Who: Sebastian and Ophelia Where: The McCarthy House When: Evening, Wednesday, January 3 Status: complete
Sebastian only made it five pages into his holiday reading assignment when he dozed off, the holidays plus Baron’s night time use of his body starting to take a toll on him. He’d been having awful dreams lately, his nighttime wanderings influencing his subconscious mind beyond Baron’s control. She was using his eyes, after all, and sometimes images fell through the cracks. But to Sebastian they were only nightmares, unable to see the signs of possession for what they were. As soon as Baron felt his mind slip, she took over once more, laying the book down on the bed. He’d have to catch up on sleep another time. She had work to do. Crossing the hallway, Sebastian knocked on his sister’s door and waited for an answer.
Phee had had a nice time with Greg once they talked through the trauma from the accident and the ... portal thing. It had been a pleasant break from the house and her mother’s crazy attitude. Phee had expected to come home to a bitching-out, but Brianna had been nowhere to be found when she’d gotten home. Good. Phee didn’t want to talk to her for a while. She’d gone upstairs to her room to get into more comfortable clothes and relax a bit, curling up on her bed with a book. The knock surprised her a little, and she got a flash of irritation before she realized that if it was her mother, she probably would’ve just barged on in. “Come in,” she called, expecting either her dad or Sebastian.
A smirk curled on Sebastian’s lips before it was wiped away and he opened the door, shutting it behind him. “Hi, do you have a minute?” He asked, already moving to sit on the end of her bed, assuming the answer was yes. Baron wanted to get straight into it, aware that any outside conversation would likely make this conversation a bigger red flag than it already was. It would probably seem weird to Ophelia that her brother didn’t make any kind of small talk, but it would be worse if he didn’t have a clue what she was talking about. “I need to ask you for a favor.”
Phee pulled her legs up to cross them as she sat up some when Sebastian came in. It wasn’t unusual for him to come in and chat with her, especially not lately, but she still had to smother a flicker of ‘ugh, leave me alone’ that would’ve applied to anyone and everyone who walked through the door. It hadn’t been an easy day, between their mom being a cow and Greg being traumatized, and she was tired. But Phee always made time for her brother because he always made time for her, so. She looked curious, her brows lifting when he said he needed a favor. “Sure, I’ll try ... what’s up? You okay?” she asked, studying his face. Gods, she hoped it wasn’t another crisis, didn’t they have enough shit going on?
“I’m fine,” Baron said through Sebastian. She was familiar with how often he said that these days and doubted his sister would pry further. It seemed to be his strategy for everything, to smile until it was real, but in this case it worked to her advantage. She could be in character with barely any work at all. Looking into Ophelia’s eyes, Baron summoned the magic that allowed her the power of suggestion and spoke again. “I need you to get me blood from one of the Castell twins,” she said, and reached out to grab Ophelia’s hand as she spoke. This was likely going against everything the girl believed in, so there was a chance it wouldn’t work, but if it did then it would save Baron a world of trouble.
A strange feeling washed over Phee, though her hand automatically closed around Bash’s and squeezed gently. The feeling was concern mixed with some confusion but mostly it was a weird blankness. Her big brother didn’t often ask her for help, and of course she had to help him. Normally that request would’ve set off all kinds of alarm bells, but Phee didn’t feel anything but a bit of trepidation on how she was going to accomplish this task. “Okay ...” she said slowly, her eyes still on his face. They were a tiny bit glazed now. “How much? Can you tell me why?” Phee’s tone was simply curious; she would do it no matter what his reason was, but she liked it when he shared with her.
It was such a good question, one with a number of different answers. Baron would’ve retrieved what she needed herself, but there was a dark creature hanging around the Castell house, one that she knew better than to mess with. Attacking the wrong twin and stealing their blood might loop her into a problem she didn’t have time for. If Ophelia failed, then she’d just wait until the twins’ parents returned from wherever they’d run off to, but it was another delay she was hoping to avoid. But Ophelia didn’t need to know any of that. Sebastian squeezed her hand, pleased with how well the spell was working. “It’s important, a matter of survival. For me. For our line. They’re special, but I can’t get close.” With his other hand, he held out a vial. “Just one vial. It’s not much at all.”
