"I'm so sorry. My sister was freaking out, and then-before I knew it, she was gone." I laughed shaking my head, "It's fine, really. I've been bumped into a surprising amount of times." Peter stopped picking up my things to smile at me. "What?" I asked hoping it didn't come out as rude as I thought it did.

"When I think of Salvatore School for rich, and snobby, I don't think of you." I couldn't help, but giggle at that, and he grabbed the last things of mine, off the floor handing them to me. "Well, maybe I can help you find her?" I don't know why I was being nice to this dude. The last thing I wanna do, is walk around all day fake laughing at stupid dad jokes because we can't find of his sister. "Who?" This time I laughed for real, "Your sister, silly. Let's go."

He nodded following after me. We walked for a while mostly talking about the differences in our schools. It was actually pretty entertaining. To feel normal, for once. Even walking through the halls where magic is taught, it's always nice to have a little normal. 'Lizzie is insane.'

'Lizzie'

  'Lizzie'

'Lizzie is insane.'

"Laya?"

Li
Lizz
Lizzie

Is

In

In

Insane

Insane

I gasped turning to Peter. "Yeah? Sorry, blanked out for a minute." He nodded, but he still couldn't hide his anxiety ridden face. "I'm really fine. I swear. I just went to bed real late last night." He nodded his face finally dropping causing a sigh of relief to escape my lips. Jed walked up with a big smirk until he noticed Peter standing beside me. "Hey, Laya." I smiled at him, and he pulled me into a large, long hug.

"Who's this?" He was staring at Peter, "Peter, Jed. Jed, Peter. Jed, can you actually do me a favor?" He nodded "Can you help Peter find his sister? I gotta go check on something, but I promise as soon as I'm done, I'll be back." He nodded again like it was no big deal, so I smiled. "Thank you so much, and Peter..."

"Hmm?"

"I hope you find your sister."

"With the time you spent not doing your hair, you could've at least practiced dancing a little." I watched the girl with poofy hair say that to my best friend as soon as I walked in. I stormed forward ready to attack, but I was pulled back. I didn't go down without a fight, I kicked and thrashed around until a burning searing pain built up in the back of my head.

I relaxed hoping it'd go away, and the person released me. I scoffed at the sight of who it was. "I'm surprised, Lizzie. I thought you would've liked me taking out one of your components for you." Lizzie fake laughed, "Not if you get Hope disqualified."

"Hope?" She nodded, and I rubbed the back of my head trying to release some of the stress. "Sana." I whispered under my breath. "What?" I shook my head feeling slight relief in my brain, "Nothing."

I stood by Lizzie waiting for the dance to end, so I could talk to Hope. I noticed Hope's angry expression, I could literally feel it radiating off of her, the glasses began to shake. They stopped dancing, and more things began to shake, "Hope," I whispered running over, Lizzie stocked over placing a hand on her shoulder, "Come with me."

"You, stay here, do nothing." I waved at Landon on the way out, following after Lizzie, and Hope. I stopped pain burning into my skull once more. "Sana," I whispered. Again, the pain relieved and I was back to walking normal."Hey, Hope." She turned around walking backwards, "Before I get myself involved in something probably crazy, I'm saying this in the nicest way possible, but can you not do the whole mind thing? It's kinda messing with me right now," she nodded her eyebrows were furrowed though as she turned around, and kept walking.

After a few more minutes of walking through the woods, Hope started to complain. "Lizzie, where are we going?" Lizzie didn't even to turn to Hope she just kept walking. "You are a ticking time bomb. I'm gonna show how you to take care of it before you hurt someone, or worse, cost us the pageant." I scoffed.

"I'm fine. Okay? I-I just needed some air..." I rolled my eyes "You shouldn't lie to someone who's inside of your brain." Hope rolled her eyes teasingly at me. "I know the signs of a meltdown, Hope. You know that feeling inside, like a balloon constantly filling up, always on the verge of popping?"

"Maybe."

"The let it pop." Hold up, "Lizzie, I don't know. There's people inside, an-and they might see something." Lizzie completely ignored me, "Scream as loud as you can." I sighed following Lizzie behind Hope, and waiting for the magic to happen, (no pun intended.) Hope glanced back at us, and I nodded at her in reassurance. This might help, and she was really angry earlier.

