A Moment of Weakness// Sebastian Sallow

{Chapter 27}

Eden

Thoran's emotionless figure begins a quickened pace toward us, Rowan's hand still clutching the hilt of his knife, his body moving us backward more and more. Thoran's pace slows down a few feet in front of us, his hand positioned on his wand as he looks at us with curiosity. I see Rowan's hand waver, unsure of what to do.

"Eden?" Thoran questions, his head cocked as he looks at us. He relaxes his face, more emotion slowly creeping into him.

"Thoran?" I question, moving out from behind Rowan who seems increasingly more confused.

"I've been searching Hosgmeade like crazy trying to find you. Sebastian is worried sick about you. I came to come get you but instead, you're hiding away in an alley with him." Thoran says, crossing his arms as he looks at Rowan.

Rowan relaxes his posture, looking over at me with an apologetic look.

"I'm sorry... I thought it was something else." Rowan mutters, a bit embarrassed to be admitting his faults.

"Let me go talk to him," I say silently, moving closer to become face-to-face with my twin.

I loom closer to Thoran, his familiar face pulling into a smile the closer I get. His brown hair clings to him in a wild display, his eyes-

Where are the freckles in his eyes?

I pause staring down my brother's serious face. He looks like Thoran, his face and voice all the same.

"We should go-" Thoran begins, his hand tightly grabbing my wrist as he begins to pull. I feel myself drop the sketchbook, his grasp only tightening as I try and writhe away.

"Thoran cut it out-" I begin, my pull now a full-blown thrash in his unusually strong grasp.

He snaps his head at me, delivering a strike across my face and throwing me fully off guard. I feel my head spin, his voice more distant as it changes in deliverance.

"There's always a missing detail isn't there." Thoran hisses, his eyes still fully on me.

A whistle sends him looking up my body flying backward and away from him as a knife drives itself into his neck. I feel myself suppress a scream as I reach for him, Rowan's hands are already on me, pulling me to my feet.

"It's not him-" Rowan begins, he is cut off by a shrilling noise permeating the air from Thoran,

His eyes once closely related to that of Thoran's are now empty pits. His hands once gripping me firmly are no more than twisted bony claws surrounded by fragments of rotten flesh. Little by little the creature pulls away at its disguise, its voice giving us a small snicker as I look at it in utter fear.

"He wants her back Rowan," The creature says maniacally, pulling the knife free from its neck before digging it into the ground.

"W-What is that?" I whisper, Rowan's hand now on his wand.

"It's one of your father's mutts." He lets out, my eyes averting to the fallen sketchbook only a few feet away.

Without thinking, and for reasons beyond my control, I surge forward, everything in me telling me to grab the sketchbook. The creature smiles at this action, his hand raising up to swing down on me the minute my fingers grasp the leather cover. I yank it close to me, my face inches away from the creature's twisted grin.

Rowan is quick on his feet, already yanking me away as the creature's hand comes down. I feel a hitch in his breath as its claws hit the pavement. It lets out a frustrated groan, still, I don't turn around.