Time After Time (Book 3) DISCONTINUED

Chapter 4

Hope was sleeping in bed when she turned over to cuddle Josie but to her surprise and confusion, she wasn't there. She sits up and looks around to find her wife gone. The door suddenly opens and Josie walks in carrying a tray with breakfast and a rose. "What's the occasion?" She asks. "Celebrating our theatrical debut." Josie smiles. "Funny. Never again." Josie laughs as she sits on the bed. "Actually, uh, don't laugh," she sets down the tray on her bed. "But it's kind of our anniversary. The math is extremely complicated and confusing. But if you subtract the time when you were in Malivore, we have officially been girlfriends, not wives, girlfriends, for one year. And hopefully, many more years to come." Josie smiles as she cuts off a piece of pancake and feeds it to Hope. Hope happily takes it and smiles. "You may not have any magic of your own-" "Rude." "But you're a pancake goddess." Josie laughs and nods. "Thank you, and I have a whole date planned. We'll have dinner, we could dance in the square." Hope giggles. "You're being very cute right now." "Thank you." Hope looks down for a second. "I'd like to make tonight special too." "Well, you could always sing me that song again, or maybe we could sing it together, technically, I was supposed to play Elena until I broke my arm."

"Ok, not exactly what I had in mind." "Well what did you....oh, oh ok. You mean like special, special." Josie nods. "I mean, if you want? We can be very careful that neither of us get pregnant again." Hope offers. Josie nods. "Yeah, ok. Yeah, we can even make it romantic and whatnot. Rose petals and candles and everything." Josie smiles. "I love you, Hope Saltzman-Mikealson." "And I love you Josie Saltzman-Mikealson." The two kiss before Josie reluctantly pulls away. "I'm really sorry to cut this short, and I mean I really am sorry. But I got to get going. I gotta go to Mystic Falls High today and I don't want to be late." Josie bites her lip and gets up to leave. "Wait, what for?" Hope asks. "I'll explain later, but I'll see you tonight?" Josie winks. Hope nearly has a heart attack. She nods quickly. "Yeah, see you then."

As Josie walks in her new school, she's greeted by Ethan at the door. He shows her around, warning her about the asshole teachers, the chill ones, which bathrooms to avoid, fastest routes around school. "So, that just about covers it, anything else you want to know?" Ethan asks her. "Um, one more question. Would you title this 'A Day in the Life of a Timberwolf'?" "It's a little generic, even for a jock like me, but if I was behind on my journalism assignment, sure." Josie places her pen behind her ear. "The Salvatore Scroll thanks you." "Fun fact, I've been trying to pitch 'A Day in the Life of a Stallion' to the school paper all year, but your dad never called me back." Ethan shrugs. "If this assignment goes well, uh, maybe it'll open some doors." Ethan nods. "I hope so, I need all the good PR I can get. Turns out all those fancy colleges stop calling when you bust your throwing arm." Guilt builds up inside of Josie. "I'm really sorry about that." Ethan shakes his head. "It wasn't your fault. Oh, also, tell your dad he sucks for ghosting us too. Our new principal is a total hard-ass." "You'll probably see him first. He and your mom have gotten pretty close." Josie cringes. "Parent sex. On that disturbing note, take care of yourself, Jo." Ethan walks off to class as Josie heads down the hall. As she rounds the corner, she spots something in one of the classrooms. She goes to see through the window and sees the Necromancer performing some ritual? She quickly hurries and runs back to the Salvatore School. Of all the days to not have powers. She sighs.

"Dad!" She sees Alaric getting out of his car. "Josie, what happened?" "The necromancer killed the principal at Mystic Falls High. He's planning some sort of blood ritual. Everybody at the school is in danger." Alaric thinks. "Alright, go inside. I'll handle it." He tells her. "What are you gonna do?" She asks. "What I always do. Fight the battle, fix the problem, then erase the evidence. Now go, I'm sure your kids and wife are missing you right now anyways." Josie nods before some loud growling is heard from above them. "A zombie dragon?" Josie asks. "How do we erase that?" "Um....we gotta get everyone outside, now." Josie and her dad hurry to gather everyone outside. "Hey!" Hope smiles as she hugs her. "Hey!" Josie hugs her tight before whispering in her ear. "I can't wait for tonight." She kisses her cheek before pulling away. Hope clears her throat as Alaric starts his speech. "Necromancer has made his move, and the entire student body is in that high school with him. So the question my daughter asked me earlier is one I put to you now. What are we gonna do? I have a plan. In the past, I would have kept it from you. You know, I built this school to protect you and yours gifts from the world that understands neither, but the way I see it.... you're the world's only shot now." Hope sighs. "Alright, enough with the speech. I'm in." "You haven't even heard the plan yet." "It ends with us winning, right?" She asks. "Yeah." "Where the hell is MG?" Lizzie raises her hand. "Found a note from him this morning. He went to go help Alyssa Chang." Kaleb tells them. "Then I'm in too." Lizzie smirks. "Yeah, make that three of us." Landon steps up. "Landon, this is gonna be very dangerous." Alaric warns him. "And given recent events...." "I went to that school. I mean, I'll stay out of the fight but I can help." He nods. "Hold up, if mom and Landon are fighting, we're definitely joining in." The twins shout. "Kids." Hope sighs. "What? Three tribrid's are better than one, right?" Andrea asks. "Well, two and a half." Marshall mumbles. Josie steps on his foot. "Ow." He grunts. "You're grounded by the way." She whispers. "Oh come on!" He groans. "Listen to your Ma." Hope glares at him. He sighs. "Like he said, we're in." Hope turns back to Alaric. "Alright, who else is with us?" He asks the rest of the students, who all nod before preparing for battle.