Chapter Text
Morrigan Crow craned her neck to see her friends through the thick crowd. She tried to suppress her panic and the thought that she was lost alone among all these people.
"Hey, Morrigan, here!" The voice of her best friend Hawthorne Swift echoed through the noise. Morrigan, relieved, tried to head in the direction of the sound.
"Where have you been?" Cadence Blackburn asked.
"It doesn't matter," Morrigan refused. "The main thing is that I'm here now."
It's easy to get lost in this place," Hawthorne said eagerly, "but who cares if there are little shops everywhere? I want to buy.."
Cadence rolled her eyes. "How can you have enough money for anything else? You've bought almost everything available here." She pointed at the large bag he was carrying.
"Maybe we should leave?" Morrigan suggested. She didn't particularly like the large crowd.
Cadence agreed immediately. "Yeah, we've been here long enough."
Hawthorne looked disappointed. "So soon? We were supposed to meet Lottie and Louis, remember?"
Morrigan remembered it well. But she was already feeling tired, so she said, "We can meet them any other time."
"But they'll wait! And they'll be disappointed! You don't want to disappoint your new friends, do you?"
Morrigan didn't want that at all. She turned to Cadence, not knowing what to say. "And what do you think?"
Her friend shrugged. "We can go. I don't really care."
"Great. Let's go," Hawthorne said, looking pleased with himself.
The three friends found the twins in a more secluded place, where the two were talking animatedly at the table. Louis was the first to notice the trio.
He broke into a smile. "You came after all!"
"They wouldn't dare not come," Lottie said confidently, but Morrigan could see that she was glad too.
"Good day, everyone!" Hawthorne greeted cheerfully. "And the same the next day and the day after that.."
Cadence looked rather suspicious. "Is your father here too?"she interrupted her friend.
Although Morrigan herself wouldn't have dared to ask, she was relieved that her friend did.
"He's not here," Lottie said. "But no one wants him here either." She turned to Morrigan. "Where have you been?"
"You haven't seen us in months," Louis added.
"She helped me with my dragon riding training," Hawthorne announced.
"Wow! Really?" Lottie looked impressed.
"No, Hawthorne," Morrigan quickly argued. To the twins, she awkwardly explained, "I...well, I don't live in the Silver District anymore. You probably noticed that."
"Quite expected," Lottie said at the same time as Louis, who asked, "Why did you leave?"
"I went to people who really love me," Morrigan said, and looked at Lottie. "What do you mean, "Quite expected"?"
"I never liked the Darlings," she replied. "Unpleasant people."
Morrigan thought they were pretty unpleasant. After all, it had only been a few months since the murder of Dario Rinaldi, which had been commited by Morrigan's uncle Tobias Darling, had been discovered. Besides, the girl was not ready to forgive her Aunt Margot, who had lied about her mother, Meredith Darling.
The five teenagers chatted about various random things. Lottie and Louis later wanted to discuss what happened with Dario, but Hawthorne, fortunately, changed the subject, starting to talk about the competition. Cadence did not interfere in the conversation. Hawthorne asked her something from time to time, but then the twins always made a surprised face, not even noticing the presence of the third girl.
"You guys are much more fun to mess with than those people in the Silver District," Lottie expressed her thoughts, and Louis nodded in agreement. "Maybe we can meet tomorrow too?"
"I can't tomorrow," Morrigan said. It was true - she had a class with Ezra Squall. She couldn't miss it, because, firstly, the girl had already missed several classes while living with the Darlings, and, secondly, she desperately wanted to learn the Wundrous Art of Masquerade and get a seal. "But you can meet without me."
"Nuh-uh," Hawthorne disagreed. "Either with you or not at all."
Lottie smirked. "Yeah, you're our star." She laughed. "You know, Morrigan, we were starting to worry for a while - Louis, not me - that you were avoiding us again for some reason we don't know."
"I wasn't worried!" Louis objected. "I was just saying it might be possible! But it could be possible, right?"
"It's not," Morrigan quickly cleared up the misunderstanding. "I just didn't want to meet the Darlings and, well..."
"And the Scumbag St. James, right?" Lottie finished.
Hawthorne chuckled. "I didn't know that nickname was so well-known."
Louis sighed expressively. "You can't even imagine."
"I'd be willing to shake hands with whoever came up with that," his sister giggled.
"I'm not sure if you should talk about your father like that," Cadence spoke harshly, surprising not only the twins, but also Hawthorne and Morrigan.
Lottie raised an eyebrow. "We can talk about him like that because he deserves it after everything he did to Wunimals and Morrigan."
"That was unfair," Louis said. "Lottie is right. He really deserves it."
"As unfair or greedy as he is, he's still your father," Cadence snapped. "Don't you even love him?"
