Chapter 161 - Inheritance

Morrigan had breakfast with Evelyn that morning, Evelyn acting like everything was normal. Well, to be fair, “normal” wasn’t really somethin

Morrigan had breakfast with Evelyn that morning, Evelyn acting like everything was normal. Well, to be fair, “normal” wasn’t really something that ever existed in their relationship, but a comfort had begun to form that seemed to be disappearing now.

I really do need to just get out of here. As long as I keep in contact with Mom and Pepper on occasion, there is no other benefit to continuing to pretend to be human right now.

Morrigan looked down at the food in front of her, moving it around with her fork.

It isn’t fair to Evelyn anyway. She thinks I’m some troubled teenage girl, but otherwise normal. She has no idea how much blood is on my hands. Hell, even my cat, who she thinks I innocently picked up off the street, is a monster.

“So, going to Mr. Crowley's again tonight?” Evelyn asked, sipping her coffee.

“Oh. Nah, he gave me the day off. But I was going to meet up with Emma.”

“Oh, do you need a ride?”

“Hilda’s going to pick us up. That’s Emma’s older cousin.”

“Oh.” She sipped her coffee with a look in her eyes.

She probably doesn’t like that I made plans without really asking or getting the okay first. Isn’t that normal for a guardian? I don’t think my other friends had to ask for permission over every little thing they do… I really have no idea what normal is, though.

“So what are you all planning to do today?” She asked pleasantly enough.

“Don’t really know yet. Just hang out?” Morrigan answered off-handedly. They were actually going to go to Hilda’s childhood home to look around for any evidence against Atomyst. Since that is where Hilda’s mom had died, if Atomyst did have anything to do with it, maybe she left a clue behind. Besides that, she apparently had a ton of research into various things, and Hilda wanted to see if there was anything that could help with Alice’s corruption.

“Okay, well, have fun. Just be sure to check in every once in a while.”

“Yeah, I will.” Maybe.

She and Evlyne didn’t talk much after that. When Morrigan excused herself from the breakfast table she felt a little guilty. Evelyn had been trying to connect with her; she knew that, and perhaps she did see Morrigan as a do-over on her failed relationship with a young Anna. Having a falling out with her granddaughter as well would probably sting.

That’s none of my business, though. She can’t actually help me. I’m a reaper. I don’t need what she thinks I need, and she is just one more person who I’ll eventually have to disappear from. It’s not just that I’m mad about whatever is going on between her and Mom… Me staying in this woman's life will only end up hurting her.

One day, she would take Noir’s advice and leave this human life behind. In the meantime, it would be best to make as few connections with other people as possible. She would just end up hurting anyone who got close.

At least I’ll be able to keep Emma and Hilda in my life… And Pepper too, I hope. For a while, anyway.

She shook off that thought, not wanting to think about the fact that she would outlive everyone. One day, she’d be at all of their funerals… and possibly even reap some of them herself, depending on how their deaths unfold.

The changeling pulsed softly along her back.

“Thanks, girl. Don’t worry, I’m okay,” she whispered under her breath.

Hilda’s Jeep was out front, with Alice standing outside of it with the door open so Morrigan could climb in the back. This time she was wearing a Sleep Token shirt.

The other reaper made a point of looking away from Morrigan, holding a cold glare in her gaze though she wasn't looking at anything specific.

Whatever, bitch. You’re the one always starting with me.

As she climbed in the back, Emma said, “Hey Morrigan!” and gave her a one-armed hug. “How you doing?”

“Okay, I guess.”

Hilda looked in the rearview mirror as Alice climbed back into the passenger seat. “I checked on your mom this morning. She’s doing okay. Did you give her a call?”

“Oh. No, I ended up falling asleep last night before I could,” Morrigan said.

“Ah. Well, it seems to me she wants to apologize for how she was acting yesterday. I was talking to her about it. Says she should have kept her cool, even if she was pissed, and hoped she didn’t upset you too much,” Hilda said.

“Mmm, well, it’s not like I’m not used to it,” Morrigan said with slight irritation in her voice. “Wouldn’t be the first time she did something like that. Just glad she didn’t go completely overboard. And I’m glad she’s okay. It could have been worse.”

“Right, I got you,” Hilda said.

Emma squeezed her hand and smiled. Morrigan forced a smile back. Emma didn’t know how to help her and didn’t realize that there was nothing for her to do in this situation. Morrigan had been thinking about it more and more, and she realized that the only correct answer was for her to just leave this life while staying in occasional contact with her mom so her mental health wouldn’t plummet.

