CHAPTER FORTY-ONE

You Can't Save Them All

_________________

     JOSIE HAD BEEN the first one to awaken from the spell-induced sleep. Not that Ryan expected anything less. Since she broke the Sandclock, Josie seemed to excel when it came to magic. She cast the Japanese, purge spell with little to no effort and even managed to turn Jade's humanity back on. Ryan chalked it all up to the massive amount of Black Magic that coursed through her veins. After all, no one knew of the side-effects that came after breaking a mora miserium.

     When they returned to the real world, Ryan would ask Vincent Griffith about it. If anyone knew what to expect when it came to a Sandclock, it would be him. New Orleans witches dealt with more cursed and Dark Objects than any other coven. At least, that was from Ryan's experience.

     The moment Josie regained consciousness, she wanted to head back to the Salvatore Boarding House. With her memories of Kai Parker restored, she remembered what he mentioned about a way out of the Prison World. And if that were the case, Josie needed to know everything.

     Ryan did not object. Kai's swan dived into Malivore with the Ascendant, and they were fresh out of Bennett blood. Without those key components, they would not be able to breech the magical walls of the Prison World. But with the aid of Josie's Black Magic, they might have a shot at slipping through the cracks in the empty, pocket dimension.

     After Ryan and Josie brought Alaric and Lizzie's unresponsive bodies from the hospital to the massive home, they moved into the home's library for some sort of source material that could help them achieve their goal. Ryan doubted they would find anything, considering the Boarding House belonged to a pair of vampire brothers. But he was pleasantly surprised to find a few grimoires on the shelves.

     Ryan claimed a plush chair inside the room filled to the ceiling with hundreds of musty volumes. He held one of them on his lap, flipping through the browned pages uncover something that could help them. So far, he did not see even a sentence that alluded to a Prison World. Not that he expected to. He only learned about its existence the day he, Alaric, and the twins were sucked into the place.

     Ryan sighed, flipping the book closed on his knees. He set it on the table next to him, before he raised a hand to telekinetically pull another over to him. He looked up and watched it soar in his direction until it changed trajectory and flew into Josie's outstretched hand. Ryan gave her a flat look, but she just shrugged in response.

     A sharp intake of air drew Ryan's attention away from the Black Magic filled girl to the recently awakened man on the couch across from him.

     Alaric shot up from the cushions, flicking his wide eyes across the room in confusion. His stare stopped when he noticed Ryan and Josie. "Where's Lizzie?" he questioned both of them, neither one in particular.

     Josie did not look up from the book in her hands and said, "sleeping upstairs."

     Alaric glanced to Ryan for conformation, which gained him a nod. Satisfied with the answer, he pushed stood to his feet. "Kai."

     "Try to control your emotions," Josie told him as she finally looked at her father. "I remember what Kai said. There's still a way for us to get out," she began to explain. "This whole place is just another spell. It's made of magic. Magic can be siphoned. I can make holes in this world. Doors."

     Josie proposed the plan when she woke up, but Ryan wanted to figure out the logistics before they told anyone. Apparently, the Saltzman girl failed to hold the same apprehension.

     Ryan stood from his chair and voiced, pulling his headmaster's gaze to him, "in other words, she siphons the magic that's holding this place together, which will let us slip out through the cracks as it falls apart."

     Footsteps reached Ryan's ears as Jade, Diego, and Wendy entered the room. He tensed, ready for an attack, but they did not seem outwardly hostile. He knew Jade would not try to kill, since Josie managed to turn her humanity back on, but the others were different. They had no excuse for their sadistic behavior.

     "So, does this mean you can get us back into the real world?" Jade asked, stepping further into the room with the witch and werewolf on her heels. She must have noticed Ryan's, and even Alaric's, unease. She released a short breath. "It's alright. I talked to them."

     Wendy stopped next to the blonde and said, mostly toward Alaric, "we just want to go home."

     "Well, we can't all go," Josie stated, drawing all eyes to her. "The magic I siphon can't travel to the real world. The energy needs to go somewhere, which means someone needs to stay behind to be the anchor." She looked to Ryan. "It should be Diego." Her stare snapped to the werewolf in question. "No offense," she exclaimed in a flat tone.

     Ryan did not disagree. The feeling he got from Diego made his stomach turn.

     "No," Alaric countered against the plan, shifting his gaze between all of the teenagers. "We're not leaving anyone here. We're all getting back."

