Who: Sebastian and Ophelia Where: The McCarthy House When: Evening, Monday, Dec 18 Status: Complete
With finals looming in the days ahead, Sebastian spent most of his free time studying. It wasn’t what he wanted to be doing, but he kept telling himself that he only had a few more days and then vacation. The countdown to Christmas break was on. Sitting on his bed with his history book open before him, he tried his best to focus on the text, jumping back and forth between his notes and the study guide, but his eyes were heavy and the subject was so boring that he found himself drifting off. He’d been tired a lot lately, but he attributed that to stress. With finals, a breakup, and a curse to deal with, that made sense. Leaning back against the pillows, he closed his eyes for just a second. A little cat nap was all he needed.
As soon as she felt Sebastian fall asleep, Baron took over, pulling his body back to wakefulness while locking away his mind. The boy wouldn’t know any better, would think he’d just been sleeping, even if he wouldn’t feel the benefit of it. His mind might rest, but his body would not. Moving quickly, Baron retrieved the supplies she’d hidden away in the attic. It had taken time to procure them, little moments when Sebastian wasn’t paying enough attention, when he was tired and she could sneak in without him realizing it. Her slip with his father had put him on alert and she didn’t need another. There would come a point when she needed his mind, when she needed him to be awake, but once that happened it would be a fight to keep him from telling someone what was happening to him. So for now, he had to remain unaware. Laying her supplies out on Sebastian’s bathroom counter, she walked across the hall and knocked on Ophelia’s bedroom door. “Phee?” she said, doing her best to imitate Sebastian’s way of speaking. “Do you have a minute?”
Phee was doing pretty damn good, herself, though she was trying to keep her bubbly-happiness lowkey around her brother. Sebastian was having a rough time, and she didn’t want to rub it in his face or anything. But school was going well, it was almost Christmas break, she was enjoying working in Zania’s greenhouse so much, and things with Greg were fantastic. Nobody was harassing her anymore, which was a great relief. Phee just wanted to get through the year with no more of that.
She was lounging in her room on the floor and very carefully writing a couple of simple spells and plant facts into her grimoire when Bash knocked on the door. “Yeah, sure, come in,” she called back, hardly looking up from where she was finishing a sentence. Phee loved her leather-bound book more every time she took it out and ran her hands over the smooth cover, and she was painstakingly careful not to make any errors in it.
Sebastian opened the door and walked over to where Ophelia was sitting. Baron could spot a grimoire across the room, but it appeared to be a new one, not the McCarthy family one that the girl had in her possession. A pity. It would be rather fortuitous to get her hands on a grimoire of one of the six. "I need your help with something," Baron said, her words on Sebastian's lips. Already she was using the same persuasion magic that she'd attempted on James, but she was more powerful this time and Ophelia wasn't near as experienced a witch. Even if she was of strong mind, this should be a cinch. She just had to be careful to cover her steps. "You can't tell mom and dad. You can't tell anyone, not even Greg."
One of Phee’s pale eyebrows lifted at that. She was used to not telling their parents things, but keeping it from Greg? She didn’t like to do that. But if it was something to do with magic, he probably wouldn’t get it anyway, so maybe ... “What is it?” she asked before she promised anything, though her first impulse was to say ‘yes’ immediately. Bash was her brother, after all, and she wanted to help him out when she could. “Are you okay?” Phee added, because that was important too.
“You have to give me some of your blood,” Sebastian said, meeting her eyes to lay the magic on thick and heavy. Ophelia would do as she was told, as she was asked, even if she didn’t want to. “I don’t need a lot and I’ll heal you right after. All you’ll have is a little scratch and that’ll fade.” That should be enough to get her to fulfill the request, but her questions might leave holes. Baron attempted to come up with something to sooth them over, aware that blood for any reason would raise alarm. That couldn’t be helped. “I’m okay, but I need it to reverse a spell I tried. I’d use my own, but that’s part of the problem. If mom and dad find out, it’ll make things so much worse. I’d rather just fix this on my own.” Baron thought that sounded plausible and might help the girl buy in, should she try and fight the persuasion.
