A/N: I apologize for being a Little slow at the moment, I'm trying to juggle exams and writing here. But here's one for you, hope it'll keep you busy for a while. (I do apologize for spelling errors and I promise to go over it when I have more time). But thanks for reading, enjoy!


Even the chill of winter couldn't keep Misty from the garden. The change of season didn't have much of an impact on her bond with nature. She still sometimes visited the forest, often in Cordelia's company, but while she and Fiona still fought, Cordelia no longer ran away to hide between the trees. This limited Misty's excuses to go there. Fiona didn't like that she strayed. Misty thought it was a strange thing to say, since Fiona never gave the impression she cared if Misty was there or not. Perhaps, Misty thought, she feared the swamps like so many others in town.

Today Misty settled for the backyard. She had taken to pour her heart out to the big, old tree out there quite a lot these months. She hated that there was something she couldn't tell Cordelia, but leaving her thoughts here, save between the old, crooked roots made her feel better. Now it was two things burdening her; her unrequited feelings that she didn't know how to deal with and Myrtle's sickness. She had caught Cordelia staring at Myrtle a few weeks ago, when she had a coughing fit, but when she mentioned it, Misty pretended she didn't know more than the other girl. She did it, because the concerned look on Cordelia's face told her Myrtle had been right. It was best to protect her.

Myrtle held up a nice façade too. She was always in good spirit, and made sure to keep Cordelia smiling. Misty too. She pulled her to the side on her last visit.

"I trust you've kept our secret, my darling?"

Misty nodded.

"Good. That's good." Myrtle corrected her glasses and gave Misty a serious look. "You're far too young to be burdened with these news, little one. I wasn't clever enough to keep it from you. But now that you know, I see no problem telling you that they are making progress, those fine New York doctors." She nodded to emphasize her own words and smiled. "You'll just see, I'll be up and flying before our Cordelia even suspects a thing!" Misty smiled along with her and liked that Myrtle called Cordelia theirs. Like she was Misty's too. Myrtle winked at her and said: "Now let's go drag her out of those heavy books, shall we?" Misty tagged along eagerly, always with a smile. But on the inside, just once in a while, the joy flipped to longing. She wished she had a mother like Myrtle. She wished she had had a mother at all.

This was also a thing she sometimes told the tree about.

On the way back from her confessions, her eyes fell on the door to the attic. Delphine's attic room. Misty suddenly remembered the incident a year or so ago. She recalled the blood. She had been so preoccupied with the torments of growing older and the developing capacity for complicated feelings that she had forgotten all about it. Now, morbid curiosity spiked again. She went to the door and listened. She would have to be careful, because if Delphine found her lurking again, she did not dare think of the trouble she would earn herself.

She heard nothing. Slowly she opened the door and snuck inside. Her heart gained speed again in the acknowledgement of this daunting quest. She knew what she had seen and maybe this time she could gather more proof. Something Delphine couldn't swipe away in a few hours. The staircase was much darker this time. It had been early autumn, when she last climbed these stairs. It was a strange experience, because as she ascended the heights of the house it felt like walking up to a cave.

She found the same lock on the door, but this time she could reach it. She had grown several inches since she was last in here and this was the proof. The lock didn't dangle at the tip of her finger, but slipped into her hand, cold metal against her palm. But there was no way she would get it open, appropriate height or not. She was certain Spalding had a spare key – he had every key to every room in the house – but for now she would investigate from the outside.

With a pounding heart she slipped her fingers into the shallow space between door and floor, anxiously anticipating the same sticky feeling.

There was nothing. Only dry, dusty wood.

Disappointed, Misty withdrew her hand. She wasn't the most graceful girl and in the rough movement of doing so, she hit her head on the door rather hard. For just a moment every one of her senses pounded with pain and she rubbed the spot that was sure to grow a bump. She snarled at the door for good measure.

Then she heard something that made her shut up in an instant. It came from within the room. Muffled, and strained, but unmistakable. A whimper. Misty wasn't sure if it was a noise of a human or an animal, but whatever it was it was hurt. The whimper spoke of fright and agony. She dared not speak, but sat frozen with her pounding head pressed against the door, trying her best to concentrate on the tormented sound. It went on for a while, but gradually lost its voice. She couldn't be sure if it was a breeze through the wooden structure or even just her imagination spinning a tale, but she thought she heard deep, wheezing breaths.

