The early morning sun reflected off the windows of the buildings and cars as they drove passed.

"Turn left up ahead," Elena directed.

"How much farther?" Ryan asked as he turned the wheel.

"Just up ahead. That house with the porcelain doll on the gate."

"I see it." Ryan pulled off the road to park in front of the house. "That doll head is just creepy."

"Help us."

Elena jerked forward, looking around. Where had that voice come from?

"Mama? What's going on?" Ryan asked, concerned.

"I don't know. But it's almost like when I met you. Like I'm supposed to help them."

"Please. I want to go home."

"They're children," Elena whispered in horror filled realization.

"Children in the witch prison?"

"I don't know. I don't think so."

She closed her eyes and let herself follow the voices calling to her. She found herself faced with seven children. One of them grabbed her hand and led her through the halls of the house until they came to a bed of a beautiful witch. Her black hair was spread across the pillow and her lashes brushed softly against her dark skin. Like this, it was hard to believe this woman deserved to be here.

"She's trapped us and we can't wake up."

"I'm scared."

"Her name is Eva Sinclair."

Eva's dark eyes snapped opened and she screamed in rage.

Elena blinked and focused on Ryan's worried face.

"A witch in the prison has trapped children and they've reached out to me so they can go home. I'll need to get into the witch's head to find out what's going on and how to free them."

"Do you need help?" Ryan asked.

"Get Freya first. The longer she remains here, the more danger she's in. If it takes too long for me to come back, please come in after me."

"Of course."

Reaching up, Elena flipped the doll head and together, they got out of the car. She took a deep breath and wrapped her hand around Ryan's arm, then marched towards the Dowager Fauline Cottage.

When they walked through the front door, one of the caretakers tried to catch Elena's arm, a needle in her hand.

"I'm here to speak to Eva Sinclair. If you get in my way, the seven children she's kidnapped will die."

Elena pushed the woman out of the way with a flick of her wrist and she fell flat on her back, the needle falling to her side with a clatter. Then, without waiting for anyone to respond, she followed the path that the children had led her on until she reached Eva's side.

When she got to the witch she was seeking, Elena knelt by Eva's side. What was she supposed to do now? The caretakers wouldn't let her do the spell she needed to do to get inside Eva's head. But she couldn't walk away while the children were in danger.

All at once, a power that wasn't hers flowed through her. With that power came knowledge and she knew exactly what she needed to do. She placed her fingers to the unconscious witch's temples and all at once, Elena found herself dragged into a dingy warehouse.

Confused, she looked around. This was unexpected.

Where was she anyway?"

Before she had too much time to reconsider, a terrifying laugh echoed off the walls.

"Do you think I fear the ancestors?" Eva hissed.

"I'm not connected to the ancestors."

"And yet, I can feel them all over you."

"You might not fear them, but you should fear me."

"You're in my head now, little witch." Eva approached her from the shadows, a cruel smirk on her lips.

"Are we?"

Their surroundings changed and they were standing in the clearing where Elena had died.

"Is this the best you can do?" Eva challenged.

Elena said nothing as she brought them to the cave where Silas had been buried, with a few upgrades. Instead of just being Silas's grave, she filled it with all of the dead bodies she'd seen and tortures she'd witnessed and experienced through both lives.

"Tell me where the children are and let them go."

"No way in hell!"

"If that's the way you feel about it." Elena shrugged.

She lifted her hand and forced Eva into a stone sarcophagus, closing the lid over her.

"Let me out!" Eva screamed, pounding on the roof.

"Perhaps I should leave you here. I'm sure a few centuries hanging out here might change your mind about telling me what I want."

"You can't leave me here!"

Elena remained silent, waiting.

"I'll tear you apart!"

Elena smirked, but held still, not wanting to let Eva know she was still there.

"Fine. I'll tell you! I'll tell you how to free them from me! Just let me out!"

"Was that so difficult?" Elena taunted. "Now, how do you free the children and if you lie, I'll lock you away in your own head for the rest of your miserable life. And, the prison will be exactly like this, the inside of a sarcophagus."

After Elena got the spells she needed to save the children, she threw Eva back into her own head and broke the connection.

"I was just about to come in after you," Ryan said when Elena opened her eyes.

"I'm sorry I worried you." Elena patted his arm as she stood up.

"We're ready to go if you are."

"Give me a vial of Eva's blood and some of her jewelry," Elena demanded the wide-eyed caretakers. "Now."

They looked at each other, then scrambled to do what she wanted and a few moments later, Elena had what she needed.

"Thank you."

Hooking her arm through her son's, she led the way out the door. As they went, she felt the ancestors' power draining from her along with the knowledge they'd lent her.

"Did you get what you needed?" Ryan asked.

"I did."

He opened the car door for Elena, then closed it behind her. As he walked around the car towards the driver seat, Elena glanced at the witch sleeping in the back seat. Ryan had even buckled her in, her sweet boy.

