Shadow of a Grave ✧ Sebastian Sallow

*chapter twenty-nine ✧ in a kingdom by the sea

Heaven, Iowa by Fall Out Boy

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Warning: This chapter includes mature content.

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The lighthouse cabin was dark inside as the moonlight began to creep in through the windows. The silence was briefly interpreted by the crackle of dying embers of burning wood, slowly cooling in the fireplace. It was dark with only the faded low orange hue that reflected dimming lighting on the rest of the cabin. There was evidence of someone staying in the once-abandoned home adjoining the lighthouse and they were likely somewhere nearby.

Sebastian Sallow moved slowly around the house as if he had been an unwanted mouse crawling around in search of something.

Doors hadn't been locked, there were no wards on the property, and the fireplace had not been charmed to keep burning. None of that had made sense to him as he tucked the walnut wand into his pocket, feeling safe enough to not worry about carrying it in hand.

And the more he looked around the living corridors the more it confirmed someone had been there recently. Empty cups sat in the sink patiently waiting to be cleaned. A bed had been messily put back together. Layers of unkempt blankets piled high and softened pillows laid flat. All of the chores could have been completed with simple spells and instead were left undone like a trail of breadcrumbs.

There hadn't been anything unique of hers like he'd hoped to find. No books piled by the bedside or cups of half-finish tea that had gone forgotten and cold on random tables.

It had been days since the owl had arrived with the secretive message and Sebastian had been so positive this had been the home the witch suggested. He kept wandering around the lighthouse in hopes of finding something of hers. A sign that this was where he was meant to be, that's all he wanted. But everything was so basic and plain that he wasn't sure what to think.

Once all the rooms were checked and empty, Sebastian began to head up to the twisting stairwell to the top of the lighthouse. To the beckon of light that called out from the shoreline.

The tapping of rain bounced off the hollow walls as he made his way up confirming that the storm had finally reached land.

It must have just been a forgotten lantern left burning at the stop that he'd seen. The rain would put it out soon and he tried to tell himself that he shouldn't be too concerned about it.

A lot was rushing through his mind as he ended up the long whining stairwell to the top deck. It had been years since he last visited the lighthouse with her. Months had passed since he had first found the courage to knock on her front door. It had been two hundred eighty-nine days exactly since the night she died and each second that went by without her ate away at his soul.

Climbing to the top of the lighthouse had felt wrong without her. There had been no sign of her below, but he felt like he couldn't leave until he checked everywhere.

At any point, Sebastian could have stopped heading up the stairs and turned around to go back to the inn. The only thing he'd likely find was a confused lighthouse keeper who came back to the old abandoned building. But he couldn't shake the feeling that she had been there somewhere.

I promised her that this would be our home. It was all he could think to himself.

There was nowhere else that belonged to them both. Feldcroft hadn't been home for a long time. The Undercroft had been ruined by his fight. Hogwarts had become home to Sebastian, but he didn't think it was her home. The Gaunt Manor and London itself were never where she should have been. It was the ocean that called her name, that had been what she wanted, this had to be home.