In the Shadow of Azkaban

Volume II: LXXVII

Morganna's Point-of-View
The Gaunt Manor
Early August 1896

"Lailah! Stop!" I giggled at her while she pulled at my two braids. I persisted in my attempt to trade my locks for wax pastels, but she appeared obsessed.

"Moganna!" She screeched.

I finally freed my hair from her sticky fingers and ran up the stairs in the main foyer to evade her grasp. My eyes scanned the scene as she ambled around and stumbled over a few times in her green, frilly dress. Her pale hair resembled mine, but it only met her chin. And it seemed messier than mine ever looked.

"Does she ever just sit still?" I asked Antoinette.

"Unfortunately, no. Not to my knowledge, anyways. But when I'm on assignment, I think Ominis lets her do whatever she pleases. Against my wishes, no doubt." She laughed heartily at the statement.

While Lailah meandered about the floor, Mother Xilia and Uncle Orion strode past us three. I shrunk back in response.

Antoinette looked older in that moment. I wasn't sure why. The adults in the manor all seemed on edge, and no one left for Greece yet. I thought after Lailah's first birthday and once everyone met Markov, that the caravan would disband. But it hadn't.

Even Sebastian still stayed behind. And my father had been so friendly with him, and Iskra even let the brute hold Markov. The interactions were all wrong, and I wanted to get to the bottom of it.

Antoinette twiddled her fingers in her lap watching Lailah.

"Aunt Toi. Why haven't you and Uncle Omi left yet?" It was a honest question, but I didn't want her to feel as though her presence bothered me. I backtracked, "I love having everyone here, but I thought the stay was supposed to be short-term." I watched her expression shift. Her eyes appeared devoid of energy at first until they burned with rage.

"There's a plan. No need to worry." Her voice broke at the end, but I didn't push any further. I trusted her judgment.

She wrapped her arms around me and wept for a few seconds before recomposing herself for Lailah. Tears? Aunt Toi never broke down, especially with active crying spells. Had she been pregnant again?

"Pitcher." Lailah approached us with a piece of parchment that adorned wax scribbles all over it. Oh. Picture. Merlin, her little voice needed to enunciate.

Uncle Ominis strode in, and Lailah made her way toward him instead. "Pitcher," she repeated with the same urgency as before.

He knelt down and held the drawing in his hands. I wondered if Lailah knew he couldn't see, but then I gathered from his response she hadn't the slightest clue.

"Lailah. It's beautiful! I love it." He held the parchment close enough to his face to have her believe he saw it.

Then, he moved his face in our direction, "What are my favorite ladies up to, today?"

"Anarchy." I replied. I laughed under my breath until Aunt Toi hit her shoulder playfully against mine.

"So, she thinks. I prefer the term, 'rebellion.'" Aunt Toi matched my sarcastic tone. She pushed herself off the steps to approach my uncle. I shot my eyes downward to give them privacy when she kissed him.

"I assume you've prepared everything with Marat?" I barely heard the whisper between the two.

I didn't move a muscle, except for my eyes. They shot up to see Uncle Ominis slightly nodding.

"Great. It's a date!" She turned back to me and shook her hands excitedly.

"We'll all be home soon, Morganna. I promise." Her tone had an eeriness to it that I hadn't preferred, but she must have known something I didn't.

I prayed silently the rest of the day that the plan was for Xilia to finally fall prey to her own family. She deserved it.