The Chilling Adventures of Steve Rogers: Book 2 (Magical Hydra Horror AU)

Thirteen

"Sarah?" Steve questioned, glancing up at the spirit again. As she kept her remorseful gaze on him, but the piece started moving beneath his fingers towards the yes. Licking his lips as he thought, his brows furrowed, "Are you related to the Starks?"

Again, the planchette easily looped back to yes. Feeling like he was on a roll now, he asked, "Are you Howard's daughter? Are you actually Tony's mom? Is Howard taking care of him for you? Why are you here? Do you have a message for him? How am I connected to everyth--"

"One question at a time, Steve," Natasha forcefully reminded, practically hissing out the words from clenched teeth.

However, something had changed. A breeze manifesting in Steve's room and swirling around them. Blowing Natasha's shoulder length red hair around her face, getting tangled and caught between her lips. Around them, the candles started extinguishing with the wind winding between them.

"Steve?" Natasha called, glancing around, seeing that all the windows were closed.

Steve was preoccupied with the questions running through his mind though and how to ask Sarah all that he could. Then, the planchette flew out from beneath their fingertips. Instead, freely roaming around the board. Frantically landing on letters. Pausing only for a moment, N-O-T-S-A-F-E, prior to moving onto other letters, L-E-A-V-E.

Natasha's brows rose high on her forehead as she sat straighter, "I think we should say good--"

"No," Steve argued, trying to take in all the messages that Sarah was willing to give them. Only, the planchette flew over the yes repeatedly. Shaking his head, he snapped his attention to Sarah and desperately pleaded, "No, not yet. There's so much that I still need to --"

"-- are you even paying attention? Something is wron--"

"-- I just need to know. I need to figure out how everything is linked. I need --"

"-- to say goodbye," Natasha reached out to take hold of the planchette that was flying so quickly over the board that it appeared to be engraving its track pattern into the finish of the wood.

"We're just getting started!" Steve debated, practically blocking Natasha from getting a hand on the planchette.

While Natasha was reaching for the item -- just as Steve was -- she demanded, "We need to say --"

Suddenly, it wasn't just the two of them though. Sarah had stepped out of the closet and was now crouching on the floor along with them. One hand on her abdomen and the other reaching out for Steve's hand. Causing Steve to instantly freeze as he stared at the spirit. Especially once Sarah's hand lifted, as though she was going to cradle Steve's face.

Holding his breath, Steve waited to feel a hand on his jaw. Instead of feeling the heat of flesh and bone, Steve's jaw felt cold. Almost like how it would feel standing outside during a winter breeze.

From the hall, Loki's deep voice could be heard getting closer as he called, "Steve, something is --"

The bedroom door flew open, and Sarah disappeared, retreating back to wherever she had been before they called out to her. The action of the door opening, had startled both Steve and Natasha as they redirected their attention to the door where they found Loki standing there. Loki's mouth in an O-shape as though his mouth was in the midst of forming a word, but he simply forgot how to due to being so surprised. So, he stood there in his black silk pajama set and his shoulder length black hair twisted up in a towel as he evaluated the scene in front of him.

Loki's eyes narrowed and he placed his hands on his hips as he accused, "Did you put the Yule log out?"

"What?" Steve's brows furrowed. With how abruptly the séance ended, Steve snapped his eyes back to the dark closet, hoping that Sarah would still be there. Only, he knew that she wouldn't be. She had evaporated into the air as quickly as Loki had barged into his room.

"I can't believe that you would do this," Loki dramatically threw his arms up in the air.

"I didn't do anything," Steve rolled his eyes in his annoyance. That was when he spotted Sam and Bucky standing just outside his doorway. With furrowed brows, Steve stood from his spot on the floor and questioned, "What's going on?"

"Sharon never showed up," Sam quickly informed.

"What do you mean she never showed up?" Steve asked, stepping over the unlit candles and knocking a few over in his haste.

"She just... never showed up," Sam stated, his face twisted into worry and distress. Using his thumb to point over his should at a mute Bucky, Sam explained, "Bucky got this really bad vibe... Like with the attic."

Steve turned his gaze to Bucky who was purposely avoiding his eyes. His jaw was set as though he was trying his hardest to not say anything. And all Steve could think was, all this time my boyfriend was clairvoyant and I didn't even recognize it.

"We already called Grýla's to see if --"

Loki's brows furrowed as he turned to face the hallway once again as he questioned, "Grýla's?"

"Yeah," Sam confirmed and clarified, "It's the new diner out by the highway. Sharon got a job there --"

"This is far more serious than I originally thought," Loki fretted and left Steve's room.

Since Loki left, so did Steve. Briefly, Steve paused in the doorway to his room. Glancing at Bucky, Steve wasn't sure what to do. Wanting to say something, but not necessarily knowing what to. Especially when Bucky didn't even look at him and instead just turned to head back downstairs.

Steve's shoulder's slumped when Sam turned to follow Bucky. Should've asked Sarah how to fix things.

Inhaling deeply, Steve forced himself to stand a little taller. Just like before his terrigenesis, he held his head high and his shoulders back as he feigned confidence. Steve needed to seem like he had his shit together, if only to ease the anxiety in the ones around him.