The Stroke of Midnight
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters at all; they all belong to the wonderful Tamora Pierce.
Authors note: Just a little crazy something I wrote at Midnight, what do you think?
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A five year old Alanna and Thom were trying to sleep. Well Alanna was, anyway. It was late, way past the twins' bedtime and only half an hour until a new day arrived. Only half an hour until the clock struck twelve, and Thom was determined to see it.
Thom started to play with his sisters' hair; he would do anything to stay awake. Twirling it, braiding it, and after being told to, "Stop making me look like a porcelain doll," unbraiding it.
But as Thom began to unbraid his sisters' hair, he found that he had made a knot.
He tugged at it.
It was stuck.
He tried running his finger through it like a comb.
He got his finger stuck in his sisters' knotty curls.
Alanna was almost asleep and hadn't noticed her twin brothers' finger was stuck in her hair. "Oww," she cried, when Thom pulled his finger out of the mess and took more than a few strands of Alanna's hair with him. "What did you do that for?" She asked her brother, angrily.
Thom turned over, to face the direction opposite to Alanna. "Nothing, just go to sleep."
"Why don't you?" Just for once."
Thom didn't reply. But he felt as if he was sleepy, so tried to find something to occupy himself.
He tugged at one of Alannas' curls.
She grunted angrily, he could tell she was tired or else he would have been winded by now.
He tugged at another of Alannas' curls.
"In the name of the goddess, Thom, what is your problem?"
Thom decided it was best not to answer. How do you tell your moody, ten second younger, twin sister your pulling at her copper curls to stay awake? You don't.
He tugged at yet another curl.
"Thom!"
"It wasn't me, I swear."
"Well who was it then? An immortal? A trickster?"
Thom grinned. "You didn't see me, so you can't prove it."
Alanna lay there silent, her eyes wide open. As soon as she felt the slightest movement on a single strand of hair, she would snap her head around to see Thom moving his hand back to his side.
But Thom was quick, couldn't be caught. Every couple of seconds Alanna would move her eyes to see Thom. She looked at him suspiciously. He looked at her suspiciously.
When Alanna was close to sleeping, Thom tugged one of her curls … again.
"THOM!"
"How do you know it wasn't the," he blew on her for effect, "wind?"
"Shut up, Thom."
He blew on her face; she received a gust of wind. Well, a gust of bad breath actually.
"I'll duck you in the fishpond, tomorrow, just you wait and see," warned a very grumpy twin.
Thom laughed, which just made Alanna angrier. "Maude!" she called out, but nobody came. It had worked though, Thom shut up. He didn't want to be told off as well as ducked in the fish pond tomorrow.
There were exactly three minutes until the stroke of midnight. Thom decided to close one eye, just for a while. But one soon became two.
And soon the clock struck midnight … but Thom wasn't awake to hear it.
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