[ Chapter Thirty-Two ]

RAYLYNN STOOD outside of the Salvatore Boarding School for the Young and Gifted with her phone against her ear and a paper bag of pastries held at her side.

It had been two days since Raylynn brought Ryan and Hope to Mystic Falls. Alaric Saltzman and Caroline Forbes-Salvatore, the owners and caretakers of the school, allowed Hope to return to her classes after the whole blood selling fiasco, and would let Ryan sit in on classes if he please. They were understanding about their entire situation, which Raylynn would be forever grateful for them.

"Thanks for letting me do this alone, Freya," Raylynn said to her sister-in-law. "I think Hope and I need to have a long talk - just the two of us."

"Hey, don't worry about it. Hope needs to know that you don't blame her for what she did," Freya reassured her. "Ryan and I will be perfectly fine. We found the Mystic Grill, and he is currently stuffing his face with a cheeseburger."

Raylynn laughed as she strode through the front entrance of the school. Polished hardwood from floor to ceiling, along with old portraits and decorations from the old Salvatore Boarding House. "Just make sure he doesn't wreak too much havoc. I don't think this town would like more Mikaelson chaos."

"Seems like there's enough Mikaelson chaos going on in New Orleans," Freya told her with a sigh. "Vincent has already given me the run around about Klaus's tactics and Hope's prophecy."

Raylynn weaved through the open common rooms filled with students. "Ooh, you mean, the one where he calls her the 'Devil-in-Disguise'? Yeah, I already got that call. Told him to shove it. And, don't get me started on what he told me about Ryan."

"You mean, that your son is the 'Savior-of-the-Damned'? That was also mentioned," Freya quipped in a slightly amused tone.

Raylynn shook her head as she climbed the twisted staircase that led to the second and third floor where the dorm rooms where housed. "They are thirteen and fifteen years old. Vincent needs to lay off the bourbon." She made her way through the third level and came to a stop outside room 24 at the end of the hall. "Look, I'm about to head into Hurricane Hope, so wish me luck."

"Don't let her kill you." Freya snorted, before she ended the call.

Raylynn shoved her phone into the depths of her faux leather jacket and knocked on her niece's door. Her eyes shifted over the dry-erase boards that hung on the wooden surface, reading the various things written in marker. Hope Marshall, #knock, and YOLO, fitting for a teenage girl.

The door soon opened and revealed a shocked Hope dressed in a loose, dark green t-shirt and headphones set on her ears. Her blue eyes widened at the sight of her aunt and ripped the headphones to set them on the dresser beside the door. "What happened?" she exclaimed.

"Nothing, nothing. Everything is fine," Raylynn reassured her. "Your dad and his compelled deputies are combing the entire city. We'll find Hayley. Don't worry."

Hope released a long breath. " I - it's just - when I saw you, I thought she - yeah." She shook her head and changed the topic. "So - um - why're you here? Aren't you and Ryan supposed to be sitting in on an honor's tracking class?"

"Well, we were supposed to, but Freya showed up and wanted to speed the day with Ryan, and I wanted to spend the day with my favorite niece," Raylynn said and raised the bag in her hand, offering it to the girl. "New Orleans care-package. A little taste of home."

Hope nodded and took the bag as her eyes narrowed. "So, Aunt Freya drove all this way to hang-out with Ry and bring me beignets?" she questioned with a quirked brow.

Raylynn pressed her lips together and tilted her head. "So much attitude in such a tiny body. Can't tell who you take after more." Her attention caught on to the way Hope kept her door pressed to her body, as if she wanted to hide the room beyond. "This is kind of the point where you invite me in."

Hope realized and shook off her shock. "Yeah." She stepped aside, opening the door wider as she set her bag next to her discarded headphones.

Raylynn entered the room, taking in the mess that covered it. Her gaze landed on the floor where several candles, bowls of herbs, and a few grimoires were spread across the hardwood. Hope rushed over to them, after she shut the door, and began to pick them up.

Raylynn stepped closer to the salt ring that encase them, reading some of the inked lines before they were closed. "Wow. Locator spells in twelve, ancient languages. Didn't think I'd notice?" she quipped. "I've learned a lot from Freya over the years." Hope continued to pile the grimoires into her arms. "What happened to no magic outside Hogwarts?"

