Who: Jules and Sebastian When: Afternoon, Monday, November 6th Where: Study Hall Status: Complete
Everything was awful. With everything else going on, she had been totally unprepared by the news of Ms. Gaines’s death. People died all the time, especially in Point Pleasant, but it had never been anyone Jules really knew. Ms. Gaines had been her history teacher and her cheer coach and Jules and the girls had been devastated when they got the news. Were devastated. No one really knew what happened to her. There were rumors in school already about a rabid animal, or a jealous lover. Someone even suggested her ex-husband had killed her, but the guy was a cop, and why would he do that? It didn’t really matter how it happened, all that mattered was it had, and it seemed to be just one more shitty thing on top of a pile of shitty things.
She went to school that day despite her mom telling her she didn’t have to. Jules didn’t really want to sit around at home and think about all the bad stuff. So instead she was at school thinking about all the bad stuff. She’d barely been able to pay attention in most of her classes, so she was relieved when study hall came around and she could take a seat in the back of the library. A dull headache had begun to throb in her temple, and Jules had been scared for a few minutes that her nose would start bleeding, but when it didn’t, she chalked it up to having been crying for most of the night. Really, she was just over it. Everything.
Jules was about to put her headphones in to try and deter people from approaching her, but when she looked up to see Sebastian heading toward her table, she lowered her headphones, realizing she wouldn’t mind his company, at least.
Sebastian had never looked forward to going to school quite like he did not, his house feeling more like a prison and the tension so thick that he’d taken to shutting himself in his room when he wasn’t in the basement working out. Of course it would happen that as soon as he had time to hang out after school, with no more football practice, the option would be taken away from him. He wasn’t really feeling it yet, but he knew by the weekend he’d be stir crazy. He was taking the opportunities to socialize at school when he could get them, even if they weren’t near as good as they might be outside school walls.
He’d been thinking about talking to Jules since Greg had mentioned it to him, wondering what might be going on with her and really unsure if he could help any at this point. He didn’t want this to be one more thing she had to keep a secret for him, but he knew he could trust her. He just didn’t know how to bring it up. Giving her a little smile, he slid down in the seat next to her and dropped his backpack on the table, creating a little wall in front of him. “Hey,” he said quietly. “How’re you doing?”
Jules shrugged at the question. She didn't want to say she was fine when she wasn't, but Jules didn't really want to spill her guts out either. She couldn't. Greg had just happened to be in the wrong place and the wrong time to witness her meltdown. "I don't know. Things have been better. Crap upon crap, you know? What about you, though?" They hadn't talked in a couple of days, and Jules kept remembering how Greg had wanted her to tell Sebastian all about her dreams and stuff. She wasn't really ready to do that, even though she sort of already knew she could probably trust him.
Sebastian knew how that went. Crap upon crap. His bright little light in the middle of it all was his date with Hunter and now he wasn’t sure when he’d get to see him next. Besides school. It wasn’t the same at school. “I’m grounded. For an indeterminate amount of time. Which sounds really petty out loud, but it kinda keeps me from seeing the people that make me sane.” He couldn’t even go down to Greg’s house and play basketball with him. How did this feel so much like a death march when he was only one day in? He knew it would pass and that he was just whining, but he was so uncomfortable at home right now that he’d rather be anywhere else.
Jules's brows lifted in surprise when Sebastian admitted he had been grounded. He never seemed to get into trouble, ever. "Wow. What happened?" Bad grades? Doubtful. Maybe his parents had found out he was gay? Possible. She honestly couldn't imagine what Sebastian could have done to piss off his parents that much. Jules had been grounded before, but her mom was away so frequently that it had never stopped her from actually leaving the house or having people over. After awhile her mom had stopped trying. Now they just bickered or fought when Jules was in trouble.
“Um. It’s kinda complicated,” Sebastian said, cringing a little as he hesitated. She might think he was crazy. Or stupid. There was a high possibility he was incredibly stupid. “What’s your threshold for crazy these days? Cause… this is a bit bigger than my mom finding a joint in my backpack or something.” Not that he wouldn’t be grounded for that too, but that would be so much easier to deal with. It wouldn’t load on the nagging guilt that he’d somehow screwed up on an epic level.
