Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The water was still cold, but she didn’t care, it was a hot day in the city. Usually she would hone in on all the sounds around her. The honk of cars in traffic, the laughs of kids playing at the park and the hum of boats docking at the pier, but today all those sounds seemed to disappear. Her mind was racing and the only thing she could focus on was that room she found last night. All of those books and symbols, not to mention the seemingly detailed maps on what looked like a police investigation board. She couldn’t wrap her head around it, which means she would have to confront him about everything because she needed answers. She took one more good look out to the lake and took in the breeze coming off the water. She loved the lake, even though it was nestled right up against the city, it was peaceful, and it was hers. It was finally time to leave the peaceful shores and head right into the catastrophe that was waiting for her. 

--

she got to the door and looked around but there was no sign of him. Half of her was relieved and the other half was upset because as much as she didn’t want him to be here, she  needed him to be. Just as she got to the foot of the stairs, he came around the corner with relief in his eyes and ran up to her and held her tight. He let go and looked at her, but the relief had left his eyes and was now taken over with concern.

“Autumn, where have you been? I woke up this morning and you were gone; I’ve been calling everyone I know to see if they have seen you. You had me worried sick!” His tone was now getting slightly sterner.

Autumn looked him in the eye before lowering her head. She knew what she did was dumb, but it was the only thing she could think to do after what she found. “Dad, I’m sorry I didn’t mean to scare you. I was just downtown by Lakeshore.”

He looked confused, “Then why didn’t you tell me where you were going? A little, hey dad I’m heading downtown, isn’t so hard.”

Autumn wanted so badly to lie to him and forget what she saw and just keep living her life in oblivion, but that wasn’t who she was. She needed answers no matter what.

“Dad, I didn’t tell you I left because I found something last night and I didn’t know how to handle it .”

His brows furrowed and his head tilted to the side like a confused puppy.

“Autumn, you know you can tell me anything,” he placed his hands on her shoulders, “What did you find that made you think you couldn’t tell me?”

Autumn looked at her dad who was giving her a kind smile and realized if she wanted her answers she had to tell him.

She took a deep breath, “I found a secret room in your study.”

Her dad’s face went white like he had just seen a ghost.

 --

Autumn stood in the middle of the room taking everything in again. This time she noticed even more than she did last night. One side of the room had a bunch of herbs along the wall. On the table a bunch of candles that looked like they haven’t been used in years, surrounded books with strange symbols. As she was standing there, Autumn noticed her dad was on the other side of the room by the investigation board.

“Dad, what is all this?”

He looked at the board tracing his fingers along a map of New Orleans.

“Do you remember those bedtime stories your mom and I used to tell you?”

“Yeah, the ones about witches, vampires and werewolves but I don’t see what that has to do with this.”

He looked at Autumn and his eyes were pleading with her, like he was trying to explain everything without speaking the words. The crazy part was, she understood.

Autumn chuckled, “You can’t be serious, those were just stories, they aren’t real.”

He just kept looking at her with his eyebrows furrowed and eyes screaming.

Autumn’s  face dropped. “They aren’t real, right dad? Those were just stories, make believe stories, right?”

He took a step toward her, “Sweetie, I know this is a lot to take in, but you have to understand we hid it all to protect you.”

Autumn’s blood started boiling, she could feel the heat rush to her cheeks; tears started to swell in her eyes. He said ‘we’ as in him and her mom. Her mom, the person who she trusted more than anyone in the world, her mom who never lied to her, Her mom who died in front of her, who left Autumn way too soon.

Autumn’s dad could see how worked up she was getting. He stepped forward to try and comfort her.

“Don’t touch me!” She yelled in anger. Autumn felt so much rage inside, like a surge of energy in her veins.

He stood there and looked at her and proceeded to backup, giving her some space.

Autumn glared at him, “so, for sixteen almost seventeen years, you didn’t think I should know that the things that go bump in the night existed? How do you even know this, do you study them or something?”

