It was hard to sleep with him gone, even harder knowing she would wake up to a day of worrying. He had gone on an extended mission in America, not taking anything with him- including a cell phone, the stupid jerk.
Her night clothes for the day- an overlarge t-shirt that was obviously meant for a man, though it wasn't Skulduggery's (he was thinner then she was, and that would be uncomfortable)- choked her when she turned again, making her wince and sit up. As she loosened the fabric around her neck, she wondered if she would be getting any sleep that night. Probably not.
Might as well spend it doing something worth-while... Wait, she probably couldn't paint in her worry, either. Oh, well.
Echo made her way down the hall and the stairs, to her kitchen, where she found a mug and filled it with hot chocolate powder and hot water, then added two ice cubes, exactly the way she liked it. She sat down on the floor of her kitchen, knees up to her chest, cradling the hot mug, and drank.
Several minutes later, she heard soft foot-falls down the stairs and noted that the kitchen door was open, letting light spill into the hall. Persephone would find her easily enough.
The Captain Cleaver smiled at the ten year old when Persephone rounded the corner and stared at her with her not-quite-hazel eyes. It was more like two different colors- brown on the inside and green on the outside, faded in the middle. Echo knew that they were her beloved daughter's best features. "Mom?" She asked, confused.
"Yes, Sefa?" Sefa was Persephone's nick-name, as Persephone was a mouth-full.
"What are you doing up? And... On the floor..." Persephone frowned, her father's old frown, as she looked at her mother. Well, she must look rather odd, sitting on the carpet with her hot chocolate.
"I couldn't sleep. You?"
Sefa sat down next to her mother, who put an arm around her. "Me neither. It's... kinda of weird, not having dad here."
"Next time, he's bringing a phone." Echo stated, then paused. "If he has a next time."
"You mean, 'If I let him abandon his helpless family of weak women to spend two or three weeks alone.'" Sefa exaggerated.
"Exactly. Even though you're hardly weak."
"Yup."
They sat in silence for a while, while Echo finished her hot-chocolate and marveled at her daughter. It was unusual, actually- Persephone Haunted chose her name at the age of 7, when her power showed itself, unlike her mother, who had to choose a name nearly a decade before her power made itself known.
Persephone's power in itself was odd: She could transfer wounds. If someone cut themselves, Persephone could take the wound from them and give it to herself... or someone else. It made trying to kill her nearly impossible, as far as they knew.
Her daughter also had incredible insight- She understood things beyond her years, like the fact that Echo and Skulduggery were hardly a conventional couple and not to mention that her parents weren't married to the residents of Haggard because that would raise all sorts of questions. She probably also understood why Echo was here, in the kitchen, instead of upstairs, in bed.
Persephone was a marvel. And she was marvelous.
Twenty minutes later, Sefa's eyes were fluttering. "Mooooo~m?" She asked, dragging out the syllable.
"Yes?"
'Tell me a story."
"I'm old, honey, I have lots of stories."
"Tell me one about the twins?" Sefa clarified.
"No, I don't want to think right now."
"Make up a story."
"Okay," Echo murmered, and then searched her brain for the weirdest story she could think of. "So what happened was that we were surrounded by angry nutcrackers that looked like giant mushrooms. They had purple staffs with sparkles and green glittery crowns. Nutcrackers are scary because they were big, angry monsters. They screamed "ATTAAACK!!" and charged at people but we were saved by VALERIE!
"So it came to pass that the countess ruled over the land of the dead with potatoes."
Persephone stared at her mother. Echo snickered, re-playing the story in her mind.
"Are you sure that wasn't written by crazed fan-girlish teenagers a few days before Christmas, very late at night?"
"Anything's possible. Go to bed now."
A/N: *snickers* W-wow, that... XDD