"Catch up reading," Hope exclaimed in an upbeat tone. "I'm trying to make up for being suspended. Keep my grades up."

Raylynn hummed, moving over the girl's full-sized bed shoved against the wall. She watched Hope stand and put the grimoires away as she plopped onto the light blue sheets.

Hope turned from her bookcase and looked at her aunt with creased brows. "I gotta get back to work Aunt Ray."

"But, I'm just so exhausted," Raylynn drawled, falling back onto the pillows to stare up at the dull, brown ceiling. "The beds in the old Mikaelson Mansion are too lumpy for my liking. I think I'm just gonna take a long nap here. Your bed's a lot more comfy." She shifted her body across the mattress, before she shot up and looked to Hope, who stared at the woman with a mixture of amusement and frustration. "I propose that the two of us change into sweats, gorge on deep fried glory from home, and watch superhero movies, while you tell me about that cute boy you snuck into your room." Hope's eyes widened. "Oh, yeah. Your brother's a snitch. So, what d'you say?"

_______

Once Raylynn convinced her niece to have a little fun with her for the day, Hope got dressed so they could take a walk around the Salvatore campus. Raylynn never got a chance to see the land before it got turned into a school, but she knew a lot of work went into place to make it look that way it did in recent times.

They walked beside the sport's field on the outskirts of the campus. A group of boys were on the worn grass, playing a game of soccer, which captured Hope's attention. Raylynn followed the girl's stare to see the black and white ball stop mid-air, before a shirtless boy leapt from the ground and knocked it away with his head. The rest of the boys whooped and hollered as they exchanged high-fives. The one who hit the ball turned and met Hope's gaze. He raised a hand to give her a wave and then spun on his heel to continue the game.

"Oh, God," Hope exclaimed and snapped away from the field. "Keep - keep walking."

Raylynn bumped her elbow into the girl's side. "What? Are you not going to wave back?"

Hope shook her head and crossed her arms over her chest. "No, I'm - uh, pretty sure he's ego can handle it."

Raylynn could not help but smile. Hope had a crush. It was cute.

Instead of embarrassing her further, Raylynn changed the subject and said, "so, about that stuff you were studying earlier. Alchemy of the Tiberian Peninsula, Magic of the Middle East, what's that about?"

"I'm examining reginal magic as it relates to socio-political and economic statuses," Hope told her aunt with a firm nod.

"Really? I know that I didn't finish school, but I know when someone is trying to break a cloaking spell," Raylynn voiced, bringing the two of them to a stop several yards from the sport's field.

Hope's expression hardened. "What do you want me to say? My mom's missing."

Raylynn sighed. "Hope, trying to perform every single spell in those books will take years, decades, possibly a millennium. I know you want to find your mom, trust me - I do, too, but there has to be another way."

"This is why didn't want to tell you," Hope exclaimed with a huff. "And guess what, you, Freya and the witches haven't gotten anywhere. I'm coming at it from a different angle."

"An angle that will drain you completely before you can even make a dent in finding your mom." Raylynn exhaled and reached out to set her hands on her niece's arms. "I know you feel like you're responsible for what happened to her, but as someone who was also hoodwinked by you, let me say that it's not. You couldn't have possibly known wat was going to happen."

"I'm the one who put the cloaking spell on her in the first place," Hope said and shrugged her aunt's hands off. "Maybe I can find a way to lift it without being in the room with her."

Raylynn's arms fell back to her sides. "And seeing as how that hasn't been done in the history of witchcraft, I think we should come up with something else. Something a little easier."

"Really? Like what?" Hope questioned.

Raylynn shrugged. "I don't know, but how about we figure that out together?"

_______

Hope did not want to change her plan. Not one bit. She was deadest on lifting her mother's cloaking spell from afar, even though Raylynn tried her best to talk her out of it. They came to a compromise, more so Raylynn let Hope think that she could accomplish the impossible.

With little to no room in Hope's dorm room, and the fact that Raylynn did not want to blamed for any damage inflicted on the school, Raylynn proposed they go somewhere that would put distance between them and the other students. Hope came up with the perfect place. An abandoned building about half a mile from the school. They called it the Old Mill, or so Hope said. It had almost no siding and a third of the original structure still stood.

