The Serpent and The Bird

The Second Kiss

Sebastian placed the girl gently on the couch, but even then she winced in pain. Luckily, the wound had stopped bleeding as much. The boy headed towards the potions station without wasting a second.

Because they tended to get in trouble (mostly him), Ominis, Anne and Sebastian had considered prudent to have a stash of different potions, especially healing and wound-cleaning ones. He searched frantically through the collection of bottles and finally found the ones he was looking for. One green and one purple. He also grabbed a handful of dittany leaves that had been crushed into powder.

He returned to Everleigh, sitting on the edge of the couch right next to her, while he handed her the two bottles.

- Drink both of these now.

- What are t...

- Please, just drink them. - He said, cutting her off. There was not a chance in hell she was going to die on his watch. While she drank from the bottles without hiding her disgust to the bitter potions, Sebastian used his free hand to rip a bigger hole in Everleigh's pants, just around the cut. He noticed her stare. - Sorry, I need a visual of the wound so I can put this on it.

He lifted his closed hand, full of the crushed dittany leaves and started to pour the content on the girl's cut. Everleigh, potions already finished, grabbed the edge of the couch and dug her fingers in the cushion, making a grimace of pain. He felt her shaking for a few seconds and then it slowly stopped. He searched for her eyes, but her head was buried against the back pillows. Sebastian stretched her arm and grabbed her face gently, making her look at him.

- Are you alright?

She simply nodded, exhaustion catching up with her. The cut was actually closing right in front of his eyes, slowly but surely, so he unwrap his tie from around her thigh and threw it on the side.

- Is it normal to feel this tired? - She mumbled, eyes closing.

- The potions and the dittany leaves help to close the wound and keep it from getting infected, but they don't replace the lost blood, and you lost a lot. - He touched her forehead with the back of his hand. - No fever, and color is returning to your face. I think you are going to be alright. - He didn't realize he had said this with extreme relief in his voice.

She gave him a faint smile

- Thank you for saving me. Again.

Sebastian returned the smile while he sat on the couch right in front of her.

- Anytime.

Everleigh fell asleep a few seconds later, and he spent over an hour watching over her. She looked ridiculously gorgeous when she slept, even after being almost killed. His gaze eventually went down to her exposed thigh and wild thoughts rioted on his mind like he was a pubescent boy. He had to forced himself to look away and his eyes met the book on the table. The book she had almost died to retrieve. What was in it, he wondered, that she needed so bad. He leaned forward to read the cover but it didn't have a name. Just a myriad of symbols, and in the middle of it, a spiral that caught his attention. Sebastian didn't feel an ounce of regret when he grabbed the book and opened it. After all, he had helped and deserved to know, he kept telling himself.

However, the book was blank. Hundreds of pages empty, he realized as he went through all of them. What in Merlin's beard was this? Where was the content? Perhaps Revelio would show it. The boy waved his wand on top of the book and muttered the spell but nothing happened.

The book remained unchanged. He left it again on top of the tea table and reclined on his seat, looking at the ceiling while letting out a loud breath through his nose.