bonus chapter | saved in 2016

Josie

I'm not supposed to be here.

I took a step away from the window of the television store when my eyes landed on the date at the bottom of the news channel. This cannot be happening. This cannot be real.

I can't be in 2016.

I don't understand. I performed the spell accordingly. Where did it go wrong?

The question in my head was not answered. Instead, it was stacked with another pile of questions when the news channel suddenly showed the face of someone who shouldn't even look like that yet in this year.

"Hope?" I muttered under my breath.

This...This is trippy.

It's 2016, Hope was born in 2012. How the hell is she right in front of me looking like a grown woman? And a much more attractive one at that. She looked a bit mature, but still stuck in her young body. It's the way she dressed, the way she carried herself. She was different.

I turned to the couple beside me who were also looking at the news through the window of the store and I, wanting to get answers however I could get them, approached them and greeted them with a smile that I hope is not creepy.

"Hi. Excuse me." I interrupted their conversation and they looked at me with slightly confused eyes and smiles which I think they are trying to look as polite as possible.

"Sorry to bother you. I just want to ask something." I said with my hands clasped together awkwardly before turning toward the TV screen where it showed Hope's face and I pointed right at it. "Do you see her? You know, right there? The brunette? I think I might be hallucinating."

It wouldn't be the first time if I am seeing things.

"You mean, Andrea Stark?" the unknown girl answered. Both her and her boyfriend are now looking at me weirdly. But I returned the favor when she said the name I have never heard before my entire life.

"N-No. No, this girl right here. She's Hope Mikaelson." I said.

Maybe I am just hallucinating. Maybe we're seeing two different people.

"That's what she said." Said the girl's boyfriend. "Her full name is Hope Andrea Mikaelson-Stark. The tribrid?"

I felt my body go stiff at not just the name, but the word that they called her. Hope Andrea Mikaelson-Stark. Tribrid. What in the prison world hell is happening?

"Y-You know she's a tribrid?" I managed to spit out with my entire body still not moving and my eyes barely blinking. I think I'm starting to freak them out, especially with my unblinking staring.

"Everyone knows she's a tribrid. It's why she's famous." The man said.

I finally fluttered my eyes closed and took a deep breath as I shifted in my feet, feeling a bit dizzy with everything that was happening. I placed my hands on my hips as I tried to steady my breathing which was starting to pick up its pace. Now I'm the one beginning to freak out. This is not what I ordered. This is not what I had planned.

"She's famous." I muttered to myself. I don't know what came over me but a crazy-sounding laugh escaped my lips. God, I'm completely losing it. "She's famous. And everyone knows she's a tribrid. And she's looking like that when she's supposed to look like a normal four-year-old. And I traveled 13 years back in time." I muttered to myself.

Though, I'm guessing that the couple heard my not-so-silent panic rambling as I've noticed how guarded they've become. Great, I'm a crazy person in the streets.

"I think we should call the cops." said the girl to her boyfriend, sounding worried and suspicious. I opened my mouth to say something before someone behind me spoke.

"That won't be necessary." I whipped around to find a dark-skinned man clad in an all black outfit–most of which are made of leather–with an eyepatch on his left eye. Well, things just got weirder.

The unfamiliar man nodded at the couple behind me and I heard them scrambling away.

My eyes remained looking as confused as ever as I stared at him, trying to wager a guess on who this man could be. But no idea comes to mind.

"The name's Nick Fury. And you're coming with me..." The man, Nick Fury said. "If you wanna survive this timeline."

This timeline.

My eyes widened at his words. He knows I'm not from this year?

He then held out his hand to his side, as if showing something. And then a black SUV parked right beside us. The door from the passenger's seat opened and it revealed a woman also clad in an all black outfit though a lot more casual than the man with the leather trench coat here. She was standing there as she opened the door to the backseat, her black hair tucked neatly into a clean bun behind her head. She's striking, I have to say.

"We'll talk more on the way there." Nick said as he approached the car first.

My eyebrows furrowed once more. "On the way...where exactly?"

Nick turned toward me again before shifting his eye behind me. I followed his gaze and found him looking at Hope.

He's taking me to Hope.

"You people really need to stop messing with time." I heard Nick mutter under his breath before he climbed into the car, and I followed, completely trusting him. Besides, if ever things go sideways, I can handle myself.

—

Take all the time you need to process, that's what Nick told me before he drove away and left me and the woman we were with, which I later learned is Agent Maria Hill, standing in front of a massive building. The only distinct feature about this building apart from its exterior design was its logo attached to it. A big letter "A".