As silently as she could she climbed down the stairs again. When she had checked that a certain someone hadn't noticed her, she ran.

She barged into Cordelia's room, found her sitting on her bed with a book. Her gaze flew up from the pages with a flinch.

"Misty! You startled me, what's the matter?"

"There's somethin' in the attic, Delia, in Delphine's room! I heard it!"

She would never want to make Cordelia nervous, but she had hoped for a shocked expression or a widening of eyes to tell her that Cordelia believed her, but all she got was a slightly insecure look. Cordelia bit her bottom lip and the hesitation before she answered told Misty exactly what words were on their way.

"Are you sure you heard right? It couldn't just be-"

"It's not the wind! I heard it whimper! I think it's a live man. Delia, you gotta believe me!" She pleaded her with her eyes and words, but Cordelia's face only became more apologetic. She didn't.

"But Misty, remember last time? You thought there was blood and there was nothing. Please don't start this again, Fiona will get really mad at you."

Misty's shoulders fell as she admitted her defeat. "You don't believe me."

Cordelia got out of bed and went to her. Placed a gentle hand on her arm.

"I believe that you think you heard something, but-"

"I'm not crazy!" Misty backed away. Most days light touches like this would trap Misty in a small cell of her own estranged emotions, but today she was too agitated to be caught. Cordelia looked hurt.

"Of course not. I didn't mean that."

"I'll prove it to you. Wait and see!" She spun on her heels and went for her own room. She shut the door behind her, didn't slam it so Fiona would hear down from her office, but hard enough that Cordelia got the point. It was very rare that Misty put any barrier between herself and Cordelia, but whenever she did, Cordelia always left her alone.

The next day Misty held watch. She had all day to do nothing and all day to spy on Delphine. Even when she knew the maid was in the house. She never took much notice of Misty and she wouldn't wonder where she went. Misty anticipated that Delphine would forget her and soon she would be so far from her mind that Delphine would let her guard down, when she went for the attic. It worked. When she had gone in a couple of hours ago, she barely looked around and Misty was free to watch her enter the hidden staircase from her spot behind the bushes. She was ready. The keys she had stolen from Spalding lay safe and sound in her fist and all she had to do was wait for Delphine to leave. Cordelia would be home from school any minute now and by then Misty might have proof for her.

There had been no cold air from Misty that morning before Cordelia left, but she could still see the guilt linger behind the other girl's eyes. She took it so hard, whenever Misty got mad. Misty thought she was so delicate; the tiniest rock could splinter her like a thin piece of crystal. She would always put on a smile, but Misty had learned to read the curves of those long ago.

Finally, the door opened. Misty's pulse raced as she watched Delphine walk around the house. There was a glow of content about her. Misty thought she radiated with sinister satisfaction.

This was it.

Misty crawled out of her cover and sprinted for the door. She looked twice to each side before going in. Now she started treading with careful steps. She didn't quite know what she would find. When she reached the top of the stairs, she thought whatever was in there might be able to hear her heartbeat, so violently as it pumped in her chest. She put her ear to the door.

It was there again. The whimper.

Misty started sorting through the keys. She thought the whimper got higher, more shrill as she went through the bundle. Spalding had a lot. The house was full of doors and she had been through most, but none of them as important to get through as this one. She thought of what Cordelia's face would look like, when she saw that Misty was right all along. But more importantly, she needed to get in, because an unknown source of pain were calling to her with the familiar song of a siren.

Finally. Misty unhinged the lock and set the door ajar. She peeked inside.

The lock hit the floor and Misty forgot all about Cordelia. The icky heat from her previous adventures crawled back up her throat with haste.

From the crack of the half-open door she saw a man, lit by the cold sun from a small window in the wry ceiling. She had never seen someone's skin being turned inside out before, but she couldn't help thinking that it must look a bit like this.

Before she could think another thought, she had pushed through the door and run to the man's aid. He was so tortured it brought tears to her eyes. She didn't know where to start making him better.

