Lizzie's Pov
On cue, the elevator's doors open up to reveal the Mikaelson household's enormous library. My mom's jaw drops, and even though I've been here before, I stare in shock, too. This place really is magnificent.
"Over here," Hope calls to us from in front of a locked door in the library. At her finger's touch, the door swings open. We enter the room, which is filled with hundreds of leather bound grimoires.
"A millennia's worth of spellbooks," Hope announces. "Have your pick."
I flip through about half a dozen books, getting more and more entranced by the number of ancient spells with each page that I turn. All three of us continue to pick out books and read them, trying to find something that can help us use the bonding spell between me and Real Hope to divide Hope's two minds into two separate bodies.
"I think I've got something," Hope and I say at the same time. The two of us stare at each other, then rush towards one another to compare what we've found.
"Isn't that..." my mom frowns at the picture on the book that I've put forth.
"A trident," I nod eagerly. "An artifact used to transfer consciouses between two people, thus inhabiting each other's bodies."
"It's a good idea, but we only have one body," my mom says, pointing at Hope.
"Which is where this comes in," Hope taps the page she found.
"What language is that?" I frown.
"Gaelic," Hope replies.
"You know how to speak Gaelic?" I say in disbelief.
Hope nods. "And French. And Ancient Celtic. And Norwegian. I know a bit of Latin, too. Just the basic magical languages," she says. "You'd be surprised how much you can learn when you've got absolutely nothing better to do," she says at the stunned expression on my face.
"Anyways, look," Hope points to a long passage on the page. "Cloning magic."
"That isn't a thing," I say, before I can stop myself. And then I scowl when Hope stares at me like she wants to tell me how much of an idiot I am.
"The first research on cloning magic started way back in Ancient Greek times," Hope trails her finger along the page. "People who worshipped the goddess Hecate devoted their entire lives to such matters. But it wasn't until the seventeenth century that a particular coven actually succeeded in this, by mixing replication, representative, and connective magic together."
Hope pauses, then gives a wryly smile. "The catch is, though, this spell could only be cast by a member of that particular coven."
I groan. "That's it, then?" I sigh. "Even if we do manage to get our hands on a trident, without a witch from that specific coven, we won't be able to-"
"The Gemini Coven," Hope cuts over my words.
I stare at her. "Huh?" I say.
"The Gemini Coven was the coven that succeeded in performing the cloning spell. Good for us we've got a Gemini witch with us, hm?" Hope smirks.
"Why wouldn't you lead with that in the first place?" I say angrily.
"So you two think you might be able to somehow merge the trident's magic and this spell together?" my mom asks. "You'll be able to get- uh, 'Real Hope' out of Hope's mind safely?"
"Maybe, maybe not," Hope says.
I roll my eyes at her, then say to my mom, "Yes."
"Great. So... Where are we going to get a trident? Don't only five of them exist in the entire world?" my mom asks.
"Three, actually. And only two have been spotted in the past century," Hope corrects her.
"Then what the hell are we supposed to do?" I mutter.
"You guys are really fortunate that I'm on your side," Hope sighs dramatically.
"You have a trident?" I ask her with wide eyes.
"No," she shakes her head. "But I know someone who does."
*****
It's about six in the evening, and the three of us are standing outside a penthouse in Jackson Square. The building looks pretty old, but not worn out. The perfect word to describe it would be 'classical'.
"This is where your trident-owning mystery friend lives?" I ask.
"She owns this place. I wouldn't say she 'lives' here. She travels around a lot, but when she's staying in New Orleans, this is where she comes to eat and sleep," Hope replies. "Luckily for us, she just arrived from Europe earlier today, so she'll be here."
So this is the person Klaus and Hope were talking about before.
We walk into the lobby of the penthouse, and enter the elevator. Soft music plays from overhead speakers on the ride up.
Finally, me, my mom, and Hope step out onto the twenty first floor. The hallway is warmly lit, and is lined with numerous paintings by various artists. Some are abstract, others are scenic views, and a few of them are portraits.
Hope walks towards the double doors in front of us. She knocks on the door, and waits for an answer.
"Since when are you so polite?" I ask. "Aren't you the type to go around kicking down doors the moment you spot them?"
"I am," Hope nods. "But in this case, even the smallest attempt at breaking in would get me incinerated or hexed or turned to stone, and I'm not at all eager to turn into a life-sized statue, are you?"
