***

Hope and I sat on the floor of our shared room in the school. We were both reading all the spell books we could find to help find mom. If I could just do this one thing then I might make me feel a little better. All of this was my fault and now I have to fix it. Hope and I looked at the door when we heard knocking. I stood up and opened the door seeing Aunt Freya standing there. My mind went to something bad happened, "Oh no... What went wrong? Did something happen? Is everything okay?" I tried my best to make sure mine and Hope's little setup was hid. Hope walked over to stand by my side.

Aunt Freya shook her head, "Uh, oh, no, nothing. Everything is fine. Uh, no, your... Your father has search parties scouring every inch of the city. We'll find her."

I sighed in relief, "Thank god. I just saw you and I just... started thinking the worse. Why are you here if mom is still missing?"

Aunt Freya lifted up a paper bag so we could see, "Care package. Thought you and Hope could use a taste of home."

Hope took them from her, "So you drove all this way to bring us beignets?"

"You know, I figured with everything going on, you guys could use a friend." Aunt Freya shrugged at us with a smile.

"I don't need a friend. I'm completely fine..," Hope nudged me with her arm, "And so is Hope." I told her. It's great that Aunt Freya came to visit us, but we really needed to get back to work. We didn't have enough time to waste. Who knows what mom could be going through right now?

Aunt Freya nodded and looked behind us, "You know, I could be wrong, but, um, I think this is the part where you invite me in." Hope and I hesitated for a second. We glanced at each other before I slowly opened the door.

Hope nodded to her and placed the beignets on her dresser, "Yeah. Yeah. Yeah." Hope and I hurried to pick up all of the books. Aunt Freya walked in and looked around, closing the door behind her. When I was reaching for a book, she happened to look at it.

"Locator spells in ancient languages?" She asked us. "Thought you weren't allowed to do magic outside of the classroom."

Hope laughed a little, "Catch-up reading. I'm trying to make up for being suspended." She lied. Aunt Freya only hummed at her response.

"We have to keep up our grades somehow. You know, we really need to get back to studying, Aunt Freya." I said, picking up the last book and setting it on my nightstand.

Aunt Freya sat down on my bed as Hope and I stared at her. "Sure. Sure, I mean, I could just leave after an excruciating eleven hour drive to see my only two nieces," She laid back on the bad and then acted like an idea came to her. She sat up and stared back at us, "Or... We could get comfy, stuff our faces with deep-fried glory, and you could tell me about that cute boy you had hidden in your room last week, Hope." I laughed a little as I stared at my twin with a teasing smile.

I was the one who had told Aunt Freya about Roman. She had actually already had suspicions, but I just confirmed them. Anything to embarrass my sister.

***

We walked around the soccer field watching the students play soccer. I couldn't tell who was winning, but to be fair, I didn't really care. I'm not really a sports kind of person. I'd rather just sit in my room, read a book, and relax... Or sleep. Sleep is a good thing too. "So, which one is he?" Aunt Freya asked with a smirk.

Hope smiled, "The hot one that sweats diamond dust."

I laughed at her response, "Really? 'Diamond dust'?" She was badly crushing on him, that much was obvious. Hope gave me a look that clearly told me to shut up and I just gave her an innocent smile. After Roman had made a goal, he looked over at us, gave Hope a smile and wave.

Hope looked away from him, "Oh, God. Keep-Keep walking." Roman then turned around and went back to the game.

Aunt Freya touched Hope's arm with a smile, "Wait, you're not gonna wave back?" She was still looking over at Roman.

"No, pretty sure, uh, his ego can handle it." Hope stated looking a little flustered.

"Awww," I cooed. I wrapped one of my arms around her shoulders and poked her cheek. "Is my sister embarrassed?" Before she could say anything at all, Liam had walked over.

"Hey, Skye." He said to me. He nodded to Hope and Aunt Freya who stood beside of me.

I was completely at a loss for words, "Uh, hi." Now it was Hope's turn to give me a teasing look.

Liam continued, "I was wondering if you would want to go do something with me later on?"

"Uh, well, I... Uh." I was trying to find the right words, but nothing would come out. I was usually so good at talking, it was pretty much all I did. Why was I failing at it so badly now?

I suddenly felt a grip on my arm and heard Hope say, "Well, you see, Liam. Our aunt came to visit us so we thought that we would spend the day with her. You guys could totally do that another time though."

