The search for Hayley was driving everyone crazy.

As promised, Klaus sent Hope and her friend back to Mystic Falls while he and his sister made their mission find the woman before the teens would take matters into their own hands. Again.

Hope was feeling guilty. She had screwed things over. But there was no one feeling more disgusted by herself than Kayla. It had been her idea in the first place and the one who failed to protect Hayley from whoever who took her

The first moment they stepped back into the school, Kayla began avoiding Hope like the plague. If she was away from the Tribid, she could no longer hurt her or her family. Alaric had no idea what had happened in New Orleans or he would have been very smug about Kayla's lack of luck with Guardians and he would have loved to remind her that everything she touched she ruined.

If she hadn't influenced Hope into taking those decisions to catch her father's attention, they would have never involved Henry and he would have still been alive.

Henry suffered a great death and for the first time in months, Kayla felt guilty for a death she caused. Henry didn't deserve his heart being ripped off from his body. He didn't deserve being hung up in the Quarter as a twisted show display.

Henry deserved to live.

In fact, his death even made Kayla's decision to stay away from Hope and her family even more strong.

Their relationship turned estranged, back to how it was before they first met at Stefan Salvatore's memorial.

Hope and Kayla wanted each other safe that they easily accepted the other drifting apart. But, Hope knew with her family, now that Kayla had been in their sight for even a moment, it was a matter of time before they came seeking her.

But, meanwhile, they'd act like they were strangers to each other. And it was easier said than done.

They sat on opposite sides of the cafeteria, picking at their food. However, things turned eery, murmured shouts of confusion and fear rang across the cafeteria as blood began to pour out from the windows, the food, everywhere.

Kayla stared at her plate, once pasta had shifted into squirmy worms as Penelope gagged in disgust by her side.

"What kind of magic is this one?" Penelope exclaimed, eyeing the worms in Kayla's plate and the blood in her glass.

No one had an answer but Kayla managed to look up from her plate, catching Hope's eye, both girls maintaining eye contact briefly, matching grimaces playing on their lips.

Kayla understood the hidden meaning. Klaus or one of his siblings had just reunited.

Meaning, Hayley still wasn't found and this was even more serious the two supernatural girls thought of.

A quest of a family reunion was turning to a bloodbath.

And the guilt?

Kayla for the first time in years wished she had no feelings because they sucked.

~8~

"You know, being suspended probably has its perks"

Kayla looked up from her grimoire, pencil peeking out from where it was tucked in her ear. "Name one"

"No homework?" Penelope scoffed as she dropped a book in her bed, crossing her arms, "You're not missing anything important, FYI"

"Just the juicy Posie life gossip?" Kayla smirked.

Penelope rolled her eyes, throwing colored sticky notes to her roommate that with a flicker of her wrist, Kayla changed direction for it to stick to their divided wall.

"You're getting the hang of telekinetic magic way too easily" Penelope eyed the sticky note with a hum. "As well as the dark arts you've surprisingly have been able to keep hidden from Dr. S and Miss Forbes"

Kayla smirked knowingly as Penelope swiftly changed the subject from her and Josie. "They never cared about searching through my things to see if I had family heirlooms or grimoires with me since I told them I despised my coven"

"Smart thing to do, by the way" Penelope winked. "Your family were weird"

"Tell me about it" Kayla murmured as she flipped through the spell she had used on Hayley. She was the only one who knew of it and she was keeping it that way. If someone were to find what she did, she'd be forced to break it, specially by Hope if she were to know. Not like it'd work, not after the several reinforcements she had put on it since she cast it. It was the last thing she could do for Hayley to be safe.

"I will" Penelope pointed at her. "The blood replacement spell? Who the hell is insane to create a spell like that one?"

"Distant family" Kayla stretched slightly, feeling her arms sore after she just finished reinforcing her spell and like that wasn't really physical magic ñ, she knew Ms. Tig, their counselor wouldn't pick up on her trace of dark magic. "There's some kind of ridiculous tradition in the family where they marry of the first born, whether its a girl or a boy to the first born of the most powerful family we came to cross paths with at the time. One of my distant relatives, a long time ago wanted out of the tradition. The Rivers are well known for their creativity, mind you its a little twisted, into creating spells for their needs. This time, this relative thought she could escape the family by turning to someone else and running away" By this point, Penelope had taken interest in story, leaving her homework, turning her body and attention to her friend. "And trust me when I say once I heard about it, I never thought it'd be that figuratively. I thought she'd change looks and leave but my family, their bloodline is old and maybe not as powerful as the Bennetts but they used to compete with their strength-"

"What a shame they were outwitted and killed by a young, inexperienced girl with no magic of her own" Penelope said smugly, sharing a smirk with her friend.

