Josie kept sneaking glances at Rafael's face, hoping he wouldn't see the looks she was giving him. She had been weighing back and forth whether to say anything at all. Every time she had just about committed, the moment passed and Rafael turned his attention to something else.

Finally, she just took the plunge. "Your brother said you were maybe into my sister?"

Rafael looked up, seemingly surprised that Josie had spoken at all. "Um ... yeah." He laughed a little. "Is that weird?"

"No." Josie shook her head quickly. "We just ... don't want to see you get hurt." Josie sighed and sank into a nearby bench. Rafael sat with her. "You know wishy-washy Lizzie is. One minute, she wants to be on the council and the next she doesn't. One minute she says yes to a date and the next ... I just don't want you to get your heart broken."

Rafael nodded slowly as he took in Josie's pitying face. He had a feeling he knew who had planted that seed in her head. "You don't want me to get my heart broken, or Landon doesn't?"

Josie placed her hand on the back of his. "We both care about you."

"But you're not the one who's still mending your own broken heart from a messy break-up." He knew Landon. He knew how big his brother's heart was. But he also knew how sometimes, he tended to see his own problems where they weren't in other people. "I just think he might be projecting is all."

Josie straightened her spine. "Well, I'm not projecting. I just know how my sister is. She can never seem to make it work with her boyfriends so she just bounces from guy to guy. MG was her longest relationship."

Rafael laughed, a little less genuinely this time. "Maybe she's ready to settle down."

"Every guy thinks he can change my sister. He never does." She could tell Rafael wasn't buying it. She sighed and stood up. This conversation was better left unfinished. "Just ... be careful, okay?"

The first thing Hope noticed when she woke up was the empty bed next to her. It had been a long time since she ached that way. She thought she was over Landon's absence in her bed.

And then she remembered that it wasn't Landon who she fell asleep next to.

It was someone far more dangerous.

Heart pounding in her chest, Hope threw the covers back and hurried down the hall looking for any glimpse of her mother. There was no sign of her anywhere. Hope had a sinking feeling she knew where she'd gone, and opening the safe in the library using the combination she wasn't supposed to know confirmed her suspicions. The knife was gone.

She made her way down to the headmaster's office, hoping with every step that time would stop and she would never have to face Alaric and his disappointed face when she told him what she'd done.

She knocked at the door, something she never did. She thought maybe after all she'd done, she ought to start.

He looked up. If he thought anything of the change in behavior, he didn't say it out loud. If he was mad about being spelled in, his face didn't show it either. He just waited for whatever she had to say.

"I think I messed up," Hope said, barely able to speak around the lump in her throat. Tears were already shining in her eyes.

Alaric's gaze didn't break. "I know."

"No." Hope shook her head. He wasn't getting the severity of the situation. He wasn't mad enough for someone who understood completely. "I think I messed up bad." Hope swiped at her eyes. "He brought back my mom, and now she's gone and so is the knife."

She waited. He could yell. She certainly deserved it. She could give her that face that said she had let him down. But he didn't.

She wished he would just get it over with. "You must be so disappointed."

"No, I'm not," Alaric sighed. She was a kid. What was she supposed to do?

All at once, the fear left Hope's body. The moment she was dreading never came, and it never would. She shot forward, surprising both of them by falling into a hug.

"I'm sorry," she whispered. "I -"

The rest of her apology was cut off by the door swinging open. Josie stood there with her hand poised, still glowing from siphoning the barrier spell off the door. She glanced around the room, sensing their somber faces. "What's going on?"

"The knife is gone."

Hope glanced towards the floor guiltily.

Caroline caught the small movement.