Page 14 of The Cursed Sebastian Storm

Sebastian’s heart sank. “But Parker broke the binding last night, and you haven’t been trapped again. You went to the house and left.”

James gave a grim laugh. “I still couldn’t tell Hazel anything without flapping around, doing charades, and forcing The Magical Tales on her after looking them up on my phone. We had to do the ritual again.”

“How is it possible the secret-binding is still in place?” Sebastian didn’t actually expect either of them to have an answer. “You shouldn’t have to break it for each person you tell.”

James shook his head.

“Yeah, no idea.” Hazel crossed her arms. “This all sounds like bad news.”

Sebastian didn’t know what it meant that they couldn’t truly break the secret-binding spell. Away from the curse, he didn’t see how it could keep retriggering.

“What happened there?” Hazel pointed to the bandage on Sebastian’s wrist.

“Oh, um—” Sebastian’s words failed as all the issues going to the diner had caused filled his mind. The mouthy shade seemed like the least of his worries. If he returned to the diner, would he be able to manage better, or would he still want to run away?

“A shade attacked in the park last night,” James explained, detailing the unusual incident and how the shades resisted the light.

“Nope, I don’t like any of this.” Hazel scowled, her expression identical to the one Sebastian had often seen on James. “Night before last, a group of shades attacked a family in their car. They were fine. No one left the vehicle and the shades couldn’t get in, but they could have crashed. And I heard there was some trouble on the east side of town last night.”

“Were those shades unaffected by light?” Sebastian asked.

Hazel shrugged. “I’m not sure. But whatever’s going on, it seems to be getting worse.”

Sebastian glanced at James. He knew the veins riled up the shades on his property. Was it possible they affected the beasts in town? Maybe, maybe not. The shade that attacked him had been different. He’d never seen such a large, aggressive one at Storm House. Maybe it wasn’t related to the veins. No amount of riling up could change a shade’s nature or make it immune to light.

“We should report what happened last night,” James said. “And I was thinking we should report the power imbalance at Storm House too, but that’s going to be hard to do if the secret-binding keeps retying my tongue.”

Sebastian rubbed his eyes. “You’re right. We can’t break the binding with someone over the phone. And it’s going to be impossible to get an official to come out here and take a look at the property otherwise.”

“I can call and report it,” Hazel offered. “I shouldn’t be prevented from telling people about Storm House. The curse couldn’t have spread to me. Not when you two already broke free and can come and go from Storm House. So I don’t see how it could bind my tongue if the two are connected like you said.”

Relief loosened James’s posture. “You’re right. That would be great.”

“Consider it done.” Hazel patted her pockets like she was looking for her phone. “Why don’t you guys take off?”

“What?” James scowled. “No. I’ve already left you alone too long.”

Hazel made an exasperated noise. “But now I understand why. You were trapped, so it’s not like you have to feel bad for abandoning the shop.”

“But, Hazel?—”

She cut him off. “It’s fine. You should take a few days to recoup. There’s no need to get straight back to work after what you went through. I’ll see you back here on Monday at the earliest, James.”

“Fine,” he grumbled. “Let me know how reporting the curse goes.”

“Will do.” She headed back to her desk, finding her phone among some papers. “You guys want to go out for dinner tonight? I’ve been meeting Eli on Fridays while you were away, but he’s working tonight.” She sat down and looked between them expectantly.

“Not tonight,” James replied without hesitation.

Sebastian’s face heated. “You can go to dinner, James.”

He turned to Sebastian, his expression soft. “Let’s do something quieter than Friday night at the diner. We can go out to dinner with everyone another time or go to Parker’s on Sunday if you feel like it.”

Sebastian wanted to argue, but Hazel was watching. “Only if you want.”

“All right, see you guys later,” Hazel said in a clear dismissal.

With a wave to Hazel, James led the way outside. “You doing okay, Sebastian?” he asked once they were alone.

---