If people expected Josie and Lizzie to make peace, they were sadly mistaken. As the weather warmed, they both appeared to be trying to fix things, but it was no use - it seemed that any conversation, however brief, degenerated into a fight before they could stop it.

The only positive development was that Penelope and Josie had made amends and were once again joined at the hip.

So when Penelope sat down beside Hope in the library, it came as a bit of a surprise.

"Let you off the leash, has she?" Hope asked.

Penelope rolled her eyes. "Look, we both know that Josie's in the wrong," she whispered, "but we also know that none of this is like Josie. Something's wrong, and I can't figure it out if she's not talking to me."

Hope sighed. "I know. It's just frustrating."

"Yeah, you and me both," Penelope muttered. "Have you seen either of them?"

Hope frowned. "Not for a while. Lizzie left about twenty minutes ago."

"Yeah, she came to find Josie," Penelope said. "They went out for a walk to try and fix things but they haven't come back in."

Hope closed her book. "Alright, let's go."

Their concern was not unfounded. Recently, the twins' limit had been ten minutes, before one or both of them was in tears.

Twenty minutes was far too long to be leaving them alone.

Without discussing it, the two witches made their way to the Old Mill.

They called it the Old Mill, but no one knew what it actually was - an old, dilapidated building in the woods near the river that might have been a water mill at some point, but certainly had nothing anymore to identify it as such.

Most people only went there for social gatherings, but the twins had always used it for private conversations and spell practice, so it was a good starting point for a search.

It was empty, however.

"Lizzie?" Hope called. "Are you two okay?"

Penelope frowned, pulling her phone out. "They would have come here."

"Unless they got into a fight before they got here," Hope said.

"Then they would have come back," Penelope said, calling Josie. "She's not answering."

Hope held up a hand, listening intently. "I can hear her phone."

Penelope followed her, still holding the phone to her ear. "She's still not answering."

"I'm not surprised," Hope said, coming to a halt. "Her phone's on the ground. So's Lizzie's."

Penelope hung up, staring at the two cell phones in the dirt. "So where are they?"

"Lizzie?!" Hope called again.

Her voice echoed through the trees, but garnered no response.

"I'm calling for help," Hope said, pulling out her phone. "Dr Saltzman, we're out by the Old Mill - Josie and Lizzie's phones are on the floor and we can't find them … Hello? Hello?" She frowned, checking her phone. "The line went dead."

Penelope shifted a bit closer to her. "Maybe we should …"

But what Penelope thought they should do, Hope never found out. A sharp pain pierced through her skull and her vision went black.

"Hope … Hope … Hope, wake up … Hope …"

Hope blinked, her surroundings coming into focus. She was lying on a dirt floor, in what looked like a barred cell.

"Hope?"

Hope managed to sit up. She was right - it was a barred cell - one of four to be exact.

Penelope was in a cell to her right, apparently unconscious, separated from her by a line of metal bars.

"Thank God …"

"Lizzie," Hope murmured, scrambling to her feet. "Are you okay?"

Lizzie was in the cell to her left and - thank God - Josie was just beyond her.

Lizzie reached through the bars. "What are you doing here?"

"We went looking for you two," Hope murmured, grabbing her hand. "We were worried."

"Was anyone else with you?" Josie asked, her eyes fixed on Penelope's motionless form.

"No, but I did manage to get a call to your dad before the call dropped," Hope answered. "Not that it does us much good. Do you know who did this?"

Lizzie shook her head. "No, but we're a bit stuck. Nothing to siphon."

"Yeah, of course," Hope said, moving to the door of her cell. "And we're in cages because …?"

"Your guess is as good as mine," Lizzie said.

Hope shook her head, muttering a spell over the lock. She paused, pushing on the door, then tried to slip a hand through the bars. "It's no good," she said. "There's a boundary spell on the front of these. Magic won't work."

A soft groan from her right caught her attention and Hope glanced over. "Penny, we found them."

Penelope pushed herself up from the floor. "Why do I feel like that's not much of a help to anyone?"

"Because we're stuck," Hope answered.

"Penny, are you okay?" Josie asked.

"Better now I know where you are," Penelope said with an attempt at a smile.

Lizzie rolled her eyes. "Can you two not flirt over my head?"

"Hey, I didn't put us in these cells," Josie said.

"Alright, you two," Hope said with a sigh. "Fighting is not going to get us out. We could try overriding the boundary spell."

Penelope examined her own cage door. "I think that's going to take more than one of us, Hope. Also … are we underground?"

