Is solace anywhere more comforting...
After they left the university, Mira and Cassie went to Falcon Court. The conversation with Mother and Papa had not been easy - they’d all been through too many nights when serious talks were necessary. This time, thankfully, they had not lost family. Someone had died, but the remaining Montgomery family was still intact and for that they were grateful.
Mother had insisted they stay for the night. For her part, Cassie was just as happy with the idea. Grown or not, there was comfort in being under the watchful eyes of your parents. Hot baths were drawn for each of them, and after a calming soak she and Mira were left to rest in the large room they’d once shared.
“How are you feeling, Mira Sophia?” she asked, the ice cream they’d brought to share sitting untouched between them.
Mira stared down at her hands. They were yet pink from the heat of the water, but there was still a very fine tremble to them. “I feel silly. I should have been more prepared in the first place, but now I can’t make my hands stop shaking. Nothing really happened.” Mira raised her eyes to her twin. “I was bound, and she attempted to choke me, but it was all stopped before she had much of a chance to do anything but leave bruises.” Her brows pulled together slightly. “In the scheme of what we’ve all been through, it’s nothing at all, and yet ...” she held up her hands, “... it won’t stop.”
Cassie took Mira’s hands between her own and held them. “It wasn’t nothing. Someone tried to hurt you. A crazy woman wanted to take my most favorite person away from me. That’s not nothing.” Seeing Mira attacked, again, and not being there in time to help weighed heavily on Cassie, as did the conflicting feelings about the man who had stepped in. Whatever his reason for stopping the blonde woman, it wasn’t out of the goodness of his heart. She knew that. He didn’t care if Mira died, but something had made him act and for that she was grateful.
Looking at her twin, Cassie asked, “I’m glad she’s dead. I’m sorry you had to see it, but I’m glad she’s dead. Does that make me evil?”
“No, not at all,” Mira said as she twined her fingers with her sister’s. “If she had done to you what she’s done to me, what she tried to do …” Mira shook her head, and for the first time that night her hands stopped shaking. She squeezed Cassie’s fingers and found the blue gaze identical to her own. “… If she had done to you what she did to me, I would have killed her myself had it not happened as it did.” Mira’s voice was steady and there was a thread of something hard there. “I wouldn’t feel bad about it, either.”
It was an odd thing how she could be frightened for herself, but when it came to the people she cared about, there was hidden depths of steely strength. It was terrifying thing to be powerless in the face of your own death, and the feeling was clinging to her like honey, but thinking of Cassie, Abi or Alex in that position - it made her temper spark, and the heat of it burned through the stickiness of fear.
Her jaw clenched and she pushed back at the fiery feeling suddenly buzzing through her. “Papa isn’t like that, or Abi either. Josh wouldn’t have been.” It was difficult to speak of their dead little brother, but to not talk of him at all was to forget him, and Mira refused to do that. “Mother would though, and Alexa, and Nate would have. It’s just…” She kept her twin’s gaze. “… it’s just that we’d do whatever is necessary to keep the people important to us, safe, even things some people might consider terrible. I don’t think it makes us evil, just ... ruthless.”
“I can live with ruthless.” On the surface, the words were glib, but Cassie meant them. To most of the world, ‘ruthless’ was a word associated with bad people and underhanded dealings, but it didn’t bother her. Maybe it was just the Rosier in her, but with all their family had lost through the years, Cassie figured they’d earned the right to be ruthless in defense of one another.
She supposed the man she kept running into must have felt similarly when he attacked Mira last Halloween. What had changed between then and now that the woman he’d been so intent on defending had ultimately died at his hand, even if it was accidental? She had no idea. It seemed clear, though, that the blonde was the one instigating the violence both on Halloween and today. The man hadn’t hesitated to join in, but it wasn’t his fight. That, at least, let Cassie breathe a little easier. Hopefully this was the end of it.
