" Aahhh " Mary woke with a start, screaming and sitting bolt‑upright in bed. "I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry."
She began to cry desperately, and soon a hand reached out and pulled her into an embrace.
"Calm down, I'm right here with you," Alex said, holding her from behind to keep her from hurting herself.
"Alex …" Mary sobbed, placing her hand over his. "It was real… Did I kill that man?"
"Yes, you had to," Alex replied gently, still not letting go. "Nik is satisfied."
Mary sighed and laced her fingers through his.
"I remember what you told me," she said, her voice still sad but now holding a glimmer of hope. "Was I dreaming?"
"No. I love you, Mary," Alex said, kissing the back of her cheek. Mary relaxed and melted further into his arms.
"I'm so happy," she whispered, snuggling closer and turning her head a little to look at him. "I love you, I love you so much."
Her tone was soft and affectionate.
"Silly girl," Alex said, starting to pull back to get up, but she wouldn't let him. "Let's get up, it's already noon."
"Nooo," Mary whined. "I went through something traumatic. I deserve to cuddle with my beloved."
Alex couldn't resist her pleading face and gave in, lying back down beside her.
Meanwhile, at Klaus's house
I was sitting in a chair, Jenna next to me, Amara beside her, and Jeremy and Elena in front of us.
"Uncle, what was that?" Elena asked, wary and frightened. "You were talking to me and then you just teleported away."
"Uncle, what was that thing?" Jeremy asked, even more shaken. "Did it bite Vick?"
"Wait… A wolf bit Vick?" Jenna gasped, turning toward me. "Darling, is something going to happen to her?"
"You knew?" Elena asked, clearly uncomfortable. "Why does it feel like I'm the only one who knows nothing?"
"Don't worry, dear," Amara said softly. "Things never turn out exactly the way we want."
"Well, our uncle has powers. Apparently some kind of werewolf that shouldn't exist attacked my brother and bit that girl he calls a friend, a fling, or whatever‑you‑want‑to‑call‑it afternoon snack," Elena snapped, glancing at Amara. "Are you lying to me too? Aren't you related to me? Was I abandoned and you're some creature taking my shape?"
"Hey, don't talk about Vick like that!" Jeremy shouted at his sister.
"Shut up, Jeremy!" Elena yelled. "You've all been keeping us in lies. Amara, are you really my relative?"
"Actually …" Jenna sighed and stepped forward. "Amara isn't a creature pretending to be family so you won't feel abandoned. It's the other way around: you were born looking like her… I'm sorry, Elena. Amara is far older than any of us. We didn't mean to tell you like this."
"What?" Elena gasped. "What do you mean?"
I sighed. Jenna had been far too blunt; she should have broken it to her more gently.
"Sweetheart… You're a doppelgänger … Born with the face of an immortal so the cycle of life can continue through her," I said, kneeling in front of her and brushing her cheek. "Biologically you share the same origin as Amara. That's why we never let you do a DNA test. That doesn't mean we love you any less — we love you very much."
Elena gasped, a tear rolling down her cheek.
"Am I some kind of supernatural abomination?" she asked, crying. I pressed my forehead against hers. "Uncle, tell me the truth."
"Alright, I'll answer you with my own story. I'm a thousand‑year‑old vampire, but mentally I'm still like a twenty‑seven‑year‑old guy," I said with a weak laugh. "I'm almost immune to magic, and even so a witch messed with my head. So how much of a monster do you think you are next to that?"
"Wait …" Jeremy shouted in shock. We all turned to him as he pointed at Amara. "You're a vampire and Amara is one too? Then why does Elena look like her and not you? Is there another Uncle Nik running around somewhere?"
"No, no," Amara said with a faint smile. "I'm not a vampire. I'm an immortal — immortality is my nature. Vampires are immortal too, but not of my kind."
"So … Uncle Nik, what was it like being a vampire?" Jeremy asked. "Are you some kind of hero?"
"I wouldn't say that," I replied with a sad smile. "To most people in the supernatural world, I'm the villain. I'm known as the great evil."
"That can't be true," Elena cried out in shock. "You're Uncle Nik, the good man who took in two orphans whose father died and whose mother left. And I was abandoned twice."
"That's what I meant when I said a witch messed with my head," I said — a lie, of course; I wasn't about to tell them I was a reincarnation. "I remember everything I did in the past, but I spent a long time as Nik before I really woke up, and that changed me."
"Uncle Nik, what's your real name?" Elena asked.
"Niklaus Mikaelson … But everyone calls me Klaus," I sighed. "Let's change the subject. That girl Vick has two options: either she becomes a shapeshifter, or she dies. An alpha's bite does that."
"Do you think she's going to die?" Jeremy's eyes began to fill with tears. "I don't want her to die, Uncle."
"Truthfully, death from the bite isn't common — you'd have to be really unlucky," I answered, recalling Klaus's memories and what I'd seen in Teen Wolf. "But she might turn into something nasty that doesn't even take wolf form … From what I know about her."
We kept talking and then gave the children time to process the truth.
A few hours later
"Daddy, daddy!" Harry ran over and hugged my leg. "Daddy, Iris is being mean!"
He was holding a small snake carefully in his arms and pointed toward Iris, who came rushing at him with an owl in her hand.
"My Pokémon will beat yours! Go, Owlmon!" she shouted with a mischievous grin, pointing the owl toward Harry's snake.
"Iris." I only had to say her name once. The bird flew out of her hand, and she froze, gasping.
"Hi Daddy," she whined.
"No whining, you little rascal." I picked Harry up, then lifted her and set them face‑to‑face. "Say sorry to your brother."
"But it's his fault he only controls snakes!" Iris grumbled, then went still under my gaze. "Sorry, Harry."
"Hmm … Don't do it again," Harry mumbled quietly.
"I can't promise," Iris replied.
"Iris," I said, looking her in the eye.
"I promise I won't do it again."
"Good girl." I smiled and pulled both of them into a hug.
"How about we go to the mall today and buy some candy — but don't tell Jenna?" I suggested in a playful tone.
"Yay!" Both shouted, throwing their hands up.
In England
Dumbledore gasped when he visited the relatives of Harry and Iris Potter and found out the family had never even known the children existed.
He cast every tracking spell he could, even using blood from James Potter — a respected noble wizard of Britain's magical community — but all he found were two illegitimate children born to Muggle women.
He chose not to bring them into the magical world, afraid it would expose secrets from the marriage of the hero who had died fighting the Dark Lord.
Harry and Iris Potter didn't even appear in James's family tree. A terrible thought struck Dumbledore: they must be dead. It had never crossed his mind to use something of Lily's — he'd never guessed the twins weren't James's children.
Shock overwhelmed him; he collapsed and had to be helped back to his feet.
"Lily … James … I'm so sorry," he breathed shakily. "I thought I was doing the right thing. I made a terrible mistake."
He wiped his tears and looked up.
"Now I have no way to defeat the Dark Lord, and I failed to protect my friends' children." He stared sadly at the sky. "How do I tell the world … I'll name Neville as the child of the prophecy."