From a Cradle to a Grave

Chapter 13

Hayley's Pov

It's been nearly two months since Klaus, Freya, and I finally tracked down our daughter in the small house residing on a valley in Great Britain.

I wanted so desperately to go to this 'Hogwarts' place with Freya, but in the end, I had to admit the facts- Freya is a witch, and I'm not. I wouldn't last two seconds in this 'magic school' without someone finding out what I am.

So instead, I have to make do with the astral projection visits from Freya.

While I've been entirely distracted by the wellbeing of my daughter, Klaus has spent every waking moment trying to figure out how it is that Hope managed to survive the ancestral witches' attack all those years ago.

"The person who hid her was powerful," Klaus states. "And they had lot of magic by their side. Otherwise, the witches of New Orleans, along with Dahlia, would have been able to tell that Hope was still alive."

"And have you come up with an explanation for how Hope managed to survive getting stabbed with a blade as an infant?" I say skeptically.

"I have, actually," Klaus nods. "It was quite a simple puzzle to solve. The baby who died that fateful morning wasn't our daughter."

I blink. "What?" I say.

"Whoever shipped Hope off to Britain must have put a replacement baby in her place, I don't know!" Klaus snaps angrily.

The days pass by at a steady rate. Finally, we near the end of October.

"Hayley!" Klaus calls down from my window.

"I'm researching stuff! Leave me alone!" I say.

I continue to go through the stack of Esther's grimoires I've piled up on my bed, picking off where I left off this morning.

'Conduit Magic,' I think inside of my head. 'Conduit Magic, Conduit Magic...'

But as hard as I search for them, these two words are nowhere to be found. Freya told me a couple weeks ago that the magic that they teach at 'Hogwarts' is something called 'Conduit Magic'. I've been obsessed with this term ever since. But every time I think I've found something, I realize I've just hit another dead end.

"Hayley!" Klaus shouts again.

Rolling my eyes, I swing my legs off of my bed, and stick my head out the window.

"What the hell do you-" I pause mid-sentence, when I realize that Klaus is sitting in a fancy black car. And his appearance... He's not exactly wearing formal clothing, but the drab clothes that he usually wears are gone, and have instead been replaced with something a bit more elegant.

"What are you doing?" I say, shaking my head in disbelief.

"I'll tell you on the way. Jump down," Klaus says.

Wondering whether I've hit Klaus across the head one too many times, I swing myself over the balcony, and land safely on the ground below.

"What are you planning?" I say suspiciously, entering the car and looking around. "Is this a new car?"

"I compelled us a table at some kind of fancy restaurant," Klaus says.

"Why?" I laugh.

"Because as I was pounding on the gates to the Lafayette Cemetery, trying to force the New Orleans witches into helping me with the 'Hope' mystery, I realized something," he replies.

"And what would this 'something' be?" I ask.

"I realized that I would much rather have Hope see us as two benevolent people who care for each other, than as two serial killers who have been at each others' throats until very recently," Klaus says.