Kayla chuckled, "That must say something about me, being all powerful" she joked, shaking her way "Anyway, as I was saying before kindly being interrupted-" Penelope smirked at that, "The Rivers were proud so they wouldn't have it for someone to run away from them so if this girl happened to do it, they would have found her easily with a locator spell and drag her back, willing or unwillingly. So, when I was told she turned to another person, this was really literal. She picked up some random person, charmed her into having her love so she could really commit her treason against the family. She took this person's blood, knowing that to actually leave and be free she had to stop being herself"

Penelope realized where this story was landing, mildly impressed "She turned her blood into the person she tricked into a false sense of love. That way if she ran and your family wanted to find her, they wouldn't have been able to because she wouldn't be a Rivers anymore"

Kayla nodded, "Exactly. It wasn't until a few days of looking for her that they realized this, seeing the spell written in a hidden journal in her room. Why she didn't take with her her creation is beyond me, probably wanting to leave everything of this toxic family behind"

Penelope sighed, "You relate to this ancestor of yours, don't you?"

Kayla nodded slightly, "Probably why I took the oldest grimoire out of the house while I was planning to run away. And me, being a siphoner and not of great interest for them, they wouldn't have care. And by the time they had realized their precious heirloom of magic was gone, I would have been placed under several cloaking spells so they wouldn't find me"

"Yet, they were so closed minded of the type of magic you carried and wanted you gone they couldn't resist themselves, right?" Penelope asked, the first person ever who knew who Kayla was and everything about her.

"They failed" Kayla said simply, darkly smug and amused. "They wanted me to be locked away like my dad had been but forgot they needed a celestial event to bound the prison world meant for me and like they never bothered to learn how my siphoning worked, they didn't realize I could siphon from my feet. Stupid for trying to cast the spell inside the house"

The celestial event needed for the ascendant and the prison world to be created was something Kayla didn't know about at that moment, she just knew the spell wasn't working, the magic was thick around her, was seeping through the walls and the floor around her and so much magic was suffocating to be around she had no option but to open her gates and allow the intoxicating, overwhelming magic to fill her in, however as she had no control of the pace she siphoned the magic, it had overwhelmed her to the point that she had to quickly release it so she could keep absorbing all of it. It was filling, comforting to finally feel whole but she was also afraid of exhausting her body to the point of dying, combined with the fear of her family wanted her alone for the rest of her life, the magic released turned chaotic from the lack of control and guided by her dark thoughts of not wanting to be the one killed made it lash out against everyone around her, provoking the fire that killed her family.

When she got to the school, and first found the Kai book, that's where she learned of the prison world she was meant to be locked in, and why her family had failed. Every detail about the spell, the prison world was written in an empty entrance of her own grimoire, wanting to know everything she could about prison worlds. Why? Because she was curious.

A knock in their door startled them and snapped Kayla back from her thoughts.

"Expecting someone?" Kayla asked, a small, teasing smirk forming in her lips, "A brunette, codependent girl?"

Penelope threw a pencil at Kayla who in reflex tried to use magic to stop it mid air, only to recognize the warmth that tingled whenever she used magic was gone, leaving her empty and cold.

Her magic supply was done.

The pencil soared through the air, landing in her lap. Both girls paused, staring at Kayla's hand.

"No more magic" Kayla pursed her lips. Penelope looked apologetic, having forgotten that morning Kayla hadn't had her daily dose of her magic. They had been all day inside they forgot to fill Kayla for the day, having used the last magic of the day prior. "I forget when I'm around you that I'm not normal. Crude, reality check this one"

Penelope wanted to say something but another knock interrupted her, sighing. She turned to the door, opening it, seeing an unfamiliar blonde woman outside.

Penelope quirked an eyebrow, "Um, hello? Can I help you?"

The blonde woman glanced behind Penelope toward the room, "I was told this was Kayla's doom room?"

Penelope glanced behind her, seeing Kayla walking closer frowning, opening her mouth to talk when Kayla stopped at her side, staring at the woman.

"Freya?" Kayla questioned.

The woman, Freya just smiled. "Hey, kiddo. How are you?"

Penelope blinked as she remembered Kayla's predicament, "Your new auntie"

Kayla pushed Penelope aside with a look, "Shut up" she murmured making both Freya and Penelope smile in amusement. "Is Hayley okay? I mean you found her?"

Freya's smile slowly faded.