"We appear to be," Lizzie said. "That light there is the staircase out of here. If it takes too much magic, we'd risk the whole place caving in."

Hope sighed. "Never mind then."

"There isn't any way to get out."

The woman at the bottom of the stairs had appeared without anyone noticing her. Hope drew back, pressing herself against the back wall of the … cave, she assumed, trying to see if she could sense where they were - she was sure it wasn't New Orleans.

"Grandma?" Josie asked.

"What?" Lizzie asked sharply.

"Hello, Elizabeth," the woman said with a smile. "My name's Maya Parker."

"We're not supposed to speak to Mom's parents," Lizzie said. "We're supposed to tell Dad if we even see them."

"Yeah, and Dad's never told me why that is," Josie shot back. "She did, though, and I bet you know too. You just don't want me to know about the Merge."

Lizzie frowned. "Josie, what the hell is the Merge?"

Josie laughed bitterly. "Oh, don't act like you don't know. It's a curse on the bloodline."

"No, it's not," Hope said.

"You know about this?" Lizzie asked.

"Not exactly," Hope said. "I didn't know it had anything to do with your mom, but I have heard of it. It's an ancient ritual. Most covens stopped using it about 500 years ago."

"You told me a it was a curse," Josie said to their grandmother. "You said when we turned 22, either Lizzie or I would absorb the other and the loser would die."

"What?!" Lizzie yelped, staring from Maya to Josie. "Why?!"

"You're twins," Maya said. "The coven demands it."

"Well, it doesn't demand it, does it?" Hope asked. "You had two sets of twins, and all of them lived past 22, so clearly you can just, you know, not kill your kids."

"And we're not 22," Lizzie said. "We're sixteen."

"22 is the deadline," Maya said. "Your father is not going to let anyone near you for your 22nd, we're just going to have to do it now."

"You don't have to do it," Penelope snapped. "Don't make it sound like you haven't got a choice."

"And you're taking the word of a teenager over the leader of the Gemini coven, are you?" Maya asked.

"I'm taking the word of the girl who's been taught by witches a thousand years older than you," Penelope said with a smirk. "Taking Hope Mikaelson was a really bad idea."

"My family will hunt you down," Hope said with a sweet smile.

"You are only here because my men got paranoid," Maya said, rolling her eyes. "Once the moon is at its apex, the Merge will happen, and then I will send the three of you home."

"Four of us," Lizzie said.

"No, dear, three of you," Maya said. "I'm told that the loser of the Merge lives on in the heart of the winner."

"Well, that's comforting," Lizzie said, as their grandmother left. "You won't get away with this!"

Hope winced. "Lizzie, that's just cliche."

"Well, excuse me if I can't think of anything witty to say when I'm going to die in a few hours," Lizzie snapped.

"You're not going to die," Josie said quietly. "I am." She sniffled. "I'm so sorry, Lizzie. I got convinced that everyone knew about the Merge, but they all figured you'd win so they didn't want to tell me."

"Jose … how long?" Lizzie asked.

"Just after our fifteenth birthday," Josie answered.

"Josie …"

As Lizzie went to her sister, trying to comfort her through the bars, Hope turned to Penelope. "We have to get out of here."

"Who do you think would win?"

"I don't know," Hope said. "I don't want to think about it. Do you have a hair pin?"

"Why?" Penelope asked, running a hand through her hair. "Are you going to pick the lock?"

"I'm going to try," Hope said, taking the offered pin. "I don't actually know how to pick a lock."

"Then how do you expect to manage it?" Penelope asked.

"I don't see you coming up with any ideas," Hope said, kneeling beside the door. She was trying to give Lizzie and Josie some privacy to talk, but not hearing was impossible in such a small space.

"I'm sorry for everything," Josie said, tears streaming down her face. "I should have told you I lied as soon as I did. I shouldn't have told everyone your secret. I should have told you everything in November - I've been getting more and more obsessed with this whole thing, and I've been lashing out, and now we're here and …"

Lizzie reached out to wipe away some of the tears with her thumb. "Josie, it's okay. Look, I haven't been the best sister. I've been caught up in my own head and … Mom always told me to listen to what wasn't said and not just what was, and I haven't done that with you. You've been crying out for years and I've never heard you." She gave a very shaky, very watery smile. "No wonder Penelope can't stand me."

"I don't want to die," Josie said suddenly, her eyes wide. "I'm scared, Lizzie - I don't want to die."

