Ok so a few things. Firstly, my account has been hacked or something? Because I have stopped recieving email notifications and I looked into it and apparently my email and password and username has been changed to someone elses so if this gets out there someone please help! The site kicks me out every time I try to change it back to my information!
Also no the babys not gone it was just a close call, it was supposed to be a little confusing because it was from Tess' perspective and she didn't quite know what was going on, just that she was in pain after falling. I had originally written that to be part of the story before Chloe and them knew something had happened and I didn't want to give all the info away. I definitely could add a part to the next chapter of Ashe's perspective!
It's a bit of a longer chapter but I just felt like I should keep going past my normal word count because of the amount of dialogue in this chapter. I dislike when I do a chapter with a lot of dialogue in it because I hit the word count with not a lot of time passing for the characters.
Oh and marienoelle124, have you tried signing up for email alerts? I don't know if you can do that on the app but you can on the website. I have tried the app before and found it too frustrating lol I always use the site.
I just shook my head and said, "I'm sorry I just don't believe you, Elijah's a good guy. Anything that's happened in his past has nothing to do with me."
I grabbed the branch and swung my leg over to lower myself down.
"It's your funeral," she murmured.
I didn't say a word as I climbed my way back to the ground. Ashe didn't follow so I walked back to the hospital where Elijah was pacing outside.
"There you are," he sighed in relief. "Where did she take you?"
"She wanted to talk privately," I answered. "You two don't get along great, do you?"
Elijah shook his head, "No. She seems to like Tess though. Why? What did she say?"
I shrugged and tried to walk past him, Elijah stepped in front of me arms crossed.
"No secrets Chloe."
"She just said some negative things about you that I'd rather not repeat," I said.
"She's probably upset about the meeting still. Sisters don't always appreciate their brothers unwanted help."
I hoped he was right, that she was trying to get back at him for showing her up. I tried to step around him again.
"Is something she said bothering you?"
"She said things like you let Tess get hurt and let some girl drown years ago."
Elijah looked really upset, "Chloe please tell me you don't believe that."
I shrugged, "I'd like to believe you wouldn't hurt people on purpose."
"You can ask Tess yourself, I didn't hurt her, I tried to help her. We can talk to the other girl too," Elijah tried to mask his hurt feelings but I could see it in his eyes. "I think you forget you're a necromancer sometimes."
"So she did die," I said softly.
"Chloe just trust me," he begged. "You can go ask Tess. Or I can take you to her spot in the cemetery. She'll tell you the full story."
I nodded, "Let's go."
"Wait," he said. "I think you should rescue Derek first."
Why didn't this conversation start with that?! What was wrong with Derek? Elijah could see the sudden panic in my expression.
"I should've phrased that better," he admitted. "Tess has been torturing him. Go rescue him from her."
Elijah moved aside so I could get to the door. He followed me inside, I stepped in and took a look around. Emma was sitting on her bed trying to focus on a book in her lap while Jeremy sat at the foot of her bed trying to get her talk to him. Tess saw me and winked at me as she walked behind Derek, following him. Derek saw me and mouthed 'help.' I couldn't help but chuckle, I knew once Tess noticed she would confront him in her own way.
"Do you think he'd really accidentally hurt her?" I asked Elijah.
Elijah shook his head, "No, if it was going to happen then it would've already happened. He's overreacting at this point."
"He can handle it himself then," I chuckled as Tess locked him in a hug. "I'd rather rescue Emma."
Elijah nodded so I walked over to the two of them and tapped Emma's shoulder. She looked up from the book.
"Can I borrow you for a bit?" I asked.
"Can I come with?" Jeremy asked.
I said the first thing that came to mind, "It's private uh girly stuff."
Jeremy looked grossed out. Emma, without a word, got her shoes on and followed me and Elijah out the door. We walked a little ways before she finally spoke.
"What did you really need me for?"
"I'm taking you along on a trip to the cemetery because you looked like you really needed a break."
"Thanks," she said "I did. Why are you guys going to a cemetery?"
I wanted to ask her how things were going between Jeremy and her instead of repeating Ashe's comments but Elijah spoke first.
"My sisters being a jerk," Elijah answered, sounding upset still. "She told Chloe lies about me so I'm taking Chloe to the ghost of a woman involved in one of those lies so she can see the truth from an unbiased party. My sister will always say I did it, I will always say I didn't. The ghost will tell Chloe who's telling the truth."
"Ok then," Emma said somewhat still confused.
I heard her stomach growl as she spoke and asked, "Did you not eat today? You went through a lot, you need to eat."
Emma's eyes widened with panic at my question. She quickly glanced at Elijah then back at me.
"Of course I did. Healing bones takes a lot out of you," she said hurriedly.
Emma didn't want to talk about it in front of Elijah. We arrived at an iron gate that led to rows of headstones. Elijah stopped and pointed to a row to our right.
"She's over there. Her name was Anna Perkins."
"You're not coming?" I asked.
Elijah shook his head, "I think you don't need a babysitter. Plus you need to hear the story unbiased, I don't want her changing details because she thinks I'm listening."
He squeezed my shoulder and started walking away. Emma and I stepped through the gate and walked in the direction he had pointed in.
"How many more times do I have to tell you that you don't have to hide your vampirism from us," I said, assuming that was what she didn't want to address in front of Elijah.