Morrigan stared at her friend in surprise. Why was she suddenly so angry? She didn't like St. James either, did she? Then it occurred to Morrigan that it wasn't about St. James at all. Maybe it was about Cadence's father? Who was he, anyway?
"I wonder if he loves us," Louis said quietly.
"He probably doesn't," Lottie exclaimed. "At least I don't think so."
"Lottie!" Louis suddenly shouted, alarming everyone even more. "We broke our promise to Morrigan to never be concerned about anything!"
"You don't have to worry about that," Hawthorne reassured her, "because I'm going to start my own party, which I'll call the Unconcerned Critics of Nevermoor." He added cheerfully to Morrigan and Cadence, "I think I've said that before, haven't I?"
Lottie's anger faded, and she looked amused. "Really? Don't you have to be rich to do that?"
Hawthorne grinned. "Oh, but who said that? Maybe I'll save up enough money to buy the dragon's necessities, as well as start my own party."
Cadence probably would have said something like, "Of course not, if you keep spending all your money on trifles," but she had fallen into a thoughtful silence. Morrigan suddenly wanted to get away. She couldn't stand it when one of her friends was down. Hawthorne was frowning too, but the twins didn't notice, probably forgetting both Cadence's presence and the mention of their father.
"I think it's time for us to go," Morrigan suggested. "I can't stay here long."
"Me either," Hawthorne lied. "Mom told me to be home early tonight."
"Tell your mom you're in the best company with us," Louis suggested. "Maybe next time..."
"We will meet again," Morrigan reminded him. "Someday...I don't know when."
"Have a nice way home!" Louis laughed. "It was a good time with you. You're really..."
Lottie looked skeptical. "You're not going to start making sweet comments now, are you?"
"I was trying to be polite!" he argued. "You should try."
"Being polite is boring, never forget that, Lottie!" Hawthorne shouted, climbing back up.
"I won't forget!" the girl shouted back.
"That's good!"
"Don't shout!" Morrigan hissed at her friend. Several people had turned their gazes to the trio, and their eyes narrowed in disapproval, recognizing Morrigan. The girl felt very uneasy and began to walk faster.
"What were you so mad about?" Hawthorne asked Cadence when they were quite far away and waiting to get on the Wunderground train.
"It doesn't matter, really," Cadence muttered, sounding dejected.
"It does matter," Morrigan persisted.
"We're your best friends, right?" Hawthorne agreed. "You can tell us anything. And it can't be worse than Morrigan's secrets, can it?"
Cadence smiled wearily. "It's not that bad, I agree. It's just..." she sighed. "I don't like hearing them talk bad about their father because... they might not have him anymore. They have to love their family while they have it."
Hawthorne frowned. "I didn't know you could be bothered by something like that."
"It doesn't bother me. Okay, maybe it does, but don't forget that I've read a lot of books, and therefore a lot of people's life stories. And I've experienced this myself." She took a deep breath. "Children think their parents are here for life. But someday they'll be gone and they'll be gone."
"But it can't just be about what you read in the book," Morrigan whispered as they took their seats on the train. There were a lot of people there, so her friends spoke in whispers. Morrigan tried to ignore the stares that were directed at her.
Cadence swallowed. "It's not. My father...he's dead too."
Although Morrigan had expected something like this, it still shocked her. The girl couldn't believe that in all the years she'd known Cadence, she hadn't thought to ask her about her parents. But it was possible that she wouldn't have trusted them and told them before.
"But your mother is alive, isn't she?" Hawthorne was as confused and embarrassed as she was.
Cadance nodded, biting her lip. "She's alive. But that's not all. Yes, he's dead, but I've always hated him for as long as I can remember. He did things I didn't like, didn't let me do much. He was a weird man. Finally, one day, for some reason, he decided to climb a dangerous mountain, but that was his last wish."
Hawthorne and Morrigan exchanged worried glances as Cadence continued, "But that's not what it's about. I don't appreciate having a father. I thought he didn't love me, but looking back now, I realize he did. I don't want Lottie and Louis to go through the same thing. I don't believe St. James is so evil that he doesn't love his children. "I know he's done a lot of bad things and I despise him," Cadence looked at Morrigan, "but..."
They rode the rest of the way in silence. Morrigan got off the train, said a quick "bye" to her friends, and rushed through the front doors of the Deicalion.
The girl almost ran into Fenestra, who had fallen asleep in front of the door.
"Ehh?" she mumbled, opening one eye. "How come you're back so soon?"
"The excitement for things fades, Fen," Morrigan replied, though it was far from the truth. The girl could not imagine that her joy at the bazaar could ever subside.
"So be it." It was hard to tell whether Fen believed it or not, for she closed her eyes and continued to doze.
Morrigan cautiously walked around her and hurried to her room. The girl hoped she would not see Jupiter tonight. She did not want to tell him about the events of the evening. She sat down on the edge of the bed.
Morrigan had a lot to think about tonight.