Chapter 18
Chapter 18
The old woman has alzheimers, or thats what Carol says after cleaning her up. She knows that her name is Ethel even if she doesn't remember the baby's name or who the baby belongs to. She calls for someone named Adam often, and tries to call for a Martha too, but no other names. She doesn't know what has happened or where anyone is.
She doesn't know anything about magic. She may have known at one time but since we have had to remind her of who we are a dozen times just the first day, I imagine she just can't remember.
The baby is a little boy with a scrunched face and chubby chipmunk cheeks. His bellybutton is still a little bundled nub from the umbilical so Carol says he can't be even a week old yet. He was born after the end, after the dead rose and civilization fell.
Whoever his mother is, she should've been here, except...
Daryl found the answer upstairs. They were all bedrooms for family members. One room with an ensuite clearly for a couple. Two bedrooms for young men, one for an older woman, and three for girls. Each room held their owners personality, visible in the massive gaming system in one room, the overflowing bookshelves and soft lace in another, to the dolls and teaset with a cartoonish castle bed built of plywood and advertising the name Emma in another.
One bedroom had pink walls decorated with band posters, an elaborate white vanity with a counter overflowing with makeup, and blood-soaked sheets staining the bed. An accordion frame held five photographs of an older teen girl or young woman with long brown hair, a kind smile, and a handsome young man with bright blue eyes and dark blond hair. The pictures were professionally taken, emphasizing the girls swollen belly and the affection between the couple. A invitation for a baby shower to welcome little 'Easton Flynn' gives us the baby's name.
Pictures and schoolbooks within the various rooms show that all three girls and one of the men had magic. Whether the other man, the woman, or the couple did or did not have magic, I dont know. The office/library on the first floor, across from another large guest room, had only muggle books and those were mostly encyclopedias and various law texts.
It may explain the weakness of the wards that I feel. If the person who cast them isn't really trained, only educated a bit more than myself, perhaps they couldn't make them stronger because they didn't know how. It doesn't explain why NOONE else is here or why the mother's room looked like she had been butchered.
They had plenty of food. Their walk-in pantry, as well as the basement Merle later found, were well stocked for at least several months. The gardens in the front yard were mirrored in the back with arched trellises carrying beans and berries between the garden beds. The generator in their basement meant that their large fridge and the two deep freezers would keep working without issue.
So... why did they leave?
Our best guess is either they left to bury the body together, which is doubtful, or they left to find milk for the baby. Or, as Merle quipped, "They pulled a runner, left them two ta die sein as they're weak."
We had a bit of an issue with little Easton. He was hungry but there wasn't really anything we could safely give to him in the house. The sun was setting, the house echoing with his weak cries, when it occured to me that magic may be the answer.
I could've slapped myself. In my defense, I've lived longer as a muggle and even at the corner pharmacy, I didn't have the time to sit and pursue just what all I have packed away.
The first 'accio' brings all of the moleskin pouches tumbling out. Clearly I can't go through them all right now so I try a more direct casting, 'accio baby milk'. Two twitch forward so I pack the others back up. Opening the first, with an 'accio baby milk' gets a dozen cans with either blue, purple, or yellow labels.
Merle and Daryl split the nights watch. Merle snarking that I should put up my own ward if I don't trust the one already here has me sitting up all night in the office/library. I'm not afraid to cast spells, it's obvious there is no ministry to stop me.
I've just... I don't know anything about wards.
There are a LOT of books on the subject. Just as I buckled down and studied for the tournament, I can do it again. I repurposed some blank notebooks from the upstairs rooms to better make notes as I read.