Hellfire | Hayley Marshall

Chapter 56

Eisa didn't want to go get the bone.

"You go," she said to Klaus, making a face. "I never even spoke to Alaric, I'm not meeting him anywhere."

"I cannot go, I must attend to my daughter—"

"Then make Kol go!"

"He and Davina are still attempting to destroy the bone—"

"So make Rebekah and Marcel go!"

"Marcel is going, however, Rebekah is aiding Freya—"

"Make Elijah go!"

"Children," said Elijah, coming in and waving his hand to get their attention. "I shall go."

"You're supposed to be the parental figure," said Klaus, making a face at Eisa.

"Please, darling, I am the parental figure. It's why I refuse to go. I have to attend to the worst matters. Dealing with The Strix and the tracking of this Hollow bitch."

They all thought to look over into the ballroom, where Hope had been coloring on the floor. She was now on her feet, walking around the table where Davina and Kol had placed the jaw bone in a circle of salt. The bone was rattling, moving as she walked, as if not wanting to face her.

"What's going on?" asked Klaus immediately, walking over to her. From another room, Hayley came in, asking the same question.

"Can you hear them, too?" said Hope, tilting her head up as if listening to something.

Hayley knelt in front of her. "Look at me. Tell me what you heard."

"Voices," said Hope. "They said that we're connected to this. You and me."

Klaus frowned. "If this fossil has been whispering lies, I'll gladly throw it in the river."

Hope shook her head. "No. Not the bone. The witches. The Ancestors. They have a message for us. A warning." She looked directly at her mother. "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. Before the Hollow comes for us."

Hayley gulped. "Well then, looks like I'm going to St. Anne's."

"Don't—" said Eisa just when Hayley was about to speed out. "Go alone," she finished. "I'm coming with you." She glanced back at Klaus. "There, I'm going somewhere, but it's not to meet Alaric Saltzman."

Klaus rolled his eyes as Eisa sped away with Hayley.

The four Harvest girls were waiting for them at the altar. "We weren't expecting two of you," said one.

"Sadly, I don't have the best experience with French Quarter witches," said Eisa. "Couldn't trust Hayley would be safe. Are you speaking for your Ancestors?"

The same girl nodded. "Provided you've come in peace. We're not here to fight. We just want to offer a deal."

"Although," said another Harvest girl, "your brother did murder all four of us, so let's not pretend we're friends."

Eisa smirked. "I wasn't going to pretend to be the friend of a child."

The girls ignored her as they set up a large salt circle, as well as a few herbs to be placed in a bowl. "We need your blood," said one of the other girls, holding the bowl out to them.

"Where are your manners?" chided Eisa from where she and Hayley had been seated near the altar. "What's the blood for?"

"If you want answers, we have to guide you to the Ancestors. But since you aren't witches..."