Hello Dearest Penguin People,
Here’s the latest installment of Max and Sebastian. For those who have stayed with the story every week, my deepest gratitude :)
In the last chapter Max met someone from her past…really far into her past...and Sebastian realized that something nefarious was watching Max.
If you are new to Max and Sebastian, may I suggest you click here…
Special thanks to P.Q. Rubin for the penguin above who had one too many…
Chapter Seven
Mist trailed behind Sebastian in tatters. He was slowly falling apart, patches of frost and icy droplets scattered in his wake like frozen breadcrumbs. They all led back to Max. As she faded, so did he. And in the end, what would be left? He didn’t want to think about that.
But for now, something else bothered him. Where were the grays? A hospital without ghosts was unheard of. If something had scared them away, it only worried him more since being scary was his job. He thought of the darkness outside Max’s window. Once the darkness starts knocking it’s rarely easy to get rid of.
He found Anne removing tubes and a syringe from a small supply cart. He extended a tentative hand toward her hair, a medley of loose silver and gray strands that refused to stay in a bun.
He remembered her hair when it was a golden brown, pulled back in a ponytail, flying behind her as she darted back and forth. The mornings were hectic as they got ready for work, their daughter underfoot, always dragging her feet as he tried to get her in the car to drive her to school. But no matter how rushed the morning was, Anne would stop him at the door. No words were said, just a light touch as she straightened his tie and looked into his eyes. And on days when his tie was miraculously okay, she would adjust it anyway before giving him a gentle nudge outside.
But now the joke was on him, his tie permanently askew with no one to fix it.
As Anne moved around the cart, he shadowed her in a silent dance on the worn linoleum.
She paused as she sorted the alcohol preps and bandages, her eyes closed.
“Anne, are you okay?”
Anne looked up; cheeks flushed. One of the other nurses was staring at her. “Sorry, yes. I was thinking of someone.”
There was a fizzle and the faint scent of burnt wires.
The other nurse swore and pushed her chair away from the desk.
“What?”
“The computer died.”
Then a buzz, followed by another, like two sick mosquitos. Patient lights flickered at the end of the hall.
“Are Verna and Greg back yet?” Anne asked.
“Not, yet.”
Anne started walking. She called back to the other nurse. “Are you coming?”
“Might as well.”
They split off into separate rooms. Sebastian heard Anne’s cheerful, “Well, hello there, little fella. What can I do for you?” Silence from the other room.
Sebastian floated into the nurses’ station. He found the shift schedules written in dry erase markers posted on the wall. The nurses were posted in twelve-hour shifts, the techs and orderlies worked eight. Relieved, he turned around. Leonard’s shift ended before Anne’s.
Meanwhile, the other nurses returned, reeking of cloves and cigarettes. Verna walked through him. She shivered and reached for a sweater.
“Seriously?” Greg said. “The A/C’s not working. It must be eighty degrees.”
“It’s drafty in here.”
“Someone forgot to take her old lady pills.”
“Bite me.” She buttoned her sweater.
Sebastian felt all his floaty parts tingle, and not in a good way. The air had become charged, like the moment before lightning hit. If he could, he would have told Verna she was right. He couldn’t take credit for the chill, at least not all of it. Somewhere, something nastier than him lurked.
A quick scan of the hall revealed oily black tracks on the floor as if a small animal had been dunked in a moldy pond and then walked away. They led down the hall toward the next ward. A typical gray didn’t leave a trail. No matter how malicious they might be they were still nebulous fluff. Sebastian wrinkled his nose. This one had a scent, a carefully crafted rot that had solidified over time. He flexed his fingers and moved on.
He turned a corner and found a small dog, more vermin than canine. Tiny eyes squinted behind a mane of hissing serpents. They swirled around its face, biting the air, tiny jaws snapping.
He tried not to laugh. If anything, dark creatures were predictable. Slimy, yucky, and straight from the common bogey tales. Not to mention that snakes had been done to death. Now a head full of spiders would be interesting or perhaps little ferrets with slobbery tongues. That at least, would be memorable.
Sebastian’s face appeared from the mist. “Wow, I didn’t know evil came in fun size.”
Embers flew from its eyes. It stomped its tiny feet. “You’re here for the child?” it hissed.
“I’m here to keep you away.”
The fiend stepped closer. “You have the stink of darkness about you.” Its red eyes widened. “You’re a scavenger. Why are you protecting her?”
“I’m not like that anymore.”
“You can’t change who you are.”
“Says you.”
It edged toward Sebastian; lips pulled back in a greasy snarl. “It’s all the same to me. Think of yourself as the amuse-bouche.”
Sebastian bared a toothy grin, his aura taking on an ebony sheen. “Now that you brought it up,” he said. “I could use a bite.”
He lunged forward, sharp, reptilian claws gleaming in the fluorescent lights. The dog smirked, then evaporated in a cloud of noxious sulfur. Sebastian’s fangs snapped at empty air. He floated in angry circles as the sound of its laughter bounced off the walls.
If you have the inclination…
The amuse-bouche 😎
Evil in fun sizes. :)