Alaric was sitting in his office, going over bills that were piling up. He slid his feet off the desk and stood, leaving the room for some much-needed fresh air. As he took a step, the wired phone on his desk broke the silence with a loud ring.
Alaric groaned before taking a step back and putting the phone up to his ear. "Hello?"
The voice on the other line was quiet and hushed, but Alaric stiffened at the words leaving their lips. He whispered okay and set the phone back on the hook. Without hesitation, he grabbed his coat and left his office, doing his best to not raise alarm with his fast pace.
He pulled his phone from his pants pocket and texted the only one that he knew could help. Just as he clicked send, he stepped out of the front door; Hope appeared beside the school's car. Their gaze met with a nod, Alaric getting in the driver's seat and Hope in the passenger's. Alaric started the engine and sped out of the school grounds, almost hitting the gate on the way out.
As he drove, Hope asked the most important question. "What are we dealing with?"
"Dorian called to inform me that one of his students at the high school named Evelyn Hartley has been acting strange lately. She has caused lights to burst, a locker door to bend, and she threw a kid without touching him, but she always looks scared and confused when it happens," Alaric explained.
"So, she's a witch who doesn't realize it…" Hope thought aloud.
"There's more," Alaric said with a sigh. "On one of these occasions, he told her to rest in his office to calm her nerves. She had fallen asleep on his couch and when he returned after lunch she was floating above the couch."
"Well, that's…different," Hope muttered.
"All of this was concerning him, but he was going to wait until Monday to not bother us during the weekend. However, he has a police scanner in his office at home and a report came in of an explosion of light coming from this girl's house. He's contacted his friends in the force and has kept them from the house for only a half-hour, so if she did this because of something supernatural, we need to get her out and get Kaleb to change the story," Alaric explained.
"Well, this should be interesting then."
"Yeah, it sure will be."
The next few minutes of the ride were in complete silence; both trying to figure out what they were truly walking into. Would she come willingly or fight against them? Was she as innocent as they believed or was it all an act?
The two contemplated those questions as they pulled up to the house. A bright light was still emanating from all the windows. Hope and Alaric shared a look before getting out of the car; Alaric with his gun and Hope with her magic and werewolf strength.
The front door was wide open, falling off its hinges. Hope took the first step inside with Alaric following close behind. The two walked down the hall and found a small closet with the door thrown against the couch. Inside of the closet was a woman and two little kids, shaking with fear.
Alaric crouched down in front of them. "Where is she?"
A scream rang from the kitchen as a man came soaring out of it, slamming into the fridge with a loud bang. Hope looked back at Alaric and nodded. He silently agreed as he helped the three in the closet on their feet and outside onto the lawn. When they were out of the way, Hope turned her attention to the kitchen and kept moving further into the house.
The man slouched in front of the dented fridge was unconscious. He was breathing but beaten. From him, Hope turned to find the girl they had come to find.
Evelyn was floating a good five feet above the ground, a light glowing from her skin, her eyes just as bright. Her hands sparked with an electric charge. Hope looked closer to notice wings on the girl's back.
"She's a witch and a…fairy," Hope muttered.
Evelyn didn't notice Hope approach, her eyes were glued on the man in front of her, anger radiating from every pore. Hope didn't have to say anything to realize this girl was filled with murderous rage and if Hope didn't stop her, Evelyn would kill him.
She readied to shoot an energy ball at the man as Hope readied one of her own. As Evelyn threw the ball, Hope threw hers, the two colliding and dissipating into nothing. This finally caught Evelyn's attention as her glowing white eyes met Hope's.
"Move out of my way!" Evelyn yelled with a booming voice.
"If I did that, you'd kill him," Hope replied.
"He isn't worth saving," Evelyn insisted.
"Even so, killing him will not solve anything."
"Yeah, but it'll make me feel better."
Evelyn formed another energy ball and shot it at Hope, hitting her in the chest and flinging her across the room into the flat-screen television; the impact causing the screen to crack. Evelyn turned her attention back to the man against the fridge and formed a dagger made of pure electricity.
