Charlotte knows the little girl she's looking for right away.
Even if she didn't have the physical description Will had given her to go by, there was no mistaking the little girl sitting in front of the clump of almost dead bushes. She was watching two young brownies wrestling under the base of the bush, the slight wind aiding camouflage to the leaves they sent scuttling about. There was a small smile on her face as she removed a thimble from the pockets of her ratty pink skirts and set it down a few feet away.
And even though Charlotte was across the yard, she would bet her bonnet it was filled with porridge. The girl retreated a few steps and sat down at the base of a large tree, content to watch the brownies from a distance.
Henry bounced on the balls of his feet behind Charlotte, not bothering to hide his excitement at the idea of bringing the girl back with them.
"She's lovely isn't she dear?" he asked as he placed a hand softly on her shoulder.
"Quite," Charlotte responded softly as she glanced back at her husband.
"It will be fantastic to have children running around the Institute again," he continued as his and slipped down her arm and curled his hands around hers.
Charlotte held tight to the feeling of warmth that fell over the two of them. She leaned slightly into Henry's taller frame, and he supported her easily, a soft smile crossing his lips as he glanced down at her.
"Now what is a nice young couple such as yourselves doing here?"
They glanced behind them to see the Mother Superior make her way into the room. Her habit billowed around her in a way that might be considered menacing to the smaller children running about. She had hard lines etched into her face but offered them a tight smile and a curt nod despite the fact.
"My husband and I were looking to adopt," Charlotte replied as she turned to face the woman and placed a hand on her still flat stomach. "We are not always home due to my husband's business, and we would love to have a playmate for our own child."
"You say that now," Mother Superior replied sharply. "However I have seen the fates of those children taken in by your class. You would be doing them a kindness by simply keeping them out of your social circles, since that seems to be their fate no matter the intentions of your kind. If you want to be seen as charitable, a simple donation would suffice."
Charlotte felt Henry bristle beside her and placed her hand calmly on his arm in an attempt to calm him. It worked, but only just.
"I assure you we have no intentions of adopting a child just to ostracize her," she replied icily.
"So I gather that you have already chosen," Mother Superior sighed. "There is nothing I can say that will sway that decision, is there?"
Charlotte nodded firmly and Henry took a step forward, surprising her. He bowed his head to Mother Superior, locks of his ginger hair falling into his face.
"You have my word that the child will be loved with everything we have," he said as he rose to meet her stony gaze. "I swear by the angel."
Mother Superior's stiffness did not change, and she stepped up to the window looking out onto the play yard. Her gaze softened ever so slightly at the sight of the children, overseen by three other Sisters, playing and forgetting for a moment that they had no one to properly care for them.
"Who have you chosen?"
Charlotte gestured in Nettie's direction and Mother Superior stiffened up again.
"Of all the wards to choose," she sighed heavily.
"How do you mean?" Henry asked.
"The girl is mute. She has not spoken with anyone in months by choice. Surely you would not want such a difficult child."
"That changes nothing," Charlotte replies firmly. "We'll take her."
XX
Miss White was anything but gentle when it came to transporting Cia back to her room. Her body was slammed against multiple walls and doorframes with the warlock stumbling almost drunkenly from room to room. Cia's head spun so violently she was surprised she was still conscious. She wished she wasn't.
She was terrified.
When they reached her room on the second floor Miss white threw open her door and flung her body inside, either ignoring or unaware of the fact that Cia's shoulder slammed loudly into the doorframe once again. She grimaced, wishing that she could have moved the layer of stone up from her lower arm up in time to protest herself.
"Now just get some rest dearie," Miss White cooed as she dumped Cia's body on her bed like a limp rag doll.
The impact, though not quite as forceful as her earlier fall, still knocked what little air she had regained in her lungs right back out again. Her head reeled as she tried to look anywhere but the glaring lights on the ceiling as Miss White giggled girlishly in her ear.
"The Magister will be stopping by soon," she said as she tucked a lock of Cia's hair back behind her ear. "Best make a good impression on your new master. Or you'll find yourself wishing I was the one to punish you."
And with a pat to her head and a pinch to her cheek Miss White left the room. Cia heard the telltale click of the lock followed with the low hum of the wards being set in place.
"You will not fail me…my little goon."
The hiss from the other side of the door sent a chill up Cia's spine. She clamped her eyes shut in an attempt to calm the whirling in her head. Calm. Be calm. Her breaths steadied eventually, and she was able to roll over onto her stomach.
Everything ached.
But pretty soon she would be leaving this house. Sure she would just be going from one locked room to another, but there was the smallest chance that she could slip away during transport. Miss White's warning rang in her ears as she buried her face into her soft down pillows. Maybe she should risk it all in this an ultimate last ditch attempt. All or nothing.
In a moment of temporary insanity, she entertained the idea of being caught. The thought that she would die and this would all be over made her giddy. To go to a place where they could no longer harm her. But as soon as the thought surfaced it was almost immediately replaced with terror. She did not want to die.
Her throat thickened.
