chapter twelve.
Josie and Lizzie's birthday extravaganza was still allowed to happen, it was to be held at the end of the week. Which meant that the Mikaelson's would be in attendance much to the children's dismay.
Currently, Lizzie, Josie, Malik, Rina, and Rhea were in Emma's old office. The place was now vacant of any trace of the woman, and it was ready for the next counselor to arrive, someone who held more experience than Emma did. Which meant the whole school would undergo a full reset with getting evaluated so they could make sure that everything was correct since learning that Emma didn't have certain qualifications for the role given to her.
"So," Rhea spoke while setting down her mug of coffee. "The merge." Lizzie and Josie nodded their heads. "How much of your coven do you know about?"
The two girls shared a look before Josie spoke up, "Just that Lizzie and I are the last members of it."
Rhea nodded her head and sighed. "The Gemini Coven was really known for their cloaking spells, a single cloaking spell from them was so powerful that it took an extraordinary witch to break it. They were known for the ability to create prison worlds and there was a rumor that they could contact their ancestors before the collapsing of the Other Side." She explained. "However, they had a unique way of choosing their next leader from a set of twins."
"And that's where the merge comes in?" Lizzie asked her.
Rhea gave her a sad smile and nodded. "When a pair of twins are born into the coven, they undergo the merge ceremony once they reach the age of 22. During this ceremony, the stronger of the two would claim their twin's power and emerge with double the strength they previously held. Their weaker twin dies as a result, leaving the survivor to become the new leader of the coven." She told them softly.
"So, Lizzie and I..." Josie looked at a loss for words from the thought of one of them dying. "One of us would have to die for the other to live?"
"Yes." Rhea said to her. "However, it's not possible."
"Why not?" Lizzie questioned. "Not that I'm disappointed or anything, just why?"
Rhea looked at her twins and they sighed. "Because you two don't produce your own magic."
"Wait, wait, I'm confused now." Lizzie said. "What does this have to do with either of you?"
"My mother was a distant member of the Gemini Coven." Rhea told them. "We weren't close with the others in the coven, so we stayed away."
"Wait." Josie gasped while looking at Malik and Rina. "You two are apart of the coven too?"
"No." Rhea answered in their place so that she could explain more. "The members of the Gemini Coven bind their magic and life force to the success of the Merge ritual, as it has been said that, if the leader of the Gemini Coven dies before a new leader can replace them, then the rest of the coven will die as well." She explained. "Kai was the last leader before he took them all out, but my family never bound our life or magic to the coven like the others meaning my children were never bound to it, like you two were."
"So, you're like unofficial members?" Lizzie asked and Rina rolled her eyes at the witch. "What, I'm just trying to understand better."
"Essentially." Rhea told her with a small laugh. "Additionally, the major spells cast by the coven, such as the one that created the Prison Worlds, are also bound to the leader's life, so if the leader dies then the spells are no longer bound and cease to exist. So, when you two turn 22 and the merge doesn't happen because it cannot, all spells and grimoires from your coven, disappear."
"They're just gone?" Josie asked with wide eyes. "Like that?"
"The coven made it so." Rhea nodded. "Kai however has every spell memorized from his time being locked away. He was the one to figure out years ago that because you are both siphons and have no magical energy of your own, it's impossible to merge. You two would be trying to take what the other doesn't have, so when you turn 22, that will be the end of the Gemini Coven, the link will officially be broken and that way should either of you want kids, they'll be free."
"Why would Kai look for a way to help us?" Lizzie asked and Rhea felt her jaw stiffen from her tone. "He killed our mom."
"You don't know anything." Rhea told her and Lizzie stiffened from her tone. "Your mother, the one that Kai and I knew from childhood, was nothing more than the reason I died." At that revelation, their eyes widened. "Josette wasn't as sweet when she was younger, as she got older maybe she changed, I genuinely don't know."
"So, our mom killed you?" Josie asked her.
"Josette was mean as a kid, she picked on me for being a freak like her brother. Kai and I weren't allowed to touch people, if we did then we were told that we'd be punished, but that didn't mean Josette didn't hesitate to alienate us as much as possible." She told them. "Kai was my only friend, so after he was locked away, I kept going back, kept going to check on if there was a way that I could break him out. Then I learned that her dad had given her the ascendant that I needed to free him." She explained and they could all see the faraway look in her eyes. "I confronted her, we fought, and she stabbed me. A fatal wound that no one should be able to survive and since I was a siphon, I couldn't heal myself and her magic was gone as well so there's was nothing for her to do but watch me die. Only I didn't die, I awoke and had to dig my way out of the grave she had attempted to make for me, and I continued looking for every way possible to release Kai."
