Hope went to her room and crashed as soon as they got back to base and when she woke up the next morning, the first thing she did was head to the cafeteria. People stared at her as she passed and she knew, something was up and everyone knew about it.
As she walked, she texted Ryan on the sly.
Are you okay? Ryan asked.
No. Something's going on. I'm afraid.
Get out.
I'm trying. But the only way out means doing something I don't want to do.
Whatever you have to do, do it. Just get out.
Just then, she passed Veronica's office and heard the woman talking to someone in a low tone, so she paused.
So she could listen in without getting caught, Hope cast an invisibility spell and stepped closer to the door so she didn't miss a word. It was rare that the woman was so careless as to leave her door open, especially when she sounded so serious and Hope knew she'd better listen in, especially with Burr now actively campaigning against her.
Her phone buzzed repeatedly, but she didn't dare pull out her phone and distract herself.
"I understand your concern."
"You should have seen her though," Burr replied. "I've never seen anyone with that sort of power in all the missions I've been on. She made an entire group of powerful witches back down!"
Veronica remained silent for a long moment before she said, "I see where you're coming from. Her containing that much power is concerning."
"If she's that powerful, she can and will turn on us. You can't trust someone with magic if they can do what she did. Who knows whether or not she's done something to us already and she's manipulating us even now?"
"Very well. I'll make up a mission and send her out on it alone. With any luck, she'll be arrogant enough to assume it's because she's just that good. If she happens to disappear, that's just one of the risks of this job."
"Thank you, ma'am."
The triumph in his voice had her stomach turning and Hope ran down the hall, food forgotten. It was time to save herself and disappear.
She had the ingredients and spell all ready to go, in her bedroom, so all she had to do was set it out and get to work.
Fortunately, not many people had strong memories of her, so the spell wouldn't take the sort of power it would take just a little push. Soon, the only ones who would know that Hope Marshall ever existed were the supernatural.
Once she was ready to cast the spell, with tears streaming down her face, she sent a final text to Ryan.
Goodbye.
Her phone buzzed again and again, but Hope ignored it and, with a flick of her fingers, she destroyed the device. When she was done, she couldn't leave any proof that she ever existed, and that included a phone that could be tracked and texts discovered.
Her heart twisted with the thought about how worried he would be right now. But it would be fine. In just a few minutes, Ryan would probably assume he'd been drunk texting someone, because he wouldn't remember anything about her.
Clenching her jaw, she pulled out her supplies and set to work. When it was safe, she could find Ryan again and try to sort things out, but only when it was safe.
Heart pounding, she set out the last candle and started chanting. As her power flowed, her nose started bleeding. Going up against the Hollow had taken more out of her than she'd thought, but she did have enough strength to complete what she needed to do to disappear.
With another spell, she removed her image from all security footage from the facility and then sent a text to maintenance that this room needed to be cleaned. One final spell to remove any and all mention of her from the records later and finally, there was no proof that she'd ever even stepped foot in the building.
After that, she packed up anything that might lead back to her, anything magical related, so they wouldn't start looking for a witch that might have been in their ranks at all. Once she was packed, she had a duffle bag of clothing and a backpack containing spell supplies, a grimore, and her family keepsakes that she'd stolen, including pictures of her with her family.
Sitting back on her heels, she considered her next step carefully, then realized she needed one more bag, so she grabbed another duffle, which she left empty
Hope looked around the room, making sure she'd left nothing behind, then made herself invisible once more, and headed out the door.
On her way to the gate, she encountered Burr and a small contingent of people. Hope had to press herself flat against the wall to keep from getting bumped in to and that meant she had to listen to their conversation as they passed.
"I'm forgetting something," Burr muttered, frustrated. "What am I forgetting?"
"Sir?" a woman next to him asked.
Hope wasn't sure who she was but thought she might have worked with her once before.
"I just got this feeling like I'm forgetting something."
"If it's important enough, I'm sure it will come to you. Now what's the mission, sir?"
"Mission?"
"We were on the way to the armory, weren't we? That'd mean we'd have a mission."
"I'll have to double check with Mrs. G, because I don't know."
Or not. Hope smirked and left Burr scratching his head as to what mission he'd forgotten.
It took her two hours by foot to reach an ATM attached to a large enough bank for her to get what she wanted. Shorting out all the cameras in the area, she walked up to the ATM and then withdrew as much of Triad's money as she could get, in Burr's name, of course. He was the perfect fall guy for this.
