22. James
22
JAMES
James could see it all so clearly it was almost frightening. His heart had broken when Sebastian had decided to sacrifice himself, and his soul had fractured to see him in so much pain, cutting off his own finger, but James was sure he’d finally figured it out.
“I don’t know what you’re saying, James,” Sebastian pleaded from the forest floor. James felt horrible for dumping him there, but there wasn’t time to stay by Sebastian’s side. He had to prove he was right.
The veins had calmed. However, James wasn’t sure if they’d fended off the explosion permanently or if the tremors would return. They had to finish this and do it before that shade came back. Sebastian couldn’t keep using the veins to save them.
“You aren’t the only missing piece,” James repeated. He cast a spell to levitate the fuel cell he and Sebastian had connected to the veins, sending it into the clearing and over the glowing edge of the hole.
“Wait,” Sebastian called weakly.
“The fuel cell is a stand-in for the missing piece too.” James sent it to the center of the hole. “You made it one when we transferred the curse from you to it. It has the same connection to the veins you do. Watch.”
James released his spell and the fuel cell fell into the void. It tumbled until it was consumed in a flash of blue light, just like Sebastian’s finger.
Sebastian gasped.
James was at his side. “See.” He helped Sebastian stand, and together, they watched the hole shrink.
“It’s still not closing all the way,” Sebastian groaned in despair, burying his face in James’s neck as tremors shook his body.
The hole was smaller than before, but maybe only by another eighth, and it didn’t look to be closing any farther. “We haven’t put all the pieces back,” James said as soothingly as he could, given the circumstances. He ran a blood-flecked hand through Sebastian’s hair. “There’s three more to go.”
Sebastian raised his head, eyes wide. “You mean Sullivan, Simon, and Uncle Stephen?”
James nodded grimly. “Selma’s spell made you all stand-ins for the missing piece of the veins. It doesn’t seem like death released anyone from their connection. I’d wondered if it had—if your predecessors could have left the property after death to be buried in town—but I’d wager they couldn’t have. The veins aren’t about life and death. The three Storms who came before you are still a part of the veins. They might not have been able to lend more energy to the imbalance after death, but nothing has released them from being part of it all.”
Sebastian, who was already frighteningly pale, went paler. “A blood-and-bone connection. Meaning we have to get blood and bone from each of them to finish this.”
“I’m sorry.” James cupped Sebastian’s cheek.
Sebastian gave him a half-smile. “Don’t be sorry, James. You’re brilliant. You figured this out. I’m not the only piece. I never would have guessed that.” Sebastian braced against James to stand up straighter. “Besides, I can’t really say that digging up my dead relatives will be the worst part of the night. I cut off my own fucking finger.”
James pulled Sebastian into a quick kiss. He couldn’t help himself. Sebastian was so brave that not even this night had beaten him down. “How are you doing? I wish I could do more for how much pain you must be in.”
Sebastian grimaced. “How about we head to the hospital once this is all done? Seeing as the imbalance should be restored and we shouldn’t be trapped anymore.”
“Good plan.” James led Sebastian back through the trees. He didn’t want to linger by the hole. Things may be calm, and the imminent explosion might have been stopped, but a shitload of shades had just come through the gateway, and James wasn’t going to assume they wouldn’t come back. It didn’t seem like the beasts were giving up on their plan to take over Moonlight Falls. James just hoped they had time to dig up three graves before they were attacked again.
In the barn, James piled shovels and a hoe into a wooden cart. Sebastian seemed to regain a bit of his strength and James was beyond impressed. He didn’t know if he would still be standing.
“I can’t believe there’s more than one piece,” Sebastian said as they reached the cemetery.
“Some blood-and-bone magic is irreversible.” James dumped the shovels on the ground and picked up the hoe. “Eli hinted at it when he said he didn’t think that you could ever truly transfer the curse from yourself and could only pass it on through the transfer the way you’d pass it on to any blood relative. Once the curse made you a part of the veins, there was no undoing it.”
“That’s what I was afraid of,” Sebastian whispered.
James gripped his shoulder. “I know, but that doesn’t mean you can’t be free. You would have always been part of the veins, but you returned your blood and bone to them, and once we put all the missing pieces back, the original void in the veins that Sullivan and Nelson created will be filled, releasing you all. ”
James found Sullivan’s headstone and brought the hoe down on the earth. “Apologies,” he muttered to the dead man.
“It’s too bad Sullivan never figured this out,” Sebastian mused. “The Storms could have avoided all of this.”
James worked at loosening the topsoil. “Selma must have thought it was impossible. It doesn’t seem like anyone realized her spell linked you all to the veins so completely.”
“Yeah.” Sebastian picked up a shovel, stabbed it into the earth, and leaned against it. “I don’t think Sullivan or anyone else knew they could harness the veins as I’ve been doing. They didn’t realize the connection went both ways and that we really were part of the vein system. If they had, they might have figured out they could put it all back together.”
James hacked at the earth in silence for a few minutes before swapping the hoe for a shovel.
“I should help,” Sebastian said from where he watched.
