***

Aunt Freya, Hope, and I are in an abandoned house that Hope and I — and the devil spawns — use to practice magic. Technically Lizzie and Josie Saltzman found it first, but it's the only place we can do our magic without getting caught. And the only place we can do magic with Freya.

"Okay, let's see what you can do," Freya says, smiling at us. Hope and I start running at the same time, doing a bunch of parkour tricks we had taught ourselves a while back ago. We finally make it to the top railing and we are both panting, out of breath.

"Okay," Hope breathes out, and turns to our aunt, "Pretty cool, hun?" She starts to run down. I follow close behind and we both jump right in front of her.

"So... What do you think of it?" I ask her, a bright smile on my face. We had worked really hard on being able to do that, so we both hope with all our hearts that our aunt was proud of us.

"I think I wish I had core muscles like yours," Freya jokes with a laugh, causing both of us to softly chuckle. It's exciting to do what we do, to feel all that adrenaline rush in us.

"And that's nothing compared to what we'll be able to do once we trigger our werewolf side," Hope adds, sending a smile my way. I smile back, but I'm more worried than excited about the werewolf part. Yeah, we are tribrids and can transform when we want, but it scares me to think that one day I'll be angry enough to kill someone... And then the pain. I can't imagine the immense pain of all our bones breaking in our bodies. But, Hope seems excited about it, and it's enough to make me happy.

"Yeah. Um... Has your mom ever talked you through turning?" Freya asks us softly, slowly. She wants to make sure we're ready for it. But truth be told, I'll never be ready...

    Hope sips at her water, handing it over to me for a drink. She knows me too well, of course I forgot to bring one. I take a sip while Hope talks, "A little. And  we have friends. I mean, the whole killing a human part sounds kind of rough, but..."

    "Tell me about it," I mutter, screwing the cap back on the water bottle and handing it back to my sister.

    "What about the whole breaking every bone in your body part?" Freya starts, and I sort of nod to myself. That's the part I'm most worried about, and Freya notices that I'm nodding. "You know, when your mom talked to me about it, when she, um, really described it, it sounded worse than almost anything I could imagine. And, honestly, it's... it's not what she wanted for either of you," Freya explains, looking between us as she did. I know that our mom is a touchy subject for Hope, but really, if she didn't want us to go through with it, I don't think we should.

    "'Wants.' Not what she wants for us," Hope says, emphasizing the word the second time. It was obvious we were both a little shocked that Freya had used mom in the past tense, but that doesn't mean anything. She's okay, we both know that.

    "That's what I meant," Aunt Freya tried to correct herself, looking at us.

***

    "Hey, I totally forgot. I told Liam I would meet up with him after we got through with Aunt Freya. I'm so sorry, I'll see you later?" I ask with a hopeful smile.

    Hope jokingly sighs, shaking her head. "Already choosing your own sister over a boy," she says softly, and for a moment I almost believe she thinks I'm choosing Liam over her. But before I could say something about it, Hope starts to giggle. "I'm only joking! Go meet with your lover boy," she says, poking at my side.

    "Okay, I will. But try and find yours, too, then. What's his name again? Oh right, how could I even forget? It's only Roman that you talk about a million times a day," I smirk, poking her side back.

    Hope laughs loudly, gently shoving me, "Hush! We don't want anyone to know that. Go on, tell me all about it later." I nod and run off, walking to the common room.

***

    Liam was already waiting there, and once he saw me he stood up for a hug, which I gladly accepted. Unlike Hope and Roman, Liam and I talk more. So yes, he was aware that my out-of-town visitor was my aunt. "Hey, how'd seeing your aunt go?" Liam asks me with a smile.

   I pull out the embrace and sit down, "It was wonderful. It felt good to see her and hang out with her for a while. Hope and I did that parkour thing I showed you and she totally loved it!" I lay back against the couch with a smile.

    "You're so adorable when you're excited," Liam chuckles, turning to look at me. I can't help but blush as my eyes divert their gaze from him to a painting on the wall. It's hard to look at someone when every time you look at them you get butterflies.

    "Did you get to see your dad like you wanted to?" I ask him. Liam is really close with his father, and he lives right in Mystic Falls. However, his dad is always busy with work, even on the weekends. So whenever Liam goes to see him over the weekend, he only gets a few minutes with him. The longest they've gotten together is a forty-five minute lunch.

