CHAPTER THREE:
❝︎Kindred Spirit❞︎

"YOU MADE IT." Josie smiled, watching as Harper made her way through the people at the party. She wasn't the party type. She was shy. She wasn't outgoing like everyone here. And quite frankly she was out of her comfort zone. Josie noticed the girl's eyes constantly dancing back and forth as she looked at all of the other people, making Josie softly sigh. The Saltzman girl had taken the time to help Landon make it to the party, and now she had to help Harper be comfortable with even being at the party. She reached out, grabbing Harper's hand.

"This was a bad idea. Why did you convince me to come to this?" Harper mumbled, keeping a hold on Josie's hand as they moved a little ways away from the people, but close enough that the fire was still the only light in the dark night. "I should be with Hope right now, learning how to control my shift."

"You need to relax." Josie told the girl with a concerned look. "Harp, you've been very tense lately. This isn't to make you uncomfortable, it's just to help you relax the muscles in your shoulder that should be dying from how tense they usually are."

"Drawing helps. And reading." Harper mumbled.

Josie softly smiled at the girl before grabbing her other hand. "I won't leave your side, I promise." Harper looked at the brunette for a moment before nodding her head. Josie smiled before the two headed back into the crowd of students, stopping only when they felt eyes on them. They turned their head to see Penelope standing there, her eyes locking with Josie's as she smirked before her eyes narrowed in on Harper, making the hybrid quickly rip her hand from Josie's. Even though she didn't like Penelope, she was still scared of her.

"No, this was a bad idea." Harper shook her head.

Josie watched as Penelope walked away before quickly looking towards Harper. "Don't let her ruin your fun, Harper."

"Fun? This isn't fun. This is giving me heart palpitations." Harper hissed before the two continued through the crowd. She spotted Rafael, and glanced towards Josie before offering her a small smile. "You should go talk to him."

"I told you that I wasn't going to leave you." Josie frowned.

Harper shrugged. "I'm leaving anyways. I'm sure your dad will be here in a little while to crash the party anyways." She offered Josie a small nod. "I'll see you in the morning."

"Yeah, alright. Goodnight." Harper nodded once more before walking away. Josie watched her go until she could no longer see the girl before she softly sighed and turned on her heel, taking a seat beside of Rafael and talking with the newly turned wolf.

When she made it back to the school, she immediately went up to her room. She sat on her bed, silently thankful for Hope who had convinced Dr. Saltzman to give her her own room when she first came to the school. She needed the peace and quiet. She softly sighed, getting under the covers before cutting the light off and going to sleep. However, after thirty minutes, her eyes were forced to open once more when a knock came at her door. She sat up, flicking her wrist and forcing her lamp to be cut on.

"Come in." She softly called, though the person on the other side of the door could hear her. Her door opened and Josie walked through. Harper frowned as she looked at the girl, cocking her head slightly. "Jo?" Josie closed the door behind her before walking into the room further. Harper moved over in her bed, allowing Josie to crawl under the covers. Harper turned on her side to look at the brunette who was looking up at the ceiling. "Want to talk about it?"

Josie looked towards her before saying the words that she had already told her sister. "I saw MG with you-know-who."

"I'm sorry." Harper frowned. "MG should no better than that. Do you want me to talk to him?"

Josie shook her head. "No."

"Wanna stay in here tonight?" Harper questioned. Josie looked at her before nodding her head. Luckily she had changed into her sleep clothes before coming over to her room so she didn't have to leave to get ready. Harper offered her a small smile before cutting her lamp off. Josie turned on her side and made herself comfortable, falling asleep with the smallest of smiles on her face when Harper's arm was wrapped around her waist.

The next morning, Harper stood there beside of Hope who was looking out the window at Landon and Rafael. They had finally managed to compel Landon to forget and now he was leaving. Harper watched the two hug before Landon walked away. The girl looked at her friend who had a small frown on her face. She leaned her head on Hopes shoulder, knowing that even if she wouldn't admit it, Hope felt something for the human boy.

"Walk with me?" Harper requested, moving her head from Hope's shoulder in order to meet the female's eyes.

"Sure." Hope nodded before hooking her arm with Harper's and walking outside. They walked around the school grounds, stopping only when Dr. Saltzman was in front of them, yelling about an artifact that had been taken by Landon. Immediately Hope was quick to defend the boy. "How do you know it was him?"

"Ancient artifact goes missing along with too-good-to-be-true hapless human?" Alaric narrowed his eyes. "You do the math, Hope."

