(3) Just Magic (D. Salvatore)

Chapter Eighty-Nine

At the Old Witch House, outside of it to be precise, Finn sets up unlit torches around a pentagram in the ground that has been made of salt, whilst being overlooked by Esther, flanked Bonnie, Abby, and 'Cassandra'. There is a tense air between 'Cassandra' and Bonnie. Bonnie has no idea what is going on with Cassandra right now but she knows that she is not on her side.

"The pentagram represents our connection to magic" Esther explains despite no one asking her about what they are doing. It's more like noise to fill the silence. "The salt is a symbol of the Earth"

"The torches?" Bonnie asks.

"Five torches. One for each of my children" Ester answers, motioning around at the torches.

"What's the spell you're doing?" Bonnie continues, trying to get as much information as she can out of this. If she knows what Esther is doing, if she knows what she's done to Cassandra, she might be able to undo it.

"As the witch who cast the spell that made them vampires, I can also reverse it. When they become human again, they can be killed. As they are linked as one, my brave Finn will be the sacrifice. With his death, will come theirs" Abby looks at Finn.

"And you're just willing to die?"

"My mother has released me from an eternity of shame. It's not a sacrifice, it's a gift" Finn and Esther move away from 'Cassandra', Bonnie, and Abby to finish setting up the spell. Bonnie looks at her friend, worrying her hands together before she shifts closer to her.

"Cas?" Bonnie asks but she doesn't get the response she wants. Her friend is not in control of her own body or her actions. Instead, whoever it is inside of Cassandra stares ahead, watching Esther. "Who are you?" Bonnie pushes.

"You are not that dense, Bonnie" She states, her voice flat but familiar. It is Cassandra's voice, but there is something else to it. An ancient echo. Bonnie frowns a little and then realises.

"Sophia?" She asks and then glares her. "You said you wanted to help Cas" Bonnie scolds. Sophia turns to her and tilts her head.

"And I did" She reminds her.

"Because you wanted to use her" Bonnie adds, Sophia hums and nods.

"Yes" She agrees. "I want to come back to the mortal world, and the only way that can happen is if I am placed into the body of one of my descendants...a specific line of descendants"

"The Scarlet Witches" Bonnie realises. "And Ally is a vampire now, so you couldn't use her....that's why you needed Cas to have her magic, because it wouldn't work otherwise"

"See, I told you, you are not dense" Sophia teases and pokes Bonnie's forehead.

"And Cas?" Bonnie asks. "She would never allow this to happen...."

"No" Sophia agrees and folds her arms over her chest. "That spell that woke Esther had a secondary effect, it made Cassandra.....weak minded. More susceptible to outside manipulation" Sophia glances over at Esther. "Helped along by some....chaos powder and locking Cassandra away inside of her own mind became rather easy....but none of that would have been possible without Cassandra's own help"

"I don't understand, Cassandra...she wouldn't....She...how could she let this happen?" Bonnie argues. She knows Cassandra. She knows how much her autonomy means to her. Her freedom of choice and her freedom in general.

"As a Scarlet Witch, her mental fortitude is one of great levels" Sophia explains. "No one could change that except for the witch herself. Cassandra cast that spell on the coffin, she weakened her mind herself....of course she had no idea what she was doing...just eager to please her ancient mentor who brought her back from the dead"

"I brought her back" Bonnie argues. "I did the spell..."

"Ah, but who gave you the magic you needed to cast that spell....Who led Alina and her beloved Kol to that spell centuries ago" Sophia reminds her and smirks at her. "Oh, Bonnie....I have been waiting for this moment....Watching all the threads of chaos of the universe, waiting for Cassandra"

"You played us" Bonnie whispers. "You played me...." Sophia unfolds her arms and pats Bonnie's head condescendingly in mock comfort before she holds up her hand and curls her wrist, lighting the torches around the pentagram. Sophia lets out a long breath and smiles to herself. "It's been so long" She comments, curling her fingers into her palm. That thrill of using actual magic again after so many years. All these years waiting to have a body again. To have access to her magic again. She has been preparing and waiting for this day for centuries, for more than a millennium.

........

Cassandra sits on the grass of the town square, her knees pressed into her chest as she cries into her knees. She doesn't know what's happening, only that she's trapped here. In her dreamscape. All alone. Because everyone here is fake and not real. Just still figures from her life. She feels drained, exhausted and suffocating. There are invisible threads holding her down. She can feel them but she can't see them. Itching across her skin. Under her skin too.