Chapter 5
Hope's POV
We were now nearing the end of September, and my whole life has taken a 180 degree turn in just a short amount of time. I just learned about the existence of vampires, werewolves, witches and god knows what else out there, and that I am one of them. Today Ingrid was going start teaching me the basics of witchcraft so that I can have complete control over them. So here I was waiting out in front of the main building waiting on her, while I was talking to my mom on the phone.
"Look I'm sorry for worrying you mom, it was just a bad night all together" I said trying to calm her down.
"You sounded so upset on the phone, why can't you tell me what happened" she asked.
Yeah I can see that conversation now, well mom it turns out that supernatural creatures exist and that your adopted daughter is a witch.
I sighed and said "Please just trust me I got it all worked out. I'll be fine I promise."
"Alright, but please Hope be careful and remember you can home whenever you want to" she said desperately.
Out of the corner of my eye I saw Ingrid making her way towards me.
"I know mom, but I really do need to get going. I'll call you later ok."
"Ok I love you honey" she said.
"I love you too, bye" I said and then hung up the phone
"So how do we start this off" I asked not sure exactly how we are going to proceed with this.
"Well before we begin, first you must have a basic understanding of what a witch is and what purpose they serve." Ingrid said motioning me to follow her.
"I think I know what a witch is" I said, wondering if she's trying to test my intelligence.
"Hope what you think you know versus what is real in our community vastly differs from each other. Starting from the basics will you give a real idea about what kind of world you are about to enter into. Some of the myths humans have perceived of us are quite laughable really. Hope you have to forget what you may know about the supernatural and learn from the beginning." she explained.
"That includes vampires and werewolves" I asked.
Ingrid nodding as we started walking through town "Yes, because as I said human myths are in actuality very much 99% wrong of the time. Are you ready?
"Yes I am" I said.
"Well then let us begin. Witches in general are people who are born with the ability to affect great changes by magical means, that we call witchcraft or magic as humans tend to call. For many centuries they have followed a belief system known to many as the balance of nature."
"Wait you mean sort of like how everyone and everything must die" I asked with uncertainty.
Ingrid showed no emotion as she continued "Exactly like that, they consider every living thing as sacred and that with every death there must be life. However, just like with how humans have their justice systems, the system is not at all perfect because you still those who misuse their powers for maleficent purposes that go against the balance of nature. In a way it's sort of like how humans worship in church, because those who follow this belief system honor these beliefs and restore balance when necessary because of the concept the spirits of the witches who have passed before still linger on a whole other plane once they pass and will punish those who do not follow through with keeping the balance through various means."
"It seems so complicated" I said as I tried processing everything that she's been telling me.
Ingrid nodded and said "Oh trust me Hope it is and with just like with any other religion or culture that you know of, there has multiple sub-cultures of witchcraft that have surfaced over the centuries that beliefs and practices differ by the type of magic they use and there's too many for me to rattle off to you. However, the most common types you will hear of is Traditional, which is the oldest and purest forms of witchcraft and as well as the most popular, this magic requires the user to exert their own energy. Then you have Spirit Magic, which draws on the energy from the deceases spirits that resided on the other side, but since it's collapse nearly 2 decades this type has become extinct."
"The Other Side?" I questioned.
"It was a purgatory place in which the spirits of deceased supernatural creatures resided after their deaths. However, it collapsed 2 decades ago due to an incident that I unfortunately do not know the circumstances surrounding it."
As Ingrid continued on and explained about covens and how each coven practiced a certain type of magic, I felt a headache coming on. With all these types of magic, what kind of magic am I supposed to choose from and how am I supposed to. Before I could ask her, I noticed for the first time our surroundings which appeared to be the marketplace however she started leading me to an alleyway.
"Where are we going?" I asked stopping myself before entering the alleyway.
Ingrid turned to me and said "A secret place of mine that we can practice freely without being seen by humans. Trust me Hope, I wouldn't be leading you here if it wasn't to help you."
"Ok ok I'm coming" I said as I continued to follow her.
Eventually we reached a dead end and all there were just brick buildings surrounding us.
"Are you sure about this place" I asked with uncertainly.
Ingrid didn't turn to me and just said "Rule number 1 Hope, always expect the unexpected.
She then waved her hand and in an instant a door appeared out of nowhere.
"Wow" I said in shocked. That was amazing, it was a brick wall just a minute ago.
Ingrid then turned back to me with a smug smile and said "With enough practice Hope you will be able to conceal hidden doors. Now let's go Andy is waiting for us below."
"Who's Andy" I asked taking in the surroundings once I stepped in the door and to my surprise it was almost like a cave with the stairs going downwards, sort of like out of the movies.
"My Granddaughter, she's a couple years older than you are. I guess you could call her my apprentice of sorts" Ingrid explained.
