“This thing isn’t cursed, right? Because with all the other stuff we’re dealing with right now, this would be possibly the worst time for a curse,” Sebastian lamented as he showed Hayden and Persephone the bronze wolf over a video call on his phone.

Hayden bit her lip. “There doesn’t seem to be any magical aura from what I can see here.”

“But you can’t know for sure.” Sebastian guessed with a sigh. “Great. Why did I have to point this stupid thing out.”

“Relax, kid. If it had any curse properties, then you’d have noticed something change with Garret or Edmund,” Persephone pointed out.

Sebastian nodded. “They seem normal, but they’re downstairs making dinner while I’m here so I can’t be sure. Wait, why wouldn’t the curse have affected me?”

“Well, the item was presumably an heirloom that got set aside, meaning it was somehow integrated into the Kingsley family at some point.”

“Okay. I guess that makes sense. What about these symbols on the box?”

“Oh,” Hayden softly gasps. “It’s Greek.”

“Greek? Okay, can you read it?”

“Hmm, well, yes. I haven’t read Greek in a while but it translates to ‘Champion of the Moon’. I’m guessing this was a title that belonged to this Cassandra.”

“Have you touched the wolf?” Persephone inquired.

“Uh, no. I didn’t want to get cursed or anything.”

“Right. Perhaps just keep it away from moonlight. If the moon on the box is any indication, it must have some moonlight affinity.”

“Okay... what’s a moonlight affinity?”

“Magical items usually have an affinity that ranges within several categories. What it means is it draws magical energy from said element,” Hayden explained.

“Elements? Like fire, earth, water and air? Or the periodic table?”

“More like the first one,” Persephone answered. “There's fire, plants, stone, metal, moonlight, sunlight, water, wind and soul. Like I said, just keep the thing away from moonlight until you can bring it to us for examination here.”

“Alright. Thanks for the help.”

Hayden shrugged. “We didn’t do much. We're not even sure what it is.”

Sebastian shrugged. “Still, at least we know the thing isn’t currently active. That’s a bit of stress-relieved at least. I should go now before the guys worry about me.”

“Alright. Take care, Seb.”

“You as well.”

With that, Sebastian ended the video call and checked that the box was securely closed before going back downstairs. He’d excused himself from the kitchen while Garret and Edmund were preparing dinner under the guise of going to the bathroom. Ed likely saw right through him or at least heard him call Persephone and Hayden once he was out of human hearing range. Garret on the other hand seemed completely oblivious to Seb’s true intent.

As Sebastian reached the bottom of the stairs, he saw Edmund pushing Garret out of the kitchen. “You’re banned from cooking tonight.”

“I didn’t even do anything!”

“Dad, you almost melted my favourite egg lifter.”

“At least you beat your record for how long you could help before he evicted you,” Seb commented.

Garret laughed. “By a whole minute too. Fine, I’ll watch TV. Are you joining me, Seb?”

“If Eddie doesn’t need help,” Sebastian said. Edmund shook his head confirming he didn’t need assistance, so the other two proceeded to the living room.

They picked an action movie but ended up more talking over it about the special effects than really watching the movie. The one thing that Garret could talk about for hours was filmmaking. From prop designs to filmography, it was a particular passion of his. Seb was also fascinated by the subject, which gave them plenty to discuss whenever Edmund was busy while Sebastian was visiting. While Seb could have easily talked about these kinds of things to Ed or his own parents, Garret was the only person he could have a proper conversation about it with. This was probably why they didn’t notice how much time had passed before Edmund was calling them to eat.

“As usual, your culinary talents are impeccable,” Sebastian complimented.

“Indeed. I’m glad you got your gran’s cooking skills instead of mine, Kiddo.”

“Me too. Otherwise, we’d have burnt the house to the ground by now.” Edmund mused with a laugh.

Garret laughed as well and shrugged. “Either that or ma and pops wouldn’t have left to see the world. Was it Iceland or Greenland on their list next?”

“I thought they were going to stop over in Ireland next,” Seb said.

“Well, I’m ninety percent sure the name ended with land.”

“I’m glad they’re getting to see the world, but I hope they’ll make it home before Seb and I graduate,” Ed commented.

“I think your hopes will be fulfilled then. I know they wouldn’t miss seeing both of you in person on such an important day,” Garret said. “Speaking of which, what are you two planning to do over the summer?”

Edmund and Sebastian looked at each other and shrugged. They hadn’t been thinking of summer really since they were living day to day on the edge with the whole werewolf thing.

“Maybe you two should plan a trip of your own. Not so far as the something-lands or anything, but a couple days at the beach.”

“Are you trying to get us out of town for the summer?” Edmund asked with an amused smile.

Garret shook his head with a smile of his own. “Course not. I just thought you’d want to do something special for your final summer before proper adulthood. College, jobs and the like.”

Sebastian shrugged. “The beach sounds nice. But maybe we could just have a camping trip.”

“We’re already going camping later this week.”

“What, you don’t want to go camping with me twice in a year or something?”

“I wouldn’t really care where we went, but maybe we could try something different.”

The three tossed around ideas while they ate, and then once they’d had their fill, the exhaustion of the day began to settle in. They said goodnight and went off to bed. Sebastian was so tired, that he even forgot about telling Edmund what Persephone and Hayden had said. He drifted off easier than he had in weeks. Then, it began...