Autumn’s anger was still there, but her curiosity was getting the best of her. Nothing made sense, and she didn’t want to be left in the dark, not anymore.

He took a seat at the table by the board and rested a hand on his head. He looked stressed, which started pissing Autumn off because out of the two of them, she was the one who was stressed.

“No, sweetie, I don’t study them…” He stood up and went to the board again, “I am one of them.”

The room felt like it was closing in on her. It had to be some sort of dream, scratch that more like a nightmare. It’s impossible. It had to be impossible. Her brain couldn’t even generate words.

“Technically, I’m a werewolf and your mother was a witch. Now I know this is a lot to take in, but you have to understand we did it to protect you.”

Words started to come back to her head, but now Autumn was seriously starting to think this was a fever dream, “What would you need to protect me from?”.

Her dad took a few steps towards her and held his eyes to hers, “from yourself.”

Autumn was even more confused. She stared at her dad sensing that wasn’t all he had to say. She was right.

“You’re a werewolf too.”

Chapter Text

Now she knew he must be joking. As if being told magical beings exist wasn’t enough, to then find out that your parents and supposedly you are one of said magical beings.

“You do realize how ridiculous you sound right?”

“Sweetie, that birthmark on the back of your shoulder runs in our family. We come from a special pack of wolves called the Crescent pack. I have it too.”

He then processed to pull down the corner of his shirt to expose the back of his shoulder, where a mark shaped as a crescent moon sat. It was basically identical to the one that sat on the back of her shoulder. When she was little, her mom used to tell her that mark meant she was strong. She also hasn't heard the name ‘crescent pack’ since those stories her mom used to tell her.

Making the connection, Autumn narrowed her eyes, “Mom used to tell me stories about the crescent pack. About how there was a brother and a sister who were supposed to rule the kingdom, but then a war broke out and they had to flee,” her eyes grew coming to the realization, “So that's true?”

He cracked a small smile, “Your mom got a little carried away with the story telling, so that’s not exactly what happened, but for the most part, yes it’s true.”

“I’m so confused. If I’m a werewolf ,shouldn't I have like turned into one or something?”

He looked hesitant, but with a sigh he responded, “being a werewolf means we carry a curse, a curse that can only be triggered by taking someone’s life.”  

He got really quiet, and immediately Autumn’s heart sank. As wild as all of these stories were, she started to believe them. Her dad has always worn his emotions on his sleeves and everything about him right now, was telling her that it was all true and all so tragic.

“Okay, so care to explain how keeping that a secret from me was meant to protect me because from where I’m standing, it doesn’t feel like it.”

She could feel her cheeks getting hot again.

“Autumn, the world of the supernatural brings nothing but pain and destruction. Your mom and I didn’t want you mixed in with that. We wanted you to have a normal life and to be safe. Believe it or not, there are people out there who don’t take kindly to people like us.”

Autumn’s mind was so cloudy, she just couldn’t think and everything he was saying was making her more upset.

“If people don’t like us, don’t you think I have a right to know why? Did it ever cross your mind that keeping me in the dark would do more harm than good?”

He stared at her with his mouth open like he was ready to say something, but he just closed his eyes and mouth then plopped back down in his chair.

“You’re right. It did cross my mind, but at the time it didn’t seem right. Sweetie, I can’t tell you how sorry I am for keeping this from you, but whatever you want to know I’ll tell you.”

Autumn’s dad seemed broken. She knew he was sorry, and she knew this was hard for him. Part of her felt bad and wanted to let it go, but the other part wanted to know everything.

“I want you to tell me about our family, the crescent pack.”

He smiled, “Okay sweetie.”