His hands bled form the nails hammered through his open hands to hold them to the board, the band that kept the rest of his body tight in its place was soaked with his blood. A pool of the same sticky red lay at his feet seeping now from a foot in a fashion Misty had encountered once before. There were so many cuts in his skin they couldn't be counted and a large portion of skin was missing from his chest. It shone with a gruesome light against his dark skin.

He wasn't much awake, Misty noticed. His eyes fluttered and the whimper he made – choked down by a piece of cloth in his mouth – was a sound he eluded only half conscious. Only when Misty put a hand to his massacred skin did his eyes fly open and he started whimpering as loud as the gag allowed, all the while trying to move away.

"Don't move, I'm gonna heal you", Misty said. The fright faded from her mind and body, as she allowed herself to be consumed by the trance of healing. She met his eyes once and registered his panic turning to confusion, before she focused at the task at hand. She let the energy surge through her into the man's skin, felt it close up and mend. She pulled his hand through the nail in a quick motion, blocked out his scream and mended the hole. She healed the cuts as they appeared under her palm, when her hands traveled towards the middle and she stopped for a moment before touching the pink, exposed flesh. She gathered her strength. The man shrieked, when she touched it, but he kept still, perhaps sensing that she was helping. Misty was too concentrated to notice sound above that. This wound was more stubborn and she felt lightheaded now. She didn't hear the slight change in the tone of his shriek and she didn't hear the intruder before it had a hand in her hair and ripped her backwards. Before Misty could sense anything but shock and the sudden sharp, blinding pain, there was a knife to her throat.

"How dare you?" Delphine hissed in her ear. Misty had never heard her sound like this before, so manic, so furious her voice sounded more animal than human. "How dare you sneak back in here and ruin my work, you filthy little witch!"

Misty tried to scream, but the point of the knife pressed deeper into the hollow of her throat and she stopped. She didn't dare kick out, afraid the movement would hurt herself the most. She knew what a cut to the throat would mean.

The maid drew her breaths in uneven, labored drags. When Misty regained vision through the agony of the hand clutching by the root of her hair, she had Delphine's eyes right on her. The gaze mirrored the insanity in her voice.

"I could slice you up," she said through clenched teeth. "I would, if I didn't if I didn't think Madame would have my head for it. I would take you up the middle, right here." She dragged the blade down Misty's chest and torso, the point just touching. The icky heat filled up Misty's entire body. Delphine smiled a hideous smile. "Right open", she said. "See if you could heal that before your guts hit the floor, you little freak of nature!"

Misty snarled. It was all she dared do, while her mind raced for a way out. But Delphine's grasp was too tight and now she smiled.

"But…" She said and the edge of the knife trailed a sharper pattern back up Misty's skinny form. "I suppose you'll run along and tattle anyway."

O0O

Cordelia dreaded coming home that day. The look of disappointment on Misty's face from the night before still lingered just behind her eyelids. The look of hurt and defeat on her face had haunted Cordelia all night and the day too. But how could she believe it? Misty had a vivid imagination; she talked to plants and communicated with the wind, and while her thoughts often seemed light, her brain could just as easily conjure up darkness, Cordelia was sure of it. Still, her voice rang in her ears now and though Misty had mentioned nothing of it this morning, it was still in the air. Cordelia had fled to school and now she dreaded what emotion she would have to face at home.

It was an early day and there was still light in the sky. The wind was chilly and it always seemed colder on such days as this. As Cordelia pushed the door open, she wondered if Misty would even greet her.

She took plenty of time taking off her coat and shoes, hoping the girl was just being slow. Her heart pounded a little harder with each empty second. After a couple of minutes she accepted that Misty wasn't coming down and Cordelia's heart sank deep in her chest. Misty knew what time she was home. Misty knew her schedule as well as she did herself. She stayed away on purpose.

Cordelia blinked a tear away, angry with herself. It was no use getting upset already. She would simply have to find Misty and set it straight. She needed them to be okay, she couldn't gather any coherent thought until then, never mind concentration on schoolwork.

