CHAPTER SIX: MOMBIE DEAREST

"I know what you're doing is important, caroline..." alaric said into the phone as he looked at the sleeping girl on his couch, who looked like something from the past. "but how do i tell the girls  that their mom isn't going to be there for their sixteenth birthday? i can't exactly tell them what you're really involved in." alaric then tosses a notebook onto his desk, in frustration. a woman in a white wedding dress approaches alaric's office door, and begins to turn the handle.

"i-i am nowhere near cracking this case. i have a knife, i have a symbol, i have a place, sort of... i don't know what any of it means, a-and i don't know what's connecting it, and i don't know what monster is next!"

before he can continue a familiar female voice is heard from behind him "ric?"

the woman in the wedding dress asks, before entering the room. alaric turns around and is stunned speechless by the sight of jo , his deceased wife, standing before him. the blood stains on her dress from when her twin brother kai stabbed and killed her at her and alaric's wedding are glaring. after a long moment of staring at jo, who looks equally confused, he finally finds his voice and ends the call with caroline.

"... i've got to call you back" alaric hangs up the phone, dorian who is walking through the corridors hears alaric shouting his name considering classes were dismissed. "dorian!" he stops what he's doing and takes no hesitation in running to ric's office.

he runs in to see ric holding a crossbow to jo who had her hands up in surrender, a young girl on the couch in a victorian dress and the woman in the dress covered in blood. "are you okay?" jo immediately tries to talk her husband down.

"whoa, whoa! ric, if you just put down the crossbow...? my freak out level is about eleven right now"

dorian frowns in confusion turning to alaric "you know her?" alaric keeps the crossbow steady, despite the traumatising situation he's in.

"i know who she's supposed to be" dorian glances in between the two.

"who...?" he asks, still glancing.

"the love of my life" is all alaric says, to make dorian understand.

ˍˍˍˍˍˍ

"hey ria" mg yelled to his friend who was walking to the grand hall to help out with josie and lizzie's birthday preparation.

she turns around with a smile "hey mg, what's up?" she asks in a joyful tone.

mg raises an eyebrow "are you okay after last night, i heard what happened?" he asked concerned.

she sighed before leading him to a chair "i am okay, everything is okay. me and katherine are okay" she reassured him, not wanting to reveal the reason why she was so upset.

"well guess we both had some crazy nights" he chuckled ducking his head.

"really, what happened with you?" she asked intrigued.

"i met some girl, she looked like some princess. she just showed up at the school at midnight" he chuckled, thinking of how weird it was.

"really, was she pretty?" henrietta asked, interested at the weird encounter.

"very, she had really nice hair and a really cute button nose. but she was dressed funny, like she woke up from the 1900's or something. i mean she was wearing some really fancy black dress"

henrietta scrunched her eyebrows, thinking back to her sister's old bestfriend "reminds me of someone" she laughed, slightly with a frown.

"hey maybe it's a doppelganger" he laughed squeezing her hand before getting up to walk away.

"hey mg?" she called before he left the room, he turned around with a smile.

"did she have a accent?" she asked, trying to act clueless.

he nodded, before raising an eyebrow "yeah it was french, how'd you know" henrietta's head began to pound as she jumped to her feet.

"just a guess, thanks mg" she thanked by kissing his cheek before running away.

she began to speed walk towards alaric's office, with a crazy thought in her head. but she had to check if she was right. "mr. saltzman?" she questioned walking in to see alaric holding a crossbow to a woman in a wedding dress. "bad time, but did a girl show up last night?" she asked staring at him and the woman.

he nudged his head towards the couch where the girl slept peacefully. henrietta turns her head and gasped at the sight of the one and only mary baudoin. "mary" she whispered with wide eyes.

"you know her?" alaric asked confused looking between the two young girls.

"i watched her die" she mumbled looking at the girl from afar scared to get to close. alaric was even more scared now, thinking she could be a monster.

