The Graveyard

Heartlines

   A/N: This chapter contains mature content.

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A light breeze blew, fluttering the pages of the book he had been skimming through. Sighing, he leaned against the headboard and stared out the window, his dark room lit by nothing but the moonlight seeping past the pane and the single candle on his nightstand, drowning in thought as he watched the dark clouds gather, signifying an upcoming storm.

   How much longer?

   "Gods, Eli, I hate reading your mind sometimes." Eleanor grumbled, scrunching down at her brother while she floated around the room in circles.

   He looked her way. "Then don't."

   She huffed. "Snap out of it, reading every spell book there is won't do Corbin any good, we're not sure what happened, and the stupid people at the hospital won't even let you anywhere near him so get some rest, you haven't had a decent night sleep since he got into the hospital, it's like when they first moved and he went unconscious for a month all over again, you're going to exhaust yourself."

   "Eleanor, please, I'm really not in the mood for this right now."

   "Then sleep it off, you'll feel better in the morning."

   He gave her a blank stare. "I can't sleep, and stop hovering around, you're going to give me a headache."

   "You already have a headache, I can feel your headache, and it's giving me a headache, so do us both a favor and get some sleep."

   He sighed heavily, slipping out of his bed to head downstairs, his sister floating after him. He glanced around the house as he went down the steps, taking in how oddly quiet and dim it was. Where was everybody? Could they have gone to sleep already?

   "Aunt Estle's at her boyfriend's, Chloe's with her mommy and Fiji and Dacy are with Victoria." She responded to his mental query, making him halt his feet and look back at her. "What are they doing?"

   She shrugged. "They chained the demon to the great oak and put a spell on her so she wouldn't break free."

   "And?"

   "That was as far as they went, there was no damage whatsoever, I don't know why they're relenting, they told me nothing and they blocked me out of their minds, so I can't really see, hear or read anything, it's annoying." She said, pouting.

   Eli frowned.

   That's weird.

   She hummed in agreement and proceeded to follow him into the kitchen, where he poured himself a glass of water and swallowed it down in one go. She watched him for a minute, contemplating whether she should say it or not ...

   To hell with it.

   "How much do you think things will change?" She finally asked. "With Corbin clearly staying human, will it all go differently? Will you still be here in the morning?"

   He placed the cup down. "I don't want to talk about it."

   She rolled her eyes. "You can't just pretend everything's not off here, I'm just saying, it's all turning out so wrong."

   "You can't change what's already happened." He said quietly, looking down at the glass. "There has to be some sort of explanation behind all this."

   "Well, it's nearly over, Corbin's not turning." She stated. "He's not a Raven, that's a twist in events, a confusing one, I mean, what now? Will history rewrite itself or something?" She inquired, all of her focus on whatever thoughts or feelings came to her from him, but his mind suddenly went blank as he grew unresponsive.