(Please make sure you have read the full trigger warnings list on the Story Details page.)
(It has been too long since we've had a proper song for a chapter, here's hoping you may enjoy this one I had on repeat while writing this chapter. Perhaps start it after the first page break for the best effect: Boadicea by Enya)
Anne's whispers to Ominis, detailing the doorway ahead tingled through the dark. Absent of candlelight, only the illuminated pillar lit our faces, casting odd shadows and shapes.
Sebastian caught my eye, tilting his head to the side and quirking a brow, hand outstretched to the new doorway. "After you, my cabbage."
Anne sniffed a laugh, fingers threaded through Ominis' at some point in the dark. "Atley, how you ever fell for my hopeless brother will always be a mystery."
Sebastian dropped his hand and stuck out his tongue.
Anne returned the sentiment.
"Can we get back to it now please? Spooky old lady trial waiting for us, remember?"
"I thought Isidora and the Keepers didn't see eye to eye." Ominis wet his bottom lip, pulling it between his teeth in thought, clearly having ignored the twins entirely. "Why would she want a trial of her own if she was so insistent on using and sharing her ancient magic. Seems counter-productive."
"Maybe it's to ensure we have the same mindset-"
"Do we?"
The room fell silent again, words lost among the fading candle smoke.
"You don't have to come if you don't want to-" Sebastian eyed his friend carefully.
Anne turned her head, lips parted to speak but he continued quickly.
"...but I- we have to do this. The Keepers aren't helping. Isidora can. I'm sure of it. It might be the only way to sa-" A moment, a deep swallow, a purposefully avoided gaze. "-the only way to get answers."
"No. I should most definitely be coming with. I just- I want us to be cautious is all."
Sebastian smiled. "We know mate."
He held a hand out, brushing his fingers against Ominis' before taking his hand. Anne squeezed Ominis' other while Sebastian held his left out to me.
"Together."
----
The moment the four of us stepped over the threshold, hand and hand, the door behind us pulled tightly shut. A simple click locking our souls to whatever lay ahead.
I blinked repeatedly, willing my eyes to adjust to the dark with no luck.
Stiff
pure
black.
A silent pull tugged suddenly against my chest and if Sebastian's tightened grip was any indication, he felt it too.
We were suddenly tossed forward, a feeling not unlike the whirl of the Floo system or the pull of Niamh's book at the beginning of her trial.
My stomach looped within.
My first glimpse of the space, a single flickering candle amidst an ever expanding room of nothing.
My second, Sebastian, Ominis and Anne still tethered to each other through locked finger bones and tightened friendships.
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The Devil Doesn't Bargain (MatD part 2)
FanfictionWelcome to the sequel for Me and the Devil. This book will take place immediately after the final chapter in MatD and carry us through an entirely continued story. On a quest to learn the depths of ancient magic and reverse a curse, our quartet is d...