Frowning, I stare at the door. I'm guessing a witch lives here, then? A witch skilled with spells and jinxes and stuff?
"Open the door," Hope knocks again. "My dad said you landed at the airport in the morning, so I know you're in there. Are you avoiding me or something?"
The doors swing open, and I'm met face to face with a beautiful blonde woman who has a stunningly sharp jawline. She looks to be about college age, and she's wearing a pitch black fur coat. Her smoky style eyeshadow has been applied with perfection.
The woman's stern demeanor breaks when she finds Hope's face. A smirk grows on her dark red lips. "Little Miss Mikaelson," she says, tilting her head at Hope.
"Are you going to let us in, or what?" Hope says expectantly.
"Manners, Hope," the woman smiles. "Aren't you going to tell me how much you missed me?"
"Fine," Hope says in an irritated manner, though I can see that she's trying to hide a smile. "It's nice to see that you're back in town," Hope says, walking into the apartment and swinging around so that she's facing the woman again, "Cami."
*****
Before I continue on with the story, I wanted to say I was thinking of maybe writing a spinoff book to this one? Starring Alternate Hope as the main character? I'm not yet sure as to whether I should do this or not, but let me know what you think about this idea! (More details at the end of this chapter) :)
*****
My mom and I awkwardly shuffle inside. I shut the door hesitantly, being careful not to touch anything but the handles. I don't want to be turned to stone or incinerated, after all.
"God, I'd forgotten what a great view you have from here," Hope skips over to the window and stares out longingly.
"That doesn't mean much, coming from the girl whose bedroom window overlooks the sight of her father's numerous vampire guards training from dawn till dusk," the woman named Cami says.
"Speaking of Klaus," Cami frowns, "How the hell did he know I was in town? Don't tell me he's still having me followed."
"He's still having you followed," Hope answers. "But he's just looking out for you."
"He's being paranoid, is more like it," Cami grumbles. She goes over to the minibar in this large apartment and fixes herself a drink. "You want anything? What about you two?" she says first to Hope, then to me and my mom. "Hang on- Hope, who are these people?" she points to us.
"My friends," Hope replies.
"Other than me, you don't have any friends," Cami says.
"So I've heard," Hope rolls her eyes.
"Anyways, what were we talking about?" Cami asks. "Oh, right- How your father is an insecure, overly-suspicious, mistrustful control freak."
"Control freak?" Hope laughs and shakes her head. "You're the only vampire in New Orleans whom he doesn't compel. You should be the last person to say such a thing."
"I think you're forgetting about the part where he turned me into a vampire in the first place. Against my will."
"You like being a vampire. And you love doing the job you do," Hope says. "The legendary Collector of the supernatural world? The infamous deal-maker that everyone's too afraid to go up against because she's gathered so many dark artifacts that she's practically a dark witch herself?"
"You're giving me too much credit, Hope," Cami laughs. "The only reason the people I make exchanges with don't kill me on sight is that I have your father's name by my side to protect me. And besides," Cami shakes her head, "More than half the dark artifacts I own was passed down to me by my ancestors; Namely my uncle, Kieran."
"You're the one who built up a reputation for yourself, though," Hope says. "Everyone knows who you are. The woman who owns practically every magical artifact known to man. Speaking of," she crosses her legs as she sits down on the sofa, "I'm in need of something."
"Should've known you didn't just come here to chat," Cami says sarcastically. "What do you want?"
"A trident," Hope answers.
Cami raises her eyebrows. "Why?" she asks suspiciously. "Under what circumstances would you need- Does your dad even know you're here?"
"Can't you just give it to me?" Hope complains.
"A powerful weapon of that much caliber? I don't think so," Cami scoffs. "Look, I only came back here because I found the Norwegian talisman your dad was looking for. I'm selling that to him, and then I'm leaving right away. Preferably before word gets out to your mom that I'm in town."
"My mom? You two still haven't sorted your issues out?" Hope says, steering the conversation away from the trident, possibly to make Cami let her guard down before asking for it again.
"She tried coming at me with an ax last time," Cami says.
"Yeah, because you used one of your artifact thingies to throw my mom across the entire compound!"
"That only happened because she tried to punch me! I had that artifact rigged to activate only when I felt threatened."
"I'm sure there's a perfectly logical explanation as to why she tried to punch you," Hope states matter-of-factly.
