Sisters Three (Completed)

2. Brenna (1/2)

Brenna stirred in the cold blueness of early morning. The weight of only a few hour's sleep beckoned her back to blissful darkness, but something else demanded her attention. She rolled, her arm flopping out of the covers and immediately prickling in the cold air. She blinked a few times, staring at the far off ceiling, imaging that if were a boy she could shimmy up the support pillars and onto the rafters. Her mind idly explored this possibility, taking great pains over how she would look with the short hair and sturdy limbs of one of the servant boys, until she realized she had to use the chamber pot. Sitting up, she turned to flip over and pull the pot from under her bed, when she noticed the thrown back covers of Morna's bed. Empty. Now she knew what had awoken her. The absence of her sister.

Her eyes flicked to the bedroom door, which stood barely ajar. The nursery fire had burned too low to give light any longer, and it was not yet late enough for the maids to come and refresh it. Brenna only worked with the moonlight, but clouds had moved in sometime during the night to render it mostly ineffective. There was no physical sign of Morna in the other room, and no sound either. She could have gone for a glass of water in the sitting room where Papa kept a little kit for company, but Brenna had a feeling that was not so.

Sitting up and dragging her eiderdown with her, she leant over the gap between her bed and her younger sister's, and ran a hand along the abandoned sheets. Stone cold. She frowned, pushing herself back and up. The cold air swirled around her, tickling her nose.

Morna couldn't possibly be back out there. Not so soon after the last time. The water calls were usually months apart, sporadic but not unpredictable. It always happened just as they thought it might have been some phase that was now passed over. None had come this close together, especially when Mama and Papa had been there to witness it. However, would that not be the perfect time for the water to beckon little Morna onward? When the others were sure of it being over?

Tumbling from her bed, Brenna shook Adair's sleeping form roughly, and then turned to light one of the candles they kept on the window sills. Adair grunted, shifting further under her green covers, but Brenna poked her ribs savagely until Adair was forced to rise.

"What is it, you little gremlin?" Adair demanded, her pale hair matted on one side despite the braid that was supposed to keep it in place. Her blue eyes misted over with sleep, and she ran a hand along her flushed red cheek.

"Morna," Brenna replied, holding out the candle to her sister. No more had to be said. Adair knew from the tone what Brenna meant.

Brenna lit another candle while Adair pulled out two fur coats from the wardrobes. Slipping them on, the two girls sneaked into the nursery and over to the windows. The clouds broke for a moment to shed a bit of strained moonlight over the grass, but they closed again before either girl could make out the pond. Brenna was not sure they would be able to see a figure from this far away, at any rate.

"We'll have to go check," Brenna said, her breath fogging against the window. She shivered in her fur, though when she glanced to her right Adair looked as comfortable as if she were basking in the full-sun of spring.

"Father and your mother will be furious if she's done it again tonight," Adair muttered, her hand resting on the window pane. From a brief moment after Adair pulled away, Brenna thought she saw the spider-lines of frost in the shape of a hand, but a second glance showed nothing but the glass.

They crept to the servant's staircase and down to the hallway. The rooms were shut firmly for the night, and the door at the end was locked. Adair had to stand on her tiptoes to run a hand along the top of the lintel to fetch down the spare key. None of the servants thought the girls knew it was there, but Brenna had dragged it out from one of the maids. She was quite proud of that feat, seeing as how that maid was around triple her age and none-too-friendly either. Brenna loved to get her own way.

Adair fit the key and disengaged the lock, and the girls stepped out into the cold night air. Light still spilled from the ballroom, but there was no noise. They paid little attention to it, instead focusing on making as little noise as possible as they ran down the gravel and toward the pond.

As Brenna came a breathful stop, her eyes skimmed the shore line. Empty... until a few yards to the right where the tall grass was still slowly straightening itself after being tramped down. She called Adair's attention and they went to investigate.

It took almost no time after that to spot Morna. She was already up to her elbows in the frigid water, and her head was tilted just slightly up. Enough of the moonlight hit her that Brenna could just make out that her eyes were closed and her face slack. She was asleep, then. It had been a long time since a call had moved her during her dreams.

"Morna, wake up!" Adair hissed. Their sister kept walking, the water rising to her chest. Brenna sucked in a breath, imagining the inky pond swallowing that brown hair and claiming it as its own.

Brenna sighed in frustration and shrugged out of her fur, letting it drop to the damp grass with barely a thought to how it would be ruined. She jumped into the water while Adair was still trying to coax Morna into consciousness. If Brenna knew one thing about Morna's attraction to the water, it was that it was best to haul her out instead of try to reason with her.

The pond ate her breath in one mighty gulp, and she struggled forward with shrunken lungs and a blistering headache. The nerves in her body immediately protested and each step she took on the silty bottom felt like sharp knives. Somewhere behind her the sound of splashes must have meant Adair was following suit, but Brenna kept her eyes trained on Morna. Only a few steps more and her sister would be out of sight and out of hope. Brenna picked up speed, cutting her arms through the water until her fingers grazed the back of Morna's nightgown right as her sister's head ducked under the water. She tightened her grip on the wet fabric, yanking it toward her. Morna was heavy as a log, even with the buoyancy of the water, and it took all Brenna's strength to keep her from sinking. Adair appeared at her side, her hands diving beneath the small waves to snatch Morna's armpits and reel her in. Their strength combined was enough to surface their sister, who came up sputtering and thrashing.

Brenna hugged Morna close to her chest, Adair's arms tangled with her own, and Morna's heart rapidly pulsing under Brenna's hands. They struggled Morna backward through the water and up onto the shore, where they deposited her on the grass. She lay on one side, shaking from the cold. Brenna, shaking almost as much, picked her way to where the two furs had been discarded, and dropped them on Morna. Brenna crouched to try and conserve heat.

"What-" Morna hiccupped. "What happened?"

Brenna, through chattering teeth, answered, "You were sleep walking."

This melted Morna's face into a crumpled mess and she began to sob jerkily. "But it just happened."

"Well, it wanted you again," Brenna said, her voice gaining an edge now that her fear was abating. "There has to be something you can do to stop it, Morna. We can't stay awake every night staring at you."

"I know..." Morna whimpered, staring down at the water across her body. "I want to stop. I really want to."

"Do it then! You're in control of your mind. Just... block it," Brenna snapped. Morna's tearful eyes met hers and Brenna struggled not to roll them. When it came to it, she would always run after her sister and defend her against Papa and Mama when they didn't understand... but when it came to running out in the middle of the night, wondering if she'd find a facedown body, then Brenna struggled with her temper.

"It's not like that," Morna said, her voice hardening just a little. It wasn't like Morna to become irritated but this night was not like others.

"Oh, come off it-" Brenna started, but Adair's voice cut her off.

"This isn't going to go anywhere. Stop bickering and let's get you in before you catch your deaths."