Damage Control

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Hope tapped her fingers on the trunk of the car she was sitting on. She watched as Lizzie paced a few feet from her, phone to her ear, talking to her father. She was most likely reassuring him that the final stop outside of New Orleans was safe, it was on the map he marked for them. Hope was watching her to keep her mind off what was to come. So many times, she had meant to get on a bus to come here, to come home, and every time she found an excuse not to. There was no excuse now, her aunt was expecting her in two hours and she wasn't sure if she could let her down again, it had been a long time since she had seen Keelin let alone her cousin Nik.

Hope had already texted her aunt Freya the rest stop they were currently at, just in case. Hope's nerves were on edge so much she could feel her magic pulsing to it. She was worried that the only way into the city was through the Bayou, the home of the crescent wolves, also her family but long estranged since her mother's death.

Another body joined Hope by the car, the presence of her automatically calmed her slightly. Josie leaned against the trunk of the car, she too watched her sister on the phone. Josie had been in charge of paying for the gas and grabbing them some snacks. She bumped her shoulder with Hope. "Penny for your thoughts?" Hope couldn't help but match Josie's smile. She actually held a penny out to her.

Hope rolled her eyes. "My aunt says if we're not at her house in two hours then she will be sending back up to come get us."

Josie looked a bit serious for a moment. "I don't want to know who your aunt's backup is, she is scary enough."

That made Hope laugh, every single member of her family is scary to the outside world, the Mikaelson family is meant to be feared...hated. "It will probably be Keelin." Her aunt-in-law was not a scary person, she was the one who tamed her aunt. "Or maybe Vincent." He was a bit more scary, but Freya took the cake every time, her powers were out of this world, the same power Hope had underneath her suppressing charm, the power of a first born Mikaelson witch.

Josie didn't know either of those two, but she didn't look like she wanted to be found by them. "I guess I should try to get Lizzie off the phone then." She gave Hope a sympathetic squeeze on the arm before she walked off to fetch her twin.

Lizzie complained when Josie slipped into the backseat with Hope. It was Lizzie's turn to drive again. "I didn't sign up to be your love chauffeur." She said over her shoulder, even though she had already pulled out of the rest stop, the threat from Hope's aunt had her hanging up her call very quickly. The best part was that Hope knew the threat was a joke, but the twins didn't.

Josie glared at her sister in the rearview mirror. "We've been driving ten hours already and both you and I have been sitting together the whole time." Hope didn't want the twins to start fighting over this, Hope almost told Josie to go sit in the front seat but she wanted her next to her, and Hope had the feeling that is why Josie made sure to sit next to her on the way into the city.

Hope laced her fingers with Josie, who sat in the middle seat of the car. Giving her hand a small squeeze in thanks. She was unsure how this was all about to go but the feeling of Josie's hand in hers made her feel stronger, able to handle it. Hope rested her head on Josie's shoulder as she watched the world outside her window move past, watching as the unknown road turned familiar and the ache in her heart grew stronger. She needed to do this, needed to get past this, learn to let go of some anger and sadness, and turn all that loss into love and use it to go forward in life.

Hope's aunt Freya and her wife lived on the edge of town, close enough that it was still considered New Orleans but far enough from the drama of the supernaturals that lived in the heart of the city. It was a simple house, two stories, surrounded by trees and flowers, something close to the house she grew up in with her mother.