Who: Sebastian & Ophelia Where: McCarthy house, Overlook When: Sunday evening, October 22nd Status: Complete
It was late in the day when Hunter finally left and Sebastian wandered into the kitchen to find something for dinner. They’d made breakfast together, pancakes and bacon that were as delicious as they were messy, but then had retreated back to Sebastian’s room afterwards. While they’d spent most of the day in bed, there’d been breaks where they’d daydream together, and eventually Sebastian had been coaxed into playing a bit on his guitar and they’d had a little sing-a-long together. There’d been leftover pizza at some point, and it was pretty much the laziest day Sebastian had had in forever. He felt like bit of a glutton, but didn’t care one bit.
But now that the sun had set and he was alone, he found himself poking around the kitchen, trying to decide if he should actually make something or order in. He wasn’t sure if his sister had eaten, so he sent her a text as he leaned against the kitchen counter, trying to decide what to do with what they had. His mind was still elsewhere, on Hunter, on when they’d actually get to spend time together again. The weekend felt like a dream and he was having a hard time dragging himself back to reality.
Ophelia hadn’t expected Hunter to stay all day. She’d heard them down in the kitchen making breakfast at some point, then passed Hunter in the hallway at another, and she’d tried to stay in her room after that. She could hear them sometimes in Bash’s room, and once that sound wasn’t music, she put her headphones on. She had started to get annoyed with it, because it was her parent-free weekend too, and she didn’t feel like she had free reign of the house with her brother’s boyfriend there ... but then again, what was she going to do? She had everything she needed in her room, they didn’t even share a bathroom. So whatever, right? Maybe she just wasn’t used to sharing her brother for two days in a row. Maybe she was a little jealous too, that he had someone to spend endless time with.
She got Sebastian’s text from downstairs as she was sitting on her bed, music still flooding her ears. He was just asking about dinner, but made no mention of Hunter, so Ophelia didn’t know if he was still there or not. Pursing her lips a little, she sent a text back, is your bf still here?, then dropped her phone again, going back to her book.
Sebastian’s brows drew together as he stared at the text from Ophelia, not entirely sure how to take it. Maybe she was just curious. Text messages were horrible when it came to tone, but somehow he thought she might be annoyed, which he tried not to think about. Because as soon as he did, he found himself getting annoyed and he knew that wasn’t fair, she hadn’t even said anything. No, he shot back, then moved to stand in the pantry, looking at what they had and bouncing it off the limited list of things he could make. You want spaghetti?
He didn’t answer back right away, so Ophelia almost expected the answer to be yes. But it wasn’t, so she couldn’t use that as an excuse not to go downstairs. She sighed and weighed her options for a moment before she stopped her playlist, pulled off her headphones, and got up. She couldn’t very well be secretly pouty that Bash had been preoccupied all day and then not take advantage of when his attention was free again. So Ophelia pulled some pj pants on and headed downstairs. She found him in the kitchen, and went to open the fridge to see if there were things that could go with pasta in there. “Spaghetti’s fine,” she said, like they’d been having that conversation out loud instead of with text. “I’ll make garlic bread.”
Sebastian turned, surprised to suddenly see Ophelia there, not entirely sure how she’d snuck up on him. Like her, he was in pajama pants, his with a sweatshirt, and it made him glad he wasn’t the only one who’d had a lazy day. “Great,” he said, lips twitching up a touch before he grabbed the pasta and the sauce. “I really wasn’t up to messing with chicken, but I wanted something more than ramen and grilled cheese.” And they had ground meat, so the choice was easy. He got out a pot and started filling it, moving around his sister when necessary. “You have fun last night?”
Their mother always kept a stocked kitchen, so there was some good bread on hand to cut up and get buttered. Ophelia started doing so on the kitchen island so she wasn’t right in Sebastian’s way. She’d expected the question, and had a few mixed feelings about answering it. She’d had a good time once she was there and drinking and playing ridiculous games with everyone, and then there had been The Conversation with Greg in the kitchen, which ... throughout the day, when she thought about it, it either made her feel incredibly giddy and floaty, or like she was a giant idiot who was reading way too much into things and none of that had probably meant anything to him and ugh. Sebastian’s question prompted more of the latter feelings, though she still gave a small smile with her shrug. “Yeah, it was fun,” she said so her brother wouldn’t feel bad. “They all seem nice. I’m like, not even going to ask if you had fun.”
