Worth The Shot

Dark Secrets, White Lilies

Today's fanart is by @Picking_Cherries ! They made a modern version of y/n, which is SO COOL because I hadn't thought much about what she'd look like in 2022! I love her jeans and cute little butterfly necklace! Thank you so much for sharing your talent with us!!!

BACK TO THE STORY

Her eyes and mouth  hollowly hung open, glowing a freakish, bright yellow. Radiant, golden  tendrils leeched the life from Pepa's body.

Horrible, guttural moans pealed from her slack mouth, extracted by deceptively beautiful swirls of magic. The gold slivers peacefully swirled around the old man, melting into his mouth and eyes like parasitic worms. You tightly tensed your muscles, unnerved.

Something was happening to the old man.

The fine wrinkles criss-crossing his forehead smoothed like butter. His gray hair flopped into thick, jet-black curls. He couldn't have seemed more than your father's age. 40, at most.

A frightened, cut-off scream burned your vocal chords as Pepa slumped in her chains, limp. A sickly, gray tone paled her skin. Camilo buried his face in his hands. Was she still alive? If she was, she barely clung to life. 

Augustin. Where are you? You desperately worried. Free Luisa. Please.

Extending his soft, youthful fingertips, the man proudly examined his hands. The ghost of a vain smile lighted on his lips. In his younger form, his features were dark, flawless, and symmetrical.

"Let's do another one. Right now," he grinned, a joyful glow coloring his cheeks. His deceptive beauty practically whined for you to like him. Who wouldn't like him? Charming, dashing, and upbeat, even you struggled to resist the magnetic pull of his innocent smile.

"We can't. The candle will be unsteady for 24 hours," Sebastian objected, raising an aggravated eyebrow and yawning obnoxiously. "The victim might not survive."

"Oh, don't worry that!" The man rolled a carefree laugh. It was a light, dancing breeze, like the winds that ruffled the leaves in Antonio's jungle trees. "I'll be perfectly fine! And he can take a little battering."

The man jutted a relaxed finger in Camilo's direction like a gun. Camilo fightlessly raised his head, staring blankly. It was like he didn't even care.

"No," Sebastian growled, roughly yanking away the candle, his knuckles pale and tense. "Nobody dies. That was what we agreed to." Your father significantly widened his eyes at Sebastian.

"Sebastian, Sebastian," the cloaked man chuckled as if addressing a half-witted fool, shaking his head deliberately. Left. Right. Left. "We agreed to a lot of things. Remember?"

"You mean helping us get back our miracle?" Your father glanced up, curious. His pleased eyes glowed from the success of the procedure. How could he be thinking of his selfish goals? It made you sick.

"What was our first agreement? Tell them, Sebastian. Go on."

Typically, Sebastian's annoyed emotions had little range. His dark eyebrows and crooked lips rarely deviated from a bored scowl. You'd never seen him truly angry. Not like this. Electric rage crackled in his green eyes, and his gangly height turned menacing. Even from across the room, your heartbeat shuddered and your breathing stilled.

Certain people wield the innate capacity to intimidate. They exude a specific kind of terror, fizzling in the air, like they'd shatter glasses or shout sharp words or burn their fierce attention toward you. You'd felt this precarious trepidation once before, with the Madrigal Abuela, when you'd splashed the pitcher and hostile fury had flashed through her eyes.

Spooked tension seized the room. Twitching fingers snapped to attention. Gazes froze on Sebastian. Every set of shoulders curled inward submissively. Nobody wanted to be noticed.

"Tongue-tied? How about I explain?" the cloaked man smugly offered, but a nervous tremor weakened his words. He coughed hard to cover it, firmly returning Sebastian's livid glare. "Was it back in your little mountain Encanto? That's right. You had a request for me."

"That doesn't matter," Sebastian practically snarled, his lips curled dangerously. The green ghosts spiraling down his jacket now seemed like swirls of poisonous fog.

"Marcos, you didn't know this," the man conspiratorially nudged a slack-jawed, deer-eyed Marcos. Your father cowered, as if praying for his gift to change to invisibility. "I lived in your Encanto for quite a while. Learned a few things. Sebastian and I met long before the collapse. Clever young thing, he had some ambitions of his own."

"Before the collapse?" Your father managed to whisper, his wide, nervous eyes resembling a brain-dead goldfish.

"Oh, yes," the man greedily smiled, relaxing into his little game. Dangling ripe information in front of Marcos. Playing with Sebastian. "A few decades after I snuck inside, his entourage of phantoms led him to me. Now, what was our first deal, Sebastian?"

The man lightly tipped Sebastian's chin up with a single finger. "I want to hear you say it." Sebastian glowered, gripping the candle. With beady, threatening eyes and coiled muscles, he resembled a venomous serpent more than ever.

"Lilian! You wanted Lilian!" The old man shrieked, dancing out of Sebastian's range. Sebastian forcefully hurled the burning candle, knocking the man's nose bloody. Through the oozing bubbles, the man spat, "You were going to sell your family miracle for Lilian!"

"Sebastian?" Your father gaped, rage dawning in his passive expression. "You were going to betray us?"

"I was. And I'm sorry I didn't," Sebastian spitefully rumbled, advancing on your father. "The mountain wouldn't have collapsed if I had. He promised me you'd all be fine! We'd all finally be normal, not the village freaks!"

"Well, he made me a lot of promises, too!"Your father throatily roared, staring up at the cold face of his younger brother. "And we were not the village freaks-" your father jabbed Sebastian hard in the chest. "You were."

"Don't, Marcos."

"I swear, Sebastian. When all this is over," Your father seized the collar of Sebastian's black jacket, jerking him down by his neck. Forcing Sebastian to meet his gaze at eye level. "I'm gonna kill you."

"You've always tried to steal what's mine," your father accused. With an uneasy shiver, you realized this ran deeper than whispers of family betrayal. Sebastian's cruel glare glistened with pain. Your father's hot words shot overflowing hatred:

"How long have you been in love with my wife?"