The Dark Ember

Ric Saltzman

Mom grabbed my hand and said, "Im gonna go put Ember to bed and say goodnight to Hope." dad said "Hayley, wait." another guy walked in and said "Impressive boundary spell. Unfortunately, it only lasts as long as the witch who cast it. The Hollow is gonna have a feast tonight. We can sacrifice the whole family. Your other daughter's around here somewhere, isn't she? How convenient." all a sudden I was in the bad guy's arms and dad screamed "Hope! Hope? Let her go!" I closed my eyes tight as dad fought the guy making him let go of me, I ran to a mom who was lying asleep on the floor and said "Mom! Mommy wake up!" I was shaking her. I was picked up as dad said "It's ok, mommy will be ok, let's find Hope. Your safe I promise." I wrapped my arms around his neck, I was scared, out on the street he called out "Marcel!"

Hope said "Dad. What happened?" dad said "It's, uh... it's, it's paint. I made quite a mess, didn't I?" Hope said "Where's Mom?" he said "She's at home, waiting for you. Are you okay? You took your bracelet off." she said "Dad, don't be mad. I-I let Marcel out and he kept me safe." he said "I'm not angry, sweetheart, come here." she came and hugged him, he picked her up as well and Hope said "Don't be angry with Marcel, either. He's my friend." dad took us home and we both ran to mom after he put us down, mom hugged us and took us up to bed. Hope fell asleep rather quickly and mom said "Whats wrong baby girl?" I said "Mommy who was that man? Are they gonna come after us again?" she said "He is never coming after you again." I said "Can I sleep with you or daddy?" she nodded and picked me up and carrying me to where dad was. 

He saw her and said "Is she asleep? She was quiet when we walked home. How come Em isn't in bed?" mom said "She didn't exactly buy your story about paint on your hand." dad took me from mom and said "When I think about the horror she must have witnessed when Marcel killed those men, it just..." mom said "No. She didn't see anything, actually. Marcel swept her away before she could even understand what was going on. He told her to close her eyes and sing. This one however saw the whole thing with us, she wants to sleep with one of us and will probably have nightmares." he said "She called him her friend. I'll take Em tonight." mom nodded and dad walked up to his room and laid me down in his bed, I snuggled into his side and finally fell asleep.

The next day I was dressed in this.

Hope and I were in the courtyard next to a table that held a bone on it, but we were hearing whispering again, mom said "Hope, Emmy, what's going on?" Hope said "Mom? Can you hear them, too?" dad walked up and said "What's going on?" mom said "Look at me. Tell me what you heard." I said "Voices. They said that we're connected to this. You and us." dad said "If this fossil has been whispering lies, I'll gladly throw it in the river." Hope said "No. Not the bone. The witches. The Ancestors. They have a message for us. A warning." mom said "Tell me what they said." I said "They want you to go to St. Anne's Church to talk to them. They said you have to do exactly what they say, and you have to do it now." Hope and I both said," Before the Hollow comes for us." 

Mom and dad went to the church and I was minding my own business when Hope ran in and said "Ember we need to help mom and dad." I said "Ok and we ran to the church and heard mom say "You don't have to do this." Davina said, "I'm sorry, it's the only way." Hope said, "We need to use magic." I said "But what if I hurt you again?" she said, "Emberlyn you won't hurt me, but you can save mom and dad." I took a deep breath to face my fear and we grabbed hands using magic to force the door open, Hope screamed "No! You promised to help, but you're not helping." I said, "You're hurting us, and we won't let you." I destroyed her salt circle as Hope ran to dad. I could feel the power in me wanting to be released and Hope said "Breathe through it Em." I closed my eyes and took deep breaths until the magic settled down and then I ran to dad who woke up when Davina disappeared. 

Once back at the house we saw a guy and mom said "That is Ric Saltzman." I said "Dad talked about him." we ran up to him and I said, "My dad said you study this stuff." Ric said "Yeah, that's right. There are a lot of amazing things in the world to study. And some of them are even things that don't want to hurt you. And what do you have there?" Hope said "These are for serenity. And this one is for stillness. They'll keep the flowers in bloom." Ric said, "Now, did you teach yourself all that?" Hope said "Well, I did read about it in one of my Aunt Freya's books. She's helping us learn, but some stuff we figured out on our own." he said "Mm. Well... that is all very impressive." mom walked up and said "They're impressive young ladies." he said "It's good meeting you, littlest Mikaelsons. I'll be seeing you around."

Hope said "Those for us?" mom handed us the candy bag and said, "After what you did today, your dad compelled the entire Magnolia candy shop." I said "Dad seemed sad." mom said, "I think that he wanted to be the one doing the helping today. But we both agreed on one thing: you both were very, very brave." Hope said "We just thought about what you would do. It's like you always say: if we stick together, nothing can hurt us. Always and forever." I took a piece of candy and ran to dad and hugged him "Thank you daddy!" he said "Your welcome Princess." Ric said "Look, from one father to another, you're not gonna be able to keep the girls locked up much longer. And I'm guessing you know that Caroline and I have built a school. It's a place for kids with supernatural leanings, just like them. Our two girls are thriving there. They are learning to use their powers for good and to embrace their identities without fear. The girls would always be welcome there." dad said "Give my regards to Mystic Falls." we walked back toward mom and Hope and I said "School? Can we go daddy?" he said "Let me talk to your mom before we give you an answer."