Just Like Fire | J. Saltzman - Legacies [2]

T E N

Stella wakes up to the sounds of birds chirping in her ears. When she opens her eyes, a blinding pain radiates from her skull as she pushes leaves off of her body. "Damn it, Lizzie," she mutters as she pushes herself to her feet.

A growl makes her freeze; she turns to see the Minotaur running towards her, its horns aimed at her body.

She picks up one of the logs she had whittled into a stake and holds it at the ready.

The Minotaur roars in pain as it falls on its face, sliding across the rough terrain to land before Stella. She frowns at its still figure before she looks up to see Lizzie holding a bow.

"Where did you get that?" Stella asks. A man comes up to Lizzie. "Who's he?"

"This is Frank," Lizzie replies as she hands him the bow. "Thanks for your help."

Stella shakes her head, watching Lizzie approach. "I thought you were taking the deal."

Lizzie shrugs. "I realized it would be perpetuating the patriarchy. There's always someone telling women they only exist for one reason. We even told it to ourselves. I am done playing that game."

Both girls take a step back as the Minotaur huffs, pushing up from the ground. "Screw endgame," Stella says with a smirk before she brings the stake down.

Lizzie and Stella jolt up from the ground in the middle of Mystic Falls' town square. Darkness covers the sky, and the Keeper sits next to them.

"You've found another way," the Keeper says. "You killed the Minotaur. Thank you."

"Not that you deserved it," Lizzie says as she stands. "and you definitely don't deserve this. We've had enough of women hurting other women for one day." She extends her hand.

As the Keeper takes the offer, Stella walks over to the old bench she was sitting on at the beginning of the day. She kneels down and picks up the notebook sprawled over the wood, her fingers trailing over the song she had attempted to write. Dated to months ago, long before all the chaos, she had written it in a time of darkness with only one source of light in her life.

When she looks up, she finds Lizzie standing beside her. "That for Josie?" Lizzie asks as her eyes move across the page.

"It's nothing—" Stella closes the notebook, but Lizzie rips it from her grip.

"I know you said screw endgame, but you have to tell her how you feel," Lizzie says as she flips through the pages. "And Hope needs to too."

Reluctantly, Stella sighs and nods. She takes the notebook back and tears a blank page out. "Do you have a pen?" She asks.

Pulling one out of thin air, Lizzie hands it over. Staring at one of Penelope's pens, Stella hesitates before she scratches a message onto the paper. "Since I lost my phone..." she mutters as she crumples the paper in her hands and mutters a spell. "Hopefully, my cousin decides to meet us at the school. We have a decade dance to attend."

With laughter ringing in the air, the two girls race to the Salvatore School to find Hope already waiting at the front doors. "What was with that note?" Hope asks, crossing her arms.

"Hey, Hope," Lizzie grins. "I remember you. But that's old news. Now, you and Stella have to tell Josie and Landon about your unbridled love before they do the deed."

Hope's eyes widen. "I-I'm sorry, what?" Hope glances between the girls. "You remember me?" She reaches forward with her arms out.

"Frenemy reunion will have to wait," Lizzie says. "We need to stop those two idiots from having sex and ruining their lives."