˖*°࿐chapter nineteen.
xix. SOMETHING WICCA THIS WAY COMES
———
janelle
"You threw her off a balcony?"
"It wasn't entirely my fault. I had no control over what I was doing."
"She probably had it coming."
I was currently FaceTiming with Rebekah on my laptop. I missed her so much, so I was more than happy when she called me this morning. She was someone I definitely needed to talk to.
"Probably," I laughed.
I know that Elena and I friends now, but Rebekah doesn't know that. She might kill me if I even think about mentioning it.
"But maybe Nik is right — you should come home," she suggested. "Things have died down a bit, it might be safer."
I sighed, "I wish I could."
"You know he misses you, right?"
I'm well aware that Klaus has been a bit off since I last saw him. We communicate, but that's pretty much it, which isn't healthy for our relationship. I just don't know what else to say to him.
"Of course I do," I replied, "but Cassandra still wants to see how this pregnancy plays out. And now that my child can do magic tricks from the womb, she's even more on edge about letting me go places without a bodyguard."
"You have a bodyguard?" she asked.
I nodded, "Meet Chris." I pulled him into the screen by his shirt.
He waved, "Bodyguard, speaking."
Yes, Chris found out where I was. I knew he would, I just wanted to let him panic a little while longer. He's obviously not staying at Jo's place because she only has two bedrooms. Plus, she doesn't even know him like that.
But he's always in the area. Lurking around like the creeper he is.
Rebekah raised her eyebrows, "Janelle, could we talk? You know, privately." Both of our gazes shifted to Chris and he got the message, standing up to leave. "So how long has this been going on?"
"Almost a week," I answered. "He says he's from the future."
"Does he have a girlfriend in this so-called future?" she asked.
"I don't know. Wh —" I cut myself off, realizing where she was going with this. "Ew, no, Rebekah. No. Absolutely not."
"What?" she asked innocently.
"You cannot date future-boy. That's just weird and completely wrong," I stated.
"Oh, my God, Nelle. You never let me have any fun," she complained, putting on a sad face.
"It's not supposed to be fun. He is too young for you," I told her.
"Everyone is too young for me."
"That sounds like a you problem," I shrugged, picking at my nails. "And what happened to Marcel? I thought you two had a thing going on."
"We don't, so I'm free to keep my options open," she smiled.
"Ha, actually, no you're not," I sassed her. "You have no options other than a nice guy who will treat you right. So when you meet another guy like that, just run him by me and we'll see how he does."
I'm very protective of Rebekah, especially when it comes to the guys she likes. I know how she is, and when she falls for someone, she falls hard. Sometimes, I go over the top with it, but it's only because I love her.
"Janelle," she whined.
"Oh, look at the time. Gotta go. Love you, bye," I blew a kiss to her and ended the call.
I closed my laptop and got up from the couch. Just when I was headed for the stairs, there was a knock on the front door. I went to open it and saw Kai standing there, except he wasn't looking too hot. He was pale and slightly sweating.
"Oh, honey, you look awful," I commented.
He didn't say anything, he just stood there, letting his eyes roam over my body. I completely forgot I was wearing a sports bra with some yoga pants.
I covered myself with the zip-up hoodie I also had on and snapped my fingers in front of Kai's face. "Hello. Eyes up here."
"Oh, sorry," he apologized. "Look, you may not want to deal with me right now, but I really, really need to see my sister."
"I think she'll pass," I muttered.
I heard footsteps come in behind me and I could only assume it was Jo. "What are you going here, Kai?"
Kai glanced up, "I called to tell you I was sick, and you— you hung up on me."
"Because I have food poisoning. Did the sound of me vomiting on the other end of the line not clue you in?" she asked, rhetorically.
"Look. There's an issue I've been worried about since the merge because we didn't really do it right. You know, the whole: 'You're not my twin. Hey, that's okay, close enough' plan. But it worked, which is, you know, cool. Hey, I'm even a bit nice now, in case you were wondering. But I've been waiting for the other shoe to drop. And, well, I think it's dropped. Because I'm —" Kai paused from his long ass introduction and gulped. "Where's the bathroom?"
