Chapter 24

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

Sebastian ran out the front door and onto the steps of town hall. He looked up but couldn't see the shade or James anywhere. He swore his heart stopped.

He stumbled onto the sidewalk, trying to drag in breaths but not feeling like any air was making it to his lungs. Where had they gone? He needed to get James back. He couldn't live without James.

Hazel and Eli appeared at his side, their hands on him, pulling him up from the pavement. Sebastian hadn't been aware he'd fallen to his knees.

"Where did it go?" Eli's strangled voice broke Sebastian's haze.

"We need to find it," Sebastian rasped. "I'm not letting James go. He can't leave!"

"We know. We'll find him." Hazel gripped his shoulder tight. "But we have to be careful. Look." Her voice shook on the last word.

Sebastian blinked at her, confused, and followed her gaze toward the street. His despair-soaked mind hadn't processed the thousands of shades now packed into the town center. He sucked in a breath. They were fucked. It was too many to fight by such a ridiculous margin that no room was left for hope, not even by the most delusional standards.

All the streetlights had been busted out, making it the darkest town had ever been, and looking up, it no longer seemed like night but like a void lay above them, empty and black. Everything else was a sea of shadowy bodies, eyes, and claws. The only space free of shades was the small patch of grass in the center of the road, surrounding the tall stone marking the founding of Moonlight Falls.

For an odd moment, it almost looked like the stone was glowing, the only light in a world of dark.

Sebastian pointed. "Do you see that?"

"The stone? So?" Eli sounded frantic. "How are we going to find James? Parker is in bad shape and Eleanor is insisting on driving him to the hospital in Apple Valley."

Sebastian couldn't stop staring at the stone. It wasn't exactly glowing, but something about it drew his attention in a way nothing ever had before. He felt like he was losing his mind.

"Why did the shade tell me to stay here where I'm needed?" Sebastian asked as his thoughts spun. "It's like it knew I couldn't leave."

"I don't know, Sebastian. Who cares?" Hazel tugged on him frantically. "We have to do something. We can't stay here."

Sebastian couldn't concentrate on what she was saying. It was like he'd fallen into himself and wasn't sure he'd ever get back out. He was in desperate need of action but unable to move. It hurt. Fuck, it hurt like nothing else in his life ever had.

He pulled at his hair, gaze locked on the stone. "Does it know I'm tied to the veins? Can it tell? If it used the veins to create its darkness, maybe it can see that I'm part of it."

Hazel and Eli didn't respond to his frantic questions, but Sebastian didn't care.

This invasion from Beyond couldn't have anything to do with his curse. His family had not created this problem, but that didn't mean Sebastian wasn't connected to it because of the veins. If he and the veins were one, and the veins were holding the darkness here just as they held Eli, Hazel, James, and Parker captive, then was he responsible for holding the darkness here too? Could he release the imposing shadow from the veins? Could he disconnect the spells that bound everything together?

"Look!" Eli pointed at something behind the stone.

The massive shade that had taken James appeared on the grass. It was setting something on the ground. Sebastian couldn't see clearly but knew in his soul that it was James.

Sebastian grabbed Eli's shoulders. "Does the stone sit on top of the vein running through town?"

"What?" Eli gave him a bewildered look.

"Does it?" Sebastian shook him.

Eli jerked away. "Yeah, it does."

The stone and the vein's positioning felt significant, but Sebastian wasn't sure why. He had to get to James. He had to use everything he knew to save him. He hadn't finally found the one person who'd chosen him, only to lose him like this. He would not let the good in his life be ruined. He needed James. He needed this town and the people living here to be safe. He was going to make his home here and live out his days with the man he loved, and nothing would stand in his way.

Sebastian deserved better than to lose it all like this. He'd been through hell and survived despite wanting to give up every day he'd been imprisoned. A horde of beasts from Beyond was nothing compared to the years he'd spent alone. He wouldn't let them ruin the life he'd fought so hard for.

Anger and determination burned inside him. There was a vein running underground a hundred feet away, and he was going to test Eli's theory and see if he could use it. He'd suffered through his curse, bound to the natural magic of this region, and now he was going to take his due. If the magic in the veins was part of him, he would force it to do something good for once .

He sprinted down the sidewalk.

"Where are you going?" Eli yelled after him.

Sebastian didn't look back as he lunged into the crowd of shades. They hissed and scratched at him but didn't grab or pin him down. He pushed his way through, running as fast as he could until he was level with the stone on the north end of the circle.

The vein was beneath him, and he was going to steal its power.

He knelt on the ground and splayed his palms on the asphalt. Shades pulled at his hair and others jabbed his back. He ignored them. He needed to find the connection that Eli thought was there. If he couldn't, he'd lose everything. He'd lose James and the life they were meant to have together. If he had to go through that, Sebastian would lose himself too.

