The Artist's Muse

Chapter 16

Chapter 15

Vernazza, Italy. 7 June, 2007

He knew his dour demeanor wasn't doing anything to improve his standing with Isabel. But Sebastian just couldn't brush aside the fear. It consumed his insides and screamed to get out. Perhaps he'd been too rash when Victor told him that his magic was dangerous? The details of their fight were fuzzy in his mind after nearly 500 years, but now he desperately wished he'd looked past his own pride and listened.

At least it wasn't too late, he hoped.

The rumbling of the train quickly lulled Isabel to sleep; Sebastian wasn't surprised. She was still well within a jetlag timeline. Watching her chest gently rise and fall gave him something to focus on rather than the terror gnawing at his gut. It was joined by guilt as well. In all their lifetimes, he'd never managed to make such a poor introduction of his truth and their past.

"I guess I'll have another chance to do it right next time," he grumbled under his breath. It wasn't a comforting statement.

An hour into the ride he pulled a copy of The Odyssey from his bag and began to read. It was a leatherbound copy he'd picked up from a chap named George back in 1614, and he'd devoured the pages countless times. He found comfort in the familiarity. The characters were always the same, the outcome was always the same. He knew the ending and didn't have to worry during the concerning parts.

Boy what he wouldn't do to know the end of his current journey from the beginning! But life didn't work that way. All he could do was assure himself that Victor would tell him exactly what was happening and how to fix it.

Isabel woke halfway through their journey. She stretched, the stretch extending right down to her wiggling toes. "I'm going to go find the bathroom," she said, and Sebastian nodded in acknowledgement. He listened as her feet padded down the hallway, then returned to his book.

Ten minutes passed, then fifteen and twenty. Sebastian glanced down at his watch and his eyebrows knit together. Twenty-five minutes was an abnormally long time for her to have disappeared. He closed his book and opened the carriage door, scanning up and down the hallway for any sign of Isabel.

But she was nowhere to be seen. His chest contracted. Her scent still lingered lightly in the hallway, enough that his predator senses could still pick it up. He followed the trail to the bathroom door and paused, knocking a few times. "Isabel? Are you in there?"

The indicator on the lock said "occupied," and when he tried the door, it did not move. "Isabel?" he called again, but no sound came from the locked room. He swore and began searching for the conductor or anyone with a key to the bathroom door.

Three cars up, he found the food trolley. His eyes were wide and his breathing erratic, and the woman pushing the trolley looked at him with concern. "Is everything okay, sir?" she asked, taking a couple of steps backwards.

"I need someone with a key to the lavatory. My girlfriend went in almost half an hour ago, and when I went to check on her, the door is locked and she's not responding. She's been having medical problems recently, and I'm concerned that something happened." He did his best not to let his panic show in his voice, but couldn't stop the trembling in his lower tones.

The trolley lady straightened, her face taking on some of Sebastian's worry. "Oh, dear. Let me find someone with a key. Which car are you dears in?"

"The very last one." Sebastian's hands spun around each other as he wrung them without realizing it. "I'm going to go keep trying to get her to answer, okay?" The lady nodded and he ran back through the cars as fast as he could go while still maintaining a facade of humanity. He reached the door in seconds and began banging on the wood.