Always Yours

We're Family

Penelope POV-
Josie and I nod at each other one last time before counting down. She drops the barrier on three as we run to opposite sides as fast as we can avoiding fireballs shot by Lizzie and Hope. "Now!" Josie says the spell in her head for me. We both begin to recite it aloud as two huge walls of fire begin to push forward catching Hope and Lizzie off guard. The two halves connect leaving barely any room for them to move as they throw up a protective boundary around them.
I can feel more and more power being drained from me as Josie stops supporting the spell. She's running out of magic. "Jo, come over here. You need magic." Josie takes a step back from the fire wall and begins to make her way over to me. She drops a hand onto my shoulder and begins to siphon. I grit my teeth together in frustration. I can feel the spell slipping, "I don't think I can hold it much longer, JoJo." My body is exhausted. I can feel when Josie begins to help again. Even though she is taking from me, it is less exhausting. We stand there holding the fire barrier for a couple more seconds. "Alright, they know we won. Let's drop it." I stop pushing magic as Josie drops her hands to her sides.
Josie POV-
Hope and Lizzie drop their protective spell when the fire is extinguished. I turn to look at Penelope who is smirking in their direction. The timer runs out on our spell to divide the connection as Hope's words cut through, "Holy shit, Josie. Where did you learn that spell?" Lizzie responds next with, "Jo, that was so cool. We are going to demolish those Wendigos." Penelope throws one hand in the air for emphasis. "Why don't I get any credit? It was my magic." The sass resonates in her words even in our heads. "You aren't the fire master. It was definitely Josie's idea." Hope knuckle bumps me. "That will be perfect for tomorrow. How about we work it as a group tomorrow morning a couple of times then rest and prepare for the attack? Say 9 o'clock?" Penelope pulls out her phone to check the time. I look over her shoulder to see. 11:24. I nod my head answering for us. "Perfect. Goodnight guys."
Penelope and I head up to her room. "Did you grab sleep clothes or you need some?" She digs around in her dresser. "Can I borrow some, please?" Penelope pulls out one of her sleep shirts I used to steal all the time and throws it at me along with some shorts. It doesn't take long for both of us to be cuddled up close together in bed. Her hand is lightly scratching up and down my back as I curl into her as much as possible. I rest my hand on her chest and mindlessly fiddle with her shirt. Penelope lets out a small sigh as she looks to her ceiling. "Can we stay like this forever?" I lift my head to look up at Penelope's face. It gives her feelings away immediately. "What if something happens tomorrow?" It cuts through our minds like butter. I know Hope and Lizzie just heard it too, hopefully they are asleep by now. I speak out loud to provide us with a little more privacy. "No matter what happens, nothing will change between us, Penny. We can take some of Hope's blood before the battle. If something happens, we will figure it out together. I'm not going anywhere." She wraps her arms around me a little tighter as she rests her chin against the top of my head. "Okay, JoJo." Exhaustion takes over from the magical drain we exerted earlier. Penelope's grip loosens slightly on me as she dozes off. The steady beating of her heart lulling me to sleep.
Penelope POV-
I was only asleep a couple of hours when I became incapable of sleeping any longer. My thoughts were running rampant. If I die, I won't be able to do magic anymore. Josie said nothing will change but that would be a really big change. A voice interrupts my thoughts. "Why are you up, P?" Hope. "Why are you up?" I try to turn it back around to her. I don't know how much of my thoughts she heard. "I always wake up about this time every night. Then I heard your thoughts. Want to talk about it?" I look down to see Josie is still sound asleep. Her mouth is slightly open as she exhales sending air across my shirt. At least my thoughts aren't waking her up. "Could you meet me in the hallway? Would rather talk out loud than wake our girlfriends with our thought conversation." I carefully try to peel Josie off of me. "Yep, one second." I push my pillow into my vacant spot and watch as Josie wraps her arms around it instead. I pause for a second. I'm looking at my entire world laying in my bed. My soulmate.
I slip out my bedroom door and turn to see Hope doing the same. All of our rooms are on the same hallway only doors down from each other. "Hey P." I place my back against the wall outside my room and slide down it until I hit the floor. Hope walks over and joins me. "So, start talking because your thoughts are still running." She turns her head to look at me waiting for a response. I interlock my hands and dangle them over my knees. "Magic is my life, Hope. I've grown up with it. If I die later, I will lose that side of me and then I'm a vampire. My coven will disown me. But, if I don't take your blood and I die, I lose Jo. What if she doesn't like what I become?" I gasp for air realizing just now that I spit all that out on one breath of air. I keep my eyes locked onto my fingers avoiding eye contact.
I hate feeling vulnerable like this and I know Hope is the same way as me. "P, you and Jo are meant to be. And Josie loves you. Lizzie and I have talked numerous times about how happy you make each other. Even if you lose your magic, you will not lose her. And we will do everything we can to help you if you die and you know that. Whatever happens, we're family. You won't lose us. I know that is your biggest concern over your coven because that is what I keep hearing come from your head. We are here for you, P." I nod my head slowly. I know that I will have the best support from them if I need it. Hope bumps my shoulder with hers lightly. "Your girl is starting to stir, you should probably get back to her." I turn to look back at my bedroom door over my shoulder before finally making eye contact with her. "Thank you, Hope. I'll see you in a couple of hours." With that, I stand up and head into my room.
