WHO: Astoria Greengrass, Daphne Greengrass and Terence Higgs WHERE: Daphne & Terence's flat WHEN: VERY early morning, August 9th WHAT: Astoria is rattled and wants her family RATING: E for EMO
He didn't kill her, that was the upside. That didn't mean he wouldn't return but for now he had spared her. He petrified her and left her frozen on the floor. All she could do was wait for Adrian to come home and hope that it wasn't a trap. She couldn't cry out for help, she couldn't move to safety. All she could do was lay there frozen as she prayed for freedom. Adrian needed to be warned that he was in danger. Astoria couldn't help but imagine the worst scenarios. Of Tanner finding him before he could be given any word. What if he was already injured? What if he was dead? She could see her wand lying uselessly on the table, impossibly out of reach. It was a smack in the face with every forced glance.
When she wasn't imagining terrible demises for Adrian she was going over her mistake. Each sign that something was wrong that she so easily ignored. She was smarter than that. Every little clue seemed so obvious in replay and if she could have cry she would have sobbed. Her face throbbed from the bruises forming there, limbs becoming numb at the odd angle she had fallen. Her eyes watered at the inability to close her eyelids and they burned at the lack of moisture. The tiny itches felt like slow torture and she wished had had knocked her unconscious so she didn't have to feel like going mad. At one point she was in near hysterics in her brain, willing her body to move, to break the hold on her and break free to safety. She demanded her body to cooperate to warn Adrian, to protect him from harm but will herself as she might no movement came. At some point late in the night her elf came in, always sneaking in late to tidy up and have breakfast started when her mistress was asleep. She released the spell and finally Astoria was free.
Her body screamed as she tried to scramble up. Half of her body was completely asleep and the pins and needles shot through her body as she tried to move the practically useless limbs. She refused to cry, not yet, but her breath was coming out in broken gasps. She needed to get out of here, she needed to warn Adrian. She didn't trust the DMLE. They'd probably blame Adrian for his brother's escape and wouldn't care if an ST was murdered or not. "Warn Adrian. Find him. Tell him his brother is out and is going to hurt him. Don't rest until he believes you." Her elf was gone with a hesitant glance and she inched her way to her wand. She could break down until she was safe, not until then. With a pop she was at Daphne's but surely no one would be awake yet. From the other room she could hear Damien start to cry and her own tears increased. A man had hit her. Her. Adrian was in trouble and she had been useless. Finally she let the tears come, body shaking with everything that had just happened to her. She sat at Daphne's kitchen table, hand pressed firmly to her mouth as she tried to hide her arrival. As much as she wanted their comfort she didn't feel like she deserved it. If Adrian was hurt it would be her fault.