Raylynn scanned the overgrown foliage and forgotten items that were left scattered around the lowest level as they entered through the door-less entrance. "Very cool. Looks like one of the places your mom and I used to hang-out in when we were around your age."

Hope smiled at her words and followed her into the building. "The Saltzman twins found it two years ago. Pretty sure it's their evil, mean-girl lair."

Raylynn chuckled. "The sound like their mother." Her eyes fell onto empty better bottles left behind by the girls. "And they certainly share their father's love of alcohol." She turned around to face Hope and rubbed her hands together. "Okay, first step in finding your mom is figuring out how somone got past your cloaking spell." Raylynn walked over to a rickety, wooden chair, pulling it away from where it sat next to the wall.

"I already told you - I don't know. Someone followed me," Hope said, watching her aunt paced the chair in front of her.

"There could've been a problem with your cloaking spell," Raylynn said as she looked for two bowls they could use. "You may have missed a step and didn't notice." She found to suitable one, plucking them from the ground, and then set them onto the chair. "Allowed a loophole to say open," she stressed and met the girl's gaze.

"No. Of course I didn't," Hope insisted.

Raylynn nodded. "Alright then, you were followed. So now, we're gonna have to retrace every step you took to find out how." She lifted the reached behind her and slipped the dagger she strapped to her waist. "We'll have to start with a deconstructing spell with a bit of blood in each bowl."

Hope pressed her lips into a tight line, taking the dagger when it was offered, and crouched to fill the bowls. "I know how it works, Aunt Ray," she said and set the sharp edge on her right palm, drawing it across her skin to produce blood. She squeezed her hand to drip the blood into the bowl, but her skin knitted back together before enough came out.

"You can't stop if you want to complete the spell," Raylynn quipped as she watched.

"Damnit," Hope hissed. "It's healing faster than I'm bleeding. Maybe you shouldn't have picked a spell that involves me bleeding out." She shifted her attention to her aunt, taking in her silent stare. A look realization spread across her features. "Which you knew couldn't happen." She stood and faced her head-on. "You didn't want to do this spell."

Raylynn shrugged. "Not really. No."

"Why?"

"Because I know that it's not going to work," Raylynn stated. "Don't you think the witches in New Orleans haven't already tried? Or even Freya? She knows more about this stuff than all of your teachers combined."

"Then why are you wasting our time?" Hope questioned as her eyes narrowed. "There's something you're not telling me?"

Raylynn debated on whether or not she should tell Hope about what Vincent and another witch named Ivy said. She came to the conclusion that she should. Hope needed to know.

Raylynn sighed and said, "Vincent and Ivy say that they've learned something. About you and your brother."

Hope's lips parted, before she swallowed hard.

_______

Night fell over the state of Virginia as Raylynn told Hope of the prophecy. Both prophecies. The one told about her at birth, and the more recent one that included her and Ryan.

During the conversation, Raylynn felt her phone vibrate every so often in her jacket pocket. She ignored them, knowing that they were most likely Marcel or Vincent back in New Orleans. They were left to deal with Klaus and his plan to murder whoever it took in the city to find Hayley. Raylynn figured something went on that Marcel did not like and he wanted her input. That could wait until she handled the conversation between her and her niece.

Hope sat on a set of stairs that led to the upper level of the hollowed out building. Her expression fell as she tried to absorb the fact that a lot of people thought she was born evil. A devil behind a pretty face, while her brother got called an angel with blond curls.

"So, I'm like - cursed. Predicted to be the downfall of what - my family? New Orleans? The - the world?" Hope questioned, before a chuckle slipped through her lips. "And Ryan gets to be the savior. How is he supposed to do that? Save me from myself? Save all of us?"

Raylynn pondered her words. If she were honest, she had no idea how to answer the girl. She had no idea what Vincent or Ivy meant. Although, she could say one thing.

"Before you were born, a witch by the name of Celeste predicted that you would be the downfall of all witches. But, I never thought anything it. Neither did your mom. Sometimes, premonitions and seers are wrong, or their visions are distorted. They can change over time." She sighed. "All I'm saying is - we need to prepare for things to change. For things to happen different than we though they would."

"You mean for my mom to die." Hope deadpanned.

