Chapter 5
Hope sat on the edge of her bed, facing her art supplies while waiting for Freya to walk through the door with whatever it was that she had gone to get. She thought about the fight earlier in the bathroom, the name of the other girl repeating quietly in her head.
'Kara, Kara, Kara.' Almost like swift whispers floating through her brain, seeming almost audible. There was something different about her, something Hope just couldn’t quite pinpoint. The sound of her aunt’s footsteps on the metal balcony pulled her out of her thoughts and Freya entered the room holding a stack of a few thick books and an unusual number of journals. Both her hands were holding the stack from the bottom and her chin was placed on top in an attempt to keep the pile from toppling over.
“Uh, do you need help?” Hope offered.
“No, no I got it,” With a grunt, she dropped the books onto the bed, “I really appreciate the offer though.” Freya sat down next to Hope, the books scattered down next to her.
“There is something about you, about our family, that you need to know. Hope, do you believe in Magic? Or the supernatural?”
Hope stared down at her hands, lying still on her lap, thinking about the question.
“I’m not sure, I mean I know things like aliens like Superman or meta humans like The Flash exist, but I guess I’ve never really thought about it. “
“What about Witches?”
“I probably would have said no before today but now,” She paused, looking back up towards her aunt, “I don’t know.”
Freya stared at the ground in thought for a couple of seconds,
“You’re a Tribrid Hope.”
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Kara landed on the sidewalk, already missing the cool breeze through her hair, A feeling she always enjoyed when flying. Dark fluffy clouds began to close overhead, bringing rain that hadn’t yet begun falling. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath before she began walking up the street to the big mansion with the obvious M’s on either side of the front door.
She quickly made her way up the long walkway to the door and took another deep breath before gently knocking.
It didn’t take long before the door was pulled open, and a tall woman stood in the doorway looking down at Kara with a curious expression. She was wearing a black shirt and black jeans that were all tied together with a pair of black boots.
"Uh, Hi-" Kara paused, the woman was smiling with a genuine look of curiosity in her eyes."Is this the Mikaelson residence?" she asked, smiling back.
"It is." The blonde said, her eyes filled with something of uncertainty and caution. It was gone almost as quick as it had appeared, and Kara hoped the woman didn't think she was a threat.
"Oh, uh- I'm Kara Danvers, I go to school with Hope," She paused to let the woman speak but she just lowered her head slightly with a small nod."I'm here to return this-" She reached into her back pocket and pulled the rose gold bracelet out, holding onto one of the loose ends and raising it up to show the woman. "I believe it belongs to Hope." Kara finished, dropping the bracelet into her other hand and closing her fingers around it to block it from view.
The woman's eyes grew slightly wider, the movement small but still noticeable.She gave another nod of acknowledgment and opened the door wider, stepping aside to allow Kara to enter.
"Thank you.” Kara's words were a bit shaky, she hadn't expected to be invited inside. She stepped through the doorway into a large courtyard, trying her best not to stare at the unfamiliar surroundings and the beautiful furniture, she had never been in such a big room.
She stopped a little ways in, not wanting to be disrespectful. The door gently closed behind her.
"I'm Freya, by the way. I'm sorry I didn't mention that sooner." The woman spoke, leading Kara to a couch and some chairs.
"Oh, you're fine, don't worry about it. It's really nice to meet you Freya." Kara said, sitting down in one of the chairs. She laid both her hands in her lap, the bracelet still gripped tightly in one. She tried to sit up straight, "Hope is in the shower, but I'm sure she will be out soon, if you wouldn't mind waiting here."
Kara smiled and nodded, "That's fine." She watched as Freya gave her one last smile before turning around and making her way to one of the two stairwells on the sides of the clearing. Kara decided to ignore her confusion about the fact that Hope was in the shower, not at the hospital and began to look around at the black railings, trying to ignore the sound of Freya's footsteps on the metal balcony ringing in her ears.
The amount of open and closed doorways Kara could see amazed her. 'A lot of people must live here, ' the thought lead Kara to listen through the house for sounds of anyone else that may be there. The sound of a shower being turned off, and footsteps on the balcony. Kara tried to listen harder but apart from Freya walking, and what Kara assumed was Hope getting out of the shower, the house was silent.
