The Prophesy of S

Chapter 23

I woke up to complete darkness in the Undercroft. With the way my eyes ache as a way to beg for more sleep, I either woke up with barely any sleep or I'm just that exhausted from what happened earlier. I was about to shut my eyes and go back to sleep, but a sound hit my ears. It was faint that I nearly missed it. The sound came again a moment later, a little louder. It was a small whimper.

"...Anne," my ears picked up this time. "Anne...please." That was Sebastian's voice. Is he still asleep?

I reached for my wand and casted Lumos. A quick view of Sebastian's pocket watch told me it was after five in the morning.

After another moan from Sebastian, I went and lit a hanging candelabra that provided a low orange glow in the room. I crawled to his side and sat beside him. When the sounds of distress continued, I ran my hand through his hair gently in hopes to pacify him. A moment of repetitive motions got him to relax. His body became less tense, and the troubled look on his face turned peaceful. He let out a long sigh and finally settled down.

As I continued soothing him, I thought about what caused his restless sleep. Obviously, it had something to do with his sister, if calling out her name in his sleep was anything to go by. What was happening in his dream? Was it like the dream he had of me that one time? It wouldn't surprise me he was becoming so distressed with what was going on with Anne that his mind would torture him with his worst fears. It happened with me, too.

"It's all right," I whispered. "We'll get through this."

In response, he unconsciously had his arm over my waist and brought me closer to his body. I felt his calm heartbeat and the constant rhythm lulled me back to sleep.

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When I woke up this morning, Sebastian was gone. I expect he woke up before me and went ahead for a bath before breakfast started. But he wasn't at breakfast. I wondered if he was still feeling weak from last night and wasn't in the best shape to attend class. And since I didn't share any classes with him today, I wasn't completely sure. I even sought out Ominis to ask him if Sebastian was in their shared classes, which he answered with a negative, but not before interrogating me about what we got up to that Sebastian didn't show up to their dormitory. I gave a half-truth about being in the Undercroft and we decided to stay overnight so we didn't get caught by prefects after hours. He was suspicious, of course, of what we were doing the whole time in the Undercroft when he knew that Sebastian had the relic he's so opposed to him having. I assured him that we weren't messing around with the relic.

I checked over to the Hospital wing after classes were done to see if Sebastian was there recovering this whole time, but it seems like he was never there when I asked Nurse Blainey. I was really starting to worry when I checked the common room and the Room, and he wasn't there either, or in any of the vivariums.

My worries had to be set aside when Lodgok sent me an owl. He was going to destroy one of Ranrok's drills he found in a mine by the coast. He invited me to join him in this task, but if I didn't show up, we'd meet later with something he had to show me. I rushed over to the mine he marked on a map he sent with the letter. There wasn't a chance I was going to leave him to deal with the drill when the mine was most likely swarming with Ranrok's loyalists.

The mine was nearby the cavern Sebastian and I've gone through just last night. And like the cavern, it was full of goblins right outside, including an armored troll guarding the entrance. Not willing to take down all the goblins at the same time and a troll, I went discreet and disillusioned myself.

When I entered the mine, it was similar to the one I went into with Amit. Up head, I immediately heard voices of the loyalists. Still in my invisibility state, I was able to get farther into the mine a see that there were only two goblins. Without knowing what hit them, I froze them in place, and they fell with a thud on the floor.