    Liam sighed, "Yeah, I did. But you know him, always busy. But we beat our record by five minutes. I got to see him for fifty minutes today, and only because he needed me to stay to help him out with organizing some papers."

    I turn to face Liam, "Hey.. I'm so sorry. But I'm always here if you ever need someone to talk to or anything. I know what it's like to have a dad missing from your life..." Ouch, that must hurt both of us. I didn't mean to say it, it just sort of came out. Talking about my emotions is hard to hold back sometimes, especially when the emotion is so strong. And I really miss my dad, but I still shouldn't have said that. Liam really misses his dad, too. And this was about him, not me and my problems. Liam matters more to me than my selfishness. "I'm sorry..." I say to him, shaking my head.

    Liam only sends me a sad smile and without warning wraps his arms around me. This is just how great he is.. He's always thinking about everyone else, never about himself. Liam is so selfless and kind, and I wish I could be the same all the time. My selfishness gets the better of me sometimes. "Don't be sorry.. Your dad hasn't even stepped foot in your life since you were young, and you and your sister both are hurting because of it," he said softly, his hand on my head. I soon felt his hand stroke down my dark hair, before he pulled away from the embrace. "I have to go, but if you ever need any advice, even just a shoulder to cry on, or a body to hug, I'm right here," Liam assures me with a smile.

And just like that... He disappeared, off somewhere in the school. It's crazy how he's there causing my heart to go wild one second, and gone the next. But the odd thing is... My heart keeps pounding minutes after he leaves...

***
- a few hours later -

I am back inside the bedroom with Hope, because after Liam left it seemed that Roman had left too. When I heard Hope say that I was rather surprised. "So Roman was just waiting in our room?" I ask her with a wide smile, almost a smirk.

Hope chuckles, "Yes, and I'm sure he heard every word of what you said outside the door and now I'm totally embarrassed. Thank God he didn't bring it up though, I think I would've sunk into the ground."

Soon we heard a knock, "I'm coming in girls." It's Freya, and she walks right inside the room after the one knock. We both turn to look at her and she sighs, "I was told to talk to you both about the.. binding spell."

"Yes. And we've decided. We're gonna do it," I say to her, as I look to Hope. She nods confidently at me, and I nod back to her. "It's what mom wants, so that's what's gonna happen," I say to Freya.

"It'll be painful," Freya starts, already seeming to have a series of words and speeches concocted in her mind.

"We don't care," Hope says, speaking for the both of us.

"You could die," Freya adds, just keeping it going. She's really persistent, isn't she? I see where Hope and I get it from.

"Same exact answer," I chime in, so I could make it known to Hope that I agree with her, and to show how passionate I feel about being bound.

"We're talking about snuffing out a fundamental part of who you are..." Freya warns, but we don't care. Mom wants this for us.. And we found out early in life, what our mom wants, she gets.

"Which, as according to you, my mom never wanted me to trigger anyway," Hope says, using the word "wanted" just like Aunt Freya did. Great... Now she's starting to do it too.

"But which she wanted to be your decision," Freya adds to that, trying to convince us otherwise. It isn't working. And there's that "wanted" again. Soon, they're going to have me using it.

"And we're making it," Hope replies with a sassy tone in her voice. I guess she thinks that using her tone would make her seem more intimidating or authoritative. Truth is, it doesn't.

"Not like this, Girls. Listen. I know what it's like to have something taken from you against your will. Okay? For me, it was time. Years and years, cursed to sleep by aunt Dahlia, while the world spun around me. And I am telling you: when you realize everything you've missed, it devastates," Freya says softly, and I have to agree that it does. But...

"This isn't against our will. We want this. This is our choice, Aunt Freya," I say to her, crossing my arms. Hope looks over at me with a nod, and begins to talk after me.

  "Yeah, Skye is exactly right. This is our choice. You know, if it were just to save my mom, I'd want to do it. Or it could be the fact that... Skye's partially responsible for her being taken, and I don't want her to feel guilty. Or that I'm not even sure I even want this freakish side of myself. But it's all those things. So, please, aunt Freya, get whatever supplies that you need, because you and I are doing this," Hope said in finality.