In The Shadow of Our Choices

Chapter 45 - Much Ado

Elizabeth quickly discovered that, as Sebastian had suspected, sleeping did not go well. Each night she found herself back in the dungeons, being tortured and tormented by Nathaniel, Selina... and Mary's body. She would wake, and Sebastian would be there to comfort her until she fell back asleep, though, he said a few times that she hadn't woken him up in the night. Every morning it was difficult to tell nightmare from reality, but each day it got easier. She was able to find that cold determination faster, to move on to planning earlier. She did notice Ominis was oddly absent from her life, but Sebastian told her not to worry about it, that he was there for her.

One Friday, Sebastian dragged Elizabeth to the library, as was his habit. They settled at a table together, and he pulled out his list of witches and wizards with notably powerful wands. As he scanned down it, Elizabeth had to ask.

"Are you sure you don't want to study instead? Final exams are in a month."

Sebastian didn't look up from his list as he replied.

"Final exams are in two weeks. It's the twenty-seventh."

Elizabeth frowned. "If that's the case, then you should study."

"But I'm so close," Sebastian said, looking up at her hopelessly. "If Emeric the Evil possessed the Elder wand, then it would have passed to Egbert the Egregious, and from there, it can be traced to Godelot, who was killed by his son Hereward, then it ended up with Barnabas Deverill, who was defeated by Loxias, but then the trail gets muddled. It could have gone to Arcus or Livius or Loxias's own mother. No one's claimed to have it in ages though..."

Elizabeth had heard this several times over their study sessions, and tuned Sebastian out, turning back to her own work. Blood pooled on the pages of her book, and she swiped it away with shaking hands. When it smeared, she sighed and turned to a clean page. She'd have to brush up on cheering charms later. Then, she had an idea. Looking up like she'd just remembered something, she turned to Sebastian.

"Is the Elder wand elder wood?" She asked.

Sebastian raised an eyebrow. "Yes, it is."

"I think Nathaniel Rookwood had a wand made of elder."

Sebastian looked skeptical. "Is that so? How did you learn that?"

"When we were in the Hog's Head the other day. One of the wizards we were eavesdropping on said so. Said he'd been bragging about it."

"I don't recall hearing that."

Elizabeth shrugged and turned back to her textbook. She would let him draw his own conclusions from that, and, watching him from the corner of her eye, she could see that he was considering. Smiling slightly to herself, she began reading up on silencing charms.

Later, during lunch, Elizabeth sat alone at the Ravenclaw table. She was watching those around her - sometimes, their faces would shift from those of her classmates, to faces of men and women Elizabeth didn't recognize. She was beginning to think that they were faces of people she had killed. Had it really been so many? It was enough to make her queasy, the food in front of her unappetizing.

Speaking of people she had killed, a dark haired man that looked familiar took the seat next to her. Elizabeth looked away, and caught a reflection of the person in a goblet - it wasn't an Ashwinder, but instead a very normal, blonde-haired Andrew. When she looked back, he looked like Andrew, and he looked worried.

"Elizabeth," he said, "I'm sorry, but I've got to ask -"

"Are you really Andrew?" Elizabeth interrupted.