"she's a monster" alaric said looking at the girl, henrietta got in a defensive mode as she sped in front of the sleeping girl incase he tried to hurt her.

"no she's not, she's mary. my mary. she's the farthest thing from a monster" she clarified kneeling down next to the girl stroking her cheek.

"i need to interrogate them" he says towards henrietta about mary and jo "i can't have another monster, i have to make sure" he warned "especially today, go get me emma" he ordered henrietta who obliged.

ˍˍˍˍˍˍ

josie, who thinks lizzie is upset about previous night's events, puts her back against the wall, closes her eyes, and takes a deep breath before she opens her eyes and turns to enter the room to check on her sister. "hey, i didn't see you at breakfast..." josie says in a sympathetic voice "i'm too excited to eat" lizzie says before turning around to hug her sister, with a massive smile on her face. "happy birthday to us! isn't it a beautiful day for a party?" josie is visibly uneasy from how cheery her sister is. "you're cheerful..." lizzie grabs josie's hands, squeezing the tightly.

"why wouldn't i be? mom's coming home, i had sex with sebastian, my pores are practically invisible..." josie's smile immediately falls at the second part of her statement. "wait,what. you had sex with-" she's cut of by lizzie "last night. you know how mom always says things work out in the end the way they're supposed to? she's right. i wouldn't have time to represent  the witches now with a boyfriend! so you getting the consolation prize is perfect!"lizzie explains as she picks up two bobby pins.

"happy birthday to my favorite set of twins!" katherine exclaims walking into the twins bedroom with two gift bags. "so this is from me and henrietta, sebastians bringing his gifts later and victoria and charles will bring theirs later "katherine explained, giving the twins a hug each and a kiss on the temple. "since your here, i need your help. im going for meghan markle tasteful" before she can go any further another voice is heard from the doorway. "woot woot! happy birthday, witches!" penelope says from the door frame, holding two cupcakes.

lizzie's expression immediately turns to a scowl looking at her arch-nemesis "oh, look. it's satan in a crop top. come to burn my world down?" lizzie asked, penelope ignores this reference and goes straight to insulting lizzie"retro! princess di before she got style! i dig it" lizzie rips the pis out of her hair, as josie looks at penelope waiting for her to get to the point. "what do you want park?" katherine asked smiling at her friend, who was already smiling at her.

"oh, just to cheer the twins up. since their mom's not coming" josie and lizzie freeze with horrified expressions, like penelope had intended. "what?" the twins ask in unison. "oh, i heard them cancel her pickup at the office. i thought you knew. oops!' penelope pretends to act as though she knew the girls had no idea of caroline's cancelled visit. lizzie telekinetically slams the door in penelope's face before turning to josie annoyed.

"i'll see you guys later" katherine says giving each of their hands a squeeze before walking out of the room to her bestfriend. "that wasn't very nice" katherine says taking a cupcake out of penelope's hand that was intended for the twins. "when am i ever nice?" penelope asks, linking arms with the girl as they walk down the corridor.

ˍˍˍˍˍˍ

"charles!" henrietta calls out to her older brother as she runs up to him jumping on his back to stop him from running. "yes, henrietta?" he asks turning to his sister, with raised eyebrows. "mary" was all she said as she got off his back. he froze for a second, hearing the name of the girl who saved him and his siblings. "what about her?" he asked not wanting to show any emotion. "she's here" she whispered, beginning to tug on his arm to alaric's office "this is not a joking matter, henrietta" he said in a serious tone before ripping his arm out of her grasp.

"je ne plaisante pas, imbécile, elle est ici." henrietta said in french, showing she was serious considering she never spoke French unless necessary. he began running towards alaric's office in a sprint to see if she was telling the truth only to be met with the back of lizzie and josie's heads. "hello birthday girls, excuse me" he tried pushing the door open only for it to not move an inch.

