Enemy Fire | J. Saltzman - Legacies [3]

F I F T E E N

Stella can't feel her lips anymore. In fact, her entire body is buzzing with energy as they enter Mystic Falls, Virginia, the town's sign whizzing past the car window as Lizzie drives. With her hand entwined with Josie's, she can't help the smile that spreads across her lips every time the siphoner's thumb rubs over knuckles or the shiver that pleasantly runs down her spine.

The first thing Stella did after Hope and Lizzie filled her in on all of the Salvatore School drama was call her parents. It was quite an...explosive conversation to say the least, which made the next few minutes of the car ride incredibly awkward, but after enough arguing, Lexi and Derek Hale had accepted the fact that nothing is going to keep Stella away from the Virginia town, not even godly deities hell-bent on destroying the world.

Currently, Stella watches her phone with Josie, the video playing loudly for everyone to hear. "That's just mystic, that's just mystic...that's just Mystic Falls!"

"Ok," Stella forces down a laugh. "Note to self. Make a better opening song for the next musical."

"Hey!" Lizzie exclaims. "Don't mock the musical, Lava Girl. It was fun."

"It sure looked fun." Stella lets her head roll on Josie's shoulder to grin up at her. "You looked exactly how I imagine Elena, just with darker eyeshadow."

"It's called theater!" Josie playfully nudges her. "The show had to go on."

From her spot in the front, Hope lets out a small scoff. Stella's gaze darts to her cousin who, for the most part, has stayed relatively silent. Given the fact that Landon turned into goo, Stella can't really blame her.

Instead of focusing on Hope, knowing they'd talk when they are alone, Stella straightens up and asks, "Did you ever get flowers for your performance?"

With a frown, Josie nods. "Yeah, there were Forget-Me-Nots on my dresser when I broke my arm—"

"You broke your arm?!" Stella's eyes widen. "How'd you manage that?"

"Oh, I fell. That's not important, though. How'd you know I got flowers?"

Stella blushes and glances out the window. "Anyway—"

"Oh my god, you sent me flowers!" Josie beams. "Didn't you?"

"Did not."

"Did too."

"Fine, I did."

Josie cups her face and kisses her cheek, only making Stella blush more, the words escaping her mind in an instant. "I loved them. Thank you."

Smiling to herself, Stella mutters, "Well, I love you so I win."

"Can you two stop being so adorably cute for one second?" Lizzie asks, looking at them in the mirror. "We are three minutes away, and we have yet to address the elephant in the car. What are we going to do about Dad?"

Stella's hands subconsciously grip her guitar case tighter as she shrinks in her spot. She had been trying not to think about what will happen when they get back to school. Apparently, the school has been shut down to focus on finding Landon, but there are enough students who will stay along with a few teachers that just the thought of feeling all those eyes on her makes her nauseous.

"What about Dad?" Josie snaps, her grip tightening.

Lizzie scoffs. "You know how he feels about this. And we did sort of take-off into the middle of the night without an explanation."

"I can deal with your dad," Hope says. "I'm sure Aunt Lexi told Isaac, so we don't have to worry about him."

"Just the students who are still there who know what I did and how I doomed humanity to endless war with ancient gods—"