She couldn't help but give him an unamused, dry look. But it wasn't his fault he didn't know half the crap happening right now. If only he knew what her threshold for crazy really was. Jules used to think she was maybe a little crazy, and maybe she was, but everything felt a little muted now. "I'm not entirely sure I even had a threshold for that," Jules said finally. "I don't think anything you tell me could surprise me at this point, Bash. Complicated is like, like right now." For her, probably for him, probably for a lot of people. "What's going on?"
He smiled a little at the look she gave him, but he had to ask. There wasn’t a way to dip your toes in on this one. It was an all or nothing ball of crazy. “I helped someone break a curse,” he said slowly, not entirely sure he should be saying this aloud or to anyone, but it was so big inside his head that saying it out loud helped piece it together. “Because I thought it might kill them, and… in doing so, may have triggered the magic of every living descendant on my mom’s side of the family. Possibly putting us all in danger. So… I probably should be grounded.”
While she wasn't shocked at the content - obviously she knew witches existed now - she was surprised to hear that Sebastian was one. Jules knew there wasn't exactly a type when it came to who were witches and who weren't, but it was just kind of weird to imagine Sebastian as one. "Yeah, I can see why you might have gotten into trouble with that," Jules said finally. She wasn't even sure which part to start with. "I mean... why would triggering your magic be dangerous? And how did you help someone break a curse? Was your magic triggered before everyone else?" And magic had to be triggered? Jules only knew witches existed. She didn't know the specifics of what they did, or how.
“Um, no, it’s more like… it’s on both sides of my family. So I knew about my dad. And you can kinda… feel it? When you have magic and someone else does,” Sebastian said, sure he was doing a horrible job of explaining it. “Mine was triggered when I was, maybe, thirteen? But my mom’s always said it was dangerous and we weren’t allowed to practice. And I’d never felt it from her, so I didn’t think she was one. But, it’s like breaking the curse woke something up in her. I could suddenly feel it.” He realized that was a lot of rambling and that he’d only answered one of her questions and tried to remember what else she’d asked. “I didn’t get all the details. We were kind of yelling at each other. But she said we were being hunted.” Which didn’t sit well with him at all.
So she had witches living down the street from her. Jules knew about Reagan Kelly. Did that mean her mom and dad were witches too? It was all kind of confusing, but didn't directly affect her much. Frowning, Jules settled back in her chair a bit. "I guess that's to be expected, right? I mean, look at like, the Point Pleasant Six. And Salem. Witches are always being persecuted." Sure, not every person accused and killed for being a witch was actually a witch, but the hysteria was based on fear, wasn't it? "So your mom didn't know you were helping someone else break a curse?"
Sebastian nodded because that part wasn’t exactly new. It was why they weren’t public with their abilities. People started worrying about what they could do and eventually turned on them. As much as he liked to believe that people were good, he knew not everyone was. And one bad witch turned the fear on all of them. “I just don’t know what it means. There’s no physical indicators, so if you were hunting a witch, you’d have to see them do something to know for sure. Unless the hunter is a witch too,” he frowned. He watched too many movies. He was already coming up with scenarios were someone knocked on his door with a shotgun. “She would’ve flipped if I’d told her. I wasn’t even supposed to be practicing. If I hadn’t been, they wouldn’t have found me, but… they said it could kill them. That one or both of them would die if they didn’t help. How could I say no?”
"Or the hunter has a witch helping him or her," Jules pointed out. It was just a guess, since she didn't really know anything about any of it. It was strange, listening to Sebastian talk, like all this crazy stuff was happening to him too. It was unfair, really. They were supposed to be worried about winning playoff games and getting dates to prom and stuff. None of this bizarre paranormal crap. "Are you sure they were telling you the truth?" she asked. She didn't bother asking who they were, since she figured Sebastian would have already mentioned their names if he was comfortable with her knowing. "You're sure it wasn't some trick to wake up your mom's magic, and the rest of her family? Have you talked to them since all that happened?"
