"Hallowed"
"One, two, three…" Elizabeth counts aloud as she bounces on her toes, her hands clapped tight over her eyes in the entry hall of the Midford Manor.
"Ten!" she finally shrieks, and spins around to look at the room, her eyes skimming over the ribbons that adorn the columns and are draped delicately over the banisters.
"Ready or not, here I come!"
Grinning, the newly-turned-six-year-old sprints out of the hall, giggling as she trips over an ottoman in the drawing room and checks behind each of the sofas. Slowing to a stop, the child huffs to catch her breath and chews on her lip in thought, a bad habit that Mother is trying to train out of her. A thought comes to her, and moving more slowly she makes her way through the house and down to the cellar.
Gazing down the dark staircase, Lizzy hesitates before pushing the feeling away and stomping down the stairs. In games like this, it seems like Ciel always wins, but this time Elizabeth refuses to let him! It's her birthday, after all, and just this once she'll be stubborn enough and clever enough to win for sure.
When she reaches the bottom of the stairs, Lizzy clutches at her ruffled skirts and pokes around in the gloom behind barrels and boxes. It would be just like Ciel to be hiding down here where he thinks she's too scared to go, but Lizzy can brave when it suits her, and she slowly makes her way around the room to check behind every object. Yet once she's searched the entire space and neither her brother nor Ciel are there to be found, the surroundings reassert themselves and she quails as the blackness looms around her. It's with a sudden quickness that she takes to the staircase once again and climbs back up.
Once there, however, she finds herself at a loss, and with a pout she returns methodically searching every room. It's in the nursery that Lizzy strikes gold; her eyes catch on the slightly crooked setting of the toy chest in the corner, and she leaps behind it with a high, shrill cry of triumph. Edward squeaks as his younger sister lands on his shoulders, and grumbles as he staggers upright and dumps her off of him and onto the chest.
"You found me, Lizzy," he grins, moving to muss her blonde curls as she bats his hand away, "Good job. Any luck with Ciel, yet?"
"No," Lizzy says sullenly, clutching his shoulders and hanging off of him, "And I went down to the cellar and everything."
"By yourself?" Edward asks, raising an eyebrow, and Lizzy nods.
"You're getting brave, little sister; with that kind of attitude, there's no way you won't find him!"
Grinning again, Elizabeth grabs his hand and tugs him out of the room.
"This way!" she cries, and leads the charge down the long hallway of the upper landing.
After an hour of searching, however, Lizzy is tired and frustrated, and Edward is getting sick of being dragged along. Looking down at her brother as he slumps onto the floor, Lizzy plants her hands on her hips and gives a tiny harrumph.
"Let's take a break!" she declares, "Not giving up, just a break. The grownups have sweets outside."
Edward agrees, and skips after her with a new spring in his step.
"You think they'll have those little cakes?" he asks, and Lizzy sticks out her tong at him.
"Of course!" she says, "It's my birthday, silly. There'll be lots of cakes. All kinds of cakes. Strawberry, chocolate..." she lists as they tromp outside. But when they reach the party outdoors, her mumbling shifts into a shriek of pure outrage.
Because Ciel is sitting comfortably on Auntie Ann's lap as she cuts him a piece of chocolate cake.
The little boy looks up at her sudden scream, and his face morphs into a cheerful, angelic smile.
"Lizzy!" he greets, flinging himself off of Angelina's lap and racing to meet her, "C'mon, I want to give you your gift!" He drags her back to the table with the adults, and reaches out to Aunt Rachel, who plops a crookedly wrapped package into his hands.
"Here, Lizzy. That's from me!" he beams, as she bemusedly digs her fingers under the paper and tears it open.
Her mouth drops open as she opens the box inside, and she squeals in delight at the sight of the stuffed animal within.
"Ciel! You're the best!"
She lunges forward to catch her cousin in a hug, the stuffed rabbit caught between them.
The adults titter, Madam Red's hand falls soft in her hair, and Edward grumbles about not being the best. It is, Lizzy thinks, absolutely the best birthday ever.
A/N: Interlude. Because otherwise I'll melt into a soggy puddle of sadness, and you'll get no more chapters from me at all. :)
Also, FYI, I'm gonna be moving soon, so if my updating schedule is disrupted during the next couple of weeks, that's why. (But is anyone still reading this, anyway?)
"Hallowed," as in blessed, beloved, celebrated, or idolized