Hope had left the game and re-entered the main building, intent on going back to her room to figure out her upcoming plans.
It was virtually deserted. With everyone out at the game, Hope could feel the stillness and silence of this place. She wondered if it had been quiet like this when only the two Salvatore brothers had lived here.
Then she cocked her head to the side. She heard raised voices. Without the usual collective noise of all the students and staff, sound was carrying to her that she otherwise might not have heard.
Following the sound, she arrived outside of Alaric's office. She could hear him, Emma, Dorian and…Jeremy Gilbert. Had they been in here the whole time?
No. As she listened she realized…they had fought the creature! Phineas Carter! Again.
And they had failed to stop him. Again.
Hope burned with anger. They should have let her help! She could have stopped him.
Although, she thought, I also failed two times before.
She edged as close as she dared. She wasn't sure how keen Jeremy's senses were, if they were enhanced at all. She knew he was stronger and faster than a werewolf, but not as strong or fast as a vampire.
She listened long enough to determine that they didn't really know what to do.
That thing is still lurking around here, she thought. She shivered just a bit.
Although, it didn't seem to be any direct threat to her, so she relaxed a little. Besides, this bit of info would give her a little leverage that she needed. She was still up in the air between two plans.
She was going to go with plan A.
Later that evening, she decided to go down to dinner, but she stopped right at the edge of the cafeteria. She saw the group of people she had been hoping to avoid.
Kyle, Lizzie, Josie, Rafael, Landon and MG were together at a table and looked to be having a grand time. Rafael and Kyle were especially jubilant.
Hope took this to mean that they had won the game. Boys tended to get pouty if they lost their games.
Hope's eyes narrowed, Lizzie kept touching Kyle. Hand on shoulder, hand on bicep, hand on forearm. Playful slapping. It was sickening. And poor MG was obviously miserable. What in the world did he see in her?
She had been planning on just sitting by herself as usual and eating, but tonight she couldn't stomach it. She had some ramen in her room so she just turned around and went back there to have that instead.
Almost no one noticed her come or go, as her substantial breasts were covered with a properly fitting school jacket. When not looking at her chest, most people tried to ignore Hope, whether they consciously knew it or not, sensing something dangerous about the girl.
Phineas Carter noticed, though.
Phineas had been wandering, invisible, since the battle. Now he was in the cafeteria, watching everything. Thus, Hope's arrival and subsequent departure were seen by him. It was not of much consequence to him, though.
Phineas had spent the last few hours looking to see who was who in this place. Reading their documents and staffing papers, going through their personal items.
This Alaric Saltzman had angered him. It had taken a lot of his power to fully restore himself from the effects of the crossbow injury. That a pissant Human such as this had wounded him was a mark against his pride.
That the man involved himself in matters that had nothing to do with him, and then spirited away his doppelgänger also enraged Phineas.
He intended to punish the Headmaster and then take this place for his own.
At first he had thought that the witch who fought with them was the Headmaster's woman, but it seemed that this man was widowed. Although after discovering the name of the Headmaster he immediately realized that this man was, improbably, the father of the blonde goddess he had been so impressed by earlier.
Initially he had planned to kill Saltzman's loved ones to teach him a lesson, but he could not do it. He would never destroy beauty such as hers.
However…it seemed the Headmaster had another daughter.
Josie Saltzman.
Phineas stood just a few feet away from his doppelgänger and his new friends to observe the girl. This Josie was not the stunning figure her sister was, but she was still pleasing to the eye. It would almost be a shame to brutally kill her.
Almost.
He turned his attention to his doppelgänger, Kyle. Enacting a quick and subtle spell he gathered information about Kyle's status.
Damn. He thought. Just not good enough.
If Kyle and been a perfect doppelgänger, he would need to respect no other factors in his ritual. Since he wasn't though, Phineas would have to do the ritual at a specific time, and come up with extra power outside of Kyle himself.
Before, he had been sure he could do it, but now after using a good deal of his energy fighting these simpletons he knew he would need those magical objects from the Library.
He had managed to snatch the scroll in the battle, but he had left the globe behind.
They had taken it with them and enacted wards much too strong for him to get through without losing even more power. He couldn't keep doing this. He had to have that globe.
Everyone had wants and needs, though. He thought he could leverage them to give him the globe.
That Hunter could never be reasoned with, but the other three he could work on. Especially Alaric Saltzman. The Headmaster had two very good reasons to cooperate sitting directly in front of Phineas.
His doppelgänger and his friends laughed and joked while they ate. Phineas stood almost over their shoulders, smiling and laughing to himself, with no one seeing or hearing.