𝐇𝐔𝐍𝐓𝐄𝐃 | Hosie ✔️

Chapter 23

Josie let her gaze wander over the students who had gathered in the common room. She looked for the dark brown hair and facial features of Claire Rodriguez. 

"What does this girl look like", asked Hope, who had positioned herself next to her and was also looking around. 

"Dark brown hair, brown eyes, petite figure, tanned skin, pretty face", Josie described in her thoughts. Hope narrowed her eyes slightly, and her gaze turned to a girl standing in a corner and looking into the fireplace.
"What about that one, Josie", Hope gently pushed Josie to the side with her elbow. She fit the description almost perfectly, and when Josie looked in the direction Hope was pointing, she froze for a moment.
"Yes, that's her", Josie explained as she regained her composure. But what should they do now?
"I think it's time to finally tell your father what's going on", said Hope, whose voice had something soft mixed in: "Only with his help can we get this girl to tell us why she's doing this to you."

Josie could not help but sigh with a light sigh. She wasn't eager to hear about it from her father. He would only worry again and condemn her for not turning to him for help immediately. But Hope was right. This girl wouldn't just tell you everything because you asked.
"Well, we'd better go to him now and explain everything to him", she agreed with the Tribridin and turned on her heel to go to her father's office.

-

A few minutes later, Josie and Claire Rodriguez were sitting on a chair with a dark green cover. Hope stood leaning against a wall and overlooked the whole situation. It didn't escape her notice that Josie was sitting there completely tense, and she wanted to go over to her to grab her hand and calm her down. But she tried to concentrate on the situation and turned her eyes back to Doctor Saltzman. He had been sitting there in silence for a while now after they had told him everything that had happened. Fortunately, Josie hadn't said a word about the fact that she had thought Hope guilty of a dark spell at first.

"I can't believe you didn't tell me about this", was the first thing he said as he bent forward in his chair and released his folded hands. Josie swallowed hard, but Hope finally detached herself from the wall and took a step into the room: "What's that doing right now, Doctor Saltzman? Isn't it more important to know why she did this to Josie instead of why we didn't tell you?"

Claire, sitting next to Josie, held her gaze straight ahead at a wooden picture frame on the director's desk. Inside was a photo of Alaric holding the twins. Behind them stretched the Salvatore Boarding School building. When people talked about them around her, she showed no reaction at all but seemed completely focused on the picture.

For a moment, Alaric looked at his daughter and Hope before nodding: "You're right."
Then he turned to the girl who was just sitting there: "What do you have to say to that, Claire? Are the accusations of your classmates true? Did you use dark magic to influence Josie?"
That's the first time he got her to raise her eyes and look at the principal and say: "Yes, it's true."
As she spoke, one corner of her mouth lifted slightly, and an almost diabolical expression mingled with her eyes.

Josie sucked the air next to her sharply, and her fingers closed around the armrests of the chair. She had already known it, but to hear it now was like a punch in the pit of her stomach.
"But why?", she brought out, trying not to take her eyes off the girl. The girl tilted her head slightly but did not turn her gaze aside: "Because it was my task. He told me to break you up. The twins. So that it would be easier for him when he came to get you."
The others swapped glances, and Alaric's brow furrowed before he turned to a question: "Who is he?" A strange feeling had spread through all of them, and a certain tension had built up in the room.
"Who is he?", she asked as if there was no need to ask a question: "Kai Parker wants me to greet you."