15. Raven

FIFTEEN

RAVEN

Igape at Sebastian as he stands before me, arms folded and feet planted firmly, shoulder-width apart. He holds his head high, looking down his nose at me as anger boils deep inside.

My nostrils flare before I can bottle my emotions, revealing the effect of his presence on me. Brax shifts discreetly at my side to place his arm in front of mine, ready to block whatever he deems necessary. His other hand is already balled at his side, ready to swing at any given moment.

“Back the fuck up. Now,” my gargoyle bites out as I keep one hand on my backpack slung over my shoulder.

“Raven, please, give him a chance.” My jaw tics and my eyes widen as I glance past my brother to see Lyra leaning back against her desk, nervously tapping her fingers on her arms.

“You,” I snap, pointing a finger at her as I glance at my brother. “Is this…” My words trail off as I connect the dots. Lyra’s sheepish face as she ducks her head confirms it.

The reason she was disheveled earlier is because she was messing around with Sebastian. Wonderful. Pressing my fingers against my temple, it does little to alleviate the building pressure.

“Please, hear him out, I swear. Use my magic.” She stands, offering out her hand as wisps of magic swirl in her palm.

Flicking my gaze back to my brother, I find his eyes narrowed as he glances between Lyra and me until he settles on me and nods.

“You killed Genie. I should have known,” he states casually, as if he’s reporting on the weather, leaving me to sputter.

“Excuse me,” I start, but he quickly interjects.

“No excusing necessary. I should probably thank you, but we’re past that.”

It’s my turn to frown now as I try to read between the lines of what he’s saying, but it’s too much to break down coming from him. With a sigh, I give him a pointed look. “What could you possibly want, Sebastian?”

He shifts slightly, surprised I’m asking the question. Clearing his throat, he answers. “Your word.”

“My word?” I feel the crease between my eyes deepen, but if he’s aware of how confused I am, he doesn’t show it.

“Yes, and in return, I will help you.”

Brax scoffs, disbelief coming off him in waves as I tilt my head at my brother.

“What could you possibly aid us with? You’re lucky I don’t just kill you right now,” Brax grunts, and Sebastian smirks, rocking back on his heels as he sinks his hands into his pockets.

“Always so grizzly, Brax,” he remarks, earning himself a growl, which makes Sebastian realize just how serious Brax is with his threat. Clearing his throat, he looks back to me. “Is there any point in me speaking if you’re not channeling Lyra’s magic yet? Repeating myself is pointless.”

I purse my lips. He forgets the fact that my mirroring Lyra’s magic is for me to hear him out. It’s for his benefit, not mine. I want to cuss him out and tell him to get fucked, but then the reminder of the lashings he endured filter through my mind, exposing the smallest crack in my walls.

Lyra must sense the leniency in me because she steps closer, coming to my right side with her hand extended. She mouths her thanks, but I ignore her as I grasp at the tendrils of magic I can see.

“So it’s true… you can mirror magic.”

I cock a brow at him. He just heard Lyra mention it, and that’s if she hasn’t already told him before today. What else has she shared with my brother? Fuck. Tamping down my wandering thoughts, I focus on Sebastian again.

“What do you want?”

His gaze shifts between Brax and me as he wets his lips. “What can you do with your magic? What have you learned so far?”

Irritation bubbles in my veins as my gaze narrows at my brother. “That’s not answering my question, Sebastian.”

He rolls his eyes at me, rubbing at the back of his neck. “I’m going to continue with my assumption that you killed Genie. I’m not saying it was on purpose,” he quickly reassures as I open my mouth to speak, but he quiets me once more. “But if you’ve been working on mirror magic, then there is an opportunity to take someone’s magic completely, and my gut tells me that’s why you couldn’t bring Genie back. Necromancers tend to latch on to magic. That’s how this all works for you. You can touch it, take it, claim it. You can do all of that, including snippets.”

“Snippets?” I murmur in confusion, and he nods.

“The power you could have had with my help will forever be wasted,” he murmurs with a sigh, making Brax growl again. “Snippets are like blossoming flowers, so to speak. The magic is the flower in full bloom, and just like with flowers, you can take small parts of it to regrow elsewhere. That’s what you have the ability to do as well.” I frown, confused with his analogy, until he lifts his hand to reveal his magic floating around his palm. “Grasp it.”

I don’t move at first, rendered completely immobile as I consider if he could make this backfire on me. Finally, curiosity gets the better of me and I slip the strands between my fingers.

“Now, from what I’ve read, mirror magic can be performed while you’re touching it. If you completely yank at it, the magic would leave my body entirely with no way to return. However, if you lightly tug, you can pull away the smallest branch for yourself without causing any permanent damage and no longer need the source of the magical presence to use it.”

I blink, and blink again.

That definitely does sound helpful, really fucking helpful, but shit, what is it he wants in response?

Wetting my lips, I keep my hand where it is and meet his stare. “What is it you’re expecting for giving me this information?”

He shakes his head. “This isn’t the information I’m making a deal on. I’m just making you aware.”

“Why?” He waves me off with his free hand, glancing away, but my heart is racing too fast for me to let it go. “Why, Sebastian?”

“You’re going to need somewhere to store all of the tendrils of magic you take a snippet from.” He digs around in his pocket, and a moment later, he reveals a long gold chain with a locket on the end of it. “Tug slightly at my magic first, then you can do Lyra’s and Brax’s if you want, just to be sure you have it right.”