"salva" the twins say in unison forcing the doors open for them, charles and henrietta to run in. "who's this trollop?" lizzie asks as she see's alaric holding a hand on top of jo's mouth. "and who's the princess?" joise asks pointing towards mary who sat on the couch with an impeccable posture. "oh, my god..." josie says in realisation of who the woman is. "i need you to leave right now" alaric warns.

"charles!" mary gasps standing from the chair as the boy is seen behind the twins. "mary" he sighs, rushing up to her, holding her tight, scared if he were to let go she would disappear. "henrietta!" mary lets out in a sigh of relief as she sees the younger girl, she rushes up to her hugging her and tucking her head into her neck.

"im sorry... how old are you?" jo asks ignoring the other conversation, more interested in the twins. "sixteen" the girls say in unison, josie continues to stare at jo as lizzie shrugs "today. it's our birthday" lizzie says making jo gasp. "you're twins?" she asks as tears grow in her eyes.

"what are we interrupting here?" lizzie says annoyed. "im serious! do as i say and now just go!" he tries to force them out before they find out anything. "lizzie..." josie says trying to tell lizzie who she is.

"what?" lizzie asks in annoyance, "it's her" josie points out. "her who?" lizzie scoffs, obviously not catching on. josie walks up to alaric's bookshelf and grabs a photo of him and jo moments before kai killed her "her" lizzie gasps when she comes to the conclusion. "holy crap! you're bio-mom"

"let's go" charles says grabbing mary and henrietta's hands leading them out of the study as the family have a mini reunion and try and figure out what's going on. alaric who is too busy to notice charles taking her, let's them walk out.

ˍˍˍˍˍˍ

hope has brought rafael to the top of the staircase leading into the gymnasium, where she is literally walking him through the process being lizzie's party date entails. she gestures down to the gym proper to point out where the dj will be located.

"so, the emcee will then announce lizzie and her escort" rafael's eye's narrow in confusion "her what?" hope struggles to find the rights words "kind of like a- a debutante ball?" rafael continues to stare at hope blankly. "i grew up in foster care" rafael deadpanned.

"seems like you're pissing off the tribrid mate" sebastian said as he walked down the stairs, making eye contact with rafael and hope. "you're going to meet her halfway down" hope explained pointing at where sebastian was just standing. "how do you know this" rafael asked, as he did what hope instructed.

"one of my aunts has been around for a thousand years. this kind of thing is her jam" hope explained, smiling at the thought of rebekah. "ah, rebekah. how i miss her. did her and marcellius end up together?" sebastian smiled in content at the thought of his old family.

"wouldn't have ended any other way" hope laughed as she delicately walks down the staircase to meet rafael, flipping her hair over her shoulder. "so, what, i just stand here?" rafael asked slightly wary of sebastian, knowing the former and lizzie have something going on.

"then you take her arm" sebastian says as he grabs rafael's arms and places them where they should be, letting hope do her part. "yeah, you're messing with me" rafael laughs, finding this all ridiculous. "you think this is bad? you know it's only gonna get worse right? lizzie saltzman has been lanning her sweet sixteen since she was five. you probably should've thought twice before asking to be her date." hope said mockingly

"he didn't ask" sebastian scoffs, thinking back to the day it happened. "he's right. but all i know is, i can't let her down" he explains, as hope frowns confused. "why?" hope asked, tilting her head. rafael looked at sebastian before explaining. "because of him" he said pointing. hope turned to a smirking sebastian "you see, i've slept with her hope. and since im not taking her, i need her party to be perfect and that requires everything to be perfect" sebastian said matter-a-factly with a grin at the thought of the platinum-blonde haired girl.

hope's eyes widen in surprise, at his thought out plan. "wow" hope breathed out, breaking apart from rafael. "besides that, do you know where my sister is?" sebastian asked with a glint of mischief in his grey eyes. hope scrunched her eyebrows "how would i know?"

she questioned. rafael chuckled a little at this statement "you two are always together when she's not with park" rafael says, taking a seat on one of the tables. "we're not al-" hope argued before she was cut off by sebastian "stop lying" he said.