But I won’t leave you, Emma. I’ll always keep you with me.

The changeling purred, agreeing.

“So what are you hoping to find at your mom’s house?” Morrigan asked.

“No idea, honestly,” Hilda admitted. “Atomyst said he suspected she has a hidden archive somewhere, though I’ve already been through the whole place multiple times but haven’t noticed anything. Though, since the old man was so interested in getting me to find it, maybe there is something specific there that he wanted all along, and it could explain some things about him.”

“What do you mean?” Emma asked.

“He’s tried more than once throughout the time I’ve known him to get me to invite him over to just ‘see what we find.’ I turned him down, of course; I know better than that. Even before knowing he is some evil black warlock, I’m not letting just anyone unearth my mom’s secrets… if she has any.”

“But if he does know about something that may be in your mom’s house,” Morrigan began. “What’s stopped him from just going there and looking himself?”

“Oh, I’ve got plenty of security measures around the house. If anyone tried to get in who wasn’t invited, they’d have a hard time of it first of all. Second of all, I’d know.”

“Have you had a chance to talk to Arrietta yet?” Emma asked.

“Yeah, we spoke briefly last night. She was a bit short on words, but I know she’s hurt by what she’s learned about her grandfather. All she had to say on the topic though was that we’d talk more at the Walpurgisnacht. Oh, by the way, it’s official now.” Hilda looked at Emma in the rearview mirror and winked. “Saturday night, I’m taking you. Excited?”

Emma grinned. “Yeah. But I’m a little worried about it too. I mean, something pretty serious is going on, so… I was kind of hoping my first one would be a little more casual.”

“Oh, don’t worry. It’ll be fun. We’ll get to the serious stuff too, but we always start with some partying and fun stuff. Besides, this isn’t just going to be about Atomyst, or Lorelai, or whatever; it’ll be about you too. You’re a new witch joining our ranks and my cousin, so I’m sure they’ll be interested to meet you.”

“Wow! I hope you haven’t talked me up too much,” Emma chuckled. “I really can’t do much yet. Just the simple spells you’ve shown me. Maybe if I had more chances to practice with that staff you gave me… but I can’t risk Mom finding it.”

“So, is Arrietta really okay after finding out about Atomyst?” Morrigan asked. She thought back to how Death had dropped those bombs on her, and wondered if he had a deeper purpose for doing so. She was starting to learn that little of what he did was not calculated before hand.

“Hm…” Hilda thought for a moment, then continued in a serious tone. “Well, Arrietta is tough as hell. She’s the type to make a battle plan and keep moving forward, no matter the situation. But her grandfather was everything to her; he taught her everything he knew, so I know that it is a tough pill for her to swallow.”

“I hope she’ll be okay,” Emma said.

Morrigan watched Alice for a moment, who was just staring out the window acting as though she were uninvolved with the rest of them. As normal.

And I used to worry about me being the moody one, Morrigan thought.

“So… is it a good idea to bring her?” Morrigan asked, nodding to Alice.

“Huh? Yeah! Why not?” Hilda asked. “She’s one of us now!”

“Is she really though?” Morrigan asked. “Maybe Lorelai has her sticking with you so she can spy and report back to her.”

“Don’t speak of me as if I am not here,” Alice said.

“Well, I’m just saying.”

“Your concern is not unfounded, to be fair. Anything Lorelai wishes me to report the next time I see her, I will do so.”

“See what I mean?” Morrigan said.

“Play it by ear, kid,” Hilda said. “If we find anything, and I’m not sure that we even will, I’ll make a judgement call on who gets to see what.”

“Wait, the way you said that makes it sound like it applies to us too,” Emma said.

“Heheh, yeah, well, that was kinda the idea,” Hilda said.

Emma rolled her eyes sarcastically. “Wow. So much trust in your favorite cousin.”

“Oh, it’s not about trust.”

Hilda eventually pulled off onto a gravel road that split off onto an even longer gravel driveway that disappeared into the hills. It didn’t look like anyone was taking care of it, as grass and weeds were forcing their way up through the cracks, and maybe even a few would-be trees if Hilda’s jeep didn’t snap them down first.

“So your mom’s house is back here?” Morrigan asked.

“Ooooh yeah,” Hilda said, grinning in a way that made Morrigan raise an eyebrow.

Emma smiled. “Let’s just say Hilda is living very modestly with her apartment, considering what’s available to her.”

