A/N: We're in 2x05. Does it help when I tell you the episode number? I dunno. I'll keep doing it though. It helps me, I guess. To be honest, though, 2x05 deals with a lot of issues, especially with Caroline and her mom. So if you have mommy issues like me, break out the tissues for this episode. Well, maybe. I did see that TikTok going around about the whole Steven Grant and Marc Spector thing. The jury's still out for me.

Someone asked about what I had in mind for Sabrina in mermaid form. I've only ever had a basic aesthetic for her, which has been dark!mermaid. If you google that, you should see my ideas. Blue scales, scary claw, sharp teeth. Still alluring but definitely a monster's face when you look closer. Sensational.

I realize that I'm over 50K words, and we still haven't even met Elijah. I swear I'm trying to hurry. I'm still trying to figure out what I'm going to do in the next few episodes. You should know by now that I really don't have a plan. Only fanciful aspirations. Have fun ;)

Songs for this chapter:

"Hunger" by Florence + the Machine

"Arms Tonite" by Mother Mother

Chapter Nineteen: I Refuse to Dress Up

-O-

The bathroom door swung open, and Sabrina woke up hissing and flashing sharp teeth, freezing air biting her skin. She bared teeth and claws at the intruder. Caroline stood in a beam of sunlight, her hands planted on her hips. "Oh, please. Don't even start,"

Sabrina grunted, her head falling back against the tub. The water sloshed against the sides as she settled back. The water was ice, but she found she wasn't bothered by it. Had she slept here?

Caroline aided her silent interrogation.

"Did you sleep in here?" She demanded, her nose wrinkling.

Sabrina's head rolled to the side, waving her hands, mindful of her claws near her abdomen. "Really? You need to ask that?"

"Well, I don't know. You might have weird habits now. Weird fish…habits," Caroline floundered for a moment before she shook her head. "Whatever. The library called,"

Sabrina sat up suddenly. "What? What's wrong?"

Caroline examined her manicure before flinging a towel at Sabrina. "Nothing. Chill. They need you to come in earlier than nine for like document stuff. I guess. It sounded boring,"

Sabrina held the towel over the side of the tub. "Did they mention the Fell journals?"

"They want to bring some letters outside,"

Sabrina's jaw slackened. "Outside? Are they insane? Without temperature regulation?"

Caroline snapped her fingers rapidly. "Well, hurry up so we can go. I volunteered for the committee. Did you change your mind about dressing up by any chance?"

Sabrina saw the hope on Caroline's face and hesitated to decimate it. But still, she replied, "And wear a corset? In 80 degrees?"

Caroline's face dropped into grumpiness once more. "Fine. We could've matched, but that's fine." She turned on her heel. "I need you to drop me at my house." Caroline glanced at her phone. "Mom called me. She wants to bond or something,"

"Hmm." Her voice lifted an awkward octave. "Ok, and your feelings on this are…?"

She counted on her fingers. "Unhopeful, low expectations, slightly irritated."

Sabrina listed to herself, Disappointed, ashamed, crestfallen. She remembered all the calls she received from Caroline while she was at William and Mary. After cheer competitions, debate championships, and environmental cleanups, it was the same. "Yeah, mom had to work."

She realized Caroline was still talking.

"So I'll probably need a ride after mom bails, ok?"

Sabrina nodded, "Yeah, sure,"

Caroline nodded once, turning on her heel. "Oh, also. Stefan called. Damon tried stabbing Mason last night. Didn't work. Be on the lookout for possible dog grudge." She closed the door behind her. "I'm putting clothes on your bed!"

Sabrina's head fell back with a thunk.

-O-

It was harder than she thought waving goodbye to Caroline as she trod up to her own house. Liz's patrol car sat in the partially closed garage. Backing out of the driveway, she barely missed a dog walker jaywalking. She waved in apology before hitting the accelerator. She didn't blame the old grandma when she flipped her off. One day, she hoped to carry on the same energy as the woman.

