“Yes. And we’ve been fine. Just fine.”
Patrick’s eyes darted to the shattered Sinner’s Sorrow, to Colin’s bloody head and Jonathan’s bloody nose.
“Aye,” he said carefully. “Sure ye have.”
“But now we’ve got a new problem,” Sebastian continued. “What to do with you?”
“I think ye should let me go,” Patrick tried.
“No,” Sebastian said with a small smile. “Then our game is over. And I’m not ready for that. I don’t want to go back just yet. None of us do.”
“I do.”
“Shut up, Colin. Of course you do. We’ll get to you in a second. First … what do we do with him?”
All eyes turned to Patrick. He looked nervously around.
“We could put him in the freezer with the grown-ups,” someone suggested.
“Nah,” Sebastian said. “That wouldn’t be very nice. Anywhere out of the way will be fine. How about the coal room, for now?” He nodded to Roger and Gregory. “Take him down there. Leave a lantern on for him.”
“Wait!” Patrick protested. “Ye never listened to why I came! There’s a monstrous storm coming on. It be a hundred-year storm, they say. A hurricane. Class Five! Bringing a terrible storm surge with it, too, historic high tides. Why, it could wash this whole place away! They told me I was mad to even try and make it out here, but I couldn’t leave ye all to drown.”
Sebastian rolled his eyes.
“Take him away,” he repeated.
“Ye’ve got to listen to me!”
“We’re in a stone castle,” Sebastian replied, his voice bored. “Built on a stone island. It’s been here for hundreds of years. Islands don’t sink.”
“Yes, they do.”
Everyone turned to Jonathan.
“It’s true. This place is crumbling. The island is getting smaller. There used to be a beach and everything.” He looked around at the silent faces. “It’s true! Think of those stairs leading down into the water from the gate. The whole bottom floor is already under water—that’s what the Hatch is!”
Sebastian blew his breath out through flapping lips.
“Uh-huh. Nice try. Shut up, Jonathan.” He looked back to the kids standing around Patrick. “Take him away. Now.”
The boys stumbled away, dragging Patrick roughly between them. Sebastian paced back and forth while they were gone, his feet splashing in storm-water puddles.
“Listen, man,” Miguel said. “You gotta calm down and—”
“Shut up,” Sebastian snarled with wild eyes. He shook the sword in his hand. “We’re gonna be fine. All of us. As long as you keep your mouth shut, you’ll be fine, too.”
When the boys returned from the coal room, Sebastian turned and cocked an eyebrow at Colin.
“Now. Back to you. And your punishment.”
Colin frantically shook his head. Gerald and Francis were holding him tight on top of the table, but now he was sitting up.
“Pleath don’t cut me, Thebathtian.”
Sebastian rolled his eyes again.
“I was never gonna cut you,” he snorted. Colin’s eyes narrowed doubtfully. “I wasn’t. Jesus. I was just trying to scare you.” Colin’s body visibly relaxed. Until Sebastian continued talking. “Besides, I have something better planned for you.”
The wind was an unending high howl now, as if the whole of the tortured sky was one great furious beast. It screamed through the broken window, bringing rain and chilling salty spray with it. The lightning was so constant that the moments of darkness between were more eerie and surprising than the flashes themselves.
“You two, bring him,” Sebastian said to Roger and Gregory, lifting his chin toward Jonathan. They grabbed him roughly by his elbows. “And you guys bring him,” he added to Francis and Gerald, still holding down Colin. He whispered something into Benny’s ear, who nodded and ran off to the kitchen.
Sebastian stalked off toward the darkened doorway that led into the interior of Slabhenge. He paused at the exit. He gripped the sword in his teeth while he used both hands to light a candle, then looked at the crowd of boys waiting at the tables.
“All of you, follow me. Bring a candle.” He smiled, a dangerous smile full of sharp, white teeth that glistened in the lightning. “It’s time to find out what Colin’s punishment is.”
They all followed Sebastian through the dark, winding tunnels of Slabhenge’s twisting corridors and staircases. It wasn’t clear where they were going, or even if Sebastian had a destination in mind. But whenever Sebastian came to a choice between two halls, he chose the darker and narrower one. Whenever he had to choose between staircases, he chose down.