“I don’t know how they could’ve known. I didn’t even know. They were looking for a specific descendant and were kind of shocked that it was me. If it was a trick, then… then they’d have to already know my mom was a witch. I don’t even think my dad knew.” Sebastian kind of wanted to ask him, but he also wanted to keep his head down and disappear, especially if he’d been as wrong as his mother thought he was. “I texted them. Just to make sure things lined up, that they broke the curse when things went all wonky. But we haven’t really talked and I can’t now that I’m grounded.” He didn’t really see him and Reagan having a chat over the phone. “What if I was wrong?” he asked Jules. “What if I’ve like, seriously fucked up and put everyone in danger?”
A little confused now, Jules tried to piece it all together in her mind. It was kind of nice because it distracted her from all of her own problems. "Okay, so like, you said you were practicing magic, and that's how they found you. And they needed you to help break a curse. If they were looking for a specific descendant, and they found out it was you, then they would know that they could use you to trigger the magic in your family that wasn't being used, right, and they could track all of them now too. So then like, they make up this story about being cursed and potentially dying because of it, because you're a sweet person and really, who is going to say no to helping save lives, and you do whatever you do to help them and then boom, it triggers your mom's magic and like, the rest of her family too. Maybe breaking the curse wasn't actually breaking a curse, but locating people in your family. I don't know. It sounds a little confusing to me. Because if they found out you were the descendant, why trigger the magic at all? Obviously they would know it had to be from your mom or dad's side and they could just go after them. Is everyone in the family witches or just like, some of them, because if it's not something everyone in a family can do, then I can see why they'd want to trigger the magic to like, pinpoint specific people." Jules paused and released a short breath. "Sorry, I'm just rambling now. I wish I knew what to tell you, Bash. Maybe you did seriously fuck up. Or maybe your mom is wrong and you really did help those people and she just... doesn't understand it."
Sebastian’s eyes got a little wide as Jules spoke, following her down the scenario where Reagan Kelly was specifically targeting him in an effort to wake up the magic on his mother’s side of the family. He just kept coming back to the fact that no one knew his mother’s side of the family had magic, so how would they even know to wake it up? The chain of events that led him to Reagan seemed too random for her to have planned it. “I dunno. Maybe? I didn’t know that breaking the curse would even affect me, but you’re right, if they were doing something else… who knows?” They could’ve been using his blood in a ritual that cursed his whole line, for all he knew. Now that he thought of it, he’d put far too much trust in them, giving them his blood to do whatever they pleased. “I just don’t know what to do now. I don’t feel like I can talk to her ‘cause… to her, all magic is bad. And… I just don’t think it’s that black and white.”
"I mean, did they tell you about this curse before discovering you were the descendant they were looking for?" Jules asked. "Or did they only tell you about the curse after discovering you were the one. I guess it's all in the timing, right? How did you even meet them?" Jules assumed talking to her meant his mom, and Jules had such a shitty relationship with her own mother that it was hard to give him any decent advice. "I think maybe you should talk to your mom anyway. You said your dad knows magic too, right? If she thinks all magic is bad, then why is she even married to him? Your dad never struck me as like, an evil guy, you know?"
“I took a friend to get hex bags from her a few weeks back, and she asked me why I didn’t just make them myself,” Sebastian said, kind of wishing that he could just say who it was, but also seriously believing he should protect the identity of other witches, since he’d want to the same done for him. “I told her I didn’t know how and asked if she would teach me. So last week, I’m at her house, and I do this spell, and, like, this bowl with bones in it starts making all kinds of noise, trying to get to me. And she just stares at me in shock, then tells me that I’m the one they’ve been looking for. And tells me about the curse then. So, it could be some elaborate setup, but she already knew my dad was a witch.” If there wasn’t a curse, what could Reagan Kelly have to gain from forcing his mother’s magic awake? “I don’t think my dad practices around her. My mom, I mean. Maybe it’s like-- like a vice. Like when you’re dating someone who smokes and it grosses you out, but you put up with it, so long as they don’t do it around you or the kids.”
"Or maybe it's just a coincidence that she decided to help you and you just happened to be the person she was looking for," Jules pointed out. "It's a small town, right? She knew your dad was a witch, but not your mom. It could have just been a stroke of luck for her." She paused then, her brows drawn together thoughtfully as she thought back over what he had just said. Hex bags. She knew a witch in town who created hex bags. Well, she didn't know her personally, but she knew of her. Jules leaned in toward Sebastian, her voice lowering to a whisper. "Are you talking about Reagan Kelly?" If not, oh well, now Sebastian would know too. She had already told Greg.
