Page 53 of The Cursed Sebastian Storm

As Eli lifted the tarp-covered crate off the first mechanism, a shade drifted down from its perch in a nearby tree. Sebastian tensed, but the beast didn’t come too close, staying out of arm’s reach. It watched like it had been curious what lay beneath the warded crate.

Sebastian and Eli gathered the paper and recorded the time, then moved on to the next mechanism. More shades appeared in the clearing. The atmosphere was tense even though the shades kept their distance. Sebastian wasn’t looking forward to getting to the mechanism in the center of the clearing. He didn’t want to have to disturb the shades worshipping the fuel cell.

As they got to the fourth mechanism, the shade wearing Sebastian’s purple robe drifted into the clearing from the dark forest beyond.

“Hey,” Sebastian hissed at it. The shade spun around, robe swirling, almost like it was taunting him. “Little shit. I can’t believe you still have my robe.” The purple fabric was dirty and ripped in places, making Sebastian irrationally upset.

James pressed in close, keeping his voice low. “Why is it wearing your robe? Since when do shades care about human clothes?”

Sebastian gritted his teeth against the urge to steal the garment back. “I don’t know. I saw it in town too.”

“Is it the same one that stole it? Do you think it recognizes us?” James paused briefly. “It must, or else why would it be staring like that?” The shade eyed them, swaying the long sleeves of the robe back and forth. “It’s weird that it stuck around. I thought shades were transitory.”

“They are,” Eli hissed. “But it’s only been a few days since you escaped. Staying in one area that long isn’t unheard of.”

“Except I lost my robe two weeks ago,” Sebastian muttered.

Eli didn’t seem to know what to say to that. “Come on. Let’s get the last set of data and get out of here. I want to come back again tonight. Collecting data twice a day works better since I have to type it all up.”

The day before, Eli had gathered a second round of data with Parker while Sebastian had loaded apples in the car. Sebastian didn’t doubt Eli would collect the receipts every few hours if it weren’t such a pain to come all the way out here.

The three of them inched toward the mechanism next to the fuel cell. All the shades swirling around it froze.

“Shit,” James grumbled.

“Maybe when they see we aren’t after the fuel cell, they’ll relax,” Eli offered hopefully.

Sebastian thought that sounded like wishful thinking. “Why do they care about the fuel cell?”

“Fuck if I know,” Eli muttered with grumpiness worthy of his brother. “Come on. Slowly.”

They crept forward. The shades tracked their progress.

It wasn’t guaranteed these ones were light-resistant. If the same shades had been lurking around the property for ages—as Sebastian suspected despite Eli and James’s insistence that the beasts were always transitory—light would work against them just fine. Sebastian and James could fight them off. There were nowhere near as many as the night James almost drained himself to death.

Eli crouched next to the last covered crate. He gingerly lifted it off the mechanism. Sebastian held his breath. As Eli set the crate aside, the shades beside the fuel cell drifted closer. They all peered at the mechanism with unwavering intensity. One reached out a hand, but Parker’s warding kept it from getting anywhere near the spindly structure.

Eli tore off the receipt paper, and the shade hissed.

Sebastian quickly scribbled down the time in the notebook. “Let’s go.”

Eli covered the mechanism with the crate and stood. As he went to tuck the paper into the correct folder, the closest shade lunged forward. It tried to snatch the paper, but Eli was quicker, ducking out of the way with an expression that said he would protect his data at all costs.

James sent a spark at the lunging shade, and it ignited, fire banishing the beast in a puff of black smoke. The other shades next to the fuel cell hissed. Eli hastily shoved his folder in his backpack as shades swooped in on him, trying to grab him and the bag.

Sebastian and James sent sparks flying. Some found their mark, making quick work of the shades, but others fell to the forest floor.

“Fuck.” Sebastian stamped on the sparks before they could ignite the fallen leaves. It was a good thing it had been so damp recently.

James conjured a ball of light, sending it toward the shades. They retreated. Sebastian was right. These ones weren’t light-resistant. It was a small relief.

They hurried back to the car, with the shades from the clearing following closely. Luckily, James’s light kept them back, and they didn’t try to fight it. It was almost like the shades were escorting them off the property, content to see them go.

Back at Gray Electrical, Eli settled at the counter with his laptop. Sebastian offered to help enter the data they’d collected and was tasked with reading the numbers out as Eli typed. It took forever. Sebastian had never been so aware of how many minutes there were in a day and was dismayed to learn they’d have to go through every entry again, this time with Eli reading out and Sebastian checking what had been entered.

“It needs to be accurate,” Eli said, not at all phased by the monotony. “Parker will be happy I’ve gotten someone else to do this set with me though.”

The sky didn’t change as the day dragged on. James and Hazel were both restless. A few cars stopped by the pumps outside, but other than that, the shop had no customers. From periodically glancing out the window, it didn’t seem like many people were moving through town.

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