It was funny that the first time Sebastian really made an effort to include Ophelia in with his friends, they were a group of friends that were almost just as new to him as well. All except for Greg, and she knew him already. He’d really, really tried not to let Ophelia’s secret crush make him uncomfortable, and he thought he’d managed just fine. But then he’d also been decently distracted all night, even when interacting with the group. Mention of his night had him turning pink and he couldn’t help smiling just a little. “I wasn’t sure how everyone would get along, but I think it turned out good.” He still had a hard time reading Sabrina, but he was starting to think that wasn’t just him. Even she’d seemed to enjoy herself though, so Sebastian considered it a win all around.
Seeing as how Ophelia was trying her best to keep her stupid crush on the down-low, she thought she’d done pretty good at treating Greg just like everybody else. Until they happened to be alone together, that was, but again, she was probably reading too much into that. They’d been the only non-couple there, just getting snacks ... and she’d shown off a bit of her magic for him and he’d called her a little sunbeam, which was pretty much the best thing anyone had ever said to her. But Ophelia was sure Sebastian didn’t want to hear about it, so she wasn’t going to gush, she’d promised herself. She shot her brother an amused glance at his answer, aware of where his real focus had been all night. “I think it turned out good too,” she agreed. It was hard to stay irritated with him when he was blushing and smiling like that.
Sebastian looked over at her, flashing her a smile, glad that she agreed. He knew it wouldn’t change anything, but affirmation always helped him. It helped him worry a little less. But then that gave way to worry about something else, and if it wasn’t yesterday, then it was tomorrow. “Thanks for… for letting me have them over. It feels kind of weird to think that everything will go back to normal tomorrow.” And he was starting to hate the norm. It was one of those things that would be so easy to change, but the unknown felt like this black hole of doom no matter how he looked at it. Sure, there were some things that wouldn’t turn out as bad as he was making them out to be, but last night? He knew that was never going to happen again, not in this house. Not unless their parents were gone. And there wasn’t exactly anywhere else they could go.
“Yeah, it sucks,” Ophelia agreed with that too. She also couldn’t stay irritated when he was thanking her. Their parents didn’t go out of town together often, so she knew this had been a rare opportunity. It wasn’t like she would ever be allowed to have a boyfriend spend the night either, but she understood Bash’s stakes were higher. “And it’s fine,” she added with a shrug. Ophelia doubted that he would’ve listened to her if she hadn’t wanted them to all come over at all, but it was a nice sibling courtesy that he’d wanted her approval anyway. “But at least you’ll see him in school, right?” she offered, glancing up from sprinkling the bread with garlic powder.
If Ophelia had really thrown a fit, Sebastian would’ve cut it down to just Hunter coming over and they would’ve hidden out in his room all night. Which would have been equally amazing, he was sure, but he’d wanted a chance to hang out with Hunter’s friends. His friends. Whatever they were. It was a mix and he still felt a little unsure, but he’d trusted them with the two biggest secrets he had, so he felt like ‘friend’ was appropriate. Once the water was on to boil, Sebastian dropped the meat in the skillet and gave a little nod. “Kind of. I see him in passing. We don’t really hang out, ‘cause… ‘cause we’re not very good at hiding it when we’re together.” He wished he was better at it, but he didn’t really want to practice either. He wanted to hold Hunter’s hand, to wrap his arm around him, and kiss him every chance he got. Pretending he was just another guy was so hard it hurt.
“Whaaaat, you guys? No, surely not,” Ophelia automatically teased. She’d just spent most of the night before watching Hunter and Sebastian make moony-eyes at each other and treat one another like furniture, so hearing that was the opposite of a surprise. She had to imagine that was frustrating and hard, though it was kind of romantic at the same time. To her, anyway. But what did she know, nobody had ever wanted her that way, secret or not. Sebastian looked unhappy about it though, so she winced a little. “Sorry,” she muttered. “That must suck.” She bit her tongue on reminding him that at least he had someone, because that wasn’t really fair and it was all still really new, blah blah.
Sebastian’s blush intensified and he ran a hand through his hair, embarrassed. No one had said anything last night, but now he worried that he might have made his friends uncomfortable. Or his sister. He’d tried to control it in the beginning, but once they started drinking it had gotten harder and harder to keep their hands off each other, even when it was innocent. “Was it that bad?” he asked, needing to know. Mak and Sabrina would never say anything, he didn’t think. And Greg… He wasn’t sure, and that was weird. Based on what he’d seen of Greg and his girlfriends, Greg’s definition of where the line was was already blurry anyways. “It is what it is,” he shrugged. “It sucks, and it doesn’t feel fair to him. He’s been out for a while, so…” it gave him a lot to think about.