--

Autumn’s ears could not believe what they were hearing. In all her sixteen years, she always thought her family was pretty basic, but man was she wrong. She figured that her dad lied about some stuff about their family over the years, since he clearly had no issue lying to her about a whole other world. However, being a single child born in Chicago was a long stretch from what her dad’s life actually was. Autumn’s dad was born in New Orleans to the alpha of the Crescent’s. When he was five his sister was born, but at the same time a war broke out amongst the factions. His parents tried to flee the bayou and get him and his sister to safety. They managed to get him to Chicago, but when he asked his parents where his sister was they told him that she had died back in New Orleans. While dealing with the sadness and confusion of losing his baby sister, his parents left him in Chicago with some friends who promised to take care of him in their absence. His parents told him they would come back, but they never did. From then on Autumn’s dad spent his life trying to forget about his family and the fact that they were ‘special.’ 

In shock Autumn blurted out the first thing on her mind, “Then why do you have a secret room filled with research and maps about werewolves if you tried to forget it all?”

He looked over to the other corner of the room where all the candles and herbs were. A smile snuck out. “Because of your mom.”

Autumn smiled too, but at the same time it made her heart hurt. After the accident they didn’t really talk about her much and before today it felt like her dad tried to ignore it completely. She guessed she was wrong because the way his eyes sparkled and his smile shined just talking about her mom, he loved her and couldn’t forget her even if he wanted to. 

He went on to tell Autumn that her mom was an international student at his university and they were in the same philosophy class together. They ended up in a study group together and long story short they started dating. Four years later after they graduated and got engaged, her mom dropped the bombshell on her dad, that she was a witch. She told him that she didn’t want to keep that secret from him anymore, but little did she know he had his own secret to tell her. 

“She embraced me for who I was and stood by me when it felt like the whole world was against me. She understood what it was like being in that world and helped me learn to accept it. So, then I started to do some digging on my family and tried to piece together the things I remembered.”

He looked at Autumn with his smile still, but then it started to fade.

“I found out a lot about our family and then with your mom's family” He paused, “That’s why we kept it from you to keep you safe. And your mom did everything to protect you even if it meant she couldn’t protect herself.”

Tears started to stream down his face and she felt a pit in her stomach, a feeling Autumn hasn't felt since the day they told her that her mom died. 

Tears gathered in her eyes, “Dad, what do you mean?”

“The night of the accident, mom called me and told me that you two were being followed by some guys in suits. So, she took Lakeshore home to try and lose them. She must have been focused on where they were; she didn’t see the car changing lanes.” 

He was fully crying now and so was Autumn because that was exactly what happened. Her mom was driving way faster than she had ever seen her drive and she kept looking at her rear view mirror. Next thing Autumn remembered was screaming because a car had swerved into their lane but her mom was still looking behind them. She slammed on the brakes and the car flipped. After that the only thing Autumn remembered was waking up in the hospital to the news that her mom had died in that accident. 

There was a river of tears falling off of Autumn’s face, “Dad, what else happened?” She said so quietly because she couldn’t breathe. 

He looked at her with red eyes and a tear soaked face, “Your mom casted a protection spell over you, but she was so worried about you that she didn’t cast one on herself.” 

Autumn was shaking and the tears were running down my face like a fire hose, “No, no, no there’s no way. How could you even know? No.”

He grabbed Autumn and held her tight, but she was shaking so much that her body went limp sending them both to the floor. Autumn cried and cried into his chest.

“Sweetie, you should have died in that crash, but you walked out without a scratch on you. The doctors said it was a miracle, but it wasn’t a miracle, it was magic.”

An echo rang throughout Autumn’s head, I’m the reason my mom died .

Chapter Text

Autumn had started spending more time in the secret room. She was trying to absorb everything and anything she could, so she started with her werewolf side. Her dad had books and journals and newspaper headlines and maps. It was all so much that at times she almost forgot this was real. While there was plenty of information on werewolves in general, there was little subject matter on the Crescent pack. Autumn’s pack. However, the little she did find was mind blowing. She learned about the turning process and how after their first transition, a Crescent had the ability to turn at will. She thought about her dad. Had he killed someone? Could he turn at will whenever he wanted? Thinking about her dad, made her think about her mom. 

