𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐞𝐞
𝐰𝐞'𝐫𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐩𝐮𝐧𝐤𝐞𝐝,𝐩𝐞𝐝𝐫𝐨
{𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐭𝐞𝐝}
It's the next morning and the two Mikaelson's along with the Saltzman twins and Charlotte were sitting in a circle in their class. "All right,gather together." Dorian says as he circles the group. "Chain spells are about the fluid movement of energy from witch to witch."
"Where's Penelope Park?" Dorian questions.
"Um,lady cramps, Mr. Williams." Lizzie answers with a smile as she looks up at the man. "Sorry I asked." Dorian says,slightly awkwardly.
"A disharmonious group makes for an uneven flow." Dorian said,making some students laugh at the unintentional pun while Hope and Evelyn simply rolled their eyes at them
The students looked up as a piece of paper floated over to Dorian while Josie said, "Uh-oh,who's in trouble with the headmaster?"
"Probably the people who started a rumble with the local high school." Hope commented.
"Lizzie Saltzman,Josie Saltzman,Charlotte Forbes." Dorian read off before turning his gaze to the two Mikaelson's. "And baby makes four." He said as all sense of amusement drained from the twos faces. "Off you go."
༄༄༄
"This makes no sense, Dad. Why are we being punished?" Lizzie asked as the four teens walked up the library steps and followed after the man.
"Because you started a brawl at a charity football game that risked exposing what we really do here." Alaric replied in slight exasperation.
"Well, you weren't mad last night." Lizzie said.
"I was mad last night." Alaric corrected her, "My undying love for my daughters just happened to trump my rage. I volunteered everyone in the game, so stop complaining."
"You're lucky that it's just community service and not actual jail time." He added.
"Can I at least offer a rebuttal in my defense, if it pleases the court?" Lizzie asked, Alaric holding out a hand as if it say 'go ahead'.
"First of all, I was provoked." Lizzie said.
"My response was totally proportional considering the levels of abuse that I was forced to endure." Lizzie continued as both Hope and Evelyn rolled their eyes in disbelief, this girl was something else.
"And secondly... if anyone should take the blame, it's Josie." Lizzie said as Charlotte gasped "Lizzie."
"I'm sorry. I totally cracked under cross, but if you had just let Kaleb catch the ball.." Alaric interrupted her, "You'd still be in trouble."
"But nice job throwing your sister under the bus." Hope nodded as Lizzie glared at her. "Real classy." Evelyn said.
"Thank you, Hope, Evie." Josie said, surprised at the Mikaelson's defending her.
"Speaking of, the bus leaves in ten minutes and I expect all five of you to be on it, working together today, harmoniously and without drama. End of debate." Alaric said sternly.
"Me and Evie weren't even at the game. Why are we being punished?" Hope asked.
"You know what you two did." Alaric sent a pointed look to the two.
"All right, now go, all of you." Alaric said, as the four slowly walked away, while Hope stayed.
༄༄༄
"So, what did you do?" Lizzie asked the two girls, "My dad never gets mad at the two of you. You're the prodigal daughter's. Must have been juicy."
"Sorry, no time for girl talk. Public service awaits." Hope said.
"All right, listen up." Dorian interrupted them. "It's a beautiful day. You got options, litter, weeds, graffiti. Your choice."
"It's bad enough we get punished while the humans get a pass, but there ain't no way in hell I'm picking up their garbage." Kaleb held out the trash picker to Lizzie but she held up her hands in denial, "Uh, I don't do trash either."
"Me and Hope love trash, as of this moment." Evelyn took the trash picker from Kaleb's hands before turning back around. "Perf. It suits the both of you." Lizzie commented.
She turned around to Josie, "Looks like we're scrubbing paint today."
"Dad told us to work together, okay, harmoniously." Josie tried.
"Yeah, and he also said without drama, and I am feeling a rage attack coming on, so I will be remaining drama-free over by that wall of graffiti." Lizzie looked over at the wall of graffiti before asking. "Are you coming or not?"
"I don't know Lizzie, is there another bus you want to throw me under?" Josie walked over to stand by Hope and Evelyn as Evie sent her a smile.
"Fine, Daddy's girls." Lizzie snapped.
"Anyone else?" She asked the group of students. Almost all the students walked over to her side as they all walked away before she turned back and called out, "Get the lead out, MG." MG hesitated for a moment before walking over and following after Lizzie.
༄༄༄
The three walked in silence before Hope spoke up, "You have a future in waste management."
"Cleaning up messes is kinda my thing." Josie stated.
"Well, your sister is kind of a dumpster fire..." Hope said.
