The Trial of Morrigan Crow; Morrigan Crow's Revenge

Chapter 10 - Illegal

Instead of taking them to the Hotel Deucalion's grand forecourt, the carriage stopped at the entrance to Caddisfly Alley. Jupiter paid the driver, and he and Morrigan made their way through the twisting narrow backstreet to the modest wooden door of the service entrance. Before he could open it, she put a hand on his arm.

"Yes"

"What?"

"I'm answering your question from earlier...yes, Hawthorn would be my friend...no matter what."

The air was silent for a few second while Jupiter's face turned from surprised, to confused to a smile on his face.

Jupiter ushered Morrigan down the hall ahead of him. "Well, if that is. Tell me more about your resourceful new friend. Where in the Seven Pockets did he find a barrel full of toads?"

Room 85 on the fourth floor was slowly becoming Morrigan's bedroom...but a bit different from her first life...Maybe it's because she has experience so many things now. Every few days she noticed the things that were suppose to be in her bedroom like the first life changes to something different...it's not like she doesn't like them or anything but she felt uneasy that tiny details are changing. Like the mermaid bookends that used to be in her room turned into a shadow of a girl siting on a book instead (of course Morrigan found that more interesting as she was growing older, mentally, so the mermaid didn't really suit her any more). Of course, somethings also stayed the same like the black leather armchair shaped like an octopus that curled its tentacles around her while she read. The room has began to change and even though details/objects from her previous life was replaced, she loved the room even more as it made it more special.

Midway through spring, a man in a mud-brown uniform came to the Hotel Deucalion. His moustache curled all the way to his cheekbones, and the light glinted off a silver badge on his chest. He stood at the concierge desk, his hands stiffly behind his back, appraising the hotel foyer with undisguised contempt.

Kedgeree had fetched Jupiter and Morrigan from the Smoking Parlor, where they sat in a cloud of forest-green vapor (rosemary smoke: "for sharpening the mind"), playing a game of cards. Neither was certain of the rules, but Frank whispered advice in Morrigan's ear, and Dame Chanda did the same for Jupiter, and every now and then someone would yell "Huzzah!" and the others would scowl or throw something, and all things considered, Morrigan enjoyed her time with her old friends-family.

Jupiter clearly felt a bit put out when Kedgeree insisted they hurry to the foyer, as Morrigan spotted the moustachioed man sneering disapprovingly at the small, misshapen chandelier, which was still regrowing.

The chandelier was creeping back to health day by day, but it still had a long way to go. At this stage it was impossible to see what form it would take. Fenestra had opened a betting pool. Frank swore up and down it would be a magnificent peacock. Morrigan wanted to join the bet as well as she knew what the chandelier would form and decided to use this small advantage...although it took a lot of convincing to allow Jupiter to let Morrigan place her bet. (For those who forgot, it's was a big bird.)

"Wait...that's Flintlock! He must be here for me!"

"Yeah-wait...how do you know that Stink-I mean Nevermoor City Police Force's name?" Jupiter looked her in surprise. The suspicious on his face was clear while the others was also looking at her weirdly.

"Oh-Uh," she had accidently blurted out what she was thinking inside her head. "I must have heard someone say his name at some point," Morrigan muttered under her breath, her face heating up from the attention.

"...Morrigan," Jupiter got serious, he never calls her by her first name, always by Mog. "We need  to talk after this."

Jupiter approached the man and shook his hand amiably. "Good afternoon, Officer. Welcome to the Hotel Deucalion. Checking in?"