Ophelia gave him an odd look for a second, because he seemed genuinely worried about something, and she didn’t quite get why. “I mean it wasn’t, like ... bad,” she said. “You didn’t start blowing each other during Mario Kart or anything. That was the point of the whole thing, wasn’t it? To hang out and like, be able to openly cuddle with your boyfriend?” It seemed reasonable to her that they’d gotten all touchy and lovey, since they apparently couldn’t do it anywhere else, and Sebastian had only invited people who Knew. She’d just been teasing him about how obvious it had been that he was all gooey for Hunter, but sometimes her brother took things too seriously.
“No, ‘cause then we’d have definitely lost,” Sebastian said with a little smirk, color hitting the point where he just needed to stop and not let his brain even drift that direction. He couldn’t imagine what state he’d have to be in to start fooling around with an audience, but he imagined it was really drunk. Not just happy drunk, but deliriously drunk. And maybe high. Sebastian kind of liked the threat of getting caught, but was finding that exhibitionism wasn’t really his thing. “But yeah, that was the point. I know it could’ve just been the two of us, but I wanted Greg to meet him, officially, and I thought it’d be fun and they really needed a break.” And their parents had been out of town. Both of them. It was the kind of situation that needed to be taken advantage of.
Another lightning-strike of irritation flashed through Ophelia, because Sebastian had wanted her to meet Hunter too, but she knew it was unreasonable, because she would’ve been there anyway, even if the rest of them hadn’t been. She just hated feeling less important to him than Greg, even though that didn’t make sense either. She was the ‘little sister,’ after all. Blah. She took a deeper, slower breath and ignored the dumb heat in her cheeks. “You had fun, everybody else had fun, so don’t fret about it,” she said decisively. Ophelia finished up with the bread, spread out on a tray, and moved to stick them in the oven to get warm and delicious. She waited for a moment, then shot a sideways glance at Sebastian. “I, uh ... showed Greg a little magic.” It was only fair that they both got to gush, right?
Sebastian cast a glance her way as he stirred the browning meat, then bit his lip and nodded. She was right. Everything had gone really well and there was no need to worry about it. He’d never been especially good at that, sometimes too stuck on an idea once it got it in his head, but he could do it. He just needed something else to focus on. Thankfully, Ophelia made that easy. “Oh?” He smiled, surprised but not unhappy. He wasn’t going to tell her not to, not when he’d done it himself and was seeking out lessons. “What’d you do? How’d he take it?” He knew it was still new to Greg, but he’d been pretty accepting so far.
“I just made that bloom, the purple one,” she said, nodding to the little plants that lined the kitchen windowsill. The small cactus that she’d given a boost too still had a lovely flower on it, and it was a darker, healthier green than it had been when it started. A tiny thing, but to do it in front of someone’s eyes had given her a thrill. Especially since it had been Greg’s eyes. Ophelia couldn’t help but start smiling again thinking about it, her cheeks pink for a different reason now. “He thought it was cool,” she said, and pressed her lips together so she wouldn’t grin too broadly. “He said I was like a little sunbeam.” And god, she was going to remember that until she died. She felt floaty whenever she thought about it. “Do you want salad?”
“Salad would be great,” Sebastian smiled, leaving the meat for a moment to go look at the plant. If it hadn’t been a cactus, he’d have been inclined to touch it. When he could see things like this, her magic felt so much more useful than his. “It is cool, you know,” he said, looking back at her, able to tell that Greg’s opinion would mean so much more than his right now. It was still weird for him to think about, his sister liking his best friend, but then of course she would. Greg was a great guy. So long as they didn’t start dating, things wouldn’t get weird. “He’s a lot nicer when you’re nice to him,” he teased gently, returning to the stove. A little sunbeam. If it was anyone else, he would’ve thought Greg was flirting.
She might have been crushing hard on Greg, so his opinion definitely mattered, but Sebastian’s mattered on a whole different level. Boys would come and go, but her brother was forever. Ophelia glowed a bit more in the face as she went back to the fridge, but she tried to tone it down. She didn’t want it going to his head, after all. “I’ve always been nice to him!” she insisted with a faux-offended scoff. Grinning, Ophelia pulled out some salad makings to cut up and throw together. It was nice to actually get to make her own dinner -- or help Bash do it, anyway -- without her mother hovering and making comments. “I assured him I wasn’t going to set him on fire and everything.” She shot Sebastian an amused glance.
