Invisible String - Sebastian Sallow

Chapter Twenty-Eight: The Worrisome Dream

I was not being put under some kind of spell by him either.

And I was definitely not kissing Sebastian as I did so.

I didn't remember falling asleep, I barely remembered coming back from Hogsmead. Retracing my steps, I realized we'd taken Poppy and Ominis through the secret passage under Honeydukes. We'd avoided the poachers we'd heard going up towards the castle, hoping they would have no clue I'd even left the castle in the first place. Ominis, in yet another surprise, had offered to walk Poppy back to her common room.

I didn't remember him returning.

My guess, is that I was already asleep on the sofa next to Sebastian.

"Sebastian," I hissed, kicking my foot against the lump of robes next to me. "Sebastian, wake up!"

"Ouch, Abbi, calm down." His voice was groggy, "I'm up, I'm up," he whispered, pushing my still kicking foot away from him. "I'm trying to remember."

Indeed as I took in his features, I noticed the thoughtful scrunch of his brows, the way his lips were pursed as he was lost in thought. "Trying to remember?" I hissed, concern flooding me. Did he mean the dream? Or was he recounting the steps to ending up on the sofa, like I was? "Do you not remember all of it?"

A dark chuckle escaped his lips as he pushed himself into a sitting position, looking at me through heavily lidded eyes. "You misunderstand me," he said, plainly. "I remember it. There are parts of it I want to remember forever."

A deep heat crept through my body, making me shift nervously in my seat. What specifically did he want to remember? I knew for me, I would remember the way he kissed me in that dream forever.

Shaking myself, ignoring the tingling that came with that thought, I smacked his hand. "Be serious, Sebastian!"

He cracked his crooked smirk, "I'm always serious, Abbi."

"Seb, that was different. It was almost like-"

"It felt more like a vision of what's to come. Rather than a changing memory."

I nodded my head, watching his smirk slip away into that thoughtfully studious expression he so often donned. "I didn't recognize that- well, whatever it was you were doing to me when we- when your wand was on my temple."

I flushed again, ducking my head to my hands, very aware of myself and the proximity of him. His arm was draped over my legs, the other running through his hair.

"I didn't either. What did it feel like?"

"Cold. But powerful. Like the wisps."

He nodded, dragging his hand down his freckled face. I could see the stress lining his features, making him look much older than seventeen. He'd already been through so much, dealt with so much, and here I was bringing more unrest into his life.

"He really said it. Just the same as it sounded before Anne."

I blinked at him. "You- you saw that part of the dream too? I didn't see you."

That was something I thought was a given of these dreams. If we were sharing them, we were both present. I'd had the nightmare of Rookwood countless times, it didn't seem out of the norm for me.

He nodded, "I saw all of it. I could have killed him, but there was nothing I could do. I was behind him, watching, but I couldn't move. I couldn't yell."

"Well, he's dead. And so are all of those Ashwinders," I said simply. I tried to feel my magic, tried to feel if there was anything about the phrase that woke it.

The only thing I could feel was Sebastian's hand on my thigh.

"We need more books," he said, changing subjects rapidly once again. "We need to find out what is happening with these dreams, especially if we want to prevent them from coming true."

I nodded my head, just barely, but enough. I wasn't sure what I wanted.

On one hand, I could listen to the magic that always screamed inside of me, and find more wisps. There was something about them; they felt essential to figuring out this mystery. I just knew it, though I didn't know how or why. The more I had, it just seemed like the more I would understand.

We could find the wisps, study them, study what happened each time I took more in and use them.

I could maybe even give one to Sebastian, to show him how it felt to be that powerful.

On the other hand, we had a poacher ring to deal with, who wanted my Phoenix, and who wanted me. They weren't going anywhere, and they would need to be handled before they terrorized the whole of Hogwarts Valley in their search. We still had no idea who was in control, or who wanted me and that Phoenix so badly.

The only thing I knew for sure was that I wanted answers.

"Sebastian, I'm worried about the dreams," I confessed, the words slipping through my lips without my permission. "What if we don't figure it out before it's too late?"

He pondered my words carefully before opening his own pink lips to respond. He sat up straighter, pulling me on top of him so that I was straddling his lap. I gasped at the movement, and holding my head between his hands, forcing me to keep eye contact with him, he spoke softly.

"We will figure this out, Abbi. I won't stop until I know what is happening. I promise."

His brown eyes were as serious as when he told me he wouldn't stop searching for a cure for Anne. They were hard and set, flashing determinedly as he looked into my eyes and into my soul. He didn't release my face, keeping me looking at him as if it furthered his point. His touch sent shivers through my body, and I was instantly reminded of how he held my face in the dream.

Of what he did after he'd grabbed me.

Of how good his magic felt mixing with mine, and how his lips moved along my body.

"And if I fall?"

It was another loaded question, another begging him to understand me. He'd seen me fall to two small wisps, let me torture him to gain the second, and still he sat before me, held me like I hadn't put him through unimaginable pain. His hands were gentle with me, his lips too far away for my liking, but were always so close.

He laughed at this, leaning forward and pressing his forehead to mine, his scent surrounding me and making me tingle all over again.

"Then we fall together," he whispered, shifting around to press his lips to my cheek.

"Sounds like we are in need of a trip into the Restricted Section."

"Just like old times," he smiled at me. The classic Sallow smirk dancing across his features.