Hidden | Elijah Mikaelson |

2.6 Trance

I was the first one up the next morning so I went into the other room to wake Hope so I could feed her. Hayley left behind some formula before they left and I heated it in the microwave for her as I carried the little child on my hip. Her tiny hands reached up and started to play with the golden locket I always wore that had a picture of me and my parents in it. It was hard to believe that someone like Klaus could make someone so innocent and perfect.

The microwave beeped once it was finished and I tested to make sure it wasn't too hot before walking outside. The brisk morning air slapped against my body and I bundled Hope tightly in her pink blanket as I sat on the swing and fed her. Inside, I could hear Cami meddling in the kitchen and starting a pot of coffee. I missed the feeling coffee gave me. Now, it barely did anything to my senses. I needed something much stronger to have the same effect.

My phone started buzzing in my pocket and I shifted Hope to the side so I could answer it. "It's your mama," I told her while accepting the call. "What's up, Hayley?"

"I need a girl friend to talk to right now," she surprised me by saying. I considered Hayley and I to be close friends, but we were never friends that would call each other and gossip about little things. It was more like we protected each other from crazy witches and occasionally were in the same room together whenever we were plotting.

"I'll do my best," I promised.

"So Jack and I have been trying to figure out how we're going to get the wolves to follow us again. We have to offer them something better than the moonlight rings or else they'll stay with Esther. Apparently, there's some kind of marriage ritual that we can do that will unify the pack and allow them to have my ability to control whenever I transition," she explained with a sigh.

"Marriage ritual?" I repeated in amusement. "Like you and Jackson have to get married?"

"That's what it says," she grumbled. "I know we were destined to get married or whatever, but that was when I was Andrea Lebonair, not Hayley Marshall. I just don't know what to do."

"What about me? Jackson and Oliver told me that I had the power to bring all the werewolf packs together and that's why I was so important," I recalled while slowly swinging in my seat.

"You can marry Jackson, if that's what you're offering," she suggested.

"I don't think Elijah would like that very much," I reminded her.

She sighed again, "Yeah, you're right. And it wouldn't work if you married him anyway. It'll only work with me because we're part of the same pack. But the wolves still need you, Addie. They're a lot more antsy now that you've triggered your curse. They want to follow you."

"If I could come back, I would—"

"Look, I know why you can't. You're protecting Hope, which is the most important thing right now. I'll deal with the wolves and you watch over my little girl and then when things are back to normal I'll let you be their Queen or whatever," she cut me off.

I felt guilty that I wasn't there to lead them. They were my people and I was part of something special. But I had an obligation to my family right now, and I had to be here for Elijah and Hope. I could let Hayley handle them for right now. Then after I figured everything out with myself and who I was now I would help them.

"I gotta go," she told me after a few beats of silence, hesitating before she hung up. "Thanks for listening to me rant. It's nice to talk to someone who actually knows what I'm going through."

"Be careful out there with Finn. I have a feeling he's planning something big," I confessed.

"You too," she replied before hanging up. I looked down to see that Hope was finished eating and her eyes were closed again. I gently got up, trying not to wake her, and walked her back into her room to set her in the crib. I walked back into the living room where Elijah was looking out the window with his usual frown on his face. I moved to stand behind him and snaked my hands between his arms and around his chest.