Sebastian delved within, feeling his own magic. It was familiar, not very strong, and weakened from the day's fights. He prodded at it, trying to find the shape of it. Somewhere inside was a link to the vast power beneath his feet.

He couldn't find it. His arms shook from holding himself off the ground. His knees ached, pressing into the road, but it was no good. There was nothing there. He felt no link, nothing beyond himself, his aching body, frazzled mind, and mediocre power.

The realization this wasn't going to work paralyzed Sebastian with hopelessness. It reared its head like the mother of all the internal demons he'd been fighting for years had finally come to end him.

James was going to die. Sebastian would lose him, and so he might as well die too. He couldn't save James, and maybe in the end, that meant he wasn't worthy of good things. Because he'd failed. If he deserved better, then why couldn't he prove it and keep the one person he needed more than anything?

Sebastian wished the ground would open up and swallow him so it would be over. He hated that he'd found someone to love and lost them. It hurt more than if James had chosen to leave. It was like a taunt. A tease, showing him what he could have had. But all he deserved was to be buried in the ground like his uncle and everyone who'd come before them. Alone.

Sebastian pictured himself in the ground, not even in a coffin, surrounded by dirt, as tears fell down his cheeks. Something about the image felt right, like he was coming home. Like he'd always been underground.

Something stirred within him, responding to his envisioned homecoming to the earth. It was like a small crack. His magic quivered before giving way to a vast ocean of power.

The smell of dirt and decayed leaves filled Sebastian's nose. He didn't need a connection to the vein beneath him because he and the veins were one. He was beneath the earth as much as he was kneeling in the street. He felt himself and his vast power moving through the soil, and he clung to it.

He felt along the vein until he found something cold and foreign. He knew in his gut it wasn't part of him. He pulled on it, and pain shot through his skull.

"Fuck." Sebastian spat blood on the ground. He'd bitten his tongue without realizing. It had to be the darkness he'd felt, but he didn't know what to do about it. It was tied to him, but he didn't know how to dislodge it.

He shook himself. He needed to get to James first. Everything else could wait.

Sebastian pushed himself up. As he stood, he pulled the power of the veins with him. It flooded his human body like fire. He let out a pained wail but didn't stop drawing on the raw energy that was apparently a part of him, yet not meant for a human to possess. It heated his skin and sent pain down every one of his nerve endings.

Something blue crackled at his fingertips.

Sebastian stepped forward, unsteady at first, then with more confidence as he pushed the pain away. He moved toward the stone, breathing heavily like he'd run a marathon. The shades let him pass, some hissing and cocking their heads while others stared without blinking.

The large shade's voice filled his head, and he pushed himself to move faster. It was chanting unfamiliar sounds, and Sebastian could feel the magic of Moonlight Falls responding.

A nearby shade lunged at him. Sebastian grabbed it with his electric-blue sparking hands, and with a flare of bright-blue light, the shade burst into nothing. The ones around it screeched and grabbed at him. He fought them off, letting power loose from within him without restraint. He pushed the beasts out of the way, banishing them with sparks of blue energy, and no matter how many times he did it, the power within him never diminished.

Sebastian stumbled onto the grass in front of the stone and looked up. The dark form of the shade loomed above him. It had a stone dagger held aloft in one limb and clutched James in the other. It stood frozen, its faceless attention fixed on Sebastian.

Sebastian launched himself forward. A black tendril caught him around the waist, and he cried out in surprise. He grabbed hold of the tendril but instead of feeling icy pain, he only felt the hot power burning through him as he scorched the shadow away.

The tendril screamed and broke off from the rest of the writhing mass on the ground, bursting into nothing. Sebastian thrust his hands toward the shade holding James captive and willed power to flow out of him. He screamed with the effort, his head spinning sickeningly as energy tore through him.

The shade was saved from the onslaught by a swarm of tendrils rising to intercept Sebastian's blast. The air filled with their shrieks. Sebastian tried again, only to be met with more expendable tendrils. He couldn't get his power to reach the shade.

"Leave Moonlight Falls," Sebastian shouted. His head pounded. He searched the power within him until he came to that cold patch, clinging to the vein like a parasite. He directed all his concentration and energy toward it, burning it.

The shade in front of him screamed. Sebastian's ears popped and his concentration broke as pain stabbed through his head. He retched bile onto the ground and swayed, legs almost giving out. He felt nauseated and broken and was surprised his head hadn't literally split open. His vision went spotty, and he barely managed to stay standing.

The chanting sounds he'd heard earlier began once more. Sebastian looked up in time to see the stone knife swinging downward, aimed straight at James's neck.

He screamed, and it felt like his head exploded as he sent a stream of blue power at the knife. It hit with a clap like thunder, and the stone dagger shattered into a million small pieces that fell harmlessly onto James like dust.