“Kiiiiiinda,” Sebastian laughed. “You weren’t mean. But good. I’m glad he’s not worried about being set on fire now. I’d much rather he admire your awesome earth powers.” He didn’t know how to explain it, but he really wanted Greg to be okay with them being witches. They always had been and he just hadn’t known it. But he knew that knowing changed perception, and Sebastian didn’t like change. “I know I probably shouldn’t have told him, but I’m really glad he knows now, you know?” It was one less secret to keep from the people closest to him. Even if this one would never be out, it was nice to share it, especially as he started learning more.
Ophelia giggled. “It sounds like Captain Planet or something when you say it that way.” Awesome earth powers. She would take it, though. Sometimes she let her imagination run wild with possibilities on what she could learn to do, given the time and resources. Ophelia wasn’t sure if she would ever actually get there, but a girl could dream about calling up volcanoes on command, right? She shrugged at Sebastian’s rhetorical question. “I dunno, I mean ... who cares about ‘shouldn’t have’? He’s your best friend, he knows everything else about you. Somebody should. Why not Greg?” She pulled a bowl down and started chopping up the lettuce, loving the smell of the greenery as always. “I’m glad he knows too. And that he’s cool about it. And the gay thing too. I told him that.”
Sebastian smiled and nodded, feeling the warm fuzzies return for a minute, this time for his friend. Greg had been a fucking rockstar, really. He’d dropped, like, ten bombs on him and he hadn’t budged from Sebastian’s side. It actually made him feel bad for keeping it all from him for so long. “Thanks. I told him that too, but I don’t think he knows how much it means that he’s cool with it all. It all kinda snowballed and suddenly Sabrina knew, and then Hunter knew, and I couldn’t not tell him.” It had gone from being an almost insignificant part of his life to actually mattering in a matter of days. Weeks? Minutes, really. However long it took to break into the shop on Main Street, that was how long it took for his life to change.
If someone had asked her, Ophelia would have predicted that Greg would be cool with everything, but he’d been extra super cool, so he deserved points for that. Crush or not, she wouldn’t have been very forgiving if he’d been an asshole to Sebastian for being who he was. That would kill a ladyboner for someone really fast. As much as he got on her nerves sometimes, Sebastian was blood and that meant a lot to her. The order of those names sounded a little off and Ophelia shot her brother a curious look. “Sabrina knew first?” she asked. That didn’t sound right, they’d acted like they hardly even knew each other last night. “Before Hunter? What’s up with that?”
There was a quiet moment as Sebastian drained the grease off the meat and returned it to the pan, giving him a second to internally debate before moving forward. “So… Um… Kinda long story,” he said, opening a jar of sauce and adding it to the meat. It freed him up to focus on his sister and he leaned back against the counter as the sauce began to heat. “I ran into Sabrina one night when I was out for a run. She was, um, trying to return a Ouija Board to that antique shop. Because they’d actually summoned something and it was attacking them. So I offered to help.”
Ophelia’s eyebrows slowly rose higher as Sebastian talked. Nobody last night had talked about Ouija boards or anything attacking them, though Ophelia guessed that wasn’t exactly great party conversation. And of course her brother would try to help out, that was just how he was. Suddenly Sebastian’s comment about them all needing a break made more sense. “Whoa,” she murmured, a little awed. “Like ... what kind of something? A ghost? And how do you mean, attacking them?” Her hands had paused at cutting up carrots, and she’d almost forgotten she was making a salad at all.
“It was some kind of a demon. It was hurting them in their sleep. Like, they’d wake up with bruises from things that happened in their dreams,” Sebastian explained. He didn’t have all the details, but he’d had enough to know things were bad and that they needed help. “We tried to return the Ouija board, but it didn’t work. And I told her to tell them to put salt around their beds. And then I took her to see Reagan Kelly.” She was the only witch he knew for sure, other than his father and the Lyttles. “I was hoping she could make hex bags for them, and she asked why I didn’t just make them myself, and Sabrina was there, so…” He shrugged, then gave her a little smile. “On the plus side, I can make hex bags now.”
That felt like a lot of information at once. Ophelia looked a little horrified at the idea of a demon hurting people, though she believed in such things, if only in a vague way. There was a lot out there in the world that was mysterious and scary and if demons were real? Well, that was just another thing to know. She knew who Reagan Kelly was, even though their parents had tried hard to keep them away from the other witches in town, so that made sense. Ophelia’s jaw dropped open a bit at the last part. “She taught you how?” she asked, her tone impressed and envious all at once. “Ohmygod, that’s amazing. I want to learn!” So far she’d just been dabbling on her own, following her instinct, but getting real lessons from a practicing witch sounded enticing.
