“Hope.” MG stopped in the middle of the hallway, surprised to see the tribrid appearing around the corner. 

Hope looked him up and down coldly. Her chest felt light and empty. She had missed that feeling. “Do I know you?”

“What?” MG leaned back. He hadn’t expected that from her. 

“Do you want to go out feeding tonight?”

He furrowed his eyebrows, staring her down. “How can you ask me that after what we just went through?” 

“Fine. Then you’re useless to me.” Hope shrugged and pushed past him. 

MG stared after her. He couldn’t bring himself to move from the spot where she left him.

“MG.” A hand clapped down on his shoulder. “Come with me.”

MG followed Kaleb down the hallway and into one of the Mikaelson Academy study rooms - complete with an anti-eavesdropping spell to prevent any prying vampire ears from listening in.

“There was a massacre at the Salvatore School last night.”

“What?” MG furrowed his eyebrows.

“Students are saying it was a vampire attack.” Kaleb crossed his arms and looked at MG accusingly.

“It wasn’t me!” MG cried, his eyes going wide. “I was with you all night!”

“What about your little friend?”

“Hope? No. She wouldn’t …” MG swallowed heavily. But she would, wouldn’t she? It would certainly explain the extra coldness from before. 

“She did. I have a feeling if you asked Dr. Saltzman, he’d tell you it was a tribrid attack.”

MG looked down at his feet. It wasn’t like he and Dr. Saltzman had ended on bad terms, but MG had kind of switched schools and never looked back …

“Or I could ask him.”

“No.” MG shook his head quickly and straightened. “I’ll do it.”

“Good.” Kaleb leaned against one of the study desks. “And when he says yes? Whose side are you going to be on?”

MG narrowed his eyes. “What do you mean whose side?” 

“I mean, are you gonna take Hope’s side over ours?” 

“Why are there sides?” MG asked. “I thought we were all on the same team here.”

“I’m not on the same team as the girl who killed a bunch of our old classmates - our friends - just because you hurt her feelings,” Kaleb scoffed. He couldn’t believe MG wasn’t getting it.

“Her humanity is off -”

“And it’s monsters like her who give us all a bad name!” Kaleb reached for the door. “But I guess that answers my question of which side you’re on.”