[what was hope doing in your dreams: season 1, episode 9]
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     Alana was standing in the middle of the dimly lit room as a bright light swirled around her. She reached out her hand to touch the light, but it had disappeared, floating down one of the many passages that led off into the rest of the home she was in. She sighed, narrowing her eyes and she tried to find the light once more. She didn't know why she was so intrigued by it, but she wanted to know more. She needed to know more.

        Alana retreated down the hallway where she saw the light disappear. "Come on, come on, where did you go?" she sounded. She kept on wandering down the hallway guided by the strange light that was pulling her through this maze of a corridor. The light seemed to dance across the dark hallway, skipping along as Alana chased after it.

        She pursed her lips as the light suddenly stopped, illuminating a figure at the end of the hall. "Great, what the hell are you doing here, Saltzman?" Alana asked. "I thought you were still in Europe with the twin and your mom?"

        Josie smiled, "I don't know, Brooks? What am I doing here?" she asked lightly.

        Alana placed her hands on her hips, "You can't just ask me the same question that I asked you and expect me to answer that!" she said frustratedly, letting a loud sigh fall from her lips.

        "Why can't I?" Josie retorted.

        "Because, because," Alana started. "Because that just doesn't make sense!" she exclaimed. "Does that make sense to you, Saltzman? Because it doesn't make sense to me!"

        "Oh of course you would be confused, Brooks," Josie teased, taking a step closer to the blonde girl. "You always just, so confused," she continued.

        Alana blinked as Josie touched the side of her arm, "Uh, okay. What the fuck is going on here?" she asked, looking Josie dead in the eyes.

        "I don't know, Alana, why don't you ask yourself that question?" Josie responded as her fingers danced across Alana's shoulders.

        Alana frowned, "Saltzman, you're confusing me," she stated. "And what the hell do you think you're doing?" she asked, scoffing as she brushed the girl's fingers off of her shoulders.

        "Oh come on, Alana. How are you so slow?" Josie scoffed. "You should know by now," she added with a small smile.

        "No, no, no, I don't know," Alana stuttered. "And I know everything, by the way. Top of the god damn class, in fact. So, I don't appreciate you calling me slow and-"

        Josie chuckled, "And what?" she asked lightly.

        Alana blinked slowly, "This isn't real, is it?" she asked, looking around the hallway, studying every corner of the room. "Am I dreaming?"

        "And you say you're not slow," Josie cooed. "Just tell me what I want to hear and I'll leave you alone."

        "What the hell are you doing in my dream, Saltzman?" Alana asked, completely ignoring the last bit of what she said.

        The last thing Alana saw before she woke up was the small smirk that appeared on Josie's face. Or at least she thought it was Josie. At the last minute, the face of the brunette witch contorted into an old woman, who began to run at Alana. Shouting some incoherent words.

        Alana sat up instantly, her heart beating a million miles per minute as she stared around her and Penelope's room.

        "Jesus, Lana, are you okay?" Penelope sounded from the bed opposite her. "You were mumbling in your sleep. It woke me up."

        Alana rubbed her eyes carefully, "I'm fine, just a weird dream that's all. Really, really weird. I just, need to try and go back to bed."

        "Maybe you should go see Emma?" Penelope suggested, rolling over to face her best friend. "She'll probably have something to help you fall back asleep."

        "Great idea, Pen," Alana yawned, placing her feet onto the hardwood floor below her. "I'll go see her right now."

        It didn't take Alana that long to reach the office. She heard a quiet, "Come in," as she tapped her fist onto the wooden door.

        "Emma, Emma, Emma," Alana drawled, poking her head into the guidance counselor's office. "Do you have melatonin, lots of it?"

        Emma looked up at the blonde witch, a little confused by her question. "It's exam week. Shouldn't you be asking me for something to help you stay awake?"

        "Fuck, exams," Alana cursed. "Right. Um, then, do you have caffeine pills. I'm gonna need about a whole bottle of them. Maybe more?" she asked, unsure of herself. "I can't believe I forgot about those. Emma, now you can see how I can in desperate need of these pills."

        "One, I am a guidance counselor, not a nurse so I am not able to provide you with those," Emma started. "And two, that would make me a terrible teacher if I did give you pills to stay awake."        

