Knock
Knock
Knock
"Trick or treat!"
Hawthorne's POV
I lower my hand and look around, dazed. The sound of my knocks and voice cut through the silence like a knife. The place is quiet...too quiet. The gardens are mangled and overgrown and run wild around the perimeters. There are cracks in the walls and webs along the corners. A dead spider falls from the door when I knock, and I cough when a cloud of dust is released in front of my face, my eyes watering, I glance around. The flickering lights cast eerie shadows over the place and I am convinced I am seeing things.
There's the sound like a chain being drawn back, then the door creaks open a crack, sounding like nails on a chalkboard. I cringe, suppressing a shudder. It is pitch black inside...
"Who's there?" I jump at the abrupt noise. A voice, so shrill, it pierces my brain– if I had one, Cadence and Jack agree that I don't, and Morrigan does a little.
"Who's there!" The unknown brain piercing voice demands again, louder this time. I glance at the others, taking a deep breath.
"TRICK OR TREAT!" I scream. Maybe they didn't hear it before. Maybe hearing that voice their whole life made them deaf. I know it would for me.
The door screeches open further.
"Well, if it isn't the Swift." They step forward, and moonlight shines on the body the said voice belongs to, and all of us gasp. A woman, an old woman so ugly that she would make even Cadence look hot. Her bones can be seen in painful detail. Her yellowish skin is stretched taut over the lumps of bone. The skin on her face is sagging, and it looks like it can no longer support itself. Her long claws are sharp and curl. Her hair is wispy and dead looking, falling over her shoulders. She is hunched over, wearing a long black dress that still somehow doesn't cover up her atrocious legs. A long spiky black hat is perched precariously on top of her head. It's too big for her, and I find myself wishing it were so big it would swallow her up from the earth. She looks up at me with her twitchy eyes and leers at me. Her teeth are crooked. She has a big ugly wart on her nose. The voice suits her perfectly.
"Do I know you?" I stare at her, shocked that I would forget someone who looks so...so...so...unforgettable? And that's putting it nicely.
"Elder Quinn?" Morrigan shuffles forwards, peering over my shoulder. Somehow.
"Who are you? How do you know my name!?" she peers back at Morrigan through the dark abyss of the metre between us and the unknown, lurking behind that door.
"Wait! That's Elder Quinn?" Cadence exclaims, trying and failing to mask her shock.
"Who's Elder Quinn?" Jack looks confused. Ha! I know something he doesn't. For once! Who's the smart one now, Mr smarty-pants from Graysmark?
"I am Elder Quinn. And you, you beastly pirate, do you even know how to dance with a sword?" she says in a booming voice grasping her broomstick and demonstrating.
"What? No, we're just here for candy-"
"Aha! You savage scallywags, you're after my candy!"
"That's the point-"
"Please, Elder Quinn, it's me Morrigan," Morrigan steps around Hawthorne and in front of Jack, who looks somewhat grateful for the interference.
"Yes, Morrigan, I know you."
"Yes-"
"You're that Magpie girl."
"I'm...what?"
"Magpie."
"It's Crow."
"Crow girl?"
"My name's Morrigan Crow. My patron is Jupiter North; you know him."
"Ah yes, the ginger idiot. Nice fellow." I swear I just heard Jack mutter, "If you say so." What does that guy have against his uncle?
I feel a poke on the side of my corset. A voice in my ear says, "Let's go." Cadence.
"What?" I whisper back.
"While you stupid-heads were blabbering, I snuck in and took her candy. She's got cats..."
"Mum?"
"No, Hawthorne, just...come on." She drags me away, and the others follow.
"Come back, pirate, I'm not done with you! I haven't invited you to tea yet!" she calls after us.
"I'm gonna be real honest," Jack mutters. He turns around and cups his hands, "I DON'T WANT TO HAVE TEA WITH YOU AND YOUR CATS. I'M ALLERGIC!"
Morrigan frowns, turning to the pirate man. "That wasn't honest, Jack."
Jack shrugs, "I think she was drunk anyway. She won't remember anything."
"I hope so. At least we can go somewhere else and have the candy now."
"Yeah, I'm choosing this time," Cadence states matter-of-factly, poking Hathorne in the ribs.
I wave at the lady. "I wouldn't mind coming over to tea!"
"I would mind, Swift."
We walk in silence. Jack speed walks up to me, "perhaps she wasn't drunk."
"Perhaps," Cadence replies. She walks to the front of the group and leads the way.
~ by xcubbiexx
Written: September 2021
Published: 1 November 2021
YOU ARE READING
Deucalion Family One-Shots
FantasíaA few short scenarios of life at the Hotel Deucalion. Requests are welcome!
