*edited*

𝗔𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗦𝗮𝗹𝘃𝗮𝘁𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝗦𝗰𝗵𝗼𝗼𝗹, 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗲𝗻𝗱 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘆𝗲𝗮𝗿 𝗺𝗲𝗮𝗻𝘀 𝗱𝗶𝗳𝗳𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝗱𝗶𝗳𝗳𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗽𝗲𝗼𝗽𝗹𝗲. 𝗙𝗼𝗿 𝘀𝗼𝗺𝗲, 𝗶𝘁𝘀 𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗿𝗲𝘂𝗻𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀. 𝗧𝗼 𝗼𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿𝘀, 𝗶𝘁 𝗺𝗲𝗮𝗻𝘀 𝘀𝗮𝘆𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗴𝗼𝗼𝗱𝗯𝘆𝗲𝘀. 𝗦𝘂𝗺𝗺𝗲𝗿 𝗶𝘀 𝗮 𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝘀𝗲𝘁 𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗼𝗻 𝗻𝗲𝘄 𝗮𝗱𝘃𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲𝘀, 𝘀𝗲𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗹𝗱, 𝘁𝗼 𝗴𝗿𝗼𝘄 𝗶𝗻 𝘄𝗮𝘆𝘀 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗻𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝗶𝗺𝗮𝗴𝗶𝗻𝗲𝗱.

𝗘𝘅𝗰𝗲𝗽𝘁 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗼𝘀𝗲 𝘄𝗵𝗼 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝗻𝗼𝘄𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗴𝗼, 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗼𝗻𝗲𝘀 𝗹𝗶𝗸𝗲 𝗟𝗮𝘆𝗮.

𝗙𝗼𝗿 𝗮𝗹𝗹 𝘀𝗵𝗲 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝘄𝗮𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝘄𝗮𝘀 𝗮 𝗵𝗼𝗺𝗲, 𝘁𝗼 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝗮 𝗳𝗮𝗺𝗶𝗹𝘆 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗳𝘂𝗹𝗹𝘆 𝗰𝗮𝗿𝗲𝗱 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗵𝗲𝗿 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗻𝗼 𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴𝘀 𝗮𝘁𝘁𝗮𝗰𝗵𝗲𝗱. 𝗥𝗲𝗰𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗹𝘆, 𝘀𝗵𝗲 𝗴𝗼𝘁 𝗮𝗹𝗹 𝗼𝗳 𝗶𝘁. 𝗧𝗵𝗲𝗻, 𝗶𝘁 𝘄𝗮𝘀 𝗮𝗹𝗹 𝗱𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗼𝘆𝗲𝗱. 𝗔𝗻𝗱 𝗟𝗮𝘆𝗮 𝗵𝗮𝗱 𝘁𝗼 𝗹𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗸𝗻𝗼𝘄𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘀𝗵𝗲 𝗽𝗿𝗲𝗱𝗶𝗰𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝗶𝘁.

𝗦𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗵𝗼𝘄, 𝗶𝘁 𝗳𝗲𝗹𝘁 𝗹𝗶𝗸𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗺𝗼𝘀𝘁 𝗶𝗺𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁𝗮𝗻𝘁 𝗽𝗶𝗲𝗰𝗲𝘀 𝗼𝗳 𝗵𝗲𝗿 𝗹𝗶𝗳𝗲 𝘄𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝗺𝗶𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗴. 𝗧𝗵𝗲𝘆 𝘄𝗲𝗿𝗲. 𝗦𝗵𝗲 𝗸𝗻𝗲𝘄 𝘀𝗵𝗲 𝗻𝗲𝗲𝗱𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗼 𝗸𝗲𝗲𝗽 𝘀𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗰𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗮𝗻𝘀𝘄𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝗯𝗲𝗰𝗮𝘂𝘀𝗲 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗺 𝗺𝗲𝗮𝗻𝘁 𝗯𝗲𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗮𝗹𝗼𝗻𝗲. 𝗔𝗻𝗱 𝗯𝗲𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗮𝗹𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝗶𝘀 ... 𝗵𝗼𝗽𝗲𝗹𝗲𝘀𝘀.

Things had only gotten worse. The twins grew more and more persistently bothersome. They wouldn't leave Laya alone. Her visions had started becoming more frequent, and it became harder to hide from the others.

She couldn't even explain to anyone the full capacity of what she going through because Laya had already grown so tired of everyone thinking she was crazy. So tired of all of them looking at her with those eyes like they were waiting for her to break.

Lying wrapped in her pastel yellow sheets, Laya stared at her old nike shoe box. The outside was old, tearing at the seams, it was only cardboard. But, it was the inside that mattered.

Every truest feeling Laya had felt in the last few months scribbled onto the letters sealed away in her box. Dorian told her that he believed Hope was a real person, but some part of her could tell those were only words to make her feel better.

