“Good morning.” Penelope smiled up at Josie. For once, it was a good morning. 

Josie eyed her strangely. Her girlfriend was in an unusually good mood today. “Good morning.” 

“How did you -” The word sleep got lost on Penelope’s lips.

“Good morning, students.” 

Josie blinked a few times, surprised at the announcement that seemed to come from nowhere and everywhere at once. It was Penelope’s headmaster’s voice, and she didn’t look surprised at all, so Josie assumed it was a magical version of the Salvatore School’s dated, static-y PA system.    

“All factions are to attend an unscheduled announcement beginning in five minutes. Students not present during this announcement will be punished.” 

Josie was just about to make a comment about how ominous that sounded when Headmaster Vardemus’ voice returned,

“Most severely.”

“What’s that about?” Josie asked once she was sure she wouldn’t be interrupted again. She could only imagine one thing worth making an emergency announcement for: Hope’s disappearance.

Penelope shook her head. “No idea. He usually doesn’t hold emergency meetings like that.” She shook off whatever concern she’d picked up from Josie. “Do you want to come with me?”

Josie blinked a few times, eyebrows rising. “Sure.”

She didn’t know what she expected from a Mikaelson Academy announcement, but there they were, all crammed into the dining hall staring patiently at their headmaster. It was dead silent. Nobody whispered or chatted idly while they waited. 

“I’m sure you’ve all heard the rumors,” Vardemus started, earning a puzzled look from few students and a knowing one from the majority. Josie and Penelope were both among the puzzled. “A student has died.”

Josie’s eyes widened, and she stared at Penelope. How had they missed that?

“Not here. But at the Salvatore School.”

Someone in the crowd raised their hand. “Who died?”

“Oh, some werewolf student.” Vardemus waved a hand through the air dismissively. Josie recoiled a little. How could he be so flippant about a kid dying? Just because it wasn’t one of his students? “That’s not the peculiar part. The peculiar part is that this werewolf student died with vampire blood in his system. He is in transition.”

Murmurs swept through the crowd. Josie was sure she heard Hope’s name a few times. She was also sure that she saw Penelope sink a little lower in her seat, eyes cast down guiltily. 

“The reason I make this announcement isn’t to surprise you or to gossip.” He let the word roll off his tongue like the mere idea of the act was below him. “It’s to warn you to stay away from the Salvatore School and its students. A rule that we’ve been a little lenient about around here. We know how accusation-heavy they can be.”

As everyone dispersed, bored of the discovery already, Josie bristled. Accusation-heavy. What did that even mean?

She didn’t have to wonder long, because Vardemus had set his sights on the two of them and was honing in.

“Miss Park. Miss Saltzman.”

They stopped, resigning themselves to hearing out what he had to say.

“I assure you, no Mikaelson Academy student had anything to do with that boy’s death,” he said directly to Josie. “You can report that back to your father.”

Josie crinkled her forehead. “I’m not here as a spy.”

“Then what are you here as? A new student?” 

“My guest,” Penelope said quickly. She grabbed Josie’s sleeve, tugging her away back to the dorms before Headmaster Vardemus could ask any more questions.

“What was that about?” Josie asked as soon as the door was safely closed behind them. 

“Vardey is a little paranoid about the school rivalry,” Penelope said dismissively. 

“Not Vardemus. You.”

“What?”

“You know something about the werewolf student who died. Who is it?” 

Penelope furrowed her eyebrows. “I don’t know. I don’t know any more than you do.”

“Why don’t I believe you?”

“Because I’ve been known to lie?” Penelope scrunched her forehead.

“No.” Josie shook her head and waved a finger through the air. “No, don’t do that. Don’t be cute and half-honest to avoid the question. Who is it?”

“I really don’t know, Jo-Jo. I swear.”

“Then what do you know?”

“I …” Penelope dug the toe of her shoe into her rug. “I may know how a Salvatore wolf would end up in transition.”

Josie crossed her arms. She hated being right when it came to Penelope. “And do you want to share with the class?”

“I needed something to heighten the high. Nobody was supposed to die with it in their system.”

Josie’s eyebrows soared. “You laced your wolf weed with vampire blood?” 

“I needed an extra kick, and Hope’s blood was just sitting there in storage, not being used …”

“Waiting. For werewolf bite cures, not drug dealing.”

“Well, it’s done. It’s over with. We can’t change it,” Penelope said, squaring her shoulders. “But what we can do is figure out who it is in transition and help them through it. We can make this right. Retroactively.”

Josie sighed. It was Penelope’s turn to be right. “Fine.”