Morgan was the youngest of the five children of Diana and Seth. At Morgan’s birth, the oldest, Alexander, was 9, the twin girls, Cassandra and Moon, were 6 and Daemon was 2. Each of the children had meaning behind their names. Alexander was the name of the long-time sorcerer friend of Seth, who introduced him to Diana, so they felt they had to name their first child after him. In order to tell the two apart, they started calling their son Xander and their friend Alex. Cassandra was the name of Diana’s mother, who passed away shortly before her birth. Moon received her name from the fact that Diana didn’t expect to have twins, and so told Seth to name the second girl. Seth looked out the window shrugged and said “Moon?” The name stayed. Daemon was named after an ancestor of the Harpsbeak family, since they were born on the same day. Morgan was named because of a bet. Seth’s grandfather, by whom he was raised, teased him that he would never have any children. At age 10, Seth was very confrontational (which of course, he still is) and one day when he was fed up, bet that he would have five and he’d name the fifth after his grandfather just to spite him. Seth was a man of his word, as is quoted to have said “take that, old man,” upon Morgan’s birth.

            Due to his being cursed, Morgan was never allowed to leave the house, since the house was protected by magic. Of course they never told Morgan exactly WHY he couldn’t leave, but they really didn’t want anything to happen to him.

            Morgan was advanced for his age and could speak complicated sentences at age three. In fact, that’s when they discovered he needed glasses…

            Morgan hugged as well as a three year old could. He was then lifted up onto the lap. “MOMMY!” he said, giggling.

            “…No, I’m not mommy…”

            Morgan was confused. “Mommy doesn’t have a voice like that!” He leaned in close to the person. When he was nose to nose he could make out a face. “You’re not mommy…who are you?”

            “…I’m your father.”

            The twins laughed a nearly identical laugh. “Daddy, he needs glasses!” laughed Cassandra.

            “Yeah, daddy! You can’t deny it anymore!”

            “I wasn’t denying it, Moon!”

            “Yes you were! You didn’t listen when we told you he was playing with the table leg and referring to it as Daemon.”

            “Well…I guess I have to go get glasses for him. Will you watch him, Cassandra?”

            “Get Moon to do it!”

            “Why can’t you?”

            “I’m going to go put birdseed in Xander’s hood!” said Cassandra proudly. Her father told her to always be honest.

            “No  you will not, Cassandra. You’ll watch your brother.”

            “Awww..but it’ll be funny.”

            “…well…yes, yes it would, but no.”

            “Ohhhhh, daddy! Please please please?”

            “Watch your brother.” He stood up, grabbed his cloak and went to the door. “I’m going to consult with someone about Morgan’s eyesight. I’ll be back.”

            Cassandra pouted as her father left. She turned around to see Morgan latched on to Moon’s leg. “CASSANDRA! Yay! Let’s play a game!”

            Moon looked with confusion at her sister.

            “Please?” Cassandra mouthed.

            “Oh fine,” Moon mouthed back.

            Cassandra ran off, pulling a bag of birdseed from her dress.

            “Come on Morgan, let’s go play.”

            Seth walked into the eyeglass store. He slammed his hands down on the counter.

            “Can I help you, sir?” asked the small old man standing there.

            “Yes you can. I need glasses. For a boy about three years old in the strongest prescription you have.”

            “That should take about a week…”

            “I need them now. Money is no object.”

            “Well sir, that kind of project…”

            “You don’t understand.” A mirror far away from the counter shattered at the warlock’s glare. “I need them…now.”

            The little old man smiled nervously and adjusted his glasses. “How does an hour or so sound?”

            “Sounds just fine.”

            “Morgan? Where are you?” His father called upon his return.

            “Playing!”

            “He’s with me, daddy!”

            “Can you come down here?” Moon guided her little brother to her father. He raised an eyebrow. “Moon, where’s Cassandra?”

            “Umm…bathroom.”

            “I suppose that’s fine…”

            Little Morgan was utterly confused. Seth kneeled down to Morgan’s level and took something out of his satchel. He placed the item on Morgan’s face. “There, Morgan. How’s that?”

            Morgan looked around. “Wow….everything’s so smooth. Is this how things are supposed to look?” He turned to his father. “Who are you?”

            Seth smacked his forehead. “I’m your father.”

            “Oh. You’re tall.”

            “CASSANDRA, I’M GOING TO KILL YOU!” They all heard Xander yell as he chased his younger sister through the house, birdseed falling from his hood.

            Seth smacked his forehead. Children. Why did he have five of them again?

(Schu notes: Welcome to Heaven’s Call Zero. Join the Heaven’s Call fan community at /heavenscall. Anyone can get a live journal now, so there’s no excuse not to join! Like I said in the summary, this will be a collection of short stories set in the HC universe, for the most part set before Heaven’s Call. The exceptions are the upcoming pieces about Theo, one of which taking place in between HC and its sequel (Theo/Joey fans rejoice!), the other set mostly within the HC timeframe. Don’t worry, this isn’t all for the Morgan childhood story Also, keep an eye on Morgan’s livejournal and PLEASE! Join the fan community.)