Make Quiet Things Heard

Chapter 51 : Where's Josie? (Ep. 15| Part 1)

Hope's POV

It's been a few days since Josie escaped, well, more like disappeared, and ever since then, I've been zoning out a lot. I feel complete and utterly useless. No matter what I do I can't find her. I've tried every spell I can think of and even reached out to Freya for help, but still nothing. She's hid herself pretty well. If she wasn't dark and if I wasn't worried sick, I might actually be proud of her. I miss her so much much. I just want her to come home. I tried to convince Dr. Saltzman to let me search for her, but he insisted that I stay and try more spells, just in case Josie comes and attacks the school, which is stupid. I was prepared to ignore him but Lizzie asked me to stay. I could tell she needed me, so I stayed. I know that's what Josie would want me to do. I snap out of my trance when I hear Maya's voice calling me, telling me that Dr. Saltzman wants us at the Grand Hall for the morning assembly.

"Hey, you've been zoning out a lot, are you okay? I know you've been straining yourself in your search for Josie 24/7, maybe you should take a break." Maya suggests genuinely worried about me. The last few days, Maya's been helping me out a lot. She keeps me grounded. She reminds me to eat, shower and sleep. She's been supporting and helping the past few days. I'm really grateful for her, she seems to be moving past her grievances with Josie. I think she's slowly understanding the full depths of black magic and how it can corrupt a person making them do horrible things.
"I wish I could Maya, but Freya is coming back today and we're going to try more spells much older and powerful, so hopefully it'll work this time." I explain.
"Again?" she asks. "Yes. Again." I reply. I grab my things and head out to the Grand Hall, Maya following me.

Freya has been coming to school every day to help me find Josie two days after she disappeared, and she goes back home late at night. Keelin also comes to help us when she finishes her shift at the hospital. They sent Nik back to NOLA with Vincent watching over him to keep him safe while they focus on helping me find Josie. I felt guilty that I was taking up their time to spend with their son, but they reassured me that it was okay and that Josie was family and family has to look out for each other. I haven't been getting much sleep the past few days. Whenever I close my eyes I see Josie. I see her everywhere. It's been a tough week and I just wish Josie was here to make me feel safe. But she's not.
"...Your safety and Josie's is my top priority. I promise you I will get through to her and bring back the Josie we know and love safely. But first, we just have to find her." Dr. Saltzman announces.

Just then a loud thud can be heard from the doors up the stairs, and there stands Josie. She gets down from the stairs and I stand from my seat to face her.
"I'm right here, Dad. Well, don't look so shocked. Did you really think that I would miss my birthday? Oh, I'm sorry, our birthday. So... what did I miss?" she says. I completely forgot about the twins' birthday with everything that's been going on and it seems like Lizzie did too. I try to approach Josie to talk to her and try to get her to come back, but she just smiles at me wickedly before heading out of the room. I follow her and see that she has her own little army of people. I guess that's what she's been up to the past few days. She heads to the common room and I see her sending her minions away to talk to Mg. I listen in on their conversation and I see Josie hug Mg, but then she's siphoning Mg and slowly desiccating him. Luckily Kaleb pulled Mg back before he could die.

Getting the real Josie back is going to be harder than I thought. I walk over to them to check on Mg, he's fine a little pale, but it's nothing a little blood can't fix. Lizzie rushes over to us and offers to take Mg to the kitchen to get some blood for him while me and Kaleb head to Dr. Saltzman's office to form a plan. Just outside his door, he heard him talking to Professor Vardemus and it seems like he already came up with a plan. We knock on his door and walk inside when he says so.
"So that's your plan? To lock Josie in the box?" Kaleb asks walking over to him.
"Which you know she's fully capable of controlling, right?" I add.
"Professor Vardemus assured me she wouldn't be able to do that at this difficulty level. Plus, the box will keep her safe until Caroline and I can figure out a way to help her permanently." he states.