An Entity Within | Stephen Strange

21 - Calamity At Kamar-Taj

"Dad, we shouldn't be forced out because of a monster like her!" The oldest child whined, "We can take her on!"

"Ezra, I'm not discussing this with you any longer. My children have the right to grow up as children. You should not be thinking about how to end someone's life, monster or not."

"But - "

"No buts!" The father hissed, spinning to look at his eldest, "Do you have any idea of how much of a failure that makes me feel when I hear you talking about such things? I didn't raise you to be like this. That's why we're leaving, Ezra."

The teen huffed, albeit sounding rather ashamed of whatever else had been said or done before as he was marched out, his brother in his father's arms.

"I mean think about it, what kind of example would you be setting for Jonah?" Noah scolded again as they walked past the hallway that Henry and Liam hid in.

As they left, Henry removed his hand from Liam's mouth who proceeded to inhale a comical amount of air and coughed. Henry rolled his eyes as he stepped out of the shadow and into the main hallway, getting a headstart on heading for entrance, not slowing down once for his lanky buddy.

"Hey, wait up," Liam jogged up to him, having to keep up his jog to keep up with Henry's walking, "Why are we even hiding anyway? We are adults, we can go out."

"If we didn't hide, we wouldn't know why Master Walker and his family were leaving."

Liam couldn't argue with this, "You're a regular little eavesdropper, aren't you?"

"The more you observe, the more you learn."

Liam nodded, "What do you make of Tessa then? She's certainly grown up."

"I'm...indifferent. I don't know much about her."

"Haven't 'observed' her enough?"

Henry rolled his eyes, "Don't be a creep about it."

"Sorry. Puns, you know?" Liam moved on swiftly, "I was also referring more to the subject of this Entity that's possessed her."

"If it possessed her, she wouldn't have any control."

"How would you know?"

"Because she - they - didn't kill us all immediately."

"Fair...but c'mon, you can't think it's right, right?"

"I can't judge that. Neither can you." Henry looked pointedly at Liam who gave an equally nervous look back.

"Oh, hurry up!" Sura insisted from the end of the hallway, startling them both, "I want to fit in at least one cocktail before I get back here."

"Sorry, Sura. Hey, before we go though, what do you make of this Tessa and her Entity?" Liam grinned at Henry, expecting her to agree that it was weird and unnatural.

"I think it's great that we have such a powerful adversary on our side. What they said about us being foolish is fair game. Could have killed us all right there and then if it wanted to, and it didn't."