Autumn needed a break from all the wolf stuff, so she decided to wander over to her moms side. Her fingers grazed over the objects on the table; books, herbs, and candles, all covered in dust. Tears gathered in her eyes. The echo rang through her head again, I’m the reason my mom is dead . Truly it hadn’t let up since Autumn learned about what her mom did. Her dad kept insisting that it was not her fault, but what else was she supposed to think. The reason they were in the car to begin with was because of Autumn. 

Autumn shook the thought once she heard footsteps. 

“Taken to witchcraft I see.” 

Autumn smiled at her dad, “Yeah, well I did all the digging I could do on the werewolf side so I figured I’d check out the witchy side.”

He came over to the table where her mom had some open books and half melted candles. He traced his fingers over them and smiled. 

“Your mom was an amazing witch. She was so powerful and so smart, she basically knew everything.”

All of a sudden a look came over his face like he had just remembered something. 

“Autumn, don’t move. I have something for you.”

He ran back down the stairs and Autumn could hear him rummaging through some stuff in his study. Then she heard him sprinting up the stairs. 

“Sweetie, you know that we kept all of this from you to keep you safe and we wanted you to have a normal life...”

Autumn became quickly annoyed, “Yeah dad, I’m aware and I have forgiven you and mom and I’m moving on, so what?” 

“Well, as you got older we constantly went back and forth on whether we should tell you or not. Mom really wanted to tell you, but I didn’t want to so we compromised and decided when the time was right we would tell you.”

Autumn cooled down slightly, “So, I guess the right time never came.” 

“Your right, it hasn’t come because we decided to wait until you were eighteen. Mom got so excited that she already had your gift picked out, but then the accident and well happy birthday Autumn.”

Holy shit. Autumn had been so wrapped up in this bombshell of the supernatural world that she forgot it was her seventeenth birthday. 

He handed her a shoe box wrapped in brown paper and string that had Autumn written on the top in her mom’s handwriting. She looked up at her dad in confusion. 

He shrugged, “You already know, so what’s the use of waiting till your eighteen.”

She put the box down onto the table and wrapped him up in a hug, “Thanks dad, this means a lot to me.”

He kissed her forehead, “I love you sweetie.”

He pulled away and let out a sigh, “Well, I’ll leave you to it up here. I’ll see you when I get back from work.”

After Her dad left, Autumn just stared at the box. She had a few years to heal, but with all this new info about her mom it felt like she lost her all over again. But right now her mom gave her a gift and she was excited to open it. Once the paper was ripped, Autumn took the lid off and on top of the pile of things was a note. 

Dear Autumn,

I know everything papa and I told you is a lot but we love you so much.

I know you’re a werewolf, but I got you a few things in case you wanted 

To try out some magic. I am so proud of you mija and you have turned into

A beautiful young woman. No matter what happens just know I am always here for

You and I love you with all my heart.

Love,

Mama 

Man, Autumn hated crying. Tears started streaming down her face. She wished her mom were here and she wished her mom would have been able to give her this on her eighteenth birthday. At least, she had this. She had this note and she loved it. 

Autumn wiped her tears from her cheeks and started looking at the other things in the box. Autumn’s mom gave her two candles, a mixture of herbs, a stone bowl, and at the bottom a notebook. She opened the notebook and saw her mom’s handwriting again,  Witchcraft for beginners. 

To my little witch,

Power does not lie in the hands of one, but in the hands of many

Autumn flipped through the pages and saw all kinds of spells and elixirs. Immediately she was confused. Why did she give her all of this? She knew Autumn’s a werewolf, which means she can’t be a witch. Could she?  It was stupid, but her curiosity got the best of her again. Autumn flipped through the book looking for a simple spell and found one and lucky for her, her mom wrote down instructions. 

Autumn closed her eyes and concentrated on a candle in front of her. 

She whispered, “Ignalusa.”

Autumn opened her eyes and the candle in front of her was lit. Then she looked up. All the candles in the room were lit.

