[Chapter 83: Amanda's Bad Luck]
Over the next several days, Daniel called Amanda every day. Yet, Amanda's life seemed to carry on without a hitch -- no streak of misfortune, no unlucky incidents. In fact, her career was flourishing. She had landed one of the lead roles in The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, which brought her back into the spotlight in various media outlets, boosting her rising fame.
Amanda even asked Daniel, "So... this time, no bad luck is coming my way, right?"
Daniel's worry, however, only grew stronger. An unexploded bomb was far more terrifying than an exploding one -- you never knew when it would detonate, or how devastating the fallout might be. He had an uneasy sense that this pending disaster could be serious.
Days passed, and Amanda remained unscathed in her career and daily life. August rolled around, and during this time, Daniel also met Megan multiple times. As for Miranda, the widow, Daniel blessed and empowered her repeatedly, with even more frequent rituals dedicated to Amanda's protection.
A whole month went by without incident. This left Daniel puzzled. Either Amanda had earned her role solely through her own talent this time, without any luck-transfer seals, or a major problem was quietly converging on her.
...
On August 16th at 5 PM, Amanda called again.
"Today was so unlucky, Daniel," she sighed. "I ran into this crazy old woman."
Alarm bells immediately rang in Daniel's mind.
"What happened exactly?"
Amanda recounted, "I went to an event, and as I stepped out of the car, this old woman bumped into me. At first, I didn't think much of it. But later, I found that everything in my bag had spilled out, and my wallet was missing.
I called the police right away. Maybe because of my identity, they found the woman fast and recovered my wallet.
The IDs and cards were still inside, but all the cash -- thousands of dollars -- was gone. The police told me to let it go, said she was too old and pitiful. I know they were afraid that if something went wrong during the arrest, they'd be blamed. Seeing how frail she was, I had to accept my bad luck and agreed not to press charges.
Then, just as the police left and I prepared to leave, that old woman stopped me. She said she was having financial difficulties and asked for more money. I did not give her cash.
After that, I tried to leave. But then she knelt down in front of me, begging. I flatly refused, but she got angry -- and tried to grab me. If I hadn't dodged fast, she would've caught me.
Daniel, tell me -- is this woman crazy? She stole from me, then came back asking for more money, and got mad when I refused. Doesn't she have any shame at all?
I'm just so unlucky."
Hearing Amanda's complaints, Daniel felt the old woman wasn't just crazy; she was dangerous, twisted by a sense of entitlement -- believing everyone owed her help, and anyone who refused was an enemy. Unfortunately, people like that definitely existed -- and in surprising numbers.
Amanda asked nervously, "Daniel, is this really bad luck for me?"
"Maybe," Daniel answered cautiously. "Did she hurt you? Scratch you?"
"No," Amanda said, "She's too slow to catch me."
Daniel reflected, "You lost over a thousand dollars and your bag, wasted time, had your work affected, and got frightened. That's definitely unlucky."
Amanda gave a small, resigned laugh. "If my bad luck ends with this, I can live with it."
"Let's hope so," Daniel replied.
Still, something about the situation nagged at him, refusing to settle.
...
Sure enough, the next day Amanda called again, voice anxious and scared. "Daniel, something's wrong."
Daniel's expression darkened. "What is it?"
Amanda's voice shook as she explained, "I keep seeing gross things in my food -- maggots, flies. I even got a bad nosebleed, like I've never had before. And, there's something weird going on in my house. Things move by themselves in the kitchen."
Daniel's heart sank. This was no ordinary problem -- something supernatural was creeping in.
"Stay home, don't go out. I'm coming over."
He hung up and rushed to Amanda's house. Soon, Daniel parked outside and let himself in with his key.
The first thing he saw was bloody tissues scattered across the floor. Amanda was curled up on the sofa, hugging her knees tightly, two wads of tissue stuffed in her nostrils.
When she spotted Daniel, relief lit up her eyes. She jumped up and ran toward him.
"Wait a second," Daniel held up a hand and went straight to the kitchen. Though he found no malevolent presence there, his heart was heavy.
He returned to the living room where Amanda instantly threw herself into his arms, pressing close with a desperate need for security. Much of her fear seemed to ease in his embrace.
Yet Daniel felt something else -- a dark energy clinging to Amanda herself.
Gently pushing her back, he studied her carefully.
"This is Curse Power," he said grimly. "You've been cursed."
Daniel knew this kind of malevolence well. Tanusha and her husband had once used this very method to give him trouble.
Now, Amanda was under the same sinister grip.
"A curse?" Amanda's face drained of color. "Could it be that old woman from yesterday?"
"Possibly," Daniel said. "A curse needs a medium. When you got your wallet back, did anything strange happen? Did anything else fall into her hands?"
Amanda shook her head. "I took everything out and checked -- only the cash was missing."
"Can cash be used for a curse?" she asked.
"Usually no," Daniel explained, "unless it was soaked in your blood or other body fluids."
"No, it was just normal money."
"Then it must be something else."
Daniel thought back. "You said she grabbed you yesterday?"
Amanda nodded. "Yes, but I dodged her. She didn't catch me."
"Did she touch you at all?"
Amanda remembered, "Not me directly -- it was my clothes she grabbed."
Daniel asked, "What were you wearing? Bring me those clothes."
"I was in a shirt. It should be in the washing machine."
Amanda quickly retrieved it. Daniel frowned as he examined the shirt.
"A button is missing. Didn't you notice?"
Amanda looked and realized he was right.
"I didn't see it. I took the shirt off when I got home and threw it in the wash."
"This button might have been used as the medium for the curse."
Amanda's face paled further. "What do we do now?"
"The easiest way to break a curse," Daniel said firmly, "is to find its source. If we find the curser, we can lift it."
Amanda's anger sparked. "That damned old woman! I know where she lives. Let's go find her."
*****
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