ˍˍˍˍˍˍ

students are milling around the grand hall, where they're organizing tables full of birthday cupcakes and boxes of other desserts. penelope and katherine place boxes of cupcakes down when mg approaches behind katherine ready to chastise penelope for her earlier interaction with the twins. he places his hand on katherine's shoulders, causing her to jump slightly.

"you're lucky i respect women and shun any form of toxic masculinity, or else you and i would be throwing down right now" mg says in a confident voice before katherine pipes in "you know she could kick your ass" to which penelope smiled. "dude, i am here to help" she says innocently.

"by telling lizzie and josie there mom isn't coming" penelope rolls her eyes, "i already tried to lecture her, nothing gets through that wicked mind" katherine joked patting mg on the shoulder. "oh, that was just for lizzie-" penelope then gives mg a knowing look before continuing "- who is taking rafael as her date instead of you, and likes sebastian. so, why try and do all of this to make her party perfect?"

mg shrugs and smirks sheepishly "cause a man's gotta shoot his shot" katherine groans and rolls her eyes. "you and henrietta should go out, have i not been saying this since the day we met" katherine groaned turning to face him.

"i love henrietta, as a friend" mg emphasized the friend, causing katherine to raise her eyebrows. "and anyway, don't you guys think there's something going on between her and theo" mg whispered, scared someone would hear. penelope hummed before giving a tiny nod. "can't have another tribrid running around" katherine mumbled under her breath, unaware to herself.

"now as your friend, i demand that you retrieve your little mg's from lizzie's grip" mg stands his ground and refuses to budge. "not when i can taste victory" mg argues, causing penelope to look at the ground then at mg with a smirk.

"fine, i'll make you a deal-" she grabs katherine's and mg's arms before dragging them to a table in the corner of the room. "i will keep werewolf prince charming and katherine will keep mysterious twilight hottie away from the party long enough for you to shoot your one, final, inevitably-failed shot. and. when it's over, and the queen of mean has broken your heart all over again, promise me that you will let lizzie go" mg nods grimly in agreement.

"how am i supposed to keep my brother away?" katherine asked with a disapproving look in penelope's direction at how she dragged her into the plan. "i don't know, but i need to protect mg" penelope explained, grabbing her hands with a begging look in her eyes. katherine eventually agreed with a sour look on her face and a small nod.

ˍˍˍˍˍˍ

after taking a break from helping out rafael and hope in the gymnasium and trying to find katherine, with no luck. sebastian returned to his room exhausted. he didn't notice. he failed to notice the raven haired girl sat on the opposite bed as his when he flopped down. mary tilted her head in slight disappointment, that her friend didn't even seem to acknowledge her. she stood from charles bed and went to sit at the edge of sebastian's.

"seb" she whispered in her french accent, with sparkling eyes. sebastian kept his eyes shut, in content thinking he was imagining the girl's voice. he did not feel the dip in the mattress next to him. she lay still, placing a soft hand on his cheek, with her thumb grazing his lip. his hand shot up from his lap to grab it, immediately flipping her over so he was towering her. "seb" she whispered as his grip on her wrist tightened slightly.

he dropped her hand with wide eyes and parted lips, not wanting to believe what was in front of him. "mary..." he whispered in a low voice. he was scared. she placed her hands on his cheeks to calm him down as she smiled. "it's me, im here" she laughed with joy, as her fingers scraped against his hair's in front of his face. the boy was speechless.

"you're not here, you died, we watched you die" he said with a long ago deciphered look in his eyes. mary, stood before him. looking as beautiful as ever. "im here" she said as she pulled the boy in for a long overdue hug. "do the other's know?" seb asked into her hair. "charles and henrietta yes, i don't know where katherine is though" she explained not wanting to let go of the boy.