"The children are in the warehouse district in an abandoned building."

"Which means you'd be going out and making yourself vulnerable to any witch who might have a grudge."

"What are you getting at?"

"You and Hayley shouldn't be around other witches so much, so let me do it."

"The ancestors helped me do this, so I don't know why-?"

"The ancestors might want your help, but I don't think every witch in town will be so accepting of you," Ryan interrupted. "Especially Celeste. She's got to be planning something in retaliation for you throwing her back into her body."

"Alright," Elena relented.

"So, what do you need me to do?"

"The next full moon, you go and save them, then meet us in the bayou after delivering the children to Josephine LaRue. She'll make sure they are unharmed by being under Eva's spell for so long and then get them home. You might want to take Caroline with you, in case you need some extra muscle."

"Yes, ma'am."

When they pulled up in front of the mansion, Elena was surprised to see a moving van in the yard. Caroline stood on the steps, her arms folded across her chest clearly annoyed, while Hayley was off to one side, one hand digging into the scruff of her wolf friend's neck, holding her companion in place, while her other arm held a leather bag tucked close to her body.

Before she had time to even open her door, a dark skinned vampire with an afro darted over to her window.

Pressing the button, she rolled it down.

"I'm Diego. Marcel sent us to get your bags and other personal affects moved over to The Abattoir. He wants you to come on over. We've got the rooms ready and for those who didn't have rooms before, they'll be shown to theirs when you arrive."

"Thank you, Diego."

Patting the roof of the car, he flashed away and a moment later, the van pulled out of the drive.

"I'm gonna talk to Hayley about her friend. I'll be right back, keep the car running."

The wolf growled when she approached, but went silent when Hayley rubbed the back of their neck.

"Did you get her?"

"She's in the car now."

"Good. I'll text Finn now. He's been bugging me since you left." Hayley pulled out her phone and typed something out quickly.

"Do you have the spell jar for the wolves?"

"Right here." Hayley gestured to the bag she held tightly to her.

"Looks like we're moving into The Abattoir today."

"I gathered."

"And I'm afraid your friend will have to go back to the bayou until we reverse the curse."

"I know." Hayley sighed. Kneeling down, she placed her hand on the wolf's cheek. "I'll see you on the full moon. I promise."

The wolf whined.

Whether they could actually understand wasn't clear to Elena, but they clearly knew Hayley was leaving and going to live with the vampires.

"We'll be there. I swear it. We've got the spell ready to go."

Pressing her forehead to the wolf's, Hayley stood up and followed Elena to the car. Caroline met them at the passenger side of the car.

"I'll meet you there," Caroline said, glancing at the witch sleeping in the back seat.

"I can sit in the middle so you can ride with us," Hayley offered.

"Thanks." Caroline smiled.

Klaus's baby mama and his girlfriend becoming something of friends was an interesting thing to witness.

Once the girls were settled into the car, Ryan put it into gear and drove down the lane.

Behind them, the wolf howled mournfully, then raced off towards the bayou.

"I wonder who the wolf will turn out to be," Hayley mused.

"Whoever they are, they care about you," Elena said.

"And come day after tomorrow, you'll find out." Caroline shifted a little.

"If you don't mind, I'm gonna call Elijah." Elena pulled out her phone and selected Elijah's number.

"Hello?" he answered on the first ring.

"Hey."

"Finn told me you got Freya?"

"We did and we're headed to The Abattoir now. Marcel's guys picked everything up this morning."

"So everything worked out okay?"

"Yes. I kinda think Marcel wants a few more powerful witches on his side."

"It wouldn't surprise me," Elijah laughed. "He's a lot like Niklaus in that respect."

"What's going on on your end?"

"Sage showed up last night, so she'll be coming down with us and we're getting everything ready for us to leave town. We should be on the road in a few hours."

"Good. I've missed you."

"I've missed you too."

Klaus yelled something in the background. He didn't sound angry, just agitated.

"You've got to go, don't you?" Elena asked.

"Unfortunately. I love you."

"I love you too. See you soon. Goodbye."

"Goodbye."

Elena ended the call and slid her phone back into her pocket.

"Is Klaus okay?" Caroline asked, worried.

"He sounded like it, just annoyed. Probably because he's not great with change and not being in charge."

"I'll talk to him in a little while."

When they finally arrived at the compound, Marcel was standing on the balcony, a small, dark haired girl with blue eyes at his elbow.

Ryan shifted Freya so that she was more comfortable in his arms.

"Welcome to The Abattoir." He made his way down the stairs, the girl on his heels.

"This is Freya Mikaelson, the missing sibling they believed was dead," Elena explained. "She's under the affects of a sleep spell and won't wake up for a while yet, though we're trying to find a way to free her. If we could put her in Finn's room until a room is set up for her?"