     Ryan turned to him and shook his head. "That's the only plan we have. Without the Ascendant or Bennett blood, we can't get out of here. Not without trying brunt force. And that will only end with whoever attempts it dying."

     "Shh," Josie shushed the Mikaelson boy.

     Ryan's brows furrowed toward her, watching her eyes flash black.

     "Someone's coming."

     Ryan paused. How could someone be coming? They were inside a magical Prison World sealed closed by Kai Parker's selfish actions. Ryan trailed Josie's pointed stare as it drifted toward the fireplace behind them. Or, at least, the space in front of it. His confusion morphed into shock when a figure materialized out of thin air.

     "Hope?" Ryan questioned at the sight of his sister.

     "Ryan?" Hope replied when she spotted her brother, before her gaze fell to the girl next to him. "Josie?"

     The black that glossed over Josie's eyes faded as the Mikaelson girl's form solidified. "Hello."

     Ryan glanced back to the others in the room, noticing how all of them wore expressions of puzzlement. No one else could see her. "I don't think anyone else can see you," he told his sister. The Prison World must have compromised her astral projection.

     Hope nodded to him, before her sole attention stayed on the darker version of the Saltzman girl. "What happened to you?"

     Josie shrugged with a small smile. "I broke the Sandclock."

     Hope's eyes widened. "Oh, my God. I'm so sorry."

     "Guys, who are you talking to?" Alaric asked the two teenagers.

     Ryan looked to the man and said, "Hope. She's astral-projecting, or at least trying to."

     A sense of urgency fell over Alaric. "Listen, you have to warn her about Kai."

     "Why? What happened?" Hope questioned, glancing between her brother, friend, and headmaster.

     "Kai went into the Malivore pit, and we think he's trying to get to the real world," Josie explained.

     "Actually, I think he's already here, pretending to be someone else."

     Ryan pressed his lips together and sighed. "Of course he is." When he noticed Alaric's curious gaze, he told him, "Hope said he's already at the school."

     Alaric sucked in a deep breath. "Hope?" he voiced to the open air, not sure where the girl stood in her astral projection form. "Listen to me, Kai's incredibly dangerous. You have to get him away from the school, now."

     Josie raised her hand and gave the Mikaelson girl a finger wave. "Good luck, Hope."

     Ryan would have stopped Josie as she forced Hope's astral projection to fade, but he knew they had more important matters at hand. Like getting the hell out of that Prison World, and fast.

     Josie held the same thought process. She turned to her father and stated, "we need to do whatever it takes to get out of here."

     Alaric nodded. "Fine. We do the spell." He looked to the others in the room. "And I'll stay behind. You were all my students, once. It has to be me."

     Ryan's stomach dropped at his declaration. "What? No," he exclaimed, hurrying over to the man's side. He lowered his voice, even though he knew the supernaturals across the room could hear him. "When Josie siphons the magic from this world, it'll start to break down, and we have no idea if we'll be able to get you out."

     Alaric exhaled, shifting his gaze to the Mikaelson boy. "You were right, earlier, Ryan. It's the only plan we have."

     Ryan went to argue with him, but he knew that Alaric was right. They did not have another alternative. They either let Josie siphon holes in the Prison World, or they stayed trapped within its magically erected walls. Ryan stared at his headmaster, his mentor, for a long moment, before he shook his head. "I don't like this."

     Alaric's feature morphed into an expression of sympathy as he reached out and set a hand on the boy's shoulder. "I know."

     __________

     As it turned out, a simple bout of siphoning would not ensure their escape from the 2018 Prison World. The spell required more elements, especially if they wanted to make it home with all of their limbs intact. Coupled with Josie's siphoning, they each needed to construct a wooden spire that would direct the flow of magic and open a rift between dimensions. A portal, or door, they could use to get back to 2031.

     With the plan set in motion, Ryan collected the materials to create his spire and headed up to one of the spare rooms. The same one he and Josie left Lizzie in after they returned from the hospital. He found the girl awake on the bed, no longer sporting the blood soaked dress she wore earlier. Ryan did not know where she got more clothes, but that was not important.

     "So, you're telling me that my sister, the overthinker of the family, threw chaos to the wind and broke the Hourglass of Doom on the off chance that she could use the magic inside to help us get out of here?" Lizzie questioned, having heard about the series of events she missed in the last day.

