Chapter 13: A Curse in Play

During the next few days Candice becomes more and more strange. She buys new clothes, will only serve gormet meals, and talks of little else but money, the importance of a career and how successful they could all be if they just put in a little more effort. She even changes her walk style.




Sometimes the arguments become quite animated. It's like nothing Charles can do is good enough.



Whenever she can, she practise different work related skills. "Shh, don't disturb me. Don't you want me to get a promotion?"



For Charles, Candice's new obsession with money means he works more, takes on more jobs, and is more tired as a result. He sometimes feels he spends more time in their office than with his family.



Even Neo notices Candices changed behaviour. "What's up with mum?"
"I'm not sure, son," Charles answers.
"It's like she's possessed or something."



As a result, Neo spend more and more time at the gym and less at home, and when he is at home he is in his room. It does mean his grades pick up - slightly.



With Neo's comment burning in his mind, Charles one day makes his way to the library, where he finds and talks to the librarian.
"The documents, you handed in? Yeah, they're being catalogued at the moment. Fascinating stuff!"
"Yes, but can I read them? I never did."
"Well some of them have been scanned into our database, they're not supposed to be ready yet, but as you were the ones to hand them in, I can help you out."




Most of the documents were, as Charles had first identified, love letters. But there was also a diary, and a drawing of a beautiful ring that makes Charles' heart stop. He scans the page with the ring, reading, for the first time of how one of Cordelias rivals for the heart of one of her lovers cursed it and placed it as a trap, so that Cordelia forever would forget about her love and always choose the pursuit of money instead. Perhaps this was why she became a pirate? "And the wearer shall know no desire beyond the desire for money, until such time as they have amassed 1 000 000 silver Simonionites or death. Only then may they, with the right potion, lift the curse."

Charles have no clue how much 1 000 000 Simonionites is in todays Simoleons, and there is no information about what the necessary potion is. He needs more information. "Well there is a book on ancient curses and their cures in the shelves," the librarian says, guiding him to a book entitled "The Great Book of Mischief". It does tell him a lot about how curses work, but little about this specific curse. But he does learn that rare plants, only found in certain environments are usually the ingredients. That sounds like something up Willow's alley. He heads to Magnolia park to catch her at work.



He gets her on her break, and they sit down at one of the picnic tables. There, he tells her everything. The chase after the treasure, the handing it over to the library, the reward which was the ring...
"Dad, you told me before, and besides it was on the local news."
"The thing is, that ring was cursed!" And he tells her what he learned about the curse.
"Okay, now I understand. I'll see what I can figure out about a remedy. I think I know where to start."




Next day is Neo's birthday party, which means Willow will have to wait before traveling to the Glade. Their mother has pulled out all the stops, cooking lobster (Willow isn't so fond of that) and baking a cake.

The entire family is gathered, as well as their friends. Surprisingly none of Neo's own friends are there. "I'll catch up with them later," he simply says, not talking more about it.



They do have a good time, in spite of Candice's constant bragging about her job, her fancy cooking and giving advice everyone who wants to hear it (or not) about what they should be doing for a living. Now Willow can see first hand what their dad has been talking about. Her mother is barely recognizable.



Happier is the news that Sandy is pregnant. In fact she's already starting to show a little (very little).
"It was a little earlier than we had planned, but at least I'm not going to be an old mother," she tells her sister.




She goes on to share that she and Rory, when finding out, said their vows right there in the living room. "I'm so not having a child while being unmarried, and having a big wedding with everything that is going on with mom, well it felt weird. So it was just us, but it worked. We can always renew our vows with everyone present later, when mom is fine again."



"I can't believe you didn't invite me to your wedding!" Willow protests.
"It wasn't that big of a deal," Sandy says with a shrug. "I'll have a party later, I promise. But you should come visit me sometime."
"I will!" Willow promises.
They don't have the time to talk more, because Neo is opening his presents and afterwords it's time for him to blow out the candles on the cake.



For Neo aging up couldn't have come fast enough, and as soon as the cake is eaten, he is out of the house and heading for the bar in Newcrest. He's meeting Malik.

The night turns out better than he expected. He's had daydreams of Malik since the first time he's met him, and while Malik has been friendly, he's made no move at all. In fact, Neo isn't even sure he likes guys, but that hasn't made him stop hoping, and now the moment they see each other, Malik makes a move and his heart is about to stop. "We'll you're old enough now, kid," Malik says with a devilish grin.
"Maybe you should stop calling me a kid then?" Neo answers, but Malik just grins wider.
"Nah, you're still wet behind the ears," he retorts, making him a little less so by kissing him. "Come to my place tomorrow if this is what you crave, but only come if you are ready for it," he then whispers, and heads off leaving Neo alone.