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Freya hadn’t been gone very long and had returned a few minutes later to tell Kara that Hope would just meet her in her room.
After some instructions and a lot of wrong turns she made her way into Hope’s room, steps steady and light. Her heart pounded as she looked around.
The first thing Kara noticed was some small drops of blood on Hope’s bed and a few old dusty books scattered in a small pile by the edge. Kara’s eyes trailed to the floor. A large puddle of dry blood stained the floor before thinning off into a blood trail going around the other side of the bed.
Gingerly, she made her way around the bed, peering towards a nightstand with many blood covered shards lying on the surface. Kara stared at the pile for a moment, taking time to glance at each shard. The guilt inside of her only grew and she pulled her gaze away, then noticing two large white glass doors to her right. She wandered towards them and looked outside, she needed fresh air to calm her nerves.
She placed her hands on the door handles and gently pulled them open, the fresh air filling the space. The feeling was refreshing, and without much thought, she stepped out onto the balcony. The trees underneath waved simultaneously in the wind, and they seemed to stretch forever. If Kara hadn’t been able to see the end, she probably would have believed it.
She leaned forward on the banister, clutching the railing in her grip as she allowed herself to take a deep breath and close her eyes.
“What are-” The sudden sound of Hope’s voice startled Kara and by instinct she spun around, her vision going red. The laser hit the wall above Hope’s easel before the wall burst into flames.
“I’m so sorry, let me-” Before Kara could finish her rambling Hope grabbed a cup that her paintbrushes were in and dumped them out on her bedroom floor before bolting out of the room with it in hand.
Kara flew over Hope’s bed to the fire, taking a deep breath before she tried to use ice breath to put it out, the ability she probably had the least practice with.
Unsurprisingly, she was barely able to get the power to work at all. The small gust of icy wind was able to only dampen the fire a little.
The sound of water running from a faucet reached Kara’s ears and she landed on the wooden floor in front of the easel. It wasn’t till Kara heard Hope’s loud footsteps on the metal balcony that she began to move the easel, trying to avoid anything else getting lit on fire, just in time for Hope to come racing into the room with a small tub of water.
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A few minutes later, Hope stood, trying to catch her breath as she looked at the burnt spot on her wall. Kara watched as the girl lowered her gaze to a pile of artwork she kept behind her easel, the first one being a painting of a beautiful woman with shoulder-length wavy black hair next to a man with a close-shaven beard and ginger brown short hair. There was a hole burnt right through the painting from a flying spark, straight through the woman’s face. It wasn’t a big hole, but it was still noticeable, especially in the light cream color that Hope had used for the women's skin.
“I’m so s-”
“Just stop,” tears filled Hope’s eyes, barely masking the anger behind them. She had one hand pulled up over her face, leaving only her eyes revealed, her other hand clenched into a fist, “Just stop apologizing.” There was silence between the two girls for a few seconds until Kara finally spoke.
“I’ll go,” she said, taking the rose gold bracelet out of her pocket and setting it on Hope’s bed. Hope didn’t respond, only dipping her head slightly in agreement. Kara quickly made her way out of the room onto the metal walkway, immediately being met with heavy raindrops plummeting into the open courtyard of the Mikaelson Mansion.
Kara gazed up into the grey clouds, shaded by the overhang of the roof that covered the metal walkway, observing her flying conditions until a bolt of lightning dropped down in the distance and she began to re-think her previous plan to quickly fly home. Though Lightning couldn’t kill Kara it would still sting and getting struck by lightning would just be the cherry on top of this horrible day.
“It’s supposed to be raining like this all night,” the voice came from Freya as she made her way up the stairs, “Maybe you should stay tonight?” she suggested, “I don’t want you driving in this weather, I think your mom would agree with me.”
“Oh, that’s okay. I’ll be fine. Thank you though,” Kara said, smiling politely at the blonde.
“It’s really no trouble, you can use our phone to call home. I’ll get the guest room ready.” Freya walked past Kara, heading to a room a few doors down from Hope’s.
“That’s okay, I can use mine,” Kara said after a moment, pulling a small and beat-up silver flip phone from her pocket.
‘Just when I thought today couldn’t get any worse.’