“I’m glad it’s over. No more little packages coming to you at the Ministry. No more blonde women jumping out at you, unless it’s me, of course.” She tried for a little smile.
Mira’s lips twitched. “I’m so scared now, truly.”
Despite the dry humor in her voice, Mira really was glad it was all over. She hadn’t lived in a state of fear - not after everything her family had been through in the past. You couldn’t dwell on such things. However, knowing for certain that a person who’d been intent on killing her was gone forever put a part of her at ease.
She reached for the small pint of ice cream and pulled off the top, brow furrowing as her mind replayed the incident again. “I can’t believe that man just left. It wasn’t as if he did it on purpose. He wouldn’t have gotten in trouble.”
Cassie’s gaze found her twin and studied the bewildered look on her face. There were times when she almost wished Mira wasn’t so inquisitive. A large part of her wanted to leave this part of the story alone, but she’d never lied to Mira and she didn’t intend to start. Her voice low, she posited, “Perhaps there were other things for which he might be in trouble with the law, Mira. Perhaps his reason for helping you wasn’t just a matter of being a good Samaritan.”
Mira’s blue eyes snapped to her sister. “You ... know him?” It was less of a question than it sounded. They were twins; Mira could read between every line her sister had ever told her. “How? Where?”
Sighing, Cassie poked her spoon into the ice cream. “I met him in a shop on Knockturn Alley. I didn’t recognize him, but he kept looking at me. Finally I confronted him about it, thinking he was some creep who needed to be scared off. He wasn’t watching me that way, though. He recognized me from when I’d hexed him on Halloween.”
She met Mira’s eyes. “He was with the blonde woman tonight and he was with her on Halloween. He’s the one who hexed you that night when you were defending Harry.”
Mira’s eyes widened and her spoon of ice cream was forgotten momentarily. “He was the one that ...” She just blinked as she tried to comprehend the suddenly complex situation, though after several long moments she frowned again. “I wonder why he even bothered to throw her off, if he was with her.”
“I don’t know,” Cassie replied, shaking her head. There were a lot of things she didn’t understand about what had happened. Some things that she probably never would understand. “I don’t think he’s after you the way she was, though. I don’t think he’s overly concerned with your health and well-being either, but she seemed to be the aggressor, huh? If you think about it, he only came after you on Halloween to defend her, and tonight he stopped her from hurting you. Maybe he knew she was unhinged and was trying to look after her? Or maybe he just didn’t want the kind of attention a murder would bring - though that bit sort of backfired on him. In any case, I don’t think he’ll be bothering us.”
“No, I don’t think so either. He didn’t even really register we were even there, not until I tried to thank him, anyway.” Mira snorted. She’d thought he’d done what he had to help her - out of some kind of goodness in his heart.
Attention was finally given to the ice cream in hand and she licked her spoon clean before asking, “you don’t know his name then?”
Cassie shook her head. “No. Our conversation didn’t really get to names.” Wand pointing and threats, but no names.
“He probably knows who we are,” Mira said, not entirely pleased with the one-sidedness. “That woman certainly did.”
“Probably,” Cassie agreed. In fact, she was fairly certain of it. It wasn’t an ideal scenario, but she didn’t think he’d use the information unless he thought there was a need to. When they’d met in Knockturn it was obvious she didn’t know who he was, so he had no reason to believe Mira would. “Harry might know who the woman ran around with. She was after him when you first encountered her.” She gave Mira a significant look. “If you ask him, though, you might not want to go into too much detail about why you want to know.”
Not until that moment did Mira connect all the dots. Cassie had known the man and let him go - or at least hadn’t tried to stop him from leaving. It had probably been the safest option as he obviously ran around with dangerous people and was likely dangerous himself, but her twin hadn’t claimed any foreknowledge of him at the scene of the crime. When Mira gave her statement to Harry in the morning, she was almost positive he would have at least a few questions about the man who had seemingly ‘saved’ her. Cassie didn’t have a problem glossing over the truth with Harry, but the thought of doing it herself made Mira’s stomach clench.