"you guys are happy here right?" she asked, with an understanding look in her eyes. "you better say you are, it's been over a century" she said with a small frown. he didn't say anything more as he pulled the girl closer to him, holding her tight. she didn't object to the embrace as she scrunched the back of his shirt in her hand, letting him stay like that for a while.

ˍˍˍˍˍˍ

katherine walks into the gymnasium to find hope and rafael, not expecting to walk in on them slow-dancing. "you're officially a gigolo" hope laughs as she and rafael break apart. "what have i walked in on here?" katherine asks dragging out the here to sound dramatic. hope lets out a yelp turning to the girl who she hadn't seen since the incident. "hey kath" rafael yelled, making sure she could hear from the back door.

"hey raf" she yelled back with a wave as she walked towards hope. "thanks for this hope. i guess i'll see you at the party?" hope, who hangs back, shakes her head making katherine blink repeatedly. "so, what, you're just going to stay in your room well everyone else has fun?" he asks with a scoff turning to face the girl.

"yep. works for me" hope says in a sarcastic voice. "doesn't work for me" katherine says tilting her head, grabbing the girls hand. "bull crap. everyone needs a crew" rafael says not believing the girl. hope gives the boy a look saying he's a hypocrite "kind of ironic coming from the reluctant alpha" raphael goes onto say how a crew is a crew before taking a dig at hope.

"you know what? i had that in landon until you sent him away" katherine scoffs at this statement before defending hope "she wasn't the only one who voted and you know that" she rolled her eyes at the boys ignorance "im just saying- it's one thing to be cool with being alone, and then it's another to be the lonely girl on purpose"

this one hits hope hard as she throws back an insult of her own. "as opposed to mr. good guy who's taking a girl to her own birthday that you don't even like" rafael smiled fakely knowing this was going nowhere.

"you know what? you're right. lesson learned" he said before turning to exit the hall, his fake smile turning to a scowl as he's not able to exit the hall. his body slams into a magical barrier, which glows purple stopping him from exiting.

"the hell?" he mutters under his breath. "penelope park, i swear if you've trapped me in here!" katherine yelled, as her eyes were shut. "sorry, kids. nothing personal" penelope says as she appears sending an apologetic look to katherine.

"let us out of here, penelope" hope demands, as she realizes it's a barrier spell. "you'll be free in an hour. plenty of time for you to practice that waltz" penelope said with a waltz before sending an apologetic look towards katherine. "im sorry, i'll handle sebastian. just try not to make the building collapse" katherine scoffed, with a hint of a mischievous smile.

"no problem pest, be safe" katherine answered back, as penelope sent an offended look at the name. katherine sent her an air kiss as penelope mimicked her actions before turning to leave. katherine turned to the other teenagers before her, to see how annoyed they were.

ˍˍˍˍˍˍ

alaric, dorian and emma have just gathered in the library, where they are over half a dozen open books on the table in front of them, trying to make sense of jo and mary's returns. alaric seems to be more willing to believe that the girls intentions are pure .

"i don't get it, she hasn't tried to escape, not a work about the knife... she knows only things jo knows. let's not ignore the fact i remember her, so she's not like the other creatures. same about mary, the declares seem to know her pretty well. she hasn't even caused any problems under their watch" emma looks at alaric in concern that their return is the start to a bigger plot to steal the knife.

"blunt force hasn't gotten them what they want, so they've moved onto psychological warfare. tread, lightly. if those women are monsters they can do more damage than any dragon." emma explained, making alaric sigh.

"it was something she said..." dorian spoke after thinking for a while, he spins a book around for alaric to see. "here. there's an eyewitness account of a group of world war I soldiers buried in france... who came back to life and massacred a village."  dorian points at the book an emphasis his point.

"after, they didn't remember hurting anyone, they all said they'd been "yanked" back into being" alaric didn't look thrilled at the way the investigation was going.

