The change in the air seemed instant. One moment, the boys were all happy, laughing at one of their stories, then Edmund went quiet and tensed up. Sebastian and Luke noticed immediately and did the same.

“What’s wrong?” Seb asked.

Ed’s eyes turned blue. “Rogue.”

He was up and between the others and the forest within seconds. Luke’s eyes began to glow too as they widened in fear. He and Sebastian stood up just as the sound of rustling began. Edmund growled towards the sound, causing it to stop. But then something began growling back.

Sebastian felt his heartrate begin to rise. As a mere human, he had no idea how many foes they were facing right now. And while they had talked a big game earlier with Garret, Seb wasn’t so confidant in their fighting skills as of now.

The growling rogue finally decided to stalk out form the shadows. It looked slightly smaller than Odilia’s wolf form had. But what it lacked in size it seemed to make up for in nightmarish features. Their golden eyes glowed yet somehow appeared dull and haunted. It was so skinny that you could nearly count its ribs, even with all the fur. The fur itself was matted with dirt and dark dried blood. Sebastian didn’t even want to think where that had come from.

As it came closer, Edmund began to inch forward. Sebastian realised that he wasn’t going to let them get any closer than necessary. These two were going to fight and fuck- there was nothing he could do. Even if this wolf was smaller than Ed, Seb felt like a fight would not end well for either party.

He needed to do something. Think- fuck, think.

The rogue suddenly lurched forward and Seb moved his hand up before he even knew what he was doing. The ancient forgotten words went from his mouth as naturally as English. There was a quick flash of blue and then the rogue was down. Lying unconscious on the ground. Still a good few inches away from Edmund.

Sebastian blinked owlishly. Had he done that? Fuck yeah, he had. The spell worked and- shit what do they do now?

Seb looked at the others. Luke was staring at him with a sort of awe. He had seen what Sebastian did. Edmund on the other hand was still staring in shock at the unmoving wolf. The silence that followed was thick with tension as they all absorbed what happened/was happening.

Sebastian finally broke the silence with a nervous laugh. “Well, that was anticlimactic.”

“The fuck just happened?” Edmund yelled, not angry but defiantly confused and loud enough to make Seb wince.

“So, remember how Arte’s been teaching me magic while I sleep.”

The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

“You just magicked the rogue into a nap?”

“I don’t think magicked is a word.”

Edmund started to giggle, which caused Sebastian and Luke to exchange a worried expression even as it morphed into a hysterical laugh that left them slightly unnerved.

“You sleeping-beauty-ed a fucking rogue.”

“Okay, while I understand the situation is ridiculous, I don’t think you need to laugh that hard.”

“Well, I don’t know what else to do!” Ed snapped.

Luke physically recoiled from the harshness of the words, but Seb stood his ground. “Breathe, calm down. We can take a moment before figuring out our next step.”

“Except we already know the next step. We’ve been talking about it the whole fucking weekend. Either kill them or expel them from the territory.”

“Eddie, calm do-”

“I can’t!”

Sebastian grabbed onto Edmund’s shoulders and forced him to look him in the eyes. “Breathe, just breathe.”

Edmund hesitated only a moment before following the instructions.

Seb nodded in satisfaction. “Now, tell me five things you can see.”

Edmund looked around. “Tent, river, Luke, stars, trees.”

“Good. How about four things you can feel?”

“Uh, the wind, my pants, your hands on my shoulders, my heart beating out of my chest.”

“Three things you can hear?”

“You. Everyone’s heartbeats. The water running down the stream.”

“Alright, two things you can smell?”

“The fire burning and the forest around us.”

Sebastian nodded. “And anything you can taste?”

“Burnt marshmallow.”

“I still don’t know why you eat it like that.”

“Because you shouldn’t just waste a good marshmallow!” Edmund declared, laughing more naturally now. “Thanks for calming me down.”

Sebastian nodded then turned to look at Luke. The younger boy gave him a weak smile answering the unasked inquiry of how he was doing. He gestured for Luke to come closer anyway and put a hand on one of his shoulders as a way of giving him physical reassurance that everything was okay. Or it would be.

“Sorry for scaring you man. I lost it for a second there.” Edmund sighed.

Luke shook his head. “It’s fine. This isn’t exactly an easy situation.”

“No kidding.” Seb remarked as they all looked down at the sleeping rogue.

This time, the tense silence was broken by Luke. “Why did you learn a sleeping spell?”

“Well, I wanted to learn some basic defensive magic and aside from barrier, this was what Arte taught me. It’s a spell that uses less magic than a barrier and is therefore better when you have only one or two enemies.”

“How long does it last?” Edmund inquired.

Sebastian pursed his lips. “It should hold till sunrise, but I don’t know for sure. We should secure them somewhere until we decided what to do.”

Ed sighed. “I don’t think the tent could hold them.”

“The basement back at the house would be reinforced enough.” Luke proposed.

“So, we have to pack up camp then?” Edmund groaned.

“Or you two can take them there and then come back.” Seb suggested. “You need to exercise your wolf forms soon enough anyhow.”

Luke frowned and Ed narrowed his eyes. “We’re not leaving you alone after we’ve just been attacked.”

“You would have the rogue with you.”

“What if there are more?”

“Then I’ll sleeping-beauty them too.” Sebastian sighed. “I know you’re worried, and for a good reason, but I’ll be okay Eddie.”

Edmund looked him dead in the eyes. “You don’t know that.”

“I also don’t know if I’ll pass physics, but I have the knowledge I need for Thursday's test. I just need to put it to use.”

“This isn’t physics class.”

“Which is a good thing, because I’m much better at magic than maths.” Seb grinned before sobering his expression once more. “I will be okay, Eddie. I promise...”