Sebastian grinned, just as excited about it as she was. Despite all his little tricks with water, it was making a successful hex bag that made him feel like a real witch. Like everything before was just magic tricks. “Yeah, that’s all I know so far. Well, that and--” He stopped and looked for something simple to move and eventually focused on the unchopped tomato sitting on the cutting board. It took a few seconds and a lot more concentration than he knew should be necessary, but eventually it lifted off the board and floated out towards his sister. “That. I’m kind of slow at it. But she said practice should help. What I really want is to be able to help and protect people.”
Ophelia stared at her brother as he concentrated, not having a clue what he was actually doing until it happened. She backed up a step, the knife still in her hand, and let out a sound that was a mix between a squeal and a giggle. Her free hand came up to cover her mouth and Ophelia bounced on her toes, her eyes wide on the tomato. “Ohmygawd,” she said once she had a break in her giggling. “Is that ... I mean, can anybody learn to do that?” Slow or not, Bash was still moving shit with his mind, and that seemed pretty fucking incredible to her. She wanted telekinesis!
Sebastian grinned and brought the tomato over to him, catching it so he could relax. It still took a lot of effort to maintain on his part, but it was coming easier than that first time for sure. “I think so. She said it’s easiest for the witches in tune with air, and that I’d get better with practice. It made me realize that some of our limitations are that we don’t have a clue what we might be capable of.” He’d never tried to move anything with his mind before. Why would he? He thought only psychics could do that. “It just takes a lot of concentration and picturing what you want it to do. You’re not really moving it with your mind. You’re moving it with your magic.”
“Where does the magic come from, then?” Ophelia asked, her tone pretty clear that she’d always assumed the answer was ‘your mind.’ But maybe not. Maybe it was just ... out there, floating around, and only people like them could tap into it. Them and Reagan Kelly. And who knew who else. Ophelia stepped forward again to keep chopping up stuff to make a salad, since their other food was almost done. “Knowing me, with my earthiness, it would just end up splatting on the floor,” she added, amused. “Give it back if you want tomato on your salad though.”
“Umm… I’m not sure, but I’m going to say the elements,” Sebastian said, smiling as he handed her the tomato. “When you make a hex bag, you start by invoking all four of the elements, so I feel like that’s a big part of it. Like, we have an affinity for one, but can call upon the others, if needed. I have the most trouble with air.” Which he thought was a little weird. Could you have water without air? He breathed it every day. It should be easy to connect with it, but it felt the least concrete to him. “You could probably do it, too. I think it’s probably like what you did with the plant, it’s just a little different focus.”
Ophelia hadn’t ever tried to mess around with another element -- at least not on purpose -- so she wondered now what else she could have an affinity for. Maybe she could float all kinds of things around and she didn’t even know it. Maybe she really could’ve set Greg’s head on fire too, if she’d wanted to. Not for the first time, she felt a distinct bitterness toward their parents for keeping them in the dark. Who knew how much they could know and be doing by now if they’d been taught properly. Ophelia listened to her brother and sliced into the tomato, doling out the salad makings into a couple of bowls for them. “Is she gonna teach you more?” she asked, glancing over at Sebastian and trying not to sound too hopeful. If Reagan taught Bash magic, maybe she would teach Ophelia too. Or Bash could relay the lessons or ... something. “I really want to learn. Like, everything.”
“That’s the plan,” Sebastian smiled. “I’ve started writing things down and I can totally teach you what I learn. I’ve started looking for dad’s book while he’s not here. She said he would have a book, something that catalogues generations of knowledge. A lot of it’s passed down and she’s only going to teach me so much, so I was hoping I might find it, even if he won’t share it with us.” At some point Reagan would get bored of teaching him and he’d be lucky to have learned when he learned. She’d been kind to him, and patient, but he wasn’t foolish enough to think it would last forever.
Ophelia’s eyebrows raised again when Bash mentioned a book. Their dad had a pretty good library going, but she wondered if he wouldn’t have stashed something like that away somewhere safer. Where prying kids’ eyes wouldn’t find it. “Interesting,” she murmured, then flashed her brother a wicked little grin. “Well, I know what we’re doing after dinner.” A treasure hunt through their own house sounded kind of fun. They’d already broken rules and had a party, so why not, right? Their parents still wouldn’t be home for a while. She was only half-serious, but if Bash really wanted to look, Ophelia had no qualms about going through their dad’s stuff. “But ohmygodyes, you have to teach me, okay? Everything she tells you. Like, take a tape recorder or something.” The prospect was super exciting.