"wait, so someone or something resurrected them and used them to attack a village?" alaric said pausing "without them even knowing" dorian adds. emma looks panicked a she thought of the girl "we need to find mary, now" she demands before leaving to find her.

ˍˍˍˍˍˍ

henrietta stands in the saltzman twins bedroom helping them get ready, she lays josie's dress out neatly on the bed as josie finished of lizzie's hair. "dad is so suspicious" josie says with a low sigh, "uh, duh, so am i" lizzie says with a scoff as if it's obvious. "i just think she's more fairy-godmother than zombie" josie says not wanting to start an argument with her twin.

"i mean my mary is no zombie and that's for sure" henrietta said approaching the two girl with a grin. "she's not our mother-- she's dna. we can be mad at mom all that we want for missing our party, but we cannot cheat on her with mombie dearest! and just because mary is okay doesn't mean bio mom is" lizzie said in a firm tone before turning to look at josie.

"you're not even dressed" lizzie sighs dramatically, "and you henrietta, do your hair" lizzie demands as the opposite girls sigh and groan. "i don't want to be late to my own party" lizzie says as josie shrugs nonchalantly trying to stir up more drama with her sister. "im done. i'll catch up with you, okay?" and with that lizzie left the girls alone.

"are you okay?" henrietta asked josie as she sat down on her bed, placing her head on the girls shoulder. josie shrugged in reply not really knowing if she was even happy. "from personal experience, everything will get better." henrietta said rubbing the girls shoulder before getting up and walking away.

josie suddenly sees the corner of a red envelope peeking out from behind the pillow on her bed. she opens it to find a small velvet draw-string bag, which she lays on her bed, and a card which reads 'hope your birthday wishes come true, hope.'

josie smiles and picks up the small bag, which has a silver chain necklace with a matching oval pendant that is stamped with an illegible crest, though a fleur-de-lis can be seen near the top. she continues to smile at the kind gesture from her new friend as she slips the necklace on and fastens it behind her neck. josie then gets distracted by the sound of penelope's voice calling out to her in the doorway.

"hey jo-jo, need an escort?" Penelope asks as she enters the girls room looking almost shy. "sure. do you know anyone who's heart isn't made of stone?" josie asked sounding tired, maybe from the return from the return of her dead mother.

"look. i am sorry about earlier, I saw a chance to make lizzie suffer and..." Penelope said looking at the floor knowing josie had a valid point. she chuckled anxiously before continuing "and I shot my shot" she finished. "why can't you just ease up on her?" josie asked now feeling angrier then before at what penelope had just said.

"she sucks the air out of almost every room you're in" penelope said with a sad look in her eye, that josie didn't realise yet. josie was quick to defend her sister " she's my twin - we can share oxygen" she stumbled over her words. " are you sharing love interest now, too? because she's the only one with a date" Penelope said not knowing about the night lizzie and sebastian has shared.

"see? you have crawled so far down the codependency rabbit hole that you think taking care of yourself is selfish?" josie avoids eye contact knowing penelope was somewhat right as she continues " but it's not, so, when are you going to take care of you?" josie finished with penelope's constructive criticism tries to stand her ground.

" I can take care of myself just fine" penelope gives her a pointed look "oh, really?" she asked looking josie directly in the eyes." party starts in five. it's a shame you spent all that time helping lizzie get ready" penelope looks at josie one last time with a sad expression before leaving the room.

ˍˍˍˍˍˍ

the party had begun a few minutes ago and everyone was having fun waiting for the two birthday girls to arrive, charles and victoria stood together by the punch bowl fighting over which snack to try first. charles wanted the powdered bat wings but victoria wanted the octopus. but charles would rather die then eat a living octopus.

