Me and the Devil: Sebastian Sallow

Chapter ONE THIRTY THREE - Latin

I cannot express the true way you all have changed my life simply by reading my work and sharing in the heartbreak, emotional peaks and dips, love and family this book turned out to be. I went through a very hard point in my life while writing this and what truly pulled me through was all of you, this book and these characters. It sounds a silly thing to say aloud but it is the truth. 

Thank you from the bottom of my heart for being here.

(I'm not ready to let go of it all just yet though so I am officially announcing a sequel to MatD  that will most definitely be coming very soon. I pinky promise. I still have so much planned and want to give their story the proper space for it all. Hope to see you there.) UPDATE: Book Two is currently up and in progress - The Devil Doesn't Bargain - Hope to see you there!

-McKenna

(Suite bergamasque, L 75: III. Clair de line - Claude Debussy, Seong-Jin Cho)

Two years ago, my life had been flipped completely over - a world of magic tossed at my feet. It seemed entirely impossible, a fairytale even.

Until now.

Until the very moment I realized that living in a world where good triumphed over evil was the fairytale after all. Not a school for witches and wizards, not spells and potions, not flying on brooms, not magical creatures and curses...

but a world where good always wins.

That is a world entirely make-believe.

The reality of life lived is that there is no overarching, heroing light battling a strictly evil dark. There is only grey mid-ground highlighted and shadowed by commitments, actions, passions and promises.

Perhaps I should have realized that the moment my parents died by my hands.

Perhaps I should have realized that the moment I fell in love with a soul as shattered as mine.

Perhaps I should have realized that the moment death crept along the edges of my fairytale the second time.

Or the third.

Instead, I only realized once I'd given my heart and soul entirely for love and instead of a happily ever after, been given a trade. A trade of one bad for another, signed off unknowingly but entirely willingly by my heart in a moment.

And somehow, I was undoubtedly at peace with my subconscious decision.

In a world without fairytale endings, one good in exchange for the karma of all the bad seemed a true triumph.

Now, with the calm flickering of the candles in the corner and the heavy beating of Sebastian's heart beneath my ear, I felt entirely grateful.

For his love.

For my friendships.

For my little family.

For this curse.

And what true chaos was wound around that?

The four of us (and the body of a fifth) had returned secretly and swiftly to Feldcroft, and though I knew our minds were far from collected, a single, carefully crafted story wrapped around our fingers.

Solomon Sallow died in his sleep.

A heartbroken Anne had sent a letter to Sebastian, Ominis and me to inform us of his passing. Her desperation and depression our reason for leaving the school grounds without permission so abruptly.