"The only 'logical explanation' here is that your dad married the one person on earth who's more paranoid than him. I still have no clue as to how Hayley translated my words, 'Hey Klaus, here's the amulet from Romania that you asked for' to 'Hey Klaus, I want you to fucking rail me'." Cami throws her hands up in the air exasperatedly, and Hope slams her face into the couch pillows, trying to stifle her laughter.
"You know that's just who my mom is. She'll try to kill any woman who gets within a mile radius of my dad," Hope gasps, heaving in and out in an attempt to control her laughs.
"Whatever the case, you need to get out," Cami insists. "Because there is no way I'm giving a seventeen year old girl a trident."
"I'll buy it from you," Hope sits up properly. "That's your whole thing, isn't it? You'll sell anything for the right price."
"Get out, Hope," Cami groans.
"Fine," Hope grumbles. "But can we at least spend some time together before you leave? Please?" she whines.
"What did you have in mind?" Cami asks, looking relieved that Hope has decided to drop the subject.
"Just you and me, walking through the moonlit streets of New Orleans, sinking our fangs into anyone we can find," Hope replies cheerfully.
"Sure. But we're not draining anyone completely, alright? I don't kill humans," Cami says.
"I know, I know," Hope rolls her eyes, as if 'I don't kill humans' is the stupidest thing she's ever heard of. "Can we go right now?"
I stare at her. Is she serious? She's just giving up on the whole trident thing?
But then Hope shoots me a knowing look, and I begin to think that maybe, just maybe, Hope has something else up her sleeve.
"Let's go," Cami grabs her purse. "But we're visiting Rousseau's, first. I've missed that place."
Cami waits until me, Hope, and my mom are all out of her apartment before stepping out herself. My vampire hearing picks up on the sound of multiple locks clicking into place, and a shimmering noise, like a dozen enchantments being put into motion.
"These two are gonna head back to their rickety old home," Hope says to Cami, whilst pointing at me and my mom. "And when I say 'rickety', I mean rickety. Like, their window is so worn down that even baby twins could crawl inside safely," Hope laughs, then waves us away.
I watch as she and Cami head down Jackson Street together, laughing and talking about who knows what.
"You caught that clue, right?" my mom asks me.
I nod, and smile. "Worn down window, baby twins," I answer.
Obviously, if Cami is a dark artifact collector, then that means her house is protected by all sorts of strange magic and objects. I'm guessing most of her artifacts are siphon-proof, too, meaning even I won't be able to break past her barrier spells without being put through excruciating pain. But Hope just told us that twins could make their way in through the window safely. Twins, as in me and Josie. Siphon witches.
"How the hell are we going to get all the way up there?" my mom says, looking up at the window of the twenty first floor.
"Hold onto my hand," I tell her, and begin to concentrate. Placing levitating charms on small objects is easy, but when you're trying to levitate yourself, whilst making sure you don't hover off to some place other than your destination, it requires more than 'a little bit' of focus.
I manage, though. After placing an 'invisique' spell on myself and my mom to make sure the passing humans don't notice two blonde girls flying up into the atmosphere, I levitate us onto Cami's balcony. From there, I use my siphoning abilities to undo all the hexes on the window.
My mom goes in first, and then I follow. We begin to search for a secret compartment or door, because obviously, the world's most precious magical artifacts aren't going to be hidden under the kitchen sink or something.
"Wait- I've seen this before," my mom says, pointing to the photograph hanging at the very back of the apartment. The photo is a picture of a wall painting in Jackson Square. It kind of looks like a person's face.
"When I was visiting New Orleans a few years ago, Klaus and I came here, to Jackson Square, and he showed me this mural. He told me about a woman he shared a true connection with, someone he mused about art with. I think he said her name was... Camille," she says in realization.
She grips the frame of the photograph, and carefully tilts it to the side. In doing so, a section of the wall beside it is pressed inwards, and it slides open to reveal a room. Inside are shelves stacked with hundreds of weapons, books, amulets, totems...
"Trident," my mom and I say at the same time.
I use my magic to levitate the trident out of the shelves, because the last thing either of us needs to do is activate a silent alarm or something by stepping inside the secret room. Once the trident is grasped firmly in my hand, my mom closes the secret door, and the two of us go out the window again.
*****
Okay, so for the spinoff book thing: If I do end up writing a story with Alternate Hope as the main character, I'll have the setting be in this Alternate World. I don't know who to have as the antagonists or what the overall storyline should be, though, so all ideas are welcome :)