It took a moment before she did it, but when she did I could feel the energy flying off of her. The leaves were floating being magically held up. Eventually Hope stopped, and the wind did soon after.

"You know, I actually feel a lot better." We were headed back to school "But I think I need to go back up to my room. I need to call it a day, Laya can you come with me?" I nodded , but Lizzie was not having it. "No, you are not dropping out on me. If I'm right, which I am, our win probability is still at 87%. Even after the abysmal rehearsal. So buckle up, we're in this till the bitter end."

"Hey, I'm gonna go anyways. And um, Hope... If you need me, maybe just send Lizzie." She nodded and I headed off walking past Landon Kirby. I stopped "Oh, god." I clutched my head "Sana. Sana. Sana." Someone grabbed my hand causing me to jump, "Lizzie!"

"Hope needs you."

"Who would do this to my mom?" We were standing in front of a Veronica Greasley statue. "Well, not just who would-who could?" I shrugged "It could be a bad spell translation, a potion mishap?" I laughed coldly "Or a monster." Dr. Saltzman turned to me, "There's no reason why a monster would be here."

"Unless this sentient jar of artisanal mayonnaise activated a new artifact. What did you touch?" Lizzie was turned to Landon who immediately threw up his defenses. "Everything. We cleaned up the school top to bottom, remember? But if we're just gonna throw out wild theories, here's one: what if the person who did this showed up today, out of nowhere acting all buddy-buddy, manipulating romantic feelings go get someone's guard down?" Oh no. Peter.

"Do you seriously suspect Roman?" My head whipped around at the name, "Roman's here?" Hope nodded, and so did Landon. "Yeah, we all should. The timing is too convenient." That angered Hope, "I thought you were sorry for acting jealous."

"I was sorry, but now I'm vindicated." Dr. Saltzman interjected realizing where this was going, "Alright, Lizzie, Hope, you keep an eye on the contestants. M.G., we're gonna search the campus. Landon..." he got cut off by the curly haired boy, "I'm gonna go ask Roman some questions." I rolled my eyes, "Yeah, super helpful. Ask a vampire how he turned a woman to stone."

"Alright everyone stay alert, and be careful out there. And Laya... Don't you have therapy to get too?" I sighed shaking my head "I'm after M.G." He nodded, and turned around. When I looked back, everyone else was gone. Great.

I need to find Peter. I ran to school, "Oh my god." I stopped at the sight of Jed. "What are you?" Jed had Peter shoved up against the wall. It was no longer Peter, it was kind of terrifying. His two beautiful brown eyes, were now one big black one in the middle of his forehead, "Oh my gosh." I scurried over pushing Jed gently off of Peter. "Calm down."

Peter fell to the ground looking up at me with one big sad eye. "It's not what you think." Jed scoffed  "Then what is it, freak?" I shoved Jed on the arm. "I said calm down." I looked back down at the red head boy, "Get up."

He followed my instructions pushing himself off the floor. "Fix yourself." I did my best to show no emotion, especially not fear. I'm looking at freaking cyclops of course I'm scared. I turned away not able to watch him go from weird to normal in the matter of seconds. "Jed, I can handle this from here." He shook his head

"Lay-"

  "I'm gonna take him to Dr. Saltzman."

  "But Laya-"

"I'll be fine, Jed."

  "Okay." I grabbed Peter's bicep. "Come on." I knew exactly where Dr. Saltzman, and M.G. would be. "Can we talk about this?" I didn't answer pulling him along roughly. "Can you turn someone to stone."

"What?" I huffed "Can you turn someone to stone?!" I yelled. "Oh no." The pain was back, but way worse. "Sana." It wasn't working "Come on, SANA!" I fell to the ground clutching my hand. It's like I wasn't in control anymore, I could feel my eyes change, and I couldn't even stop what I was saying. "A Great War will come. A Great War! War will come!"

I opened my eyes, and was back to feeling control, "What was that?" I sighed flexing my muscles to make my arms stop shaking. "You never answered me." I felt bad for ignoring him, but I didn't really know the answer in the first place. "I can't make people stone. But... I was sent with a gorgon."