        Alana frowned, about to say something before Emma continued her sentence. "But I can make you some of this tea that will help you stay awake, and isn't morally questionable to give a teenager." Emma turned her back to Alana as she gestured for her to sit down in one of the comfortable armchairs.

        "By chance, can you teach me how to make that?" Alana asked, looking over her shoulder at the guidance counselor. "Just you know, so I don't have to come and bother you at three am again?"

        "Alana, I don't mind being woken up at three in the morning," Emma said kindly.

        Alana was about to answer when a rapid knock came at the office door. Emma raised her eyebrows as she walked over to the door, opening it slightly. "Dr. Saltzman," she sounded. "What brings you here?"

        "Uh, another Malivore monster showed up," Alaric explained quickly. "I need you to help Dorian evacuate the younger kids to the Lockwood Mansion."

        Alana's eyes widened, "Another monster, already?" she asked. "The hell, you can't even protect your own school?"

        Alaric's eyes snapped over to Alana, "Alana, I'm going to need you to come with me and attend this emergency meeting," he said calmly, ignoring her remarks.

        She groaned, "Thank you, for everything Emma," she said sincerely before following the headmaster out of the office.

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        "As many of you already know, one of the keys of Malivore was used to try and open the portal to the dark world. But lucky for us, there are two more keys until disaster strikes. Yesterday, I came into possession of another Malivore artifact," Alaric announced to the students who were sitting in the large common area. "It was my hope to find a method of containment before it signaled another monster. But given the emergency meeting I've just called, I'm sure you can guess how well that went."

        The students around Alana began to whisper theories on how the monster could've entered the school, or what the new artifact was. Alana honestly just wanted to forget about the whole thing and focus on her exam. Or do really anything to help her forget the fact that Josie Saltzman kept floating around her head.

        "But rest assured we are taking every precaution," Alaric continued. "Sheriff Donovan has been kind enough to open the doors of the Lockwood Mansion to us, so Mr. Williams and Ms. Tig are now in the process of evacuating our students for the lower grades."

        "Why don't we just evacuate the damn artifact?" Kaleb asked loudly. Alana was inclined to agree with him.

        "We are much more well-equipped than the world at large to handle the arrival of a monster," Alaric explained. "Once we know what we're dealing with and the problem is contained, then we can reassess what to do with the artifact. If any of you would like to evacuate, please talk to Dorian or Emma. However, exam week will continue as scheduled, wherever you are."

        Alana groaned loudly, "What kind of bullshit is that?" she whispered to no one in particular.

        "I know, I'm sorry," Alaric said, trying to calm the nerves of the angry students. "I can't exactly call the state accreditation board and tell them that we're canceling the exams because of monsters. but we will get through this, I promise. Try and get some rest, okay? Good night."

        Alana yawned, massaging the back of her shoulders as she lifted her head off of the table in front of her. There was no way in hell she was going to go back to sleep and run the risk of dreaming about Josie again.

        "Lana?" MG asked carefully, causing the blonde to turn around.

        "Yeah?" she asked absentmindedly.

        MG gulped, "Have to be boxing with someone recently?"

        Alana gave him a confused look, "No," she said slowly. "Why do you ask?"

        "You just have these bruises all over your arms and shoulders," MG explained. "It looked like you were in a bad fight and lost."

        Alana grabbed the edge of her shoulder, trying to crane her neck to see her back. Sure enough, he was correct. There was a trail of black and blue marks down Alana's right arm and back. It was exactly where the dream version of Josie had tapped her fingers on Alana. She swallowed the lump in her throat quickly as she pulled a grey hoodie over herself.

        "Uh, no. No. It wasn't a fight," Alana said quickly. "I just fell? I have to go, I'll see you later, MG," she said before whisking herself away.

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        It was 7 am and Alana found herself standing outside of the headmaster's office. She knew that something was off about her dream last night. She just hoped it wasn't the work of the newest Malivore monster.

        Alana knocked three times before someone appeared at the door, opening it slowly. "Alana?" Hope questioned, surveying the girl in front of her with concern.

        "Hope!" Alana expressed, wasting no time strolling into the office. "Thank god you're here. And Dr. Saltzman, and Rafael?" she added, gazing around the crowded room.