Misty was harder to find than she expected. After searching her room, Cordelia's own room, the kitchen and the garden, Cordelia's anxiety began to take over. This was odd. Offended or not, hurt or not, Misty never hid. Cordelia remember one time prior, where they had had something close to a fight, because Cordelia had gone on a date with that boy Misty seemed to hate instead of staying home for a movie, as she had promised. Misty had slammed the door in equal manner, but the day after she came to Cordelia and declared without further do, that should both apologize.

"I'll apologize for makin' a big deal outta nothin' if you apologize for not keepin' our deal", she had said. And they did. End of story. She hadn't hidden away, she had come straight for Cordelia the first chance she got. Now the boy was long over and so was the fight. Cordelia couldn't help feeling like something was terribly wrong today.

She searched all the rooms she could think that Misty would visit. She called for her, but no answer came. She even found Spalding to ask, but as usual the butler was of no help, when the task didn't involve chauffeuring her somewhere or move heavy objects. He only shook his head.

Cordelia sighed. "Well, let me know if you do." She turned around to leave, when his hand touched her shoulder. She flinched away from the touch and turned to him again, forehead creased and a shiver lingering just beneath her skin.

"What is it?"

He started miming his sentence. He gestured to his pocket and did a motion of his hand that Cordelia finally understood meant 'key'. Then he turned his palms downside up.

"Your keys are gone?" He nodded. "But what does that-wait, did Misty steal your keys again?" He nodded eagerly. He didn't even look mad, but rather happy that she had solved his puzzle.

Then it dawned her, where Misty must be. The only place she could prove her story to Cordelia, just as she promised she would.

Cordelia left Spalding and ran outside to the door that led to Delphine's attic chamber. With a little luck she could manage to stop Misty, before she got herself into piles of trouble.

She opened the first door and from the first step on the staircase, the atmosphere changed. It was the strangest sensation, this feeling that blossomed in her chest. She could hear a voice up there that she thought was Delphine's, but it almost didn't sound like her. Her tone was what changed the air. The sense of dread that Cordelia had felt upon coming home returned, but in a new and darker shade. Something was wrong. Instead of running up the stairs, Cordelia tiptoed. She made sure her steps didn't make any noise, because a voice told her she had to be careful now. Almost no light came from the attic, only the voice carried in the wind. She couldn't make out the words, but the sound of them make Cordelia's blood freeze in her veins.

Finally she reached the last step and her hand flew to her mouth.

The scene hit her with such horrific intensity, she didn't know what terrified her the most: The tortured man with one hand nailed to the wooden board at the end, Delphine's threatening stance or the knife that travelled up Misty's torso.

It was too late to stop the scream. The hand wasn't quick enough. It barely sounded like her own voice and as much as it shocked herself, it did a worse number on the three in the room. Delphine shouted and turned, Misty exclaimed a half-choked whimper and the foreign man's head snapped up. Then Delphine made a blind swing and jammed the knife into Misty's shoulder and Cordelia's scream cut off into silent panic. Misty cried out and stumbled back on the floor. The knife slid out of her body and stayed in Delphine's grasp, but she didn't have time to swing again. In the turmoil of the sudden interruption the man on the board tore his trapped hand off the nail and with a bone-rattling roar of pain, he threw himself over Delphine. They tumbled to the floor and rolled once before Cordelia could start to even comprehend what was happening.

Her eyes could only focus on Misty on the ground and the glimpse of red near her throat.

"Misty!"

Her head snapped up and she locked eyes with Cordelia for a second.

"Delia, run!" But Cordelia was frozen to the spot. Misty looked to the side where the chaos of arms and legs was beginning to untangle. The man pushed a mad, disoriented Delphine into the corner and got up. He saw Misty. In one fluid motion, he hauled her up from the floor and sprinted towards the door, where Cordelia still stood.

"Move girl!" He shouted at her and she jumped aside just in time for him to get out. He sat Misty down beside Cordelia, who hastily pulled her in and clutched the girl's trembling frame into her. It was all she could think to do. He slammed the door shut. "Doesn't it lock?" He looked at them both, eyes wide and pleading.

Misty regained focus: "The lock! I dropped it… here!" She bend to pick it up and he snapped it from her hands. Her hooked it around the metal and clicked in shut.

