Page 13 of Extraordinary Quests for Amateur Witches
“Seventeen,” Kieran admitted, tearing his eyes away before his thoughts could spiral. “I’ll be eighteen in a few months. You know, old witches’ tales say people born in the winter are supposed to be extra ambitious and mysterious.”
Sebastian flexed his eyebrows. “Well, I’m no witch. I don’t know that the old tales apply to me.”
“I—um—I know some nonmagical folks don’t feel comfortable around witches,” Kieran said, doing his best to tiptoe around his real question. “You, um…you wouldn’t happen to be…”
“I’m not afraid of you, if that’s what you’re asking,” Sebastian said, folding his hands in front of him—apparently something of a nervous habit.
“You don’t seem the type to get angry and curse me because I forgot to say please and thank you or whatever it is that earned people curses back in the day. ”
Without meaning to, Kieran cringed.
Sebastian raised an eyebrow.
“Sorry,” Kieran muttered. “It’s, ah…Long story.”
“You seem to have quite a few of those.”
“I guess we’ll have plenty of time to get into them now that you’re along for the ride.” Kieran nodded toward the door. “Would you like to see the control room? I can properly introduce you to Santiago and Ariel. After that, my sister and Delilah should be done with…whatever they’re doing.”
“Lead on.”
After their conversation, Kieran led Sebastian back upstairs to the control room, where Ariel and Santiago were chatting about where they should stop to restock supplies.
Their introductions were pleasant, Ariel asking Sebastian a thousand questions about who he might know in Shui City until they found a mutual acquaintance, seeing as Ariel had grown up there as well.
Santiago kept shooting Kieran meaningful looks, which Kieran ignored.
Sure, Sebastian was handsome, but that wasn’t why Kieran had agreed to let him on board.
On the contrary, he knew exactly how hard it was to trust a total stranger in a situation like this; he’d asked the very same of Delilah less than a year ago, after all.
It felt, in a strange, cosmic way, like paying it forward.
The sun was setting by the time they got upstairs to swap introductions with Briar and Delilah.
Briar answered the door, trading a quick greeting with Sebastian, which felt less like pleasantries and more like Briar wanted them to leave her alone.
Delilah, however, hopped up from their shared bed and came to the door to introduce herself and took over the conversation, much to both twins’ relief.
Briar excused herself while Delilah had a brief exchange with Sebastian about what he thought about the ship, if he was settling in okay, and how she’d drop some sweets off at his door after she did some baking later.
Once they’d exchanged nice-to-meet-yous, Delilah quickly reached out and snagged the corner of Kieran’s sweater.
“Can I talk to you for a second?” she asked. Her tone was calm, but Kieran caught a flash of something darker in her eyes.
“Sure.” To Sebastian, Kieran added, “I can grab you when dinner’s ready?”
“I would appreciate that. I might go back to the observation deck for a bit—take in the view.” Sebastian nodded to them. “See you all later.”
Kieran waved as Sebastian exited, only stopping when Delilah pulled him inside, closing the door behind him.
As he stumbled in, Delilah said to Briar, “I seriously might throw up from the smell—can you light those candles I brought?”
Briar dutifully went to Delilah’s trunk by the foot of the bed and dug out a bunch of candles, which she lit with a spark at the tip of her finger.
Kieran watched in horror as Delilah took deep breaths through her mouth, looking paler than normal.
Kieran had seen her like this only once before, and it had been…
Well, when they met. And the stench of his former curse—the kind that only Delilah, a rare type of witch who could smell magic, could sense—had overwhelmed her.
Kieran’s stomach dropped. He started, “Is Sebastian…?”
“Cursed? I don’t know. I’ve never smelled anything like it,” Delilah replied, eyes closed. Her forehead was wrinkled, nose scrunched up, and lips turned down in a frown. She went to one of the tables of candles and wafted the scent toward her.
“Do you think it’s dangerous?”
Delilah pinched the skin between her eyebrows and shook her head. “It’s just so…different from anything I’ve ever smelled. At first, I thought I was smelling the blood on him, but it’s worse than that. It stinks, like he bathes in gore every night.”
“What kind of curse would cause that?”
Delilah shook her head. “I don’t know. But honestly? It…scares me. All of a sudden, I felt like I was looking at an animal whose behavior was just off enough to hint that it had gone rabid.”
“He’s not rabid, ” Kieran scoffed. “He’s terrified. And rightfully so. Wouldn’t you be scared if someone tried to kill you this morning? Cursed or not, he needs help. And who are we to turn away someone with a curse? It’d be awfully hypocritical.”
Delilah bit her lip, considering her words. Softly, she said, “Just…be careful, all right? Maybe I’m paranoid, but something here seems…off.”
“Only time will tell,” Briar offered.
Kieran looked over his shoulder at the door, thinking of Sebastian heading down to the observation deck. To add a powerful curse on top of the fact that he was supporting his family? He couldn’t even imagine. Kieran exhaled a breath.
I have a lot to learn about Sebastian Feng.