Invisible String - Sebastian Sallow

Chapter Twenty-Five: In the Shadow of Sin

As if he could sense this, he stepped away momentarily, sealed into the shadowy tomb of the Scriptorium.

"Focus, Abbi," he coaxed again, and so I did.

Clearing my mind of all thoughts, easier now without the delicious scent of Sebastian Sallow right behind me, I allowed my magic to flow freely. In Feldcroft, I'd been a nervous wreck, distraught about having upset Anne, thinking Sebastian thought me a monster.

Here, with him watching on in the shadows, standing in the camber of my very first exposure to dark magic, my own magic purred in delight, relishing the presence of multiple darkening souls.

Finally you've come.

The voice growled inside of me. The voice of the magic was more forceful this time, stronger, more dangerous. Part of my mind wanted to run away from it, not liking how the tone had changed from comforting to demanding.

The other part of me was filled with insatiable desire to let it escape my veins, the magic pulling at every nerve ending in my body, wiping every single extra thought from my mind. The same deafening ringing filled my ears, taking all other sound from me.

The hallway, it whispered to me. Take him to the hallway.

I opened my eyes, finding the chamber was not as dark as it had been previously, as though my magic was granting me the ability to see into the shadows and find him. He was standing only a few feet to my left, leaning on a bookshelf, watching me intently.

I walked over to him, lacing his fingers in mine and guiding him down the dark steps of the small chamber and said softly, in a voice that sounded foreign to me, "We need to go into the hallway."

The voice, foreign but most definitely mine, filled the room with a tense energy. His hand was locked tightly to mine, his thumb tracing small circles on the outside of my thumb, as though to calm me.

Following the aching sensation the magic was giving me, I led us into the hall, where, upon exiting the Scriptorium, the door we'd opened two years prior resealed itself.

"I can't believe I let the two of you talk me into this!"

"Ominis, let me think, please," Sebastian groaned, annoyed but a slight edge of panic to his voice.

I stared at him as he paced by the end door, black and moving, shining like oil, pained faces etched into it.

My heartbeat raced wildly, mind starting to whir a thousand miles an hour. The memory of last time we'd been here raced through my mind and the echos of my screams reverberated around my head.

Sebastian's hand was in mine, the magic pulling at my veins painfully.

"Crucio!"

I screamed as pain ripped my limbs, as I fell to the floor in front of Sebastian, Ominis shouting in the distance of the chamber, his words indistinguishable to me.

I tried to focus harder, but no matter how hard I tried to focus on the magic, my breathing only got faster as I remembered the pain. It was as it had been at dinner with Poppy. A moment of clarity.

How could I have been so stupid?

We were trapped, the wisps of magic nowhere to be found, my veins still aching as the magic kicked angrily inside of me, leaving us with only one way out.

I was on the floor, screaming, the spell tearing through my body- Ominis was screaming, the spell cracking, Sebastian focused-

"Abbi, stay here," Sebastian's voice cut through demanding my attention. "You're alright."