"Hope." Evelyn scolded her, "Seriously?"
"Why do you always pick fights?" Josie asked Hope, "We've known each other a decade, and anytime you have the chance you poke."
"You guys do your fair share of poking." Hope said.
"Yeah, in retaliation to your pokes. And with you spending so much time with my dad, along with keeping secrets.." Josie said but Hope cut her off, "We're not keeping secrets."
"Oh,yeah? What happened when you went to go find Landon Kirby?" Josie questioned the two.
"Nothing happened." Evelyn replied.
"Something clearly did happen. Rafael never showed up at school, my dad was rattled, so why won't you just tell me?" Josie asked.
"Because there's nothing to tell!" Hope shouted, as she accidentally stabbed her toe with the stick used to pick up trash before both Josie and Evelyn ran over to her. "Aah! Oh, my god. Ah! Ow."
"What can we do to help?" Josie questioned.
"Help me pull it out." Hope replied.
"What?" Josie asked.
"She can heal herself." Evelyn realized, while Hope added. "Pull it out."
Evelyn and Josie pulled the stick out of her foot and fell on their buts before Josie looked up and said, "You poked yourself."
All three girls started to laugh as Hope said, "Shut up." The three continued to laugh joyfully.
༄༄༄
The three were done picking up their fair share of trash, when Josie suddenly bent over in pain, groaning.
"Everything okay?" Evelyn asked.
"Yeah, I just think that that's making me a little bit nauseous." Josie nodded behind them, making the two girls turn only to see MG and Dana kissing.
"Huh." Hope said. "Didn't see that coming." Evelyn added.
"It's simple math. MG had the hormones of a teenager and the impulse control of a preschooler." Josie stated as both the girls let out a chuckle at her statement.
"He also always goes for the wrong kinds of girls." She continued.
"Given my last crush, I can't judge." Hope stated, referring to Roman Sienna, who got her and Evelyn's mom killed.
"Well, my last crush was actually Satan incarnate." Josie said, making both girls chuckle. "That is, I guess, unless you count..." She trailed off.
"Who?" Evelyn asked curiously.
"Never mind. It doesn't really matter anymore." Josie shook her head. "Lizzie has dibs."
"Dibs?" Hope questioned. "On Rafael?"
"She always calls dibs, when's it gonna be your turn?" Evelyn asked.
"It just is what it is." Josie stated.
"Right, well, that doesn't really make it right." Hope said.
Josie suddenly stopped and turned to look at the two, making them pause and take a deep breath in before speaking. "Your dad knows I used black magic. That's why I'm in trouble, and Evelyn knew and didn't tell him, that's why she's here." Hope explained.
"Don't worry, I didn't tell him that you helped me with the spell." Hope reassured when she noticed Josie's worried expression.
"Thank you." Josie said earnestly.
"And Landon and Rafael took off together. Landon told us he didn't know why he stole the knife." Evelyn continued.
"But then he lied about having it, so I don't know what to believe. Then he wrote me this letter that was... I don't know, sweet." Hope finished.
Josie sighed before looking down and speaking, "Lizzie's...sensitive. Our mom is going on these really long recruitment missions recently. That's why she's extra testy. She just really misses her."
"We've known the feeling." Evelyn said sadly.
"I remember when your mom used to come by the school when we were kids. We all used to say how beautiful she was." Josie said.
"She is." Hope nodded.
"Even if she came back to life, we really should have sent you flowers or something." Josie said apologetically.
"You did." Both girls chuckled, "Your dad signed your names. It was obvious."
"Okay." Josie nodded. "We definitely deserve a little bit of poking." Hope and Evelyn both laughed at her words.
"I wonder where the boys are right now." Josie said suddenly.
The two Mikaelson's paused before turning to Josie as Hope said, "There's this spell that our Aunt Freya taught us. It's kind of like a full-immersion video chat."
"Okay, but don't we need something of Landon's to..." Josie was cut off as Hope pulled the note Landon wrote her out of her pocket and held it out.
"Is that the letter?" She asked.
Evelyn took a deep breath as she shook her head and said "You can't tell your dad. They don't teach this at school."
"This is the kind of secret that I can get behind." Josie nodded as she shared a smile with the two girls.
The three were doing the spell before Josie suddenly let go and bent over in pain. "Why'd you stop?" Hope asked.
"This is triplet pain. Something's wrong, I think Lizzie and Lottie are in trouble." Josie said worriedly, looking up at the two.
The three girls decided to go and find Dorian to see if they had answers.
Once they found him, he told them "I'm sorry, I can't let you leave."