I gasped, backing up and watching as blood spewed out Kai's mouth and onto the floor. "Oh, God. Here." I grabbed the closest thing to me and handed Kai a vase that was sitting next to the coat rack. He crouched down onto the floor and spit out whatever blood was left.
"I don't think you have food poisoning," Kai said to Jo. "I was supposed to merge my magic with you, but I got Luke's instead. Now I'm defective, and I think that's why you're sick." He stood up and wiped his mouth with the sleeve of his jacket. "I kind of feel like I'm dying, actually. And if I die, so do you, Dad, Liv, and the rest of our dumb coven. So could you please fix me? Like, now?"
I looked back at Jo and she was staring at me as if she wanted my approval first. "It's up to you," I told her.
Jo sighed, "Bring him in. Put him on the table."
I nodded, leading him inside and where she told me to. Kai sat down and I moved to get out the way, but my hand was caught by another. A gentle squeeze made me turn to Kai in question.
"Stay," he whispered.
I just did what he asked, so I wouldn't have to argue with him.
Jo approached Kai with a small light, examining his pupils. "Any joint pain?"
"Mm-hm."
"Headaches?"
"Yep."
"Are you pregnant?"
"Stop making jokes," Kai rolled his eyes. "I feel I'm being scrunched from inside out."
I sort of missed the rest of their small conversation because my phone was blowing up in my jacket pocket. Most of it had to with the funeral for Caroline's mother, which I had to miss due to Cassandra's orders, but I wasn't sure what the others were about.
My attention was brought back to them when Kai starting puking again. He latched Jo's arm in a tight grip, absorbing her magic. It was clearly hurting Jo, so I pushed Kai off of her.
He sat up, panting and letting out a much-needed breath. "I feel better."
"Yeah," Jo scoffed, "cause you juice-boxed my magic."
"Sorry about that, that was an accident. But I — Wow, I legitimately feel better." Some type of realization struck in Kai. "You need to give me your magic."
"What?" Jo asked.
"This faux merge is clearly failing because I was supposed to get your magic, right? Just — I don't know — put it in a teddy bear, or a bedpan and gimmie."
Kai reached his hand out to Jo, but I slapped it down. "Yeah, you're not doing that."
"Jo only survives if I do," he informed me. "And if that's not enough for you, the power that binds the prison worlds comes from the leader of the Gemini Coven. If I die, the worlds collapse, all right?"
It was silent for a moment until another voice sounded off in the room.
"Did you say prison worlds, as in more than one?"
I rolled my eyes with a groan of annoyance, "Why are you still here?"
"We have to go. Now," Chris said coming over to me.
"Why?" I asked.
Chris looked at me, "Because we have that thing to get to, remember?"
I furrowed my eyebrows. "What thing?"
"The thing," Chris emphasized. "Can you just — come on!" he exclaimed, gesturing for me to hurry up before walking out.
I shook my head, going to follow after him, but then I noticed my hand was still being held. "Kai," I called, trying to get his attention, but he was clearly fixated on something else. "What is it?"
"Nothing," he blinked. "That guy just looked oddly familiar. Who is he?"
"Doesn't matter. Can I have my hand back?" He hesitantly let it go and I thanked him. "I'll be back... maybe. I don't know yet."
"Wait. Janelle —" Jo started to say.
"You'll be fine," I assured her. "I'll text Ric, tell him to keep you company. But until then, you two play nice."
And with that I left without another word. I went outside to see my car already started and Chris putting my bag in the backseat.
"Let's get going," he said, going over to the driver's side.
"Hold up," I stopped him. "First of all, you're not driving my car. Second, where exactly are we even going?"
"I'll tell you on the way there, but first we have to stop at the Boarding House."
Just when I was about to ask why we're going there, I decided to just get in the car and let Chris tell me himself. I still didn't want him to drive, but what the hell. It took us a few minutes of being on the road before I finally asked him what was up.
"The witches who attacked your coven are still here," he said. "A Phoenix saw someone lurking around the woods, near the meeting grounds, so they called it in. They're dealing with it now, but Cassandra wants me to get you out of here as soon as possible."