"Like Medusa?"

"Yeah." I groaned "What were you sent for?" Peter stayed quiet, and we finally got to the old mill behind the school, "Landon Kirby." I could hear M.G. "Maybe it was a mistake." I pulled Peter inside "Maybe she's actually super smart, and-and-and chill, and she's just scared or confused or something. Maybe."

"What do you know?" I pushed Peter over to them, "It wasn't a mistake."

Anxiety loomed over Dr. Saltzman's face, and before I knew it he turned to stone. "Praesidio." A girl walked out from behind the wall, and when I looked back at Peter he was stone. "Where is Landon Kirby? I won't hurt you or anyone else if you just take me to Landon Kirby." I grabbed M.G.'s hand "We don't give up our friends." M.G. replied, "And I'm defiantly not giving up Landon. Her eyes turned purple.

"Why are you not changing?" She questioned me coldly, "None of your business." She tried again, and her snakes fell, the serpents changing back to her braids. "Why are you not stone?" This time she was talking to M.G.

"I don't know. Maybe because I'm a vampire." Her eyes widened "Your a vamp?" I laughed "And I'm a werewolf." She didn't act like she cared she was focused on M.G. taking a step forward "That's dope." M.G. chuckled "Two things: Stewart is the best."

"Who's Stewart?"

"Not important Laya. What else?" M.G. asked her, "And... I'm sorry." A snake wrapped around M.G.'s neck and bones cracked causing me to scream. I spun around looking at my back for a snake, there was one dead on the ground.

"Thank god." My spell worked. I was worried it wouldn't work because of - well everything that's been happening to me lately. I glanced back one last time at the girl and bolted away from her not able to look back after that.

I ran into the main hall where the contestants were already gathering. "Lizzie! Lizzie where's Hope? I need Hope." Lizzie didn't even noticed my panic, she pushed me gently down on the chair. "You'll just have to wait."

"Miss Sasha Stoteraux, escorted by Bartholemew Fell Jr." the girl that we saved from the Arachne was smiling vibrantly as she, and her escort walked down the steps. My knee was pumping up and down on the ground anxiously. The spotlight moved over to josie, and Penelope, "Miss Josette Saltzman, escorted by Miss Penelope Park." I clapped for my friend as they walked down the stairs.

I was literally shaking, I didn't know who to talk to. Dr. Saltzman's stone, Dorian's gone, Emma's busy, the only person I could think to talk to was Hope because she always knows what to do." Josie fell knocking down, "Josie!" I whisper yelled. Lizzie pushed my knee down, so I couldn't get up, and help her. "Patience. Kelaya." That name. God, I hate that name. It makes me think of my family, my mom, very bad thing that's ever happened to me, lies in that name.

Josie and Penelope exchanged a few words before Josie turned back to Lizzie. The pageant droned on. All I could do was sit there listening to my thoughts bouncing around in my head. Landon walked away from Hope, and I could feel her fear. She was scared. She went to turn around and Roman stopped her. They said some things, but I couldn't hear. I smiled when Hope hooked her arm into Roman.

She was still scared, but he relieved her anxiety a little. 'Laya.' It wasn't Hope, when Hope called me, I could hear her voice this time it was shaky, and scared. I didn't know how to respond. I'm so sick and tired of people in my brain. A loud ringing pounded into my ears.

"Oh, god." I whispered clutching my ears, and then it stopped. It all stopped, I couldn't hear anything except for the music playing low in the background. Hope came down, and Roman, and her began to dance. I was still worried about what I just recently heard, but I need to take things one at at time. Josie walked over, "Their about to announce the winners. Where have you been?" Josie looked angry.

"I was getting the note that Penelope wrote me. She's leaving the school." I gasped feeling bad for Josie, whether or not she pretended like it, she still harbored feelings for Penelope. "Oh,yeah. I knew that. I overheard dad talking to her parents." I gasped once more, "Lizzie!"

