CHAPTER EIGHTY NINE
[89]
song: everything in its right place by radiohead
"SHE'S IN HERE." The words echoed off the walls and Daisy jumped at the sudden noise.
She lifted her head, though however she was sleeping on her neck just then must've been all wrong since any and all movement hurt. Or, she was sleeping on her neck just fine, and it was the fact that she had slept all night on a freezing cement floor.
Her eyes widened, panicking. She kicked her feet, shuffling backward as she inhaled sharply. He'd found her. He'd found her and locked her in that pantry again. She'd braced for the tug at her wrists that would follow if she was bound to something. But the panic only lasted for a split second, similar to the moment of terror you feel when someone wakes you up from the deep sleep you were in.
And she felt ridiculous when she readjusted to her surroundings, she was just on the floor of the park bathroom, laying on her still sopping wet coat for any sort of comfort. Right where she was when she fell asleep.
"Oh my god," Josette says in a panic, joining Alaric in the doorway to the bathroom. She looks at Daisy worriedly, then rushes over to her. "Daisy, I'm so sorry."
Daisy wasn't sure what she was apologizing for. Not because she wasn't in need of an apology, but because there were so many thing to feel sorry about right now.
Josette bent down and helped Daisy up. "She's freezing." She says, speaking to Alaric, like Daisy wasn't right there. "Do you have a blanket- or a change of clothes in your truck?"
"I'll go check." Alaric says, before making a swift exit out the doorway.
Daisy was still readjusting to the brightness of the daytime light. And a sudden embarrassment came over her when she realized how insane she probably must look right now. Soaking wet, covered in blood, on the ground of a pretty much abandoned bathroom. She was glad Josette found her before anyone else did, though. It would probably be quite the start for the next kid who needed to use the bathroom at the park.
"I'm so sorry." Josette says. "I didn't wake up until an hour ago— I would've found you sooner. I can't believe Alaric just left you, I'm so—"
"It's okay." Daisy responded, cutting Josette off for apologizing a third time. Daisy could believe Alaric would leave her. It's not like he had any reason to show her kindness, she'd been nothing but a terror to him and the people he loved.
But here Josette was, already examining Daisy's injury with worry, despite them only being a few cuts. She didn't care what Daisy had done, or said, she was here to help. She just wanted to help.
Apart of Josette always blamed herself for what happened to Daisy. If she'd just spoken up sooner, none of this could've happened. But she also believed everything happens for a reason.
If Daisy was never sent to the prison world, Josette's family never would have up and left Wayward. Which lead to Kai going crazy, killing half their family and him being sent away himself. Which lead to Josette deciding she had to leave, separate herself entirely from her twisted family. Which lead to her getting a job in Mystic Falls, which lead to her meeting Alaric, which lead to her being pregnant.
It was selfish, and absolutely crazy to even consider that Daisy being sent to the prison world had anything to do with the fact that she was so happy right now. But when she went back and evaluated every moment— it was true.
"Here." Alaric says, walking in with a red wool blanket.
Josette grabbed it from him, wrapping it around Daisy and holding onto her shoulders to help her up. Daisy wasn't that hurt, but she was so cold that standing up on her own felt impossible.
The blanket didn't provide that much warmth as they walked into the cold, but Josette being beside her did. She held onto her the whole walk to the truck.
The drive to wherever they were going was fairly silent, despite the few murmurs exchanged between Josette and Alaric. There was nothing on Daisy's part. She just sat there, eyes lifeless and still as she couldn't help but wish she was back asleep. Dreaming about something else.
They took her back to Josette's apartment. Alaric was clearly not happy about it, but Daisy still didn't blame him for the resentment. She took a warm shower, and changed into dry clothes. But didn't feel any better than she did before.
When she walked out of the bathroom, Alaric and Josette's conversation fell short, and they both looked at her. It was immediately awkward, because Daisy knew they were talking about her, and they knew Daisy knew.
Josette cleared her throat. "How's your hand?" She asked.
Daisy glanced down at her palm, the one that she unintentionally sliced up last night with a shard of glass. It was wrapped earlier, but only for a few minutes because before she got in the shower she took it off. "It's—"
"I'll wrap it again." Josette says, getting off the couch and toward her medical bag.
Daisy shook her head quickly. "Josette, it's fine." She says. "I'm probably just gonna go."
Josette turns and looks at her. "Go?" She narrows her eyebrows. "Where?"
Daisy hadn't thought that far yet. "Find a hotel, or something."
"And then do what?" Josette asks.
Daisy takes a deep, frustrated breath. "I don't know. I just— I need to think."
"You can think here." Josette says.