Josie opens her eyes squinting at me as I click the door shut. "Where'd you go Penny?" I cross the couple of steps to my bed and move my pillow back to its rightful spot as I lay down. Josie immediately scoots closer to me, wrapping one arm across my torso and one leg over mine. "I was just talking to Hope, we both were just thinking about later." She adjusts her head to look up, her chin resting on my shoulder. "Are you okay?" Her voice is still raspy from sleeping as she furrows her eyebrows waiting for my response. "Always when I'm with you, JoJo." A small smile crosses her face. "Can we go back to sleep now?" I nod my head as she nuzzles into my shoulder. I can tell she is about to drift off when the words leave her mouth quietly. "I love you, Penny." My girl. The one who calms the storm in my head. "I love you too, JoJo."
Josie POV-
I run my hand across the sheets next to me as I blink my eyes open. Penelope's arm is tucked around my waist holding me against her. I begin to run my fingertips up and down her arm creating goosebumps until she starts to stir. I pull her arm away from me so I can rotate sides to see her then tuck my face under her chin. She pulls me tightly against her. "Hi Pen," I lightly kiss her neck before lifting my head to look at her. That signature smirk crosses her face as she looks down at me. "Hi JoJo." She has a slight squint as she adjusts to the light flooding through the window.
I close my eyes and enjoy the warmth she is giving off while she holds me. "Can you check the time, Jo?" I pull out one of my arms that was pressed to her chest to reach behind her for her phone. "We need to get moving. It's pushing 8:30 already." I drop the phone as she flips me to my back pinning me down. A small squeal escapes my lips at the sudden movement. "5 minutes." She gives me one more mischievous glance before dropping her full weight onto me. "Penny, what are you doing?" No response as she just giggles. I wrap my arms around her back laughing the entire time. I try to take in this moment, remembering every little detail. We sit there like that a couple more minutes before reluctantly getting ready for our session with Hope and Lizzie.
"Okay, so this is the spell." I wrote it down on a sheet of paper for everyone to see. "How did you find this again?" Hope reads through the Latin. "I actually created it." Lizzie, Hope, and Penelope's heads all pop up to look at me with their jaws ajar. "You created this heavy duty fire wall spell by yourself in your spare time?" Penelope sounds impressed with her comment. "You guys know I like fire, I don't know what to tell you. I couldn't find a spell that could surround someone that wasn't just a tiny flame. I wanted something bigger. So, I made one." It actually took a long time to perfect it. The first time I effectively made it work was with Penelope. It is easier to control and create with more than one person. "Okay let's work on this."
The four of us set up three dummies in the  middle of the school parking lot away from cars. Lizzie stood next to Hope on one side while Penelope and I stood on the other side of the dummies. Hope started the countdown in our heads. "Now!" Lizzie and I begin siphoning from our partner then recite the spell. Our two halves of the ring appear and begin to surround the dummies. We can all feel when the two halves have connected. "Okay, let's drop it." All of us stop pushing the magic and the fire wall dissipates. Our mind connection cuts through all background noise even the sizzling fire. This will hopefully be super effective for fighting the Wendigos. "That was perfect. The dummies are slightly crispy. Jo, what if we need to close the ring on them? How do we do that?" I lift up my hand to show the motion. "Start with an open palm. The ring will get smaller as your hand becomes a fist. It will work best when our magic isn't competing against each other for sizing. Once we have established the ring, we can collectively close it." We all nod our heads in agreement. "Let's try it once more then we will call it for now."
Penelope POV-
I jump up onto the kitchen counter across from the fridge to sit as Josie reaches in for four waters. She tosses one to Lizzie and Hope before standing between my legs with her back against the counter. Our minds are silent until Lizzie's thought pushes through. "When will we know they are here?" I turn to look at Hope for an answer. "Dr. Saltzman will call us I think. We can go check with him though." The school is so quiet right now. It is such a change from the usual chatter and screeching from students. Josie leans back against me as I wrap my arm around her. We can all feel the nervous energy we are giving off.
Following the initial predictions, the Wendigos should arrive in a couple of hours. We step into Alaric's office to find him on the phone. "Yes Caroline. I know. I will keep you posted." He hangs up the phone and sets it down on his desk before addressing us. "Merry Christmas Eve. Are you ready?" We nod our heads as his phone begins to ring again. "Yes? Already? Shit. Thank you." He throws down his phone and stands up pushing his chair back against the wall. "They are coming up on the school barrier. We need to prep, now." He pulls a book on his bookcase to reveal a hidden weapons compartment. Alaric grabs his crossbow and silver arrows before following us out of the room.
Hope runs through the plan with us once more. "We will have the advantage if we force them to our playing ground. Once they break through the school's security, we will attempt to maneuver them together. Once we round them up, we toast them." We push out through the main doors and jog over to the empty field between the woods and the school. "Here," Hope bites into her wrist and gives Lizzie, Josie, and me her blood. She looks each of us in the eyes as she speaks in our heads. "Always and forever." We know how important that saying is to Hope. The four of us have bonded so much in the past couple of weeks. We are family. We repeat it back in unison. "Always and forever."