"That would make him a liar, okay? I've known my fair share of those, and there was nothing about him―︎"

"Hope―︎"

"No, you don't understand." Hope snapped. "There's no way that the one time I choose to get close to someone, they turn out to be a liar. It's not possible, okay? I'm not that stupid."

"When he walked out that door, we compelled him to go home." Alaric told the girl.

"So?"

"So he didn't." Alaric finished. "It's the first place we checked. And if he didn't go home, that means his memory wasn't erased. He was just pretending that it was. If his mind can't be controlled by a supernatural being, then that only means one thing. That he is a supernatural being." Harper exchanged a look with Hope before they looked back towards Alaric. Later that night, all of the students were gathered in the assembly room, with Alaric standing in front of everyone.

"For ten years we've gone undetected. Protecting you, protecting our secret has been our singular mission. Tonight I need your help to find Landon Kirby. . . before he exposes us all." Whispers could be heard through out the crowd of students, and Harper grabbed Hope's hand, hoping to bring the girl some kind of comfort. She didn't notice Josie who was looking towards their interlocked hands with a small frown on her face.

After the assembly, she stood with Hope outside, the two taking a moment to get some fresh air. That's when their attention turned towards Josie and MG who were currently hugging one another, with MG apologizing for what had happened with Penelope. But that wasn't what caught their attention. What grabbed their attention was Josie standing there after MG left, glaring at Penelope who was talking to a group of people before muttering a spell and catching the girl's arm on fire.

"You wouldn't happen to be prepared to help me with something would you?" Hope asked, glancing towards Harper.

"Depends."

"Well, then you're my back up." Hope sighed. "Come on." The two walked towards Josie's room, making Harper furrow her eyebrows before knocking once before entering the room with Hope at her side.

"I need your help." Hope was the one to speak up. Josie had her back turned towards the two.

"Three more words to me than your annual average." Josie hummed. She turned to look at the two, not surprised to see Harper standing there beside of the girl. She almost rolled her eyes but kept herself from doing so. She walked over to her bed. "Find someone else."

"Josie." Harper frowned. Hope closed the door and made her way towards Josie's bed whilst Harper stayed in her spot.

"This stuff with Landon is my fault. I can fix it. I know how to track him, but it involves using a dark magic." Hope explained, and Harper's eyes widened.

"Well , we're not allowed to use dark magic here, so. . ." Josie mumbled.

"Says the girl who just lit her ex on fire." Hope scoffed.

"Hope!" Harper looked at the girl in disbelief.

"Are you blackmailing me?" Josie questioned.

"No." Hope denied. "No, I'm just looking for a kindred spirit in revenge." Josie looked at the girl before finally sighing in defeat.

"I don't want to be a witness, so I'm going to leave so I can have deniability that this ever happened." Harper told the two girls. "Just. . . come find me when you're both done?"

"Promise." Hope assured, and Josie nodded her head in agreement before watching the girl leave her bedroom. A soft sigh fell from her lips. Hope looked at the girl for a moment before her lip rose slightly before making it fall again.

Harper sighed, walking into the library and examining the bookshelves before grabbing a book and sitting down at one of the tables. She silently read as she waited for Josie and Hope to get done with their dark spell. She looked up when someone sat in front of her, a gentle smile falling on her face when she saw MG sitting there.

"Hey, MG." Harper greeted, closing her book.

"Hey, Harp." MG smiled. "We haven't spoken in a few days."

"I know. Sorry." Harper frowned. "Hey, why did you do it?"

"Do what?" MG frowned before quickly catching on. "Oh. I didn't mean for it to happen. I never meant to hurt Josie. You know that."

"Of course." Harper nodded. "Just, don't do it again please? I'd like to think I'm a saint, but I won't hesitate to rip you from your blood supply if you hurt her again."

"You know you're really scary when you want to be." MG mumbled, giving the girl a weird look. She had been speaking to him in the same tone of voice, yet she had said it so calmly and kindly that it actually scared him. Harper chuckled at the vampire, shaking her head slightly. MG looked at the kind-hearted girl for a moment before saying, "You're like the only werewolf that gets along with vampires completely."

"Maybe it's because I'm part witch?" Harper suggested.

MG hummed before nodding his head. "Maybe. Hey, we should hang out tomorrow."

"I'll put it on my calendar." Harper smiled.

"Night, Harper."

"Goodnight MG." She offered the boy one last smile before watching him stand up and walk out of the library. As Harper continued to read, she didn't notice Lizzie standing there, looking at the girl with her head cocked slightly. But the blonde didn't say anything. Instead, she quietly backed away, and allowed Harper to read in peace with a small knowing smirk covering the girl's face.