Night had fallen completely over the Rubenhart Estate.
The halls were dark.
The servants had retired after working late into the night. The guards remained at their posts outside, but inside the Estate, everything seemed still.
It was at that hour that the sisters chose to leave.
They took only what they needed.
Clothes suitable for travel.
A little food wrapped carefully in cloth.
Water.
A few small mementos from the village where they had once lived.
And the money that had belonged to their mother.
Ulrich had recovered it for them after taking them in. The coins were not a great fortune, but they were theirs. Their mother's belongings. Their right.
It was enough to rent rooms for a while.
Enough to buy food.
Enough, perhaps, to find another place where three girls with dangerous magic might disappear.
Hermione packed the last of the supplies into a small travel bag.
Her movements were quiet.
Esther stood beside her own bag, staring at the floor with red-rimmed eyes.