“I won’t ask him,” she finally said after a long pause. “It would probably lead to more questions than he’s already going to have and I’d really rather not lie to him if I can at all help it.” Maybe he wouldn’t ask the kinds of questions she would have to stretch the truth on. She would if she had to though - officially, at least. Harry was her friend and she cared for him deeply, but Cassie was her sister and twin. She just hoped she wouldn’t be put in the position to lie to him in the first place. She hated having to choose loyalty between two people who were important to her.
Cassie knew Mira wasn’t happy about having to keep something from Harry, and she didn’t like putting her sister in this position. It wasn’t all for her own benefit, though. “I’m not just worried about myself, Mira. We’re the only people who saw him. If it got out that we’d identified him to the MLE... I just don’t want to pick up another deranged stalker. Right now he has no reason to think we’ll say anything. You didn’t know who he was and I told him to leave.”
Mira nodded. She could see the sense in Cassie’s reasoning, agreed to an extent, even, but it didn’t make the knot that had developed in her stomach loosen. She supposed that wouldn’t go away until this whole ordeal was over though.
She sighed and scooted closer to Cassie so she could lay her head on her twin’s shoulder. “I don’t get why it’s always our family. Why can’t people just leave us alone?”
Cassie didn’t have a real answer for that. For some reason her family seemed destined to be a cosmic punching bag. They always came through it, but not always unscathed.
“You know how it is, Mira Sophia,” she answered with a shrug, “our family is the best, and people always try to take down the best.”
A tiny smile tugged at Mira’s lips and she kissed her sister’s cheek. “You’re right, of course. It’s envy.”
The ice cream still waited for them, but Mira wrapped her arms around Cassie and nuzzled her nose to her sister’s hair. “I’m glad you were there tonight. I would have been lost without you.”
“Nah, you’d be fine. You’re the tough one,” Cassie replied, hugging her twin back. “But I’m glad I was there anyway.”
SUMMARY: Cassie and Mira catch up after a long, terrifying night.
Mother had insisted they stay for the night. For her part, Cassie was just as happy with the idea. Grown or not, there was comfort in being under the watchful eyes of your parents. Hot baths were drawn for each of them, and after a calming soak she and Mira were left to rest in the large room they’d once shared.
“How are you feeling, Mira Sophia?” she asked, the ice cream they’d brought to share sitting untouched between them.
Mira stared down at her hands. They were yet pink from the heat of the water, but there was still a very fine tremble to them. “I feel silly. I should have been more prepared in the first place, but now I can’t make my hands stop shaking. Nothing really happened.” Mira raised her eyes to her twin. “I was bound, and she attempted to choke me, but it was all stopped before she had much of a chance to do anything but leave bruises.” Her brows pulled together slightly. “In the scheme of what we’ve all been through, it’s nothing at all, and yet ...” she held up her hands, “... it won’t stop.”
Cassie took Mira’s hands between her own and held them. “It wasn’t nothing. Someone tried to hurt you. A crazy woman wanted to take my most favorite person away from me. That’s not nothing.” Seeing Mira attacked, again, and not being there in time to help weighed heavily on Cassie, as did the conflicting feelings about the man who had stepped in. Whatever his reason for stopping the blonde woman, it wasn’t out of the goodness of his heart. She knew that. He didn’t care if Mira died, but something had made him act and for that she was grateful.
Looking at her twin, Cassie asked, “I’m glad she’s dead. I’m sorry you had to see it, but I’m glad she’s dead. Does that make me evil?”
“No, not at all,” Mira said as she twined her fingers with her sister’s. “If she had done to you what she’s done to me, what she tried to do …” Mira shook her head, and for the first time that night her hands stopped shaking. She squeezed Cassie’s fingers and found the blue gaze identical to her own. “… If she had done to you what she did to me, I would have killed her myself had it not happened as it did.” Mira’s voice was steady and there was a thread of something hard there. “I wouldn’t feel bad about it, either.”
