The Black Lotus | Vol.1, The Eldenarian Artifacts ✓

16.

Her name was Imogen. Imogen Madani-Brigham.

An interesting, Sebastian thought. The person it belonged to was quite the enigma herself. Possessing two surnames wasn't a common occurrence where Sebastian came from. Both of Imogen's surnames seemed to have nothing to do with another. One looked like one he might've seen on a magician from House Vaya while the other would've belonged to a battlemage from House Brynjir.

Though, the origin of her surnames could wait.

He had to deal with the problem at hand first.

After their train ground to a halt, Sebastian and the others hopped out and onto the platform at Cote-Vertu station. They left quickly, leaving the two unconscious Shades behind for someone else to find. Though, knowing them, they'd be gone before anyone could see.

Imogen led them out of the subway station and back to the surface.

The sun hung in the air, peeking out through the gloomy clouds stretching their wispy hands across the white sky. It was a bit warmer now than before, but it was still far too cold for Sebastian to take his jacket off. Squinting, he took a look around as he waited for his eyes to readjust to the brightness.

Three-storied storefronts lined the streets. Colorful roofs formed a rainbow of sorts across the skyline. Vehicles were parked along the sidewalks. Massive buildings loomed in the distance, lingering just beyond the haze hovering above the horizon. This part of the city was a tad bit nicer than where they spent the night in.

He turned to Imogen as they walked. "Where are we?"

"Saint-Laurent," she replied without skipping a beat. "My dad lives in this neighborhood. That's why I was on the orange line with you."

Sebastian nodded slowly. Her miraculously showing up to knock out Yuri had been quite the coincidence. She had saved the day, once again. They were starting to rack up quite the debt with the ordinaire. He'd make it all square soon enough. The last thing he needed was to owe an ordinaire a favor. The girl shouldn't have even known he existed.

"Okay, you got your question in," Imogen said. "Now it's time for you to answer mine. What happened back there on the train?"

Sebastian bit down on his lip. He really didn't want to explain. He knew he shouldn't. What was stopping him from stunning the girl and taking off down the street? Actually, a few things were. Even his moral compass wouldn't let him do that to her, ordinaire or not. Besides, once his stunning spell wore off, she would likely tell anyone who would listen what she saw. If it somehow got back to magician hunters or-even worse-the Eldenarian Council, they were done for.

No, their best bet was to find a way to wipe her mind of the last few hours before they left for Las Vegas. The only issue was Sebastian didn't know a lick of psychic magic. It was part of his Shade training, but he was never any good at it. He doubted Makaela and Remy were experts at that disciple either.

He groaned. They didn't need any more complications. The Shades had already found them once. If they got tripped up again... He didn't even want to think about it.

"Um, hello?" Imogen waved a hand in his face. "Earth to...whatever your name is. You gonna answer me or what?"

"It's Sebastian."

"Whatever."

He glanced at Makaela.

She shrugged at him, obviously annoyed at the girl's presence. "It's your call."

Running a hand through his hair, he sighed. "Fine. You want to know the truth? We're magicians. What you saw back there was magic."

The girl burst out into laughter. She stopped walking, doubling over with her hands wrapped around her stomach. Once she realized they weren't joking, she straightened up. Her eyes grew larger than saucers. Sebastian noticed there were specks of green hidden in her light-brown irises.