“Dad!” Lizzie burst through his office doors loudly. Subtlety was the last thing on her mind.
“Lizzie.”
“You have got some explaining to do!” Lizzie pointed her finger through the air accusingly.
Alaric shoved his hands in his pockets. “You’re going to have to be a little more specific.”
Lizzie straightened her spine, controlling her voice with the practice of someone who had pulled herself back from the edge a hundred times. She clenched her thin hands into fists at her side as she concentrated. “Jade, prison world, ascendant, Hope.”
“None of those words are related to each other.” Alaric was genuinely lost.
“You have been sneaking around every night!” Lizzie shouted. She ground her teeth together, forcing her voice back down once again. The words shook with effort. “You won’t tell me and Josie where you’ve been or where you’re going! There’s a missing student and you just so happen to have a piece of a magic device that can literally make people disappear off the face of the planet.” Tears were starting to pool along the edges of her eyes now. “I don’t want to believe it, dad. I really don’t. But I can’t ignore what’s right in front of my face.”
Alaric had to drag his eyes up from the hideous carpeting. “Honey, Jade and the ascendant have nothing to do with each other. I promise you; your mother and I are handling both of those problems. It’s nothing you – or Hope – need to worry about.”
“What do you mean you’re ‘handling it?’ Is that where you’ve been sneaking off to?”
Alaric dropped his daughter’s gaze again. “Not exactly.”
“Then why?”
He took a deep breath but didn’t answer.
“Tell me!”
“I’m seeing someone.” Alaric’s cheeks flushed with embarrassment.
“What?”
“I’ve started dating someone new – that new sheriff.”
“Oh.” Lizzie blinked a few times, raising her eyebrows.
“I was going to tell you. I just wasn’t ready for you and Josie to know because I wasn’t sure if it was even going anywhere -”
“Oh, no. I get it.” Lizzie put her hands up defensively and took a step back. “And I don’t want the details.” She swallowed, pulling her mouth back in overexaggerated disgust. “I just … I can't believe I could accuse you of something like that.” She started to cry now. "I'm sorry. I shouldn’t have -” Lizzie broke off in sobs.
“It’s alright.” Alaric pulled his daughter into a hug, wishing he could tell her the whole terrible truth.
YOU ARE READING
Into Thin Air
FanfictionAfter witnessing an old friend vanish, Hope Mikaelson becomes obsessed with finding out what happened to her, even when no one else at the Salvatore School seems to remember her ever existing. With the help of an unlikely ally or two, Hope will unco...
