Hildegarde sighed, and knocked on her brother's door. "Start by giving him the money." she said, sounding almost unsure of herself. "If the first thing he gets is what he wants, he'll probably warm up to you."
"Yeah right." Hildegarde thought privately.
"Ecks is gonna get mad, then cry, then Bella will get mad and throw something at us, and we'll be back at square one." After a few seconds, Hildegarde knocked on the door again. "Ecks?" she called. "It's me, we need to talk about something." There was no response, and the gang leader grimaced.
"I don't smell him in there." Belladonna meowed innocently. Upon seeing the look Hildegarde gave her, she flattened her ears against her head. "Hey, he
was here! I don't know where he went!"
Hildegarde groaned, rubbing the bridge of her nose. "Well, he's gotta be here
somewhere, or else Terry wouldn't have been able to find him so quickly!"
***
"Are you, uh, really gonna do it?"
Porcelina stood in front of Room 312, a framed painting in her hands. "Yup." she said quietly, eyes narrowed. "Her being near Taza's brat was bad enough, but now that the annoying wizard kid is here..."
Eckhart swallowed nervously. "But- but what will Hilda-"
Porcelina knocked on the door, cutting the boy off. After a moment, footsteps could be heard from inside. "Coming~" said Chrys in a singsong voice, and the door opened to reveal the midwife in a flower covered apron. "Oh! Why hello you two!" she said with a smile. "I was just- wait!"
Porcelina had chucked the picture frame at the woman, who covered her face with her hands. In a flash of blue light, Chrys seemed to get pulled inside the watercolor, which fell onto the floor with a loud clatter. "Alright, good." the dwarf said as Eckhart covered his mouth with his hand. "About fucking time we got rid of that kiddy-fiddling creepazoid."
Eckhart let out a timid laugh. "Oh.. oh Ansgar..." he said breathily. "What... Um, what are we going to tell my sister?"
Porcelina gave the boy a sly smile as she picked the painting up off the floor. "Nothing."