Not to mention that he had been much to busy for her with the lack of a headmaster. Laya couldn't fully decipher how she felt about Dr. Saltzman no longer being the headmaster. Maybe it wasn't the worst thing in the world.

Hopefully the new one won't be a total prick.

With an exasperated sigh Laya threw her comforter back onto her bed, hopping from her spot. She'd go to the only place she'd been able to feel free of the shackles that were the Salvatore School. Landon.

Laya found him standing over a grill behind the old mill. "I suck at this." Laya smiled warmly at the boy quietly heading over to the wolf peaking out from the trees at the two. "My best friend used to say he'd rather starve than eat anything I'd make, but ..."

Landon sighed turning to see Raf's nose meeting Laya's palm. "... you already knew that." It was true. Since the battle with Triad, Landon had told Laya many things about Rafael. Some repeatedly, over and over.

Laya didn't really mind though. It made him happy, and perhaps it was because she based her happiness on other people's emotions too much, but Laya liked it when Landon was happy.

Landon patted his meat a few times before handing it over to Laya with tongs. She set it down gently in front of the charcoal colored wolf watching as he devoured it.

Since the turn, Rafael trusted Laya much more than he seemed to trust Landon. The hybrid girl tried to explain to him over and over that it simply because she was also a wolf. As much as he tried to say it was okay, Laya could tell he was still hurt by the actions.

"I know you're in there, Raf." Laya told grinned cheekily rubbing a soft spot right behind his ear. Turning back to Landon, who's expression was bleak, she kept her cheerful persona. "We're gonna find a way to get him back, and then everything will be good again, okay?"

Landon nodded making face like he was repeating the words to himself. "And, we'll never give up hope."

Laya hated this. They both stood there with only a singular hope of getting Rafael back to being Rafael. But, there was a difference between the two. Laya was the reason he was like this to begin with.

If she never would've given him that stupid necklace to begin with, none of this would've happened. She'd have a boyfriend who would probably support her words even if he probably also thought she was insane. She would have someone who wasn't her best friend's ex boyfriend.

Then, Laya wouldn't be alone. She could be at least halfway happy.

"And you're sure this will work?" Laya could feel her lip going raw at the way her teeth gnawed into it. Bobbie only nodded, "Barry and I have been studying the Prophetiae a lot. If you think about something enough, you can practically go anything ━"

"In your mind though. It's a false reality, not real." Laya huffed with a tense shrug of her shoulders. "I'm getting used to that."

Tilting her head, Laya had finally asked the question that was looming in her mind. "Why were you guys studying the Prophetiae coven?"

Laya watched the twins curiously, and they exchanged a concerned glance before Barry spoke, "You're kind of the only friend we've ever had. So, since you were busy with Raf we wanted to help you get to know more about your coven."

𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘵𝘴 𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘢 𝘴𝘸𝘦𝘦𝘵.
𝘐𝘧 𝘩𝘦'𝘴 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘭𝘺𝘪𝘯𝘨.

"Okay!" Bobbie's hands slapped together beaming at the hybrid. "You have to focus on more than simply Rafael, it has to be your connection with him. Maybe a memory. Something powerful enough for your brain to fabricate your thoughts."

Laya nodded slamming her eyes shut, and thinking. Rafael's smile, his loyalty. It had to be more, something powerful.

"Do you think it's working?" Laya inquired opening her eyes after what felt like a millennia to the poor girl. By the time her eyes flutter open, the twins had disappeared.

𝘋𝘢𝘮𝘯𝘦𝘵.

𝘐𝘧 𝘪𝘵'𝘴 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘩𝘦𝘭𝘭 𝘪𝘴 𝘙𝘢𝘧?

Almost as if her mind answered her question, a charcoal pelted wolf peaked its head through the door of Laya's dorm. Laya wanted to cry. She wanted to talk to Raf, to see him. Not the damn wolf she'd been seeing for months now.

𝘖𝘬𝘢𝘺, 𝘧𝘰𝘤𝘶𝘴.

Laya shut her eyes once more her entire consciousness focused on her boyfriend. When she opened her eyes again, he was still a wolf.

A loud groan ripped from Laya's throat. What kind of witch was she if she couldn't even figure this out?

Then, something strange happened. The wolf began to change. It's claws shrunk into fingers, and it's snout shrug into a nose. It wasn't Raf.

Laya felt like her head was exploding, "I wanted Rafael, not you!" Laya threw her pillow at Kai Parker. The man that plagued her dreams, well the one that did. It had been a long time since that happened.

