Consuming Darkness: Sebastian Sallow

Chapter 83

-Ronnie-

All of me felt cold and exposed. My body floated in the air, stunned and invisible to the naked eye, pulled along by the whims of Professor Pierce. My dark green dress hung, clinging to my body, billowing in the slight breeze. The air was heavy with an incoming storm, making it even harder for me to breathe. Finn... It had been Finn. I couldn't get over it, it didn't make sense. I stared up at the stars, unable to look anywhere else, and watched them disappear as I was dragged through the castle. A few tears escaped the corners of my eyes, and I was unable to reach up and wipe them, so they fell to the hard floor beneath me. I had never paid much attention to the ceilings of Hogwarts. They were just as grand as the rest of the castle.

What friends could he want to go see? Finn was headed off to distract Sebastian, so it couldn't be him. Finn had taken my necklace, I had no way to warn Sebastian, to let him know where I was. He was going to walk into a trap. While I was confident in Sebastian and his magical abilities, I clearly knew nothing about Finn or his dueling abilities. I should have let Sebastian duel him a few months ago when he had been nearly ready to kill him. How different would things be now if I had let him?

I couldn't help but worry about Sebastian and part of me wished he wouldn't go after Finn, wished that he would stay at the ball, oblivious to all this. He deserved peace, tonight was supposed to be that. He didn't deserve to be dragged into this with me. But the other part of me was grateful that I knew he'd run after Finn. That he'd run after me. More tears were taken from my eyes and fell to the ground, the only physical evidence that I was here. Hopefully, I would be able to get myself out of this situation before I even needed Sebastian's help.

We descended a long spiral staircase and staring at the ceiling, flat on my back made my stomach slightly queasy. The question again came to my head. What friends could he want to take me to? All of my friends were at the ball, and we were obviously not heading there.

The air was thick and muggy and I heard the echoing splash of Pierce's footsteps as if he were walking through shallow puddles. There was a beautiful domed window that adorned the center to the ceiling, letting in a blueish-green tinted light. I knew that window. I had messed around and tried to break it a few times with Sebastian last year by casting every spell we could think of. It did not break, much to our disappointment and relief.

I knew where we were. We began to descend another spiral staircase. We were headed to the Map Chamber.

The queasy feeling of floating down the stairs was nothing in comparison to the intense dread that spread through me. The repository. He had to know about the repository. I had tried so hard to push that out of my mind. To forget what had transpired there last year. That's where Figg had died. It hadn't occurred to me that was what he had been after. His attacks had all seemed directed at me. How foolish of me to not even think about that.

I wanted to scream out, I tried to move any part of my body, closing my eyes and really focusing. We stopped our descent, and I heard the Map Chamber door open. Shit! Shit, shit, shit, shit!

I felt my ancient magic stir, and hum just beneath my skin.

"Who are you?" I heard Professor Rackham's voice boom as I opened my eyes to stare up at the ceiling of the Map Chamber, the large chandelier hung in the center, a brilliant ball of light wrapped in swirls of bronze.

I felt my body fly forward and crash onto the two steps that led up to the portraits. I was unable to brace myself and instead took the brunt of the impact on my right side.

Pierce removed the charm that had been concealing me.

"Ms. Underhill?!" Professor Fitzgerald asked in disbelief.