Into Thin Air

Chapter 1

Hope Mikaelson moved through the Salvatore School with an ease that could only belong to someone who had been sneaking down these halls for over a decade.
Nothing had changed since the first night she'd come to this school, all those many years ago, seven years old and freshly orphaned.
The furniture was in all the same spots as when she'd first started coming down to the common areas late at night because the other children didn't like the sounds she made while she dreamt - more specifically, the screams that accompanied her nightmares.
She snuck past the dining hall, moonlight bouncing off the glossy tabletops. The chairs were all pulled up and put away, the floors clear. There were no children sitting alone while the others pointed and stared, whispering stories about the red-haired girl with no family.
She stopped at the door to the headmaster's office, looking in. That chair across from the desk was the only place that she had felt welcomed back then. It was the only place she was safe from her classmates, the only place she didn't have to listen to rumors about her family or the prophecy that she would destroy the world.
Hope slid the top drawer open, a simple unlocking charm enough to break through its defenses. The keys sat right on top.
Practically begging to be stolen, Hope thought.
They jingled softly in the quiet office, but Hope tucked them deep into the palm of her hand and they made no sound as she slipped back to the front door.
"Hope Mikaelson."
Hope whirled around at the sound of her name.
Penelope Park stood with her arms crossed, one hip out to the side. "Wherever could you be going at such a late hour?" she asked, voice dripping with mockery.
"Nowhere."
Penelope's silent stare was enough to tell her she wasn't going to get away with such an obvious lie.
"Fine. I'm taking the headmaster's car for a joyride." Hope let the key dangle from her finger and swing in front of the other witch's face.
Penelope's jaw dropped an inch, the beginnings of an incredulous smile tugging at her lips. "Can I come?"
The next lie was already on Hope's lips, ready to fire. "That may or may not have been a really bad lie to cover up the fact that I'm sneaking out to see a boy."
Another look of disbelief crossed Penelope's face, not of shock this time but suspiciousness. "You're gonna go looking for the missing girl."
Hope's eyes darted away at the mention of her. Whatever begrudging familiarity Hope had gained over the last eleven years with the student body had been destroyed after the night Jade went missing. Years of convincing her classmates that she wasn't as insane as the rest of the Mikaelsons had been wasted the second Hope starting talking about a missing student that no one else remembered. Overnight, all the old stories and taunts were reignited as if she were that death-stained seven year-old all over again.
Penelope took Hope's silence as her answer. "Well now I'm definitely coming."
Hope looked Penelope up and down. She had known Penelope liked to break rules - dress code, curfew, magic outside of class, you name it - so it came as no surprise to Hope that she would want to help steal the headmaster's car, but search for Jade? A girl that as far as Penelope knew, Hope had just made up?
She was ready to turn her down when she saw the way Penelope's eyes shined with excitement. She sighed, letting her shoulders fall in defeat. Two sets of eyes were better than one anyways. "Fine. But not a word to Josie."
The last thing Hope needed was Penelope feeding more content to the biggest source of Mikaelson gossip.
A victorious smile flashed across Penelope's face. "Not a word, I swear."