It was only a momentary relief. The shade growled and tossed James to the ground. It glided over him toward Sebastian, who sent another head-splitting burst of power at the beast only to be intercepted by more tendrils.

Sebastian dry heaved, his vision blacking out for a second. He might never run out of energy with the veins at his disposal, but that didn't mean his body could do this forever.

He blinked away the fog of unconsciousness threatening him and lunged out of the way just in time as the shade tried to grab him. He needed to end this soon. James needed to be taken care of. Sebastian couldn't waste any more time. He concentrated on the tendrils of shadow writhing on the ground. There seemed to be a dark center that didn't move. He aimed for it, sending power into its depths.

As the blow struck, the shade grabbed Sebastian around the middle with both limbs and squeezed. The air whooshed out of Sebastian's lungs, but his hit had found its mark. All the tendrils burst, unable to break away from the center and save any one piece .

But it was too late. The shade was crushing him.

Sebastian dug his fingers into the dark limbs constricting him, sending power hurtling through his body and into the beast. The shade jolted. Its eerie yell pierced Sebastian's eardrums as it released him. Sebastian found his feet and turned to face the shade, wobbling and sucking air into his aching chest. He sent another jolt of magic at the shade, and without the tendrils to take the blow, it hit.

The shade staggered but didn't burst.

Sebastian growled in frustration and growing exhaustion. "Leave," he grunted and struck again.

The shade's yell sounded weaker this time as it staggered back farther. "I will come back. Beyond is not for the living. You can't kill me."

Fear gripped Sebastian, but he couldn't let it stop him. "How did you even get here?" he rasped as he gathered power, hoping to hit the shade with a ball of power larger than anything he'd cast so far.

The shade cocked its blank head. "You already know the answer to that, Gatekeeper."

Dread filled Sebastian, but there was no time to stop and think about it. He pulled as much power to him as he could and let it loose. Raw magic burst from his fingertips and hit the shade straight in the chest. There was no scream this time. The beast seemed oddly frozen as the power ran from Sebastian into its dark form. Then, it exploded in a burst of light.

The smaller shades crowding around hissed and shrank back. Sebastian's knees hit the grass, his legs no longer able to hold him up. Sebastian only had eyes for James. His James. The light of his life slumped on the ground.

He crawled forward. "James, babe, oh, James." He rolled James over and cradled his slack face. "James," Sebastian sobbed.

He needed to pull it together. James needed warmth, rest, and food. An IV would be ideal, but there was no hospital in this damn town.

An increasingly loud hissing sound broke through his worried thoughts. He looked up to see the shades all around him closing in. The ones farther back in the crowd had floated up, forming a domed wall of wispy bodies, claws, and onyx eyes. All Sebastian could see was shades in every direction save for the grass beneath him.

Sebastian clutched James to his chest. Even with the vein's power, there were too many shades. His body was wrecked from the magic he'd already done. He had power, but his head was throbbing so badly that it was getting harder and harder to see. He couldn't blast all these shades back to Beyond. It would kill him.

He needed light. Even the light-resistant shades hadn't been seen in direct sunlight. He needed to banish the darkness and bring back the sun, or else he'd never be able to get past these beasts and get James to safety.

He rested his head on James's leather-clad chest and breathed in his scent. It calmed him. James was who he was doing this for. He would do anything for James, no matter how hard or how much it hurt.

Sebastian found the cold darkness clinging to the veins and focused all the energy he had access to on that one point. Pressure built inside him, in his head, more and more, making him fear it would never end. Right when he couldn't take it, the power exploded, burning inside him and making him scream.

The air around him dropped to a bone-chattering cold. The burning power and the frosty air warred in a battle that seemed to go on forever. Sebastian felt his breaths growing shallow. He couldn't do it. The darkness's hold was too strong.

But the darkness wasn't part of Sebastian. It wasn't part of Moonlight Falls and needed to leave, and Sebastian didn't think he could stop trying to banish it if he even tried, not now that he'd started. He was stuck. He'd either succeed or die.

Blinding light burst in front of Sebastian's closed eyes. The power he wielded overwhelmed the darkness at last, and the thing clinging to the veins let go. He forced his eyes open and looked up, his whole body shaking as the stone turned white, light radiating from it in all directions.

The shades shrank back, and just when Sebastian feared it wasn't enough, the stone seemed to burst and daylight erupted around them.

A blindingly bright, clear blue sky shone above his head. Shades hissed and screeched, hundreds of them bursting into smoke instantly. Any that remained fled, seeking shadows or dark crevasses to escape the sun. Soon, the street was clear.

Sebastian blinked. The stone hadn't burst after all. It was still standing as tall as ever right in front of him. Huh , was his last thought before he lost consciousness, his head falling back onto James's chest.