"so how do you think katherine is holding up?" victoria asked worrying for the girl she's grown to call her friend. victoria didn't have a lot of friends at the school before the declares showed up. and she was glad they did. it's not that no one liked the girl. it's that the girl just wasn't up to make friends. well except theo.

no one could hate theo, he was one of the sweetest boys in the school. he would do anything for the people he loved. alaric would always say he reminded him of stefan and that worried him. because he knew theo would also die for the people he loved, just like stefan did.

"her and mary were basically attached at the hip when we lived in the village, I don't know how she'll handle seeing her. i'm pretty sure katherine had some unsurfaced feelings for the girl that she would never admit" charles explained with a solemn look.

before the couple could continue the conversation sebastian walked over with a cup of blood. charles eyed what his brother had in his hand before looking at him, this caused sebastian to roll his eyes. "it's animal blood brother, calm down" he said downing the cup with a disgusted face. "so have you guys seen the birthday girls yet, i'd like to give them my presents" sebastian said with a smirk.

his intentions with both girls were pure, he couldn't deny that. now he had slept with lizzie but he also had a tug in his heart towards josie. he wasn't one to play with people's emotions, he didn't care what his siblings said. he knew what it was like to be heartbroken and lied to and he would never wish that upon anyone.

"let's welcome birthday girl number one, and her escort" the dj announced as he shone a light on the top of the staircase where lizzie stood as she looked quite panicked due to no rafael. sebastian grip on the cup tightened before it shattered in his hand. he placed the remaining shards of glass on the table before storming out. he was angry. he wanted lizzie's birthday to be perfect, but now her date hadn't even shown up.

as she was storming through the corridor he bumped into henrietta, who was fixing her hair in her small mirror. "sorry sister, and you look beautiful if I may say" he said holding her shoulder before she smiled and he continued walking.

"your brothers not wrong you know" theo said as he showed up behind the girl in a tux the girl couldn't deny made him more attractive than usual. "well thank you, you do look quite handsome yourself" henrietta laughed as she giggled.

ˍˍˍˍˍˍ

josie is walking through the school grounds toward the grand hall, where she is in the middle of an animated conversation with jo about the current relationship statuses of her friend group."so, lizzie's in love with raf, but mg'sin love with lizzie. It's this whole thing."

jo, amused, scoffs dramatically and throws her hands up into the air. "what?" she asks laughing. josie excitedly leads jo through the yard toward the grand hall, not immediately noticing that jo has slowed down considerably.

"there's this alcove that's up super high, so you'll be able to see everything..." josie explains before she stops herself seeing that jo had fallen stiffly to the floor with a loud thump. "jo? hey. jo?" she asks rushing over to the woman

after jo not answering josie begins to look around for someone to help her "somebody help!" josie immediately stands to her feet "i'll be right back, okay?" the girl says before beginning to rush towards the school

jo's head turns so her face is tilted toward the sky, and when she opens her eyes, her irises and pupils have been clouded over, giving her an eerie, phantomesque appearance. suddenly, jo rises to her feet, her white eyes stark against the dark sky, and josie, hearing her awaken, stops dead in her tracks.

she slowly turns to face her biological mother, whose body has taken on a zombie-like appearance that makes her look more like a corpse than a live human. the woman smirks darkly before rushing after the confused and horrified josie.

ˍˍˍˍˍˍ

katherine paces around the gymnasium as rafael and hope sit on the floor staring at the clock awaiting the time they're set free. "one more minute" the strawberry blonde haired girl states from the floor making a small smile grace katherine's face.

"raf, I didn't just send landon away. i sent him to someone who's gonna help him find his birth mom" hope says trying to clear the air between the two, raf only scoffs at the girls statement. "you sent him away alone to a woman who gave him up?" the girl frowns, but katherine immediately turns to the boy with an eye roll.

"she could've had her reasons" the girl said defending the woman she didn't know, because she knew why she gave her children away. because she thought they were safe. "what if she's amazing, and he finally gets a family?" hope asks trying to make the boy understand why she sent him away.