Her feet made contact with the ground as she stood in front of him, grabbing the front of his shirt and pulling him into a sitting position. This jostling woke the man as his eyes met hers with utter fear.
"How does it feel to finally be afraid of something?" Evelyn asked, a sadistic smiling creeping onto her face.
"You're a freak!" he said, spitting on her cheek.
She wiped the spit away as that sadistic smile widened. "For the first time, you're actually correct. I am a freak, but you want to know what this freak learned? She has powers and these powers are going to stop you from hurting anyone else."
Her hand rose into the air, clutching the electricity dagger tight in her hand as she went to stab him. Yet, before she could, she was blown backward across the kitchen. Hope now stood in front of the man and told him to run. Without hesitation, he scrambled to his feet and ran out the front door, leaving Hope and Evelyn alone in the house.
"You need to calm down, Evelyn. Don't let the power overwhelm you," Hope pleaded.
"I tried to ignore what has been happening to me, but you know what? I'm sick and tired of being stepped on. It's my turn to be stepping on someone else and I'm starting with that abusive prick that you just let run out of my house!" Evelyn screamed.
"I'm truly sorry but I can't let you do that," Hope said, lifting her hand into the air. "Suffocant!"
Evelyn's eyes went wide as her hands went to her throat. She tried to breathe, but the air wasn't coming. She gasped and gasped, falling onto the floor.
Hope approached her and whispered under her breath. "Somnum."
A purple mist blew into Evelyn's face as her eyelids closed and her face laid upon the tile flooring. Just as she passed out, Alaric ran back into the house and found the two in the kitchen.
"Did you really have to knock her out?" Alaric asked, coming to stand beside Hope.
"She wasn't listening," Hope said, turning back to look at him. "Did you deal with the family?"
Alaric met her gaze with a sigh and nod. "Kaleb is compelling them as we speak."
"What's he going to tell them?" Hope asked.
"That Evelyn is going to a boarding school because she is too advanced for the high school. That going to this boarding school will hopefully allow her to make new friends, erasing the fact she has powers," Alaric explained.
"What about her abusive father?" Hope asked.
"I'm having Kaleb make him a little more friendly. Since we're here, we might as well leave things better than when we found them," Alaric said.
Hope nodded silently, looking down at Evelyn. "What if she doesn't want to go to the school?"
"We'll come to that bridge when we get to it, but for now we need to get her out of here before the family sees her," Alaric said, bending down to pick her up. "I'll carry her to the car, you grab some of her belongings. Once we are out of the house, Kaleb will let the family back inside."
Hope nodded as she ran upstairs and Alaric went out the front door with Evelyn. She found a door at the end of the hall with Evelyn's name on it, pushing the door with a light tap. The room was disorganized but not messy.
Her bed was in the corner with a desk at the end and a nightstand beside it. Hope found a duffle bag under the bed and began shoving clothes into it, even grabbing a few pairs of shoes. Once it was filled to the brim, Hope found a backpack.
She filled this with things that would make Evelyn feel more at home. Hope grabbed photos, notebooks, stuffed animals, mementos, and other things she noticed in her vicinity. Once that bag was full, she heaved both down the steps and out the front door, shoving them into the trunk.
When she got into the passenger seat, Alaric nodded to Kaleb. Kaleb nodded in return, whispering to the family before they robotically walked back into the house, closing the door. Once they were out of sight, Kaleb saluted before vanishing.
Alaric shook his head with a smile before starting up the car, making his way back to the institute. When they arrived, Hope carried Evelyn's belongings up to her room. Until they found something better, the two would share. Once her stuff was out of the way, Hope made her way back down to Alaric's office where she found Evelyn tied to the chair across from where Alaric was sitting.
Hope raised a brow at Alaric for the theatrics and Alaric just shrugged. She closed and locked the door, coming to sit on the desk in front of Evelyn. As she sat, Evelyn's eyes shot open.
"Welcome back to the living," Hope said with a smile.
Evelyn's brow furrowed as she looked around in confusion. "Where am I?"
"The Salvatore Institute…your new home."