Chapter 14: Sunset on Twilight Hill

Far away, in a park a few miles from George’s house, there was a charming spot called Twilight Hill, so named for its breathtaking view of both the sunrise and the sunset. A hidden path at the base of the hill led through a dense grove of trees and wound its way up to a large grassy outcropping. Like a dock at the edge of a lake, it hung over the treeline, and on clear days, one could sit on a bench and see for miles to the east and west. The only occupant on this hill was an old lonely hickory tree, its roots running down the cliff face to the more nutrient-rich soil below.

On this particular evening, a cool breeze occasionally dislodged a reddened leaf and swept it away. The clouds obscured the sun just enough to create purplish gaps in the red and orange light, which bathed the park, the town of Stafford, and the surrounding valley in a serene, restful reminder that the day was ending.

That serenity was suddenly interrupted by a rapidly expanding cloud of swirling pink mist that instantly dissipated with a crackling pop. A young red-headed woman riding a huge black horse emerged in full gallop. One moment, George was facing down a firing squad; the next, he was about to careen headlong over a cliff.

He barely had time to realize what was happening, and with mere moments to act, he ordered Genie, “Change me back, change me back!”

His companion obeyed, and George instantly went from four legs to two, with Piper riding piggyback. He slammed on the brakes and started sliding, his momentum conserved from being a one-thousand-pound horse. He turned around and dug his fingers into the dirt, leaving behind deep gouges. Piper held on tight as they skidded to a stop mere inches from the edge.

And then the quiet calm of Twilight Hill returned. The engines, gunshots, and angry shouts from their pursuers were replaced with a gentle breeze and the occasional chirping bird. George was on his hands and knees, with his fingers jammed a few inches into the ground. Piper had her arms wrapped around his neck, and her thighs squeezed around his pelvis.

With her eyes clenched shut, Piper asked, “Are we dead?”

“God, I hope not,” he breathed.

Slowly, she disentangled herself and knelt beside him. Then, she took a deep breath and stared out over the horizon. George collapsed, then rolled over onto his back. “How ‘bout you, Genie? You still alive?” he asked, not truly worried. He just wanted to hear her voice.

“I’m here. Wow, that was intense,” Genie said breathlessly.

“For real. Did you have to aim me right off a cliff?”

She laughed and said, “Hey, cut me a break! It’s my first day!”

He sat up and looked around, trying to figure out where he was, but he was distracted by how pretty the sky looked. “You alright, Piper?” he asked. But she didn’t respond. He turned to check on her, and before he could repeat himself, Piper lunged at him and slapped him hard across the cheek.

“You son of a bitch! Fucking asshole!” Piper shouted as she pummelled him.

He raised his arms to defend himself. “Piper, what...”

“Shut up! Just shut up!” she cried. Tears were streaming down her face, contorted in rage.

Utterly bewildered, George was worried she was possessed. “Genie, what’s going on?”

“I don’t know. I can’t get a read on her.”

“I hate you! I hate you!” Piper repeated.

“Seems really mad at you, though.”

“Ya think?”

Piper growled and snarled at him as she devolved into raw fury. However, she wasn’t actually hurting him. Her blows were more symbolic than violent, even without the Genie’s protection. She’d straddled his waist and pushed him to the ground, but George could’ve easily fought back if he wanted.

Eventually, George was able to grab hold of her wrists so that she couldn’t swing at him anymore. “Piper,” he pleaded, “it’s okay! We’re safe!”

“It’s not okay!” she sobbed. Her lower lip trembled. “Why did you bring me here? Huh? Are you just trying to rub it in my face?”

“I don’t even know where here is!”

“Of course, you fucking don’t!” She squirmed, trying to get away from him. “Goddamn it, let me go!”

But George held on. “Would you stop? Just talk to me! What’s wrong?”

“I’m done talking! I’ve given you everything I had! I patched your wounds! I played therapist! I cast every spell! I tried so hard to save you, but you just threw me aside and walked away!”

She struggled against his grip, presumably to hit him more. But she realized quickly that her struggle was futile. Finally, she clenched her eyes shut and collapsed on him. The dam broke as she gave into her pain and cried harder than George had ever seen.