She felt an instant wave of alarm at the request, and sat up straighter, but for some reason Phee didn’t protest. The rest of what Sebastian said did make it sound like a reasonable thing to ask for. He’d tried a spell and it hadn’t worked out, so now he needed to fix it. Simple enough. Phee felt a tiny bit dreamy all of the sudden, but dreaming people didn’t really know they were dreaming, so that was ... something. “Okay,” she told him, and scraped her teeth over her bottom lip. “Like ... now? Or do you need to set up a ritual or ...?” Phee trailed off, her expression only mildly curious. Sebastian needed something from her and she would give it to him.
Internally, Baron grinned, pleased at how easily that came, that she didn’t hit the same wall that she had with James. Ophelia would likely be the easiest of her targets, and thus the best to start with, even if she was also the most likely to sense something was amiss. But she trusted her brother enough not to question her own instincts, which really did work out better for both of them. Physically forcing her might require a memory spell to right things and neither of them wanted to go that route unless she had too. “Is now okay? I know it seems sudden, but I want to fix this as soon as possible.” Baron was proud of herself. It actually sounded like a plausible reason for the boy to go to his sister, if he had any working knowledge of blood magic.
“Sure,” Phee said without a second’s thought. She carefully closed her grimoire and climbed to her feet, ready to follow her big brother and do whatever he needed her to do. There were some twinges of doubt in the back of her mind -- Sebastian was experimenting with blood magic? That didn’t sound right -- but they didn’t seem too important at the moment. “What was the spell? Is everybody else okay too?” she asked, but her tone was mild enough that it didn’t sound like she would care much if that was the case. It wouldn’t change her decision to help. They looked out for each other, that was what they did.
"I was trying to do a cleansing, but my blood was contaminated and made things worse. I need someone clean and related to set it right," Sebastian said as they walked towards the his bathroom. Even though she was making this up on the spot, Baron thought it sounded plausible for the boy. He definitely wasn't the sort to be conjuring evil spirits, which was unfortunate. She would have enjoyed basking in that kind of magic. The light in the bathroom was bright, the counters white, and if he spilled her blood it would be a beautiful contrast. That wasn't the goal, however, and Baron intended to make this as quick and painless as possible. It would be easier to heal that way. Sebastian picked up the athame and turned towards his sister. "Do you trust me?"
“Oh, okay.” Part of Phee wanted to know what he meant by contaminated, but somehow the question didn’t quite make it to her lips. It didn’t feel important, like so many other things that were currently happening. She looked over what was laid out on the counter, then at the athame in Sebastian’s hand, then up to his eyes. “Of course I do,” she answered. She did, even if all of this was a little strange. That was magic for you, she supposed. Strange things happened. Phee held up one of her arms in offering to him, not at all nervous about any of this. It was just what needed to happen, that seemed clear to her, and she felt positive that Bash would do the same if she needed him to.
The girl was so compliant that Baron almost smiled. Not all of her targets were going to be this easy and, while she loved a good fight, she also needed this to remain a secret for as long as possible. It was easier to gloss over in the mind if it felt right, if the boy remained in character. "This might hurt a little," Sebastian said, then took ahold of Ophelia's arm and quickly drew the athame across the skin. Blood immediately came to the surface and he abandoned the blade to grab a small vial to catch it in. Baron didn't need a lot and it was only a few seconds before Sebastian was putting pressure on the wound, already looking to seal it back up. "Are you okay?" he asked, looking back up into Ophelia's eyes. This part mattered too, that he be concerned, just like any good brother would be.
Phee hissed in a breath when the blade cut her skin, and her arm gave a little jerk but she didn’t pull away. She watched as she started to bleed and Sebastian gathered it up, a small furrowed line between her brows. “Yeah, I’m all right,” she answered, even though it stung with Bash pushing on it. It was just a little cut, nothing she would die from, she’d done worse by accident in the kitchen. She stayed right where she was, even though her instinct was to get some wadded toilet paper and a bandaid. Bash had said he would heal it right up, so she was going to give him a chance to do that. “Is the fixing spell hard?” she asked, eyes on her brother’s face. “Do you need help?”
