The Young and Gifted

40. special

Caroline could spot Hope from the window and before she could go after her, Clarke stepped in her path. "She needs to mourn on her own first," he said as if her read her mind.

Caroline sighed and ran a hand through her blonde locks. "I feel so bad. She just came back from the anniversary and now this?"

"I think we should focus on how crazy the weather is getting out there," Clarke muttered as he glanced up at the sky.

Just in time, Caroline flinched as thunderstruck down. "Hope is doing this. Bonnie warned us that her magic could destroy everything if it's not used properly."

"All we can do is stay back and let her deal with this for herself first. She might do even more damage if we approach."

*

Every couple of days, Kaura would knock on Raf's door, waiting for him to open but he never did. Sometimes she would run into Lizzie in the same hallway and she would make up an excuse about getting her steps in. Kaura didn't think much about it but she was still worried for Raf. Even Caroline would swing by to check up on his heartbeat and would tell him that staying in there wasn't healthy. Raf never responded.

Kaura sat back in her room, lost in time and nothing. It didn't take long for Penelope to wander in and plop herself on the bed. "Who knew the death of a simple plain human could set the school in such a bad mood? Have you seen Hope?"

"No. I'm not going to talk to her yet," Kaura spun on her chair. "I know how she's feeling so she can figure shit out for herself."

"I didn't know him much. I didn't bully him because he was always around Raf," Penelope admitted, picking at the nail polish on her fingers. She then shrugged and switched the topic. "So how was the trip to New Orleans? Is it as exquisite as I hear?"

"It was...better than I thought it was. Hope was very considerate about things and I'm surprised that I didn't ruin something," Kaura mused. "She took me to the apartment that they lived in for a bit. The whole trip was fine, I guess. The people there are nice." They stayed in comfortable silence for a while until Kaura declared, "I'm going to check up on Raf again."

Just as she was at the door, Penelope asked, "Have you noticed that Lizzie has been acting off?"

"How?"

"We've passed each other a couple of times down the halls. Not once did she give me an evil eye or say something mean. And the other witches all said she's been quiet," she explained.

"You think it's because of Landon? She barely knew him, barely even talked to him."

Penelope shrugged. "I don't know. She's just...not acting like Elizabeth Saltzman."

Kaura kept that in mind as she walked out of the room, following a path to the werewolf's room. And like the past days, nobody answered. Kaura considered finding the kitchen and she turned down a corner.

And stopped short when Mason emerged. "Kaura." She took a moment to take in his features before she moved to push past him. And as she continued to walk away, Mason called from behind, "We need to talk."

She didn't turn and kept walking.

*

Classes were back on track and to nobody's shocker, Hope and Raf didn't show up at all.

Josie and Lizzie walked into the class in sync, sitting in their usual seats. Emma walked in with a sigh and turned to the group. "Good morning and welcome back. I know that the past few weeks have been hard so I am willing to push deadlines and take in late assignments. But we must get back to work. Today, we are going to talk about magical stones and minerals." She leaned against her desk and continued. "You might have noticed that most witches use symbols of nature to cast spells. Salt, flowers, dirt even. But you will rarely see stones. The reason is that they have strong magic properties that may destroy the spell altogether. But some of these rocks have their own singular magical properties. There are things like the Truth's Sphere, the Prism, the Con Crystal."

Emma reached in her bag and pulled out a white globed crystal and held it up.

"At your age, you aren't allowed to touch any but I thought I could bring my own personal Prism. Whoever wields it, the stone itself will allow the user to arouse an imaginary conversation with a figment of their subconscious. It's obviously not real but it would be like speaking to them. Witches often use the crystals and stones as therapy for witches who struggle with grief and depression."

Kaura didn't pay much attention to the teacher after that and watched carefully as Emma tucked the Prism away. Ideas sparked inside of her head and before she knew it, class was over.

*

Mason knocked on her door, waiting a beat before he stepped in. To his surprise, Kaura was nowhere to be seen. His eyes fell on Penelope and before he could take a step back, she snarled, "Leave her alone. Kaura has much better shit to worry about than to see your face every hour of the day."

"Has she told you anything about me?" He asked hopefully.

"No, but I know her. She wants nothing to do with you. I don't think you understand how one-night stands work," Penelope scoffed and crossed her arms. "So you better stay the hell away from her before I start to get angry."

"I just want to talk to her," Mason murmured. "She can avoid me all she wants but I'm not going to stop until she talks to me."

"Fine then," she said from behind him with an annoyed tone. "Let's talk."

Penelope took her cue to leave, making sure to shut the door behind her.

Mason turned to her and crossed his arms. Kaura waited, tapping her feet impatiently as she sank on her bed. "So? You're the one who wanted to talk so talk."

"Is the anniversary why you were crying?" He asked.

"Why does that matter?"

"Because I want to know if I hurt you or not. I wasn't paying attention—"

"You didn't hurt me. Satisfied now? Goodbye," she pointed to the door.

Mason scoffed and dropped his arms. "Are we not even going to acknowledge it?"

"What's there to acknowledge? We had sex, Mason. That's it. I don't know why you're so hung up on it," she scorned. Before he could respond, she added, "If I am being honest, I only slept with you because you were conveniently around. I was obviously not thinking right because of the anniversary. It wasn't anything special. You're not anything special."

This seemed to have sent a mental blow to Mason because his eyes dropped from hers. "Right," he muttered lowly and turned to the door. "I'm backing off."

Kaura watched in slight regret as he crossed the threshold of her room. She hated herself because she didn't mean any of the words. But as she once said, she was self-destructive. Mason just happened to be the one she burned.

She sighed and reached in the pockets of her skirt to pull out the white crystal. Emma's white Prism that she was definitely not allowed to touch. The one she just stole.

~

"It's time to talk."

try to guess who said and don't forget to vote ;)