Morrigan had no idea what that meant until they came over a hill to see a large house surrounded by a worn, rusted fence. 

Morrigan instantly thought of something out of a Ghibli film. The place certainly looked abandoned, but not in an unsettling way. Ivy crawled along the wall with broken bits of plaster and brick visible beneath. The grass around the fence turned to a field of pale wheat, and the faded red shutters looked more like dried leaves than painted wood, like this entire house was a naturally occurring thing and not manmade at all.

As for the size, the place was quite big. Just two stories, but much bigger than her own house or even Evelyn’s. Between that and the privacy of its location, Morrigan wondered just how much a place like this would cost.

“See?” Emma grinned. “Hilda’s secretly loaded.”

“Only on paper,” Hilda said with a smirk. “Not like I can risk getting a home equity loan or something either.”

Her jeep rolled up to the fence, and she slipped off her seatbelt. “Hang on a sec, checking my seals.”

“Seals?” Morrigan asked.

Hilda got out and walked along the fence line to one of the concrete slabs a post was stationed in, then kneeled down, touched the ground, and then moved over to a tree. The places she checked seemed to be completely random, but when she was done, she opened the gate, which squeaked loudly, and then she got back into the Jeep.

“Okay, looks like we haven’t had any visitors,” Hilda said.

“So how many times have you been here, Emma?” Morrigan asked as the Jeep pulled in front of the house and they unbuckled their seatbelts.

“Only once before. I had to practically beg Hilda to show it to me.”

“Well, it was your birthday, so how could I say no?”

They got out and approached the front door, Hilda once again walking to a seemingly random place on the porch and kneeling down to touch a particular plank. Then, she went over to the front door and summoned her staff.

Morrigan watched curiously alongside Emma, while Alice stayed near the Jeep. “So what are you checking for exactly?”

“I got different kinds of defenses all over the place. One of them would alert one of my talismans if someone showed up here; others are meant to show if anything has been tampered with, and there are others. That last one… uh… think of it like two-factor authentication.”

She raised the staff, which let out a soft blue glow, then Morrigan heard an audible click from the door like a latch being undone. She lowered her staff and pushed it open.

“So this is where you grew up?” Morrigan asked Hilda, walking in.

“For a little while. I was only nine when my parents died, and then I lived with my grandma until she got old and passed away. She brought me here every so often to show me some things, but I honestly don’t remember living here very clearly.”

The front room was wide open with random furnishings pushed against the walls to clear out the middle of the floor. There was an old rug in the center of the room, and motes of dust danced in the air until Hilda flicked a switch and the overhead lights came on. Hilda pointed to the stairs. “Most of mom’s notes and stuff are up there, but I’ve already been through most of it. The basement has a bunch of random trinkets she’s collected over the years and stuff.”

“So out of curiosity,” Morrigan asked as she began wandering around, looking along the high walls. “How did your parents afford this place?”

“Oh. Dad was a paranormal reporter. Wrote a bunch of books about different famous ghost sightings and whatnot. Even had a TV show for a while, but it was short-lived.”

“What kind of show?”

“You know, the kind where a team goes in and investigates a haunting or something.”

“Funny,” Morrigan said, “I used to think those shows were total bullcrap until I started with my summer job.”

“To be fair, a lot of it still is bullcrap,” Hilda laughed. “Depending on who’s doing it. But my dad was the real deal, and he crossed paths with my mom at some point.” She placed her hands behind her head and sighed, turning in a circle as she looked around the house. “Wish I had more memories with them. I mostly remember camping with Mom and her teaching me about magic and stuff. I never had the chance to accompany Dad on one of his projects, so I don’t really have a clear idea of what he was all about. We had good times, though.”

“Wish I could have known them better,” Emma said. “I was pretty young when they passed away.”

“Yeah…” Hilda looked around nostalgically once again, then gave Morrigan a tap on the shoulder. “Anyway, we’re here for a reason. Emma and Alice, head upstairs and start going through notebooks. Anything about Atomyst, changelings… or… hell, grimoires and black magic, collect and put to the side. Morrigan, you’re coming down to the basement with me.”

“How come?” Morrigan asked.

“Well, I don’t trust you and Alice alone together without trying to kill each other. Need to soften her up a little more, and Emma will do a better job at that. Plus I want to ask you about the changeling graft a little.”

“What about it?”

“Just general post-op checkups,” Hilda winked and nodded towards the basement door. “Come on.”

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Chapter 162- Shelf Reflection