Raylynn eye's widened and shook her head. "No, of course not. I'm not going to give up on her now, or anytime soon. I'm just saying that we need to take things slow. Maybe try to control your emotions when things don't turn out the way we expect. Becaue when your emotions are heightened, or tested, your magic will do - strange things."

"So, what? I'm so sensitive that everyone's just afraid I'm going to flip out?" Hope rolled her eyes.

Raylynn laughed a bit. "Well, you're a firstborn Mikaelson witch, and I'm a Nightingale freakshow. When people like us flip out, entire building are reduced to rubble. Trust me, it's not pretty," she said, remembering when she leveled a voodoo shop when Esther pissed her off. Raylynn noticed how Hope's expression further. "Look, Hope, you don't have to feel like the world is on your shoulders. You'll just have to do what Ryan does. When he gets mad or scared, or sometimes even excited, his magic expresses itself in unusal ways. Before we left Scotland, he cause a glass of orange juice to explode because he got a little ticked off with your dad."

Hope quirked a brow and asked, "and how's that working out for him?"

Raylynn exhaled, leaning back against the railing behind her. "You'll have to aske him that. The older he gets, the easier it is for him to control. Just like with you. Both you have magic that comes from two different sources. It manifested itself in different ways." Her phone vibrated, again, forcing her to pull it out and read Marcel's name on the screen. "And now I have not only your murderous father to deal with, but I have your whiny, adoptive brother blowing up my phone."

Hope nodded, pursing her lips. "So, why don't you just - go back, and deal with them, and leave me to go try and find my mother." She shot to her feet and stomped down the staris to leave.

Raylynn shoved her phone back into her pocket and followed after her niece. "Hope, stop."

"Why, so you can keep stalling me?" Hope called back to her.

Raylynn huffed. "I'm not trying to stall you. I just want you to feel comfortable and learn to control the darkest parts of yourself."

"Leave me alone."

"Hope..."

Hope spun on her heel and glared at her aunt. "I said - LEAVE ME ALONE!" she screamed, triggering a line of flames to flare before her. They rushed across the floor and licked at the wooden frame of the building, spanning toward the ceiling at a rapid pace.

Raylynn's stare widened. "Hope! Hope, stop this! NOW!"

Hope's eyes snapped open from where they closed as she screamed. She breathed heavily and took in the scene. Her shock caused the flames to die down, before they extinguished all together. Hope's chest heaved and stared at the charred wood.

"This is what I was afraid of," Raylynn said, drawing her niece's gaze. "You ready to listen, now?"

_______

After Hope calmed down and heard her aunt out, the two of them returned to the school. Raylynn planned to take Hope and Ryan out for dinner, but she and Freya decided to settle for short trip for sundaes instead.

While the Mikaelson woman headed back with Ryan, Raylynn let Hope have some time to herself to process the bombardment of information. She found the girl in the Stefan Salvatore Memorial Library. To her surprise, she found the boy from the sport's field that waved at her side. They were amidst some deep conversation, which prompted Raylynn to interrupt. She cleared her throat, loudly, forced the two teenagers to move apart and looked in her direction.

The boy glanced at the woman, before he turned to Hope. "That's my quie," she said and pushed off where he leaned against the windowsill to leave the room.

Raylynn waited until he disappeared through the door and then smiled toward her niece. "Private audience with the preppy little vampire. Nice."

Hope grinned as she moved away from the window until her expression fell. "I'm sorry, for exploding like that."

"Don't be," Raylynn told her. "You don't ask for any of this, and you're a powerful teenage girl. It's completely acceptable. Anyway, forget that stupid prophecy. You aren't the one who started this mess."

"But, I'm the end of it," Hope voiced. "Right? One way or another."

"Hey, I said forget it, alright?" Raylynn stated in a stern manner. "Just try to remain somewhat clam, and you'll be fine."

Hope sighed. A beat of silent passed between them, before she asked, "so - what do we do now?"

Raylynn smiled. "We stuff our faces with ice cream." She jutted her thumb toward the exit. "Come on, your brother and Aunt Freya are waiting for us outside."

Hope nodded, her own smile forming as she moved to her aunt's side.

Raylynn draped her arm around the girl and pulled her through the room.

<May 11, 2019>

These chapters for Season 5 are so much easier to rewrite than the others.

Don't forget to vote and comment.

-Jordan

P.S. Unedited chapter.