The next morning is warm, already early in the morning, and Neo is barely able to wait. He's out of the house as soon as he thinks he can get away with it, and meet Malik outside his run down shack of a house.
"You want this, kid?" Malik asks. "You're sure."
"Very sure," Neo answers, and the next moment he is in Malik's arms, being kissed like he's never been kissed before, barely able to catch his breath. It's be best thing ever! A moment later they're inside. The house is dark, dank, and completely run down, but the bed is big enough and Malik is there and Neo swears not to leave until Malik kicks him out. Malik has no interest in kicking him out and so they stay in bed for the rest of the day, and Neo only returns home to pick up some clothes and let his parents know he's moving out and have a boyfriend. Who want to be in that house while his mother is all strange anyway?



"But we haven't met this boy!" his father protests.
"Man!" Neo corrects.
"Man? How old is he exactly? And how long have this been going on and who is this person? Why wasn't he at your birthday party?"
"Chill, Dad. His name is Malik, we've known each other a while, but nothing has happened, well until now. Not that I haven't wanted to, but he's not into teens. He's a bit older, not that much. He's still a young adult," he says not adding that that is only true for another few days. He doesn't need to freak dad out more than necessary. "Look, it's what I want, and I know you're always here if it goes badly, right?"
There isn't anything Charles can do to stop him, he's an adult now. "When can we meet him."
"When mom's back to normal? I can't let him meet her like this, she's freaking me out. I'll bring him by sometime. Don't worry about it."



On her end, Willow has been getting ready to take the next step, so as spring is turning into summer, she finally heads back to Sylvan glade again. As before the bookcase is waiting for her and just like last time, she lets it guide her rather than trying to find what she thinks might be needed. She finds the book that feels right, and lets it fall open to the section it wants rather than to try to guide it, and just like she suspected the answer is right there. The potion she needs is complicated, requiring an array of ingredients, ranging from rare plants to fish and insects. The plants is nothing she has in her garden, as they only grow wild in the deep forests at Granit Falls. The plants must be gathered at the right time, and some will only appear to a plant sim. So then this is it? This is when she takes that step?



Looking behind her, she looks at the stump that has been waiting for her. She knows what to do, she has gathered the beans and is technically ready. Or at least she is ingredient wise. Mentally... she's curious, but also a bit apprehensive. The books are vague about what happens when you transform, or if it's permanent or temporary. But this is her mother's sanity at stake, there can't be any hesitation now. Taking a deep breath, she waters the stump, and watch a tree sprout in its place.




It's portal look similar to the one in "her" tree, and that at least feels comforting. She heads inside, and while the world she finds isn't nearly as beautiful as Sylvan Glade, she still wonders at the many worlds there are that most people have no knowledge of. But she knows time is off the essence, finding the fruit she needs she returns to the Glade where she finds Flower Bunny waiting for her.



"You're here to keep me company?" she asks. Flower Bunny nods, and Willow knows that it feels better with a friendly face. "I'm glad you are here."
She doesn't eat the fruit at once, but instead the two watch the clouds go by. "How can there be clouds here, when it's underground?" she asks. Flower bunny shrugs their shoulders. This is nothing they know anything about.
"Do you think it will be okay? That I will be okay? That mum will be?"
Flower Bunny nods. That makes Willow feel a bit better, a bit more brave.



As Flower Bunny leaves, it's time. Willow can feel the pull as she picks up the fruit, smelling it before taking that first bite. It tastes bitter, not really like fruit but more like leaves, dirt and green grass. And then she feels the pull, how she is lifted off the ground and spun around, light enveloping her as her body changes form.




She wouldn't call it painful, not really, but a bit traumatic perhaps, and even if she knew the change would happen, it still shocks her seeing leaves grow from her body, and where her clothes always such a bother? She finds herself itching everywhere.



Returning home, she heads straight for the bathroom mirror, looking at herself. Well the hair is hideous, that's for sure, and her skin is really green. Like witches green. "I look like the wicked witch," she says out loud. "But at least water won't melt me."



But the clothes has to go, they're far too restrictive. Changing into the smallest top and the shortest shorts she can find, she heads outside, only to find the sun already down. In need of solar energy, she heads to the nearest wild plant, persuading it to share some of it's energy. She thanks it after for it's sacrifice.



The idea of sleeping indoors is unbearable, so she gets a camping bed and sets it up outside in her garden. It's been a long day and she's exhausted.



The next morning is a bright sunny day, when absorbing energy from the sun is playfully easy. Willow starts by tending to her plants and bees, almost getting so lost in her chores that she forgets to get going. Where was it she was going again? The Deep Forest, right. Fish, insects, plants... fish, insects, plants. Maybe she ought to write that down? Is that a butterfly?



She sets off, booking a night at the camping place, but not really bothering to actually put up a tent. Who needs to when you can just put your bed anywhere you want to sleep? She sets out hiking, trying to find the ingredients she needs.



She finds a giant tree bear, but the tree has been silenced when worked or it just doesn't want to speak anymore.
"I'm sorry they did that to you," she whispers. "I'm sure you were magnificent in your prime."