He might not remember her,
Once she emptied out that ATM, she went to another, and then a third. Finally, her last duffle bag was filled to bursting. Taking out several twenties from the bag, Hope slid them into her pocket and started walking.
Her stomach growled, reminding her that she forgot to eat earlier, so she found a fast food joint.
Since they weren't busy, Hope got her order much more quickly than she thought she might. When her number was called, she grabbed the bag off the counter and headed back out the door quickly.
Now, it was time to find a bus station. Washington, here she came. Though she'd have to take a round about way to get there, because that money going missing wouldn't go unnoticed, and Burr would fight back So taking a direct route to where she wanted to go would risk inviting trouble.
"Where to?" the ticket agent asked.
"Dallas, Texas."
"How many bags?"
"Three, two in the hold, one carry on."
"That'll cost extra."
"I'm aware."
The ticket agent gave her the price and Hope handed over the money.
Once she had her ticket, Hope went to the waiting room and collapsed into a chair, bracing her hands on her knees, with her head hanging. She wanted to breathe, to relax, but she wouldn't be able to, not until Georgia was behind her.
"You look beat." A kindly faced old woman sat down beside her. She looked at the bags at Hope's feet, then back at her face. "You running from something?"
"More like running towards something."
"I like that description. So what are you running towards?" The woman asked, folding her hands across her lap, her eyes alight with curiosity.
"A new life."
"Oh?"
"For the first time in my existence, I'm doing what's best for me, instead of what's other people demand that I do for them to improve their own self-interests. There might even a guy at the end of this trip, if he'll still have me." Hope didn't try fighting the smile that crossed her lips at the thought of Ryan.
"But you ain't running away from anyone?" she asked, suddenly worried.
"I leave nothing behind that I regret leaving. If they wanted me to stay, they would have been better people." They also wouldn't have been plotting her dead, forcing her to do what she did to make sure no human came looking for her, ever.
"They might get people to you take back if you're a runaway."
"I'm an adult, so I can walk away if someone's not treating me right. It's my right to be missing if I want to be." Though eighteen was young, with everything she'd been through, she was more than capable of making decisions that would keep her safe.
The woman nodded, accepting that Hope was old enough to be on her own, even though she looked young.
"I'm through staying in a place where I'm not appreciated and they make demands of me without caring about what I need, even though their demands take far more out of me than I ask of them."
"Smart girl. Here's hoping this new man knows how to treat you, because no one needs to go through whatever you went through that put such sadness in your eyes."
"Yes, ma'am. I think he does."
"Why do you think this fellow of yours might not take you back?"
"Because of the way I left him. I chose the life I should have left behind a long time ago over him and I know it hurt him when I did that."
"Why did you?"
Hope sighed as she pondered the woman's question, then said, "Because I was afraid of change. That other life is what I knew, so I went back to it, even though I knew it was hurting me."
"If he's a good man, he'll understand. You don't just leave when you're given a way out. You gotta fight those inner demons to really get yourself into a position to get free," she said with a sympathetic pat on Hope's knee."
The bus to Dallas was called and Hope stood up.
"Best of luck on your new life, dear."
"Thank you for the talk." Hope nodded once, then slung her bags over her shoulders.
"You seem to have a good head on your shoulders. I think you'll be fine.
Inclining her head and with a final smile, Hope headed out with the other passengers to board the bus.
The driver didn't say anything when Hope elected to put her backpack into the bag storage area instead of the duffle filled with money. He just took the bags from her and then tossed them in with all the others.
A woman behind her raised an eyebrow at Hope's choice, but Hope stared her down until she dropped her gaze. What business was it of this stranger's what bag she decided to have as a carry on?
There was no way in hell was Hope going to risk this bag coming open in the hold and revealing her loot. That was the last thing she needed, people finding out about a bag full of money and Burr getting on her trail in an effort to prove that she was the thief rather than him.
After her things were stored away, Hope climbed onto the bus and found a seat as far away from a family with small children sitting near the front of the bus as she could get.
Closing her eyes, she allowed herself to fall into a light doze. In a few weeks, she would be with Ryan again, and maybe, just maybe, she could have a life with him. That is, if he wasn't opposed to the supernatural and he forgave her for making him forget she existed.
By the time the bus pulled out of the station, she was sound asleep, dreaming of warm brown eyes and plump lips, set in the prettiest face she'd ever seen, and gentle arms wrapping around her, holding her close.
