Perzys Āeterña | Hope Mikaelson

Chapter 26

"What the hell did you do to me?"

"Easy," said Kaleb, motioning for Hope to back away as their usual friend group appeared inside the Old Mill, a wall open to look down at the lake and several objects scattered around them. Rhysaenya assumed Ryan hadn't been brought in, which must mean he was helping the Mikaelsons on the outside. It would at least help them find out what'd happened in the past couple of days.

Jed gestured to everyone, imploring, "Just listen."

"The only thing I'll be listening to," said Hope darkly, "is your screams when I kill you all. Which I am capable of, in case you forgot."

"Except you can't," said MG. "We're not in the real world. You can't kill us here. No one can."

Hope snorted, walking around and gesturing at the walls. "Let me guess. Chambre de Chasse? A mental hunt room, an astral plane made with Representational Magic. I take it someone's out there anchoring our real bodies while our minds linger here. Each represented by a totem. Find the totem, get the hell out of here."

Cleo smiled. "It won't be so simple. You see, Josie and I are aware of what the totems are for everyone else, but we do not know what was chosen for you. That information is known by someone outside the Chambre de Chasse. Which in this case happens to consist of your family. None of us are anchoring it. It is them. Your aunts and uncles, relatives, putting a great deal of magic into making sure that even if you find your totem, you cannot emerge until you turn your humanity back on or they find a way to flip the switch on the outside."

Rhysaenya held up her hands to silence them, seeing Hope was already looking through the clutter in the Old Mill, trying to piece things together. "Maybe if we each spoke to Hope about our feelings? Take our turns to tell her what she means to us?"

"That may also help everyone figure out their totems," suggested Josie. "Which is good. We don't want to all stay in here the entire time. I think Rhysaenya's idea is great– we talk to Hope one by one, find our totems, exit little by little to check in on what's going on outside. Offer them help, let them know how we're doing, and also not overwhelm Hope."

The tribrid snorted. "I'm standing right here."

"And you'll be standing there for a while," said Josie. "Wade's finally figured out his powers, you know, and fairy dust is actually a stronger anesthetic than we anticipated. There's no way out of this for you, Hope. Please, let us help you. We'll do anything to get you back. You might as well let us give you our best shot."

She rolled her eyes. "Fine. But I will break out of this as soon as I sense my body strengthened in the real world. I have time to kill before it's time to kill."

Rhysaenya motioned for them to sit, seeing several cushions appearing on the floor. Landon cleared his throat first, clasping his hands together and trying to muster up the courage to start them off. "So, Hope," he said. "I–"

"Save the speech," said Hope with a cheeky grin. "Let me guess, you're going to tell me how you valued our relationship, how you learned you were a phoenix because of me, and that I should remember the time we danced in front of my dad who somehow approved of you and your mop head?"

Lizzie made a face at Rhysaenya that suggested she almost agreed with the last comment Hope had made. Landon was mildly offended, but didn't waver. "No, actually," he said. "I was going to talk to you about Raf." Hope's malicious grin immediately dropped. "I miss him, obviously. These days, it's hard to get up knowing he won't be waiting for me to play a new game, he won't ask about any new songs I might've written."

He got up from his cushion, lifting a tarp and revealing a guitar. "This is my totem," he said with a smile. "Raf inspired me to learn how to play it. He always knew how to get me out of a bind. He knew how to calm me down. I remember him encouraging me to play this for you. And later, when the two of you were together, I remember he held this guitar in his hands and he said he didn't know how to impress you. Rhysaenya and I gave him more or less the same advice. To respect you and your choices in a way that I didn't."