Tainted | Finn Mikaelson

Chapter 26

At least that made the others be nicer to her.

"You're certain he's alright?" said Freya urgently once Katya came out of the pendant.

"Yes, I spoke to him and told him what happened as quickly as I could," she said. "He's alright."

"Good," said Freya, taking the pendant from Davina. "It's time to fix this, then. If I may channel you, Davina?"

The Harvest witch nodded, taking Freya's hand. The elder witch started to chant lowly, and Katya watched as the cracks on the pendant slowly disappeared, leaving it a shining blue.

"Tomorrow, once we've given the spell time to settle, we can bring out a projection," said Freya, putting the pendant back around her neck. "Now, I must go. Klaus will return soon. If he comes back with news that Tristan's body is no longer where we left it... then we ought to worry."

Katya was left alone after that. Freya and Davina were both working on figuring out how to kill Lucien, Kol was consulting with them, Klaus was still not back, and Elijah had gone to mobilize The Strix against their common enemy. Hayley had to check on Hope, which meant Katya could only pace back and forth in the library, occasionally reading snippets of a few books she found interesting.

"This is stupid," she said, checking the time and recalling that she had homework she should be doing. This wouldn't be solved overnight.

She walked back to her apartment as quickly as she could, gathering what she needed to complete before heading to Cami's, because being alone in the room filled with things belonging to Finn was just not where she wanted to be.

"Hi," she said, smiling when Cami opened the door. "Hope you don't mind the surprise visit."

"Definitely don't mind it," said Cami as she shut the door behind her. "I needed the company. The Strix are dead."

Katya frowned as she sank into the couch. "What?"

"Well, not all of them, but most of them. There was this um— this confrontation. I guess they didn't tell you because you were at your apartment by then. Klaus didn't find Tristan. They got this note that they had to meet at some building, and from what I heard, the siblings and Hayley barely made it out with their lives."

"Crap," said Katya, covering her mouth. "Did Tristan take the serum?"

"I don't know, it doesn't seem like it was there. Either Lucien got to him or someone else did first. Point is, we're not supposed to go anywhere. Unless Elijah comes to escort you home, I'd recommend you stay here."

"If you'll have me, I'll be glad to stay." Katya looked down at her hands, which were trembling slightly. "Finn's okay... his mind is whole. But he's still dead. And I'm clearly not taking it well. I'd rather not be back home, where all his things are. I saw a shirt of his and almost wanted to cry."

Cami sighed. "Until he comes back, nothing is going to feel normal. That's the brutal reality. You'll feel empty for awhile. But eventually, he'll be back, and it'll be okay. The best thing you can do right now is focus on school."

"That's all I can do," muttered Katya. "I'll need access to the labs to study the venom we extracted. I may be able to engineer a cure just from that strand, but I don't know if it'll work. What if it doesn't? What if I fail, and I can't heal Finn's body, and he can't come back to life?"

"You will succeed," said Cami optimistically. "If anyone could make a cure, you could. You've been studying science for a long time already."

"I just don't know if I have the right ingredients. There's the venom, sure, but what if I also need Lucien's blood? Getting his blood isn't going to be easy."