She sighed, "It's embarrassing. I don't want people to think I think of them as like food or something. And I had some yesterday at my parent's house, I need to control it."
"You went through breaking a bone then changing then god knows how many more changes while they tried to fix it," I argued. "It doesn't matter if you had some yesterday or a week ago, you need some after that ordeal."
I stopped walking and started pulling my bandage off.
"Chloe no."
"Would you rather go looking for animals in those woods?"
"I'd rather none of the options," she said.
I stuffed the bandage in my pocket.
"You're choosing one of them," I insisted. "I'm not letting you starve."
She stared at my outstretched hand silently for a minute or so.
"This has to be the last time," she said as she looked up at my face. "It's not healthy for you to keep doing this for me."
"It's not healthy for you to starve yourself," I countered. "I'm not promising that this will be the last time. But I can promise we will work out a better system for you."
She sighed and took my hand gently. "You're sure?"
I nodded. She moved my hand slightly so she wouldn't hurt any of the open cuts and bit it. Like always, I held back any sounds of pain. It would've made her feel worse. I let her take blood until I started to feel a headache coming on.
"Ok ok," I said softly.
Emma let go and immediately started wiping the blood from her chin. A little bit of panic in her eyes.
"You have to stop doing that for me," she said. "What if I can't stop myself next time?"
"We have enough going on right now, let's not worry about next time," I said. "You feel better?"
She nodded. "Very guilty but yeah."
"Then lets go talk to Anna," I walked up to her headstone.
"Let's?" She questioned. "I can't hear her Chloe."
"I have a plan for that," I said as I sat down in the grass. "I once accidentally invited a ghost into my body. He got in and kicked me out. I think if I invited Anna in, we both could talk to her. I mean you wouldn't be able to hear the real me but we both could hear her."
"I don't know, that sounds dangerous," Emma sat beside me. "What if she doesn't get out of your body?"
I shrugged, "Then I make her somehow."
Emma didn't like this plan but I wanted someone else to be able to hear the story too and this was the only way I could think of. It's not like I was Tori and able to share my powers with Emma.
I closed my eyes and called out to Anna. It wasn't easy to call her without knowing what she looked like or having an item of hers. I called out to her again and again.
"What's going on?" A woman asked.
At first I thought we'd been caught in the graveyard by a passing werewolf but I opened my eyes to see a woman standing behind the headstone. She looked to be in her twenties maybe? She was wearing dirty hiking gear and had her dirty blonde hair back in two braids.
"Are you Anna Perkins?" I asked.
"Yes, who are you?" She asked.
"Ok look, this is going to sound crazy," I said. "But my friend here can't hear you so I wanted to invite you into my body so you can talk to both of us."
"Uh ok?"
I nodded and closed my eyes, I remembered the night I was with the ghost of that evil doctor and invited Anna in. At first my body just felt colder and colder. I wondered if it was working. I concentrated harder and invited her in, pulled her in.
I suddenly was knocked onto my back. I coughed and opened my eyes to find me standing behind the headstone now and me sitting beside Emma. I watched myself stare at my hands in amazement.
"I've possessed you?" Anna asked me.
I nodded. This was extremely weird talking to myself, or my body at least.
"Why are you girls doing this?" She asked.
"Do you remember a man named Elijah?" Emma asked.
Anna nodded. "Did something happen to him? Is he a ghost too?"
Emma and I both said no at the same time. I guess I hadn't factored in that we might interrupt each other since she couldn't hear me.
"His um his sister told me a story about you two," I said. "I want to know if it's true."
"What story?" She asked smiling. "We have lots of stories together."
"She said that Elijah purposefully let you drown in a river. That your death was intentional, he knew better than to go into the water, stuff like that."
"Oh," she looked sad. "No it wasn't his fault. Elijah knew the water was a little high that day but I insisted he took me to the lake and Elijah couldn't say no to me. You see, I don't know how to swim and I always wanted to learn. The lake was the best place to go and Elijah promised to teach me. But you have to cross the river to get to the lake and a recent storm had taken out our little bridge. He wanted to wait but I insisted we went that day. I was being young and reckless, thinking there wasn't anything that dangerous about a river. It's just water. When we got to the river, he told me to hang onto him tight and he would swim us across. I tried to hold on but halfway across the river something hit my leg. I don't know what it was, a fish or a rock or something. But it knocked me off and the current swept me away… he tried to swim after me and save me but he couldn't reach me in time. I drowned fairly fast I think."
"I'm so sorry," Emma said quietly.
"Don't be," she said. "It's no one's fault but my own, I made Elijah do it." She paused for a moment before adding. "Is that all you wanted from me?"
I nodded, "I'm sorry for bothering you."
I watched as my body fell back onto the ground with a thud and Anna appeared beside it. Emma jumped and shook my shoulders trying to wake my body up.
"Please don't send me to the other side," she said. "I'd love to stay a free ghost for a little while so I can go see how my family is doing."
"Of course," I nodded. "And if you need anything, my friends and I are at the hospital. I'm not sure if the layout of your town has changed but come find me if you need anything at all."
Emma gently smacked the side of my face and I woke up on the ground.
"Ouch," I said to her.
"Chloe?" She asked.
"Yeah," I nodded as I looked around. Anna had left.
"You guys said that Ashe was lying about Elijah, not that she accused him of a girls death," she said flustered. "That would've been useful information."