Liam nodded with a smile, "Okay. I'll see you later." I nodded at him and he walked past us.

Hope let go of my arm and saw my blushing self, "Awww! Is my sister embarrassed?" She asked, imitating me awhile ago.

I lightly hit her with my arm, "Shut up."

Aunt Freya's smile got even bigger, "And who was he?"

"No one!" I answered quickly.

Aunt Freya suddenly turned serious, "Hey, so... That stuff you guys were studying earlier. Alchemy of the Iberian Peninsula? Magic of the Middle East?"

Hope was quick to come up with a reply, "We're examining regional magic as it relates to sociopolitical and economic statuses."

"So, what exactly are the sociopolitical implications of breaking powerful cloaking spells?" Aunt Freya asked. She had known this whole time. Should've known to be honest, she did get a really good look at the book before I could get it.

Of course, I still wanted to play it off as nothing, "You know... Stuff..," Aunt Freya gave me a look full of doubt. I sighed, "Okay, fine. We're trying to look for mom. What do you expect? For us to just give up?"

Aunt Freya sighed, "Trying to break every possible spell in those books by yourselves would take a thousand years."

Hope shook her head, "This is exactly why we didn't want to tell you. And guess what? You and the witches haven't gotten anywhere. We're coming at it from a different angle."

"Okay." Aunt Freya nodded.

"I was the one who put her under the cloaking spell. This is my fault. Just let us do this! Please... If I can find a way to break the spell without being in the same place as her then it would make me feel a little less guilty." I said to her, crossing my arms over my chest.

"And the fact that that's never been done in the history of witchcraft isn't going to deter you?" Freya asked us with a small smile still on her face.

"We can't just lollygag around while you guys do all of the work. We want to help to whether you, or anybody else, likes it or not." I stated. I was not going to let this go. I was going to help find my mom whether they want me to or not.

Aunt Freya thought for a second before saying something very surprising, "All right, then. Let's get to work."

***

Hope, Aunt Freya, and I walked into the creepy and old house. It was very exposed to the outside seeing as some of the walls were completely gone. The Saltzman twins used this as their evil lair. I didn't want to know what they did in here. "Pretty. In a creepy, 'don't get caught alone here at night' kind of way." Aunt Freya remarked.

Hope looked around the house as well, "The Saltzman twins found it, like, two years ago."

"This is what we think is their 'Mean Girl' lair." I said as I stepped over a tree limb.

Aunt Freya laughed a little as she looked at a bottle, "Well, they share their father's love for the bottle. All right. You want to find your mom, I got to start with how she was taken in the first place."

Aunt Freya looked straight at me and I thought for a second, "Look, I have no idea. Okay? Someone must've followed me there."

Aunt Freya walked over and picked up two bowls, "Or there was a problem with your cloaking spell. Maybe you missed a step... left a loophole open."

"I didn't." I declared as Aunt Freya placed the bowls on a chair in front of me.

She nodded, "Fine. You were followed. Then we retrace every step you took. A deconstructing spell will magnify that the cup of blood in each bowl will give us that."

I took the knife from her as Hope said, "We know how it works, Aunt Freya." I bent down in front of the chair and made a cut across my plan with the knife. I squeezed my hand and blood poured into one of the bowls. Then it stopped, I opened my hand to look at the cut and saw that it was completely healed.

"Don't stop." Aunt Freya said.

"Dammit." I cursed.

"It wasn't enough." Aunt Freya observed.

I sighed in frustration and looked up at her and Hope, "It's not working. The wound is healing too fast which means barely any blood is shed. We should've just chose a different spell."

Hope nodded and added on, "Yeah, one that doesn't involve her bleeding out," Aunt Freya nodded with a certain look on her face and Hope said, "Which you knew couldn't happen. You don't want to do this spell." I stood up to face our aunt with my hands on my hips.

"Not particularly, no." She replied.

"Why?" Hope inquired.

Freya was quick to respond, "Because it isn't going to work. If there was even a chance of it working, don't you think one of the hundred powerful New Orleans witches would have thought of it by now?"

"Then why are we wasting time? There's something you're not telling us." Hope stated.

Freya took a deep breath and said, "Vincent and Ivy think they've learned something. About the both of you."

