"Impossible," Klaus said. "Whatever those thieving acolytes are up to, they function independently of the Hollow."
Going to the cemetery hadn't exactly been on Morgana's to do list. Finding out the Hollow might not be dead was worse.
"I watched Hayley kill her," she agreed, arms crossed.
"Her body is dead," Vincent said impatiently. "That's not enough."
"What are you saying?" Elijah asked.
"I'm saying that by now the Ancestors should've been able to imprison her spirit. That didn't happen. The spirit's still out there, so she must've had a plan B."
"No doubt," Klaus agreed. "Perhaps they had assistance. Tell me, were you a part of it?"
"Klaus, don't," Morgana groaned.
"I trust Vincent," Marcel said.
"Look," Vincent cut in. "I don't care if any of you trust me, to be perfectly honest, because unlike all of you, I have been doing something. I've been spending the past couple of days trying to figure out how to put the Hollow away for good."
"And do you have any answers?" Elijah asked.
"Yes...and no. I used the book to put myself into a trance."
"What book?" Morgana asked.
"The book he found," Marcel explained. "Contains the secrets of the Hollow's magic. Written in his handwriting."
Her eyebrows went up.
"Well, you can see how no part of me is filled with a modicum of confidence," Klaus grumbled.
"While I was in that trance," Vincent continued. "I met with the spirit of Inadu's mother. From her I was trying to get the spell she used fifteen hundred years ago to put her daughter down. That's when those acolytes showed up and stopped me."
"Well, what are you waiting for? Get back to work!"
"The acolytes took the book."
"I have a library full of grimoires, take your pick!"
"That book is special, Klaus," Morgana said. "It's an extension of the Hollow's magic into our world."
She looked to Vincent for confirmation. He nodded. She turned back to Klaus. "Which means it's as eternal as she is."
"If I can tweak the spell in just the right way, I can lock her in the book and put the Hollow away for good," Vincent said.
"Where's the book now?"
"It's still with the acolytes." He pulled a piece of paper out of his back pocket. "I used this page from the book to track them to the place where she was reborn. That's where you'll find them."
She nodded and headed for the exit, Klaus and Elijah on her heels. The creepy old house in the middle of the woods it was.
----------------
The acolytes were inside, performing a spell and praying at the same time. Morgana quietly stepped forward, waiting for them to notice her. She smiled when they did.
"Hello," she said. "I apologize for intruding, but I'm a little lost. I'm looking for a group of individuals into some nasty business. I was wondering if you could help me, but it seems you lot fit the bill just fine."
Klaus and Elijah came up on either side of her.
"We were hoping to borrow a book," she continued. "It's a limited edition, very rare. Mind if we have it?"