“I thought that was the last time I’d ever see you. You were giving up, and I couldn’t stop it.” She buried her face against his shoulder and whimpered, “I thought I was watching you die.”

George finally understood. Now that the danger had passed and there was time to breathe, her unresolved emotions had erupted. Years of hurt and repressed feelings had finally coalesced and been released. And with the curse suppressed, George could finally see beyond his own struggles and acknowledge that hurt. A hurt that he had caused, cursed or not.

He let her wrists go and wrapped her up in a tight embrace. “I’m sorry,” he whispered. “I’m so sorry.”

“It doesn’t matter. Tomorrow, you’ll forget it all. You’ll be in pain, everyone will hate you, and I won’t be able to help. You’ll get worse and worse until we both wish we were dead!” She balled up her fist and pounded lightly on his chest. “I wish we never met.”

“She doesn’t mean that,” said Genie.

He hoped she was right, given that it was among the worst of all the hurtful things George had ever heard. “I thought you couldn’t read her.”

“I can’t. I just ... I just know.”

Piper sat up and wiped her eyes on her sleeve. She sniffled and said, “I’m sorry. That was an awful thing to say. I didn’t mean it.”

“See?”

She rolled off him and sat with her knees scrunched to her chest. She tried to look at him, but shame overcame her, so she gazed at the sunset instead. “You saved my life. I know that. I just don’t know what to think anymore. The day I was dreading for so long finally arrived, and before I could come to terms with that, I got knocked out and carted off to an even worse nightmare.” She hugged her legs and rocked herself. “I was almost glad for it ... for the distraction. You were the last person I thought would walk into that cell. The last person I wanted to see.”

George propped himself on his elbows while he listened. He wanted to keep telling her he was sorry as if that would fix anything. It was the only response he could think of.

“But there you were,” she continued. “All better. Juiced up by a magical artifact, ready to come to my rescue.” She struggled to keep talking, her lips quivering with emotion. “Nothing I did mattered,” she whispered. “There was never anything I could have done. We were doomed from the start.”

She was finally able to look at him and asked, “What happened?”

“Yesterday, you mean?”

She nodded.

George didn’t want to relive it, but he would tell her almost anything if it would help. “It was my birthday. I wasn’t expecting much, so I was surprised when there was a present for me ... from my father.”

“The source?”

“I didn’t know what it was at the time. It was just a weird ball of stone. But in his note, he told me it could make all my fondest wishes come true. I didn’t know what he meant. My dad was a strange guy.” George sat up straighter and continued. “Fast forward a bit. It was a bad day ... a really bad day. The only good thing about it was you, and I was so far gone that I couldn’t see it.” He hung his head in shame. “I really am sorry for how I treated you. I know it’s not enough, but ... I am.”

“So then what?” she pressed.

“You were right. I was ready for it to be over. And the curse was ready to end it.”

“Wait, wait, wait. Curse? What curse?”

“Sorry, I’m getting there,” he reassured her. While he wasn’t ready to reveal the Genie, he felt she deserved to know the rest. “It was looking bleak. But then, the ... source opened somehow, and all this power was inside it. It went to work, fixing me. Bolstering me. And when I woke up the next morning, everything was different.”

Piper glanced at his muscular arms, mostly exposed after he lent her his hoodie, and said, “Yeah, I can see that.”

“What? Oh,” he said and flexed his bicep. “You’re the only one that can tell, by the way. Everyone else thinks this is normal.” He put his arm down and continued. “But I’m not just talking about my body. Everything, the entire world, is better. The colors are brighter, the food tastes good, and people talk to me. Fuck, the air is cleaner.” Her hair picked up the orange light from the setting sun and reminded him of how pretty she was. “Even you. You look ... different.”

“What do you mean?”

“It’s hard to explain. You were this skinny, mousy redhead. Cute, but normal. Now, I ... never mind. Now isn’t the time.”

“No!” she scooted closer to him. “Don’t do that. You could forget all of this at any moment, and I need to know. I deserve to know.”

He regretted saying so much. How could he tell Piper that his ideal partner was essentially her on magical steroids? His cheeks reddened with embarrassment, and he struggled to look at her. “You look like the girl from my dreams.”

Piper rolled her eyes. “Well, that’s helpful,” she said sarcastically.

