Invisible String - Sebastian Sallow

Thirty-One: In the Shadow of Protection

"I'll be fine! Besides, you'll be right there in Feldcroft, keep an eye for trouble and-"

I held up a hand to stop her from talking. Eyes closed, I shook my head, letting my shoulders sag. She was fire, much like me, and once she started down a path there was little hope to retrieve her from it.

"You do realize that in Feldcroft, there's no anti-apparition spells? What if they get a hold of you before I can stop them and they take off with you? I won't be able to find you!"

"Sebastian, that's not going to happen," she groaned, extracting her hand from mine and moving towards her potions stations in the lower room. Hands clenching at my sides, I tried to breathe deeply and calm the anxiety in my chest.

There was no help for it. How did she not understand? How was she so blatantly ignoring that her running off on her own has resulted in exactly that before? We had just relived it, just been forced to watch exactly that take place.

"It has before!" I shouted at her back, the anxiety winning. She paused, hair whipping over her shoulder as she stopped abruptly, turning to look at me, her eyes wide with surprise. "It has. He took you and I've never forgiven myself for letting you go alone."

She walked over to me, her eyes shining. Unshed tears brimmed along the surface of them, making my heart hurt. Tears were unworthy of her, and I cursed myself for being the thing that caused them to spring up. I reached up, tucking the all too familiar hair away from her face, letting my fingers gingerly drag down her throat.

"That wasn't your fault," she whispered gently, reaching for my other hand.

My fingers grazed the scar on her throat; marred skin still looking angry despite the years that had passed. "I can't have anything happen to you," I whispered, fingers still grazing the scar.

Abbi tried to move away from my touch, "Don't, I know it's not-"

"It's part of you," I whispered. "Beautiful, even if how you got it wasn't."

She gulped and nodded gingerly, her eyes looking at mine intensely. "W-Would it help if I got invisibility potions?"

"Your magic was bothering you again," I whispered, not answering her question. "Was it Isadora?"

She shivered as my fingertips ran from her throat, down her side slowly, my gaze locked on hers still. I watched her eyes dance across my face, thoughtful.

"How did you-"

"I know you better than anyone. That's how," I answered before she got the question fully out. The hand in hers gave a hard squeeze. "Which was it?"

"It was mine," she whispered. Excitement flooded through me. Another wisp was calling to her, and I wanted to follow her to it. "When I was thinking about Feldcroft."

"Tell me," I whispered, pulling her so she was pressed into my body, my lips by her ear, surrounding myself in the familiar scent of honeysuckle and vanilla. "Tell me, Abbi."

She rolled her head slightly to the side, voice shaking lightly as she spoke. "I-" she paused here, taking a breath as my lips grazed her ear. "It calls to me. Talks to me. But we can't."

We.

This was something she wanted to do together.

Me and her.

"Why?" I hummed against her ear as my fingers continued to dance lightly up and down her side, the fabric of her blouse irritating me. I pressed my lips to the scar I had been running my fingers over. I couldn't heal it any more but I could keep showing her I didn't mind it.