[for eb, maggie, and harry]

[raith_wraith]

Thomas watched Ebenezar for half a minute before shrugging his way past the old man. "He's probably down in the lab, I'll go get him."

And with that, he pulled a key out of his pocket, unlocked the door, and shoved it open. Damn thing still wasn't hung properly. "Shall we?" he asked, as he stepped inside. Harry'd damn well better have some of Mac'

Comments

[the_blackstaff]

Ebenezar watched the vampire slip past him and walk inside Harry's place without so much as a wince. Apparently, he had a way around the wards, which meant that Harry had known about Thomas and not told him.

Something in Ebenezar's chest twisted painfully. He had the same feeling when Harry had snubbed him after the Blackstaff confession. It meant Harry hadn't trusted him and it hurt. He would get used to it. Like he got used to Harry ignoring him before, but that didn't mean it would hurt.

Still, he couldn't cross the threshold without an invitation. Which was why he knocked in the first place. He looked at Margaret, "I don't know how the wards will react to you. You might want to wait out here until Hoss invites us in."

[wild_maggie]

Maggie nodded, thoughtful. That was something she hadn't anticipated, something she didn't think anyone had thought of until now. There were probably going to be a lot of those things.

She did smile a little, though. Thomas and Harry seemed close, at least. And that was something. They had each other, even if she had been gone.

"I should have taken him with me," she murmured, apropos of nothing but her thoughts. "They could have grown up together..."

[raith_wraith]

Thomas couldn't hear them. He was too busy stomping all over Harry's trapdoor on his way to the little kitchen area. Of course, Harry could've been actually trying to sleep in the bedroom for all he knew, but the end result would be the same.

Ooooh, there was beer. Success!

[semi_auto_magic]

Harry didn't sleep much. When strangeness was afoot he slept even less. Over the last week or so since his mother's return he'd all but locked self up in the little wizard lab in the subbasement. Reading, taking notes, consulting with Bob

[the_blackstaff]

"You look like hell, Hoss." Ebenezar said without preamble. He didn't like it either. The boy had to take better care of himself. After they talked, he'd have to take everyone out for dinner and actually get some food in him.

He gestured to Margaret to head in before him. "Ladies first."

[wild_maggie]

Maggie gave him a look somewhere between amusement and fond exasperation (possibly a little too fond for Thomas's tastes, if he noticed) and headed in on the basis that attempting to do otherwise would result in them standing in the doorway for hours.

Harry did look like hell, though. "What happened...?" she asked, almost automatically reaching out to him, as she'd reached out to Thomas for a hug before. "Have you been sleeping at all?"

[raith_wraith]

Thomas had a bottle of beer in one hand and a can of Coke in the other. The Coke was offered silently to Harry who looked like he needed the caffeine.

It may have also been a sort of apology for so rudely waking him up. Though if his brother had been passed out downstairs, he probably needed to come upstairs anyway.

[semi_auto_magic]

Harry accepted the cool can of coke just before hugging his mother. There was a little boy feel to the hug, the kind of hug only a son can give when hes just glad to see his mother. "I'm glad you're back."

He let go, ran his fingers though his long dark hair. "What happened? Nothing to write home about. Just ... you know, trying to find some answers. Not really getting anywhere, but I have a friend helping with research."

He smiled, but it looked sort of humorless, especially amid the rest of his weary features. "Only a little less then usual. It's nothing ..."

[the_blackstaff]

Ebenezar closed the door behind him as he came inside. He watched the interplay between Margaret and her two sons. The two boys were obviously close, and then Ebenezar could tell how attached Harry was to Margaret already. And the woman could drop dead on them at any second. What a cruel world this was.

"I ain't found much either, but Margaret and I have been battin' around ideas of who could do this." Ebenezar said, staying out of the family circle.

[wild_maggie]

Maggie smiled softly, wryly. "Some of the players may be long gone, but the game remains the same. And some of them are very long lived..."

"Lord Raith. The Faerie courts." She glanced at Ebenezar for a moment, then lowered her eyes and left the High Council off the list. "Others with... less savory attachments."

[raith_wraith]

"Doubt it was my father." Lara...maybe. Though he couldn't fathom why she might be interested in bringing Maggie back.

Of course, Thomas wasn't about to tell exactly why he was fairly certain his father wasn't involved with Ebenezar there.

[semi_auto_magic]

"I'm not certain a single wizard is powerful enough for this kind of resurrection." He said with a sigh. "Even if could find one with the motive."

"I don't suppose anyone's looked into faith magic? I didn't think about it till just now ..."

[the_blackstaff]

"With a certain book, one might be." Ebenezar said cryptically. He was pretty sure Harry would know what he was talking about.

"Faith magic?" Ebenezar frowned, "Like someone prayed long and hard enough?"

[wild_maggie]

Maggie winced. "Or bartered with demons."

Not that she was going to touch that subject. But she had run in those circles as well -- generally speaking, if it was bad for you Maggie had at least known someone who had done it, if not tried it herself.

[raith_wraith]

Thomas frowned over at Maggie. "Or that."

[semi_auto_magic]

"Well there's a whole bunch of possiblities. Anyone have any ideas on how to widdle them down?"