Page 62 of The Heart of Moonlight Falls

Sebastian put a hand on his uncle’s coffin. “Stephen.”

James levitated the casket to the ground and set it on the edge of the hole.

Sebastian gazed down at it, taking James’s hand. “Goodbye, Stephen. I’m sorry things couldn’t be different. I’m sorry I blamed you even though you were as much a victim of this as I was. I hope you’ve been free of everything the curse made you endure over the last six years and that death has given you what life couldn’t. I love you and will always remember you. You were a parent to me and helped me as much as you could. I forgive you for giving me this curse over my sister, and when I look back, I’ll try to remember the good instead of the lies. Letting me do this to you” —Sebastian gestured to the hole— “will allow me to have a future and time to look back on my life with you. So thank you.” Sebastian cut a sidelong look at James, eyes glassy with unshed tears. “Help me push?”

James’s throat thickened. He nodded, and they stooped down.

One solid push and the coffin was falling into the hole, Stephen fulfilling his destiny to return to the veins. As the coffin disappeared from sight, a flash of blue signaling Stephen’s farewell, the light glowing at the edges of the opening flickered and went out.

Sebastian choked on another sob and then cleared his throat. He stood. “No more speeches. I can’t take much more of this.”

James leaned in close and kissed him on the cheek. “You’re doing great. We’re almost there.” The hole was even smaller now, almost half of what it had been when they’d arrived that night.

James levitated the next coffin down. It landed in the dirt with a thud. James braced his hands on his knees, taking a deep breath.

“Are you okay?” Sebastian placed a delicate hand on James’s back.

“Fine. Just doing a lot of magic.” He straightened. “I’ll be able to rest soon. Let’s lift the last one down now.”

In unison, they turned toward Sullivan’s coffin sitting in the cart. James froze. A shade hovered above it, head cocked. It seemed their time had run out.

23

SEBASTIAN

Irritation flared in Sebastian’s chest. He was so damn sick of shades.

The night had been too much, and saying goodbye to Stephen like that had been harder than he could have prepared for.

Sebastian wanted this done. Now.

He shot sparks at the shade and it burst into flames. Without hesitating, he stooped to push the next coffin into the veins. “Rest easy, Simon.”

The coffin fell away.

Out of nowhere, something swiped at Sebastian’s legs and knocked him off his feet. He was yanked backward by the ankle as the edge of the hole receded, closing farther. He scrambled in the dirt, trying to stop himself as he was dragged into the trees. He couldn’t get enough leverage to flip over and his hand hurt even worse than before, making it impossible to grab ahold of anything for long.

“James!” Sebastian shouted but got no answer. Shit! Where was he?

Sebastian was dragged deeper into the trees, away from the clearing. His hoodie rode up, leaving his stomach and chest vulnerable to the rough forest floor. His side slammed into a tree. Sebastian grunted in pain but managed to grab the slim trunk with his uninjured arm. He pulled against whatever was dragging him, but its hold on his legs was too strong.

Sebastian managed to twist around and landed on his back, letting go of the tree. Instead of weakening his captive’s grip, it seemed to do nothing. Sebastian looked down at his feet. Black tendrils wound around his legs from ankle to mid-calf.

The tendrils extended into the forest, disappearing into the dark. Most likely, the rest of the writhing mass of shadowy feelers was somewhere beyond. Sebastian didn’t know if this tendril-thing was a creature or some sort of shadow magic created by intelligent shades. It seemed to be treated as expendable by the humanoid shade before, like a layer of defense, and Sebastian feared the humanoid shade was lurking somewhere in the dark.

He was hauled deeper into the woods. The tendrils holding him wound farther up his legs until they were at his knees. He shot sparks at them, desperate to escape and find James, who was nowhere in sight.

One of the sparks caught, setting fire to a tendril and causing it to scream. Sebastian let out a shout of his own, hot fire now wrapped around his leg. The burning tendril broke away from the rest of the vine-like feelers and burst into smoke, leaving Sebastian’s jeans singed.

Another tendril replaced the vanquished one almost instantly.

“Fuck,” Sebastian muttered. He was so tired. Everything hurt. But he was so close to finishing this, to fixing the veins and rendering his family’s cure moot. He was so close to freedom.

The tendrils ceased their dragging and Sebastian lay still. Part of him didn’t think he’d be able to move. He wished he could go to sleep and deal with all this when he recovered. But he couldn’t let pain or exhaustion stop him. He pushed himself into a sitting position and squinted into the dark forest.

Movement in the trees beyond caught his eye, but he couldn’t make anything out. He was wasting time trying to see through the shadows. Sebastian conjured a light and pushed it forward to illuminate the forest.

The mass of tendrils was only ten feet away, pulsing and writhing, hovering above the forest floor. To the right, James was bound by shadowy feelers, his arms clamped to his sides and his whole body tightly wound. A tendril wrapped around his face, gagging him. He thrashed, his eyes wild.

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