An important, matter of survival. Phee looked at the vial with a slightly uncertain expression while her natural instinct to freak out and question that thoroughly warred with the magic that was being done on her. She felt compelled to take Sebastian at his word, the situation at face value, and just do what needed to be done. She looked up to her brother’s face again and gave him a solemn nod, reaching for the vial with her free hand. “Okay,” Phee said. “I’ll see Zania on Monday after we go back to school. I can get it then. Is that soon enough?” Her brow furrowed with concern again. If it was a matter of his and their line’s survival, it must be serious, but Phee felt strangely calm about it. Sebastian obviously had a plan and knew what he was doing, she trusted him.
As much as it bothered Baron that her line had petered down to these two inexperienced brats, she was glad that she was able to manipulate them both so easily. She suspected that neither of them even knew the type of magic that she was using existed, let alone what it took to achieve it, because they both fell so easily into line. Sebastian nodded as Baron decided that Monday would be soon enough. She couldn’t exactly demand the girl leave right that instant. A plan of her own, one where she planned to meet up with the Castell girl--what kind of a name was Zania?--would have a greater chance of being successful. “That should be fine. I need it by next Friday at the latest.” Baron smiled, though the smile looked somewhat fake on Sebastian. “Thank you, Ophelia. You have no idea how much this means to me.”
It sounded oddly formal, and something didn’t ring right, but that didn’t seem to matter much to Phee’s brain. It seemed simple enough for her, and nothing she should ask a bunch of questions about. Nevermind that Sebastian rarely called her by her full name. “It’s okay,” she said, giving him a faint smile back. “We gotta stick together, right? I’ll try to help with anything you need.” She squeezed her bother’s hand, her other fingers curled around the vial. Maybe she could make one of the plants in the greenhouse grow thorns ‘accidentally’ and cut Zania that way. How she would get any in the little glass container, she wasn’t sure yet, but Phee would try to figure it out. Bash needed it, that was all that mattered.
“That’s right,” Sebastian smiled. “We’re family.” Family was always a priority, even for Baron, though she came first when it came down to it. She suspected Ophelia would feel the loss the most when the time came, their closeness contributing to her willingness to help. It would be devastating when she realized her own contribution, that by helping Baron she’d assisted in Sebastian’s demise. But Baron planned to be long gone by then. “I’ll let you get back to your reading,” he said, pulling back and standing, ready to move on. It was better to leave while the magic wore off, otherwise Ophelia might start to really notice how unlike her brother he was behaving. “I’ll see you later.”
It didn’t even occur to Phee to fret about not being able to tell Bash about what had happened with Greg and Jules. It wasn’t even on her mind anymore, only the task he’d asked her to do. She felt totally confident that she could, she just had to make it happen. Because they were family and sometimes she felt like her older brother was the only family she really had. She definitely liked him the best. “Okay,” she said with a faint smile, watching him get up from the bed again. “Oh hey, steer clear of Mom, if you see her. She’s being a total bitch today.” Sebastian might have already run into it, she didn’t know, but it seemed like a good thing to warn him about. “See ya,” Phee added with a little wave, reaching to pick her book up again.
Baron raised an eyebrow, making note of that, though it was unlikely to affect her. She let Sebastian handle the day to day and only took over when she needed him. It wasn’t the most convenient arrangement, but it kept him in the dark. She also wasn’t sure how good her hold on him would be if he was conscious of what she was doing. She liked to think that she was stronger, but it was his body. The only way to take over permanently would be to kick him out of it, a project that was a good ways under way now. “Thanks,” Baron smiled through Sebastian, then gave a wave before shutting the door behind her. Maybe she could whisper that thought into his subconscious. His days were numbered now. Might as well help him avoid trouble where he could.