        "Alana," Dr. Saltzman started. "What's going on?"

        Before Alana could say anything Hope looked down at her arms. "Are those bruises?" she asked loudly.

        Rafael craned his neck to look over at Alana. "Same as mine," he said slowly, showing her the large red bruise on his forearm. "Did you see the woman too?" he asked instantly.

        Alana's face scrunched up in confusion, "What woman? I saw a woman, but if we are dreaming about the same person that would be fucking weird," she said quietly.

        "The woman, the old woman. With- with the black dress and the veil," Rafael continued. "She told me, 'you know what I want'. Did that happen to you too?"

        Alana's face paled, remembering ber the words that Josie spoke to her. "Just tell me what I want to hear and I'll leave you alone." She let out a small breath, sinking into the only open armchair in the office. "Yeah, yeah, she said something along the lines of that."

        Hope and Alaric exchanged similar glances. "The urn," Hope stated.

        "Sounds like our next monster showed up," Alaric responded, walking over to the bookshelf in his office. "You know, every culture on Earth has legends about creatures that only appear in dreams. But a woman in a black dress and a veil is pretty specific."

        Rafael looked up at Alaric, "So, does that mean that she can, like, control what we see in our dreams?"

        Alana nodded quickly, "Like, she can put stuff in our heads?" she continued.

        Rafael eyed the blonde with curiosity, "That's exactly what I was gonna ask," he mumbled.

        "It's possible," Alaric told them as he flipped through an old leather-bound book. "Does this look familiar?" he asked them, showing the two teens an image of an old woman dressed in a long black lace gown with a matching veil. Alana nodded, remembering the face had replaced Josie's before Alana woke up. Rafael nodded as well. It seemed like they had found their monster.

        "Okay, spill," Alana said as she and Rafael walked out of Alaric's office. "Who did you see in your dream?" she whispered. "Because from the look on your face earlier, you didn't just see the image that Dr. S showed us."

        Rafael huffed, "Why would I tell you?" he asked her.

        "Because, as I said earlier, it would be really fucking weird if we were dreaming about the same person," Alana repeated. "So spill."

        Rafael looked around to make sure that no one was following them to Dr. Saltzman's meeting that he had just announced to the students. "At the same time?" he asked.

        Alana shrugged, "Sure," she said, not really caring if Raf knew her answer or not.

        "Okay," Raf started. "1, 2, 3..."

        "Josie."

        "Hope."

        Rafael blinked, "You kissed Josie in your dream?"

        "What! No!" Alana said shaking her head vigorously. "You kissed Hope! But isn't she like dating your lame friend, Landon?"

        "Honestly, I don't really know," Rafael admitted.

        Alana's mouth dropped open, "Oh. Oh. That's messy. I love it," she commented as a smirk appeared across her face.

        "Listen, how about you don't tell anyone that I had a dream about kissing Hope, and I won't tell anyone that you had a potentially romantic dream about your sworn enemy," Rafael offered. "Deal?" he continued, extending his hand toward the blonde,

        Alana pursed her lips, thinking the idea over. "Deal," she said eventually, accepting his handshake.

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        "Our latest monster is a Night Hag," Alaric told the remaining student body. "A malevolent spirit trapped on the astral plane that can only interact with us through dreams. In this case, nightmares."

        Alana saw MG raise her hand out of the corner of her eyes. "So, like Freddy Krueger?" he asked.

        "Well, in the sense that what happened to you in your dreams seems to also happen to you in real life, yes," Alaric answered. "But the good news is we're safe, so long as we stay awake. I've lined up more evacuation shuttles. They should be running all afternoon, so please, for those who don't want to stay and fight, take advantage of them. Alright, that's all," he finished, diminishing the students from this required meeting.

        "Lana!" MG called as Alana stood up. "Those bruises, they were from that Night Hag, weren't they?" he asked her carefully.

        "Unfortunately yes," she said slowly. "But I really can't talk about that right now because I have to find a way to stay awake to avoid getting more of these lovely decorations all over my body. And I have to study for the exams that I totally forgot about. Just stay awake!" Alana said as if that was supposed to help them at all in that situation.

