I was terrified. In the end, I left it out, hoping someone else would take it."
"But you didn't expect," I said, "that Kai would be the one."
She hesitated, then nodded.
"And after that," I continued, "you hired someone to pose as a mystic. You told Kai to pass the painting to Jasper—said his strong vitality could suppress it. Correct?"
"Yes."
Jasper exploded. "What did I ever do to you? Why me?"
Luna turned to him slowly. "Because Bella liked you," she said. "In high school, she used to watch you."
Jasper froze.
"I thought once you had the painting," Luna whispered, her voice trembling, "you'd fall apart like Kai did." Her eyes burned with expectation. "I wanted Bella's spirit to watch you destroy yourself."
She drew in a slow breath. "But I never thought... you'd be fine."
All eyes shifted to Jasper.
Shock flickered across his face. Then something else—understanding.
"It wasn't that the painting didn't affect me," he said quietly. "It was Bella."
He swallowed.
"So that's it..." His voice broke. "She was protecting me. Right, Rhan?"
I nodded. "She was."
Jasper staggered back a step.
"I blamed her," he whispered. "Last night... I said I could never love a ghost." His hands shook as he covered his face. "I said terrible things."
Selene stared at him. "You idiot. Rhan told you she wouldn't hurt you."
Meanwhile, Luna looked as though the ground had given way beneath her. "What are you saying?" she whispered. "Bella...was drawn here by the painting?"
"Yes!" Jasper shot back. "Not just because of it. She has been with me the whole time."
He pointed at Luna, his voice cold.
"Your plan failed from the beginning."
I turned toward the doorway.
"Bella," I said softly. "Please show yourself."
The room fell quiet.
Then—
a woman stood in the doorway.
Bella.
She did not move. She only watched them.
Luna screamed and stumbled back.
She lifted a trembling hand, her voice barely more than a whisper.
"You..."
