laissez les bon temps rouler//jackson kenner

4.11

When I go to check on Jolie she is looking out her bedroom window. "The Hollow, she's getting stronger."

I look at her confused. "You can sense her?" I ask.

"When we first got here, there was always music outside, people dancing, laughing. But since she came back, it's so quiet. Like she's draining everything out of the city." Jolie turns to look at me as she starts to walk my way. "She already took Uncle Elijah. And soon she will come for the rest of us."

I crouch down to look at her. "Listen, Jolie, I know you're scared. But over the years, a lot of bad people have stood against our family, and all of them have fallen. The Hollow is no different."

"No, she is different," Jolie counters.

She looks worried and so am I. I don't know what to say to her. The Hollow is out to kill all of us. Now that she has her body back I'm hoping we can finally kill her. Everything can go back to normal. Jolie, Bryce, Conall, Archer, Jackson, and I can live a happy life.

Once I set Jolie up with her art supplies I meet up with Jack, Hayley, Freya, and Nik.

Freya is holding the pendant in her hand. It's starting to crack. "Despite the spell I cast, the very integrity of the pendant is growing unstable. It won't be able to hold Elijah's soul much longer. We need to find a way to resurrect him tonight, or we could lose him forever."

"To do that, we'll need more power," Hayley says.

"Let me guess, a grand sacrifice," Nik remarks.

"I say we kill our enemy and sacrifice her, then I can channel the power from the Hollow's death, raise Elijah's body, and place him back where he belongs," Freya explains.

"We've tried everything," Jack tells her.

"And we've come close. Kenner blood is her Achilles' heel. Jackson, your blood weakened her, but you've technically been dead for a years. So it won't be strong enough to kill her. If we forge a blade using the blood of the last living Kenners..." Freya says.

"We don't want the kids involved," Jack protests.

"They're already involved. Jolie has been obsessed with the symbol that follows the Hollow: the serpent consuming itself." Freya unfolds one of Jolie's drawings. "Now, I believe this is showing us the key, the only means to which she can be destroyed, her own blood. The Hollow's one end of the Kenner bloodline. Jolie, Archer, Bryce, and Conall are the others. And we need to close that loop. The best way to do that is for Jackson to wield a weapon forged with Conall and Archer's blood. When you stab her, it's only then the Hollow can be obliterated completely," Freya explains.

I look to Jack for a moment. I can tell he is hesitant, but I know he wants Elijah back, and for the Hollow to be gone for good.

"Then we make it work. We'll talk to Conall and Archer," I state.

I head to Archer and Conall's room, with Jack. Conall and Archer are both seated at a little table. I heat up a needle over a candle. I turn and walk over to them and I kneel down in front of them both.

"I don't want to," Conall confesses.

"Are you scared it's gonna hurt?" Jack asks him.

"I'm scared if I do this, you're gonna pick a fight. And the Hollow, Jolie says she can hurt you," Archer tells us.

"I know you're scared. I wish we didn't have to have this conversation. When I was your age, I had to deal with a lot of things that I didn't want to deal with either. I didn't want that for you, but here we are. The thing is, sometimes you have to do things that you don't want to do because you're the only one that can do them," I explain to them.