A bit further on, she meets a bear. He's more of a conversationalist, but also a bit annoying. When they're done talking, she has almost forgotten why she is there. Plants, fish, insects - right that was it. She's on a mission again.



Finding plants is easy enough, especially as she feels their pull in a way she's never has as a human. The plants almost seem to call to her, but that also means they draw her into long conversations that is hard to pull away from. After she finds its harder to remember what she is there fore, like her mind is less inclined to remember and focus on a task that has little or nothing to do with the imminent needs of her body. Sunshine, the conversation of a plant, water...

Oh there is a beautiful lake here! Willow runs to it and find herself getting lost in the feeling of warm sun of her skin and cool water enveloping her. This feels so good. Was there something she was supposed to remember?




Eventually, she does remember, and set out to find more plants, but identifying them is a bigger issue. Her gardening skill might be maxed out, but her herbology skill is still new and she just doesn't have enough skill to know what plants she's picking. Right now, that doesn't concern her too much. She has a limited time as a plant sim - she hopes - and need to find as many plants as possible, especially those she needs to pick in this form. As she doesn't recognise the plants, she hopes those are among those she picks.

As she wanders, she comes across a hidden passage. It's late, almost night, but she finds herself attempting it in spite of the dark.




She arrives in the deep forest, but exhausted and without any light, so the only thing she does is set up her bed and go to sleep. She wakes up at first light, with a burst of energy as the sun hits her skin. Packing up her bed, she sets out to explore the area, picking any insects and plants as she goes along. After a while she finds a small cottage, and a lone woman standing by the grill.



Going over to greet her, she learns that this is the hermit she read about. She is ashamed to admit that she thought the hermit would be an old man with a beard, but glad she found the right place. She explains the situation to the hermit and asks for help.
"I have an old book inside, take it out and I will show you were you can read," the woman says, clearly sympathetic to her cause but not just willing to give her the answers she seeks.



Inside, Willow is again surprised by how homey the little cottage feels, and wonders where she got the idea that a hermit had to live in a shack. On the mantle piece she finds the old book she's looking for, takes one outside, and is told which passage to read up on. It turns out the book is a basic herbology book, if an old one, with knowledge that has been lost with time.

Willow has always been a good reader, and a fast learner, but as a plant sim she notices that learning takes longer, and focusing on reading is harder. How could she ever concentrate before, with how much noise nature makes? There are birds of every variety chirping and singing, insects buzzing, flowers humming their individual tunes - a song she has never heard before, from the deep baryton of the large old trees, to the nearly imperceivable chimes of the newly sprung out summer flowers. By the time she's finished reading the sun is starting to set again.




She spends the night there, asking the hermit if she may sleep outside her home, and offers to help her tend her plants as a way of saying thank you. They spend the evening talking about the plants, the life in the river and nature and by the time they wake up the next morning they are good friends and the hermit agrees to come with her into the normal forest to help her find more plants. The spend their day there, foraging and fishing and catching insects. As dusk sets that evening the hermit shares with her the recipe she knows, and gives her one of her old tomes to take home.
"Take care of it, and of your mother, and return it to me when you have no longer a need for it." With that she says her good bye.





Willow spends the night reading until she can't see the text any longer.



The next morning she heads home. There are no more plants she can find, and she has the recipe. Now she need to find the time to learn enough to identify the ingredients she does have, hopefully they are the right ones.

Her garden is glad to see her, and she is glad to see it. She spends a long time tending to the plant and bonding with her bees, and then reading more in her new books.




She's been there for a while when Charles comes by to check in on her. He stops short, staring at his daughter. "What on earth have you done?" he gasps.



"What do you mean? I'm just reading," Willow answers, confused, before she realises what he's talking about. "Oh, right, you mean..." she gestures towards herself. "It's temporary. I hope."
"You hope?"
"The book said it would be temporary, but I can't be sure, but I think it is. Either way, I needed to be in this form to find the plants. I think I might have found them, and I have the recipe, but I don't recognise all the ingredients yet, and if I take the wrong one... well then it's not so good. So I need to learn more, that's why the reading."
"But what if..."
"I'll make you a de-stressing concoction. I know how to make those," she says, gets up and starts brewing. By the time she's finished, she forgot why she was brewing it, but instead remembered that she forgot an important ingredient to bring home.
She tells her father bye, and heads off into the forest as quickly as she can.



Once she arrives she feels herself starting to change, however. What she was worried wouldn't happen, now happens sooner than she wants. In a matter of minutes, she stands there as herself. Now it's much harder to find the plant she need, but on the other hand she remember why she needs it. She looks for it for as long as she has light, but as the last light of summer dies, the window she had for finding it closes.



Disappointed, Willow returns home. Tomorrow, well today really, is the first day of fall, her birthday, and the day she needs to tell her father she failed. Until next summer, there is no chance of dinging all of the ingredients, and without them, she cannot brew the remedy until then, so her mother is stuck, cursed, at least until next summer. Willow has never felt like a bigger failure.