Agent Hill took it upon herself to invite ourselves into the building and I was mesmerized by how spacious the inside looked like. I can do cartwheels here and never hit a single object, not that I would actually do it. Though, it is tempting.

"Stay here." Agent Hill told me and I merely nodded.

I was standing in front of an enormous glass wall. I could see the perfect landscape outside and I was in awe. What is this place? And why did Nick take me here? Hope could not possibly live here. I mean, I know her family's rich, but this style of interior and exterior house design does not exactly shout 'Home of a Thousand-Year-Old Family'.

I was too busy gawking at the scenery in front of me that I almost missed it when finally, a familiar voice called out my name.

"Josie?" she said.

I immediately whipped around, my hair flying behind me as I did. My eyes landed on a woman with auburn waves falling just below her chest, eyes shining breathtakingly as a blue diamond, and her smile holding with disbelief felt welcoming. She was wearing a fitted V-neck maroon long sleeved top paired with denim jeans and black ankle heel boots.

"Hope." I can't believe I'm saying her name in the year 2016.

We were like that for God knows how long. Neither of us didn't know how to approach the other. But I did observe her. She looked like she was relieved to see me. Like she missed me. Like she hadn't seen me in a very long time. And for a moment there, I was convinced that maybe that really is the case. Because she has that glint in her eyes that told me she was so glad to see me.

I don't know if my eyes have the same thing in them, but I really am glad to see her too. Especially when I think I'm in real trouble.

"Hey, Spunky. Do you think we should recruit this kid?" I shifted my eyes to the man approaching behind her. A brunette man clad in his classy suit and sophisticated shades as his eyes were glued to his phone...or what looks like a phone. I don't know what that is but that looks super expensive.

But wait...Spunky?

"He was swinging around Queens and saved a girl from becoming mashed potato earlier." the man added until he had reached Hope's side. He held out the little screen in front of her but Hope did not bother to look away from me, which made the man confused.

He slightly lowered the screen in front of her as he glanced at her face, wondering why she wasn't saying anything.

"Andrea?" He called out again, but Hope was still staring at me.

The man finally followed her gaze and his eyes landed on me. I couldn't see clearly the color of his eyes because of his tinted shades, but I sure saw his eyes narrowing at me as he examined me.

"Friday, who's this?" the man asked.

I could not be more confused right now. Who the hell is Friday now?

"Identity unknown."

I jumped when I was startled by the voice that echoed in this particular part of the house. It came out of nowhere and no one else is in here besides the three of us. Is it possible that...it came from the house? The house is talking?

Okay, first of all, I need to stop calling this a house because it's clearly not.

"Huh. That's weird. Deja vu..." he trailed off. He was still studying me. He took off his shades and it revealed his dark brown eyes that held extreme curiosity in them. "I know you." He said, pointing his shades at me.

My eyebrows shot upwards in surprise. I should have taken a second before replying to give my shock a bit more time to dial down. But instead, I replied immediately and sounded like this.

"Y-You do? H-how, how?" I stuttered, very noticeably.

He held up his phone again in front of him, his eyes flickering back and forth between me and the video playing on his phone before he balanced it on his fingers horizontally, the screen suddenly emitting what seemed like a hologram.

A video of me being saved by that guy.

"You're the lucky potato." he answered.

I arched an eyebrow and pushed my lips into a thin line as my hands intertwined in front of me. I don't exactly know how to respond to that.

"Tony...This is Josie." Hope finally found the words to talk again. Though, her eyes didn't bother to spare him a glance.

The man—Tony, as it turns out—looked at Hope with furrowed eyebrows as he dropped his hand to the side with his weird, yet also cool phone. "Josie? Your friend, Josie Saltzman? Josie 'Magic Spongebob' Saltzman?"

What the hell is Josie 'Magic Spongebob' Saltzman. That's probably the worst nickname of me and my ability I've ever heard. But, hold on. He knows me?

"Then what is she doing here?" Tony asked, his gaze flickering back to me with his eyes still filled with curiosity but now also tainted with a hint of disbelief.

"That's what I would like to know." Hope answered, an eyebrow of hers arching at me.

I pursed my lips and moved awkwardly, like a kid trying to not look guilty of breaking a previous vase.

"Don't get mad..." I began, hoping that Hope really takes my advice.

Because it's really bad.

—

Here's just a small sneak peek of Saved In 2016 so you guys have an idea on what to expect! Hope and Tony will be very much involved in the sequels. And I can't wait for when the time comes that all three couples are in the same room!!!