It was an odd thing how she could be frightened for herself, but when it came to the people she cared about, there was hidden depths of steely strength. It was terrifying thing to be powerless in the face of your own death, and the feeling was clinging to her like honey, but thinking of Cassie, Abi or Alex in that position - it made her temper spark, and the heat of it burned through the stickiness of fear.
Her jaw clenched and she pushed back at the fiery feeling suddenly buzzing through her. “Papa isn’t like that, or Abi either. Josh wouldn’t have been.” It was difficult to speak of their dead little brother, but to not talk of him at all was to forget him, and Mira refused to do that. “Mother would though, and Alexa, and Nate would have. It’s just…” She kept her twin’s gaze. “… it’s just that we’d do whatever is necessary to keep the people important to us, safe, even things some people might consider terrible. I don’t think it makes us evil, just ... ruthless.”
“I can live with ruthless.” On the surface, the words were glib, but Cassie meant them. To most of the world, ‘ruthless’ was a word associated with bad people and underhanded dealings, but it didn’t bother her. Maybe it was just the Rosier in her, but with all their family had lost through the years, Cassie figured they’d earned the right to be ruthless in defense of one another.
She supposed the man she kept running into must have felt similarly when he attacked Mira last Halloween. What had changed between then and now that the woman he’d been so intent on defending had ultimately died at his hand, even if it was accidental? She had no idea. It seemed clear, though, that the blonde was the one instigating the violence both on Halloween and today. The man hadn’t hesitated to join in, but it wasn’t his fight. That, at least, let Cassie breathe a little easier. Hopefully this was the end of it.
“I’m glad it’s over. No more little packages coming to you at the Ministry. No more blonde women jumping out at you, unless it’s me, of course.” She tried for a little smile.
Mira’s lips twitched. “I’m so scared now, truly.”
Despite the dry humor in her voice, Mira really was glad it was all over. She hadn’t lived in a state of fear - not after everything her family had been through in the past. You couldn’t dwell on such things. However, knowing for certain that a person who’d been intent on killing her was gone forever put a part of her at ease.
She reached for the small pint of ice cream and pulled off the top, brow furrowing as her mind replayed the incident again. “I can’t believe that man just left. It wasn’t as if he did it on purpose. He wouldn’t have gotten in trouble.”
Cassie’s gaze found her twin and studied the bewildered look on her face. There were times when she almost wished Mira wasn’t so inquisitive. A large part of her wanted to leave this part of the story alone, but she’d never lied to Mira and she didn’t intend to start. Her voice low, she posited, “Perhaps there were other things for which he might be in trouble with the law, Mira. Perhaps his reason for helping you wasn’t just a matter of being a good Samaritan.”
Mira’s blue eyes snapped to her sister. “You ... know him?” It was less of a question than it sounded. They were twins; Mira could read between every line her sister had ever told her. “How? Where?”
Sighing, Cassie poked her spoon into the ice cream. “I met him in a shop on Knockturn Alley. I didn’t recognize him, but he kept looking at me. Finally I confronted him about it, thinking he was some creep who needed to be scared off. He wasn’t watching me that way, though. He recognized me from when I’d hexed him on Halloween.”
She met Mira’s eyes. “He was with the blonde woman tonight and he was with her on Halloween. He’s the one who hexed you that night when you were defending Harry.”
Mira’s eyes widened and her spoon of ice cream was forgotten momentarily. “He was the one that ...” She just blinked as she tried to comprehend the suddenly complex situation, though after several long moments she frowned again. “I wonder why he even bothered to throw her off, if he was with her.”
