𝐇𝐔𝐍𝐓𝐄𝐃 | Hosie ✔️

Chapter 9

Josie kept her gaze fixed on Hope as she moved between her fellow players towards the forest. At exactly this moment, the Tribridin disappeared just at this very moment, namely just now. However, Josie still felt Penelope's look in her back. But she just couldn't talk to her right now and if she was honest, she wasn't sure if she wanted to hear what she had to say. Penelope had always been good at hurting Josie. Even after they were separated.

One last time she had a look over her shoulder back at the party group to make sure Lizzie was still with the boys. After all, I was determined to keep an eye on her today. Suddenly her priorities had shifted.

Without further hesitation, she started moving again and stepped between the trees. Hope had almost disappeared from her field of vision by now, so Josie started to move faster. But she made sure not to be too loud. After all, Hope did not have to notice her immediately. Instead, she wanted to sneak up on her and watch her, maybe find out what she was up to. She couldn't be sure that Hope came here to practice dark magic. But why else would she move to the Lockwood cellar where she was undisturbed?

If she was completely honest with herself, she wasn't so sure that she wanted Hope to be the one to blame for her dreams. Because although she would finally have her culprit, she didn't want her role to be that one. Even though the twins didn't get along with the Mikaelson daughter, Hope didn't seem like someone who would do something like that to someone else. Besides, she wouldn't want that for her father either. For although she was often jealous of how much time Hope spent with her father, she didn't want to believe that he was so wrong about the student. And Josie didn't want to be wrong about Hope either.

As best she could, Josie tried to focus her attention on the current events again because Hope had suddenly stopped. But not at any part of the forest, but right in front of the cellar entrance. So she hadn't been so wrong in her assumption after all. She instinctively took a few more steps, but then came to a halt behind a tree. What could she want in this place? After all, there was no full moon tonight. But even then it wouldn't make sense. After all, there were cellars like this below the Salvatore School, where the werewolves locked themselves in during the full moon. Besides, thanks to her tribrid existence, Hope could control her transformation anyway.

She watched as Hope opened the entrance to the vault and then slowly descended the stairs without looking back. She probably didn't expect anyone to follow her. Nearly all of her classmates were at the party and Hope was quite a loner, so there were probably not that many people who had a reason to follow her. Except maybe Landon or Rafael, with whom she got along quite well. However, the two boys were still talking to Lizzie at the moment, which is why they will not follow her at this moment.

As soon as the young Mikaelson disappeared for a few seconds, Josie also released herself from her hiding place. She moved purposefully toward the entrance on the floor where Hope had just disappeared while her heartbeat accelerated slightly. The crescent moon glowing in the sky shone into the vault and flooded the stairs with its white light. As quietly as she could, she climbed down the stairs in the hope that the other girl would not immediately spot her. So she stopped in the shadows and watched Hope.

She had let herself sink to her knees and put the notebook that Josie was supposed to get today in front of her. Since her back was turned to her, Josie couldn't see her face but heard her flipping through the book. In front of her on the floor, she thought she recognized a pentagram which seemed to be drawn on the floor with white chalk. But it did not give the impression that it had just been drawn, but that it had been there for some time. So had she been here before?

But before she could think about it any further, she heard Hope's voice both surprised and angry: "Damn."
She, too, now realized the spell was missing. Josie pondered for a moment before pulling out the spell she was carrying and stepping out of the shadows: "Looking for this?"
Hope drove around, staring at Josie with a bewildered look before her eyes fell on the note in her hand. The girl's lips parted, but before she could say anything about it, Josie cut off her word and asked the question, which was written on Hope's face: "Yes, that's the spell you were looking for."

"Wh-where'd you get that?", she took a step towards Josie, who instinctively took a step back.
"It doesn't matter now", she skillfully escaped her question: "More importantly, you are practicing black magic."
Josie looked at her with a searching look, and for a few seconds, both girls just looked at each other. In her blue eyes, however, after a few seconds, she recognized an expression that took the hardness out of her gaze and made sure that her tense bones slowly relaxed.

"Why do you care? That's my business", Hope broke the silence after a few seconds but did not turn her gaze away from the girl who was standing only a few centimeters away from her. For a moment Josie thought. Was she perhaps confronting the wrong person? It didn't make much sense for her to ask that question if she was the one behind it. Or maybe she was just trying to get Josie to think that way.
"We are not allowed to use black magic", she threw in, but then took a deep breath and told her the real reason why I had followed her: "Besides, someone is terrorizing me with nightmares at the moment and I think it is connected with black magic. And then I find this when I'm supposed to get your stuff from dad's office. It's a little conspicuous, isn't it?"

Hope's eyebrows widened and she stared at Josie like she was trying to figure out if Josie was telling the truth. Then after a few seconds, however, she shook her head: "I didn't have anything to do with this."
Josie's look told her that she didn't necessarily believe her, so she added something else: "Really. What reason could I have for adding that?"
Now Josie was the one who couldn't answer that right away.
"Do you want me to prove it to you?", Hope offered and reached out her hand with a defiant look. Josie's brow furrowed as she considered the offer. This was probably the way she would finally get to the truth and it was worth a try.
"And how are you going to do that?", Josie asked, however, before she even thought of issuing the spell she was holding in her hands.
"I'll tell you what the spell is for and then I could help you find out if there's black magic behind your dreams", she explained and took a step towards Josie while her eyes fell again on the spell in her hand: "And if you still want my help, I'll help you find out who's behind it, too. Because it's not me."

It didn't sound like a bad offer and if Hope knew a way to be sure it was black magic, she had no other choice. So a light sigh and then gave in. Giving in, she put the paper in her outstretched hand and said: "Well, tell me about it."
Hope sighed as well and looked at the spell she was holding in her hand again. She took a short breath before she started to unfold the paper: "This is black magic here. You are right about that. But the spell isn't for what you think it is."
She paused for a moment before continuing: "It's a spell that allows me to speak to the dead."

Josie tilted her head slightly and just looked at Hope. She hadn't counted on this. But suddenly the pentagram made sense. Just like the skull she had seen on the paper.
"You - ", Josie started, but Hope cut off the word as she turned slightly away from her: "Yes, I use black magic to talk to my parents. Judge me if you wish."

Josie lowered her eyes slightly to the floor while Hope picked up her book from the floor.
"I'm not", she replied in a softer tone: "I wouldn't do it any other way."
With this, she made Hope turn back to her and look at her with a questioning, yet surprised look: "Really?"
Josie replied with a nod, feeling a gentle smile on her lips. Perhaps they were more alike than either of them realized.