Enemy Fire | J. Saltzman - Legacies [3]

T W E N T Y - T H R E E

As Stella stomps through the portal, she sees Josie holding up a coin unfamiliar to her. By the sound of Lizzie's inhale, Lizzie recognizes it. Raising a hand, Lizzie wills the coin to fly into her own palm with a sneer. "I told you to leave her out of this."

Stella and Lizzie step further into the cemetery as Josie and Hope turn to them. Looking down Josie's body, Stella can't find the familial duty she normally feels to not be guilty about assuming Hope had hurt the girl as the sound of critters slithering through the grass fills her ears. "How dare you?" Stella sneers, her dark gaze moving to Hope.

The tribrid does not flinch. "Well, I think it's clear why we're all here, so why don't we just skip the verbal sparing and get to the actual fight? I'm not gonna ask again. Give her the coin."

Stella looks at Lizzie and shakes her head. The blonde holds up the coin and says, "Invisique," before tossing the coin far away. Stella takes the moment it takes for Hope to turn away to wipe any remaining tears from her eyes and steel her shaking hands.

"How could you—"

"Save it, Hope," Stella snaps, taking a step forward. "We'll get it back after we save your boyfriend. You get what you want, are you happy now?"

"Stella, no," Josie says. "You don't have to do this for me."

"Yes, I do," Stella replies, her gaze softening as she looks over her shoulder. "I made the ascendant. It's not like the other ones. Even if you tried to open it, it wouldn't have worked. And when it didn't work, Hope would have gone berserk."

"What are you talking about?" Hope asks. "Bennett blood and a Gemini witch. That's all you need."

"A Gemini witch may have cast the spell to trap everyone, but I altered the spell, Hope," Stella says as she adjusts her grip on the device. "I put safeguards in place so it could never be opened again, and if you had been listening all fucking day, you'd know that, but you have been so consumed with your own feelings that you haven't stopped to think about anyone but yourself. Really living up to the Mikaelson name, by the way. You wanna do the spell so bad? Do the damn spell."

Hope happily takes the ascendant from Stella to inspect it before she begins making the candle circle for the spell. None of the others help, though it probably comes as no surprise.

Instead, Stella turns to face the twins, catching a small shadow race away from the cemetery. It turns back, wide yellow eyes almost glowing in the night hoping from the grey fluff surrounding the feline's body. By the time she blinks, the cat disappears into the forest. "Ok, I need you two to do something, and I really need this to be a no-questions-asked scenario."

Lizzie shakes her head. "Yeah, like that's gonna happen."

"I need you to place a barrier spell around us. If anything happens—if we accidentally pull something out that isn't Landon, it'll be trapped with a very pissed tribrid who will, no doubt, kill it, but we need to make sure it doesn't get out."

"Neither will you," Josie replies. "I am so not ok with that."

"Compromise," Lizzie forces a smile. "I put the spell around the cemetery, that way, we're all trapped."

"What? No—Lizzie!"

"Already doing it!" Lizzie calls over her shoulder as she moves to the edge of the cemetery, her hands glowing red.

"Fine. Josie, you need to—"

"I'm staying right here." Josie takes Stella's hands, holding them between the girls until the shaking stops. "I'm serious, you don't have to do this for me."