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CHAPTER 23: THE LAST MISSHAPEN

❝ still terrified of ghosts? ❞

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THE COMPOUND WAS FILLED WITH THE SMELL OF IT. The last misshapen. The last battle. The compound was filled with the smell of fruit unbecoming. It was horrid. It was lonely. Yet it was so full of life. But as the light died, mouths were wrapped around the least loveable and the too full and the easily bruised before canning that insatiable hunger once and for all.

Enola felt it immediately. That hunger. But it was not her own. It was greedy. Like the Hollow. Like her husband who stood on the balcony above with a bright smile. Crates or champagne, golden streamers, black balloons, and fancy food made up a majority of the courtyard. The rest of the courtyard was full of compelled humans who were setting up for what seemed to be the party of the century.

"We were leaving the city and now we are throwing a party for the city," Enola noted.

"One that will be attended by the most influential creatures in New Orleans," Klaus informed.

"You do realize that everyone hates you," Hayley frowned in genuine confusion.

"But they love Marcel who happens to be my cohost," Klaus grinned proudly. "Tonight, we celebrate our truce."

"So," Enola began slowly. "You are throwing a fake party in honor of a fake truce while your guest of honor rots away in the dungeon."

"The attendance of Marcel would only complicate matters," Klaus shrugged, making his way down the stairs at a leisurely pace. "Besides, I will have my hands full weeding out those in league with the Hollow."

"Have fun with that," Hayley scoffed.

Klaus made a beeline for Enola once reaching the bottom of the stairs. He grabbed her by the waist before pulling her in for a passionate kiss. It has been hard for them to find a moment just for them with everything that had been going on. Though they were happy to just be in the same room, it was nearly impossible to get that room alone.

"Hope and Finn are with Mary," Enola explained shortly. "We are looking for Freya and Bonnie."

"What do you need of them?" Klaus frowned, taking a step back.

"Just a small favor," Hayley answered, earning a raised brow from Klaus.

"We are looking for answers," Enola explained. "I will let you know when we find them."

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Bonnie and Freya sat at the bar in a tipsy haze. They had this whole rival thing going since they met. A Bennett and a Mikaelson. Perhaps that is why there had been such a strong disdain when they first met. Though that changed when they realized that they had a common goal. Which was to kill Marcel who was a danger to them all. So they became reluctant allies. And reluctant allies turned into somewhat friends. Somewhat. They were still a little hesitant to trust each other. Especially after all that they have already given up. Love had never been in the cards for such selfless witches. But who said that they couldn't have a little fun?

"We Mikaelsons do know how to party—live music, open bar, dancing." Freya informed. "Of course you don't have to come."

"Do you know how long it has been since I got to dress up and drink free booze?" Bonnie teased. "If there is a party, I am in."

"Good," Freya chuckled softly. "Although there is one matter that needs to be addressed so things are not awkward."

"Speaking of which," Bonnie trailed off, nodding towards the door.

Enola and Hayley had entered the bar with the sole purpose of asking Freya or Bonnie to assist them in finding answers. They were not sure what they were expecting, but this certainly was not it. Last they checked, these two could not hold a conversation without arguing. Now they are sharing a drink at a bar and giggling with each other. Then again, they had been preoccupied lately. Though the heart eyes they were making at one another should have been impossible to miss.

"This is a strange development," Enola noted. "A happy development. But strange nonetheless." She paused in thought. "Is this a date? Because we can talk later—"

"What? No!" Freya hastily shot down. "This is most definitely not a date."

"We are just two pals casually grabbing a drink," Bonnie agreed. "Casually."

"Okay, well, you should know that sounds really gay." Enola deadpanned.

Enola watched the way Freya turned red and Bonnie looked down. So she was right. There was definitely something going on. It made her happy to know that the two people who deserved the most love just might find it within each other. Though she knew that it might be an uphill battle considering they tend to put everyone else's happiness above their own. They would get there eventually. That is what she told herself.

"What happened to Keelin?" Hayley inquired.

"We let her go," Freya explained, sparing Bonnie a quick glance. "I was hesitant, but someone told me that it is better to make friends than enemies."

"Hi, I am someone." Bonnie introduced sarcastically.

"While you two are in a friendly mood, we were hoping you could do us a teeny tiny favor." Hayley pleaded. "I learned about the man who killed my parents. He was connected to the Hollow. I was just a baby when they were killed. I don't remember it. But I do know where they were killed." She hesitated. "We were hoping maybe with some spells and some witchcraft—"

"You want us to do a reading," Freya breathed.

