Whatever It Takes {Two | Alaric Saltzman}

Handle with Care

Dr. Garrison was waiting for Abigail to tell him why she was in his office, or maybe he was waiting for her to prove that she was there for a reason, so she did, "I have a few questions related to material outside of what we are discussing in class."

"Wendigos not interesting enough?" His hands were clasped in front of him, and although his expression was still, he almost sounded amused. "Folklore of the First Nations is usually a favorite."

"I actually came across this." She passed him a picture of the knife whoever was inside of Matt told him to protect. "And I was wondering if you knew anything about it."

"Atticus Shane left a few books behind." He walked to a bookshelf, knelt next to the lowest shelf, and picked up two books. "I think this, no, this one might have an answer or two."

"So, you've studied it?"

"Not directly, but Shane was obsessed with witches as well as Travelers."

"Travelers?"

"A several millennia old, once powerful, cursed sub-culture of witches who have presumably been transmitting the knowledge of their spells from one generation to another since their emergence around the time of the Roman Empire."

She leaned forward. "What else do you know?"

"Very little is known about the structure of the group. Just that they are nomadic and tensions have been rising between the Travelers and other witch covens for centuries."

"Why?"

He raised his white eyebrows, hesitantly tilting his head to the side in the way anyone did when they weren't quite sure they wanted to admit they didn't have a direct answer to the question they were being asked. "There are several accounts."

She looked down at the book. "What about the knife?"

"The origin of the Traveler knives is unknown. According to lore, it is likely that the blades were forged around 2,000 years ago, after something called the original sin." Maybe she had an advantage, she thought to herself as details she knew came to light, but she had no idea how to connect the dots. "A Passenger is the spirit of witch, traditionally a Traveler, who lays dormant inside another person's body until activated by an incantation. And this knife is the only thing that can kill one without killing the host."

The next office she stopped at belonged to Dr. Maxfield. She'd been there several times, but she still knocked on the door, let him lead the conversation, and acted like she wanted to be there. But, when an opening presented itself, she asked what she had been working her way up to.

"Who killed Megan?"

"A vampire."

She scoffed. "I know that."

"Then why are you asking?"

"Because you covered it up; there has to be a reason."

"There is." He took a step forward, closing the distance she put between them. "Will I see you at the Whitmore Historical Ball?"

"Well, uh, it is the one time of year they put their whole collection on display, so I wouldn't miss it." She paused. "Would it be totally inappropriate if a student asked you to save her a dance?"

"You're not, nor will you ever be, one of my students."

Elena was waiting for her outside, just far enough away not to hear a single thing that happened inside. "How'd it go?"

"I-I think I'm getting somewhere. And if I'm getting somewhere, I'm getting closer to what he's not telling me."

"I know Jesse is MIA so Caroline can't exactly help, but you don't have to take over the search for answers by yourself."