“I don’t know,” Cassie replied, shaking her head. There were a lot of things she didn’t understand about what had happened. Some things that she probably never would understand. “I don’t think he’s after you the way she was, though. I don’t think he’s overly concerned with your health and well-being either, but she seemed to be the aggressor, huh? If you think about it, he only came after you on Halloween to defend her, and tonight he stopped her from hurting you. Maybe he knew she was unhinged and was trying to look after her? Or maybe he just didn’t want the kind of attention a murder would bring - though that bit sort of backfired on him. In any case, I don’t think he’ll be bothering us.”
“No, I don’t think so either. He didn’t even really register we were even there, not until I tried to thank him, anyway.” Mira snorted. She’d thought he’d done what he had to help her - out of some kind of goodness in his heart.
Attention was finally given to the ice cream in hand and she licked her spoon clean before asking, “you don’t know his name then?”
Cassie shook her head. “No. Our conversation didn’t really get to names.” Wand pointing and threats, but no names.
“He probably knows who we are,” Mira said, not entirely pleased with the one-sidedness. “That woman certainly did.”
“Probably,” Cassie agreed. In fact, she was fairly certain of it. It wasn’t an ideal scenario, but she didn’t think he’d use the information unless he thought there was a need to. When they’d met in Knockturn it was obvious she didn’t know who he was, so he had no reason to believe Mira would. “Harry might know who the woman ran around with. She was after him when you first encountered her.” She gave Mira a significant look. “If you ask him, though, you might not want to go into too much detail about why you want to know.”
Not until that moment did Mira connect all the dots. Cassie had known the man and let him go - or at least hadn’t tried to stop him from leaving. It had probably been the safest option as he obviously ran around with dangerous people and was likely dangerous himself, but her twin hadn’t claimed any foreknowledge of him at the scene of the crime. When Mira gave her statement to Harry in the morning, she was almost positive he would have at least a few questions about the man who had seemingly ‘saved’ her. Cassie didn’t have a problem glossing over the truth with Harry, but the thought of doing it herself made Mira’s stomach clench.
“I won’t ask him,” she finally said after a long pause. “It would probably lead to more questions than he’s already going to have and I’d really rather not lie to him if I can at all help it.” Maybe he wouldn’t ask the kinds of questions she would have to stretch the truth on. She would if she had to though - officially, at least. Harry was her friend and she cared for him deeply, but Cassie was her sister and twin. She just hoped she wouldn’t be put in the position to lie to him in the first place. She hated having to choose loyalty between two people who were important to her.
Cassie knew Mira wasn’t happy about having to keep something from Harry, and she didn’t like putting her sister in this position. It wasn’t all for her own benefit, though. “I’m not just worried about myself, Mira. We’re the only people who saw him. If it got out that we’d identified him to the MLE... I just don’t want to pick up another deranged stalker. Right now he has no reason to think we’ll say anything. You didn’t know who he was and I told him to leave.”
Mira nodded. She could see the sense in Cassie’s reasoning, agreed to an extent, even, but it didn’t make the knot that had developed in her stomach loosen. She supposed that wouldn’t go away until this whole ordeal was over though.
She sighed and scooted closer to Cassie so she could lay her head on her twin’s shoulder. “I don’t get why it’s always our family. Why can’t people just leave us alone?”
Cassie didn’t have a real answer for that. For some reason her family seemed destined to be a cosmic punching bag. They always came through it, but not always unscathed.
“You know how it is, Mira Sophia,” she answered with a shrug, “our family is the best, and people always try to take down the best.”
A tiny smile tugged at Mira’s lips and she kissed her sister’s cheek. “You’re right, of course. It’s envy.”
The ice cream still waited for them, but Mira wrapped her arms around Cassie and nuzzled her nose to her sister’s hair. “I’m glad you were there tonight. I would have been lost without you.”
“Nah, you’d be fine. You’re the tough one,” Cassie replied, hugging her twin back. “But I’m glad I was there anyway.”
SUMMARY: Cassie and Mira catch up after a long, terrifying night.