"And you didn't think to tell me?" Lizzie turned back to Josie "The devil's exorcising herself from our lives. That's good, why are you acting all annoyed? " I slapped Lizzie gently on the shoulder. That was rude. "I can't believe this. She's been telling me all along, but I could never hear it. You never consider anybody's feeling, but your own." Thats definitely true. She's making Hope do the pageant even after knowing she obviously doesn't feel well.

I tried to block out their conversation because Dorian said it's bad to eavesdrop. "What? That isn't fair." I tried real hard "Isn't it? It's bad enough that you didn't think I'd want to enter, but not a single part of you thought that I could even win." Well this is awkward. "Jo, I'm not a mind reader, okay? If you wanted to win..."

"Of course I wanted to win. But the second you dropped out, you gifted your entire plan to Hope."

"Because of science."

I scoffed, don't say anything. Don't say anything. Don't say anything. "Lizzie, listen to yourself. Science? What about your sister's feelings? Do you know how good it would feel to actually be competing? In mom's dress? Did you even consider what Hope would feel wearing it?" This time I wasn't afraid to listen. "She looks fantastic, she should feel amazing." I'm kinda confused. What's so special about the dress.

"Will she still feel amazing when she learns where it came from?" Lizzie was obviously getting annoyed "What do you mean where it came from? It was a gift from some guy who used to crush on Mom."

"From Klaus Mikaelson, Lizzie. Hope's dad."

I gasped turning back to Hope. She's probably using Roman to know what they were talking about. Hope was surrounded by grief, like a sad blue aura was all around her. He told her. "May I have your attention please? Without further ado, it is my honor to announce our very own Miss Mystic Falls." Hope was crying. I needed to get to her, somethings wrong. "From the Salvatore School, Miss Hope Mikaelson."

The spotlight shined on her, and people cheered. The chandelier was beginning to shake. Everything was shaking. I pushed forward Lizzie tried to grab me, "Enough!" I snapped at her. I hurried over to my best friend faking a smile, "Congratulations. It's okay. Just let it out." I whispered.

"The real way. The way you've needed too all along,"

She sobbed into my shoulder. I could feel her tears soaking through the fabric of my sleeve, but I didn't mind. "Hey, Hope." "Hmm?" She wiped away the few tears that brimmed the edges of her eyes.

"I met a Cyclopes."

Hope cleaned up taking her dress off, "We need to go find Landon." Hope told Lizzie handing her the dress. "Just give him a minute to breathe. Boys need some space before they come crawling back." Hope day down. "I thought I could keep it all together. I've worked so hard to move on from all the things that have happened in my life. But everyone was right. Everyone's been right. I need to, like, let it all out." Hope turned to me.

"How did you know what to say? How'd you know what to do?" I sighed "It's just, I know the feeling." She smiled at me, but when Lizzie whispered it reminded me, "Josie's really mad at me." We both turned to her, "Like really mad, I've never seen her that mad before."

"Landon's pretty mad at me too." I turned back to Hope, "He knows?" She nodded. "Let's make a deal, you two help me get Josie back, and I'll help you get Landon" I shrugged "I'm down." Lizzie stuck out her pinky, and Hope rung her pinky in it.

"Crap! I need to check on something."

I told them by, and rushed out to the old mill. No one was there! I ran back to school, and accidentally ran into M.G. "M.G.! Where's peter?!" I didn't even pay attention to his mom standing in front of him, "He's down stairs with Nia." I nodded giving him a quick hug, "I'm glad your not dead, bud." He laughed and I ran downstairs. "Dr. Saltzman! Where are Peter, and Nia?" He turned to me, "The Cyclopes, and Gorgon? We sent them off."

"Where?"

"We threw them into trash can, and then threw the trash into a black hole."

"What?"

"I'm not gonna tell you, Laya, for your own safety."

"Yeah, cause you've always been looking out for my safety, huh?" I scoffed "What are you talking about?" Dr. Saltzman questioned "When were you gonna tell me what I actually am?" His eyebrows knit together "Who told you?" I shook my head, "I'm not mad at you, don't worry. I just would've liked to know." I stocked away, finally relieved after this stressful day. Everything's okay, M.G.'s alive, Peter's gone, Landon's safe, and even Hope won. I laughed coldly.

"God, I hope I don't have a meltdown next."