𝐈𝐍 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐒𝐇𝐀𝐃𝐎𝐖 𝐎𝐅 𝐌𝐀𝐆𝐈𝐂 || 𝐒𝐄𝐁𝐀𝐒𝐓𝐈𝐀𝐍 𝐒𝐀𝐋𝐋𝐎𝐖

Chapter Seventeen: Horror in Aranshire

Chapter Seventeen 

 TW on this chapter for graphic violence and other things. 

Crickets were chirping, an owl hooting could be heard in the distance, accompanied by the crunch of leaves under someone's heavy footsteps and loud and labored breathing. The moon was the only source of light—coming and going as the dark clouds passed through, creating a very eerie feeling in the air.

A fence was creaking, being blown in the wind. A house came into view and the door was pushed open. Slow footsteps moved around to view the house. Lumos was cast, illuminating the room. It was a mess as if there had been a struggle. All up and down the stairs and to the living room. Nothing was in the place it should've been.

Turning the corner, lying on the carpet was the lifeless body of an innocent victim—the flash of fear still plastered on their face. In the distance, small screams could be heard. It was the screams of the victims before they were murdered. The sound still lingering in the air.

Crimson red blood seeped out of the victim's wounds and onto the carpet and then blood dripped down from the ceiling, thick and stringing down. There were three more victims upstairs, all piled onto each other, blood everywhere.

Bloodcurdling screams and shouts of horror could be heard and everything went cold.

And then, she woke up.

Matty's eyes snapped open, but she didn't gasp or shoot up from her bed. Instead, she immediately felt sick to her stomach and felt as if she needed to empty whatever contents she had consumed for dinner all over the carpet. The sight of the blood, so much blood, the bodies, it made her sick beyond all belief.

She stumbled out of bed, her hand clamped over her mouth as she tried to prevent anything from happening, latching her hand onto the window seal to steady herself. After a moment, she felt better and straightened out with a deep breath. "Goodness," she muttered, rubbing her hand across her face.

Glancing around to make sure she hadn't woken up Natty or Nellie, she gingerly climbed back into bed but she didn't think she'd be sleeping more anytime soon. That nightmare—it had felt so real. Realer than the last one. And that house didn't look like a home in London. It looked like it was from one of the surrounding hamlets.

It was strange and scary. It was almost as if she could feel the blood in that dream drip down onto her own face. The mere thought of it made her shudder and feel sick again. She swallowed hard and closed her eyes to try and stop the nausea.

What was odd was that she didn't get the same feeling she had gotten with Mr. Hawthorne's death. How after the vision, she immediately knew that he was in trouble. That feeling wasn't there but Matty was still worried. Were these people in danger or was it just her mind playing tricks on her again? Were these people even real?

She had struggled recently with the way her mind felt as of late. She felt disconnected, confused, and sometimes even a little emotionless when it came to a few things. It was almost as if someone else was controlling her thoughts and actions while she just sat idly and watched.

"Was this how Apollo felt towards the end?" She thought to herself. She hoped not.

Obviously, Apollo was aware of the wrong he was doing and did it with malicious intent but if he had experienced this because of his own magic corrupting him from the inside out, Matty could see why he had gone insane. To feel as if you weren't completely in control of your own mind, your own body, was torture.

For a moment, she considered her potions. Going to Professor Onai again tomorrow morning to tell her what had changed, waking up either one of her friends to tell them about the nightmare just in case, or to try her best to forget about it for now and to try and get some sleep. Obviously, being the sleep-deprived student she was, she chose the third one and tried to get back to bed and get some rest.