Chapter 85 - Confrontation

“Okay! Wake up, girls!” Sarah called from down the hall. Morrigan could hear her knocking on each door as she went from one room to the next. “Rise and shine! Breakfast in an hour!”

Morrigan wrapped her pillow around her ears and winked one eye open as she looked at the alarm clock on the nightstand. It was 8:00am. That wasn’t terribly early, but considering the amount of sleep she actually got last night, she was not happy about being forced awake.

Sarah stopped at their door, knocking a few times and calling, “Morrigan, Pepper. Get up and get ready, and I’ll be back to talk to you in a few minutes.” Then she continued down the hall, knocking on doors and yelling for everyone to get up.

Pepper sat up, stretched, and yawned, then got out of bed. Morrigan buried her head under her pillow only to hear Pepper ask. “Morrigan, did you hear? It’s time to get up.”

Morrigan let one eye glare at the younger girl from the safety of her covers. “I heard,” she said flatly.

“Oh… well then you should…”

Morrigan rolled the other way, facing her back toward Pepper. Morrigan typically tried not to be rude to people who were not outright rude to her, and Pepper certainly wasn’t. She was a bit of an airhead, maybe, but she was nice. But when it was a matter of getting enough sleep, Morrigan had a very low level of tolerance.

“Um… so should I… give you five minutes? Or…”

Uuuhhhg! What is with this girl!

“I’m getting up. Just give me a minute,” Morrigan grumbled.

“Oh. Okay…”

Morrigan closed her eyes, letting the wonderful feeling of bed consume her for a few more precious moments. It was a place where there were no worries about where she had to go or who she had to talk to, and her body could just relax with no pain, anxiety, or discomfort. But… it couldn’t last forever.

After a few minutes, she sat up and looked at the change of clothes they provided her, neatly folded on the nightstand. Luckily, the white T-shirt wouldn’t turn black, and the gray sweatpants likewise shouldn’t alter too much. It was a pretty solid gray, so not much proper color could be stripped from it. She glanced over her shoulder just long enough to see Pepper was facing the other way and getting changed as well, so Morrigan quickly followed suit and exchanged her clothes. Once she was in the shelter-provided clothing, she put her black hoodie on over top and zipped it up. The sweatpants didn’t seem to change at all, so at least that was one issue that never truly manifested itself this morning.

Then, Sarah was knocking on the door. “You girls ready?” she called.

“Y-yes ma’am,” Pepper answered.

Morrigan heard the lock disengaging, and then the door opened. Sarah was rubbing the corners of her eyes as she shut the door behind herself and took a deep breath. “So, you two know what I have to talk to you about, but there’s something else first. Morrigan, I have some good news about your mother.”

“My mom?” Morrigan asked, instantly becoming more attentive.

“She regained consciousness for a short time. She was made aware you are alive and in a safe place, but from what I understand she still is very much recovering. Her consciousness is sporadic but doctors are sure she will keep improving every day and should make a full recovery.”

“So when can I see her?”

“That will be up to Saffron. I’m sure at the very least we can arrange a call.”

Morrigan nodded, happy to hear her mom was doing better, but she was also a little pissed off about being lied to. Originally, when this all started, she was under the impression she’d be able to go back to the hospital sooner, but that has seemed to become less and less of a commitment from her legal kidnappers. ‘Visiting her soon’ had turned into ‘maybe a phonecall’ over the course of the last day.

“But, now that we got that out of the way… Do you have any idea what you two did last night?” she said rubbing her forehead.

“That shelf just fell over,” Morrigan said. “Not my fault.”

“Now, I highly doubt that. But you two were wandering down there in the dark, so something like that happening doesn’t surprise me. How’s your ankle?”

Morrigan shrugged and lifted it. “Fine.” Though, that was a lie. As she stood there she was careful not to put direct pressure on it.

Sarrah sighed. “So, just what were you doing down there? Cheyenne tells me you were ghost hunting.”

“Yeah. It was my idea to go look,” Morrigan said.

“You know, I’m not sure I believe that. You went through all that trouble of putting tape on the door and sneaking out just to creep around a basement? You could have taken a look in the morning if you were that interested.”

“Ghosts aren’t out during the day,” Morrigan said matter-of-factly, though she knew better than anyone that was completely untrue.

“Pepper,” Sarah turned her gaze on the other girl. “What were you really doing last night? Why go through all that trouble?”

“Um… it’s as… Morrigan said. And she was able to exorcize it. But it pushed the shelf on top of her first.” Her voice was small, and she wrung the hem of her shirt as she spoke.

“Exsorsize it?” Sarah asked raising an eyebrow.

“Yes, ma’am. It’s gone now… Thanks to Morrigan. The wailing stopped.”