James glanced over at him. “You don’t have to. These are your relatives. I imagine it would be hard to disturb them like this.”
“Can’t be easy for you either.”
James grunted. “I’m trying not to think about it.”
Sebastian made an understanding sound. “Same.”
James scooped piles of earth onto the ground in front of Selma’s headstone, which sat beside Sullivan’s. Sebastian brought his shovel next to James and dug it into the earth. He let out a yelp of pain.
James paused his digging. “Are you okay?”
Sebastian shook out his hand. “My finger. Ow, shit, that hurts.”
“You don’t have to help. It’s probably not good to get the wound all dirty.”
Sebastian whipped off his hoodie, then his shirt. With the hoodie back on his body, he ripped his shirt and wrapped a strip around the hand missing its pinky, covering the injury. “Better than nothing. ”
“Suppose that’s true.” James got back to digging, starting to worry this would take too long. He wanted to insist Sebastian rest, but he probably needed any help he could get.
Sebastian cast a spell to help soften the earth before picking his shovel back up, but even then, it wasn’t easy digging.
James lost himself in his aching muscles and the sweat breaking out on his back and neck. Sebastian sat back to rest frequently, but neither of them spoke. It was grim work. The only thing keeping it from being too disturbing was probably the fact that they’d both thought self-sacrifice was on the table not long ago. Compared to that, James would take anything.
It felt like a miracle to have Sebastian at his side, the earth no longer trembling, doom pushed back and out of sight. James was relieved and hopeful but still frightened. They weren’t finished yet, and getting there looked like it would scar him for life.
His shovel hit something hard. He scraped the dirt, revealing a dark-colored coffin. A chill traveled down James’s spine as he carefully removed the last of the dirt from around it.
Sebastian frowned at the casket from where he was perched at the edge of the grave. “I don’t think I can be in denial about what we’re doing any longer.”
“I’m sorry.” James squeezed his knee. “None of them deserve to be disrespected like this.”
“No, but I think they’d want us to do this if they knew it would correct the imbalance and end the curse.”
“Of course they would.” James climbed out of the grave. He used his levitation spell to lift the coffin from the earth and place it in the cart. “Two more to go.”
Sebastian followed him to Simon’s grave. “We aren’t opening them up, right?”
James suppressed a shiver. “No. I don’t think I could. We’ll have to return them to the veins in their coffins.”
Sebastian nodded and handed James the hoe.
Digging graves took forever, even with magic. Moving all the soil out of the way with a spell would have been too costly, but by the time they were halfway done with Stephen’s grave, James was considering it, draining himself be damned.
He was sick with exhaustion, his clothes soaked with sweat. He had no idea what time it was. The only positive he could cling to was that the shades had stayed away.
Sebastian let out a choked sob.
James rested a dirty hand on the small of Sebastian’s back. He didn’t ask if Sebastian was okay. Of course he wasn’t, and James didn’t want to imply he should be. “What is it, sweetheart?”
“I’m just so angry,” Sebastian choked out. “And sad. What happened to Stephen—abandoned here except for me visiting—was horrible. He died so young, only fifty-three. It had to be the isolation. He should have had a better life.” Sebastian wiped his eyes and met James’s gaze. “I feel guilty for giving him a hard time growing up and for how mad I was at him when he died and left me here. It wasn’t his fault, but I focused my anger on him. I wish I hadn’t. I wish my final conversation with him had gone differently.”
James wrapped his arms around Sebastian. “I’m sure he understood your reaction to learning about the curse. One final conversation doesn’t erase all the years you had together. You loved him, and he knew that.”
“I hassled him about not leaving the house,” Sebastian admitted in a pained voice.
“He knew you didn’t know better. You’re a kind person, Sebastian. Stephen knew that. I’m sure he was glad to have you in his life.”
Sebastian sniffed. “I just hate this. I hate having to throw him in a creepy supernatural hole after everything.”
James stroked Sebastian’s hair. “At least it can’t hurt him now. And he’d want you to be free. You said it yourself.”
Sebastian pulled away and picked up his shovel. “You’re right. We have to keep going.” He tossed a scoop of dirt to the side, letting out a ragged breath. “Saying all that aloud helped.”
“I’m glad.” James clapped Sebastian on the shoulder and got back to digging.
Tears ran down Sebastian’s cheeks as James levitated Stephen’s coffin out of his grave. James held Sebastian’s hand, hoping it was at least somewhat comforting. He wished Sebastian didn’t have to go through this. If there was a way to save him this anguish, James would have.
At least they were almost there. The end was in sight. Once they got through this, they could relax and process this whole horrible night, and they’d have all the time in the world to heal from it.
James and Sebastian pulled the cart along the forest path. James used more magic to steady the coffins. He didn’t think he’d be able to keep going if one fell and burst open, leaving the occupant well and truly disturbed from their final resting place.
In the clearing, James was relieved to see the hole just as they’d left it. The edges shimmered but it was otherwise still. The earth hadn’t shaken once since Sebastian offered his finger to the veins.
“Who would you like to say goodbye to first?” James asked.
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.