"There", he said. He panted and looked at the door for a moment as if it was his savior. Then he looked to Misty. On the narrow staircase there was barely room for them both on the top step and he didn't have to reach far to grasp her hands. "Thank you. Thank you. That woman… You have no idea. Are you hurt?"

Misty shook her head. "I'm okay. But you're not. I didn't finish." She wiggled her hand free from his and touched his chest. Cordelia hadn't had time to study the extend of his injury but seeing it up close, even in the half light of the darkened staircase it looked so gruesome her stomach turned twice. A small net of new pink skin had started to form and now more was growing under Misty's hands. It was the strangest sight, so powerful Cordelia had to look away, in fear she would throw up. She wanted to rip Misty away and hug her tight, but she knew better than to interrupt.

At movement Cordelia looked again. The man had started to move down the stairs. It was the noises from the room, which had him on his feet.

"I'm not done. I can help-"

He stopped her. "I'm grateful. You must be some angel. But I can't be here, I'm sorry. I have to go. So should you." He looked at both of them. Cordelia felt the terror she felt reflected in his eyes. "I'm sorry", he said again, before he turned and ran away.

Just then Delphine's heavy body slammed against the other side of the door. Misty gasped and Cordelia screamed again. Tears, that had been too afraid to jump before, sprang from her eyes.

"Let me out you foolish little bastard!"

"Come", Misty breathed and dragged Cordelia down by the hand. She led them out into the back yard and closed the door. They couldn't hear Delphine anymore.

"I'm so sorry Misty! I'm so sorry I didn't believe you! You are hurt, and it's all my fault!" There was a deep horizontal cut tracing Misty's left collarbone and Cordelia reached out a shaky hand for it. She put a finger to Misty's exposed skin just below it, as if to make sure she could still be touched without crumbling to the ground. The more she looked at it, the more it felt like she herself was being cut open.

"It's not as bad as it looks. It's healin' from the inside, I can feel it." Misty's voice was calmer already, but Cordelia's hand only trembled more. The blood that had run down to the edge of Misty's dress now colored two of Cordelia's fingers. Misty's hand closed around hers and kept it steady.

"I'm okay now, Delia, I promise. And it's not your fault Delphine's crazy." She looked Cordelia right in the eye when she said this, but the guilt didn't quite vanish.

"I should have believed you. It was true back then too, wasn't it?"

Misty only nodded. She would never gloat, but it only made Cordelia feel worse. She threw her arms around the younger girl and hugged her close. Misty's arms folded around her waist as Cordelia buried her face in wild, blonde curls.

"I'm still so sorry. I'll never doubt you again", she whispered. She felt the embrace tighten and it was as if Misty absorbed the shivers of fright and tremble of her crying. Cordelia didn't want to let go. When she finally did, the beginnings of a smile was back on Misty's face. She didn't unhook her arms from Cordelia's waist, when she turned her head to look at the door that had started it all.

"What're we gonna do 'bout her?"

"We need to call the police. And my mother."

Misty nodded. Cordelia caught another glimpse of the cut. It didn't look so deep, now that she dared examine it. She dragged a finger over the upside of the collarbone and the skin withdrew beneath her finger as Misty inhaled a sharp breath.

"Are you sure you're okay? Doesn't it hurt?"

"No, it's nothin'. We should call, right?"

Cordelia nodded and smiled as she looked up. "I've never met anyone as tough as you."

Misty shrugged it off with a loop-sided smile and her arms untangled from Cordelia's body. They found Spalding ready with the phone is his hand.

O0O

Fiona broke a few traffic laws on the way home. She had only the car wheel to absorb her desperation and her whole hands were turning white from the tight grip. She wasn't sure which was the worst: The professional matter-of-fact tone, the police officer spoke in, when he told her why they were at her house, or the sound of her daughters shaking voice at the end of the call. She hated herself for being so goddamn blind. She would never be able to get the sound of Cordelia's fear out of her mind now. Above all of this she kept thinking that little squirrel was right. She was right and she had been for years. Years was what infuriated Fiona the most.

She didn't bother to park the car properly before rushing into her front yard, which was alive with policemen.

"Where is my daughter?" She yelled at the first man in a uniform. He informed her in a calm voice that she and her sister were right inside and that her maid had been driven to the station already.

