“Give me one second!” Morrigan responded, quickly throwing on Alyssa’s clothes. They were definitely too big on her, the pants having a train that dragged behind her, but she hadn’t worn a fresh pair of clothes in years. She opened the door, and Juro was leaning against the adjacent wall. His eyes lingered on her hair for a moment, but he quickly refocused.
“I wanna get a better sense of what happened today,” he said nonchalantly, his tongue poking the inside of his cheek. “What happened when you went into the house?”
After a sharp intake, she replied, “When I went in, the fire was already too high. I tried to rush into his room, but the house collapsed. I crawled out, and I met you there.” She chewed her lower lip and stared at the dark wood floors beneath her denim-covered feet.
“You didn’t see the Leith, that did it, then?”
“Nope. There might have been one, but I could barely see, and I was just trying to get to my dad.” She looked up at him, leaning closer while purposefully furrowing her eyebrows up and widening her eyes.
Juro saw right through her tactics and took a step closer to her, lowering his head to meet her eyes.“Then that kid. Adam. Why was he there?”
Morrigan's attitude suddenly shifted as she narrowed her eyes and tilted her chin up, trying to appear taller than him. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” She enunciated each word, almost glaring at Juro with her gray eyes.
“I came in through the adjacent window to try and get your dad, but clearly you didn’t notice or remember me. I saw Adam, and I know he’s the Leith who did it, but I saw you, too. And do you know what amazed me? You hit him back…” he paused, “with fire.” His speech was airy, and he brought his hand to his mouth as a light chuckle, maybe a scoff, escaped his lips.
“Juro, stop.” She spat as if it were an insult. “What are you saying? Do you hear yourself?”
“You can’t try and kill a kid, Morr. God, how old is he? Seven, maybe eight? You tried to kill a child,” he looked bewildered at her, unable to fathom how she could have done that. The girl in front of him barely looked like Morrigan and acted nothing like her.
“He killed my dad, Juro. I don’t care if he’s just a kid, he knows right from wrong at his age.” Anger and frustration leaked into her words as she raised her voice, feeling tears start to swell again in her eyes.
“Not if he’s forced by the government and the pressure on his family. I understand your hurt, and trust me, I am too, but you can’t kill people.” He spoke faster, his green eyes judging her as he took a step back. “Morr-”
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“Don’t call me that.”
“Morrigan, tell me one thing. How could you possibly be a fire and life Leith? None of it makes sense.”
“Do you think I would know? If I did, I would’ve never told you this morning. The fucking audacity you have to talk to me like this and defend Adam, right after my dad got murdered by him.” She whipped her head to the side, loudly breathing as she tried to hold her anger in. She tried to slow her breath but it kept stumbling over itself, tripping and falling and tumbling, leading to another shaky inhale under his pressure.
She suddenly tensed up, and jerked toward him. “What do you mean I tried to kill a kid? I did kill him. I did kill him, right.” She stepped towards him again and grabbed the collar of his coat, yanking him forward. “I killed him. I killed him, right! Tell me, Juro! Tell me!” she shouted in his face, tears finally ripping across her cheeks.
Juro remained silent, his eyes widening for a moment before his brows softened, looking almost wistful as he looked at her. "Morrigan, you're acting restless. You need to leave this whole Leith power behind you until we figure out what's going on."
Elizabeth seemingly emerged from a dark corner of the hallway, firmly placing her hand on Morrigan’s shoulder. “You’re way out of line, Juro. What’s the point in grilling Morrigan? Her dad just got brutally murdered, and you’re out here trying to prove how good your moral compass is.”
Juro pried Morrigan’s hands off his coat, letting out a heavy sigh. “Look, something here is seriously wrong, and I need to figure it out. None of this should be happening, and I know Morr isn’t like this,” he said, almost pleading.
Elizabeth scowled at him before snapping back. “For someone always getting their ass into everyone’s business, you’re shit at communicating. Leave her alone.” Elizabeth took the still crying Morrigan into her arms, trying to comfort her.
“This isn’t Morr. The Morr I gave a crane to this morning wouldn’t have done that,” he was raising his voice now, desperate as he placed a hand on his chest.
“Morrigan also wasn’t homeless and an orphan this morning,” she spat. She looked at him with burning brown eyes that seemed to sear through him. “You should go.”
Juro watched them fade into the dark hallway, listening to Morrigan’s sobs and Elizabeth’s comforting whispers. He wanted to reach out and tug on Morrigan’s sleeve and be the one who stood next to her, but he knew he couldn’t do that. Not after already breaking his promise to Morrigan’s father; all he had to do was keep her safe, warm, and he had already failed both of them. He watched as the dark and cold hallway seemed to compact them, sink them deeper into the wooden floors, but one thing remained the same.
He couldn’t protect Morrigan with whatever famished, convoluted power stirred inside of her, and, remembering the theory he shared earlier with Alyssa, he hoped answers could be found in the machine’s explosion—the news of such an incident now found on posters that littered any populated streets.
After packing some dinner that Alyssa kindly provided, Juro and Bruno set out for Bruno’s house, since they figured it would be best not to invade her home. Even though her parents had left already, not even bothering to check in on their daughter and the alleged strangers in her bedroom, it wouldn’t be courteous to overstay. Juro, borrowing a hat from Alyssa’s expansive closet, tied his overgrown hair into a little knot on the top of his head, trying to cover it beneath the brim. Finally arriving at Bruno’s place, Juro knew what had to be done.