Secrecy (Hosie)

Part 55: Impression

Alaric makes his way to his office, going directly to the bookshelf and grabbing several books from it.

"Ric?"

He drops everything in his hands as he turns toward the voice,

"Oh my god..."

—————

Lizzie groans as she aggressively flips through the pages of her book, "I wish they'd send monsters that are easier to identify."

Hope raises an eyebrow at her, "I'll be sure to put that in the suggestion box."

"They have that?"

Hope and Josie give her a dumbfound look before dismissing the comment altogether.

"What's taking dad so long?" Josie closes yet another useless book.

"I'll go check," Hope gets up from the table to make her way towards the headmaster's office, "Dr. Saltzman is everything—"

Hope freezes in her tracks as she enters the office, seeing Alaric holding up a crossbow at a woman in a bloody wedding dress.

The woman turns to Hope as she hears her voice, and Hope immediately recognizes her from the pictures Dr. Saltzman has shown her over the years.

"You're...how—?"

She can't even piece together her thoughts and questions.

This is Josie and Lizzie's biological mother.

She eyes Alaric's weapon before looking directly to Hope, "I'm Josette. I know this all must be really confusing..."

Hope reaches out to lower Alaric's weapon, earning furrowed eyebrows from him as she responds to Josie's mom, "I'm Hope, it's nice to meet you."

Hope gives her a polite smile while reaching out a hand to formally greet Jo, but she's stopped in her tracks by Alaric.

"Hope, what are you doing?"

Hope mumbles under her breath, though she can clearly be heard by Josie's mom, "Making a good impression."

"My wife is dead Hope. This is another Malivore monster, she can't be trusted."

Hope sighs as her resolve fades, turning back to Jo, "Are you here to kill me?"

Might as well be blunt about it.

"I—I don't think so...?"

Hope turns back to Alaric.
"See? Harmless."

Alaric rolls his eyes at her, "How'd you get here? Who are you, and what do you remember?"

"I'm Josette Laughlin, almost Saltzman," Jo thinks for a moment, "I remember morning sickness, and getting into my dress. We were at our wedding, and Kai showed up with a huge knife. Then I was just...here. I don't remember much from in between."

"Same as Cassie," Hope looks to Alaric who nods at her and releases a sigh.

"Look, this is Mystic Falls. I'm not exactly the first person to be brought back to life here."

Alaric crosses his arms, "Well, things have gotten a little complicated around here as of late."

Josette opens her mouth to respond, but the conversation is interrupted by Josie and Lizzie suddenly entering the office, "Hope, is everything—"

Josie freezes in the doorway as she stares to the woman in the bloody white dress.

Lizzie doesn't seem to make the connection, "Um...you see wedding dress lady too, right Josie?"