The Birth of a Wishing Heart

10. Schemes and Mischief

Lucia briskly walked on her way home. She would have stayed longer but she left Hansel alone, and she had already been gone longer than she would've liked. It had been almost two hours. She left him plenty to be entertained with. He knew the rules and the neighbors knew to keep watch to make sure he didn't wander. Even with the extra help he wasn't nearly as well-behaved as the Hex sisters. The boy could create chaos in seconds.

The Hex sisters had left an impression on her she wouldn't soon forget. At only the ages of nine and seven, they were nearly running errands. Katherine told her the two needed to stay together, but a hair twirl was enough to ward away any dangers. Lucia sighed. Sadly hunger and disease were dangers to the marked and unmarked alike, their hair could do nothing about that.

Despite being abandoned by men and gods alike the Hexes knew the importance of family. The way Grizelda cried and shot out of the covers to her sister's aid as soon as she heard her mother's voice was painful to watch. She hadn't even noticed the treats Lucia had donated despite her malnourishment. This wasn't including the stories she heard from Katherine on the way home and the shock after seeing their living conditions. She couldn't grasp the concept. How could the rejected black sheep who never received love be a striking example of it? They knew a determined and selfless type of love that was forged past the fires of hardships and trials. They knew what mattered, and since they had nothing, their family was everything.

Though beautiful at first, there was something about that concept that seemed eerie. She couldn't quite put her finger on it. When she met Adiscordia, the girl was in a traumatic situation. She would not give her body the rest she needed until she found her sister. Such sacrificial love had to come at a cost.

She closed her eyes tightly before giving a few heavy blinks. A deep breath brought her back to the present. She was grateful to have helped them, but now it was time to worry about her own family. She knew nothing about the curse other than horror stories. This wasn't her world, nor her place to intrude in.

The flimsy dark brown panels of her roof came into view sooner than she thought they would. She smiled. This morning she had hated how the rain constantly crept through the cracks. It often made its way inside with the night chills. After seeing a ripped moldy canvas tent as shelter she felt grateful for the cabin she lived in. Now the sun seemed to gleam against the door. A bird chirped within the forest at her right. She had never noticed the serenity of it before. There was no place like home.

"Hansel!" She expected the boy to peek out the window, but the shutters remained closed. "I'm home!" No one but the birds answered her call. That set her running. She hardly noticed the uneven soil until it was too late. Her foot hit a sharp bump on the ground and she lost her balance. She let out a yelp as she spread her hands in front of her and braced for impact.

She had expected to feel dirt but instead, she felt something lightly buried beneath. She shook away a pile of dirt to reveal a wooden handle. She furrowed her brows and squinted. She recognized that handle.

He had buried her broomstick. She only used it sparingly to punish the boy when he had gone too far but he feared it like no other. What on earth did he do to think that she would use it to hit his rear end again?

Lucia dropped the handle back on the ground and rose to unlock the door. Her fingers fumbled with the key from her pocket, jamming it into the door before throwing it open. She knew she shouldn't have left him alone! She should have been angry that he had done something that he thought was worthy of the broom penalty, but no, she was worried out of her mind. He tended to be a danger to others, and often himself.

The living room was clean and it was eerily quiet. She looked behind her at the path, double-checking for bootprints. She shook her head. If he had tried to escape somehow the neighbors would have noticed. "Are you home?" His room was the next place she searched, but it was empty. She bit her lip. Where was he? She hadn't meant to come home this late. Merilda would be here soon for her order and she was still in her emerald dress searching for her son. She bent to look under his bed, one of his more common hiding spaces, but it was bare.