A Vision of Crows

Chapter 2 - Aftermath of Disaster

Meg stared at Liza and the still-growing plant that had begun to wrap its thin, green branched around her fingers, before shifting her sight to Remus. His eyes and mouth were gaping open, and his body trembled as he stared at the girl on the floor. He opened and closed his mouth before yelling terrible words. Those dreaded words, ones that she had feared all her life, prayed that she would never hear.

"A witch! No, a whole gathering of witches!"

He hesitated before grabbing Alice's hand, who tried to pry herself from his grasp. "What are you doing?" she asked, exasperated. But Remus, who had been warm before was now in a state of panic and confusion, quickly replied, "We've got to get out of here!"

Soon, he rushed out the door with an unwilling Alice. As Meg tried to stop them, she felt a hand on her shoulder, and turned to face her mother, whose face had completely darkened and merely shook her head. After Remus and Alice had disappeared out of sight, she spoke, "Damon, carry Liza to the couch. Kids help your father. Peter, you and I will watch the window, and Philippa, get your family away from here. It'll only be a matter of time before the bastard returns."

Philippa tried to disagree, "Astra, we should all stick- "

"Philippa, he didn't see you, but he took Alice with him. Use your time wisely, before anyone else comes."

Philippa sighed, but complied, and soon, the Hymains too, left as quickly as they could.

Meg's father looked at Will and her. "You heard your mother. Come on," he said, and so they went to the kitchen, where they had left Liza.

They carried Liza to the couch, where Meg's father placed a hand on her forehead. "Dammit," he muttered. "This isn't supposed to happen. She's burning up."

Will looked up to him, worried, and asked, "Papa, is Liza going to be okay?"

Forcing a smile on his face, their father petted Will's head and replied, "Liza's just a bit sick. She'll be fine."

Will glanced at Liza, before asking another question, "Are we going to be okay?"

Their father bit his lip. "Why are you asking?"

Will's eyes began to water as he replied, trembling, "That man, he called us witches. But we're not witches! Witches are bad, but we're not bad! We're normal, just like everyone else! Why did he call us that? Why?"

Meg wrapped her arms around Will, crooning, "It's going to be alright, Willy. Everything's going to be alright." She looked at her father. "I'll take Will to bed. Come one, Willy."

As she carried Will down the hall, Meg found herself doubting the things she had just said. Now that they had been discovered, they could no longer stay. They could no longer stay in the home that Meg had lived in for as long as she could remember, as long as any of her siblings could remember. In the past, she had heard countless stories of Magi families that had been discovered, who had been killed, or even worse, separated and taken to separate places. The most unfortunate were those who were captured alone, with no one on their side. No one knew what happened to those taken, for they had simply vanished, never to be heard of or mentioned ever again, as if they had never existed in the first place. Of course, there were always rumors about horrifying experiments, gossip about being sold as slaves to rich nobles, and tales of being fed to some ancient beast that was kept by the royal family, but in the end, only the government and its officials truly knew. Meg shivered at these thoughts before placing Will on his bed.