Daisy shakes her head, she wanted to start gathering her stuff together, but she had nothing to gather. "Not with you watching my every move." She scoffs lightly. "I'm fine. Really. It's not like I'm gonna go off and kill myself." She jokes. It didn't land.
Josette bit the inside of her cheek, glancing at Alaric who even had a little bit of sympathy in his eyes. "At least stay for dinner."
It was at that moment Daisy realized what time it was. She glanced over to the clock on the oven. Almost five. How long was she asleep in that bathroom? She wasn't that tired. Maybe it was the crying, or maybe—
"I was dead. Wasn't I?" Daisy asks, the words feeling strange coming out of her mouth. She could tell the question didn't resonate very well with her audience, they quickly became uncomfortable. "Hypothermia?"
Josette took a sharp breath, glancing at Alaric like he'd know how to respond. "Yeah." Josette nods a little. "We think. Don't know for sure." They were walking on eggshells around her, afraid any wrong words would set her off in a crying fit.
When in reality, crying was the last thing on her mind. Her emotions felt stagnant. "Doesn't matter, I guess." Daisy says. "It felt like I was asleep. I guess it's sort of the same thing now." 'Now'. No, it's always been the same thing. You just didn't know. Her continued lighthearted comments were still not making anyone in the room feel any less uncomfortable than they were.
"We're ordering Chinese." Alaric says.
Daisy looked at him, maybe that was his way of saying she was welcome here. Even from him. She didn't smile, though maybe she should've, she just nodded.
Josette let out a small sigh of relief, before sending a forced smile in Alaric's direction. He got up from the couch and walked to the kitchen, where he picked up the phone to order.
"How are you doing?" Josette asks.
Daisy takes a breath, then shrugs it off. "Let's not talk about it." She says. Josette nods understandingly.
It was strange how kind they were both being. Letting her be in their home, use their shower and wear their clothes. Even getting her dinner, and urging her to stay. It was almost embarrassing, the amount they pitied her. Enough to welcome her into their lives, despite everything she'd done to ruin them.
Or maybe, maybe, they were just genuinely good people.
There was something about sitting down at their dinner table with them that just made her sad. It was a wooden table, one with a few candles and a house plant in the middle. A light fixture hung above it.
Josette and Alaric talked to one another, about work, about life. It wasn't like they themselves reminded her of her family, of her parents specifically, it was more the situation she was in. Eating quietly as she listened in on someone else's conversation. They weren't being rude, they weren't acting like she wasn't there and ignoring her- they were just talking. Like her parents would at dinner, after work.
She didn't remember her dad. Not at all. But she remembered having dinner with him, and her mom. Having dinner with her entire family.
Was her mom having dinner right now? She felt an ache in her stomach. Why were these memories coming back now of all times? When the last thing she needed was something else to be sad about.
She shifted through the noodles with her chopsticks, her eyes zoning out as she reminisced, all other noises becoming nothing but a backtrack to her thoughts. She knew she couldn't go home. Home home. The one that housed her mom, her sister. She couldn't do that to them- especially knowing what'd she become. She knew that.
"Are you engaged?!" Daisy asks, snapping herself out of her own train of thoughts when her eyes landed on the diamond ring on Josette's finger.
Whatever conversation they were having previously came to a stop and Josette let out a small laugh, then nodded. "Uh, yeah." She said. "Since last night." She held up her hand a bit.
Daisy felt a bit of relief knowing it hasn't been that long, and she really wasn't that much of an asshole for not realizing sooner. "Wow." Daisy let out, glancing in between Alaric and Josette. "That's— congratulations." She says, not sure what else to say to these people.
She couldn't get too excited, or else that'd be weird. Because up until a few hours ago she did not like these people and actually threatened their lives once or twice. But, they were giving her dinner and a roof over her head, so she felt at least a congratulations was in order.
Daisy took another bite from the noodles in the box in front of her, trying to relieve the bit of awkwardness that loomed over the air. "I'm probably gonna head out." Daisy says, mid-chew. She'd barely eaten anything, but really didn't want to sit here any longer. She just wanted to be with herself.
As Daisy stood up from her chair at the table, Josette did too. "Daisy, we can't just let you out on the streets." Josette spoke.
Daisy wasn't sure if she said that as in a we can't let you go out on a murder rampage kind of way, or in a we can't let you go out on your own because we care about you kind of way.
"I don't want her sleeping here." Alaric says, speaking up.
Josette turns to him. "It's my apartment." She says sternly.
"And you're my fiancé, pregnant with our child." He says, standing up. "And she is dangerous."
Daisy bit down on her tongue, holding back all spiteful comments for another time.
"She is my friend." Josette turned to him with narrowed eyebrows. "And she needs my help right now."
"I'm just gonna go." Daisy spoke, earning the attention of both Josette and Alaric.
