The Devil Doesn't Bargain (MatD part 2)

Chapter EIGHTEEN - Ten Years

(Black Out Days - Phantogram)

Our return to the Undercroft left flame touched blacks on our fingertips and ripped stitches from our hearts. 

Just as the fog swallowed us from the memory and tossed us through the darkened room, my eyes clung to the dripping wax off the candle. It's flame now smothered and smoldering over an eagerly dimming trace of orange light.

"We all deserve the loosened noose of our pain." Isidora whispered as our bodies tumbled back to the familiarity of the Undercroft. "And what's more..."

Wind whipped around our folded limbs, the smoke climbing up the wall where the door had once been and pulled something shining and silver from the cracks as the final stone clicked back in to place. It dangled just above our heads before pooling into my palm.

A necklace of some sort, shining, new and arched in the center the size of a small marble.

"...you can remove it completely."

And that was that. 

The smoke dissipated through the air and we were left in the dark, silent and breathless together.

My mind turned over and over and over for what felt like ages before any of us dared to stir.

"She could have at least re-lit our bloody candles." Sebastian huffed.

"I've got them." Anne's smooth voice whispered, as the end of her wand pulsed gently in warm shades of red. She begun dipping the tip to the candle wicks one by one, the shadow of Ominis worrying his lip not far away. "You get Atley."

I felt Sebastian before I saw him, the rough pad of his finger tracing around my pinky carefully.

"You want to talk about it sweetheart?" He pressed a quick kiss to my temple. "Or do you need a moment?"

Though I wasn't looking at him, I could feel the firm set of his jaw and the tightness of his muscles - a familiarity to a Sebastian who was holding back his anger.

I couldn't help the laugh, the sound unnatural.

"What? No- I'm fine! That didn't happen! Isidora got it wrong." Another snort. "Surely my memory wasn't the only incongruence..." Delirium dipped beneath my skin as I watched the eyes of my companions, dropping Isidora's necklace into one of my pockets.

Anne had brought nearly half of the candles in the room back to a quiet blaze, her wand paused above another as she watched me with heavy eyes, a gentle shake to her head.

Sebastian's eyes held much the same weight, brows pulled tight and jaw pressed stiffer still.

Even Ominis' pale gaze, locked with frightening accuracy near my figure, clasped hard around a deep set pity that twisted my gut. "I'm afraid those memories in their entirety were far too accurate." 

"The flame is true. You cannot hide the truth." Anne recited Isidora's words as if they hadn't already been pounding inside my skull.

Sebastian stiffened, eyes dropping to his feet in thought.

"No? My parents loved me. They would never- I didn't-" Simple sentences seemed impossible to complete.

"How old were you." Sebastian's words cut through my thoughts.

"What?"

"In the memory. How old were you?"

"Um... I don't know? Six? Seven?"

Sebastian squeezed his eyes shut at that, raking his hand through his hair and shaking his head back and forth. His hand dropped from mine.

"My parent's would never hurt me-" I tried again. "They were always kind and thoughtful. They were the best people I have ever known-" My eyes started to well with tears, the thought of the two people I loved most being anything other than perfect cutting deeper than the thought of them hurting me.

Anne had quickly tossed a charm to the remaining flames and returned to me, her cold hands wrapping around mine.

"Atley, look at me."

Sebastian was pacing now.

Anne watched her brother, eyebrows softening and features dropping a moment before she returned to addressing me.

I shook my head, keeping my eyes firmly on the floor, noting the way one of my laces had loosened and was now tracing the dirt below my boots.

If I didn't acknowledge their seriousness, I didn't have to accept mine.

"Atley." Her fingers squeezed mine, pressing forward though I tried to drown it out. "Even if they didn't  physically hurt you-"

"They suppressed your magic Atley." The gravel in Sebastian's voice startled me more than his words. "Even though at least one of them wielded magic themselves."

I dared to peek up, his eyes wild and fingers clenched into fists at his sides.

"Ten years." His voice caught and he paused a moment to reset it, all but snarling. "At the very least."

"They didn't hurt me-"

"No?" The slight laugh, tight behind his words, made me shiver. "They only condemned you to something far worse."

"We don't know that." Ominis spoke quickly. "She's far too old- she's still alive, perhaps it didn't-"

"And if it did? How much longer does she have?"

"Sebastian." Anne warned.

My own anger begun to bubble up. "Can someone tell me what the fuck we're talking about?"

Anne's warm eyes pulled back to mine, tracing over my face as if she could see below my skin. "Sebastian is worried you could be an Obscurial."