The Angel Curse
by David Welbourn (2003)
Genres: Fantasy

Neither the girl in the wheelchair nor the angel pendant she wears are quite what they seem to be.

action: %
response: Gymnasium at St. Catherine's (in the wheelchair)
St. Catherine's has an excellent gymnasium for its female students,
but of course it's of little use to you. The only reason you're here
is because your friend Amy practically begged you to come with her.

You can see some female gymnasts here.
action: About yourself
response: You're a girl in a wheelchair feeling sorry for herself. So what else is new?
action: You look at what you're carrying with you
response: You are carrying:
a Toys R Us bag (which is closed)
an angel pendant (being worn)
action: You examine the pendant
response: It's a white angel pendant made of alabaster. At least, you think it's alabaster. You're not sure where you got it from, come to think of it. It's pretty, though, and you've always worn it.
action: You remove the pendant
response: You try to remove the angel... uhhh...

Your head hurts. You wanted to do something, but what?
action: You open the bag
response: You open the Toys R Us bag, revealing four lead-painted metal bits (a jagged white bit, a long red hooked bit, a shiny triangular bit and a small green circular bit).
action: You look at the gymnasts
response: There's several women here, including Amy, out practicing for a professional gymnastic competition in Hamburg next Spring. Looking at them fills your mind with envy and self-pity. You cannot join them,
and you never will. Such emotions, you upbraid yourself, only illustrate the darkness intrinsic to the human soul. You turn away.
action: You examine amy
response: Look at her. She's so graceful on the parallel bars. You could never
do that. You can't see why she insisted you accompany her here.

Well, okay. It was the decent thing to do. But she's obviously over
her performance anxiety, and she's not paying any attention to you. She's too busy working with the rest of the girls.
action: You look at the red
response: Kinda like a pole, with a hook at the end.
action: You examine the white
response: (the angel pendant)
It's a white angel pendant made of alabaster. At least, you think it's alabaster. You're not sure where you got it from, come to think of it. It's pretty, though, and you've always worn it.
action: You examine the jagged white
response: Ick. Looks dangerous. Someone could cut themselves with that.
action: You examine triangular
response: "Is this a dagger I see before me?" Naaah.
action: You look at the green
response: This bit's rather like a coin. Except it's painted green and doesn't have a queen on it, or E Pluribus Uranium, or whatever coins are supposed to have on them.
action: You leave
response: You'll have to say which compass direction to go in.
action: You get up
response: No. Not here. What would be the point?
action: You examine the wheelchair
response: Your wheelchair. You hate it. But it takes you where you need to go,
so you're stuck with it.
action: Pray
response: You're not Catholic, or even Christian. You'd hardly know what to say.
action: You examine the bag
response: Amy asked you to hold onto her bag for her. What she needed it for,
you can't imagine. Amy always was a little weird. Maybe that's why she's your friend. When you're around, she probably seems almost
normal by comparison.
action: You jump
response: You jump on the spot, fruitlessly.
action: You drop the bag
response: Dropped.
action: You examine amy
response: Look at her. She's so graceful on the parallel bars. You could never
do that. You can't see why she insisted you accompany her here.

Well, okay. It was the decent thing to do. But she's obviously over
her performance anxiety, and she's not paying any attention to you. She's too busy working with the rest of the girls.
action: You take the bag
response: Taken.
action: About yourself
response: You're a girl in a wheelchair feeling sorry for herself. So what else is new?
action: You look  in the bag
response: In the Toys R Us bag are four lead-painted metal bits (a jagged white bit, a long red hooked bit, a shiny triangular bit and a small green circular bit).
action: You examine the chair
response: Your wheelchair. You hate it. But it takes you where you need to go,
so you're stuck with it.
action: You cut the angel with jagged
response: (first taking the jagged white bit)
Cutting that up would achieve little.
action: You cut yourself with the jagged
response: Cutting you up would achieve little.
action: Look around
response: Gymnasium at St. Catherine's (in the wheelchair)
St. Catherine's has an excellent gymnasium for its female students,
but of course it's of little use to you. The only reason you're here
is because your friend Amy practically begged you to come with her.

You can see some female gymnasts here.
action: Go east
response: First Floor Hallway (North End) (in the wheelchair)
The hallway outside the gym is nothing special. Some trophies. The Christian cross. An aquarium of fish. The hallway continues south, the gym is west, the chapel east, and the exit to the street is to the north.
action: You examine the fish
response: You watch the fish swim about for awhile, and you feel the darkness in your soul ebb. These simple fish comfort you. Why?
action: Go east
response: You peek into the chapel, but the nuns are preparing for some sort of ceremony. A funeral, maybe. Or perhaps just a normal prayer service. You don't know why you're so gloomy today.
action: You go to the north
response: No. You can't leave without Amy. You promised.
action: Go south
response: First Floor Hallway (South End) (in the wheelchair)
The south end of the hallway is even less interesting than the north end, except for a sewer grating in the floor.

You can see a sewer grating here.
action: You examine the grating
response: A sewer grating in the floor. You hear something down there, something alive? Something or someone trapped? The grating is closed.
action: You look in the bag
response: In the Toys R Us bag are three lead-painted metal bits (a long red hooked bit, a shiny triangular bit and a small green circular bit).
action: You take the red
response: Taken.
action: You open the grating
response: Using the long hooked bit, you manage to pry open the grating.
action: You get up
response: You get out of the wheelchair.

First Floor Hallway (South End)
The south end of the hallway is even less interesting than the north end, except for a sewer grating in the floor.

You can see a wheelchair (which is empty) and a sewer grating here.
action: Go downward
response: Heedless of the risk, you push yourself into the hole, and fall...

You're in the sewer. It's dark and gloomy and smelly. But it's also cool and wet, which you don't mind so much. The hole you fell through is high above you, and the sewer extends east.
action: Go east
response: You crawl, fall, further down the sewer.

The water is deeper here; you can swim. But an alligator blocks
further passage east.

You can see an alligator here.
action: You look at the alligator
response: The alligator seems a friendly sort. It grins at you with sharp, sharp teeth. You feel you can trust it. Maybe even love it. But it blocks your way east.
action: You hug the alligator
response: You give the alligator a kiss, and he snaps at you!!

No! At your angel pendant! He crushes it into powder and...

A miracle! Your broken legs become a fish's tail, and you... you are a mermaid! How? How did this happen? Who put this curse on you? And oh! Your father and mother? How long have they missed you and thought you dead?
action: Look around
response: The water is deeper here; you can swim. But an alligator blocks
further passage east.

You can see an alligator here.
action: Go east
response: You swim past the alligator joyfully, and swim, swim, SWIM out through the sewers, out of mankind's waterways in into the ocean...

*    *   *

You swim to an underwater palace, where you find your father, the Merfolk King. He looks at you, unbelieving his eyes, then rushes to embrace you. When the initial shock has worn off, he takes a more critical look at you and says, "Where hast thou been, my child? Thy gills are as unclean as a lobster's arse." You laugh, and hug him again.