Page 64 of The Cursed Sebastian Storm

James shook his head. “She is. Just be careful. You mess with that woman at your own risk.”

“Oh, now I can’t wait to get to know her better.” Sebastian beamed.

The door banged open, and Hazel rushed into the electrical shop, out of breath. Sebastian’s smile disappeared as she leaned heavily against the closed door. “Shit, the shades aren’t being calm today.”

Sebastian and James jumped up.

“What happened?” James rounded the counter.

Hazel pushed off the door, brushing past him and beelining for the coffee maker. “A small swarm of them attacked my car as I was driving.”

James crossed his arms. “Why not just run them down?” When shades were hit by a vehicle, they usually dissipated, meaning it was more like driving through smoke than colliding with something.

“Gosh, I wish I’d thought of that,” Hazel snapped.

“It didn’t work?” Sebastian guessed.

Hazel switched the coffee on. “They burst into shadow but didn’t scatter. It was like they were expecting me to drive through them and covered my windshield in wispy darkness. I couldn’t see.”

James joined Hazel by the coffee. “What did you do?”

“I got out of the car and banished them.” Hazel redid her ponytail. “There were more when I got to the shop. They surrounded the car, and I had to fight my way in here.”

“Shit.” Sebastian came over to stand next to James. “They didn’t bother us at all.”

“I’m going to call Eleanor.” Hazel took out her phone. After a quick call, she let Sebastian and James know the mayor hadn’t had any issues getting to the elementary school, where she was meeting with Tony that morning.

James made a call, checking on Eli and Parker, who were also fine. “Eli wants to know if we’ll go out to Storm House and get this morning’s data.”

Sebastian grimaced. “I thought we decided figuring out the darkness was more important right now.”

Hazel sipped her coffee. “We might as well go. Sitting around here isn’t helping anything. We’ll just have to be careful driving.”

No one else had had trouble with shades that morning, so the beasts weren’t exactly a reason to stay in and do nothing, but Sebastian wasn’t thrilled to go to Storm House today. He had no real reason for it, so he didn’t say anything. It would be better to get it over with and get Eli his data.

They piled into Hazel’s van. As they headed north, several cars passed, going the other direction. A family that lived in one of the last houses out this way was piling in their car with a bunch of suitcases as they drove by. Sebastian wondered how many other people were leaving town.

No shades bothered them as they wound their way to Storm House. Instead of being relieved by the lack of trouble after what happened to Hazel, it made Sebastian uneasy.

At the iron gate, Hazel conjured a small ball of light so they could see. Sebastian unlocked the chain, trying to suppress a shiver that had nothing to do with the temperature. Something felt wrong, but he wasn’t sure why.

The property was quiet, and something unsettling hung in the air. They all hesitated at the bottom of the driveway.

“Snuff out that light,” James whispered to Hazel.

She obeyed, leaving them in darkness.

It took a minute for their eyes to adjust. Once they did, Sebastian could see the property better. The house was dark and abandoned. He inched up the driveway, feeling the others following closely behind him. As he passed the trees blocking the rest of his land from the road, he stopped.

There were shades everywhere. Hundreds, maybe close to a thousand, given it was hard to make out what lay in the distant corners of the property other than shifting shadow.

“The place is crawling with them,” Hazel muttered, her voice unsteady.

“Come on.” James grabbed Sebastian’s hand, pulling him backward.

Sebastian was rooted to the spot. There were even more shades than there’d been the night they’d linked the fuel cell and had almost been crushed to death. “Where are they all coming from?”

“I don’t know.” James pulled him again, and this time, Sebastian moved. “We need to go.”

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