Eventually we came to a room and my eyes widen by what I saw. The entire interior was the inside of a cave and all around there were candles lite up, and in the center of the room was a stone table with symbols that I did not recognize written over it. Then what caught my eye was a young woman, who I guessed was Ingrid's granddaughter, walking towards us. She had blonde hair that reached past her shoulders wearing a blue dress with short sleeves that barely covered her shoulders. In my opinion she was above average looking girl, but her face does remind me of a fragile doll.
"Hope this is my granddaughter, Andy. Andy this is Hope Winters, the girl that I was telling you about" Ingrid said introducing us.
Andy smiled and offered her hand and said "Pleasure to meet you Hope."
"You too Andy" I replied as I shook her hand.
"Now shall we all take a seat so we can get started" Ingrid said motioning to the stone table.
Both Ingrid and I sat at opposite ends of the table, as Andy between us.
"Now the first step to controlling your magic, is by letting go of all your worries and fears. Magic flows freely through our veins every day, but the concept of fear can ultimately weaken the magic and even block it. Controlling one's emotions Is essential for control" Ingrid explained.
"How on earth can I possibly move past my fear, I wasn't raised to embrace it like you two have" I said wondering if I ever could past it.
"Why do you think we're starting at the basics. If we can get you more comfortable with minor spells, we'll work our way up from there." Ingrid said.
Ingrid then gave a look to Andy, who got up with a bag and poured what appeared to be ashes on the table.
"This spell you are to perform is a simple fire spell, it's one of the first spells every beginning witch learns at about 5 years old" she said.
I couldn't help but scoff a little "So if a five-year-old can do it, then I can do it. That gives me comfort me."
Ingrid didn't look like she appreciated the sarcasm.
"Now listen I want you to close your eyes, concentrate and repeat Phasmatus Ignitium Dos Ex Salvo, Phasmatis Ignitium Dos On Salvo, Phasmatis Ignitium Dos On Salvo and as you do listen very carefully to your heart and how your body responds" Ingrid.
"Ok I can do this" I said taking in a deep breath as I closed my eyes. I mentally willed my fear to go away before I started, and surprisingly it was helping.
" Phasmatus Ignitium Dos Ex Salvo, Phasmatis Ignitium Dos On Salvo, Phasmatis Ignitium Dos On Salvo" I started the incantation.
To my immense surprise I felt my heartbeat returning to a normal rate and a sudden sensation rising up in my body. This feeling was unlike anything I ever felt before and I liked it, it made me feel like there was nothing that I couldn't do.
"HOPE" I heard Ingrid screamed. I automatically opened my eyes and to my horror flame were consuming the entire table. I automatically dropped from my seat onto the floor.
"Hope you have to stop the fire" Ingrid said already up and a good distance away from the fire.
"I CAN'T" I screamed, that however just caused the fire to spread.
"YES YOU CAN, CONTROL YOUR EMOTIONS DON'T LET YOUR FEAR OVER TAKE YOU" She screamed at me.
I quickly shut my eyes trying to come up with a way to stop the fire. All I could think was that I needed a spell to dispel the fire, but I didn't know one besides the one I just did. However, the sensation I felt just moments ago suddenly came back, and calmed me down.
"Suctus Incendia" I said, completely dumbfounded of how on earth what to say, but when I reopened my eyes the fire was completely gone and both Ingrid and Andy both stared at me completely surprised not that I could blame them because so was I.
Eventually Ingrid left, saying she wanted to give me some sort of spell book she wanted me to look over, while Andy was left cleaning up the mess I created.
"Here let me see your hand" Andy said as she knelt down to my sides.
I looked at her confused, but when I looked at my hand I saw had blood over it. It was probably from when I fell off the chair earlier.
Andy took a cloth to it to put pressure on it and then looked at me and said "That was pretty intense. You really must be a prodigy at this. I never seen someone who just began their training causing so much fire like that."
"Yeah I guess so" was all I could say to that.
"What's wrong, you seem troubled by something" she asked looking at me curiously.
"I don't know, just this whole concept of Magic. There's so many different types I don't know which one is the right one I should practice. I mean all I want is too just control these powers so that I don't hurt anyone" I explained.
Andy just giggled causing me to look at her in confusion
"I'm sorry Hope that's rude of me, but let me tell you something. You are one of the lucky ones, the ones that can choose freely what type they want and switch back and forth quite easily to another type if you so choose. I'm actually quite envious of you really. Let me ask you something did my grandmother talk to you about how New Orleans witches are divided into covens.
"Vaguely, I mean I know the general concept of it" I said.
"Well here in New Orleans there are nine types of covens, and each coven have their own different way of using their magic, however the source of our magic comes from the same source, which is the Ancestors" she explained.
"The Ancestors?" I asked interrupting her.
