At four in the morning, Joanna can't pretend that she'll fall asleep any longer. It always takes her long to fall asleep, especially after unresolved arguments. Today, however, is different. She won't be able to sleep at all. Not until they test the blood that they've drawn from the – hardly cooperating – eldest daughter.
Joanna feels ashamed for the way they've waited for Ingrid to fall asleep. Before they did it, it seemed like a good idea. Well. Not good. But it was a plan and that was more than they had before. Coaxing her into spending the night was relatively easily. Ingrid didn't feel like driving home on her bicycle at this hour anyway. She's always been very selective when it came to choosing friends, no matter the lifetime, so that her relationships are limited by numbers. Maybe she felt lonely, too.
Then, when they were sure she was asleep, they went into her room and...
Joanna chops some cinnamon. She's baking. Gingerbread. One of the girls' favourites, even in Summer. The blood is on the counter, only a couple of feet away from where she's standing. A cup of blood, not a whole one, but enough for a couple of tests.
Ingrid woke up almost immediately as the needle touched her, screaming. Alex held her down easily.
Sometimes it's hard for Joanna. She's got no role model for a mother, since her own died giving birth to Wendy. As rulers their parents had been far too wrapped up in their own business to mind this of their children. They always had nurses. Joanna remembers that she didn't cry when her mother died. Today, she cannot even recall what she looked like. Trying to be a good mother when you have no one to compare you with can be exhausting. She's made mistakes in past lifetimes. Like in the early 1700s when she was raising the first incarnations of her girls after Salem. She left them, both well before the age of majority, on a Christmas morning. A year and a half. That is how long the girls managed to take care of themselves. Alone in that house in the woods. Joanna never went back to see what exactly happened. Maybe they'd starved to death. Maybe worse. She can't let herself wonder about that or she will break.
At least she had enough common sense to ask Wendy to move in with them the next time around. Between 1692 and 1843, when Freya was lost to love and an evil spirit, the girls lived six times. Five of which Joanna let Wendy handle them. One time she even completely disappeared and only returned upon finding herself pregnant.
If the girls knew about everything, would they still want them to be their mother at all?
Ingrid, most likely, wouldn't. She doesn't forgive easily, not even her favourite aunt. But maybe she's lost to Joanna now. Whether she'll ever find out or not.
She'd screamed so loudly it had to wake Freya up. And it did. The younger Beauchamp was mortified by what she saw. She pulled Alex away, almost spilling all of that precious blood.
Maybe not just Ingrid is lost in this lifetime. After all, Freya ran after her one hour ago.
They have yet to return. Joanna doubts they will. Ingrid has her own flat now, they're probably there. Hopefully. It makes her anxious not to know. Then, it's her fault. She's broken their trust.
"She wouldn't have given it to us voluntarily, Jo. You know that", Alex says as she returns to the kitchen. It's creepy how she can read Joanna's mind so quickly. "We did the right thing."
"Is there really a 'right thing' in this situation?" She sighs, massages her temples.
"She might not appreciate the fact that she's still alive right now, but I'm sure she'll come around to realize that we have to find out. In order to protect her."
Mandragora pregnancies are scary. The baby feeds off his mother by using his tentacles, scarring her intestines. As the pregnancy progresses, the mother will go mad. And in the end -
Joanna shakes her head. She really can't think about this right now.
"Have you found everything you need?", she asks instead. The sooner they get this over with, the better. Dealing Ingrid's card told them nothing. She hopes this will.
"Yup. We can get the cooking started."
Joanna's eyes drift to the gingerbread. She'll put it in the fridge and bake them in the morning. Maybe If Ingrid doesn't cast a spell on the library she will be able to drop some of. Hopefully, she'll let Freya heal the wound. It was bleeding a lot.
Thin blood is also something that comes with Mandragora venom. But that doesn't have to mean anything...
Joanna looks at Alex' recipes. She lets out a breath she hadn't realized she's been holding. When the sun rises, they'll know.
A/N: Thanks for reading! R&R is welcome! :)