--

“Dad, I’m telling you I said the spell and it worked. I did magic.”

He looked at her in bewilderment, you would have thought that she was speaking to him in another language. 

“Sweetie, you have been through a lot in the past few weeks. Maybe the stress got to you and you imagined it or saw it in a dream.”

Autumn couldn’t believe it. A few weeks ago this man told her there is a whole world of supernatural creatures, but he can’t believe that she did magic? Unbelievable. 

“Fine, then I guess I’m just going to have to show you. C’mon.”

Autumn dragged him up to the secret room and stood him in the middle of the room. He looked ready to be unimpressed and waiting to give her the old ‘I told you so’ speech. However, she refused to give him that satisfaction and looked at one of the candles and concentrated. 

“Ignalusa.” 

Just like before, all of the candles in the room lit up. It was so beautiful the way the candle light made the room feel alive and have a sense of purpose. As she scanned the room, she looked over at her dad who had his mouth open and eyes wide as if he was just now learning about magic. 

“See, I told you.” Autumn said with a smirk. 

His amazement quickly turned into worry.

“I can’t believe it.” He paused, “That shouldn’t be possible.” 

Autumn was yet again confused, “What, why not?” 

He paced back and forth biting his thumbnail and looked at the spell books and back to Autumn. He then went over to her mom’s library and started rummaging through the books. He finally decided on one and flipped through its pages. He then made his way over to Autumn.

“Autumn, read this.” 

She looked at the book and then back to her dad, “umm dad it’s in Latin...I don’t really understand Latin.” 

He did a double take of the book and Autumn. “Oh haha right, sorry.” 

Then he began reading from the book.

“In the realm of the supernatural there must be order and balance. The blood of one creature cannot be transferred to another thus stopping the supernatural bloodline of one creature.”

It made sense but then again it didn’t because if it were true, Autumn wouldn’t be able to do magic.

“Autumn, you’re a wolf. You shouldn’t be able to do magic, it’s against the balance of the supernatural world.” 

As he said that, She remembered something that her mom had written in the Witchcraft for Beginners book she made her. She flipped through to the last page,

Remember, magic always has a loophole. 

Con todo mi corazón,

Mama 

Autumn immediately showed her dad the page of the book. 

“Dad, what does that mean? How does magic have a loophole?”

She looked to her dad for answers, but he was still examining the page. His eyes read over it at least ten times in the span of a few seconds. 

 He finally looked up, and his face was determined. Autumn hadn’t seen him like that since she was a kid. 

“I don’t know what this means,” he paused and shook his head, “what any of it means, but I think I know someone who might.”

Autumn stared at him, thrown off by his sudden attentiveness.

“Who?”

His eyes stared back at hers.

“Your Aunt Lucy.”

Chapter Text

They knocked three times on the door and with each knock Autumn was terrified. Why would her aunt Lucy know what's going on? How could she do magic? Was there such a thing as a werewitch? 

The sound of the door creaking open snapped Autumn out of her wild train of thought. 

In the doorway stood a woman with chaotic blonde curls that swept past baby blue eyes. Not much taller than Autumn, but with a personality that might as well have towered over her.  

She scanned between Autumn and her dad then her smile grew. She jumped at Autumn to bring her into a death grip of a hug and kissed her cheeks.

“Happy birthday kiddo!” she squealed after releasing her.

Autumn couldn’t help but smile back. Being around her aunt Lucy always filled her with a certain kind of energy that made her feel alive. It was so strong she almost forgot why she was here. 

Her dad stepped towards Lucy, “Lu we need to talk to you, now.”

Sensing his urgency, her smile dimmed and her brows furrowed in a way that changed her whole demeanor. Autumn had never seen her like this before.

--

Lucy led them straight to the kitchen. Not shocking. Whenever something was bothering her or she felt stress she made tea, and she was feeling really stressed. She poured a mug for Autumn and her dad and they sat around a small wooden round table. 

“So, what do you need to talk about?” Her eyes were deadlocked on Autumn’s dad. 

