"…and that brings us to the Witch Trials of Salem Village."
Signy pursed her lips as she finished writing.
"Now," Ms. Peabody said, picking up a stack of papers from her desk. "As you all know, every quarter I assign a partner project. This quarter, I want all of you to find and do a presentation on someone from a dark scene in America's history. It doesn't matter if they were the perpetrator or the victim—they just had to be involved. It must be about the person and the event itself."
"Ms. Peabody?" spoke up Snotlout. "Are we allowed to pick our partners?"
"No, Mr. Jorgenson. I have already selected the partners. Since there's an odd number of you, one group will have three members. That group will consist of the Thorston twins and Mr. Haddock." Hiccup groaned and banged his head on the desk. Signy patted his back in sympathy. "Mr. Jorgenson, you will be working with Mr. Ingerman." She went on until she got to Astrid. "Miss Hofferson, your partner is Miss Haddock."
Astrid's head snapped up before she glanced at the redheaded Haddock twin. Signy was already writing something in her notebook, a look of inspiration on her face and a pair of reading glasses on her face. Her hair, although braided over her shoulder, was messy and sticking out. The blonde internally groaned at the thought of working with either Haddock, but at least it was the 'cool one'.
"I would like all of you to move next to your partners so you can spend the last ten minutes of class discussing your project," Ms. Peabody continued, handing out rubrics. "These will be your seats until after the entire class has presented their projects." Signy took her rubric with a grin as Hiccup moved to sit next to the Thorston twins. Astrid sat in Hiccup's normal seat, trying to ignore the warmth that was there from Hiccup sitting on it.
"Do you have any ideas?" Signy asked Astrid, snapping the blonde from her thoughts.
"Um… no. I don't have any. I'm kind of terrible in history."
"Well, good. We can learn together. I was thinking someone like Lizzie Borden or Madame LaLaurie." Astrid was distracted by the gleam in Signy's eyes. It was so much like Thorn.
"Sounds good…?"
"Great! You can come over to my house after school and we'll start doing research! Meet me by the band room and we'll go from there."
Meanwhile, Hiccup was trying to get a word in edgewise with Ruffnut and Tuffnut.
"We should totally do the Boston Massacre!" Ruffnut said, her eyes gleaming at the thought of the murder.
"No! We should do one of the school shootings!" Tuffnut protested.
"How about we do neither?" Hiccup piped up.
"Oh, yeah, Haddock? What do you think we should do?" Tuffnut sneered.
"How about the Lost Colony of Roanoke? Nobody knows what happened to the people, but we could do the report on John White! He was the founder of the colony."
"Hm… maybe you are more than a dork."
"We'll meet at the library after school and work!"
After school, Hiccup and Signy said goodbye to each other and headed in opposite directions—Hiccup towards the library with the Thorston twins and Signy towards home with Astrid. Astrid noted that Signy was a fast walker, and that she was easily distracted if she didn't have somebody talking to her.
"So, Signy, how come you came home from boarding school?" Astrid inquired.
"Eh. I needed to be home. Hiccup and I don't really have a lot of friends or family. It's just us, our dad, our dragons, and Uncle Gobber."
"Sounds lonely."
"It is, but we're fine as long as we have each other." She walked up a wall that lined the sidewalk and balanced on it as she walked, sticking her arms out for balance. "I remember when we were little that people picked on him all the time because he was weak and didn't like sports. I tried to fight those people, but he'd always keep me from doing it."
"I get it. I used to be picked on for being a tomboy, but I kicked them in the shins for it. Now nobody picks on me."
"Hiccup isn't like us. He's more of a talker than a fighter. Dad says I was always the more violent one." She hopped off the end of the wall and back onto the sidewalk. "We're almost there."
Astrid followed Signy's gaze and her jaw dropped.
The Haddock house (mansion) was huge. It was on top of a small hill with a long, circular driveway and an actual gate. In the back, Astrid could see a Nadder running around. Signy smiled and opened the gate, letting Astrid in first.
"You live here?!" Astrid squeaked.
"Yeah. Dad's the CEO of Vast Industries and a professional wrestler."
"Wait. You and Hiccup's dad is Stoick the Vast?!"
"Yep." Signy started climbing up to the house, Astrid scrambling to keep up with her.
Inside was just as impressive. It was the kind of place that you saw in movies and TV—large foyer that led to a pair of staircases and a couple of other rooms. The staircases themselves were curving, making a beautiful effect.
"It's the Haddock family home," Signy told Astrid. "It's the house our great-great-great-great grandfather built, and we've lived here for a long time."
"It's too big for just three people!" Astrid blurted.
"I know." Signy's face fell, and Astrid could see the happy mask that she wore crack down the middle.
"So, uh, where are we going to work?"
"The library!" And the mask was fixed. Signy grabbed Astrid's hand and led her upstairs to a set of double doors. Upon entering them, Astrid wasn't surprised to see it was floor-to-ceiling books. She could see blueprints for various small inventions on a desk, and a computer was in the corner.
They decided on Madame LaLaurie for their topic. Astrid quickly learned that Madame LaLaurie had been one nasty piece of work—a slave owner in New Orleans who treated her slaves worse than livestock and tortured them in ways that were considered overly cruel, even by the standards of that time. Her fate was unknown, which intrigued Astrid. She glanced at a picture on the desk of a woman with the same auburn hair as Hiccup standing with the giant of a man that was Stoick the Vast. They were holding two very tiny babies. One wore a pink bracelet and the other wore blue.
"Who's the woman?" she asked Signy.
"That's our mom and dad, the first time they held the two of us," Signy replied, coming over to look at the picture. "One month old."
"Your parents didn't hold you until you were a month old?"
"We were born premature. Two months premature. The doctors said we wouldn't make it through the winter." She smirked. "Guess they were dead wrong."
"Where's your mom now?"
"Gone." Signy started shuffling through the invention papers.
"I-I'm sorry. How did it happen?"
"How did what happen?"
"How did your mom die?"
"She's not dead, as far as I know."
"She's not?"
"Nope. She's just… gone. Disappeared when Hiccup and I were a year old. Dad came home to a smashed window, blood on the floor, a missing wife, and two crying babies in their cribs."
"It must've been rough."
"I think it's what made Hiccup and I into such romantics." She faced Astrid again, leaning against the desk. "Did you know our father has never even looked at another woman with romantic prospects? He's still hoping Mom will come home. That's the kind of love we both want, where it never dies."
"That's… both sad and sweet."
"I know." She grinned. "All we need is the right people."
Here we go! The beginning of Astrid beginning to learn about Hiccup and Signy's family history. Next time, the project presentations will occur and a friend from Hollywood will visit!
So long and thanks for all the fish!