"There New Orleans witches who have been consecrated into the earth after death, and the magic from their bones are added to the ancestral power, which gives the living witches the knowledge and power of hundreds and hundreds of witches."
"So it's sort of like spirit magic" I asked.
"In a way yes, but unlike spirit magic, where witches were bound to the other side. The Ancestors reside on a separate plane called the Ancestral plane and the magic that fulls our power is only limited to the New Orleans area, and the father away a witch gets from New Orleans the weaker their power gets, whereas spirit magic you could call upon the spirits from any location you pleased." Andy explained.
"I mean something as powerful as that I guess I can see why it's extremely limited" I said as I processed everything that she has told me.
"Please, The Ancestors are nothing but politically corrupt in their beliefs. Should a witch stay from the faith or side with vampires or werewolves the consequences can be quite devastating. I like to compare them to hardcore religious fanatics, if your beliefs are not exactly to their standards then your automatically condemned for all eternity. That's your lucky Hope you weren't born to worship them, you have the choice to practice however the way you want to without the influence of those you know best" she said.
However, the envious look on her face made me wonder about something.
"If you don't agree with them, then why don't you just leave New Orleans" I asked wondering what's stopping her.
Andy sighed and said "My Grandma, she tells me I won't be safe as I am here if I leave. She tells me all the time how vulnerable I'll be to a preying vampire or out of control werewolf."
"What about your parents, surely they have a more say so than she does" I stated.
"Actually my parents died during the war 18 years ago" she said.
"Oh god I'm so sorry I didn't mean to bring it up" I said already feeling guilty.
Andy just shook her head and said "Nah it's fine, actually their deaths taught me that just because witches have a code of loyalty to their own kind doesn't mean it's actually followed."
"You mean witches killed your parents" I asked shocked.
"Yes, along with my older brother Hans, who was only 5 at the time. I believe I was in my crib at the time, but my memory is sort of hazy since I was only 2.
"How on earth did you survive?" I asked.
"Elijah Mikaelson saved my life that night, and if it wasn't for him I probably wouldn't be here right now" she said.
Wait a minute Elijah Mikaelson he was that vampire I meet, and I believe Ingrid said he was one of the first vampires to come into existence.
"Let me give this one piece of advice Hope, alliances are always shifting and changing in this city. Just because you and someone else are of the same species doesn't mean anything, sometimes those of different species end up becoming your greatest allies and friends" she said.
Before I could respond, Ingrid walked back in with a huge book in her hands.
"Andy dear why don't you go home; I'll be home within a couple hours" she said.
"It was nice meeting you Hope" she said before she got up to leave.
I looked down and saw that my hand, that I completely forgot about, was all healed up.
"This a Grimoire for you to look at Hope, just don't practice any of these spells without me" she said handing me the huge book.
"It looks old" I commented.
"Well it is over a thousand years old" she stated so plainly.
"What how on earth could something still exist for so long" I questioned amazed that I'm actually holding something from a thousand years ago.
"This Grimoire used to belong to the Original Witch, the one who turned her children into the first ever vampires, something like this is bound to survive one way or another" she explained.
I just looked at the book in wonder, just wondering what kinds of spells is all in it.
Normal POV
Andy Wolff, who was currently walking through the streets of New Orleans, arrived at the home of the originals. She didn't have to knock because the door automatically opened to reveal the face of Elijah.
"Thank you for coming Andromeda on such short notice" he said stepping aside for her to come in.
"No problem at all Elijah. Your brother and Sister aren't here" she asked.
"No, which is better this way, I don't want to give anyone's hope's up" he said.
"You did get the fax I sent you on Hope Winters correct" Andy asked.
"I did and it actually did prove more useful than I originally thought. Adopted straight out of New Orleans 18 years ago, which was orchestrated by your grandmother" Elijah said as he moved towards the table where lay a sheet of white paper.
"So why are we doing this if you're so sure this is the girl you've been looking for" Andy asked as she took out the cloth that had some of Hope's blood on it.
"Having the confirmation will put any doubts from my mind and especially Klaus and Hayley's mind when they learn of it" Elijah said as he took out two vials of Klaus and Hayley's blood.
"Ok drop the blood onto the paper" Andy commanded.
Elijah did exactly what he was told and then Andy squeezed Hope's blood from the cloth onto the paper.
She then took a deep breath before waving her hand over the papers. The blood from all 3 started to move to each other until they formed into one and then started to spread across the paper. Then from the blood a picture of Hope, Klaus, and Hayley appeared, shocking Elijah.
"It's positive" Andy said looking at him with a smile.
However, Elijah just stood there shocked that after all this time that Hope was truly home.
Author's Note
Well there's chapter 5 and I hoped everyone liked it. Next chapter will be the reaction of Klaus and maybe a certain confrontation will take place. So please keep reading and reviewing.