“I mean it. I have these weird moments of ... I don’t know, clarity, maybe? I see this girl who looks like you, only with brown hair instead of red.”

Something he’d said struck a chord with her, and her attitude changed to something more pensive.

“It’s not you, obviously. At least, I don’t think it is. But every now and then, I would see little glimpses of her. And now that the curse is being suppressed ... let’s just say I’m seeing her everywhere.”

Piper seemed to be processing this new information. George was hoping she had some insight. Instead, she moved on. “It can’t be a curse. I tested you for every curse known to man, and everything came back clean. Are you sure about this?”

Genie chimed in, “Whatever it is, it might as well be a curse.”

“Hold on, I thought you knew.”

“I mean ... curse, hex, jinx, debuff, whatever. It’s bad magical juju, so I call it a curse.”

George rolled his eyes. “I don’t know exactly what it is, but it’s bad. Real bad. The source couldn’t even eliminate it, only suppress it.”

“A curse,” she said to herself. “It makes sense. For a while, I was convinced it was, but I ... I couldn’t...” she trailed off, overwhelmed by the anguish of her perceived failure.

He was eager to change the subject before she beat herself up even more. “Can I ask you something?”

She looked away in shame but answered, “Y-Yeah.”

“Yesterday, you asked if I could see you? What did you mean?”

But this only made her more upset. “You bought me lunch and ... I hoped you’d remembered something,” she said before tears welled up and cascaded down her cheeks. “I needed you to remember...”

“What, Piper? Remember what?”

Instead of answering, she buried her face in her knees and wept.

Crestfallen after triggering her further, George sighed and looked at the sunset. It was a gorgeous sight, and though he wished the circumstances were better, he’d have a hard time forgetting it.

But gradually, as he took in the serene landscape, he realized where he was. “Wait a minute,” he said. He stood and walked closer to the edge of the cliff, and there were reminders of a half-forgotten life everywhere he looked. “I used to come here every day during the summer. I’d sneak out, ride my bike to this spot, and watch the sunset.” He chased the memories to their hiding places even as they eluded him. “Why? Why did I come here? What was I doing?” He looked around frantically, trying to latch on to any clue, no matter how small. He spotted the bench and said, “I used to sit there for hours ... waiting. What was I waiting for?”

But his excitement was short-lived. Buried among the nostalgia was a live landmine, and he’d already stepped on it. He looked out past the boundaries of the park to the road on its border. “There was a nasty storm, but I wanted to come anyway. I had to. My dad was annoyed that I kept sneaking out, and we fought about it. So I climbed out the window and rode my bike through the thunder and the rain. I sat here, waiting. When he got to me, he was ... he was in pain.” He couldn’t say anymore, even if he wanted to. The rest was a blur of horrible sensations, and very little of it made sense. “It was my fault,” he said blankly.

The Genie hugged his arm and leaned her head against his shoulder. Her touch was the most soothing thing imaginable, or so he thought. To his surprise, Piper latched on to his other arm and held his hand.

“Can we sit down, please?” she asked.

George could see that her legs were shaking. She couldn’t have been cold, so it must have been from exertion. He guided her to the bench, and she bid him to sit on the left side. Suddenly, her stomach growled so loud George thought it might have been his own.

Embarrassed, she rubbed her stomach and said, “Sorry. I haven’t eaten since yesterday.”

“Oh, gosh,” he said. “Hold on, I think I have something.” He dug through his bag and found the package of cookies his mother had given him that morning. Then, he handed them to Piper and said, “Here. Can’t have you going hungry.”

She looked at them and didn’t move. Then she raised her gaze to meet his, and George saw the most beautiful mixture of bittersweet emotions swirling beneath her surface. And very slowly, hope took over.

It seemed as though she had come to a decision, and as she tore into the cookies, she began, “My powers started manifesting when I was ten years old. I was setting things on fire, talking to animals, woke up levitating, and worst of all, I could ... see things. Things that other people couldn’t. My mom calls it the sight. Original, I know. Basically, I can see when something is magic. Even if it’s disguised, I can tell that magic is happening. I’m used to it now, but I was really freaked out back then, even after Mom explained it to me. I remember learning that our neighbor’s surly cat was actually a sprite stuck in a polymorph. That was a fun one, but things like that were everywhere.”