“Pepper. Come on, now. You’re old enough to know what’s real or not. Morrigan didn’t do anything.”

“But it’s true,” Pepper insisted.

Sarah sighed, seemingly conceding on this point. “Alright… Well, here’s the thing. Morrigan, if you snuck out of the room intending to run away again, we would have had a big problem here. Luckily, it doesn’t seem that was the case, so I’m not going to make a big deal out of this. Nothing valuable was broken anyway... it’s just a big mess. But please, never do anything like this again. The rest of the house is off-limits after lights out. Break the rules again, and there will be consequences. Understand?”

“Well, considering you’re keeping me locked up, that shouldn’t be a problem,” Morrigan muttered under her breath.

“Be that as it may, it seems you have a talent for getting past locked doors. There’s apparently a lot of curiosity over how you got into the hospital unnoticed in the first place.”

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

“Well, if I told you, I wouldn’t be able to do it again, so I’m keeping that to myself,” Morrigan said smugly.

“Hmmm… You know, I’m not doubting how capable you are. Frankly, I’m a little impressed with your trick with the tape. But if you’re really smart you’ll accept your current situation for what it is and make the best of it. Otherwise, you’re only going to make things worse for yourself. Anyway, it’s time for breakfast.” She turned and opened the door, then said one more thing in a lower voice. “And please, don’t say anything about ghosts to the other girls. Some of them have given Pepper a hard enough time already.”

Morrigan’s expression dropped. “Don’t worry, I already figured they were bitches.”

Sarah’s eyes tense, and she spoke firmly. “They are young girls in difficult situations, just like everyone who comes through this house.”

“Sure, but being in a tough situation and being a bitch are two different things. And Pepper’s having just as hard a time as anyone, so that isn’t fair.”

Sarah took Morrigan in for a moment, and if Morrigan wasn’t mistaken, she thought she may have seen some respect come through the woman’s gaze. “Well… just please don’t get into any trouble. Anyway, breakfast is in thirty minutes.” With that, Sarah left the room, not locking it behind herself this time.

“Hey Morrigan… Um… are you still planning on leaving?” Pepper asked once Sarah left.

“Yeah, I kind of have to.” She put some weight on her foot, winced, then sighed. “Well, I’m not going to get very far like this for now, though.”

“So you’ll stay for a while?” The hopeful gleam in Pepper’s eyes made Morrigan feel a little guilty. She needed to go, but until she saw her list, she was a sitting duck as far as any reaping went unless any other hollows or wandering spirits came her way.

“Hard to say. I’m guessing leaving this place isn’t as simple as stepping out the front door, is it?”

“Well… somebody will notice you leave and come after you. Um… the police will be called right away too… most likely.”

“Right. Well, I’ll figure it out later.” She still had perception blocking, so theoretically, walking out the front door could work, as long as nobody was paying too close attention. Either way, her ankle would limit how far she could get. If they noticed her absence too soon and someone came looking for her, there was no guarantee she wouldn’t just get picked up again.

“I’ll help… if you need it…” Pepper said quietly, her eyes shifting away shyly.

Morrigan couldn’t help but smile at her. There was such a thing as quiet people who only seemed nice because they weren’t assertive, but that was not Pepper. She genuinely seemed to want to help, even if it broke the rules and even if it meant Morrigan would be leaving her.

“Hey, don’t worry about it.” Morrigan patted her shoulder and winked. “It’s my problem, and I don’t want to get you into any trouble.”

Morrigan picked up the toothpaste and brush Sarah had given her last night and went down the hall to the bathroom. Pepper followed along like a duckling. Upon approaching the door, she heard laughter and chattering coming from inside. “Great…” she muttered to herself and opened the door.

It was the three girls from last night. Their chatting paused as Morrigan stepped inside. She nodded to ponytail girl, Jenna, as she caught her eyes but continued to the sink without saying anything.

The atmosphere in the bathroom felt notably tense as the other girls exchanged glances. Morrigan ignored them and focused on prepping her toothbrush. Pepper took her place at the sink next to her.

“Hey, new girl. Can’t say good morning?” Livy said. She was the redhead with the oversized green sweater.

Morrigan looked at her in the mirror. “You didn’t say it either,” she answered dryly as she started brushing. Seeing herself in the mirror, she saw her own inhumanly white skin and red eyes. She supposed it just didn’t work on her own perception of herself, so there was no need to worry. Otherwise, Hilda would have warned her to stay away from mirrors.

“So what’s your deal?”

“My deal?”

Livy clicked her teeth. “Why are you here?”

“Because they’d put handcuffs on me again if I tried to not be here.”

