Time After Time (Book 3) DISCONTINUED

Chapter 2

The halls were busy as Hope and the twins were going about their day. Whispers were heard coming from the witches. "Well maybe if we try this spell-" "That would only work on a corpse, Raf's still alive. For now." Hope pauses as she hears the end of their conversation. The twins end up running into her. "Whoa, mom. You ok?" Andrea asks. "Did you hear that?" She asks them. "We try not to eavesdrop much, why?" Marshall raises his eyebrow. "Rafael is dying." Hope hurries to the lab with the twins only to find it empty. "Crap." She turns around and quickly makes her way to the office. They hear people on the other side. "My point is, if anyone can save him, it's us." She opens the door and walks in. "There's only one problem with that. Rafael took off. He's gone."

Alaric sighs. "I'll see what I can find out. Meantime, have the witches do a locator spell." Lizzie nods and leaves to go help the witches. Everyone is soon doing research. Vampires using their speed to help with the process. Witches using quick reading spells. Hope goes and grabs a book off the shelf as the twins speed read with the rest. "So, about those healing spells." Lizzie comes up behind her sister-in-law. "None of them worked?" Hope tries not to laugh. "Not as intended." Lizzie sighs as the fresh smell of charcoal enters her nose. "Well, the day is not over yet." She sets down her book. "Hope, we've tried everything. You know what we need to do." Hope looks at her. "We're not doing a linking spell." "Why not? It's the exact thing that you did to save me from the Merge." Lizzie points out. "But that was different. If I link Landon to Raf, Landon would have to die every single day. We don't know how many lives Landon has left. We could kill them both." Hope also points out. "Well, have you thought about what Landon would want?" Hope rolls her eyes and sighs. A thought pops into her head and she grabs the book. "I might have another idea."

After MG and Kaleb finds Rafael and Landon, Lizzie tells them the plan. "Wait, wait, what kind of energy?" Rafael stops her. "And into who?" "Well, my first choice was Jed, but unfortunately is has to be...." She turns towards Landon. "Phoenix energy." "So what does that mean for Landon?" Rafael asks. "I'm guessing it means I become human. Mortal? Which is probably why Hope isn't here to tell me herself. She probably can't bear to look me in the face knowing her best friend might not be around for too long." They continue on towards the gym where the twins are finishing up setting everything up. Lizzie preps Rafael while Hope talks to Landon. "Are you sure about this?" She asks him. "I mean, it's kind ironic huh? Raf spent all day yesterday convincing me to get back inside my body, today he needs me to give the most important piece of it away." Hope shakes her head. "It's not the most important piece." "You sure about that? It doesn't matter, I'd lay in front of a bus for him. At least this plan seems less painful." Landon sighs. "We're ready." Lizzie tells them. Once they step down, Andrea hands Rafael the trident. "Let's get started. Moppet, you are here." Lizzie points to a spot in the circle. "And, Hope, you're moral support, so don't screw it up." "Thanks sis." Hope glares at her. Raf and Landon hug real quick before Lizzie and the twins place their hands on Landon's shoulders. A few seconds pass and Hope sighs. "You can start now." "We did start." Lizzie tells her. "But nothing's happening." "What do you mean?" Hope looks at her. "What does she mean?" She looks at her kids. "There isn't any magic in the moppet to siphon." Lizzie tells her. "I don't understand." Hope looks at her confused. "She means, I'm not a Phoenix anymore."

After Rafael puts down the trident, he tells everyone that he just wants one last day together. Lizzie calls everyone off the research. Rafael wants one last day together, that's what he's gonna get. Soon, everyone starts setting up lights, getting kegs and setting up some music at the Mill. "Hey, could use some tribrid help, got a couple more kegs I need to haul over." He tells Hope when he spots her on an old desk. "But I can see that you're not in the mood for a, um, a party." He sits next to her. "Your kids have been a huge help though." He smiles at her. "Damn it Marshall!" He quickly turns to find them arguing. "I said hand it to me!" "I did!" "You threw it!" They shout back and forth. "Kids!" Hope yells at them. "Sorry." They both mutter. Rafael couldn't help but laugh. "You really got that mom thing down, don't you?" He asks her. Hope shrugs. "I've always wanted a family. I've always had a big family growing up. My parents, aunts and uncles, I even got kind of a, I guess, serrogate brother? I don't know what to call him. My dad took him in when he was a kid and then turned him when he was an adult. Although, he is married to my aunt, so I guess, uncle? But then, my aunt Davina is married to my uncle Kol, and Marcel is like a father figure to her, so I'm not really sure of anything anymore." Hope sighs. Rafael stares at her for a second. "Yeah, I got absolutely none of that." He laughs. She soon joins in and shakes her head. "Yeah, don't even try, it's really complicated. Honestly, I think I'm just a sore loser right now. I've beaten death more times than I care to count, and I really thought we were gonna beat it again." Rafael smiles at her. "Hey, it's ok Hope. I'm serious, I'm not afraid. I believe that everyone gets their own version of heaven. For me, it's gonna be my best day ever, just on a loop. A day outside with the people I love. But I'm gonna appreciate everything I can while I'm here. I mean, a supernova that we can actually see with our naked eye? That's once in a lifetime." Hope realizes something. "A lifetime." She whispered to herself. "Hey, I actually have something for you to do-" "Sorry, I can't right now." She quickly hurries off and finds the spell she needs.

"Lizzie!" She shouts as she grabs the ascendant from Alaric's office. "I need your help!" She quickly runs to find Lizzie and the twins. After explaining the plan to them, they soon get to work. Rafael closes his eyes as the sun rises. He opens them to find himself still at the school, but alive. He walks further and sees everyone standing around, waiting for him. Everyone gives their goodbyes. He gives Hope one last hug. "Goodbyes really do suck." She whispered. After Raf has settled in and met up with his parents, everyone comes back to the real world, some tear filled, some feeling bittersweet. "I uh, I think we're gonna go call Ma, let her know what happened. Did you wanna talk to her too?" Andrea asks her. "No, I'll call her later tonight. You two spend some time talking to your Ma. She probably misses you like crazy." Hope chuckles. She watches as the twins head upstairs before going outside to the pier. She can practically feel Landon hovering behind her and braces for the worst. Of course, he doesn't want to be friends anymore. She's not surprised. Everyone in her life always leaves. Even when they don't mean to, even when they don't want to. Even when they have no choice. Everyone leaves.

Afterwards, she head back to her room and gives Josie a call. "Hey Hope, the twins told me what happened. Are you ok? Sorry, that's the dumbest question I've ever heard. How are you holding up?" She asks instead. "Landon doesn't want to be friends anymore." Hope sighs as tears threaten to leave. "What? Hold on..." Josie hangs up the phone and calls her on video chat instead. "What's wrong?" She asks. Hope let's her tears fall. "Why does everyone always leave me?" She asks. Josie bites her lip. She feels partly to blame, she's not there to comfort her wife. Her kids are God knows where and Hope lost Raf and Landon in one day. "Please don't cry. I'll be back tomorrow, remember?" She tries to get Hope to smile. Hope sniffles and nods. "Yeah, I can't wait for that." Josie smiles back. "Did you wanna stay on the phone till we fall asleep?" Hope nods gently. "Yes please." She whispered, her voice so soft and broken that it breaks Josie's heart and makes her almost regret leaving. They spend the rest of the night talking about Josie's day. Anything to get Hope's mind off of everything that went wrong today. She eventually falls asleep with Josie on the phone.