In The Shadow of Our Choices

Chapter 6 - Sanctuary

That night, Elizabeth slept poorly, jolting awake every time one of the revelers outside disapparated. When Sebastian finally let himself back inside, he seemed rather bemused to find Elizabeth's wand trained on him.

"Planning on hexing me again, are you?" He hissed at her.

Still half asleep, Elizabeth simply lowered her wand and flopped back into her bed.

The next morning, Elizabeth felt like she hadn't slept a wink. She felt frazzled and drained. She could hear Sebastian snoring soundly on the other side of the curtain from her, and could make out Ominis through the gap, perfectly still in a tangle of blankets. She tried to get back to sleep, but gave up after half an hour of tossing and turning. So, once again, she dressed and padded softly to the kitchen and made herself some toast and tea.

While she ate, she skimmed over the parchment Sebastian had been working on. Elizabeth could hardly make heads or tails of it - there were bits of latin woven through English so chock-full of jargon and words she didn't understand she could barely read it. Runes and diagrams adorned the spaces of the page. Just about the only part she understood was the note in the margin he'd made the other day with the muggle curse remedies she'd mentioned. The parchment's contents were honestly quite impressive... whatever it was. She knew he skived off class quite frequently, but he seemed leagues ahead of anything they were learning. That is, of course, assuming the parchment wasn't just... nonsense.

The boys were still asleep after she finished eating, so she wandered outside. She noticed for the first time, a grave around the corner. Elizabeth stared at it. This must be where Anne buried their Uncle. She stood there for a long moment. Elizabeth hadn't known the man well, but she'd witnessed his death, so she paid her respects best as she could. Elizabeth ended up sitting up on the platform again, this time watching the water in the distance, taking in the scenery and enjoying the peace as the town slept in.

As it neared noon, Elizabeth retreated inside. She could feel her exposed skin beginning to burn, and she poked at her arm, watching the white mark it left behind. She found both boys awake, finally. Ominis was sitting on the floor, tossing and catching a ball of yarn, and Sebastian sat at the table, working on his parchment again. They both looked at her as she entered.

"Good morning," she said.

"You look like shit," Sebastian said, by way of a greeting.

"Gee, thanks," Elizabeth smiled sardonically at him.

Ominis lobbed the ball of yarn towards Sebastian, but missed by a good foot.

"You shut it," Ominis said to Sebastian.

"Seriously though," Sebastian said, "You okay Lizzie?"

Elizabeth stifled a yawn.

"Yeah," she said, "I just didn't sleep well last night."

"Ah," Sebastian said, "Well, you were haunting the house looking like a wraith last night when I got home."

Ominis raised an eyebrow and Sebastian laughed.

"She had her wand on me the second I walked in the door," he told Ominis.

Ominis frowned. "Just how late did you get back?"

Sebastian shrugged. "I wasn't really paying attention."

Elizabeth sniffed and said, "Having too much fun with Samantha Dale, were you?"

"And so what if I was?" he asked.

"I can just hex you next time, you know," Elizabeth replied.

Sebastian gave her a haughty look. "You could try."