Page 74 of The Cursed Sebastian Storm

“Parker! Parker!” Eli shouted, but Sebastian felt like he heard it from far away. He turned to see the big man slumped on the ground. The water spell must have been his doing. Conjuring moisture was even harder than conjuring light or starting a fire.

The shade glided forward, stopping in front of Sebastian. “Bring that one, and come with me.”

Sebastian felt lightheaded. Was it talking to him? Why? “I’m not coming with you.” His voice cracked, but he made himself look into the blank face. He clung to James as tight as he could.

The shade let out a wheezing sound, almost like a sigh of frustration. It reached out and wrapped one limb around Sebastian’s body and the other around James.

Sebastian went blind with panic. The contact burned like ice. He thrashed and sent sparks flying wildly, but they didn’t catch. They were swallowed by the shade’s darkness.

He felt James being pulled from his grip. “No!” he screamed until his voice was raw. He was vaguely aware of Hazel and Eleanor trying to set the shade on fire, but it was no use.

“You will stay here where you’re needed.” The shade shoved Sebastian back, releasing him and sending him crashing into the wall. It held a boneless James in its other limb. “The rest of you may leave. I have chosen my sacrifice. His blood will cement the claim Beyond has made on this place, as per the laws of blood and bone magic in the living world. There’s no use fighting. Go or die.”

It drifted up into the air as Sebastian lunged forward. He grabbed for the shade but his hands closed around nothing. It floated out the broken window, taking James away.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

Sebastian ran out the front door and onto the steps of town hall. He looked up but couldn’t see the shade or James anywhere. He swore his heart stopped.

He stumbled onto the sidewalk, trying to drag in breaths but not feeling like any air was making it to his lungs. Where had they gone? He needed to get James back. He couldn’t live without James.

Hazel and Eli appeared at his side, their hands on him, pulling him up from the pavement. Sebastian hadn’t been aware he’d fallen to his knees.

“Where did it go?” Eli’s strangled voice broke Sebastian’s haze.

“We need to find it,” Sebastian rasped. “I’m not letting James go. He can’t leave!”

“We know. We’ll find him.” Hazel gripped his shoulder tight. “But we have to be careful. Look.” Her voice shook on the last word.

Sebastian blinked at her, confused, and followed her gaze toward the street. His despair-soaked mind hadn’t processed the thousands of shades now packed into the town center. He sucked in a breath. They were fucked. It was too many to fight by such a ridiculous margin that no room was left for hope, not even by the most delusional standards.

All the streetlights had been busted out, making it the darkest town had ever been, and looking up, it no longer seemed like night but like a void lay above them, empty and black. Everything else was a sea of shadowy bodies, eyes, and claws. The only space free of shades was the small patch of grass in the center of the road, surrounding the tall stone marking the founding of Moonlight Falls.

For an odd moment, it almost looked like the stone was glowing, the only light in a world of dark.

Sebastian pointed. “Do you see that?”

“The stone? So?” Eli sounded frantic. “How are we going to find James? Parker is in bad shape and Eleanor is insisting on driving him to the hospital in Apple Valley.”

Sebastian couldn’t stop staring at the stone. It wasn’t exactly glowing, but something about it drew his attention in a way nothing ever had before. He felt like he was losing his mind.

“Why did the shade tell me to stay here where I’m needed?” Sebastian asked as his thoughts spun. “It’s like it knew I couldn’t leave.”

“I don’t know, Sebastian. Who cares?” Hazel tugged on him frantically. “We have to do something. We can’t stay here.”

Sebastian couldn’t concentrate on what she was saying. It was like he’d fallen into himself and wasn’t sure he’d ever get back out. He was in desperate need of action but unable to move. It hurt. Fuck, it hurt like nothing else in his life ever had.

He pulled at his hair, gaze locked on the stone. “Does it know I’m tied to the veins? Can it tell? If it used the veins to create its darkness, maybe it can see that I’m part of it.”

Hazel and Eli didn’t respond to his frantic questions, but Sebastian didn’t care.

This invasion from Beyond couldn’t have anything to do with his curse. His family had not created this problem, but that didn’t mean Sebastian wasn’t connected to it because of the veins. If he and the veins were one, and the veins were holding the darkness here just as they held Eli, Hazel, James, and Parker captive, then was he responsible for holding the darkness here too? Could he release the imposing shadow from the veins? Could he disconnect the spells that bound everything together?

“Look!” Eli pointed at something behind the stone.

The massive shade that had taken James appeared on the grass. It was setting something on the ground. Sebastian couldn’t see clearly but knew in his soul that it was James.

Sebastian grabbed Eli’s shoulders. “Does the stone sit on top of the vein running through town?”

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