"he already had a family! he had me!" raf shouted as tears began to rim his eyes, katherine finally understood why rafael was so upset. he was alone. he was scared landon would find her and they'd be happy and he would forget about him.

" a crew isn't the same. family is always and forever" hope says both teenagers having a fundamental arguement over the situation. "yeah, you're right-- he's not my blood, but he is my brother. If anything, maybe you should try doubling down on friends to make up for the family you don't have." raf yells making the girl shut up.

tears begin to gloss over hopes eyes before rafael notices the time on the clock is over and starts to walk out "times up. lonely girl" he spits, katherine holds a hard glare on her face before walking over to hope enveloping her in a hug.

ˍˍˍˍˍˍ

after hope cried for a few minutes her and katherine went their opposite ways to get ready for the ball. katherine had done her hair in a low ponytail which was curled and wore a black ball gown which went off her shoulder that went in by her waist and out afterwards.

after walking out of her room down the corridor she could hear dr. saltzman shouting and decided she should probably intervene. "dr. saltzman? what's going on?" hope asks before katherine could get a word out, they obviously had both head the yells. the raven haired girl couldn't deny that she looked gorgeous in her maroon ball gown, and could tell why half of the school was crushing on her.

"girls, i need your help" alaric sighs out as he seems like hes thinking of a plan in his head. their eyes widen in worry as they can see the panic on his face.

ˍˍˍˍˍˍ

"wait mary is alive?" katherine asked as her breathes became uneasy and she swayed slightly in her heels, the girl had just been told that her bestfriend who she thought died by the hands of her father was alive and looking for her but may also be possessed by a necromancer.

"katherine, look at me. we can find mary, but i am begging you to help josie" alaric asked the girl as he held onto her shoulders trying to help her gain focus. it may have been bias before he couldn't have his daughter dying.

"okay. josie. find josie" katherine whispered to herself as she wiped her eyes clean of any trace of tears and stood from the chair walking out of the room with a shovel that alaric had handed her. hope soon followed after the girl with a determined look on her face. the two make their way outside and pass penelope and mg who look like they're joking around.

"you gonna howl at the moon wearing that hope?" penelope laughed before waving at her bestfriend with a smirk. katherine held a stone expression but let a tiny smile grace her face before waving back, "sorry, no time for bitchy banter..." hope says as she slowly begins to stop her walking.

"can you guys help us find josie?" katherine said considering she felt like hope was taking too long and josie's life was on the line. suddenly a muffled scream was heard from somewhere in the cemetery. "what happened?" penelope asks suddenly taking on a serious face. "apparently, her possessed biological mother buried her alive in the cemetery" hope explains.

penelope and mg then go and grab shovels from the side of the mill and begin to follow after katherine and hope to josie.
ˍˍˍˍˍˍ

the kids had found josie and katherine decided that she couldn't handle it anymore, she went back to her room and didn't find henrietta there like she expected. henrietta had deicded to stay the night with lizzie considering the girl was left heartbroken on the dance floor by rafael. charles stayed with victoria. sebastian had gone straight to bed after checking that josie was okay and saying goodnight to lizzie wishing both girls a happy birthday.

"kat?" a soft voice called out from her bedroom door, the dirt covered teenager turned around at a speed that would've shocked anyone that didn't know about the supernatural. the sight she saw was something she had longed to see for a century, but she didn't know how to react in the moment. so she stood still in her spot staring at her bestfriend who was meant to be dead.

the supposed dead girl didn't say anything as she walked forwards towards her bestfriend engulfing her in a hug as she let large amounts of tears leave her eyes hitting her bare shoulder. katherine dirt filled nails moved to the ends of the girls hair as she cried into her shoulder.

the girls hadn't held eachother in over one hundred years, the experience of being in each others arms again was euphoric. the dirt moved onto mary's white night gown which she had changed into a while ago as she waited for katherine. but neither girl cared as they held each other for dear life.