That's why he wanted to stop by the house first. "We're leaving Mystic Falls?" Chris didn't reply, already answering the question for me. "Well, are we coming back?"
"I don't know," he replied truthfully. "Until they find out more information, I have to keep you away from here."
For the rest of the car ride, Chris and I sat in silence.
I haven't even been home for that long and I already have to go. Just the thought of leaving my family behind again kills me.
This was the last thing that I wanted to happen.
———
"How do you not know if you're coming back, or not?" Damon asked me.
"You think I want to leave? Because I don't," I told him. "This town is my life; everyone I love is here. But someone is trying to kill me, I can't just ignore that, Damon."
"Stefan and I have been watching you for the past three months and has anything bad happened? No. So you tell that little witch that we don't need her input on this. We're doing fine just on our own." I shook my head, walking around Damon to get up to my room, which he wasn't exactly making easy for me. "Janelle —" He tried to grab onto me.
"Just stop, Damon," I yanked myself away from him. "Stefan, can you please help me pack up the rest of my things?"
I could tell that he wanted to take Damon's side on this one, and I understand. He doesn't me to leave either, but he was trying to be supportive of me at the same time. The two of them already had enough going on for the day with the funeral. Damon having to write the Sheriff's eulogy and Stefan having to comfort Caroline. This was just making things worse.
Stefan sighed, nodding his head, "Sure."
He followed me upstairs and I brought out my suitcase from under my bed. Stefan went over to my dresser, pulling out my clothes from each drawer.
"It's okay to be upset, Stefan," I announced. "You've already had to deal with enough today. I know seeing your sister off was something you didn't exactly plan on."
"I'm just trying to keep a positive mind," he told me. "It may not be soon, but I have high hopes that you'll be coming back to us."
My gaze adverted towards Stefan, who held a sympathetic expression. He sadly smiled at me and I wrapped my arms around his neck. "I love you, Stef."
"I love you, too," he mumbled, kissing the side of my head. "You're gonna be just fine. And when you do come home, I'll be looking forward to meeting my baby niece."
"You're gonna spoil her, aren't you?"
"Absolutely," he chuckled.
There was a sudden crash that sounded off downstairs and a clear struggle going on. I pulled away from Stefan.
"What was that?" I whispered.
He listened closely, his eyes widening. "Damon." He was about to leave the room, but I wanted to go with him. "Stay here," he ordered.
I opened my mouth to protest, but he was already gone. All I could really do was wait. Hearing another pound, it made me flinch.
I felt a hand clamp over my mouth and I tried to scream. Whoever had a hold of me was obviously a guy and extremely strong because I couldn't break free. They tried dragging me towards the window, but I got my arm loose quick enough to elbow them in the gut.
Once I got away from the guy, I levitated myself off the ground and kicked him in the face when he stood up. I landed safely back on my feet and conjured a dagger into my hand, throwing it in the guy's direction, near his heart. He grunted out in pain and dropped to the floor.
I wasn't sure if he was dead, or dying, but I definitely wasn't about to go and check for a pulse. I shimmered into the living room just in time to see Damon snapping some guy's neck.
"Stefan, look out!" I yelled at him, seeing someone with a hood approach him from behind. I raised my arm and a jet of flames emerged from my hand, vanquishing him. I pulled my hand back, staring at it in shock.
Whoa.
"How did you do that?" Damon asked, just as surprised as I was.
"I have no idea," I replied.
Putting off what I just witnessed, I saw there were at least four bodies down here, not including the one I left upstairs.
"Are you all right?" Damon asked in worry, checking me for any bumps, or scratches.
"I'm okay," I assured him, "but what the hell just happened here?"
"No clue."
And then, I noticed something about one of the attackers. "I know him," I said, pointing to the one with light brown hair, near the fireplace. "He's a werewolf. I used to see him all the time around —"
"What? What is it, Janelle? Spit it out," Damon hurriedly rushed out. "Where have you see him before?"
"New Orleans."
Damon clenched his jaw, balling up his fists, "Okay, maybe you do need to leave."
"It's too late for that," I told him. "They know I'm here."