     Ryan pressed his lips together as he wound various branches stolen from the front yard into a spire. "Yep," he replied, not lifting his gaze from the item in his hands.

     "And my dad's supposed to stay behind to anchor the Prison World so we can get out of here?" Lizzie proceeded with her interrogation.

     "Pretty much," Ryan answered.

     "And not one, not two, but three of my dad's former students were banished here with my psychotic uncle for the past ten years?"

     "Yes."

     "Who jumped into Satan's mud bath and is trapezing through the school as we speak?"

     Ryan lifted his head and deadpanned. "I literally just told you this." Did she have to repeat everything he said? He did not need to hear it again.

     Lizzie mirrored his expression. "Yeah, but none of it is actually making sense."

     Ryan sighed, lowering the partially finished spire to rest in his lap. "It makes sense. You're just not listening to what I'm saying." He returned his attention to the wooden item, winding the branches around the top.

     Lizzie rolled her eyes and leaned against the headboard at her back. "Just trying to understand why everyone has suddenly lost the ability to form a rational thought."

     "Says the girl who ran off with her vampire boyfriend, and got tricked into drinking his blood," Ryan countered with a quirked brow.

     Lizzie scoffed, before her stare narrowed toward the boy sat on the bed across from her. "Something's off with you, and not just because we're about perform a sketchy spell to escape this Godawful plane of existence," she voiced, pushing herself up from the wooden frame at her back.

     Ryan's nose scrunched. "Nothing's off with me. I just wanna get back before Kai ends up killing one of our classmates."

     Lizzie shook her head. "Nope, that's not it. You're worried about something, or someone." Her gaze trailed over him, picking up on how tense her statement made him. She grinned. "It is someone! But the only people I've ever seen you remotely worry about are your family and," her lips spread into the largest smile as she finished, "my sister. Oh, my God. Something happened between you and Josie!"

     Ryan's eyes widened and his cheeks started to burn. "What? No," he exclaimed, but the high tone in his voice betrayed him.

     Lizzie noticed and beamed. "I knew it! I knew you still liked her!" Her expression faltered. "What happened to sucking it up?"

     Ryan groaned, tightening his grip on the spire as he stood from the bed. "I'm not talking about this. We have a spell to perform."

     Lizzie winced and pulled herself across the quilt covered mattress to stagger onto her feet. "I don't think so. You're not getting off that easy," she called out, hobbling after him. "Come back here, Mikaelson!"

     __________

     The overcast sky plunged into darkness when the remaining Prison World inhabitants convened in the nearby meadow. Ryan and the others stood together, prepared to enact the spell that would let them return home. Five spires were created and held in the hands of those who would use them to break out of the magical prison, leaving Josie and Alaric the odd ones out.

     Ryan still hated the plan. Not the whole plan. Just the part that included Alaric staying behind. If they had more time, they could find another way to anchor the unstable magic Josie's siphoning would cause. But they needed to get back to the real world as soon as possible.

     "We need to work together," Josie voiced to the collection of supernaturals and their human headmaster. "Place the spires in a circle to create a boundary spell. As I began to siphon, doors will open beneath them. Each door can only transport one person. Once I begin the spell, I cannot stop until it is done. So, when you see the door, you have to go."

     With a short breath, Ryan stepped away from the Black Magic filled girl and set the end of his spire on the ground. Jade, Diego, and Wendy followed his actions, holding their respective spires in a large circle around Josie, while Alaric helped Lizzie do the same.

     Ryan kept his hand wrapped around the wooden staff, watching Josie lower herself to grass at her feet. She opened a small grimoire and placed it in front of her, before she took out a knife and sliced across her palm. Her blood bubbled through the tore skin, dripping onto the symbols drawn across the pages. Josie's eyes fluttered closed as she placed her hands on either side of the grimoire. She took a deep breath and her hands flared red. Wind began to pick up, rushing through the meadow when the magic slowly started to leave the barriers of the Prison World.

     "Dad, don't do this."

     Ryan looked to his right at the sound of Lizzie's voice and listened to her plead with her father.

     "We'll find another way."

     "Lizzie, there's no time," Alaric told his daughter. "Kai got out. He's at the school. Hope's trying to stop him, but if she can't, you, Josie, and Ryan have to. You got to go, now." He stepped away from her with a sword held at his side and approached Ryan. "Take this." He handed the weapon over to the boy as their stares met. "Keep my girls safe."