"Violent deaths have a very specific energy," Bonnie continued. "We could conjure up whatever there is to see but you might not like it."

"Are you sure this is what you want?" Enola questioned. "Just say the word and we can go back to the bayou and pretend this never happened."

"I don't think I have a choice," Hayley confessed. "I have to know."

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The car ride was very awkward to say the least. Bonnie and Freya kept tossing longing looks towards each other while Enola and Hayley pretended to be oblivious. It was dark when they finally reached their location. They had plans of joining the festivities back at the compound though it was looking like they would not make it.

Hayley and Enola immediately clabbered out of the vehicle with flashlights raised before walking towards the haunted looking shack in the middle of the bayou. They were both equally hesitant to enter the abandoned building in the dead of night. But neither of them were willing to back down. So they stepped inside to face the horrors together. They silently agreed to not judge a book by its cover. Though the inside looked no better than the outside.

"Are you positive that this is going to work?" Hayley questioned.

"The energy trapped in here when your parents died still lingers in the air," Freya answered. "It will work."

"Let's just get this over with," Enola spoke in a hushed tone.

"Still terrified of ghosts?" Bonnie snickered. "I thought you were over it."

"Over it?" Enola scoffed. "After what we have been through? After what we have seen?"

"Point taken," Bonnie nodded.

"I always wondered what my parents might have been like, what they might've thought of me. Missing these people I never even knew." Hayley muttered quietly. "But if this helps us fight the thing that came after one of my nieces, then I want to get this over and done with."

Enola and Hayley hesitantly settled on the floor of a vacant room as Bonnie and Freya began to set up candles and salt. The soft glow from the candles illuminated their faces as they all stared at one another in apprehension. They could only hope that this little ritual would give them the answers they needed. Or else this would all be for nothing.

"Are you guys ready?" Freya sternly questioned.

Nods were exchanged before hands were joined. Bonnie and Freya began to chant latin words. There was nothing at first. And then there was a baby and a mother and a father. They all looked happy. But everything changed with a single knock on the door.

"We cannot let him find it," The father said.

The vision changed to a familiar man. Mary had shown Enola and Hayley a picture. This was her husband. And he seemed upset. He stormed into the house and began to throw things around on a quest to find something important. But he seemed to come up empty handed. The man grabbed the father by the collar of the shirt.

"We need all four of them!" The man spat.

"You are not finding it!" The father argued.

The man stabbed the father through the neck with a kitchen knife. The mother left the baby in the crib in an attempt to save the father only to meet the same fate. They both laid on the cold kitchen tiles as the light drained from their eyes. But they still had enough strength to drop some sort of key through the floorboards before they died.

Enola was forced back into reality when Hayley harshly jerked backwards. She blinked away her unshed tears before scrambling to her feet. She rushed into the kitchen with the others close behind before dropping to her knees. She used enhanced strength to tear the floorboard away so she could reach inside and retrieve what she was looking for. A key to a storage unit.

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"This is the one,"

Hayley came to a stop in front of a storage unit. She hesitated a moment because she was scared of what she might find. But she had made a promise to herself. She would get to the bottom of this. Even if that was the last thing she did. So she reached for the handle and pulled. Only the garage door refused to budge.

"Come on," Enola encouraged. "Put your back into it."

"I am trying," Hayley huffed. "This damn thing will not open."

Freya scoffed with an eye roll before stepping forward. She set her hand on the door and closed her eyes. Her eyebrows furrowed in concentration as she found the problem. She turned back to her willing accomplices with a look of confusion before she revealed what she had discovered.

"It has been spelled shut," Freya informed.

"How do we undo it?" Bonnie wondered.

"I can teach you," Freya blurted. "If you want."

"I do," Bonnie nodded enthusiastically. "Want."

Enola and Hayley shared a look as Freya taught Bonnie a new spell. It surprisingly did not take all that long and they were able to pry the door open with a little teamwork. They used flashlights to guide them inside. They all began to look around for any clues as to what was hidden here. There was a string in the middle of the room that lit the place up and made it easier for them to see.

"Do you guys want us to stick around?" Freya wondered.

"You guys go to the party," Enola said. "Enjoy yourselves."

"Are you sure?" Bonnie frowned in hesitation.