“Why, Sebastian?” I repeat, louder this time so I can hear the words over the pounding of my pulse in my ears.

“Because you’re going to save us. All of us. If you want any chance of that happening, the more magical abilities you have access to, the better.”

Gulping, I layer his words on top of the others he’s already unloaded on me.

“Why are you offering me this now? What’s changed?”

He shakes me off again, his gaze latched onto the locket. “I need you to tug lightly and see what happens. Once you have a little piece of it, you can store it in here.” He opens the clasp on the intricate golden locket to reveal two children’s faces on the inside. Two I’m more than familiar with. It’s me and him.

“Where did you get that?”

“Does she always ask so many questions?” Sebastian asks, glancing at Brax, who grunts in response. I can’t look at him right now to decipher his thoughts on the situation. I need to handle this for myself and I don’t want my feelings to get muddled with his if they’re not aligned quite yet. “It was mother’s,” he finally explains, twisting back to me. “It was one of the few things she left behind after she took you away.”

I roll my eyes at him. “You were more than happy about that fact.”

He raises an eyebrow at me. “Was I?”

“I remember your anger,” I state, nodding.

“I was angry that you were leaving, Raven. What did you expect me to feel?”

He stumps me for a moment, which only irritates me more. “You were an asshole then, too,” I grumble, refusing to accept his words that offer a completely different perspective to the one I’ve clung to all this time.

It feels like he observes me forever, his eyes digging deep into mine, searching for fuck knows what before he sighs, looking down at his hand. “Tug, Raven. Let’s see if this works.”

“And if it doesn’t? If I pull too hard?”

He shrugs. “I’m trusting you not to.”

Well, he’s hopeful. More than me, that’s for sure.

Taking a deep breath, I try to remain as relaxed as possible, which is hard to do when I have Brax, Sebastian, and Lyra watching me at the same time. Keeping my movements light, I avoid the desire to pull as hard as I can like I did to Genie, and after a few soft attempts, a small strand detaches from Sebastian, making me gasp.

“Have you done it?” Brax asks, and I nod without turning to look at him.

Sebastian inches the locket closer and I slowly drop the tendril of magic into it before it snaps shut.

Holy fuck.

I take a step back, completely bewildered with what I’ve just done, as Sebastian looks at me with something that could almost be considered pride, but I quickly dismiss it.

“Did it hurt?” Lyra asks, looking at Sebastian, and he shakes his head.

“I didn’t feel a thing.”

Lyra offers her hand out in response, her magic vining around her fingers as I tentatively inch forward to do the same. It’s easier this time, although the desire to rip the magic from her still remains.

Sebastian helps me store the magic in the locket again before offering it out to me.

“Is this a trap?” Brax asks, and Sebastian offers him a tight smile.

“Not this time,” he mutters in response, and Brax takes the locket from him. My gargoyle drapes the gold chain around my neck, securing the clasp so that I can let the little prison of magic rest against my chest.

I glance back at him with a thankful smile as Sebastian clears his throat. He waits until my gaze is locked on his before he speaks. “I don’t know what it must feel like to be attacked by your own flesh and blood, and I only recall any of it because Lyra uses her magic to help me. I just… I haven’t… I’m…”

My senses tingle, understanding what it is he’s trying to say, but it seems showing any form of vulnerability is a Hendrix issue across the board. “I know, Sebastian.”

“What?” His brows crinkle as he stares at me and I’m suddenly at a loss for words. How do I explain or delve into this without making the situation worse?

“Well, I only think I know,” I start, rubbing my lips together nervously. “But I believe someone is controlling you, which makes me even more concerned that you’re under their influence right now,” I admit.

A darkness casts over his gaze but he quickly shakes it off. “I am. But not now, not in here. Lyra has made this my safe space. Even though she interrupts our time together to let my little sister into her secret room without explaining why,” he adds, giving Lyra a pointed look, and she shrugs.

“I told you, Raven is not a topic I’m willing to discuss. I trust her, and she trusts me. I won’t change that.”

My eyes widen and I hope her words are true, but now isn’t the time to delve into it. Turning back to Sebastian, I want to question him about who may be controlling him, but he seems to have other plans.

“The deal I want to make is to offer to help you with the realms.”

What does that mean?

“And what do you expect in return?” Brax asks, the chords in his neck tightening as he assesses my brother.

Sebastian glances between the two of us before settling his eyes on mine. “The deal is for you to promise to bring me back.”

Bring him back? What does that mean? Just as quickly as I ask myself, I understand. “Why?” I mean, I get why. I’m sure anyone and everyone would want to be saved from certain death, but this seems more specific.

“I know I’m going to die before the week is out,” Sebastian admits, rubbing nervously at the back of his neck.

“How?” This time the question comes from Brax instead.

“I just know.”

Brax shakes his head, clearly not happy with that answer, and Sebastian must sense it too because he’s suddenly pulling out a thick binder from thin air. He nervously hovers for a moment, the binder hanging between us as he thinks, but a moment later, he’s lowering it into my hands.

“What is this?” I ask, my fingers trembling slightly as I stare down at the blank cover.

Sebastian’s hands find their way into his pockets again as his chin lowers. “The reason I know I’m going to die. It contains everything you need to know to combine the realms. Everything you need to help put a stop to all of this.”

“Wait, what do you mean combine the realms?” I meet his gaze to find nothing but sincerity staring back at me.

“I mean, in the right hands, it offers insights into merging the realms. Merging us and… the Realm of Shadows.”