In The Shadow of Love

Chapter 36: Fire and Ice

Diane held the note in shock, the owl having hardly flown away before she darted off to find Ominis to tell him.

Meet me outside the Forsaken tunnel entrance. I have a lot of explaining to do.

Her heart was pounding in her chest, knowing exactly who it was from even if it didn't have a signature. Sebastian! He had finally shown up again, and he was willing to tell him what he'd been doing! But how did he know where the Forsaken tunnels even were? Nonetheless the entrance.

She grabbed Ominis as he was coming out of charms class, holding her wrist tight. "He sent me an owl!" She said quickly.

"Who?" Ominis frowned, not expecting to be grabbed suddenly but relaxing that it was Diane.

"Sebastian!" She said happily. "He sent me a note! He wants to meet outside the Forsaken tunnel and explain things!"

Ominis suddenly frowned, thinking that through. "Wait, how does he-" he yelped as he was pulled forward as Diane grew impatient. "Wait- Diane, how does he know about the tunnels?"

"He said he would explain!" Diane said, walking with him down the hall.

"We should get Poppy, too." He said quickly, taking his wand out so he could keep up with her easier. She was being so impatient and in such a hurry!

"Right. Follow me, she's probably in the common room." She said, shifting direction to head down toward the kitchens.

"Wait, you know I can't go in there!" He protested.

"You can wait outside! I won't be more than a minute!"

"But we're not supposed to show each other the common rooms, right?"

"It's fine!" She insisted. "It's not like I'm showing you which barrel it is."

"Barrel?" He said in confusion, but decided just to go with it.

Diane walked quickly with him through the hallways, down to the kitchen and at the end of the hall. He stood awkwardly as it looked like a dead end surrounded by empty barrels, but then she let go of him and began tapping her wand against wood.

"What-" he heard shifting wood beside him and swung his wand in that direction to see the large barrel that had been there was actually opening. Part of him wanted to run inside just to break the rule, but he knew better than to do that when they had something they needed to do.

"I'll be right back!" She said, before walking into the barrel and having it shift closed behind her again.

He stood in the hallway, impatiently waiting while his nose wrinkled from the lingering scent of vinegar. Ugh.

She came back out a moment later dragging Poppy behind her, who laughed as she had all but dragged her out of the common room.

"Well someone's eager to go, I suppose we should leave now." Poppy chuckled as Diane finally let her go.

"Yeah, otherwise she'll drag me right back up the stairs. Let's get going then." Ominis grinned, happy Diane finally seemed rather cheerful again after the other day. The thought of the repository was still on his mind, and he had a bad feeling in his gut how Sebastian knew about the entrance in the first place.

———————

Diane rushed toward the entrance of the Forsaken caverns, looking around wildly once they got there... but he wasn't here.

"We have to be careful." Ominis said cautiously in a hushed tone. "Last time we were lucky to get away like we did. They may not be so kind again."

Poppy nodded, keeping an eye out.