“These sorts of things are a part of a normal life. I don’t exactly have that.”
He turned his body so that he was facing me. I remained positioned towards the paintings. “What is a normal life to you?”
“Well, people, they ... walk along the river, sit at cafes with their friends, play games, explore the world, make things, and ... paint.”
“And what keeps you from all of that? What keeps you from painting?”
“I don’t know.” His eyes burned into the side of my face. That answer was not good enough. “It’s as if I cannot live yet, like there’s something looming over me. Everything is muted, lacking its vibrancy. And I can’t quite get to it, to the world, to living. I’m held back by something that keeps it all just out of reach. I can’t quite be a part of it all because I am not yet okay.”
He was silent for a long moment. Finally, I had to look at him, and as I met his eyes, a war clashed within them, like he was attempting to solve the world’s most difficult equation.
“We should go.” I tugged at his arm. He was immovable for a moment until he broke free of whatever difficult riddle plagued him
He didn’t say anything the entire way to Professor Johan’s, giving me silent directions, or more like pushing and tugging me along wherever we needed to go. I felt a bit silly as his silence settled over me. I hadn’t ever told anyone how I really felt. My desire for normalcy was clear, but how much it truly hurt me, it was a sight I could hardly even look at. And I wondered if he didn’t want to look at it either. A pang shot through my chest at the words I wished I could take back. Erase from the permanency of history.
Sebastian, not so delicately, shoved me down an alleyway. He gestured towards the spiral stairs, and I began my winding ascent to the very top. It ended at a small landing. Ivy curled around the arched wooden door. Sebastian joined my side. He made the landing appear even smaller, and a slight creak made my eyes widen. His gentle knock was more like a pounding fist.
The door flew open so fast I reeled back. Sebastian’s hand pressed into my lower back keeping me steady. All vampires were impeccably beautiful, and Professor Johan was no exception, though he seemeda bit haggard. Vampires had longer lifespans than humans, but they were not immortal. In human years he seemed to be in his fifties. His gray hair was neatly slicked back at a time, though now bits stuck out every which way as if he had been tugging at it. He had circular spectacles and wild brown eyes.
He was already mumbling something as he swung open the door, and he continued staring at us as if he wondered when the hell we got here. “... could have arrived before them, but which came first is unclear. More samples would be needed to determine more precise dating.” His eyes darted back and forth between us until they settled on me, and his mutterings paused. “How peculiar.”Haven’t heard that before. Karina was a breath of fresh air as she mused over my appearance, but if he went in another direction, hurling myself over the landing seemed more appealing than listening to yet another person’s remarks on my oddities.
Sebastian glanced down at me with a silent plea. Maybe my oddities would be enough to capture Professor Johan’s attention so he would help us. Sebastian pounced on the opportunity.
“Alaric has cast some sort of tracking spell on Charlotte.” He gestured to me. “We believe it was an ancient magic not used anymore.” The professor perked up at that.
His eyes narrowed on me as he examined me a bit too openly. “Something else, something else,” he muttered under his breath.
He stood back abruptly and gestured for us to come in. His face seemed a bit pained as if he didn’t really want us to come in, but his curiosity overtook him. He did not seem to care that the Prince of Svealin was in his humble abode, too stuck inside his own mind and only faintly aware of his realities. We stood within a small living room. It was actually very tidy and organized, meticulously clean, despite the books stacked around the room and papers strewn about tabletops.
“I’m going to need some blood,” he said simply as he gathered materials from various shelves.
I sighed. “Of course,” I muttered on a breath.
In a matter of minutes, he had several glass beakers of differing shapes lined up and what we called a microscope in my world. I eyed the glass vial and needles before me, glancing at Sebastian with hesitance and dread. I had a feeling he didn’t just need a single drop like Seraphine.
As he slid the needle through the papery skin at the crook of my arm, my head lolled back along with my body. Sebastian grabbed the back of my neck, pushing me back upright with ease. He held on to me firmly as nausea roiled within me, a brewing storm nearing its descent. I leaned into his grip to keep me grounded as my body threatened to drift off.
I let out a breath and cringed as he withdrew the needle. He then wrapped my arm tightly in a bandage, continuing to mutter strings of thought I couldn’t make out. He examined the vial holding it up to the light as if the answer would appear through the crimson. Then he placed a drop onto a thin piece of glass, placed another thin piece of glass over it, and slid the sandwiched bead of blood beneath the lens of the microscope. As he looked through the lens, he stilled ever so slightly, but I saw it, and Sebastian did too judging how we eyed each other. Though the professor concealed his reaction as he moved about casually. Dropping the blood into the beakers, he placed one over a small flame, adding mixtures to the others, then retrieving drops from his various concoctions and examining them under the microscope again.
He sat back in his chair eyeing the wall blankly for a moment, until he finally spoke. “This tracking spell was a side effect of a greater spell.” He turned over the words in his head. “What spell? I don’t know. But the side effect acts similarly to a tracking spell, one that isn’t cast often because the only way to break it is through death ofone or both parties via a dagger made of black obsidian. It’s a lost magic because if the spell is not broken properly in life, it extends into death. If one party dies, they would still be able to track the other in life, beyond the veil. They would retain their connection with the living.” So, Alaric could actually haunt me from the grave like the ghost he had been masquerading as. “And the living would also be able to track the dead beyond the veil. As intriguing as that sounds, it is not so pleasant.”
“So, it’s true that if I give in to this spell, I would be able to track him too?”
“Yes. You’d just need to accept it.”
“And how exactly would I do that?” Sebastian shot me a look I ignored. There could be a time where I would need to find Alaric. This spell could prove useful as we attempt to corral him out of my world.
“It’s as simple as an intention. Just will it to be.”
I nodded slowly. If it were that simple, I worried if I could accidentally accept it. I needed to keep firm walls in place in the meantime.
He stood abruptly and exited through one of the doors. We waited as he rifled through papers and clattering items.
“Don’t even think about it.” I turned to see Sebastian’s eyes already on me. His voice was low and calm, but I knew the tone of his threats by now.
“It could be useful if we need to find him.”
“You don’t know what else that spell entails, what otherside effectscould result from it.” He seemed almost angry at the thought of me considering it.
