Different Worlds

NINE - BAD OMEN

Sebastian's POV

As cute as the barricade was, it had zero effect. The next morning I woke up with Soph's limbs loosely thrown over my body whilst her head rested comfortably on my chest. Her hair was even wilder than last time. I carefully swept the loose strands away from her face to see if she was still asleep. Even though I tried to be gentle, my movement woke her up anyway.

She stirred a little, crinkling her nose ever so slightly, her eyes still closed. But as soon as she realized she was using me as her personal pillow again she quickly pulled away.

"Uhm, I'm sorry, again," she mumbled quietly with a sleepy voice.

"I am getting used to it," I laughed.

"Well, don't," she retorted gruffly, which made me laugh even more. "We should get going."

"You are right, squirrel."

We thanked the lovely lady and after a quick goodbye we continued our journey. Sophie was angrily stomping next to me, still a little bit embarrassed. I had to admit, she looked adorable. I hated that I had to keep all of those secrets. It started to create a void between us and even though she continued saying she did understand and that she did trust me she couldn't hide the fact that it annoyed her.

"What is that?!" Sophie suddenly stopped walking, her gaze fixed to something on her left.

My eyes almost fell out of my head as I followed her gaze and saw three adult Thestrals. We were relatively close to the city so I didn't even strain myself to watch out for any wild animals, moreover magical beasts as I did when we left Feldcroft.

"You can see them?" Was the first thing I could get out. Was it someone from her family? Her parents even? Or some stranger. It wasn't that uncommon to see someone die in the city. There were so many criminals.

"What do you mean? Of course I can see them! How are they alive? They are just skin and bones. I've never seen something like this before. It's some kind of horse? Do you see those eyes? They are all white. No pupils," she kept mumbling with a slightly high-pitched voice.

There was no chance I could talk myself out from this. When I wanted to start explaining, one of the Thestrals stood up on his hind legs, spread his bat-like wings and started flapping with them. Sophie squealed quietly and hid behind me. I couldn't help myself and laughed a little at her reaction.

"It's okay. They don't hurt you. Just stay here and don't squeal again."

"You don't look surprised at all. You saw them before," she stated.

"I did. They are called Thestrals. And I would really appreciate it if you forget you saw them," I said quietly, trying to stay calm.

"Let me guess. They are from your world?" She poked her head from behind my back and looked at those beasts again.

"Yes."

"And I am not supposed to know about them because it puts me in danger."

"Yes."

"Don't worry. There is no one I could tell anyway."

She did one cautious step towards the beast, tilting her head slightly. The Thestrals kept playing with each other, paying us no attention at all. It was weird to see them here. There were so many muggles around. They definitely weren't wild. They had to be trained and used to being around people since they were behaving so calmly.

"We should go. Someone could see us here," I grabbed her hand and started pulling her away. She let me lead her but kept glancing back at those beasts.

"They are breath-taking," she finally spoke again when those horse-like creatures were finally out of sight.