Into Thin Air

Chapter 9

Hope sat across from Emma, bouncing her leg impatiently. Until Jade's disappearance, therapy sessions had been something she looked forward to, but afterwards, Hope just couldn't wait for them to be over with.
"Dr. Saltzman told me that you've been looking for a mystery to solve," Emma said serenely. It seemed for every ounce of impatience Hope was pouring into their session, Emma was putting in twice as much patience.
"I'm not looking for a mystery to solve," Hope snapped, arms crossed. "I have a mystery that needs to be solved."
Emma nodded as if she understood. Hope knew she didn't.
"And you feel that you're the only one who can solve it?"
"I'm the only one who wants to!" Hope lunged forward, a sudden fury on her face. "Everyone else acts like I'm losing my mind whenever I bring it up - including you! I've seen the way they look at me, the way they talk about me behind my back! It's the same way they talk about Lizzie Saltzman. They think I'm crazy too." 
"You're not crazy, Hope." 
"You believe me then?" she demanded, clasping her hands together loudly and raising her eyebrows as far as they would go. "That there's a student missing?"
"Hope …"
"Of course." Hope shot out of her chair, not caring that their session wasn't even half over. What was Emma going to do anyway?
"Hope! You should be careful digging where you don't need to."
Hope stopped in the doorway of Emma's office, her back still turned to her, and the whole world seemed to stand still. She could feel the magic buzzing through her, knew what she was capable of if she let it loose. The thought of destruction was tantalizingly close, that violent Mikaelson wrath always just below the surface.
Instead, she barked out a joyless laugh and slammed the door behind her hard enough to shake the walls and stop every student in the hall.