Just a few months ago, her greatest fear had been that someone would take Nettie away from her. Or that she would turn seventeen and be thrown out of the orphanage and have to leave Nettie behind.
Now she was terrified that if and when she did finally die, she would be utterly alone.
XX
"This is it."
"Interesting," Emmaline mused as the three of them surveyed the large white manor house from a reasonable distance. "One would think that there would be more than just a single set of wards protecting a warlock's lair."
"Most likely they were more concerned with keeping the girl in than others out," Klaus replied. "The stigma in the air alone should be all that it takes to discourage the average mundane."
Will glanced over the outside of the manor and deduced the room that they were searching for was on the opposite side. He shifted slightly, trying to ease the pinpricks starting to travel up and down his legs. His eyes scanned the area, and deduced that other than the small garden facing the rear of the building, there was hardly anything that would provide them any decent amount of cover as they made their way up to it.
"So how are we getting in?"
"Why not try the front door?"
Emmaline looked like she was considering hitting him. It was a look he had grown quite accustomed to over the years, so he shrugged it off as usual.
"That is how I got in last time," he mumbled.
"Rubbish," she replied with a roll of her eyes.
"Very well then," Will replied as he got to his feet. "You go in your way and I shall go in mine, whoever finds the girl first wins full gloating rights."
He smirked as he saw Emmaline's eyes light up at the challenge. It was always far too simple to rile her up. He was about to step out of the cover of the nearby foliage when Klaus's hand clamped down on his shoulder.
"Remember that this is a team effort," he scolded lightly.
Will shrugged off the hand, still unused to the feeling of anyone other than Jem touching him in such a way. His stomach lurched with the thought of his parabatai, oblivious to his mission and safe inside the Institute planning his wedding. Or out courting Tessa.
He shook the thought from his mind and turned back to face Klaus, blue eyes locking with brown. Klaus met his stare and didn't flinch away, making Will feel slightly uncomfortable.
"Then what do you suggest we do?" he asked in an attempt to break the awkward atmosphere.
"Go through the back," Klaus replied. "You mentioned the lack of security in the Dark House, but we have no reason to believe the same will hold true here. Especially if the failure of the Dark Sisters is known to the warlock that resides in this manor house."
"That is of course, if we are correct that this is all involved with the Magister Incident after all."
"Your lack of faith wounds me deep Emma dear," Will replied as he placed a hand mockingly over his heart. "I haven't the faintest about how I'll go on."
"If you two are quite finished," Klaus hissed, cutting off Emmaline's retort. "We shall wait until dark before we make any attacks."
Will glanced up at the sun, which was just barely beginning to fall over the horizon. There was no way he was going to be able to stay here this long with only Emmaline and Klaus for company. He heard a soft rustling noise and glance over his shoulder to see Emmaline had pulled her ulaks from their sheaths and was gripping them harshly in an attempt to distract herself from the same thoughts he was having.
This was going to be a long evening.
XX
Nettie's heart sank when the Sisters came to her. Pulling her to her feet, brushing off her skirts and running fingers through her hair, trying to remove bits of dirt from her face with rough fingers. Telling her to make herself presentable. That someone had decided to take her in. They were wealthy looking, and would give her a much better life than anything that would come from being an orphan.
She shook her head vigorously, her curls slapping her cheeks.
No…she could not be taken away when she was so close to seeing Cia again! They could not make her.
But, despite all her attempts at defiance she was easily shoved back inside the orphanage. The Sisters placed her in front of a couple, and with a final pat on the head, gave her a somewhat forceful shove towards them. A hand steadied her gently, but her instinct told her to resist as it began steering her towards a waiting carriage and away from the only place she had known for a good part of her life.
"There is nothing to worry about love," the voice attached to the hand tried to reassure her.
They try to get her to board the carriage, but her legs are stiff, refusing to bend. The couple senses her feeble attempt at disobedience, and the lady leans in until her mouth is resting next to Nettie's ear. Nettie's eyes squeeze shut, preparing herself for the scolding that she is expecting.
"You want to see her again," she whispers softly. "Will is bringing her back to you dear. You can see her again if you come with us."
Nettie's shoulders sag with the weight of her relief. It quickly gives way to suspicion, and she looks at the couple for the first time. The man with the rumpled ginger hair and a warm smile, and the lady who looks down at her with all the understanding of the heartbreak of losing someone held so dear. She swallows hard before glancing back to the carriage door.
Something in the back of her head screams at her to be cautious. To suspect them even if they seem to know the angel that she saw the other day. The angel that promised to bring Cia back to her.
"I can trust you?" she asks in a scratchy voice. "You will save her?"
The lady's face softens, and she brushes a few stray curls behind Nettie's ear.
"Of course," she offers sincerely. "Will promised you he would, did he not?"
Nettie nods timidly, her pulse racing at the thought of sing both Cia and her angel again.
"Then I can assure you it will only be a matter of time before you have her back."
~Author's Notes~
I promise that I really do try to make a habit of disappearing. But life is an interfering asshole, and trust me, I'd sit and write until I figured this whole fic out if it would just let me.
Anyways, thanks for reading!
~Jade