Tyrion was last to the edge. He came at them running, skidding awkwardly to a stop when he ran out of ground. "My queen, I—bloody hell—is that a fucking dragon head? Right," he recovered and pointed furiously behind them toward the city. "We found something too, but you're not going to like it. Caroline was sitting at the table, glaring at her mug of coffee as she thought this over. Elena wasn't Elena anymore; she was a little crazy, especially since breaking the hunter's curse on her and finding out about the cure. Klaus wasn't the total psycho she thought, which made her feel worse about going on a date with him after everything. And she hated that bitch wolf Hayley's guts because Tyler was completely besotted with her. Tyler didn't even know she existed anymore because of that little werewolf bitch! And everything was getting so complicated with this hunt for the cure; not even Bonnie could be reasoned with because of that Professor Shane!
If Davina was willing to tear Bonnie away from that Shane guy, Caroline was all for it! She hated this situation.
Davina didn't seem like anyone Caroline had met; Davina was powerful, mysterious, innocent, upright, and genuine. Nothing about Davina came off as insane or deranged or motivated by anything that would be toppling the world as they knew it. Caroline didn't like Davina, but she didn't not like her; she was just a different, simpler person who didn't seem scary.
There was a knock on her door, which had her get up to the door and open it to see Bonnie there.
"Morning," Caroline grinned as she skipped back to the living room.
"Morning," Bonnie greeted as she walked in. "I've been thinking about what Elena said last night…"
"What about it?"
"What if she's right? We don't know Davina or anything about her," Bonnie started. "And we don't know if she can or can't help us with unlinking the sire bonds of vampires and hybrids! What if she's worse than the Originals? I mean, she's got to be pretty strong to want to do that, and she's a witch; I don't know what to make of that!"
"Bonnie!" Caroline grabbed her friend by the shoulders and made her look at her. "Davina isn't untrustworthy!"
"How do you know!?" Bonnie whimpered.
"Davina seems nice, and sane, and stable! And she's not Shane!"
"What's wrong with Shane!?" Bonnie sputtered.
"He's not a witch!" Caroline shouted. "Try working with Davina," she pleaded. "Elena's wrong; Davina seems very nice and stable and not an older man trying to seduce you! Just… please," she groaned. "Try."
"You… you think he's…"
"He looks at you like a snack," Caroline stated with a grumble as she left her friend. "Davina is at least a witch."
"Davina is a kid!" Bonnie snapped.
"Who grew up practicing magic!" Caroline hissed. "She'll have practical expertise! You're going to that lesson, even if I have to take you! Between you and Elena, you two are going to drive me nuts!"
"We're going to drive you…?" she stammered.
"Yes!" Caroline snapped. "There's been a lot going on, and I get it; it's new and scary, but you need to do this because we need to trust someone who isn't crazy or older than us! And something that doesn't require us killing something!"
"Okay," Bonnie nodded. "But you're going with me," she warned.
-------------------------------------------
Davina was sitting at the park, reading over her notes that she had been compiling the other night. She was working on calculations for Hope's birthday; it had just hit her hard that Hope's conception had to happen because only a tribrid could take down Malivore, and Malivore was a problem for the world. She had the hotel calendar spread out in front of her, stabbed to the ground by twigs she had collected.
"You're busy, love," a voice declared.
"Yup," she answered as she continued scribbling on her notepad. The scent of coffee had her looking over at Kol and narrowing her eyes suspiciously at him; he gave her a boyish smile of innocence that had alarm bells going off in her head. "What do you want?" she asked, reaching for the offered coffee.
"You said we were friends, love."
"We are friends, but that doesn't mean I don't know when you don't want something. But thanks for the coffee; I ran out of money," she muttered as she sipped the coffee and continued her sketches. "I'm going to need a star map and moon map," she muttered to herself. "What do you want, Kol?"
"The hourglass," he answered. "I want it."
"Here," she pulled it out of her pocket and shoved it at him as she tapped her lip, thinking, before taking another sip of coffee.
"You're just handing it over?" He sputtered in disbelief.
"Yup," she admitted. "I trust you," she reminded him.
He stared at her as if she had grown a second head, which had her smiling brightly at him. Kol frowned, then glared at her, before he seemed to just move past his disbelief about her trusting him. "What happened to the sand inside?"
"I crushed it in my hand," she said and held up her healing hand as proof. "Sand spilled out then."
"What can you tell me about this?" he asked.
"I woke up in my sixteen-year-old body," she answered.
"How old were you, love?"
"Not as old as you," she smiled.