Sebastian shook his head. "No, just hold still," he said, reaching with his free hand for a salve in a small jar. That had turned out to be the most difficult part, acquiring what Baron needed to make the salve. Everything she'd needed she was able to buy at a shop in town, but possessing Sebastian still required some finesse if she wanted to keep him in the dark. Luckily, he'd been exhausted on Sunday after staying out late and she'd taken the opportunity to go shopping. Sebastian spread just a teaspoon of the salve over Ophelia's wound while chanting softly, then released Ophelia's arm. "Okay. Now wash it off," he said. "It should have healed completely. You might have the smallest scar, but it will fade."
Phee was mildly curious about where he’d learned to make a salve like that. It didn’t look like anything their dad had taught them. But maybe Sebastian had another source of magical learning just like she did. The paste tingled a bit and her pain quickly faded away, and then her arm felt normal again. “Wow, can I have some of that for shaving nicks?” she asked, only half-joking. Obediently, Phee went to the sink to rinse it off, pleased to see that her skin looked perfect underneath. She pulled the hand towel off the holder to dry it off, looking at the vial with her blood in it. “Are you doing it tonight? Can I watch?”
It hadn't taken Baron long to realize that the McCarthy children had not been properly taught in the ways of witchcraft. As one of the six, she was fine with that, but they were also her descendents and it grated on her that her line was letting their power dwindle away. The salve was probably too advanced for Ophelia, but it wouldn't hurt to share it with her. Baron would just have to make sure Sebastian knew it too, a feat not too difficult seeing as how she was living in his brain. "I'll share the salve spell with you," he said with a little smile. "But I need privacy to complete the ritual. It takes a great amount of focus and I can't have any distractions. Sorry." Hopefully that was a good enough excuse.
“Oh, okay,” Phee said, her expression a little disappointed. She understood though, it seemed like something important, and she didn’t want to screw it up for him by accident. She put the towel back and swept her gaze over the things on the counter once more -- the athame still had some of her blood on it, but that didn’t bother her at all for some reason -- before looking at her brother again. “Well ... good luck. Is that it? Let me know if you like, need anything else. And how it ends up going.” Phee almost added ‘don’t screw it up,’ but that was probably mean and definitely unnecessary, so she didn’t.
"Of course," Sebastian said, though Baron had no intention of doing such a thing. It would require another one of these encounters and she was hoping to keep them to a minimum. The more they talked about it, the higher the chances of the boy finding out or Ophelia remembering more than Baron wanted. Erasing her memory would ensure Ophelia didn't know what happened, but if James ended up with two children with holes in their memories then he might become suspicious. "Try not to worry about it," he said. "It would be best if you just forgot about it completely," he suggested, continuing to persuade Ophelia through magical means. This was when it was fortunate how little exposure she'd had to magic. Any witch worth her salt would at least know she was being manipulated and try to fight it.
Phee’s eyes went a bit hazy and unfocused as she stared unblinkingly at Sebastian. Something didn’t seem quite right in her brain, but she didn’t have the experience or level of power to know what it was. He was right, forgetting about it all was probably best. It was just another night in the McCarthy household, a small favor exchanged between siblings, something Sebastian would do for her too, nothing she needed to worry about. As the influence settled in, all of that made sense, and Phee shrugged her shoulders. “Okay, whatever,” she told him, her tone much more sisterly than it had been a moment ago. She had the vague notion to go back to her room, so she started out of Sebastian’s to get back to what she’d been doing before he’d ... interrupted her for something. She couldn’t quite recall, and it didn’t matter.
Good girl, Baron thought as Ophelia headed back to her room. That had gone about as smoothly as possible, even better than the exchange with a Lyttle boy. At least he didn't interact with Sebastian as often, making it easier to get away with. The mind was a finicky thing, could easily be manipulated, but could just as easily spot when something was out of place when it was trained to do so. With Ophelia gone, Sebastian quietly washed the blood off the athame and began to prepare the blood for storage. With two down, there were still four to go and the next few promised to be a bit more challenging.