She cut across to the back streets when Main Street was blocked off by street vendors, band performers, and volunteers. Some were dressed in period costumes while others still wore sweats and pajamas, not bothering to change until the last moment. She didn't blame them. The temperature on her dash read seventy-nine degrees. It would only get hotter as the day went on. She stopped her car in front of the library, waving at Judith, who struggled to get her hoop skirt over top of a stack of boxes near the loading dock. The woman shrugged, irritation pinching her brow. Sabrina jumped from the car, offering,

"Need some help?"

-O-

Sabrina had finished clearing her workstation in the archival room when Reyna strode into the room. She wrapped her leather jacket more tightly around her.

"It's cold as tits in here," She said.

Sabrina looked over her shoulder, her French braid swishing against her back. "What an entrance,"

"What can I say, I probably would've been burned along with the other witches in this town back then,"

Sabrina bit back a smile as she looked back at the box on the table. Gloves, tabletop magnifying lens, portable document scanner, bookbinding supplies, and a few books.

Reyna peered over Sabrina's shoulder. "They convince you to go outside with your precious artifacts?"

"Not quite," Sabrina said, adding her laptop, a notepad, and a few ink pens into the box. "I refused to take out anything that needs to be temperature regulated. They wanted to take out the Fell letters. The original copies," she continued with a bit of malice.

Reyna nodded. "Those animals,"

Sabrina nodded. "I did say I would work on some book restorations. Give the booth something dynamic,"

"Oh, yeah. Riveting stuff,"

"It's not fight club, but it can be exciting,"

"I'll let you think that because you're cute. Anyway," she reached into her messenger bag. "Mom sent this,"

Sabrina took the leather-bound book, turning it in her hands, fingers running along the gold inlays and decorative leather ridges. She opened the front cover, almost gasping when she noticed manual, movable type press work marking and indentations. Reyna clapped her on the shoulder. "Hope you can read Latin, dude,"

-O-

After some finagling, Sabrina convinced Reyna to carry one of her boxes to the library pop-up tent. Reyna managed to stay with her for all of 20 minutes before catching a glimpse of the waitress who recently moved back to town after a brief excursion to Atlanta.

"How come you don't ogle me like that?" Sabrina asked without looking up from applying glue to a book spine.

"Because it feels strangely incestuous." Reyna adjusted her hair, throwing a wink over her shoulder."Don't wait up for me, hoss,"

Sabrina looked up, "No one likes to be called that!"

After noticing a few strange stairs, she returned to her work, the book Miriam sent weighing heavily in her lap. A few kids watched with interest, one asking if she was a book surgeon. Sabrina held a scalpel-like knife in her hands and decided it was a valid question. A couple of young teenagers pretended not to be vaguely interested when their grandmothers stopped in to say hello. She spotted Caroline barking orders at decorators, jumping into the fray, and readjusting balloons and streamers. She caught her eye and waved. Caroline rolled her eyes, gesturing to the workers around her, silently demanding, 'Can you believe this shit—,'

Sabrina offered a mock glare, shaking her head at her cousin. Liz appeared at her daughter's side, redirecting her torrents of energy. Liz noticed her and offered a knowing grin, and Sabrina waved. Sabrina managed to stave off her curiosity for another half hour before she reached for the book in her lap. Setting the book on her stand, she unwound the clasp until a light click sounded. She grabbed her notebook and pen for annotations and set to work, noting the types of paper, font, ink, and any embellishments before starting on the information written in the book.

Her notes read:

•Hereditary curse.

•More power on a full moon, but more impervious to injury all the time

•Transformation— excruciating pain, a complete change to the muscular-skeletal system

•Lethal bite to vampires, bite can turn another human

•Werewolves created? Or just naturally existing.

•The Council?

She stopped at her last bullet point, underlining it several times. She flipped through the next several pages. The Council— or whatever it was— was never mentioned again. While it was only written once, Sabrina had the sinking feeling it was only mentioned because it was an understood fact of life. To the book's intended readers anyway, but to Sabrina? Yeah, not so much.

A cold lemonade dropped in front of her, and Sabrina jumped. Tim stood in front of her booth in a white t-shirt and cargo shorts.