"You were told to focus." Laya didn't like his tone. It felt like she was being scolded by her father, and Kai was the farthest thing from her father. "So you been, I don't know dream ghosting me, but now you wanna pop up?"

"You needed a break. Your mind couldn't handle me entering it anymore." Laya's eyebrows knit together at the strange man's words. Why did he seem to know such more about her than she did?

Kai, ever so gently, sat down on the bed next to Laya. "Do you trust me?" The hybrid stared at his outstretched hand. Why wouldn't she trust him? It wasn't like he'd done anything but help her.

Hesitantly, Laya nodded slipping her fingers through the older man's. "Close your eyes." Laya did as she was told, and there she stayed. In the awkward quiet, Laya peaked over at the man through her right eye. "My trust is wavering."

Kai only smirked at the words, "Repeat after me. Ostende mihi." Laya nodded her eyes fluttering shut and quickly repeating after him.

It was on the fourth repeat when Laya began to realize she could no longer here Kai's voice. Opening her eyes, she looked around to find Rafael leaning against the doorway with a cheeky grin. "Hey."

"Hey ... hey!" Laya jumped from her spot pulling the figment of her imagination into the biggest sloppiest kiss she'd ever given.

It was hot, and just what Laya needed. Then, remembering it wasn't real, she cringed. Laya pulled away taking Rafael's hand and directing him to sit in the spot on her bed that Kai had been sitting.

"God, you have no idea how badly I've wanted to hear your voice." Rafael looked down at Laya's hand that held is. "What do you want to talk about?"

"Literally anything. I could go on and on for hours about how badly it's sucked since you've been gone."

"What about the twins?" Laya cocked an eyebrow at the question. She did not create her own world in her mind where she could talk to her boyfriend for him to ask about the new kids. "What about the twins?"

"Well, I mean, you said you could talk about anything. Tell me about them." Laya chuckled awkwardly. "Do I really have to, though? If you're in my brain, you already know about them."

"I see. So, that's why you came. To hear me say what you've already been thinking." Laya couldn't decipher if what he said was a question or a statement. She also wasn't sure if she liked this version of Rafael. Even if Laya technically created him. "So if I was, what would you say?"

"They come out of nowhere, and know all about your coven. And, I'm not just talking about today. There's something weird about 'em, and you can feel it too."

Laya nodded slowly at him. He wasn't lying, these were all thoughts she'd pushed to the back of her mind over time. "So, what do I do then?"

"Corner them. Make 'em give you some answers." Laya giggled at how serious Rafael seemed. "Like psychologically, right?"

"Physically, psychologically, it doesn't matter. As long as they explain." Laya stayed silent earning a sigh from the imaginary boy. "There's a reason they came after you. You can feel it. Deep down, you know they're like you."

"Prophetiaes."

Before Laya's eyes opened, she yelled, "Imperium!" She didn't exactly have time to waste with imposters sitting in her bedroom.

Laya watched the twins fly back into the wall. Bobbie didn't seem to be surprised, but Barry's glasses fell off and his eyes were wide with fear. "Who are you?"

Bobbie's eyebrows knit together, "We're Bobbie and Barry. Your friends."

"You are not my friends. What are you bidding?" Laya eyes flashed a bright blue at Bobbie's silence. "Suffocant."

If Barry's eyes could get wider, they did. He grasped at his throat as his breathing went shallow. Laya cocked an eyebrow Bobbie's way. "Okay, Okay! Okay, fine! Just let him go! We're not here to harm you."

Laya released her hand, and the twins fell to the ground. Slowly, Barry crawled over to his sister who wrapped him in her arms. "We're like you. We're prophecy witches."

Laya laughed, "No shit. I already knew that."

Barry looked up at her, his eyes glowing a bright orange. "Then that's pretty much all you know."

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Laya interrogated. "There's a lot that you don't know. A lot that we can tell you."

Laya dropped to the ground crossing her legs over one another. "Okay, spill."

"Your coven leader exploded. And the twins have been looking for your for 𝘵𝘸𝘰 years?" Landon asked flipping through the pages of a spell book that he shouldn't have really been reading at the Mystic Grille.

"Yep, that about sums it up." Laya told him, dipping her fry in her shake. "Well, that is not I expected you finally making other friends to go."

Laya chortled, "Trust me. I didn't either."

Landon noticed how the girl across from him, looked back down at her book with an overwhelming frown. Reaching across the table, he took her hand. "Hey, you okay?"

It was only a question. A very loaded question. One that Laya hadn't hear in awhile. Despite her nodding at the boy, lying to him, Landon would never know how much that small gesture meant to Laya.