Penelope, seeing this could not help but frown, feeling a little protective of her friend, who had her caught up with the Mikaelson drama she had accidentally dragged herself in the moment she met Hope Marshall. She didn't want her friend feeling even more guilty than she already felt and, this woman being here, apparently with no good news or what Kayla needed to hear was not something Kayla needed at this moment.

"I'm afraid not" Freya answered with a soft sigh. "But, I wanted to talk to you and Hope -"

"We have to study for an important exam" Penelope interrupted. Kayla slowly turned to her in confusion but Penelope was staring at Freya, lips pursed "And, while Kayla is suspended, we all need to study even harder to pass it with flying colors"

Freya looked between the two girls, slowly realizing Penelope was just being protective of her friend and that made her soften a bit, probably recognizing why Kayla was the way she was with Hope.

"I'm sure she can spare an hour or two with her current guardian" Freya said slowly.

Kayla frowned, "Excuse me? Am I now passed between people like an object no one wants until someone does?"

Both, Penelope and Freya were taken back by the dark comment regarding herself.

Freya was the first one to compose, clearing her throat "No, Kayla. Its not like that. Hayley is my sister in law. She's currently not available for circumstances I can't say out loud but understanding you two are close, she knows about it-" both girls nodded defiantly but Freya already knew that and surprisingly did not feel threatened nor worried about Penelope, seeing the loyalty between the two and that they wouldn't betray each other, "So, until Hayley shows up, you fall under my tutelage according to Hayley when she signed your papers"

Kayla stared at Freya in shock.

She didn't know Hayley had done something like that.

When they arrived New Orleans and Hayley told Freya why Kayla was with them, Freya was a little hesitant about the girl, seeing the type of magic she had and that she was an outsider in their family. She had reluctantly accepted to step in if something were to happen and when Hayley got kidnapped and saw the guilt Kayla carried and the way both her and niece turned to each other in comfort made her feel like a bitch to the young girl so she had to make it up to her.

Kayla looked at Penelope.

Penelope had a frown in her face but knew that if what Freya was saying was true then she couldn't really get in the middle. "I'll see you in the library?"

Kayla slowly nodded, "Yeah"

Penelope gave one last frown to Freya, softening her expression as she gave Kayla a small smile, turning back inside to their room.

However, before Kayla could leave with Freya, Penelope turned back to her roommate, "Kay"

Freya saw the little flinch in the girl before she turned around and was curious about it

"What?" Kayla questioned and again, Freya was taken back by the cold demeanor the dark haired girl gave off and that somehow Penelope was unfazed by it.

"Right. The name" Penelope gave a small eye roll, giving Kayla her arm. "Take your dose"

Kayla relaxed slightly, reaching out to grab Penelope's arm but Freya put up a hand between them, looking between them, curious and suspicious, "What are you doing?"

"I'm a siphoner" Kayla answered flatly. "What I do best"

"Besides, no one else knows about this" Freya gave a shrug. "I give her enough magic to last her a whole day. Headmaster's orders"

Freya frowned

"Long story" Kayla quickly replied, not wanting to get on with why she had to pretend she wasn't a normal witch.

"Well, I can allow her to siphon me" Freya told them. The teens grimaced. "What?"

"It hurts" Kayla explained. "Penelope's used to it and because I pep talk myself to not hurt her because she's my friend" Penelope's smile turned soft and proud to be called a friend. "For others, well... That is different. I'd hurt you, though I wouldn't mean to and when you flinch I'll like it and won't be able to stop"

Freya was slowly realizing there was more to Kayla than she expected. Maybe, she mused, that's why she was drawn to the Mikaelsons in the first place. Normal, innocent looking people who had even darker sides underneath them.

"Okay" Freya sighed, her interest for siphoners growing. Once in her whole life had met one of their kind when she was little and his end was horrible because of her aunt. And until Kayla, she had never seen another siphoner before. "Hurry up. We three need to talk, Kayla"

Freya turned around, listening to the small hiss of pain from Penelope, curiosity winning as she glanced at them over her shoulder, seeing the two girls' arms clasped together and a light red aura surrounding their arms. Kayla was staring intently at their arms as Penelope had her eyes closed. The glowing faded after a moment and Kayla gently dropped Penelope's arm, avoiding eye contact.

"Thanks" Kayla murmured.

Penelope gave a slight smile as she rubbed her arm, "You're getting better. Be proud of that"

That made a small smile play in the siphoner's lips. "Thanks to you"

One last smile and Kayla walked away, toward Freya.

Freya had questions. But another look at the girl's face and figured they could wait. "Come on. Hope's waiting"

"Yay" Kayla murmured under her breath, feigning excitement.