(3 months, 3 weeks later)
-Hillsboro, Oregon-
Lia looked down at her phone and turned it on.
Over the last 3 months, she had only been turning it on to take pictures of the places she's been and to save battery.
She went to Washington, DC in the first few days.
While she was there, she checked out the Washington Monument and the Lincoln Memorial. After that, she broke into the White House and took photos of herself in different places in it.
She especially liked the photo of herself in the oval office.
Then, she went to check out the Declaration of Independence.
And she may or may not have taken it out.
After that, she headed to New Orleans and tried the food that was around.
She tried some baguettes and some other foods.
It was all fresh and Lia didn't have to worry about bugs getting into the food.
She checked out the French Quarter and stole some of the grimoires she found.
Then, she went to Bourbon Street just to get drunk because of the name.
After that, she went to Chicago and got some Chicago deep-dish pizza.
Lia now understood what all the hype was about.
It was amazing.
When that was done, she headed to New York.
She 'shopped' -not like she's actually paying for anything- through the stores in Time Square. Then, she went to Central Park but there wasn't anything she could do.
On the next day, she went to see the Statue of Liberty and the Empire State Building.
Then, she went to see some Art Museums.
When she finally got bored, she went to the docks and figured out how to work a boat. Before she left, she gathered a bunch of supplies in case she got lost or something.
But she thankfully didn't.
It took her a few days to get to England.
And while she was in Europe, she went to Greece, Rome, Portugal, Spain, France, Africa, Germany, Japan, Australia, and China.
When all was said and done she returned to the states.
She wanted to check out Adeline's house for any grimoires.
Lia now had collected over 35 grimoires in her travels but none of them had anything on strange snapshots of time or alternate universes.
Well, one thing for sure, she would have some fun learning the spells in the grimoires, even if they were useless in the thing that mattered.
So far, Damon and Bonnie hadn't contacted her yet, which probably meant they haven't found anything either.
If they were even trying...
Lia looked up at the house she lived in for only a few years. She could still feel the magic Adeline had done to protect her home.
Lia walked up to the front door and used her magic to unlock the door.
She slowly entered and looked around.
It was so quiet...
Adeline's house had never been quiet.
Lia shook her head and began to look around.
As she walked the hallway, she trailed her fingers on the wall.
Memories of a young girl following after her mom like a lost puppy echoed in her mind.
This was the house she first learned how to be a normal girl.
On her left, she saw the closed door of the room, Adeline had given her.
Lia reached for the handle and pushed it open.
The room was medium size.
And had a queen-sized bed against the wall across from the door.
Adeline had used it as a guest bedroom before she found Lia.
Lia's eyes wandered the room.
There was an art canvas on the right wall.
Adeline had loved to paint, and Lia would spend hours watching her.
When she was seven, Adeline suggested she give it a try.
And at first, she was terrible.
The only thing she could paint was stick figures.
But Adeline was patient.
She was always so patient, even when Lia was being a brat.
And over time, Lia learned how to do more than just stick figures.
By the time she was 8, she was able to paint and sketch fairly well.
But when Adeline died...she stopped doing it.
It hurt too much.
However, when she was 14, Brook told her that if Adeline loved her, she would want her to do what she loved and to not focus on the past.
So Lia gave it a try and once she started, she couldn't stop.
Lia shook her head.
Now was not the time to be stuck in the past.
Lia left the room and went to Adeline's bedroom.
She entered slowly, taking in the familiar scene.
Lia walked over to the bed and knelt down.
She reached under and pulled out a chest.
It was where Adeline kept her most precious items.
Lia opened it, and on top of all the stuff was Adeline's most important grimoire, that held the spells that she herself had created.
Although, Lia noted that it wasn't as thick as it was in her time.
Lia shut the top and locked it.
Then she started to drag it out into the living room.
Thank god, it had wheels.
Once it was situated, Lia opened it again.
In the past, she had never really gone through the chest, except for getting the grimoires.
The memories were too painful and Lia never wanted to mess up the way she had organized it.
Lia saw a slip of paper out of the corner of her eye.
She reached in and grabbed it.
It was a letter.
From...
Joshua Parker
What?
Lia tore it open.
"Dear, Adeline Denova." Lia read aloud. "I know we've had our differences..blah blah blah...Thank you for the idea to lock my son away in a prison world.."
"What?" Lia exclaimed, and kept reading. "I understand your animosity towards the idea, which is why I contacted a Bennett witch instead. My abomination of a son will never harm anyone again."
Lia ran a hand down her face.
What the hell did that mean?
What was a Prison World?
Lia instincts were telling her to look into it.
Where did her asshole of dad send her eldest brother?