"Davina," he snarled.
"I can't tell you how old I was, just that I wasn't old; I was a healthy adult," she admitted. "No cancer, no illness, no disease; I even had good dental, if I do say so myself," she smiled.
"How were you thrown through a wall?" he asked.
"My husband and I were investigating that." She tapped the hourglass. "You were a dead end, but there were sources you suggested we look into, so we did. When we arrived, we were visiting some of his family when we were attacked. I was thrown through a wall and mortally wounded," she explained.
"Your husband?" Kol sputtered.
"I'm sixteen now, but I was an adult before I woke up in this body, Kol," she reminded him as she looked over her notes and made a few other factors to calculate.
"What happened to your husband?" Kol asked.
"Nothing," she answered softly.
"Did he come back with you?" Kol persisted.
"No," she admitted.
"How do you know?"
"I just know," she answered sadly and smiled at the face she loved so much. His hair was windswept; he would probably want a haircut soon. If they were together, she'd offer. "I just know he didn't come back with me," she murmured.
"Sixteen-year-old you, what led up to her before you woke up?"
"A lot of suffering and pain, a lot of pain," she answered quietly.
"How long have you been awake?" he asked as he started turning the hourglass over.
"Oh… let's see…" She rubbed her brow. "Woke up in New Orleans, drove here, so that was day one. Day two, I got your attention and met up with you. Day three was yesterday, so… four days," she answered.
"And you just came straight here?" he asked.
"I don't have a lot of time," she admitted. "I have to act now and get things set up and rearrange things before I get to the unavoidable events I have to face."
"Why?"
"Can't tell you that yet," she admitted. "Why do you want the hourglass?"
"Going to look through some grimoires, darling; don't worry your pretty little head," he smiled charmingly.
"Thank you," she said as she sipped her coffee. He gave her a confused look. "For the coffee, I didn't get to buy one this morning because my funds are low."
"You ran out of money?"
"Yup, after I help Bonnie, I'm going to forge documents and take that waitressing job at the Grill." She pointed at the Mystic Grill for clarification for Kol.
"Or you could ask for my help, love," he countered.
"I'm not stupid, Kol," she retorted. "I know if I asked you for anything, it proves whatever weird point you have in your head that people just want something from you, and I really don't need to be fighting that with you at this moment, because as I said, I don't really have the time to do that, rehashing old arguments and all, so I will take care of myself until you trust me."
He frowned.
"Thanks for the coffee again; I need to go meet with Bonnie before the sun gets higher," she muttered.
"What is all this?"
"Calculations," she answered.
"For?"
"I can't tell you that yet," she answered as she gathered them up and shoved them in the motel folder she had snagged.
"You're confounding and infuriating, love," he growled.
"Thank you, I try," she snickered. "Take care, stay safe, and I'll see you later," she promised as she got up and started towards the café. "Thanks for the coffee, again!" she shouted over her shoulder without looking back. Sitting at the café, she waited for Bonnie.
It took the other girls about thirty minutes to show up, and Davina softened.
"Good morning!" Caroline chirped.
"Morning," Davina yawned. "Are you ready?"
"I have school."
"And I don't have a lot of time; we can start right now, today, or we don't start at all," Davina stated. "I can do this on my own; it's just going to take me longer, and it's going to be harder, but I'll figure it out," she warned.
"I…" Bonnie started.
"What do you need?" Caroline cut off her friend then.
"Where were you most connected with the spirits?" Davina asked her.
"Why?"
"Because we're going to try a different kind of magic than what you'd know," Davina stated.
"There's… It's an old, abandoned house where about a hundred witches were burned," Bonnie admitted.
"Perfect," Davina smiled. "Come on, bring the grimoires and show me the house," she sighed.
"Where do you get all this energy?" Bonnie muttered.
"I'm fully caffeinated and on a time crunch; hurry up," Davina ordered.
-------------------------------------------
Kol had returned to where he had been staying and pulled out the hourglass. Moving the rings, he saw nothing particularly interesting about it. It was made of silver, gold, platinum, copper, and other metals; the glass was handblown, and he could see the small imperfections in the material. The markings weren't anything he recognized off the bat, but there was something vaguely familiar about the markings. They looked similar to the runes he had grown up reading and writing, the runes he practiced magic with. But these were slightly different.
