𝐇𝐔𝐍𝐓𝐄𝐃 | Hosie ✔️

Chapter 22

Josie pawed nervously with her feet while she tried not to let on anything. She had leaned against a wall in front of her father's office and held her gaze towards the closed door. Meanwhile, she was wearing the typical uniform that all students of the Salvatore School wore. The sleeve of the dark blue sweater also allowed her to hide the mark that had been burned into her forearm since the dark spell. According to Hope's information, she was not the only one. The girl whose face she had seen in the mirror had also been branded, and that would be exactly what would lead her to her.

For them to start looking for her, Hope had to leave her father's office first. But so far Hope had not yet come out from behind the double door and probably still had to take the director's blows. So Josie had no choice but to hope that Hope would not betray her secret. However, she trusted the other girl enough to believe that she would never do so.

No sooner had she grasped this thought than the doors opened slowly, allowing her to see Hope, Emma Tig, and her father. Alaric was sitting at his desk and had leaned back on his chair, his fingers intertwined on the tabletop. His grim expression on his face, however, told her that the conversation must have been anything but at his pleasure. Emma Tig didn't seem too enthusiastic either but was better able to hide it. She had her arms crossed in front of her chest, but when she turned to Hope, a small, good-natured smile appeared on her lips. The witch had always had a good heart and tried to help her students instead of punishing them for their mistakes. But after Hope explained to Josie that she had been caught practicing dark magic before, she could understand Miss Tig's disappointment. At the same time, Josie knew that Alaric had a hard time staying mad at Hope for a long time. A thing that had made her and her twin sister angry enough in the past. In the meantime, however, her view of the Mikaelson had changed by a hundred and eighty degrees.

Hope seemed to say goodbye to both adults before she started moving away from the office. Out of the corner of her eye, she glanced briefly in Josie's direction but didn't go in her direction, just kept on walking down the aisle to drown in the crowd. Josie hesitated for a moment but then decided to move away from her position and to disappear from her father's view as well. Then she would finally be able to talk to Hope in peace and tell her what she had experienced.

"Hey, Hope", Josie said quietly as she was right behind her and reached out her hand to grab her arm and stop her from walking any further. When she heard her voice, Hope looked over her shoulder and stopped immediately when she recognized the girl behind her.

"Josie", when she pronounced the name, a broad smile appeared on her lips and an expression of relief spread across her face: "Are you all right?"

It surprised Josie that the first thing Hope asked about was not the course of the spell, but how she was doing.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Don't worry", Josie nodded reassuringly and grabbed the other girl's hand to gently pull her along: "But maybe we should go to a more private place so I can tell you everything I found out."

"So you've found out something", she asked as she led Josie into an empty classroom. In the meantime, the corridors had filled up again with students and members of the other schools. However, there were no more classes at this time, so they could easily use these rooms without having to worry about someone bursting in.

"Of course I did", nodded Josie as soon as she closed the door behind them. She was a person who liked to play it safe and even if she now knew who was behind her dreams, she wasn't keen on anyone finding out she had used black magic.

The corners of Hope's mouth lifted further when she heard this news: "Great, tell me."

It wasn't that she didn't trust Josie to get the line right. Instead, she had been more afraid that her distraction was not enough or that the spell might harm Josie. Too many times she had watched the siphon girl get hurt now. By her sister, by her father, by her ex-girlfriend and by a person who terrorized her for some reason. Hope, however, didn't want to be someone who hurt Josie - even if it might happen unintentionally to the others - but someone she could rely on and someone who would offer her protection.

"Unfortunately I couldn't find out a name, but when the person left the hall where the competition took place, she passed a mirror and I could see her face. Even if it was only a fleeting moment, I am sure I would recognize her if I saw the girl again", she explained confidently. Every time she closed her eyes, she could see the face and therefore did not doubt her ability to discover her.

"That means you don't know the person at all", Hope concluded, raising one eyebrow. But how could that be? After all, Josie was the principal's daughter and knew most of the students at least by sight.

Josie crunched her jaws thoughtfully. She couldn't remember ever having faced a person who looked like the person in the mirror. Now that Hope brought it up, she had to admit that for some reason the face looked familiar. Not at first, but now that Hope spoke to it again, a name was suddenly mixed with the picture and it suddenly became clear to her.

"No, I don't really know her, but I have seen her face before", Josie stepped straight back towards the door and with a gesture of her hand told Hope to follow her. She frowned in amazement and could not make sense of the girl's words. However, she followed her without objections: "What do you mean, Josie?"

"Do you remember when you left your notebook in Dad's office", she began to explain as she wriggled her way back between her classmates: "Dad sent me to get it for you and bring it to your room. That's why I thought you were behind it at first."

She bit her lower lip slightly when she admitted it. After all, she had gone through Hope's private things that were none of her business. She'd have to apologize for that later, though. Now wasn't the time.

"Anyway, I saw a new student's file on his desk in his office. A witch named Claire Rodriguez", when she pronounced the name, she felt her heart start beating faster and anger sprouted in her that she had never felt before. However, she could not understand why a stranger would do such a thing to her. Josie had not done anything to her after all. As best she could, she tried to push the feelings away from her and concentrate on Hope, who walked next to her and looked at her curiously: "There was a picture, too. Until just now I had repressed it, but now for some reason, it suddenly came back to me. The girl whose eyes I saw through earlier was Claire Rodriguez."

"But why would someone who has nothing to do with you do something like that?", Hope asked with a slightly wrinkled forehead, expressing exactly what Josie herself thought.

"I guess the only way to find out is to find Claire and bring her to my father", Josie explained, who had arrived at that moment in the lounge of the school building.