Sebastian grinned, absolutely thrilled to have his sister’s help in this. He’d originally thought that, if it was in the house, he should be able to find it, but had then discovered just how big their house was. “We could go room by room, hit up the more likely places first,” he suggested. “I kind of expect it to be locked up somewhere, but I have no idea.” If his father wasn’t referencing it or adding to it, it could just as easily be in the attic. He just hoped that in their insistence for them not to learn, they hadn’t thrown it out. “I don’t think she’d be okay with me recording it,” he laughed. “But I am writing things down. I got a book specifically for that, oh! And something to contain the backlash. I got this,” he said, showing her the braided leather band around his wrist.
“Backlash?” Ophelia questioned. There was a lot of information coming at her, but she loved it. She’d always been a quick study, and while her dabblings into magic so far had been very simple and unguided, she desperately wanted to really learn everything she possibly could. She and Sebastian had never talked about it at length, and she hadn’t really known he was so intent on studying, but now here they were. Learning magic with her brother was ridiculously appealing, like they could be a team. She looked at the bracelet, then started taking food stuff to the kitchen table, since everything was almost ready.
“Soooo… That would be the dangerous part,” Sebastian said, trying to think of the best way to explain something he didn’t really get yet. “Sometimes spells don’t work the way you expect, or… Or maybe they do, but there’s still, um, like a harmful after effect. I kind of think of it like when a spell backfires, but Reagan said even successful spells can have backlash. Some have more than others. But, so the jewelry can be spelled to absorb it, or most of it, depending on the amount. The downside is that you can never take it off or it’ll hit you all at once. Or, you could do like I’m planning and take it off every time, so it doesn’t build up. But I think that also means I have to stay away from anything that could really generate a lot of backlash, which is fine. I don’t have any interest in dark magic, you know?” When he stopped, he realized how much information he’d just dumped out there for her to process and chewed at his lip a little. “I know that’s a lot. I asked a lot of questions, but I still don’t know if I get it. I just got the bracelet at the festival this weekend, so it’s not even setup yet. But she’s gonna show me how to do that next time, whenever that is.”
Ophelia listened to it all thoughtfully, trying to wrap her head around it as much as she could. She guessed it followed some sort of logic, like the magical universe had some system in place to keep people from just going crazy with power. She wasn’t sure it made sense to take off something that was protecting you like that, like did the backlash just dissipate? But Sebastian didn’t sound like he really knew either, at least not yet. She was sure that Reagan would clear up any questions he had before she let him do a bunch of dangerous magic. At least Ophelia hoped so. “Okay well ... just be careful and like, don’t blow yourself up or anything,” she said, sounding a tiny bit fretful for a moment. Ophelia gave him a smile a second later. “And hurry up, I’m starving.”
“I won’t. Promise,” Sebastian said, trying to sound reassuring. Honestly, the whole concept of backlash worried him, but he wasn’t sure he’d understand it until he experienced it. And he was hoping he didn’t get into the kind of magic that resulted in it anyways. “I’m hurrying,” he laughed, turning to drain the pasta so they could go ahead and eat. “I know there’s some stuff I don’t ever want to get into. Like… When Hunter got possessed? I think that’s something I’d always need to go to someone else for. But it’s also something that you can usually avoid.”
“Wait, back up, what the fuck?” Ophelia said, looking around at him with wider eyes. “Hunter got possessed?” That was a part of the story he’d left out, and that sounded like, oh she didn’t know, maybe the most awful part? “The demon from the Ouija board possessed him? Jesus Bash, what the hell have you been getting up to without telling me?” She sounded more awed than outraged, though there was an element of poutiness there too. Ophelia had apparently been totally in the dark. No wonder her brother was suddenly friends with these people if they’d gone through something like that together. “And what do you mean, go to someone else for?”
Sebastian looked up, eyes a little bit wide and all amusement gone. He’d thought he’d mentioned that part, but then maybe he’d gotten sidetracked. “Yeah, the night Greg and I were in the bus accident, the demon possessed Hunter and attacked Mak. So while I was hanging out at Mercy, Mak and Sabrina took Hunter to Reagan Kelly’s house. She and some guy exorcised the demon.” He wasn’t sure what bothered him more, that he hadn’t been there to help or that he couldn’t have helped them even if he’d been there. “I think I’d be okay leaving demon exorcisms to the Kellys. Or the Castells.”