"No, I need to go home to see my sister's." Josie pleaded with the man. "Your dad's with your sister's. And I'm under strict orders to keep you here." Dorian said.
"What? Why?" Evelyn asked.
"And why are you researching that?" Hope questioned, looking at the page of one of the books Dorian was reading.
Dorian hurriedly closed the book before sighing in defeat, knowing he would have to give in to the girls.
༄༄༄
It is now night time and the three teens run into the school as Josie calls out, "Lizzie? Lottie?"
"We'll check the library." Hope said, before she and Evelyn turned and walked away.
"What are you doing here?" Alaric asked from behind them, making both the girls jump fearfully. "Oh my god. You scared us."
"Dorian was supposed to keep you away." Alaric said.
"He tried. He lost." Evelyn stated.
"But here." Hope handed him a paper. "Killing Gargoyles 101. He thought you could translate it."
"So are we on our own, or did the Gauls provide clear instruction?" Hope and Evelyn asked in unison.
"In a nutshell, it says hit it hard, repeat as needed." Alaric responded.
They heard the gargoyle roar as Hope asked, "Is that?.."
"Yeah. Listen, it poisoned Lizzie. I'm guessing, to get my attention. Then it attacked me and took the knife." Alaric informed them.
"The knife? The dragon knife?" Hope asked. "And you're still breathing?" Evelyn asked.
"Oh, I have a theory about that." Alaric stated.
"Well, save it, because we had to take down that containment spell to get inside the school, meaning our monster can get out." Evelyn told him.
"A containment spell?" He asked, before coming to a realization. "Lizzie wanted to make sure whatever attacked her didn't escape into the world. Good girl."
He walked over and took an ax off the wall before asking, "So how'd you take the containment spell down?"
"They didn't. I did." Josie spoke up as she walked over to them. She took the ax out of Alaric's hands before saying. "And I have questions."
༄༄༄
The group of four walked down the hallway towards the dining room.
"Emma? Emma." Alaric called out as they entered the dining room.
Emma opened the door to the room she was in and held up a shh motion with her finger as Josie stared at her in confusion. Hope and Evelyn both turned around when they heard growling coming from behind them. The Gargoyle flew down the stairs with it's wings spread out as Hope and Evelyn fell to the ground from the impact of the Gargoyle.
"No!" Alaric shouted as he realized the Gargoyle was about to hurt the two. "Dad!" Josie shouted.
"No!" Alaric shouted again as the gargoyle's knife was an inch from stabbing him.
Josie snuck up behind the Gargoyle and with the ax chopped one of it's wings off. The Gargoyle turned to attack her, but Alaric hit it from behind.
"Fluctus inpulsa." Hope shouted."Josie,Evie help me!"
"How?" Josie questioned.
"Just repeat after me." Hope responded.
"Fluctus inpulsa. Fluctus inpulsa. Fluctus inpulsa. Fluctus inpulsa. Fluctus inpulsa. Fluctus inpulsa." The three chanted together. The Gargoyle exploded as Alaric stood behind them.
Hope sighed and turned to Josie and Evelyn, "Nice job."
Josie turned to her dad with tears in her eyes, "How could you jump in front of them like that?" You could have died, Dad."
"Honey, I knew it wouldn't kill me because my research said so..." Alaric trailed off as Josie walked away from him.
༄༄༄
"How are Lizzie and Lottie?" Hope asked as she and Evelyn entered Alaric's office.
"Recovering quickly, thanks to their sister." Alaric replied.
"So, how did you know the gargoyle wouldn't kill you?" Evelyn questioned.
"Gargoyles are protectors. And folklore tells a tale of a gargoyle who once protected a small settlement in France who villagers revered a powerful relic. A knife." Alaric informed them.
"Our knife?" Evelyn asked.
"As the story goes, the gargoyle loved the humans he protected so much, he vowed never to harm humanity. Instead, he chose to fight evil on their behalf." Alaric responded.
"Me being the evil one in this scenario. Josie, Lizzie, Evelyn." Hope said.
"In its mind, yes." Alaric nodded, "I realized when it didn't hurt me before, it saw me as the one who needed protection."
"I'm not sure that knowing that will make them feel any better." Hope stated.
"I should get back to the girls." Alaric said.
"Wait." Hope stopped him, "One more thing. You're always telling us that we need to work together. To put our own feelings aside for the school, for the community. I know we haven't always listened to you with that kind of stuff, but we're starting to think that it's actually pretty good advice, so... maybe you should take it. Because if you want us and the twins to get along, for them to be happy, for the school to be safe... these secrets are gonna tear us all apart."