You Cannot Put a Fire Out // Sebastian Sallow [Book Three]

Chapter Twenty: Filling in the Gaps

Damien somehow managed to deposit Thomas on the floor before he pitched forward, the world spinning before his eyes.

Rosie knew Jack? They lived at the same orphanage? He was her friend? And Marvolo, of all people, had come to visit him? That couldn't just be a coincidence. There was something nefarious behind it. There had to be. But what? And why? And how could he find out more?

Someone was shouting his name.

Damien slowly came back to awareness, blinking his eyes. His vision cleared, the swirl of colors coalescing back into familiar shapes, familiar people.

His head, tilted to the side, was uncomfortably wet and lukewarm. It seemed he had pitched forward into his plate. Damien shot up abruptly, mashed peas dripping down his face and into his lap.

"My apologies," he stammered out, "I appear to have passed out."

Rosie's eyes were full of tears. Thomas stood stock-still beside Damien's chair, trembling. Anne stared at him with wide eyes. Ominis's jaw was visibly clenched.

"I'm alright now," Damien said, trying to sound as reassuring as possible. "Do continue, Rosie." He took a shuddery breath. "You were saying?"

A solitary tear ran down Rosie's cheek, but she resumed nonetheless. "That man met with Jack a few times. I thought he was going to adopt him."

Anne narrowed her eyes ever so slightly, then seemed to think better of it. She took a deep breath and said, "Did Jack ever speak about him to you?"

She nodded. "Once. To say they were working on something together. That he wasn't being adopted."

"When was this?" Ominis cut in.

"Last summer."

Damien was trying his damndest to get his heart to stop racing in his chest. It wasn't working. It didn't help that he felt sick to his stomach, his meal churning away inside him, threatening to spew out.

"I'm sorry," Rosie squeaked, another tear spilling forth.

Despite how terrible he was feeling, Damien clumsily stood up, his blood rushing to his head. He stumbled to Rosie's side. Crouching down, he said, "No, Rosie. You did nothing wrong. Thank you for telling us." He offered up a hug to ensure she understood he was being sincere. She, thankfully, accepted it.

"That complicates things," Ominis said from across the table.

Everyone had abandoned their meal at this point. Damien stepped away from Rosie and picked up a still trembling Thomas from the floor, settling him on his hip as he began to pace Anne and Ominis's dining room.

"I have a standing invitation from Dinah to duel Jack," he said, completely forgetting that Rosie didn't know that Damien was already familiar with Jack, that Sebastian had taught him.

"Jack's here?" Rosie cried out, wiping at her eyes.

Damien halted mid-stride, searching for the right words, but not finding them, not finding any at all.

"Yes, he's one of Sebastian's students," Anne replied on Damien's behalf.

Rosie's eyes widened.

"I'll accept Dinah's invitation," Damien finally managed to say. And perhaps he could even kill two birds with one stone. If he was at Hogwarts, he'd have an excuse to visit the repository. He could duel Jack, get the information he needed, then take the rest of the magic. It sounded easy enough.

Damien continued, "I'll send an owl to Dinah. I'll stop by the post office tonight."

The rest of dinner went by in a blur. If someone asked Damien the next day what they did, the conversations they had, how he got home, he wouldn't be able to say. He was too consumed by thoughts of how all of this was connected. What was Marvolo up to? And why was Jack involved? Could Jack really be Damien's own flesh and blood? Could the file Anne found be part of all of this too? Would Flamel know? Would Flamel be useful at all?