Shadow of a Grave ✧ Sebastian Sallow

chapter three ✧ the living ghost

She's My Winona by Fall Out Boy 

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Ominis Gaunt waited just outside of the rented flat on the sidewalk, cradling the small child against his chest, when Sebastian found him again. Although he looked like a stranger again to him once more. The glamor had been placed back on and his once silver-blond had darkened to a mousey-brown. His eyes were like too unsteady chestnuts above to fall from a tree. Instead of using his wand to guide him like he had his own life, it had been transfigured into a walking cane to avoid drawing any unnecessary attention.

Sebastian assumed that he would have been glad to forget about him and even attempt to purposefully lose him in the busy streets of London. But instead, he waited, a look of anxiousness painted across his face.

The old friend used his free hand to cover the girl's ear as if he didn't want her to hear, then spoke lowly in his direction, "What did Bella see? Does she know what happened?" Ominis asked cryptically.

"No," Sebastian said confidently, but in truth, he wasn't actually sure.

Amelia had mockingly referred to him as a ghost and Bella seemed to believe it so at least she had remembered that. When he had gone back to her bedroom that night, the little girl was still asleep so he picked her up and carried her out of the house. He was positive that she hadn't seen her mother's body when they left since he couldn't even bring himself to walk near and see her a final time. But he didn't know if she had heard anything.

"Let's not speak of it in front of her then," Ominis suggested.

Sebastian nodded. He hadn't been too sure about what Bella knew at all. And he certainly wasn't positive if it was the right thing to do as a parent, but he trusted his friend's judgment. Bella was still a mystery to him. He'd only known of his daughter's existence for almost seven hours. And only learned her name minutes ago.

Isabella? He thought about it again. It didn't seem right at all. Yet Ominis had called her Bella so that must have been her name.

It wasn't as if he and Amelia had ever discussed the name before. Once, what felt like forever ago, he had suggested the name Andrew if they had a boy. After her late brother to make sure his memory lived on. That had been the end of the topic because it hadn't been a serious one at the time. Only a romanticized daydream of what their future together could hold. Besides, Sebastian had always pictured having a son.

She didn't even look like an Isabella, he thought as he followed behind. Not that he had any idea what someone named Isabella should look like. But his daughter wasn't it.

The small little child had wrapped her arms around Ominis' neck as they walked but had been focused on watching Sebastian follow behind them. Her hazel eyes looked directly at him as if he was entertaining somehow. A little smile tucked just behind his friend's shoulder. It was just like her mother's smile.

Fuck, he had loved that smile so much.

Sebastian barely knew anything about the little girl smiling back at him, but he did know that he had fallen in love again. Being in love had been a lost cause at that point in life. His heart had been broken when he lost his sister. Then after he left Amelia, it hadn't even felt possible to love someone that way again. But his daughter was a completely different type of love.

Then he wondered again about what little Bella knew. He wondered if Amelia had ever mentioned him besides being a ghost in her hallway. Did Bella know who her father was? Did she know that she was looking right at him?