"You're not going to die," Lizzie said gently. "You're not … Josie, you are stronger than anyone gives you credit for, okay? And I'm not going to let you die for me, even if I have to make sure of it."

"Lizzie …"

"Lizzie!"

Lizzie glanced over her shoulder to where Hope was now standing, staring at her in horror. "I have to do something, Hope. I am not losing my sister."

"I'm not losing you!" Hope retorted.

"Shut up," Penelope said suddenly. "Someone's coming."

"It can't be time already," Josie said.

"Josie, it's going to be alright," Lizzie murmured. "I'm going to make sure it's alright."

"But …" Josie's face cleared. "Uncle Luke?"

Luke Parker breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank God … I knew she was here; when I felt the cloaking spells go up, I figured she was up to something."

"Tell us later," Lizzie said. "Just get us out please?"

Luke began chanting and the locks began to glow, but before they could break, he faltered. His voice began to stutter and he dropped to his knees.

"Luke, you've always been a disappointment."

"No!" Lizzie slammed a hand against the bars. "Leave him alone."

Maya ignored her, her hand hovering over Luke's face. "My children have such disrespect for tradition."

"If Jo was still here," Luke gasped out, "you would never get away with this."

"You don't think I know that?" Maya asked. "She told me I'd get near her girls over her dead body. And I did."

"That …" Luke doubled over, blood spattering across the floor as he coughed. "That tumour wasn't natural, was it?"

"Of course not," Maya said impatiently.

Josie stumbled back as though she'd been punched.

"You bitch," Lizzie growled. "You realise she was a better mother than you would ever be!"

"That's not fair," Hope said. "You're not giving your mother enough credit - the bar is so low there, she'd have needed to dig a hole to miss it."

Maya did not respond, leaving Luke on the ground. Blood was still pouring from his mouth, but he was starting the haemorrhage from all orifices.

Hope dropped to the floor, frantically trying to find some gap in the boundary spell to get a hand out to him.

Josie was sobbing, calling for her uncle.

Luke's eyes locked with Hope's. "Don't … Make them …"

"Josie, close your eyes," Hope called.

"Hope, please …" Josie sobbed. "Please."

"Lizzie, make sure she doesn't look," Hope said. "I can't do anything."

"Josie," Lizzie said softly, her voice breaking. "Look at me. Just look at me."

"Thank you …" Luke whispered.

His eyes glazed over and a second later, his convulsions stopped.

"Holy crap …" Penelope whispered.

Hope rose to her feet, staring at Luke's body. Her legs felt numb, like they were about to collapse beneath her. She was not untouched by death, but this was the first time she had seen it in person.

The closest she had been previously was Jo, and she was sitting outside with her mom, and Josie and Lizzie when Jo actually passed.

And, by all accounts, it had been more peaceful than that.

As she stared at his body, an idea began to form in her mind. She toyed with her necklace, trying to remember everything she had ever heard about the Merge.

When Kol had first told her about it, she hadn't understood why.

Now she knew.

"Lizzie?"

"Hope …" Lizzie began.

"I know, you don't have much time," Hope said, approaching the bars between them. "Just … Come here? Please?"

Lizzie sighed, but did as she was asked. "Hope, there's nothing we can do."

"I can't lose you," Hope whispered, reaching through the bars to caress her face. "I can't."

"Promise me you'll look after Josie," Lizzie said.

"I promise," Hope said. "But … I might have an idea."

Lizzie's eyes brightened a little, but she didn't look convinced. "What is it?"

Hope tugged her closer, setting her mouth very close to Lizzie's ear to whisper to her.

In the next cell, Penelope watched, straining her ears to see if she could hear, but it was useless. When Hope pulled back, Lizzie's face was unreadable.

Hope removed her necklace and placed it around Lizzie's neck instead. "Whatever happens …"

Lizzie nodded with a weak smile. "I know. I love you."

Hope squeezed her hand. "I know. Alright, Penelope, let's get back to lock-picking."

Penelope sighed, pulling out another hairpin. "Alright."

"If she dies," Hope said quietly after a few moments, "I'm not going to be any use; I'll need you to get us out of here."

"Same here," Penelope said, swallowing hard. "We're going to get us out, right?"

"We have to," Hope said.

The two of them tried for nearly half an hour to get the doors unlocked, but to no avail. The light streaming in from the staircase began to dim and they finally heard footsteps once more.

"Here we go," Hope murmured.

"Hope," Lizzie said, her voice shaking.

When Hope looked at her, her eyes were calm and she nodded. "Let's do this."