Shielding The Innocent - Niklaus Mikaelson

Chapter 3

Bexley's Point of View

Hope is at her desk with her head in a book, concentrating as much as she can on homework. She has her headphones in her ears in an attempt to drown out every distractions. I had already finished my assignments, without caring what I wrote down. We've been back at school for a few days now and the guilt is slowly killing me. What happened to Aunt Hayley and mom is all our fault, so Hope and I have been looking through an abundance of locating books trying to find a spell to find them, or at the very least inspiration for a spell.

Unfortunately for my grades, school has taken a temporary backseat to finding them. Leaving New Orleans was the last thing I wanted, but my dad was right, he can't be around us and do what he needs to do to locate mom and Aunt Hayley. The situation bothers him just as bad as it bothers me. Even though I'm angry with him for being absent, I can tell that mom being missing upsets him. I just hope he isn't taking that out on everyone in New Orleans.

A knock on the door catches mine and Hope's attention. She throws me a confused look and I just shrug. We don't really have friends here. I mean we talk to people, we just aren't close enough for them to be making room visits. In all honesty, with our dad not being around we stay pretty closed off. We're both pretty angry teenagers. Hope's desperate for his attention and I'm pissed off that he seems not to care. Being angry is easier than being hurt.

Hope gets up from her desk and slides her headphones around her neck. She opens the door. I can't see who it is from my spot on my bed, but I can see anxiety change Hope's body language. She pulls off her headphones and places them on the dresser by the door. "W-What happened?" She asks in concern. I abandon the book I'm halfway through and stand quickly, hurrying to stand right behind Hope.

"Did you find them?" I swallow thickly, expecting the worst. If they had and mom and Aunt Hayley were okay then surely they'd be the one's standing in front of us, and not our Aunt Freya.

"Uh, oh, no, nothing." She tells us and I can't help but feel a little relieved, because that means there's still a chance that they're alright. Aunt Freya shifts on her feet a bit, feeling a tad uncomfortable that we assumed she had news. "Uh, no, your... your father has search parties scouring every inch of the city. We'll find them."

"I just..." Hope shakes her head, taking a deep breath. "When I saw you, I thought that they... yeah."

"Me too." I sigh in agreement.

"Wait." Hope says in confusion. "If they're still missing then what are you doing here?"

"Care package." Aunt Freya smiles, holding up a brown paper bag. "Thought you guys could use a taste of home."

"You drove like ten hours..." I trail off narrowing my eyes in suspicion.

"To bring us beignets?" Hope finishes my sentence, feeling just as skeptical.

"You know, I figured with everything going on, you two could use a friend." She offers.

"Thanks, but we're really fine." Hope objects.

"Mm-hmm." Aunt Freya hums, not believing her either. She looks over Hope's head, trying to see into our room. Hope grips the door tighter and attempts to block her view to my bed and the floor. "You know, I could be wrong, but, um, I think this is the part where you guys invite me in."

"Yeah. Yeah." Hope reluctantly agrees, not having an excuse not to. She opens the door to let her in. Hope goes to the middle of our floor and starts picking up the evidence of all the locator spells we did and I dart to my bed and start closing the books I had open. Aunt Freya watches us in amusement.