"This for me?" She eyed the watery cup suspiciously.

He shrugged. "Can't I do something nice?" At her stare, he continued, "Caroline didn't want it,"

"Oop. There it is." she took the cup, enjoying a long sip. "Lucky for you. I still accept pity lemonades," she said, patting the seat next to her. "C'mon. The heat's getting to you, I can tell,"

A small smile tugged at his mouth. He jumped over the stack of junk next to the table, plopping into the metal folding chair. His watchful dark eyes followed Caroline as she flitted from place to place with her mom closely following.

Sharp feedback over the PA system had Tim and Sabrina clutching their ears. Carol Lockwood stood on the stage Caroline finished moments before. Her appearance was immaculate, with silky hair that shone in the sun and finely pressed clothes that were worth more than she made in a month. She tapped the microphone, waving, offering a self-assured smile, saying,

"This is all part of the historical society, continuing efforts to give back to the community. Thanks to the generous donation of the Fell family. We are now standing in the sight of our newest public park. Thank you to everyone who has shown up today to lend a helping hand. Thanks."

The crowd roared in applause, whistling and cheering.

Sabrina said, more to herself, "They really don't know what lives underneath, do they?"

Tim snorted derisively, "They really don't. Whatcha reading?" He asked, sipping more air than lemonade through his straw, peering over her shoulder to the leather book on the stand.

"A book your mom lent me. About the recent influx of dog-breathed individuals,"

He turned the cover, eyes widening. He murmured reverently, "Lycanthrope Codex." His fingers twitched as he fought the urge to grab the book. "I didn't know mom still had this." His voice turned a bit resentful. "She never let me read it,"

Sabrina's lips twitched. "Go for it, dude." She warned before his hands touched. "Gloves on the side of the table,"

Tim practically dove for them before examining the book with a forced gentleness. It killed him to turn the book slowly, not to give into the frantic energy that had followed him from early childhood. She allowed him a few minutes before she asked,

"Have you heard of this?"

He answered distractedly. "Of what?"

"The Council?"

Tim looked up sharply. "Why do you say that?"

Sabrina quirked a brow. "Oo-kay. Like that reaction makes me feel better,"

Tim tried to settle back into his chair. "Well, I didn't mean… I didn't mean it like that,"

"Like a paranoid witch in the middle of Salem,"

His voice cracked slightly when he laughed. "Only some weird ghost stories mom used to tell us when we were kids,"

"Ghost stories?" She repeated, tilting her head to the side.

"Weird family,"

"The fact had caught my attention, yes. What about the stories?"

"It's more of a Mystic Falls thing. Mom said the stories started a little before the Civil War,"

"Interesting that it matches the Salvatores' turning timeline or whatever," she groused. At his confused look, she said, "What? I have access to all the old town records. Wasn't that hard to find no matter how damn secretive they pretend to be,"

Tim looked at her strangely before shaking his head and continuing, "From what I remember, they were kinda like the boogeyman for the supernatural populations, witches, werewolves, vampires….and various others,"

"Inquisition crap?"

"Inquisition crap. They almost burned the town to the ground," he returned his attention to the book, flipping through the pages.

A dull hum emanated from…somewhere, and Sabrina's head jerked up. She'd heard that noise before.

"Did you hear that?"

"Hear what?" Tim didn't look up.

There was nothing calm or peaceful about the ocean's call to her. It spoke like a warning, a dulled whisper to look closer, hidden underneath her bracelet's charm. Hunger bit into her stomach, heavy and thick. Her fangs burned. Her eyes cut across the festival, past the family buying ice cream, Carol Lockwood chewing out a poor teenager, and Bonnie following around Jeremy Gilbert.

She spotted Caroline darting away from the festival, trailing along the tree line. Caroline didn't catch her stare. A deep frown was ingrained harshly into her face as she drew her blonde curls into a ruthless ponytail. She marched into the woods. A deep iron filled her nostrils, and Sabrina jumped from her chair. Tim startled.

"What are you doing?"

She told Tim to watch the tent and followed Caroline into the woods.