"No." Josette says, much sterner than she expected, before turning back to face her fiancé.
"Can we discuss this?" Alaric asks, raising his eyebrows. "In private?" He glances at Daisy as he speaks.
"There's nothing to discuss, Ric." Josette says, sternly. "She's staying."
Daisy couldn't help her lips from upturning into a proud, faint smile. While she wasn't completely in agreement with the statement, she was impressed to see Josette standing her ground like she was.
He let out a huff, shaking his head frustratedly before beginning to the front door. Alaric made sure of giving Daisy a knowing glance, one that said 'watch yourself'.
"And where are you going?" Josette asks, flinging her arms out to the side a little.
"Out." Alaric says, before opening the door, and shutting it behind him.
Josette immediately brought her hands to her face, rubbing her eyes frustratedly.
Daisy bit the inside of her cheek, feeling awkward. "That was dramatic." She let out.
Josette looks up, giving Daisy a slightly annoyed look. Daisy shut her mouth, now was not the time for jokes- especially jokes at the expense of her fiancé she supposed.
She mulled over her words before speaking again. "I don't want to cause problems." Daisy says.
"You're not causing problems." Josette says. "He'll come around. He just doesn't know you like I do."
Daisy watches Josette as she begins to walk back to the dinner table, picking up what was left from dinner. Daisy lingered where she was standing before eventually joining her to help pick up.
It was fairly silent, despite the clatter of silverware and the tossing of empty containers into the trashcan. "Jo?" Daisy says, and after she spoke she felt weird. She hadn't referred to as Jo before. She wondered when she even started going by that, and if she was bothered by the fact that Daisy still called her Josette.
Josette looks up, not noticing the nickname change the way Daisy did. Daisy tosses the last empty container in the trash, trying to think if now was a good time to ask this.
"You said—" Daisy narrows her eyebrows, thinking it over. "You said there was a way out of this. That the Mirasul finds a way out." The words felt foreign.
Josette takes a breath, clearly hesitant to respond. She'd regretted even letting the words come out in the first place. She couldn't be another person who lied to her. "It's complicated." Josette tries to dodge around it.
Daisy clenches her jaw. "I don't care."
Josette takes another breath, deeper this time. "I don't even know how true this is but there is a way to stop the connection between a witch and their Mirasul."
Daisy's eyebrows lift, "How?" She asks.
Josette stares at her friend, desperately wishing that Daisy would tell her to stop, to not tell her the truth in how. But she never did, if anything her eyes grew more and more desperate. "There's a way for you to die— but not in the way you're thinking-"
"Jo, come on." Daisy says, urging Josette to stop beating around the bush.
"The only way for a Mirasul to stop being a Mirasul is to become something else." Josette says, regretfully.
Daisy was still confused. "Will you stop talking in riddles and just say it?" She says, slightly annoyed.
"You can't be a Mirasul and a vampire." Josette spoke. "When your heartbeat stops, so will the connection. You'll both be completely vulnerable again."
Josette couldn't read Daisy's expression. She was just staring at her. Was she relieved? Terrified? There was nothing. Absolutely nothing. Just silence.
Josette shook her head slightly. "Daisy?"
Daisy straightened her back, her empty expression remaining. "How do I do it?"
Josette's eyebrows lifted quickly, and she shook her head. "You're not doing it." Josette says, sternly.
Daisy cocked her head to the side, confused. "Josette, I have to." She says, in a questioning tone.
"It's not worth it." Josette says.
Daisy scoffs. "To who? You? I have to do this." She says, a slight tinge of anger in her voice. "I can't die anyways- might as well live out my years knowing that I'm not being used with every breath I take- with every cut in my skin?" She shook her head as she spoke. "I'm not letting him get away with this. I can't."
"But you'll be miserable— you'll— you'll be ruining yourself just to ruin him—" Josette pleads.
"I don't care." Daisy responded, and it was true. She took a few breaths before speaking again. "I want to hurt him."
Josette's eyes were full of regret, but it was the fact that she understood that made it the hardest. She'd been this angry before. She's still angry. He'd ruined her life, he'd ruined Daisy's. He had to pay. But she wouldn't let Daisy be the one to make him, either.
"How do I do it?" Daisy repeats.
Josette shook her head. "No." She says, beginning to pace.
Daisy let out a loud, frustrated groan. She took it upon herself. She stormed over to the bookshelf that sat in the living room, scanning every spine for something that resembled a grimoire.
"Daisy," Josette spoke concernedly.
She began pulling the books off the shelf, one by one, letting them hit the floor as she frantically looked for answers.
"Daisy!" Josette raised her voice. "Daisy, stop!"
Daisy let out a huff, flinging her arms out. "If you're not gonna tell me I can find out from someone else, so." She shrugs, annoyedly.