     Ryan took hold of the sword in his free hand, before he nodded. "We'll find a way to get you out."

     Alaric went to reply, but Lizzie called out to him.

     "But, Dad, Sebastian is still here. He'll come after you."

     "I'll be fine," Alaric replied and moved back to his daughter. "Besides, you and Ryan'll find a way to get me back in no time."

     A bright, yellow glow beneath Ryan's spire captured his attention. The door that would take him back to the real world. It grew larger and wider in size as Josie continued to siphon away the magical prison. He glanced up from the circular portal, finding more of them beneath the other spires. Another opened around Josie, ready to swallow her when she finished the spell.

     Wendy was the first to vanish through her door. She stepped into the light that appeared under her spire and escaped from the Prison World. Jade went next followed by a reluctant Lizzie.

     Ryan drew in a deep breath and moved closer to his spire. As the light started to consume his body, his gaze snapped to where a figure rushed across the meadow and in Alaric's direction. His eyes went wide as he shouted, "Dr. Saltzman!"

     Blinding, white light rendered Ryan sightless as his feet hit something hard. He stumbled, falling to his knees. His chest heaved when his vision returned. Ryan looked up to find that he no longer stood outside in the meadow, but rather rested on his hands and knees in the Grand Hall of the Salvatore School.

     "Ryan?"

     Ryan snapped to where Hope entered his line of sight. She rushed forward, snatching him up from the floor to pull him into her arms. He grunted at the rough movement, before he reciprocated the embrace. After a moment, Ryan pried himself out of his sister's hold and glanced around at the others within the room. He spotted Jade and Wendy a good distance away, taking in their old school for the first time in a decade. Lizzie stood closer, wincing as she clutched her recently stitched wound, and Alyssa Chang stared at them all wide eyed inside a circle of salt.

     "Dr. Saltzman." Ryan swallowed and looked between Hope and Lizzie. "We have to..." he trailed off when a flash of light next to him deposited a whole and unharmed Alaric Saltzman. He breathed a sigh of relief. "Oh, thank God."

     Another flash drew Ryan back to the front of the Grand Hall. His stare lowered to someone knelt on the hardwood. "Josie?" he voiced carefully when he recognized the brunette Saltzman girl. He did not know if the Black Magic still remained inside of Josie after the siphoning spell, and the prospect that it lingered made him wary.

     Josie rose to her feet and turned to face them. Her black, curled hair now fell to her shoulders in flat, brown strands, and her pale cheeks no longer held the dark veins that trailed across her skin.

     "It's me, guys," Josie said with a light smile. "I'm back."

     Ryan sighed as he own smile formed. Josie met his gaze and moved forward. His arms came around the girl's back the same time hers wound around his waist. He did not even notice Hope and Lizzie join them, hugging them both tightly on either side.

     The group hug lasted a few more moments, before they stepped back from one another. Ryan reluctantly dropped his arms, pulling away to see his sister's relieved expression fade.

     "Landon's in trouble."

     __________

     Cool air stung Ryan's face as he ran through the forest beyond the Salvatore campus grounds. He weaved between trees, jumping over logs and fallen branches to hopefully reach Landon Kirby in time to save his life.

     On the way, Hope revealed that several events transpired right before Ryan and the Saltzmans escaped the 2018 Prison World. Kai Parker infiltrated the school and compelled Dorian Williams to kidnap Landon, wanting the man to use the fabled Golden Arrow from the Sphinx's prophecy to kill the one and only Phoenix. At the same time, he convinced Alyssa Chang to destroy the Ascendant that would sever his connection with the pocket dimension. The action would have dissolved the world completely and killed everyone inside.

     This put Hope in a precarious position. She could save Landon, or she could save Ryan and the Saltzman family.

     Ryan skidded to a halt beside his sister when they reached a nearby clearing. His chest heaved as he scanned the landscape. Landon Kirby was nowhere to be found.

     "What happened?" Josie questioned, also having no luck in finding the missing boy.

     Hope released a shaky breath. "I had to make a choice. And – I didn't choose Landon."

     Ryan pressed his lips together and exchanged a worried look with Josie. They all knew Landon was not to most skilled fighter, or had any abilities aside from being able to resurrect himself.

     Hope shook her head and looked to them. "But it's okay, because he's gonna come out any second, and – and if I," she squeezed her eyes shut. "When I open my eyes, he's gonna be there."

     Ryan failed to hold the same optimism. The odds were certainly against Landon.