“Uh yeah, let’s not start fucking around with that kind of thing,” Ophelia vehemently agreed, her eyes still wide. Holy shit. No wonder they’d all ‘needed a break.’ Mak had looked okay, so she guessed the attack couldn’t have been that bad, but still. Demons. “Is he okay though? Hunter?” He’d also looked fine, but Ophelia couldn’t imagine you got possessed by a demon, hurt one of your friends, and then had a magical exorcism performed without some lingering effects. “This town, man,” she added in a mutter as she got some plates and forks for them to put on the table. “It’s like, crazy shit, twenty-four-seven.”
“Right?” Sebastian said with a soft snort. He imagined that was the kind of magic with some pretty powerful backlash. “I think he’s okay now, but he was really shaken up. And beat up, physically. But it’s the mental that’s hardest to get past. He doesn’t like to talk about it.” He hoped that if it was still bothering Hunter, he’d feel safe enough to talk about it with him. Because he wanted to be there for him. He liked to think they were more than just fine times and good sex. “It really seems like there’s always something, doesn’t it?” He said as he loaded up their bowls with pasta. “I always think that if more people knew what was out there, they’d be able to protect themselves, but I know it’d more likely just spread panic.”
Ophelia couldn’t blame Hunter for not wanting to talk about it. She wasn’t sure she would want to either, if she’d been possessed by a damn demon. Which was just insane to think about. But now that the shock was dying down, she was getting curious. What had that been like? Had he just lost the time? Was he aware of what was happening? Bad dreams maybe? It kind of made her wish they were closer and Hunter did want to talk about it ... maybe someday. Ophelia pulled the warm bread out and put it on a cutting board to bring to the table, then plunked down into a chair and looked at her brother. “I think they just feel safer not knowing,” she said. “Like ... they’re all little kids, thinking that if they pull the blanket up over their head, the monster can’t get them. We’ll just learn to take care of our own, you know? Do what we can, anyway.”
Sebastian nodded, agreeing. He got it. He really did. But he was glad he had a circle of friends that knew because they were easier to protect if they knew what kinds of things and places to avoid. “That’s what I want, to keep them safe. And it’s what I want to learn, protection, healing, and a little bit of defense,” he told her with a little smile as he finished adding the sauce and set their plates down on the table. He’d originally been worried about telling her, not sure if she’d tell him it was a bad idea or not, but he was glad he had. It was something they could share now and hopefully learn together.
She gave a little smile at that, a mixture of amusement and affection in it. “Sounds about right,” she murmured, glancing up at Sebastian from picking up her fork. “My paladin big brother.” He was always picking those sorts of characters in video games -- the shiny heroes who were always helping their friends and doing what was Right. It was cute. It was just another reason why she loved him so much. Bash was Good. “I just want to make volcanoes erupt under the feet of my enemies.” Ophelia gave a ‘mwah ha’ sort of laugh with an evil little wiggle, then tittered. Her mood was just a million times better now, she’d totally forgotten her annoyance from earlier. She and her brother were going to be real witches.
Sebastian laughed a little as heat touched his cheeks, but he really couldn’t argue. That was about right. “Except chaotic good all the way,” he snickered. If he was a true paladin, he’d be more lawful good, but he realized that probably didn’t include things like underage drinking and breaking into antique shops. Luckily, life didn’t require him to adhere to a character class. “Volcanoes? That’s such overkill!” he laughed. “You’d take out the town to take down your enemies. Remind me not to get on your bad side.” Except not really. He thought Ophelia was just about as much of a threat as he was, despite her evil laugh. He supposed he’d find out. They had a lot to learn and were already years behind.
“Maybe tiny little volcanoes?” Ophelia suggested, pursing her lips in mock-thought for a beat before she had to grin again. Because that wouldn’t be suspicious at all. “Just enough for one at a time. ... don’t tell Greg I said that, he’ll start to worry again.” Though hopefully he knew now that she didn’t actually feel an animosity toward him. They’d had a nice little moment in the kitchen, and even if nothing else ever came of it, she didn’t want him to think she hated him. Or even disliked him. He was safe from her future mini-volcanoes. “No, I don’t know ... I bet there are a lot of possibilities with earth that I’m just not thinking of. What element is Reagan again? Did she tell you?”