"You two deserve a break," Enola smiled softly. "Thank you. For everything."

Freya and Bonnie gave Enola a nod of acknowledgement before leaving. Hayley didn't seem to notice. She was lost in her own little world since she left the home she was supposed to grow up in. The home she would have grown up in if her parents didn't die. Her eyes latched onto a dusty picture of her parents and she couldn't stop the tears from falling down her cheek.

"I have spent my entire life searching for them," Hayley muttered. "Do you think they would have been proud of me?"

"I know they would have been proud of you," Enola said gently. "I am proud of you."

"Thanks mom," Hayley joked, earning a soft laugh from Enola.

"I will look over there," Enola announced, nodding to the boxes in the corner of the room.

Enola spent the next hour surrounded by old photographs and trinkets. She paused when she spotted a familiar stuffed bunny at the bottom of a box. She frowned in confusion before slowly lifting it into her hands. She analyzed every pattern, every detail, every stitch until her companion noticed the prolonged silence.

"What is it?" Hayley questioned.

"This is mine," Enola breathed.

"What?" Hayley frowned, leaning forward to get a good look.

"This was my favorite stuffed animal," Enola explained shortly. "I was fussy for weeks when I lost it."

Enola pressed into the stomach of the stuffed animal. It was abnormally hard. Not stiff cotton hard. More hiding place hard. She flipped the stuffed animal over and dug her nail into the worn stitching on the back. She tore it open before pushing a few fingers inside. She gasped as the unusual blind item inside before pulling it out to reveal a jaw bone. And so the plot thickens.

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The party was an absolute disaster. Elijah and Klaus had met Dominic—a powerful witch and the high priest to the Hollow. Though he was killed before they could get any answers from him. This night has officially taken a turn for the worst. The bloodstain in the courtyard can attest to that.

"Did you retrieve all of the weapons?" Elijah inquired.

"I do not know. Let us confirm with Dominic." Klaus said. He gave a dramatic gasp. "Oh, wait. That is impossible. His corpse is currently burning in a dumpster." He turned to face his brother with a look of exasperation. "I try to avoid bloodshed; you become the town executioner."

"Let me handle this," Elijah huffed in annoyance.

"And why exactly should I do that?" Klaus scoffed.

"Your children," Elijah reasoned. "Your wife."

"It is precisely because of them that I have to assert my involvement," Klaus said sternly. "So, brother, tell me what you know."

"This thing wants to be reborn," Elijah explained shortly, pouring a glass of bourbon. "This morning Vincent said that whenever it resurfaces, it does so in four distinct locations. I cannot tell why."

"It is looking for something. Four things. And we happen to have one of them." Enola announced storming into the compound with Hayley following close behind. "Looks like we missed the party."

"The only thing you missed, my love, is Elijah acting like a madman." Klaus ranted, pulling Enola in for a swift kiss.

"Where are Freya and Bonnie?" Enola wondered, noting the empty compound.

"They left hours ago," Elijah interjected. "Now, tell me, what did you find?"

"My parents were killed protecting this from one of the Hollows' followers," Hayley explained, waving the jaw bone in the air like it wasn't some sort of ancient artifact.

"We have seen this time and time again. When a witch wishes to be reborn, its remains are required to complete the spell." Klaus said. "You two just found a piece of our enemy."

"Lucky us," Enola sarcastically applauded.

"Who has the other three?" Hayley wondered.

"Dominic," Elijah sighed. "Dominic said that he had found something here."

"What? There is just a bag of bones laying around that we didn't know about?" Hayley scoffed in disbelief.

"No. Just one in particular." Klaus realized. He turned on his heels and rushed up the stairs before storming into the study with everyone hot on his heels. He made a beeline for the painting on the wall and removed it to reveal an old safe. He typed in the code—his wedding anniversary—before pulling it wide open. It was empty. Which had not been the case earlier that day. The blade the Papa Tunde one used was missing. "Dominic was a distraction."

"They used our own deception against us," Elijah gasped.

"This thing has followers everywhere," Hayley pointed out. "They have infiltrated the entire city. If they get to the other bones before we do . . . "

"Then they will try to bring the Hollow back," Enola finished. "And it will come for us all."

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AUTHORS NOTE.
i made swift changes to the plot. nothing too significant. except for the fact that freya and keelin are no longer. bonnie deserves a happy ending. that is all i am going to say right now. until next time, my loves!!!