***

It was dark by the time Aunt Freya was done explaining to us what Vincent and Ivy had said. I still couldn't wrap my head around it. Was any of this even true? We had some lit candles around us so we could still see. The darkness made the house seem even creepier and the silence between us wasn't helping. Hope spoke up, "So we're, like, cursed? Predicted to be the downfall of what, our family? New Orleans? The world?" She laughed at the thought of it.

"I... I have no idea," Aunt Freya stuttered while shaking her head. She turned to look at the both of us, "But you deserve to know what's going on. And the three of us need to prepare for the possibility that... things might not work out the way we want them to."

I knew what she was referring to, "You mean for our mom to die?" Hope and I had solemn looks on our faces as I said this.

Aunt Freya looked away from us, "For what happens inside of you two any time tragedy strikes. For when your emotions are tested in ways you couldn't even imagine."

"How can anyone prepare for that?" Hope demanded.

Aunt Freya looked at us gravely, "You guys aren't just anyone, Hope, Skye. You're Mikaelson witches with... a terrifying amount of power, even without the darkness that your family is keeping you away from."

I stood up and crossed my arms in front of my chest, "They really think that we are that sensitive? That we are just gonna flip out?"

Aunt Freya looked like she was remembering something, "Well, when people like you, and Hope, and me flip out, entire villages can burn. Look..," Freya moved her gaze away from us and onto the farthest wall, "I know what it's like to have your family thrust you two into a situation where the world is on your shoulders and... you're not at all sure if you have the strength to carry it."

"And how's that working for you?" Hope questioned.

Freya looked away again, "Not well. It's why I'm not with the woman I love."

"Then just leave! Leave us to find our mother by ourselves like we wanted to!" I exclaimed. I started to walk away from her and Hope, but they followed me.

"Skye, stop." Aunt Freya ordered me.

"You're only going to keeping stalling the both of us!" I said as I continued to stalk away from her.

"You can't shut down, or it'll eat you up inside." She told me.

"Leave me the hell alone." I said angrily.

"Skye-" I cut her off before she could say anymore.

I whipped around towards her and Hope in anger, "Why can't you just leave me alone? I told you to leave me alone!" My eyes suddenly closed and I could feel heat all around me. I felt light on my closed eyelids.

"Skye, calm down!" I heard Hope exclaim.

"Skye! Stop it," Aunt Freya yelled. My eyes opened and I looked around to see fire everywhere. I brought my hands down to my sides and the flames went away. "Are you ready to talk now?" I didn't say anything and only walked away, wanting to be alone for awhile.

***

I sat in one of the hallways in the school. It was still late at night so everyone was pretty much asleep still. I tried to take my mind off of the events from before, but nothing would work. My mind always kept coming back to that moment. I felt guilty for snapping at Aunt Freya like that, but... I was just so mad. I was so lost in my thoughts that I didn't notice Liam sit beside of me.

"Hey." He said, scaring me a little at the suddenness.

I glanced over at him, "Hi." Then I looked away from him.

"What's wrong?" He asked me.

 I sighed, "Nothing. I just... Have you ever gotten so mad at someone? Then you regretted everything that happened afterward?"

Liam shook his head, "That hasn't happened to me, no. I'm assuming this has something to do with you?"

"Yeah," I laughed a little and then my face turned into a guilty one. "I got a mad at my aunt and started screaming at her. I just don't know what to do now."

Liam thought about it for a second before saying, "Just go and apologize to her. She'll understand. That's what family does."

I considered it and thought that it wouldn't hurt to try it, "I might just do that. Thanks, Liam."

"No problem." He said. We both said our goodbye and then went our separate ways.

***

I was walking around trying to find Hope or Freya. I eventually found them and saw Roman walking out of the room. I walked in slowly with a guilty look on my face. The two looked at me as I said to Aunt Freya, "I'm sorry for going off like that."

"No. You shouldn't be. Look, you didn't ask for any of this. You didn't start it." Aunt Freya said to me. I walked over to her and Hope, the three of us having serious expressions on our faces.

"But we're the end of it. Right? One way or another?" Hope questioned. Freya nodded in response. "So what do we do now?"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A/N: Hey guys! It's Snow! Sorry that this is super late! We both had been busy with school and other things lately. I knew that Kat wouldn't be able to update today so I decided to. So anyways, I hope you guys liked the chapter and we will see you next time. Bye! ~Snow.