"Of course. Thierry, take her and make sure someone gets a room ready."

A tall, blond man approached Ryan slowly and carefully, they shifted her from one to the other.

"Now that she's settled, Elena, I'd like you to meet Davina Claire."

"It's nice to meet you." Elena smiled.

Davina came around Marcel and wrapped her arms around Elena, pressing herself as tightly as she could to the older witch.

"Thank you. I know you're going to have to help kill me to save me, but you'll make sure I survive. Won't you?"

"I will, I promise." Elena ran her hand over Davina's hair.

"You died and you're still human and here." It sounded as though Davina was trying to convince herself that it would be okay.

"That's right. Klaus killed me to break his curse and we found a way for me to come back."

"So it can happen again."

"Yes, it can."

Davina finally let her go and rubbed her fingers under her eyes.

"We're here to help you," Ryan assured her.

Davina blushed and caught her lower lip between her teeth. Ryan shifted closer to Elena as if to shield himself from anyone being attracted to him and Caroline placed her hand on his shoulder rubbing his back just a little to help calm him.

"Ryan." Marcel eyed him warily.

Clearly the vampire wasn't over being thrown to the floor by this person who was supposed to be a witch. Marcel also didn't like not knowing exactly what species Ryan was and it unsettled him that no one was telling him anything more about him.

"Marcel." Ryan grinned and ducked his head a little, then looked up, the image of a mischievous child.

Marcel's lips thinned, then he became his easy going self once more and he said, "Alright, now, how about I show you to your rooms so you can get settled?"

As they walked down the hall, Elena fell back, and tugged lightly on Ryan's sleeve.

"Are you okay?" she asked.

"I'm alright." Ryan kissed the top of her head.

"What are you thinking?"

"I'm just not used to being in a house with people who aren't aware of my issues. It'll take time."

"Let me know if there's anything I can do to help."

"You know I will. Thank you."

"We put the rooms near to the Mikaelson family rooms so you'll all be close by," Marcel said. "Caroline is here, Ryan is between her room and Elijah's, which is where we put Elena's things, and Hayley right across the hall from him. We'll get the room just down the hall from Hayley set up for Freya."

"Thank you, Marcel." Elena patted his arm.

"I don't know about you, but I'd like a shower. Being in witch jail made me feel gross." Ryan tugged at his collar.

"Agreed." Elena shuddered. "And I'll be taking a nap afterwards."

After she climbed out of the shower, Elena ran a towel over her hair. With everything that had been going on, Elena hadn't taken the time to cut her hair in a while so it had almost grown out to her shoulders in the last few months.

Should she cut it again? Or let it grow out? Maybe she'd just keep it this length and make up her mind later.

Someone knocked on her door, jarring her out of her thoughts.

"Just a second!"

When she opened the door she found Ryan. His dark hair was damp and he'd changed into a t-shirt and jeans.

"Come in."

Elena stepped out of the way, allowing Ryan to enter the room. He shoved his hands into his pockets and shifted back and forth on his feet.

"What's going on? Ryan? What's wrong?"

"Just being in that prison. I know it's different from Malivore, but still..." he trailed off.

"They're in a place they can't get out of and most of them are drugged so badly they're essentially trapped inside their own heads."

"Yeah."

"They did things to deserve their sentences, unlike you."

He had to stop judging himself for trying to stay alive with a father like Malivore ripping him down and torturing him. He'd been alone for so long with that monster, it hadn't been until he'd met her that he'd had any positive influence in his life, any reason to try to be better than he was.

"But I've hurt people too."

"Yes, and you acknowledge what you've done and you're trying to do better with this second chance you've been given. Most of them don't want to change. In fact, if they got out, they'd do even worse things to punish everyone for locking them up."

"Does that excuse my actions?" he whispered.

"No. But it's proof that you're a good person and good people can pay for their actions and then move on with their lives while trying to do things better, unlike the people in that place."

"Okay." Ryan nodded. "Okay."

"You're a good person who's done bad things."

Elena hugged him and he crumpled in her arms as he exhaled in relief. Her poor boy. All the love in the world would still take a while to work through everything he'd endured while at Malivore's mercy, but Elena wasn't about to give up on him. He was her son and he wanted to be a good person, to feel like he was worthy of the love she gave him.

"Thank you," he mumbled against her shoulder.

Elena rubbed his back.

"I'm gonna let you take your nap now." Ryan released his hold on her.

"I love you, sweetheart." Elena cupped his cheek and ran her thumb beneath his dark eyes, that held the most vulnerable expression she'd seen on his face in a while.

"I love you too, Mama."

Ryan straightened his shoulders, the subtle weight—Elena couldn't believe she'd missed that he'd been carrying since they left the Dowager Fauline Cottage—was gone. With a smile in her direction, he left the room.

Alone once more, Elena climbed into bed and pulled a light blanket over her.