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        Alana had downed about five cups of the witch herbs that Emma had mixed up for her in the last five hours, trying to do anything to desperately stay awake. "How is your staying awake going?" Rafael asked her, sitting down in the open seat next to her.

        She blinked, "Great, I've started drawing little flowers on my hand just to not drive myself insane from all of this witch herb I've ingested," Alana answered quickly. "How do your hot, sexy, sparing session with the tribrid go?"

        "How did you-" Rafael started but Alana gave him a look.

        "I basically know everything that goes on in this school so there's no use in asking that question I know you're about to ask," she interjected.

        Rafael nodded, "Fair enough."

        "You two would make a really hot couple if that counts for anything," Alana told him. "I mean if you kissed Hope in your dream, that means you've got to have some sort of feelings for her, right?" she pressed.

        Rafael didn't answer her question directly, "I can't do that to Landon," he stated.

        "So what, is he in love with her or something?" Alana asked incredulously.

        "How about we talk about you and Josie," Rafael said, throwing the question back at Alana.

        "What is there to tell, dear Rafael," Alana tried to say in her usual carefree tone. "I hate her. Plain and simple."

        "Right, so that's why you had a dream about her?" Rafael continued.

        Luckily, Alana was saved from answering his question when MG came barreling into the room. "Yo, Lana, Raf," he started. "Hope needs to see you two in the library."

        Alana breathed a sigh of relief, "MG, you have no idea how perfect your timing is," she expressed, panting her friend on the back.

        Within five minutes, Alana stood in the library for the second time that day along with MG, Rafael, Hope, Landon, and Kaleb.

        Hope and Landon were trying to explain that the monster that was after the urn was not a night hag but a different shape shifter called the Oneiroi. Alana didn't seem to get it at all, and neither did Kaleb.

        "A black-winged what?" Kaleb questioned.

        "Shapeshifting dream demon," Hope and Landon said at the same time.

        "I know it sounds bad," Hope continued. "But now that we know what the creature is, we can fight it," she asserted.

        Rafael blinked, "How the hell are we supposed to kill a dream demon?"

        "Leave that part to me," Hope said confidently. "But since I can't fall asleep without compromising the location of the urn. I need someone to pull it out of the dream plane and into our waking reality," she explained.

        "So, Freddy Krueger," MG said, still latched onto his idea from earlier. "Like I said."

        "Wait, how the hell are we supposed to do that?" Rafael asked.

        "If it's anything like the movies, we just grab and pull," MG explained, mimicking a pulling motion with his hands.

        A small frown appeared on Alana's face, "Yeah, not all of us have seen those movies," she pointed out, mainly talking about herself.

        "Is it too late to get on the, uh, evacuation bus?" Kaleb asked.

        "No," Hope said quickly. "I mean, I'm not gonna ask all of you to stay for this. It has to be your choice."

        Landon stood up instantly, "I'm not leaving unless Hope does," he insisted. Alana's eyes flicked over to Rafael, who had a neutral look on his face.

        "We already know the answer to that, so-" Hope said, looking to the other four people in the room.

        "I'm not leaving Landon behind," Rafael decided, nodding toward his best friend.

        "I'm a founding member of the Super Squad, so I can't bail," MG said.

        Alana sighed, "As one of the other founding members, it's my duty to stay and help, I guess," she added, trying to sound like she didn't care, even though she did.

        All heads in the room turned towards Kaleb. "Y'all gonna get yourselves killed," he stated. "But ig MG stays, I stay. No child left behind."

        "In that case, it's naptime," Hope said.

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        Alana stared up at the ceiling of the gym, her eyes fluttering as her body drifted off to sleep.

        She found herself in that same dark hallway, chasing after that small floating light once more. "This is a nightmare," she exclaimed, sprinting to catch up with the light. "A fucking nightmare!"

        "God, took you long enough to figure out," Josie said, appearing behind Alana.

        "Saltzman! Get the hell out of my dreams!" Alana yelled. "I don't want to fucking see you anymore. I hate you!"

        "Do you?" Josie asked, moving closer to Alana. "Do you really?"

        Alana nodded, looking anywhere but at the Gemini witch. "Yes, yes. I fucking hate you."

