Chapter 11

Bulletproof

Freya looked at her brothers who were all observing a pale and tiny human girl. She was sitting at the table with them in the dining hall, clearly she was uncomfortable. Freya could certainly understand why. This was a strange family dinner, even for the Mikaelsons. Well, at least her brothers had allowed the poor girl to dine with them here instead of keeping her locked up in her room. The girl was eating slowly, chewing each bite carefully.

"How are you doing there, Chloe?" Freya asked.

The girl looked up.

"I'm fine."

"That's good. I hope my brothers haven't been complete jerks."

"No, no, everything's… fine."

Freya smiled.

"I know this must be a weird situation to you."

"Well… Yeah." She paused and coughed, making all three Mikaelson brothers to jump up. "I'm fine, I'm fine," she assured quickly. "Sorry."

If the situation wouldn't have been as serious as it was, Freya would have been amused. Especially Niklaus was everything but pleased, he seemed beyond tense. He had got used to be in control and now he certainly wasn't. Now his life was dependent on this fragile little human. If that wasn't irony, Freya didn't know what was. Perhaps Esther was an evil bitch, but Freya had to admit that she couldn't have thought of a better way to make her sons squirm.

"Are you getting any closer finding a way to undo this?" Niklaus stated tensely.

"I'm trying my best," Freya replied. "This isn't like any curse I've seen before, I need to…"

"You need to hurry up!" Niklaus snapped.

"Niklaus," Elijah scolded and looked at Chloe. "Everything is fine."

"No, it's not," she murmured.

"What?"

She pressed her lips together and looked up.

"You hate this, I get that, but this isn't much fun for me either." She paused and looked at Niklaus. "I didn't ask for this."

"I know, love," Niklaus replied, trying to sound calmer. "I apologize."

"No, it's fine, I get that you're upset. It's just…"

"What, darling?" Kol asked when she didn't continue.

"Well… The thing is that I can sense what you're feeling and to be honest, it's giving me a headache. No offence, but I think you have some anger management issues."

Kol burst into laughter.

"You have no idea," he chuckled.

"Look who's talking," Niklaus snorted and turned his eyes to Chloe. "What do you pick up from him?"

"Alright, leave the poor girl alone," Freya huffed. "I think I'll return to my books now."

"That sounds like a good idea," Niklaus replied. "Let me know if you need anything."

"How kind of you."

Freya stood up and headed to the study. She was passing the living room when she noticed that the TV was on. What…?

"Elijah?" she called. "Nik, Kol!"

Her brothers came quickly, Chloe was with them.

"What is it?" Elijah asked.

Freya pointed at the TV. There was a picture of Chloe on the screen.

"18-years-old Chloe Fowler disappeared from her home… If you have any knowledge of her whereabouts, call this number…"

Then there was a statement from Chloe's stepfather.

"Mr. Fowler! Mr. Fowler! Have someone contacted you? Are they asking for ransom?"

Trent Fowler was standing calmly in front of the reporters.

"I want to say this to the person who took Chloe. She is a good girl and she is sick. She will very likely die without proper medication and I'm sure you don't want to be responsible for her death. If this is about money, I ask you to contact me, I'm sure we can work something out. Please return Chloe to us unharmed. That is all."

"Mrs. Fowler! Mrs. Fowler!"

Chloe's mother was standing next to her husband; she looked like she would have just come from a beauty salon.

"Oh, my precious little girl," she sobbed. "If you can hear me, mommy loves you so much. Oh my poor baby… How can I go on without you? I'll never forget you. My sweet girl… This is so horrible, my heart is broken… How can I go on, how?"

Freya rolled her eyes; the woman would have a great career in some soap opera.

"Kol," Elijah stated. "Did you forget something?"

Kol frowned.

"What? Oh, right… I was going to compel them, but I couldn't find them, so I thought, I'll do it later. It seems that I forgot."

"Great," Elijah sighed.

"Nice job," Niklaus snorted. "You better clean this mess up."

"Fine, I will," Kol huffed. "Just relax."

None of the brothers noticed Chloe; she was staring at the screen.

"Hey," Freya said and touched her shoulder. "It's alright, my moron brothers will fix this."

"Yeah," she murmured. "I think I'll go to my room now."

"What about your dinner?"

"I'm really not hungry. Excuse me."

"Wait, wait," Elijah said and looked at Niklaus. "I think I better go with Kol to clean this up. Can you…?"

"Fine," Niklaus replied. "Let's go, love."

She pressed her lips together, clearly wanting to protest. Kol stepped in front of her and touched her hair.

"I'm sorry about this, darling."

"It's fine," she murmured.

"No need to worry, we won't hurt your family."

"Thanks. Just don't hurt Martha."

"Who's that?"

"Our housekeeper."

"Ah. No need to worry, I'll handle this."

Chloe was quiet for a brief moment before replying.

"Wait… I could just call my mom and…"

"No," Niklaus cut in. "We won't take any chances."

She didn't try to argue, it seemed that something was wrong with her.

"Just try to bear with him until I come back," Kol said and winked at Chloe. "Then you and I can spend some quality time together."

Niklaus rolled his eyes and wrapped his arm around Chloe's shoulders.

"Let's go."

The girl didn't say anything, she seemed somehow sad. Freya marched to the study and continued her work. There had to be something she had missed. No curse was bulletproof, there had to be a loophole and she was going to find it.