Sebastian Bear (complete)

FORTY-ONE

FORTY-ONE

Dinner was sticky rice and burned beans. Madeline picked at her food, careful to hide the expression from showing on her face.

"You have to react quicker than you did if you're going to make it outside," Lucian informed her. "Those Kershanks are the least of your worries."

Kershanks had been the tiny silver bodied fairies that had swarmed her at the lake. She shivered at the thought of them and their hurried words whispered into her ear. She hadn't told Lucian about that, thinking he wouldn't really care about the specifics. They were probably just trying to scare her, like everything else in Lucian's dark world.

"I know. I'm sorry," Madeline responded.

"Sorry doesn't save a life," Lucian continued. "I swear its like training Sebastian all over again. He was never good with directions and he was definitely never good with the lumisphere."

"What's a lumisphere?"

"That ball I handed you that you didn't use," Lucian rolled his eyes. He took a huge bite of rice, swallowing it quickly. "You throw it down hard enough to crack it and it explodes a small dose of heavens light. It stuns the creatures here. It buys you a little time to get away... if you use it."

"There's a heaven?'

"The gods have to lounge somewhere while us peasants fight for our lives," Lucian grumbled.

A soft silence filled the kitchen. Madeline took another brave bite of her food, holding her breath to suppress the urge to gag. 

"Seb used to cook," Lucian shrugged, explaining in not so many words why his skills weren't up to par.

"Seb can cook?" Madeline was surprised.

"Better than this," he gestured to the slop in front of them before taking another hearty bite. "Seb preferred to stay here. One of the last times he went out with me we were cornered by the brothers and it was a close call. After that, he gave any excuse not to leave the house and I didn't push it because ... well why would I? He wasn't meant for this world."

"I don't think anyone is meant for this world," Madeline added.

"You haven't met the Mother yet," Lucian warned.

"Your mother?"

"The- Mother," Lucian corrected. "Those boys that almost got you from the start, that's the brothers... well some of them. There are four of them total, but the older two rarely venture outside the castle walls. The younger ones... they report directly to the Mother. She rules here. You don't want to cross paths with her and if you get taken by her henchmen then you definitely will."

Madeline shivered. She gave up on eating the last bit of her food, instead sipping at the tepid water to her right. She imagined an evil woman sitting in a tower, bidding her evil doings by the way of a quad of dark offspring.

"How long have you been here?" Madeline asked. Lucian looked pensive for a moment, as if he were considering her question but that curious light in his eyes vanished with an inky black within seconds. He stood up, dropping his empty bowl in the sink.

"I don't remember," he answered briskly over his shoulder. He disappeared out of the room, leaving Madeline alone with her thoughts.

Madeline washed the dishes with a small bowl of water and dark gray soap that had seen better days. She wandered through the downstairs, looking at the old portraits of strangers hanging on the walls. She wanted to push her way into the closed doors around the entryway but thought better, considering Lucian could show up and throw her out whenever he chose. She decided instead to find her way to Sebastian's old room and sleep until she was forced to wake. What else was there to do?