But Lia had never run across Prison Worlds in Adeline's grimoires or in anyone else's.
Lia froze as she suddenly realized why the date seemed so familiar.
This was a day after her brother killed her other siblings.
And May 10, 1994, was the exact day he was sent to this thing, that must be called a Prison World.
That couldn't be a coincidence...
Was this the place they sent Kai?
Was he here?
If so...why hadn't he shown himself?
Unless he's waiting for something...or he doesn't know anyone here
She had to find information on Prison Worlds.
The information would probably be in a grimoire.
And if it was something her 'dad' knew about...maybe it would be in a Gemini grimoire.
Or possibly a Bennett one.
Lia frowned as she realized the only places the Gemini's kept their grimoires were their homes.
She grabbed the envelope and turned it over. There was an address written on the back so that Adeline could send a reply.
It was her old address.
Her first home.
Did she really want to go back?
She always swore she wouldn't...
Except, something inside of her was telling her to.
Fuck it...
She wasn't going to let her childhood trauma win.
It was time to stop running...
Then again, it's not like anyone will be there.
Lia shook her head and put the envelope in her back pocket.
Then she began to drag the chest to the car and heaved it into the back.
Then she got in the car.
Time to return to the home of her nightmares.
Lia got out of her car and stared up at the large white house.
She sighed.
She really did not want to be here.
Lia had to force herself to walk forward.
She climbed the familiar steps and freezing as she reached the door.
Hesitantly she reached for the door handle and used her magic to unlock the door.
She pushed it open.
Creak
Lia winced.
Slowly she stepped in.
She glanced around wearily.
If she was right, her brother was here in this Prison world.
But the question was where.
She walked forward, pausing as she noticed something out of the corner of her eyes.
Footsteps...
In blood.
Lia swallowed with uncertainty.
She walked over and looked down at it.
She continued down the hallway, taking note of the blood splatters as she went.
She paused, seeing the door to her old room on the right.
Lia slowly entered.
She blinked as she took in her old nursery.
The walls were blue, while the floor was a creamy carpet.
Lia focused on the crib.
There was a stuffed animal resting there.
It was a bear.
The very bear that she still had today.
She reached forward and picked it up.
"Mal..." Lia whispered.
That was the name of the bear.
The rest of her family thought the name was a shortened version of a cartoon character she watched when she was younger.
But it wasn't...
It was shortened, they weren't wrong there.
It was short for Malachai.
Lia didn't know why she had named it that when she was 4.
Maybe because she was revealed to be a siphoner like him when she was 3 and wanted a connection to him?
She didn't know.
Lia put the bear in her backpack and left the nursery.
She continued down the hallway and noticed a room to the left.
Lia opened the door and peered in hesitantly.
It was her dad's room.
Would Kai be upset if he came back to this room on fire?
Then again, it may just reset at the end of the day.
Lia entered and looked around.
More than likely the grimoires were in this room.
Lia tried to think where he would have hidden the grimoires.
With magic?
Probably...
Lia closed her eyes after siphoning a little magic and stretched out her magic-sense so to speak. It wasn't exactly that but kind of.
She was using her own magic to sweep the room for any magic that was already there. It should work as magic gives out energy.
Lia's eyes snapped open as she sensed magic on the back wall.
She walked over and siphoned.
Lia ignored the electricity siphoning family caused.
It had been so long since she had last siphoned Gemini magic.
The barrier that also worked as a cloaking spell disappeared.
Behind it, sat a stack of grimoires.
Lia reached out and grabbed them.
She ran her hand along the cover of the top one.
Lia opened it and began to flip through it searching for information on prison worlds.
Finally, she reached the correct page.
Lia leaned forward to read.
The worlds repeat the same day on a temporal loop, though its prisoners are all aware of the fact that the day is repeating itself.
The worlds have made duplicates of all physical matter at the time the spell was performed, this also includes magical objects
Despite the fact the world repeats the same day, items are still finite and don't seem to re-appear.
The worlds can only be accessed by using the Ascendant, combined with the blood of a Bennett witch and the power of a celestial event.
Prisoners banished to prison worlds are unable to die or age, as they are bound to the world as punishment.
However, if they're transported to the prison world, this does not apply, as they have to be banished.
Prison worlds are linked to the current leader of the Gemini Coven, such that if anything life-threatening happens to them, the worlds are affected as well (e.g. the merging and/or destruction of the realms).
Lia's eyes widened at the information.
"Blood of a Bennett witch?" Lia wondered.
Were they really that lucky?
Lia sighed as her thoughts turned to her brother.
Kai was probably in Mystic Falls...
But why wouldn't he have shown himself?
Maybe he was waiting for something.
She had to get back to Mystic Falls now...
