𝐇𝐔𝐍𝐓𝐄𝐃 | Hosie ✔️

Chapter 15

The sun was reflected on the clear water surface of the lake and caused Hope to squint her eyes slightly. The school day had ended about a quarter of an hour ago and the tribrid had immediately made her way to the meeting place where she had arranged to meet Josie. In the morning Lizzie had interrupted her conversation and thus caused a delay.

"Hope?", heard a voice behind her that made her turn around. Josie stood between the trees, who watched Hope for a moment and then moved towards her.
"Hey," she greeted the siphon lady and moved a little to one side on the bench where she had sat down so the other could sit next to her.
"Hey," she replied with a slightly apologetic expression: "Sorry I took so long."
Her sister had kept her from coming here on time after class and instead besieged her with the decision of which dress to wear in the Miss Mystic Falls competition.

"That's okay," Hope said, just happy she actually came and didn't completely opt-out for some reason. After seeing last night that Josie was right in her suspicions, she felt the need to help her and prove that she wasn't the cause of her problem. Instead, she wanted to support her, because she realized that the sleeping problems were starting to get to Josie and tore at her nerves.

"So why should I come here?", Saltzman asked after a few seconds because Hope hadn't even told her why she wanted to meet with her. And then in a private place like this one, too.
 "I have an idea how we can find out who is behind your problem," she answered.
"Really?", a little smile appeared on Josie's lips and she thought she could see how her eyes lit up and a hopeful expression appeared in them.

"Yes," Hope confirmed with a nod: "But only if you don't mind doing dark magic yourself."
This was the part of her plan that she thought would be the hardest to convince her counterpart. After all, she hadn't necessarily reacted well when she found out that Hope herself had used it. What Hope didn't know was that Josie had done the same thing in the past and set her ex-girlfriend's hair on fire. Josie herself, however, remembered it pretty well and so she replied:  "Never mind."
If the person behind it went that far, she shouldn't be surprised if they fought back with the same means.

"Well, the best time for that would probably be the night of the miss mystic falls pageant", she announced. At that time, most students - possibly all of them - would probably attend the contest, since the venue this year was the Salvatore Boarding School. So that would keep most of them busy, and the others were certainly encouraged to do so by Doctor Saltzman to make sure that no one could figure out the school's supernatural identity.

That's why Josie's answer surprised them: "No way."
"What? Why not?", Hope asked with a frown: "It's the perfect timing."
"Yes, I know," she replied, evading her gaze slightly. Of course, she knew it would be a good time for whatever Hope had planned. Her sister, however, had managed to put a kink in Hope's plan. "I promised Lizzie that I would help her," she admitted, knowing that Hope would not necessarily be happy. That the Mikaelson didn't think much of it was not unknown to her and so Hope's hint of an eye roll surprised her, but for Josie, she tried to suppress it, not her. "Seriously?" in her voice was a distinctly unsatisfied tone of voice that revealed how little she liked this information: "You're doing this for Lizzie, aren't you? Because she wants to win and you're supposed to help her do it?"

Josie lowered her eyes slightly. She didn't like that it was so easy for Hope to figure out why she did it. Unfortunately, Hope spent a lot of time with her father and therefore knew quite well about the relationship the twins had with each other. A relationship in which Lizzie was in the foreground and in which Josie spent her time making her happy and fulfilling her wishes. It had already been like this when her sister had her eye on a boy and it would be like this again this time. But although Josie knew this deep inside of her, she kept pushing this thought away and told herself that she just wanted the best for her sister. After all, this was what twins did for each other.

"I want to support my sister," she explained: "And if I must enter the competition, I will do so." "And you do not want to win yourself? Wouldn't you like to get some recognition and step out of your sister's shadow? Even if it's just for a moment," Hope replied and focused her face so as not to miss the slightest change in it and to be able to spot if he was lying: "If that's how it is, I'd enter with you any time."
Josie had to suppress a sigh and began to chew lightly on her lower lip, "It's more complicated than you think."

Hope didn't realize that Josie hadn't answered her question, but had deliberately avoided an answer, but decided to postpone this conversation. She preferred to discuss what she had planned first. But she hadn't finished talking about it and would probably have problems with the relationship between the sisters until Josie finally stood up for herself in front of her sister. Although she was afraid that it might not come to that. Still, Hope wished that Josie would stop trying to please others and start making herself happy. Even if that meant Lizzie didn't get everything she wanted in return.

"All right, we'll do it after the decision is made", she didn't like that solution much, but maybe she would lose it anyway. Most people would probably continue to think about the events of the evening anyway and not even notice if they disappeared for a few minutes. At least she hoped it would be so.

"All right", Josie could also get used to this and felt a slight curiosity arise in her. Would Hope be able to make these ordeals stop? And if so, how would she do that?
"So what exactly were you thinking about?" she followed up to get an actual answer rather than pondering further.
"There is a spell that allows you to see through another person's eyes," Hope then began without hesitation to tell her her plan: "This might give you some clues as to who this person is. There is also a side effect that is helpful for us in this situation. The person who performs the spell is branded on his right forearm for one week. However, he is not the only one. The person to whom the spell is applied had the mark appear in the same place. So even if we can't find any clues, we could still look for the mark and find out who's behind it."

She wouldn't say it necessarily surprised her, but it was a good plan. It seemed like Hope thought about it. But what did she expect? I mean, she was a Mikaelson. But there was something that came to Josie's mind but she wasn't sure if Hope had included it in her plan: "What about Emma Tig? She knows the minute dark magic is performed on school grounds and she's going to tell Dad."
"Yes, I've thought about that, too," Hope nodded since she had thought about it, too: "That's why I'm going to practice dark magic elsewhere in the school, but it will leave stronger signatures, and make sure Emma catches me. So you can do the other spell and she won't know."
"You would let yourself get caught doing this for me on purpose?" Josie asked in surprise and felt a slight tingling in the pit of her stomach. All too long ago, she never expected to work with Hope Mikaelson, let alone have such a relationship with her. Even though she didn't know exactly what kind of relationship it was.