The Trial of Morrigan Crow; Morrigan Crow's Revenge

Chapter 18 - An Almost Jolly Holiday

Jupiter led them out of the square, as he was sort of half talking to Morrigan and half to himself, "They declared a truce like they do every year, and now they're going to go about their business, delivering presents and making it snow all over the Free State. Job's a good'un. Sugarplums, anyone?" He ran ahead to the pickled sugarplum stand and ordered two dozen in a brown paper bag.

"Well, to be honest, everybody wins! Presents and snow?" said Jack, laughing as he threw a snowball at Jupiter's back.

The three of them decided to walk home, waving off the carriages and pelting each other with snowballs until they were too wet and exhausted to continue. Jupiter piggybacked Morrigan the rest of the way while Jack happily slipped and slid along the icy sidewalks. They demolished the whole bag of sweet-sour sugarplums between them and arrived at the Deucalion forty minutes later with frozen fingers and purple tongues.

Morrigan closed her eyes as she laid on Jupiter's back, taking the fun she had today in. It had been a while since the three of them, Jupiter Jack and Morrigan, were together, playing and laughing as if there was nothing else in the world to worry about.

Morrigan woke on Christmas morning to the smells of cinnamon, citrus, and woodsmoke. A fire roared cheerfully in the hearth, and hanging on her headboard was a fat red stocking, overstuffed with treats.

She tipped it upside down, and into her lap spilled a treasure of chocolate, clementines, and gingerbread, a shiny pink pomegranate, a knitted scarf that looked like a fox, a pair of red mittens, a gold-and-purple tin of Pakulski's Pickled Sugarplums, a small clothbound book called Finnegan's Faerie Tales, a deck of silver-backed cards, and a wooden hairbrush with a ballerina painted on the handle

Morrigan pulled on the soft woolen mittens and held them to her face.

As Morrigan worked the gold foil off a chocolate coin, her bedroom door flew open and Jack strolled in carrying a piece of paper in one hand and his stocking in the other.

"Have you ever learned to knock?" Morrigan raised an eyebrow.

"Glad tidings of Yule to you." Jack dropped onto her bed, handed her the note, and made himself comfortable, pouring out the contents of his stocking in a pile. He picked out a gingerbread dog and tore off its head. "Except not entirely glad, because Uncle Jove's been called away."

"On Christmas morning?" asked Morrigan, reading the note.

Urgent business on Ma Wei.
Back in time for lunch. Take Mog sledding for me.

J.

Jack swallowed a mouthful of gingerbread. "Ma Wei is-"

"-One of the middle realms."

Jack looked at her in surprise.

"Yeah, I know it."

Morrigan smirked at the surprise on Jack's face. One of her favourite thing to do, is to mess with Jack, who think she is from the FreeState and don't know anything. Morrigan loved seeing Jack's expression.

"And I still don't know how you do it. There is no way you covered that many things about Nevermoor in such short of time," Jack's face screwed up with confusion as he handed Morrigan the pomegranate from his stocking with a look of distaste, and she threw him a couple of her clementines in return.

"You don't have to take me sledding." She bit into another chocolate and shrugged. "We could just stay here."

"Well, we are going no matter what you think. Uncle Jove did just get you that for nothing," said Jack, nodding toward the fireplace.