If you would've told her a year ago that she'd be thankful she made friends with Landon Kirby, she would've laughed in your face.

Dr. Saltzman headed over to the duo sitting at the table. Just before the older man could get there with his daughter on his tail, Laya leant forward. "I need you not to tell anyone about this. At least until I understand more."

Landon tilted his head only a little, but decided to agree nonetheless. He had no business putting her through more than she what she'd already been through.

"We've had our heads buried in books for weeks, nothing on how to turn a werewolf into a human. We keep hitting dead end after dead end." Dr. Saltzman told the two pulling out the seat on Laya's right and Landon's left.

"Guys, can you ask my dad why he won't give me answers to my very simple questions on how my sister and I can survive past the age of 22?"

"That's because your dad doesn't have any answers he's able to give you. That's why, sweetheart." Landon tuned out the arguing father and daughter noticing the change in Laya's eye color.

Landon watched intently as she grabbed a pen from the table in an almost trance like state scribbling down exactly five words onto the page in her book.

𝚊𝚜𝚔 𝚖𝚎 𝚊𝚋𝚘𝚞𝚝 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚊𝚜𝚌𝚎𝚗𝚍𝚊𝚗𝚝.

When the hershey shaded irises of Laya's that Landon had grew so fond of returned, she made a strange face. Laya slammed her book shut pushing out of her chair with a loud metallic screech.

"I'm gonna head back to campus." Landon nodded collecting his things. "Yeah, me too."

"Woah, what about the fireworks?" Laya asked. Landon eyebrows knit together not wanting to say anything about what he just saw in front of the Saltzmans. "I should be with Raf. The fireworks will probably scare him, so she shouldn't be alone ... you should come too."

Laya played with the ring sitting on her middle finger. "Yeah sure, there's just something I have to do
first."

"This doesn't make sense! You tell me to ask about it, and now you won't tell me?! The twins could DIE and you're just spinning me around in circles!"

Kai looked down his feet seemingly much more interesting than the conversation they were having in Laya's dream. "The ascendant is a key to a prison world. One where I've been stuck for a really long time."

Laya shook her head. "Someone made a whole world to capture you?" Kai couldn't do anything but simply nod silently. "Who are you?"

"All of the answers you need. I could tell if you would come."

"What?"

"There are things that I couldn't explain to you in your dreams. Things you need to see for yourself."

"I don't understand."

Laya woke with a start. Laya could feel tears brimming at her eye lids as the overwhelming pressure of her circumstances weighed down on her.

Maybe she was really just crazy. Maybe Kai was figment of her imagination; maybe Hope was made up, maybe the twins were crazy, and maybe it was her fault that Rafael was stuck as a wolf. God, she really hoped not.

A harsh pounding feeling erupted almost suddenly in Laya's temple. Like someone was taking a jackhammer to the side of her brain. Then, she heard it. The voice of an angel.

❛𝘓𝘈𝘠𝘈?❜

❛𝘏𝘰𝘱𝘦! 𝘏𝘰𝘱𝘦, 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶?❜

Laya peeled open her eyes to find the scenery of the bus stop right outside of Mystic Falls surrounding her vision.

❛𝘐'𝘮 𝘰𝘯 𝘮𝘺 𝘸𝘢𝘺.❜

⇅

Laya didn't think she ever in her life felt so happy to see someone in her life. Part of it wasn't even how much she missed her best friend. Part of it was her own selfish satisfaction at knowing Hope was in fact real.

Rivers of tears streamed down Hope's face when she pulled Laya into a hug. "H-How do you even remember me?"

Laya laughed shrugging wiping at her eyes. "This whole summer has been really long being the only one who has though."

Hope pulled Laya over to the bus stop bench. "I want to hear all about it."

"My summer? I wanna hear all about what the hell happened with Malivore."

The girls spent an hour talking about everything. How bad things got being alone in Malivore, and how bad things got as coming of age Prophetiae.

They both knew they could've talked for 𝘮𝘶𝘤𝘩 longer when the bus appeared at the end of the street. "You could come with me, ya know. You wouldn't have to deal with anymore of these people's crap. We could just leave."

Laya almost felt guilty for pondering the thought. Though, after everything the past few months had put her through. A while away with Hope sounded like a dream.

Before she could answer, a loud 𝘣𝘰𝘰𝘮 resonated through the road. The girls ran from their bench to find the bus had flipped over. Then, the culprit stepped into light.

A hideous monster that Laya couldn't even begin to describe. In a surprisingly honest thought, she realized that it kind of life size teenage mutant ninja turtle. Only much uglier, bigger, hairier, and scarier version.

Hope dropped her duffel when the monster roared at the girls.

"Oh, crap."