The Sound of Our Souls

Do you want to talk about it?

Her Aunt Freya was silent for a moment as if she was inviting Hope to speak first. Hope was confused, what was she supposed to say, it had been her who had stopped her to chat. She soon realized that it wasn't that her aunt didn't know what to say, she just didn't want to say it.

"What happened?" Hope asked, her aunt still unable to look at her.

"I... discovered something when I was with Kai"

"What is it?"

"He, he does know a way to stop The Merge"

"What? How do you know?"

"When I got here, when I was still close to him, I cast a spell. Just to make sure he wasn't planning on leaving Josie trapped in the prison world or something. I went into his mind for a second and that's when I saw it. He knows"

At that confession, Hope couldn't help but feel her blood begin to boil. Suddenly a great tightness invaded her chest and her mind clouded. She started to rant.

"Of course that lunatic knew how to stop The Merge and hid it. We should never have trusted him in the first place, I'm almost certain that he wanted Josie to absorb all that magic to get rid of it, we must do something, we can't-"

"Hope," Freya grabbed her arm, "Breathe"

Hope did as her aunt told her and took a deep breath, she let the air flood her lungs and turned her attention back to what Freya had to say.

"He knows how to stop The Merge, but I think this time he kept it as a secret for a good reason"

Hope arched an eyebrow, not quite understanding what her aunt was telling her "What? What are you talking about?"

"To prevent something as big as that, we need a spell that involves a sacrifice as great as The Merge itself. I'm talking about offering a human soul, Hope"

"Oh," Hope's face softened, "I thought I was going to be something more complicated like kick some puppies or something. I mean, we just have to find someone on the verge of death, use them for the sacrifice and then none of the twins have to die"

"First of all, I can't believe you think a human sacrifice isn't as complicated as kicking puppies. Second of all, it's not that simple. It can't just be any stranger, it has to be someone both twins love, someone special"

"Why?"

"Well, as we know, nature has a tendency towards balance. If we intend to allow the twins to keep someone they love, we must give someone else they love equally. It's all about giving love for love"

"The twins will never do that. At least, I'm pretty sure Josie would rather die than let that happen to someone she cares about"

"I think Kai understands that and that's why he didn't say anything, maybe he knows it's not an option. He might not be as bad as he seems.

"Yeah, I highly doubt that" -Hope said with skepticism.

They stayed silent for a while, processing the words they had just exchanged. Hope, for her part, wasn't sure whether to tell the twins what she just discovered. After her little moment of pondering, she decided to break the silence.

"I'm going to go check on the girls"

"Okay, that's fine," Freya replied with a subtle nod.

Hope continued her way and entered the building. Quickly, she sensed that something was wrong. The living room was completely empty, the heat from the fireplace was gone and small pieces of metal lay scattered on the floor. "The ascendant" Hope muttered to herself, for a moment she thought about putting the pieces of the device together, but soon realized that it would be useless. The important thing now was to find the twins. She ran through the corridors of the school hoping to find them, or failing that, Kai and the girls that accompanied him, she hadn't seen them anywhere either. She looked in every room, however, her search was in vain, just as she was about to give up she ran into Lizzie and Josie.