"Who turned you?" Josie asked her, genuinely curious as to which sireline she was from.
Rhea shrugged her shoulders. "I don't know, I assumed that someone tried to save me but assumed that I was already too far gone so I was then buried by either Josette or the person who turned me."
"You have our Uncle to thank though." Rina spoke up as she no longer wanted her mother to go down memory lane. "He was the one who figured out that the merge wouldn't have to happen between you two.
"We'll never thank him." Lizzie told her firmly while Josie simply bit the inside of her cheek.
Rhea simply shrugged. "You want to hate him for killing your mom? Fine, that's fine but let's remember it was your mom and family that shunned him for being a siphon. You think that she would have loved you unconditionally, undoubtedly, but where was that love for her own twin? No one loved Kai growing up, you tell me that you wouldn't have felt what he did if you had been shunned, looked at with nothing but disgust because you were different. You have no right to judge him when you've never experienced what he went through." Rhea told her firmly and Lizzie flinched at her tone.
"We've spent too much time talking about this." Malik spoke up. "I think we're done here."
Josie nodded her head in agreement. "If we have more questions, could we come back?" Her question was directed towards Rhea, so the twins bit their tongues.
Rhea nodded her head. "I will try my best to answer what I can."
Josie and Lizzie left the room, both heading straight for their bedroom to digest all the information that they were given. Once the two were gone and the three were left alone, Malik was the first to stand and walk over to his mother. He didn't hesitate in wrapping his arms around her while Rina walked over to do the same on the other side of her.
Rhea felt her heart warm from their embrace and she couldn't stop her eyes watering as she wrapped her arms around them both. No words needed to be said in this moment, the twins knew that Rhea disliked remembering her life when Kai was taken from her, sure she had met Hayley eventually and things seemed well, but Rhea never forgot about Kai.
"A family hug without me?" At the sound of Matthias' voice, their heads snapped up to see him standing in the doorway. "What did I do this time?" A laugh escaped Rhea's lips and Matthias' eyes narrowed when he noticed her eyes were red. "Did something happen?"
"No." Rhea sniffled. "Just explaining things meant that I had to reveal that the kids and I are technically apart of the coven."
Matthias nodded his head and walked into the room completely. Malik moved so that he was sitting beside Rina so that Matthias could have his spot which made Matthias chuckle since he didn't mind standing just behind them if he had too.
"When can we go home?" Rina asked while resting her head against her mother's shoulder.
"After the party this week, that's when the headmaster and teachers get here." Matthias told them. "So, Monday we'll leave."
"Thank god." Malik sighed in relief making them all laugh at them. "Oh wait, do we have to get a present for the twins?" He made a face at the thought. "The last time we did that, Rina gave Josie a box of worms."
Rina grinned at the reminder of the Saltzman twins tenth birthday. "She deserved that, she nearly set our room on fire during their visit to New Orleans!" She defended herself. "Apparently one of her friends put a note in our room for Malik then regretted it so they tried to burn it from under the door, had it not been for Grace passing by, we would've lost everything."
"Still, let's not give them worms this time." Rhea told her daughter with a laugh.
"Fine." Rina groaned. "I guess I can be nice to them since they basically lost their dad and mom as headmaster."
"Oh right!" Malik exclaimed. "Did you ever get around to telling them about Caroline?"
Matthias nodded his head. "Caroline called them this morning before you all met. Since Caroline is a vampire and the Council wants to be lenient to her, they've offered her a teaching position here that way at least the girls have one parent since Alaric will only ever be allowed on campus for performances and parent teacher conferences."
"How nice of them." Rhea muttered bitterly. "I would have punished Caroline at least, I mean Alaric got punished but Caroline is getting a slap on the wrist? Bullshit."
Matthias laughed softly and kissed the side of Rhea's head. "Her rights as a teacher are being revolted until they see fit, so should she ever want to plan a field trip, she has to have another teacher accompany her."
"So, she's being babysat, basically." Rina pointed out while Malik chuckled. "How sad for her but oh well."
The Mikaelson family of four remained there a little while longer, they were engulfed within their own bubble of peace and for a moment longer, they wanted to remain there unbothered by the school drama that was most likely happening.
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I never went into depth about Rhea's past, she was just sort of there because she was Hayley's best friend. I had her past written out in the first version of Darkest Hour, but I never put it anywhere I realize so I've added it here.
three chapters left (i think lol) and I cannot wait to get a move onto part two!
until next time,
- m a r i e