“Ant hill volcanoes,” Sebastian grinned. As if that was a thing. Though who knew with witches. Maybe Ophelia could make it happen and he’d just given her the greenlight. “I won’t. I like it when you two get along.” Which was something he’d not thought a lot about until last night. It would have been so awkward if she was being cold to him and he was wondering why. “I think there’s more than we’ve ever imagined,” he agreed. “Reagan’s a fire witch. And she said she could sense that I was water. And since then I’ve been trying to see if I can feel what other witches are, but I already know most of ‘em, so it’s kind of pointless too. I can’t tell if I can feel that you’re an earth witch or if I just already knew.”
Ophelia liked it when they got along too; even though it was a very recent development, it was already better than how things had been. Because Greg had talked to her for more than five seconds and called her a sunbeam and he’d smiled at her a lot when they’d been playing Cards, and even if all of that was meaningless, Ophelia was going to hold tight onto every bit of it. She did listen to the rest of what Sebastian said, though one part of her mind was skipping off to Gregland. “Yeah, you might be biased there,” she said as she twisted up some pasta onto her fork. “Maybe knowing her, you’ll like, meet even more witches in town. You said Reagan and some dude did Hunter’s exorcism? Wonder who he was.” Not that she expected Bash to know, she was just curious.
“I dunno. Maybe her boyfriend? I kinda think they got there in the middle of the night,” Sebastian said. Hunter hadn’t said a name and he wasn’t entirely sure it had been the kind of situation where he’d have stopped to ask. More like the kind where, as soon as he was himself again, he wanted to get home and feel safe. “She did give me the name of a place where I could get ingredients. The Castell’s spice shop? And then Greg and I came across their booth at the festival and the Zania’s definitely a witch. Do you remember the Castell twins?” Both he and Ophelia been young when they’d still been running around Overlook, but they stuck out in his mind. Mostly because they’d scared him then. Things had changed, but he kind of thought they might still scare him now.
Well if there was a guy at Reagan Kelly’s house in the middle of the night, he had to be a boyfriend or something. Unless she just took lovers. Something about that seemed cool and free to Ophelia. While she ate, she nodded to Bash’s question. She remembered the Castells -- they were older, but she’d always thought it was funny that they were twins who looked so different. Zania like a short wild flower child and Nic all tall and quiet. More people their parents had told them to stay away from. She knew about the spice shop, and she’d often wondered if they really sold more than that. It was too bad they were having this conversation after the festival, because now she wanted to go poke around. Oh well, maybe next year. “Was she selling anything cool? Man, I want a magical tutor,” she added with a playful pout. “Unfair.”
“You could ask one of them,” Sebastian said, then immediately regretted it and shook his head. “Or not. I can teach you? Kind of? I’ll try my best,” he offered with a little smile. “She was selling tea, spices, and ingredients. But Greg couldn’t read the labels on the ingredients, which was kind of cool. I bought bindweed, which was one of the things I used to make the hex bags.” He wondered what array of things she sold in her shop. Maybe she’d tell him what the ingredients were used for. “Can you… can you tell what a plant might be good for? Like, if you were to use it for ingredients?” Was an earth elemental in tune to the plants like that? Could she be? It was a path he’d never considered before now.
Ophelia tilted her head thoughtfully. “Y’know ... I dunno, I never tried,” she said. That would come in handy, wouldn’t it? Whenever she cooked -- which was pretty rare, she had to admit -- Ophelia had a good sense of what spices would work the best, but was that the same thing? It made her want to go sniffing through their mother’s spice rack and try to think about spells and stuff. Maybe she would practice on some of her room plants and see if she got any impressions. Not that she would know whether they were accurate or not. “Maybe I’ll go poke around the spice shop sometime.” She didn’t know if Zania Castell would really talk to her or not, but it was worth finding out. “But yes, you totally have to teach me everything you learn, or I’m going to pout at you for the rest of eternity.”
“Let me know if you can,” Sebastian smiled. “That’d be really cool.” And super useful for witches that didn’t know what they were doing to begin with. He could understand why the information had to be passed down to each generation. It would take forever for them to learn new things, with huge risk each time they tried something new. “Just… be careful if you do. They seem kinda weird.” Or Zania had. He didn’t know what to make of Nic. “I promise to teach you everything. And after dinner we’ll search for the book. That would probably teach us the most, if we could find it.”
Ophelia wasn’t scared of the Castells, even if she knew maybe she should be. They were just people like her and Bash, who’d actually been given free reign to hone their skills. Maybe they could end up being friends on the sly. Because their parents sure as hell couldn’t find out about any of this. Flashing her brother a brilliant smile, beyond pleased that they had a couple of rough plans to actually do this and really start learning, Ophelia went back to her food. Whether they found the book or not, she was glad to have this evening just for the two of them.