Setting the hourglass on the table, he slipped the chain from around it; it was slim, delicate, cleverly crafted, and old. He'd guess, based off the craftsmanship he saw being used here, from the twelfth century, it was incredibly old and very delicate, but most of these languages had not originated at the same time, which made him think it was new. Setting it down, he sat before he started moving the rings, which wrapped around the broken glass carefully. The scripts changed; they were in Nordic, Mayan, Greek, Sanskrit, Chinese, Latin, Egyptian hieroglyphics, and Hebrew. The Celtic design, though, stopped him; he'd have thought it was wolves at first glance, chasing each other, but no, these were foxes. Large ears, a thinner design, and small paws—it all screamed fox and not wolf. Now this was interesting…
Foxes weren't a common symbol in old art, though the fox held important meanings in cultures around the world. To the Japanese they were spirits of seduction and wisdom, as well as messengers. To Christians foxes were menaces, thieves, and tempters. To different tribes in the Americas, foxes were tricksters or gods. To many African tribes he'd encountered, foxes were shrewd, patient, witty, and resourceful creatures, but they viewed the fox as a warning of bad to come. To the Chinese, the fox was a connection to the afterlife, temptation, seduction, and benevolent or destructive forces. To the Celts, foxes were both good and wicked, before Christianity, that is. To his people, a fox could be a fylgjur, a spirit to accompany him through his lifetime; Kol's fylgjur had been a fox. Foxes were many things, always revered as cunning, clever, creative, charming, wise, and passionate, but they were also viewed as tricksters, difficult, demonic, and sly. Kol looked at the two foxes chasing each other, he turned the disk, it spun rapidly around the hourglass, and he stopped it. On one side the foxes were in what looked like platinum, and on the other side the copper of the zodiacs, astrological orbit, and time stood out. It was interesting; he'd never seen a design like this.
Foxes were not a common symbol; he was curious about this.
Setting it down, he got up and started looking through some of his older books that Klaus hadn't burned or destroyed; he was pleased his lout of a brother wasn't stupid enough to attempt to destroy these. Skimming over the pages, he finally found the script and dropped the book on the table before grabbing the hourglass to investigate further.
"Kol!" a voice screeched.
He slipped the hourglass in the book and slid the book on the shelf as he grabbed a different book to read.
Klaus appeared as he faked reading.
"What have you been doing?" Klaus growled as he stalked in.
"Me!?" he feigned shock. "Nothing, just catching up on the last century, because… you know, daggered," he smiled mockingly as he made the gesture of being daggered.
"My hybrids have seen you around town," Klaus snarled.
"Bekah asked me to help her with something," Kol admitted as he turned the page and continued letting his eyes scan the page unseeing.
"And why are you around town!?" Klaus snarled.
"So much to see! So much to do!" Kol chuckled. "Later!" he decided as he shut his book and darted out of the room before Klaus got even more paranoid than normal.
Kol slipped to Davina's motel. It didn't take much to get Made to invite him into her room; slipping in and around, he poked around. She didn't have much in the way of things: warm weather clothes, multiple pairs of flats, and a white dress, which seemed unnecessary and was harshly balled up. There was a tattered quilt and a worn pillow steeped in her scent, but also not. Her care products were few and cheap; it seemed she was living off the hotel's supply, which was just appalling to him. Slipping out of her bathroom, he opened her closet; not a grimoire or book in sight, and nothing detectable.
He paused at a list, though, and looked around before picking it up. Her cursive was very neat, almost calligraphy-styled.
Sealing Esther's spirit/soul
Locate, keep, and hide the bodies of Esther and Mikael
Devise clear instructions for destroying Dahlia; stress not to listen to Freya
Locate Hayley
Devise clear instructions for destroying Dahlia; stress don't listen to Freya.
Locate All White Oak Stakes
Seal the Hollow off before she can rise
Unlink Marcel and Josh from Klaus
Return to New Orleans in time for the Harvest before biblical plagues start spewing
Keep Kol Alive!!!
The final one on her Honey To-Do List was bold, underlined three times, and circled violently, which shocked him.
Keep him alive!? He couldn't die! Unless… He looked over her list again, then he cursed. Those bloody stakes!
-------------------------------------------
Davina walked into the ruins of the house, and immediately it felt like back home. Bonnie shivered, and Caroline lingered outside. Davina peered around, feeling the spirits swirl around her, confused and uneasy, but not ready to lash out, but they whispered hatred towards Bonnie and screeched at the unnaturalness of Caroline.
"They hate me," Bonnie whispered.
"No, they don't." Caroline came towards her friend to hug her. Davina didn't counter Caroline's claim, though she was inclined to agree with Bonnie.
"There's a lot of power here. What do you feel?" She looked at Bonnie.
"Nothing," the witch answered.
