Shadow of a Grave ✧ Sebastian Sallow

chapter fifteen ✧ a curious mind

Annabel had always had an imaginative mind. The world around her was rather big and she wanted to learn a lot about it.

Unlike her parents, Bella wasn't as fond of reading about the world through the pages of dull dusty pages of old books. Despite her young age, she listened to everyone very carefully, even if she didn't fully understand everything they said. She wanted to experience the wonders of the world for herself. Draw her own map of the world like others did with their stories.

The sun was just rising when she crawled out of bed set on her own mission to discover something that she always wanted to learn about.

Sebastian Sallow had been deep asleep and didn't move as the little girl approached him. Even when she nudged his shoulder he didn't seem to react at all. After a few good shakes, she decided to continue on without him. She did what her mother did for her when she wanted her to get some rest. She took the knitted blanket and pulled it higher against his shoulder, tucking him into the covers more. 

Then Bella looked back down at her beloved stuffed rabbit and decided he might need it more. She tucked it under his arms so that it would keep him safe from nightmares when he slept. Protecting him against any bad dreams. 

After all that, Sebastian still didn't move. Bella thought it was odd just how still he was when he slept. He was difficult to wake.

"I'll be right back, I promise!" Bella whispered before kissing the top of his head like her mother would do for her. 

Then the little girl with the curious mind quietly crept through the door and into the empty hallways filled with morning light. She didn't know at all where she was or exactly which way to go, but she had an idea, and that idea was simply down.

Bella wanted to find the famous ghosts of Hogwarts that she had heard so much about. Friendly spirits that were once alive. She had been memorized by the idea of ghosts as soon as she heard the stories. Now she was finally in the castle that was home to so many. They used to dance in the basement of the castle some nights or float through the hallways, her mother had told her before.

Anytime someone mentioned the school to her, she would always ask them about the ghosts first whether it had been her mother retelling the story of her old professor or her brothers when they were home on break. Bella wanted to meet a real ghost for herself.

"All the way down," Bella whispered bravely to herself as she walked down, stair after stair, as far down as she could until she found the basement.

The castle was far larger than she expected. At home, it was only a few stairs before she was in the basement, but the stairs seemed endless here. Her plan was just to keep going down until she found a ghost and she hadn't expected it to take this long based on the stories told to her. In her mind, it seemed like a very task when she had set out to do and the further she walked around the castle the more she began to fear it was going to be more difficult. 

"Any ghost down here?" She asked a little louder as she entered a part of the castle that she realized had been much darker than the rest of the hallways.

No more window to shine the morning light inside. It was the dungeons of the castle. Cool and dark stone lined each wall leading to a dark ending.

That was the point she realized that she was a little more scared about being lost. She almost wished she had chosen to take her stuffed bunny with her for the unexpecting long journey rather than giving it to her father.

It wasn't until the wall of stone began to transform with a large stone snake and a door appeared against the empty wall that Bella realized she may be caught in her search for ghosts. She turned to hide, but the hallway was empty and there was nothing to hide behind. Instead, she held her hands to her face and just froze as the door opened and two students in green robes exited.