Jenna put a hand on Livy’s shoulder, pulling the shorter girl back, and gave Morrigan a smile. “You’re the girl who was on the news. You seem totally different from the missing person pictures, though.”

“Is that right?” Morrigan responded disinterestedly.

“Yeah… it’s the hoodie, and you look skinnier... a bit paler, too—like you haven’t gotten any sun. Hey, did someone have you locked up all summer or something crazy like that?”

Morrigan didn’t answer, scoffing as she leaned down to cup some water into her mouth and rinse. Pepper seemed to be trying to mind her own business, but when Morrigan came up from rinsing her mouth out, she saw Pepper staring back at her in the mirror, her mouth slightly agape. Morrigan didn’t think anything of it until Pepper looked back and forth between Morrigan and the mirror, and suddenly Morrigan had a pang of anxiety that Pepper was, in fact, seeing through the glamour in the mirror.

Thus, Morrigan quickly spit into the sink, lowering her head enough to hide under her hood.

“Anyway,” Jenna continued. “Sorry to hear about your mom. That must be tough. How is she?”

“Did you want something?” Morrigan said sharply as she turned around. She glanced at Pepper again, to see the younger girl had returned her focus on brushing her teeth. She didn’t think Pepper could see anything but wasn’t entirely sure.

No... there’s no way she saw anything. She’d be freaking out. I’m just being paranoid. She probably only looked surprised because she heard about me on the news and just realized who I was.

“I was just asking a question,” Jenna said innocently as she stepped forward. She was at least a full head taller than Morrigan, and she looked down at her with an almost amused but clear, hostile slant to her eyes. “Seriously, no need to get defensive. We’re all stuck here together. Right? Might as well get along.”

Through her peripheral vision, Morrigan noticed Pepper nervously wringing her shirt again. There was an unspoken threat in Jenna’s words, exaserbated by the fact the only exit was blocked by her lackeys.

“Do you mind stepping out of our way?” Morrigan asked.

Jenna shrugged a shoulder without moving. Then, Tyler, the black haired girl, spoke up, “You’re the one who was being rude, new girl.”

“Yeah,” Livy agreed. “Feels like you’re looking down on us. That pisses me off!”

“Plus you’re rooming with Pepper,” Jenna added, moving in even closer. “You were brought here by the police, after all. I’m worried you’re a bad influence on her.”

Tyler smirked. “Yeah, she is impressionable. I’m starting to wonder if she’ll be okay with someone like you.”

Morrigan’s eyes narrowed, not impressed by the obvious intimidation.

Pepper’s small voice piped up from beside her. “Sh-she’s not bad. She’s nice to me.”

Tyler scoffed, leaning against the doorframe, her smirk widening. “Oh, she’s nice to you? That’s cute. But that doesn’t mean she’s good for you, Pepper.”

“Yeah, we’re just trying to look out for you, you know?” Livy chuckled, as she moved toward Pepper.

Pepper looked visibly uncomfortable, her gaze darting around as if seeking an escape. But, Tyler purposely positioned herself right over the only exit. Morrigan stepped between Pepper and Livy. “I get it, you’re trying to intimidate us, but I can promise you one thing—I don’t give a fuck, and I’m not interested in playing your stupid games.”

“You fucking bitch,” Livy sneered. She balled a fist and made a move to swing at her. Morrigan tensed, but the strike never came as Jenna stepped in. The tall girl put her hand in the way, blocking Livy’s punch.

“She’s not worth getting in trouble, Livy,” Jenna said. She then locked eyes with Morrigan. “You got a lot of nerve talking shit the way you do, though. I suggest watching your mouth in the future, or we might have a problem.” With that, Jenna nodded to the two other girls and moved to leave. Livy trailed behind a moment, keeping a glare on Morrigan, but eventually followed Jenna and Tyler out of the bathroom.

“Tsk… Damn, that’s annoying,” Morrigan muttered once she and Pepper were alone again.

“A-are you okay?” Pepper asked timidly.

“Yeah. Pretty sure they were just feeling me out… Probably got pissed when I didn’t let them intimidate me. How about you, though? You alright?”

“Yeah… sorry I didn’t do anything.”

“Na, there’s nothing you can do. Do they always treat you like that, though?”

“Um… I don’t know… Not really…” She scratched her arm and looked away.

Morrigan frowned, knowing that probably wasn’t true. She didn’t get why people behaved that way. Either they wanted to scare someone into doing whatever they wanted, or they just got a kick out of it. One thing Morrigan knew for sure, though, was that people like that only acted tough when they were in a group.

“Screw it, let’s go eat,” Morrigan said.

Pepper nodded, her gaze still remaining low, but glancing back to the mirror one more time before following Morrigan out of the bathroom.

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