"Where did you have your altar?" Davina asked.
"Altar?"
"Where did you practice your magic most frequently?" she clarified. She was dealing with a true novice, a baffling sensation given Bonnie's reputation in her time.
"This way," Bonnie whispered.
"Well, come on, show me what you can do," Davina said as she looked around at the candles and setup. It was crude but relatively decent for a self-taught witch. "Can you light the candles?" Davina asked her softly as she stepped towards the witch.
"Yeah," Bonnie nodded and concentrated. Davina winced at the anger and outrage of the spirits here as the candles lit; the spirits were so enraged they blew them all out, which had Bonnie trembling.
"Oh no," Davina muttered.
"What?" Caroline demanded.
"Bonnie, have you heard of Expression?" she asked sharply setting her coffee down as she walked to the young witch, Davina let her power unfurl and she dispelled the spirits from their wrath and torment of the young witch.
"What's Expression?" Bonnie asked.
"It's what you just did," Davina answered.
"Is it Dark Magic?" Caroline asked.
"No, it's… a witch I knew, her mother practiced Expression, it's… it's an unnatural form of magic, witches don't even call it magic, we call it Expression. It requires drawing off of human sacrifice," Davina explained.
"I haven't sacrificed anyone," Bonnie muttered.
"You might not have, but someone has, and it's been tied to you."
"Is it like Dark Magic?" Caroline asked.
"No, it's worse. It's worse than Black Magic even," Davina stated. "You are channeling the power of human sacrifices, multiple sacrifices, I think twelve is the magic number here, this power calls on darkness which cannot exist on this plane. At least that's what Nandi taught me."
"But I didn't… I've never sacrificed anyone," Bonnie sputtered.
"You said you were practicing Dark Magic when you angered the spirits," Davina said. "It's possible that you've connected to something you didn't mean to or were supposed to and now you're being redirected. You continue to use this kind of magic though and it will kill you, or worse."
"Worse?" Bonnie sputtered.
"There's worse fates than death," Davina stated. "Much worse."
"Can you… can you fix me?" she whispered nervously.
"No, but we can fix your relationship with the spirits. Seems I'm going to have to teach you to connect with your ancestors," Davina muttered sourly.
"Connect with the ancestors?" Bonnie asked.
"You want to understand magic, you're going to need to connect, connecting means you need to talk to your roots, otherwise you'll wither away, burn out, or worse and there are fates far worse than death, an example of that would be the witch spirits might shred your soul into nonexistence."
"What?"
"That will be the price of Expression if you don't work with your magic, nature and balance, that's what magic is, connection, balance, nature. Expression isn't, it's about power, unlimited, unchecked, unfettered power, even a weak witch is powerful with Expression."
"Are you sure, because the professor says it's safer."
"Who's the professor and what does he know about magic?" Davina asked.
"He's a human professor," Bonnie answered.
"Not a witch?" Davina asked as she shut her eyes and took deep breaths.
"No, just an occult expert. He's helped us with a Vampire Hunter problem! He knows how to work around magic!"
"There are so many things wrong with that statement that I don't even know where to begin, but first, we're going to start with fixing your Expression problem before you cease to be on all planes," Davina muttered. "To do that, I'm going to need to consecrate some witches. Where's some shovels?"
"Wait, what!?"
"I'm going to teach you a way to connect with magic and channel it, safely, and it's my least favorite kind of magic but it'll be the best thing for fixing this problem."
"How do you know this will work?"
"In theory," she stated. "Come on, we need shovels and to find those witches," Davina stated as she stalked after the spirits.
"Where are you going?" Caroline asked.
"To get the shovels to get the bones!" Davina called out.
"Coming!" Caroline and Bonnie shouted as they raced after her. Davina walked outside and sighed before she rolled her neck and started her chanting as she felt the world shift and spirits racing for their origins.
"Let's go make some ancestors to teach," Davina said as they chased the spirits. "Ancestors, ancestors, ancestors, why's it always ancestors!?" she grumbled as she stalked through the forest.
"Why are we doing this if you don't like this?" Caroline asked.
"I have issues with ancestors, but this is a safer magic than any other," Davina stated. "But just a warning, you're about to have a bunch of power boost."
"But the spirits don't like me!" Bonnie pointed out.
"They don't have to, you need to connect, to connect will require repairing what's broken, and to do that you need to commune with the people who make the rules. To do that, we need them to be on the Other Side to talk," Davina explained. She stopped at where the winds were swirling wildly and closed her eyes.
"They're here," she whispered as she reached out into the air and reached for the spirit's hand now.