Nevermore

Chapter 23

I S A A C

"Where are they? What's taking them so long?" Shawn repeated for what felt like the hundredth time that night.

"Shawn, for the love God, just relax!" Arthur huffed out in frustration. "They said they were going to be back at ten. It's only half-past-nine."

"No. They said they would be back before ten," Shawn said as he restlessly paced across the parlor. "This is driving me mental! We've been waiting here all night! It's killing me!"

"We haven't been waiting here all night! We just returned from that 24/7 diner down the street!" Arthur countered.

Sighing, Isaac walked over Shawn and gently grabbed onto his arm, leading him toward one of the red armchairs by the fireplace. "Here. Sit down."

"I can't just sit down!" Shawn whined, but Isaac used all his strength to push him down on the armchair.

Isaac then grabbed his bag, taking out a piece of dark chocolate and forcefully handing it to Shawn. "Eat that. It's good for stress and anxiety."

"I'm not stressed!" Shawn complained, but when Isaac threw a meaningful at Shawn's bouncing leg, he fell quiet and grumpily took a small bite of the chocolate.

"Okay, now a little bit of this will do the trick," said Isaac, digging out a small vial from his bag that contain a yellowish liquid. He poured a few drops of it on his hands and then rubbed all his fingertips together to get them all soaked in the oil. With that, he walked up behind Shawn and started rubbing his temples.

Shawn jolted away from him, turning his head to look back at Isaac with wide eyes. "What the bloody hell do you think you're doing?"

"It's lavender oil. It's good for calming the nerves," Isaac explained with a broad smile.

"There's no way I'm letting you put that thing on me! I'll smell like my great grandmother!"

"It's not just about its scent. Lavender has been medically used for more than 2500 years now," said Isaac.

"That's actually true." Arthur nodded in confirmation. "It was even used in ancient Rome, by a Greek military physician who collected medicinal plants."

"And its name comes from the Latin origin, 'lavare', which means 'to wash'," said Isaac, proud at his own knowledge. "It's like saying 'lavender washes all your stress away.'"

Shawn groaned, holding his head in pain. "That was a lot of useless information for twenty seconds."

Isaac rolled his eyes. "Just let me do this, will you? You'll thank me later."

Before Shawn could protest any further, Isaac began massaging his temples again, watching as Shawn's face softened.

"Okay... this isn't too bad," Shawn muttered, taking another bite of his chocolate as he leaned his back against the armchair and allowed himself to relax a bit.

"Thanks. My mum makes the oil herself," Isaac was saying, but just then, they all jumped when the door to the parlor opened and they saw Nicholas and Luca walk inside.

"Took you long enough!" Shawn rose to his feet almost angrily.

"Well? What happened?" Arthur asked, looking at them expectantly.

Isaac noticed the uncomfortable look that Luca and Nicholas shared, as though they were the bearer of bad news that they weren't sure if they could even speak of it.

"There's something we need to talk about," Nicholas said as he glanced over at Shawn, but his voice lacked its usual vim. Something was wrong.

"Spit it out, then!" Shawn said impatiently, darting his eyes from Nicholas to Luca, waiting for one of them to explain what was going on.