“Yeah,” Sebastian said with a small huff. “I didn’t want to out her if you didn’t know.” He knew that, when it came to witches, Reagan Kelly looked about as much like you’d expect a witch to look as he did. Meaning, not at all. No one would suspect. It would have surprised him significantly less if she’d said Zan Castell, who sometimes even dressed like you thought witches might dress. Reagan, with her sweater sets and pearls, was not a good guess if you didn’t know better. “How do you know her? I don’t think it’s on her business cards.” He knew Jules liked the fancy soaps she sold, but doubted it came up when buying them.
"I don't really know her," she admitted. "But Jasper got hex bags from her awhile ago. It explains a lot, actually. Her face wash is the only one I've ever used that totally clears up blemishes. Like magic." Jules sighed and rested her chin in her hand. "She doesn't seem like the evil witch type, Sebastian, but what do I know. If she's been teaching you, you'd probably know better than anyone. Maybe you should talk to her too and just try to figure out what's going on. Maybe this is all just one big miscommunication."
“I can make you hex bags now,” Sebastian told her with a little smile. It was pretty much the only useful thing he could do. “But yeah, I probably need to talk to her. I’m under strict orders to come straight home after school though, so… I dunno. I’ll figure something out.” He should probably do what he was told on day one. If he was going to disobey his mother, he needed to make it worth it. “So, what’s going on with you? Why did you need hex bags?”
"I'll keep that in mind," Jules said with a small smile. Not that the hex bag had done her much good. Or maybe it had and the stuff that had happened was just too powerful for it. His question caused her smile to slip a bit and she straightened, looking down to start wrapping her headphones up. Honestly, Jules didn't know whether or not she wanted to tell Sebastian what was going on. It was complicated and didn't only involve her now. "Jasper wanted me to have one because of all the weird stuff in town. I had a... uh, strange experience with my mirror, which I know sounds... strange." Jules grimaced and shook her head. "I'll definitely make sure to ask you for them from now on, though. Where do you get all your magic stuff from?"
Sebastian could tell she wasn’t comfortable talking about it and he really didn’t blame her. These kinds of things put people on edge. They were hard to explain and even harder to believe. “With your mirror?” he asked, definitely curious. “Um, you know that old tea and spice shop? They sell other things. Ingredients and stuff.” He wasn’t sure if she was familiar with it. It didn’t seem like a place Jules would ever go. Sebastian had never been there himself before he started practicing magic.
Recognition flickered in Jules's eyes. That old tea and spice shop was Nic's shop. She had just been there. It seemed like a lot of things seemed a bit... what was the word... intertwined? Jasper going to Reagan Kelly for hex bags, Sebastian being taught magic by her... buying ingredients from the Castells, one of whom was involved in the same mirror crap as Jules. "I've been there," she murmured. "They have good tea." She wouldn't know, but still. It wasn't her place to tell Sebastian about Nic's predicament. "The mirror thing happened awhile ago. It was like, a hallucination? I was seeing myself, but my reflection was like, not my reflection. It was just bizarre. It scared me though, and I told Jasper, who got me the hex bag." He'd had his own reasons to go to Reagan but again, it wasn't her place to tell Bash about the black eyed creeper kids.
“I haven’t had their tea yet. Just… some things that I’m pretty sure aren’t edible,” Sebastian said with a little smile. Maybe he’d buy some tea next time. Someone would have to tell him what to get though. “That sounds like… I dunno. I’m kinda new to all this, but… maybe a curse or something? You didn’t buy anything weird at the witch’s festival, did you? Or was this before that?” He really hoped, for Jules’ sake, that she wasn’t cursed in some way. Then again, there were ways to break curses. “Is it still happening? Or did the hex bag help?”
Maybe if they met in Nic's shop again, she would buy Sebastian some tea. It would be something normal to do in an abnormal situation. "I didn't go to the witch's festival," Jules told him. "It's been happening longer than that. I don't think I'm cursed. Or maybe I am, who knows. But a few others are going through the same thing, and we have nothing in common, so we don't know what it could be. The hex bag might be helping with other stuff, but not with this. We're trying to figure out answers...I really don't think it's a magic thing." Nic would probably know if it was, right?
