Because {Three | Alaric Saltzman}

We're Gonna Need a Spotlight

There was a statement Abigail dreaded. It kept her up at night. It held her in a feeling she could not place. It followed her. It was one that she could not let go. It was one she had to say.

"I know we are not making your parents' mistakes, but a part of me feels like we are making mine."

"How?" Alaric asked. "We might have taken a little too long out of caution to tell them everything, but-"

"We have not told them everything."

His features pulled together. "What are you talking about?"

A breath escaped her without control, taking her tone into one she found herself using more than she wanted to. "I'm talking about the Merge, Alaric."

His silence spoke for him the way it always had, but then his voice did, "We decided not to tell them until we knew more."

"What is left to learn?" She threw the book in her hands onto the coffee table. "We read the same books over and over again as Caroline-"

"Tries to find a way to stop the Merge."

Pulling at her hair, she held the strands tightly until tension was the only thing she felt. She let go with a sigh, releasing a breath with her hands. She looked at him as she yelled, "We've already been through this!"

His voice, soft yet firm, solid yet wavering, and nothing but what it should have been, sounded, "They weren't our kids."

"No, they weren't." That feeling brought her down as much as he did, leaving her where she started. "But they were someone's."

The door opened without a knock and Lizzie bounced into the room. Her fingers played with the silver bracelet around her wrist. There was a smile on her face, a forced smile, but it fell away when she saw what they were looking at.

"What is that?" Lizzie asked.

Alaric struggled for the book, slamming it closed with, "Nothing you need to worry about."

"Yeah." Abigail clinched her jaw. "What's up?"

"Not that I'm the one who wants to be delivering this message..." Lizzie crossed her arms over her chest. "Hope is looking for you. Both of you. Her trap worked."

Hope led Abigail and Alaric toward her trap. They followed her side by side, neither saying a word. It wasn't a long walk, but it was long enough to notice.

"Any guesses on what famous monster from filmland we get to slay today?" Hope asked.

Abigail scoffed. "With our luck, it'll be Cthulhu."

A white horse sputtered as it came into view.

"False alarm," Alaric said. "It's just a horse. It must've gotten out of the stables and wandered across the barrier spell."

Abigail raised her gun. "Except we don't have a white horse."

The horse looked up, revealing a long, spiraling horn in the center of its forehead.

Hope gasped. "Hey, wait, wait. Hold your fire."

"It's a monster, Hope." She motioned toward the creature. "It's here to take the artifact."

Hope's surprise could not be concealed. "You're not seriously suggesting we kill a unicorn?"

Her eyes widened, speaking for her before she could say, "I'm suggesting we don't give it a pass because it's cute."

"Can't we just leave it alone?" Hope asked. "It's trapped, it's not going anywhere. It's harmless."

"Hope's right." Alaric lowered his crossbow. "As long as we keep it alive, other creatures won't be coming for the urn. So we just stay alert and let it be."