And then, her eyes fell from angry, to worried, in a split second. Her back straightened, and her head snapped towards the front door.
Josette waited for her to speak again, but she just grew more visibly scared. "What?" Josette asked hesitantly.
"He's here." Daisy let out, before turning to face Josette.
She could feel it in the pit of her stomach, his magic, growing stronger as he approached. It wasn't an unfamiliar feeling in itself, it was the fact that now she knew what it was- that's what was unfamiliar.
Her eyes widened slightly. "Kai? Kai's here?"
And just like that, a knock on the front door.
They both froze, reflex telling them to hold their breath.
Josette's wide eyes darted to the bathroom, then back to Daisy, signaling her to go in there and hide. Daisy shook her head quickly.
"Josette!" Kai yelled from behind the door.
Daisy jumped at the sound of his voice.
'Hide' Josette mouthed to her friend. But she just shook her head again. Even if she hid, he already knew she was here. She wasn't sure of his intentions, either, but whatever they were- she wasn't going to let Josette face them alone.
"I know you're in there." He says, taunting. "Both of you."
Daisy clenched her jaw, trying to remain calm despite the pounding of her heart against her chest.
"What do you want, Kai?" She yells back, Daisy watches her cautiously as she speaks.
"I'm just here to look for something." He says. "Promise."
No one responded, so he spoke again.
"I'd suggest you just open the door." He says. "I doubt you want to deal with a broken lock."
Josette shut her eyes, giving up. She quickly walked into her kitchen, grabbing a knife from the holder, before stomping over to the front door, opening it up to her brother.
Daisy couldn't see him, the open door was blocking her view, and she was glad.
Kai glanced down at the knife in Josette's hand and let out a small scoff. "Scary."
Josette kept her hand on the door, subtly blocking his entrance. "What are you looking for?" Josette.
Kai takes a breath, beginning to walk inside despite Josette's arm being in the way. She brought it down, knowing he was going to anyways.
He walked in, and came into Daisy's view. He stood in front of the door, looking around the apartment with his lips parted in a sly smile. He glanced towards Daisy, letting his eyes linger on her for a second. "Don't worry, not here for her." He says, speaking to Josette though his eyes never left Daisy's.
She was frozen in fear, yet her eyes held so much hatred that she could have easily just be frozen from that.
And then he continued on, slowly making his way through the apartment as Daisy and Josette watched him cautiously, not daring to let him out of their sight.
"Did a little locator spell," he begins. "I'm not sure if you've heard— you might be a little preoccupied, but Damon suspects his mom is in a prison world."
Daisy glances at Josette quickly, then back to Kai.
He continues. "1903, to be specific. And according to my spell, The Ascendant to that prison world is in this apartment." He finally turns to face his sister again. "And I'm gonna need to get that before Damon does." He pauses. "It's always nice to have leverage." He narrows his eyes slightly.
Josette scoffs. "You think I care about any of that right now, Kai?" She says. She quickly walks over to the coat closet, opening it up. She reaches to the top shelf, grabbing a dusty, wooden box. "Take your stupid Ascendant—" she says, opening it up angrily and grabbing the gear-like object, she hands it to him. "And get the hell out of my apartment."
Kai smiles proudly, and lets out a small chuckle. He takes it from her. "I was expecting this to get a little bit more violent." He shrugs. "I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a little bit disappointed."
"Out. Kai." Josette says sternly.
He takes a deep breath, and then turns his head towards Daisy. He glances down at her hand, where the fresh cut from the glass still remained. She hid it behind her back and he looked back up to meet her eyes.
"You okay?" He nods slightly. He wasn't genuinely concerned, not in the slightest. He was mocking her. Mocking the fact that he could heal up that cut in a second, gaining more power in the act.
Daisy didn't say anything, and he parted his lips in another smile before turning back to face his sister. "Guess I'll be going now." He says.
Josette didn't move, just watched him with angry eyes as he slowly made his way out the apartment and to the door. He turned back around to speak again. He looked at Josette with serious, stern eyes. "You can't protect her forever." He says in a low voice. And then, in a split second, he was smiling again. "See ya, sis." And he turned to leave.
Josette shut the door loudly, locking it.
Daisy felt her entire body relax, her shoulders fell as she closed her eyes and let out a deep breath. "Jesus christ." She muttered.
"I have to do it." Daisy shook her head, feeling more sure than before. "I can't be scared of him the rest of my life I have to— I have to stop this or he's just going to torture me." She scoffs.
Josette sighs, rubbing her eyes. "I can't stop you."
Daisy let's out a small scoff. "You never were."
a/n
an update finally IM SO SORRY
hope u enjoyed
- jane
(not edited)