"Tell her not to get too comfortable, I assure you I will have my best prosecutors so far up her-"

"You're Fiona Goode, right?" The officer asked, unaffected by her fury. "Ya own that law firm downtown, ain't that right?" He shook his head once. "This ain't lookin' too good for ya ma'am. When this gets out…"

"Make me feel worse, why don't you?" She snapped and stormed inside. "Cordelia?"

"In here, mom." Cordelia's voice sounded steadier now, but still shaken. She could hear the shock, which lingered. Fiona thought it the best that the old ugly maid was already gone. If not the bloodbath had only just begun.

She found them in the living room. Cordelia appeared first, sitting on the couch and facing a police officer with his back to the hallway. She looked up when Fiona entered and the relief in her face threatened to choke Fiona. Beside her sat Misty, their arms touching and their fingers entwined. Fiona would have protested, if she didn't have more pressing issues. A line of red was carved across Misty's chest, right below her collarbone. She looked up too, as Fiona came in, but the look in her eyes were miles from Cordelia's. There was no fright, only reproach. Fiona added it to her mental list of things she would deal with after.

"What happened?" She demanded, looking from one to the other of the girls. The police officer opened his mouth, but she silenced him with a wave of her hand.

Cordelia told her how she had found Misty and Delphine in a much calmer version than the short recap she had gotten over the phone. When the tremble overtook her again, Misty continued. Her thumb rubbing over Cordelia's hand did not go unnoticed.

"… he pulled me out of the room and we locked her up in there. Then Delia called the police."

"She has quite the temper, your maid. Ripped the whole room apart", the officer chimed in as Misty finished.

"Is that supposed to be funny?"

He visibly cringed at her tone. "No ma'am, of course not. We got her under control and took her to the station. She's awaitin' trial now. I assume you will be pressing charges."

"Aren't you a clever one? Can you leave me alone with them?"

He nodded and got up. Fiona went around the small table and bent down to the two girls. Three blue and one brown eye stared back at her. "Are you okay? Both of you?"

Cordelia looked to Misty before answering. "Yes, we're okay."

"She never got to you?"

Cordelia shook her head. "She didn't get the chance. But she cut Misty. We thought if we left it, it could be more evidence to the police. They took a picture."

Fiona couldn't help a swell of pride. There was hope for her girl to take up a spot in her company after all. "Good. Now, this man, tell me about him."

A look of the deepest disgust came over Cordelia. She looked to Misty, who spoke: "He looked bad. I healed some of it, but didn't have time. He ran away. He was black just like that man back then. The one Delphine promised to take home."

"You remember him, mom?"

She did. Cordelia had told her how Delphine had taken it upon herself to get him home, confused as he was. Said she knew where he lived. Of course she did. He must have been one of Laveau's. The thought turned in her stomach. He had never made it further than their back yard. All those years. Fiona had to sit down. She needed a drink.

"Tell me, child, did you tell the police that you…"

"Healed him?" Misty offered. She shook her head. "No."

"We thought it was best."

Fiona nodded. "That's good. Keep it that way… You are sure, you're okay?" She looked at them both, made sure she got an approval. Fiona sighed and waved the officer back. Her insides screamed for alcohol and the quicker she could get it over with the better.

But first she had to see the attic.

"It's a crime scene, ma'am."

"It's my goddamn house, show me."

She found Spalding guarding the entrance and he looked absolutely overjoyed at the sight of her. She ordered him away and climbed the stairs. The insides of Delphine's chamber made her gut take another twirl and scream a little louder. She decided she owed Misty a big desert tonight.

Only when the chaos of police and the paramedics who – blissfully unaware – insisted on checking Misty had left, did she call her secretary on her home number.

"Cecily. I have a job for you. You are going to spent the next year of your life sorting through media and keeping this case as muted as possible. If I'm fired, so are you. You got me?"

"Are we pressing charges, Mrs. Goode?"

"Of course we're pressing charges, you water-brained imbecile. But keep it on the low, will you?"

Cecily promised. Fiona called to get Myrtle down and finally, when the girls fell asleep – she had allowed them the same room tonight, because Cordelia insisted – she sat down to empty a bottle of wine.