     Hope exhaled, slowly prying her eyes open. Her expression plummeted. "My God, I don't see him."

     "I do."

     Ryan turned to Josie at the sound of her voice. Her gaze lifted to the darkened sky. He followed her line of sight and froze. A mass of orange light shone in the night. Ryan squinted as it grew closer. The light took shape, flapping in a smooth motion through the air. Were those wings? Made of fire?

     The strange flames brightened as the person attached to them glided to the ground. Landon eased into the clearing and hit the grass, remaining on his feet while his wings roared from his back. His features were scrunched and his arms strained from the weight of a limp Dorian in his grasp.

     Ryan gaped at the winged boy and the injured man he set on the packed dirt. It seems that he missed a lot when he took an involuntary trip inside Kai Parker's Prison World.

     __________

     By sheer luck, Dorian survived an arrow wound to the stomach. Alaric patched the man up, stopping blood flow long enough to get him to the local hospital. He elected to stay there for the duration of his recovery.

     A problem rose later in the evening when Lizzie discovered that Sebastian stayed behind to anchor the deteriorating Prison World. Ryan's assumption that the magically fabricated dimension would ceasing to exist after Josie's spell had been correct. In a little less than an hour, the place would collapse and kill the vampire inside.

     When everything finally settled down, Ryan retreated to the comforting walls of his dorm room. He was tired, so tired that he knew the second he fell onto his bed he would be out. After the last few days, he deserved sleep. Craved it.

     Ryan swiftly changed into a pair of long, athlete shorts and a t-shirt and got ready to climb into his bed when a knock sounded on his door. He did not feel like walking all the way across his room, so he raised a hand and twisted, swinging the door open with a wave of his hand. He paused at the sight of Josie Saltzman on the threshold.

     After the few days they had, Ryan figured she would want a break about as badly as he did. Probably even more so. "Uh, hey," he voiced, turning away from his bed to face her.

     "Hey," Josie replied with her hands clasped in front of her pajama bottoms. She timidly stepped into the room. Her lips were pressed together as she looked at him. "The Prison World's gone. The Ascendant broke."

     Ryan sighed. That meant Sebastian was gone, too. "Lizzie must be devastated."

     Josie nodded and moved closer to him. "I helped her astral project to see Sebastian. She wanted to tell him about Kai escaping through Malivore, but I don't think he did it."

     Ryan knew that she was right. Sebastian did not want a second chance at life. "I'm sure she knows that," he stated, not sure what else he could say.

     Sebastian was far from a nice guy, considering he tricked Lizzie into drinking vampire blood so he could turn her, but Ryan realized that she actually had genuine feelings for him. It would take her a while to recover from his death.

     Ryan cleared his throat when the silence between them lingered. "Is there anything else you wanted?"

     Josie wrung her hands together, coming to a stop a foot or so from him. "I just – I wanted to tell you I was sorry for what happened back in the Prison World. You know, the whole knocking you out so I could break the Sandclock."

     "You did what you thought was right at the time. You don't have to apologize," Ryan told her. And he meant every word. He did not blame Josie for what happened. He doubted that without the darker version of herself they wouldn't have found a way to escape the Prison World.

     "No, I do. I should've waited," Josie argued, but Ryan cut her off before she could continue.

     "It doesn't matter. What's done is done. Besides, the Black Magic's gone. No harm done."

     "Right." Josie crossed her arms over her striped pajama top and stepped back. "I should, uh, get back to Lizzie."

     Ryan pushed down the disappointed that formed at her words. "Yeah."

     Josie made her way to the door, but she stopped at the threshold. "Ryan," she called out, meeting his gaze. "Tomorrow, can we – can we talk?"

     Ryan blinked. He knew that they needed to. After all, Josie not only did she knock him out before she shattered the Sandclock, but she also kissed him. In the chaos, he figured that she forgot it even happened. He was obviously wrong.

     Ryan nodded. "Yeah, uh, sure. We can talk tomorrow." Josie gave him a tight-lipped smile and headed through the door, until he voice, "Josie." She turned back to him. "I'm glad you're okay."

     Josie's smile brightened the tiniest bit. "You, too."

<June 27, 2020>

I wrote and rewrote the last scene like, four times and it still sucks.

But, the scene between Ryan and Lizzie is my new favorite! I love them!

Don't forget to vote and comment.

-Jordan

P.S. Unedited chapter.