Forever Original | Alaric Saltzman

Chapter 75

Hayley, Elijah, and Klaus had been gone with Hope within the hour.

They had each packed a quick overnight bag and had gone to the rented car, driving back the way they'd come just the day before. By the next morning, Freya and Keelin had headed off as well, to help. Hilda and Alaric were going to stay at Hayley's house with the girls, so they'd be close enough to New Orleans if they were needed.

"Is Hope really sick?" asked Josie, her eyes wide the next morning.

"She is, princess, but they're going to make her feel better," Hilda told her, passing the waffles around to the girls.

Lizzie huffed and crossed her arms. "It's not fair. Why does Hope have to get sick?"

"I don't know," admitted Alaric. "But we want her to get better, right?"

"But only the bad guys should get sick!" said Lizzie indignantly, stomping her foot down. She started to cry, grabbing her fork and slamming it down onto the waffle. "Hope didn't hurt anybody! She's gonna die!" She started to slam the fork down harder, growling and kicking her legs as she continued to cry, shaking her head. "I don't want her to die!"

Josie started to bawl, and Hilda and Alaric quickly got out of their seats to end up directly beside the twins. "Hope isn't going to die," said Hilda soothingly, taking Lizzie's hands. "Let's try to breathe. Alright? Inhale..." Lizzie forced herself to follow along. "Exhale... inhale... exhale. Good. Now, how about you tell me five things you see?"

Lizzie's lip quivered, and she started to whimper, but she spoke, "You. Papa. Josie. The waffles. The fork."

"Very good," said Hilda, massaging her palms gently. "Can you tell me four things you can touch?"

"Your hands," mumbled Lizzie, disconnecting one of their hands. She reached for her own face. "My skin." She put her hand on Josie. "My sister." She patted Alaric's head. "Papa's hair."

"Even better," said Hilda, moving her hands up to stroke Lizzie's hair. "Three things you can hear?"

"Your voice. Birds. The fan."

"Good, good. Two things you smell?"

"The jam. The syrup."

"One thing you taste?"

"The waffle."

Hilda pulled her in for a hug, rubbing circles on her back. "How do you feel now?"

"Sad," she sniffled, holding on tightly to her mother. "Scared."

"It's okay, Lizzie," said Josie quietly, getting out of her chair and moving to where her sister could see her face. "I'm okay. Mama's okay. Papa's okay. You're okay. Hope will be okay."

Lizzie wiped her eyes and moved back in the chair, looking at the waffle. "I don't want it anymore," she said sadly.

"That's alright, princess," said Alaric. "You want some oatmeal instead?" She nodded, and he went to make it for her.

Josie moved her chair closer to Lizzie's continuing to eat her own waffle. When Lizzie got her oatmeal, she looked a bit happier, though still really concerned.

"Nik says that Vincent did a spell, but she's still weak," whispered Hilda to Alaric later in the afternoon. "The magic... it's something called The Hollow. Freya's never heard of it and neither have I, but Vincent seems to know about it. I need to get in touch with a few of my contacts, see what they say. This thing sounds really dangerous. I don't know what would have happened yesterday if the twins hadn't come to tell us about it. What if they'd tried to siphon it? They've been told that sometimes, they can heal magical booboos on people if they siphon."