Sebastian nodded, wishing he was more of a help. Maybe if he knew more, but his knowledge right now was so limited that he didn’t know if what Jules was dealing with was common or not, or if there were signs of something specific. He thought it might help that there were more people involved, but that could also make it more complicated. “Even if it is, I’m kind of a novice,” he said with a small shrug. “But I can always listen and, if something stands out, there are other people that know way more than me.” He had no problem with pointing Jules their direction if he thought they could help her. “I don’t know about you, but I could really use some normal.”
Jules was feeling the same way with Sebastian as she had with Greg. She appreciated their concern and desire to help, but she had no clue what they could do, and really, she didn't want to put them in any kind of danger. She might not have known Neil, Carson or Nic very well, but she didn't get the impression that they would let anything hurt her if they could help it. Getting more people involved could just make everything complicated. Jules gave him a small smile. "Thanks, Bash. Sometimes just having someone around to listen helps, you know? And oh my god, I am so ready for normal again. I'm starting to forget what it feels like. It's like one thing after another lately. It really sucks."
“Yeah, but it’s hard when it’s not something you can talk about,” Sebastian said, then gave her a little smile. “Greg seemed to think I could talk to you about it. That you wouldn’t flip out.” At least he could say now that the people who knew his secrets knew all of them. That made it easier to remember. “Maybe things will improve soon. Your mirror problems will resolve themselves and… I’ll still be me, but I’ll get back to the fun stuff. Not the curse breaking, life threatening stuff.” So far he’d been pretty useless, but maybe that would change once he knew more. “We should do something normal. To take our minds off things.”
Jules was silent for a moment as her mind worked over the impromptu road trip she and Greg had went on. He had suggested she talk to Sebastian. Maybe Greg thought Sebastian could help somehow, being a witch. It was nice of him to try, but Jules had to imagine if Nic was a witch, he would know something, right? Jules wasn't entirely sure if her mirror problem would resolve itself. And if it did, would it be a good resolution, or a bad, scary one? Thinking about it made her stomach churn uncomfortably. "I definitely want to do something normal," Jules murmured. "I don't know what, though. A party doesn't seem right, you know?"
“Yeah, and it feels like we’ve had a lot of those lately anyways. I need something… a little more low key,” Sebastian said, his head dipping back to stare at the ceiling. What was normal, but not boring? He had homework and college applications to keep his busy, but that didn’t really feel like an escape after a while. “Maybe we could… I dunno… have a bonfire somewhere. Just hang out. The fallow or the beach. A small thing. I could bring my guitar and we could roast marshmallows,” he laughed softly. It sounded childish, but it could be fun.
"Ew, not the Fallow," Jules said, wrinkling her nose. "I just imagine all the bugs in those weeds, you know? But the beach might be fun, before it gets too cold. And maybe like, not invite the whole school." She added that with a bit of a laugh. It was strange to be such a social creature who craved attention, and yet, not want any of it right now. But Sebastian had said 'low key' so she imagined it would only be a small handful of people. "When do you want to do that?"
Sebastian nodded in agreement, pretty sure they could get together a small group of friends without it being some big blowout party. The key was not advertising free liquor. That usually cut the number in half to start. “Maybe next weekend? Friday or Saturday night? I don’t think there’s anything I could do to get me out of being grounded this weekend.” After all, it was having the weekend included that made it feel like a punishment.
"Well, don't do anything to prolong the grounding," Jules pointed out with a small smile. Her mom had tried to ground her in the past, and Jules's mouth tended to just add on days to the sentencing, as Jules always called it. "So we can plan for next weekend and have some fun." Or try to, anyway. Everything felt crappy right now, but Jules was all for anything that might help her feel normal again.
“I’ll try not to,” Sebastian said with a little laugh. It wasn’t like he’d been trying to get grounded the first time. But his mother was demanding answers to things he couldn’t say. Or wouldn’t. He was sure that was her point, but he didn’t feel like she had the right to know everything just because she wanted to. “It’s a plan, then,” he said, giving her a nudge and a little smile. “Something to look forward to.” They both deserved it.