        "But is that really true, Alana?" The Night Hag whispered in Alana's ear, dragging one of its long fingers down her back.

        "Why wouldn't it be true?" Alana retorted. "Look, I know this whole simulation isn't real? Just a ploy to get that artifact right?"

        The Night Hag tilted its veiled head towards her. "The urn?"

        "Yes, yes! The urn!" Alana said desperately. "That's what this whole thing is about, right? You don't care about my deepest fear. Whatever that may be. You just want the stupid urn so that you can bring it to Malivore!" she spat.

        "And what is your deepest fear, Alana," Josie cooed from the shadows of the hallway.

        "Oh, can it, fake Saltzman!" Alana snapped. "I don't care what you have to say!"

        Alana saw the Night Hag shake its head. "You do," it continued to tease Alana. "You care what people have to say. You care for people, even if you don't want to show it. You care if people call you a stone-cold bitch. Deep down, you care if people think you're a monster."

        "I don't," Alana insisted, shaking her head. "I don't care. I don't give a fuck. I don't!" she continued. "People can call me a bitch all they want. People can say whatever they want about me, especially her," she said, gesturing towards the corner of the hallway where Josie stood smiling. "I don't-"

        "Care?" The Night Hag finished. "You don't care. So, is that why you spend all your night thinking about that witch right th-"

        "Fine!" Alana spat, not wanting to hear the rest of the sentence. "I care!"

        Alana woke with a start, blinking around at the four other boys in the gym. "Hope," Landon sounded as he gazed around the gym.

        "Are we alive dude?" MG asked. "Did we win?"

        "I sure hope so," Alana answered. "I would make a terrible ghost."

        "Hey, is everybody okay?" Rafael asked as Kaleb began to talk.

        "You see any dead dream demons laying around?"

        Alana gulped as she shook her head. "Not exactly."

        "I- I grabbed the monster, like MG said, but I- I don't know if it worked," Landon said carefully. "And where is Hope?"       

        "She was in my dream," Rafael said. "And then, I don't know, she was gone."

        Alana turned to him, "Okay, now was probably not a good time to admit that, buddy," she said sarcastically.

        There was a loud rumbling noise over their heads. Alana looked up as the lights in the gym began to shake. "What's that?" Kaleb asked, but Landon didn't seem focused on the noise.

        "Wait. Wh- what was Hope doing in your dream?" He asked Rafael. "And what did you mean when you said now is probably not the time to admit that?" Landon, continued, whipping around to face Alana.

        "Nothing, it meant, nothing, obviously," Alana said, crossing her arms.

        "And, Hope was just being a badass," Rafael added unconvincingly. The doors to the gym burst open as Hope and the monster flew into the room, sending the group of five running in different directions. "Pretty much like that," Rafael said.

        The monster got up, roaring at all of the people in the room. "Stay back, guys," Hope said as Alana and the other four began to move forward. "I got this," she grunted as she ran, launching herself onto the monster's back.

        It fell down with a large thud, shaking the entirety of the gym floor. Not before its hands reached out grabbing onto Hope's neck, choking her.

        "Hope!" Alaric called from the doorway, throwing her a long arrow. "Eyes!"

        She nodded as she caught the arrow. She used all of her strength to break the arrow in half, taking the two pieces of the arrow and plunging them into the demon's eyes. The demon faded into dust as Alana let out a sigh of relief.

        "Landon was right," Kaleb said, looking over at Hope. "Sexy as hell."

        "You're not wrong about that," Alana admitted. "You looked hot."

        "Thanks, Alana," Hope said smiling.

I don't wanna make you feel bad,
But I've been trying hard not to act a fool
Sunflower ✽

Grace talks ig: Alana and Raf? AKA the duo I didn't know I needed until I wrote them into this chapter because holy shit, they are so much fun to write and I wish I had them interact more before now! Hehehe anyways, I will definitely include more of it in the future. Also, it was so hard to resist the urge to have Alana and Josie kiss in the dream. Literally I was about to write it and then I decided not to because I have a very specific scene in mind for the first kids and having them kids in the dream would just mess it all up. So, no Jalana kiss (I'm sorry). Anyways, o hope you all enjoyed this chapter. Feel free to vote and comment if you want to and I will see you all next time. BYEEEE <3