𝐇𝐔𝐍𝐓𝐄𝐃 | Hosie ✔️

Chapter 12

When there was a knock at her room door, Hope let her hairbrush sink and turned away from the mirror to have a look over her shoulder.
"Come in", she said. Josie entered the room.
"Hey, are you ready?", Hope asked as she glanced over to her.
"Yes, I am", Josie nodded and closed the door behind her. She had put on pajamas and was getting ready for bed.

For a moment she had thought about leaving a message for Lizzie, with whom she had shared a room for ages, so she knew where she was and wouldn't worry. However, she hadn't known how to explain where she was, so she decided against it. Besides, the chances that her twin sister would notice her absence were not very high. After all, she was mostly busy with her problems.

"What about you?", Josie walked up to Hope's bed and sank onto it. They had decided that the easiest thing to do was to have Josie stay in Hopes room with her for the night. After all, Hope had her room to herself and it would be easier to carry out their plan without any problems.

"Yes, me too", Hope nodded and placed her brush with the squiggled 'M', which was artfully carved into the wood, on her dresser. Then she came over to Josie and sat down next to her. They had put the candle on her bedside table so it was easy for her to keep an eye on her all the time.
"So you are already for this?", Hope gave it a trial run to make sure Josie was sure she wanted to do this. After all, it had something to do with trusting Hope. However, even after Hope had explained what she was going to do, the twin hadn't given the impression that this was something she wouldn't want to do. Besides, Josie didn't seem like the kind of person who would just back down.
"I guess so", she said reluctantly, but nodded. Tthis was the best option she had left and seemed comparatively harmless. At least, if you could call something that had to do with black magic harmless.

"Good, then we can start", Hope suggested and sat down on the edge of the bed to reach for the candle that was on the small table next to her. She briefly ran her hand over the wick and barely a second a flame ignited under her palm. It glowed in its usual color and cast shadows into the room.
"So, again, to make sure I understood correctly", it came from Josie behind her: "Right now, this is the normal state of affairs, so to speak, and if it changes color, it means that someone is trying to use black magic on me."
"Right", Hope nodded and put the magic artifact back on the nightstand before turning back to Josie.

Hope pushed her blanket aside and slipped under it before lifting it again and looking at Josie expectantly. A small smile appeared on Josie's lips and the girl moved closer to Hope to cover herself as well.

For a few seconds, they both remained silent and just looked at the ceiling before Hope turned her head slightly to the side.
"Can I ask you something?", Hope asked in a somewhat muffled voice. Josie then did the same and changed her lying position to be able to turn towards her better.
"What is it?", she asked slightly hesitantly, as she could not imagine what exactly Hope would want to know.
"Earlier, when you caught me trying to practice black magic and I told you why exactly I was doing it, you said that you could understand and that you would not judge me for it. How exactly did you mean that?", Hope bit her lip lightly.

Josie swallowed lightly and thought about how to explain it: "I think I would just do the same thing if I were in your place. I never met my biological mother myself and I have Caroline, who has been a mother to me since I was born. But if it had been different and I had grown up with her before she died, I don't know if I wouldn't have tried everything to see her, at least for a few moments."

Her words struck a chord with her heart. For although she had never had this longing for her biological mother before, the arrival of one of the monsters had strengthened her desire to spend time with her. On her birthday, Jo Laughlin had suddenly returned miraculously and had upset not only her father but also Josie herself. Though she knew she had been just a zombie sent to retrieve one of the three artifacts needed to open Malivore, she had somehow hoped for more. Meeting her mother and seeing how much they shared in common had strengthened her desire to spend more time with her.

"What's wrong?", apparently Josie could see what she was thinking about because Hope's voice had taken on a softer tone.
"My mother was recently brought back as one of the Malivore monsters and now somehow I can't stop thinking about her", she explained easily: "This was the first time I learned anything about Mom's family. Dad refuses to talk to us about it."
She felt her heart getting heavy in her chest and a hard lump forming in her throat as she talked about it.

Under the covers, Hope hesitantly reached for Josie's hand when she realized that Josie was falling back into the painful part of her thoughts at that moment.
"I know how you feel", Hope replied cautiously: "It seems we are more alike than we might have thought."
For a few seconds, Josie just looked at her silently before she found her voice again and nodded: "Is that why you are like this?"
"Like what?", Hope frowned in a questioning expression.
"A loner", Josie told her. Hope spent most of her time with Alaric, hunting Malivore monsters with him, instead of dealing with the normal problems of a teenager.

Hope lowered her eyes for a few seconds to her hand crossed with Josie's before she began to speak slowly: "People who are important to me tend to die for me. And I just couldn't have that if this happened any more often."
"But you've put me behind your protective walls", Josie gently reminded her: "Why?"
"I don't know", Hope shrugged slightly.
"But I'm glad you did", Josie said without thinking about it. She had begun to feel comfortable and trust in Hope's company without being able to explain what the reason was.
"Me too", the tribrid agreed with her and as she spoke, a small smile appeared on her lips.

She slowly raised her eyes again to be able to see Josie's face again. When she noticed that her eyes had closed and heard how calm her breath was, her smile grew bigger and she sighed slightly. For a few seconds, she just watched her counterpart sleeping before lying down so that she could see Josie and the candle standing to her right equally. When she saw the glowing flame and its color, however, her breath stopped for a moment. The candle no longer burned in a bright orange but had suddenly turned blood-red and the black lines that ran through the inside of the candle became more distinct. Instinctively, Hope's grip on Josie's hand increased and she turned her eyes to the side to make sure that the girl who was sleeping next to her was all right. There, however, she only saw a completely calmly sleeping Josie who seemed to be unaware of it. She breathed easily. It worked as Hope had imagined.