He blurted out, “Autumn can do magic. How is that possible?”

Lucy’s eyes darted to Autumn’s. She gave her a good look then switched her gaze back to Autumn’s dad. 

“No, that’s impossible.” She shook her head, “ She’s a wolf, she has the mark to prove it.”

Autumn looked to her dad who had taken his glasses off and was now rubbing the bring of his nose.

“Lu I know it’s impossible, that’s why we’re here. You have to have some idea how this could have happened or why it's happening.”

Lucy looked flustered. Then her eyes narrowed and became still.

“Since when did Autumn find out about all of this.”

Autumn was sick of them going back and forth like she wasn’t there, so she decided to speak up.

“I found my parents' secret room last week and made dad tell me everything.”

Both of the adults settled back into their seats, realizing they hadn’t included her in the conversation. 

Lucy reached her hand out and placed it on Autumn’s. Autumn found her warm eyes and a  reassuring smile. 

“I’m glad you know kiddo. I’ve been telling your dad for years that he needed to tell you.”

Autumn smiled back, but then the curiosity set in. Wait, how did Lucy know about all of this?

“Dad, how does Lucy know about all of this?”

Autumn was staring at her dad for answers.

“Well, sweetie aunt Lucy is…”

“I’m a witch kiddo.” Lucy blurted it out before Autumn’s dad could. 

Autumn just sat there staring at her aunt and kept thinking...what the actual fuck. 

She shouldn’t even be shocked at this point, like of course Lucy was a witch. What’s next, are they going to tell her that the mail carrier is actually a fairy. 

The wheels were still turning in her head so much so she hadn’t responded. 

“Autumn, are you okay?” Her dad said while slightly shaking her arm.

She snapped back to reality, “Yeah, I’m fine just thinking about how everyone I’ve ever known is some sort of supernatural creature.”

Lucy and her dad exchanged a glance and they both fell silent. 

Autumn was so over this supernatural news that seemed to be crashing into her life. She got up abruptly from the table and stormed upstairs. She knew Lucy and her dad wouldn’t follow her. And they didn’t. 

Once she got to the top of the stairs she went into the spare bedroom. When Autumn was little she would have sleepovers at Lucy’s with her mom. They would stay up late and watch all kinds of movies, baking cookies or cakes or whatever Autumn wanted. They would make forts in the living room and tell stories. Looking back on it, they were stories about Autumn's family, the Crescent pack. Then, at the end of the night her mom and her would crash in the spare bedroom. 

She stood in the doorway examining the room. It was different now. Instead of the large mattress, there was a small day bed against the wall. The dresser was replaced by a drawing table surrounded by all kinds of plants, some Autumn couldn’t even recognize. The baby pink walls were now covered in a Victorian floral wallpaper and was littered with what looked like hundreds of photos; each in unique frames. 

Autumn began gazing at all the photos. Many were of different places that Lucy had gone, some were of Lucy’s family and some of her friends. She made her way over to the drawing table and her eyes fell on a picture situated directly above the table. 

On the left was Lucy, with her curly blonde hair and blue eyes, pale complexion and looking gorgeous as always. In the middle there was a woman with short straight black hair, brown eyes, and dark complexion who was also stunning. Then on the right a woman with wavy brown hair, olive skin tone, hazel eyes, and a smile that sparkled. Autumn knew who she was immediately because they shared the same eyes. It was her mom. 

“Those are my best friends in the whole world.” Lucy was standing in the doorway.

Lucy made her way over to Autumn’s side. She smiled so fondly at the picture.

“Man, that was a long time ago.”

Autumn knew her mom and Lucy were friends for a long time, but she wasn’t sure of who the other woman was.

“I’ve never seen this picture of you and my mom and I’ve never seen that woman in the middle before. Who is she?”

Lucy lifted up the frame and brought it closer to the two of them. She pointed at the woman, “This is my friend Bonnie Bennett, I met her a long time ago in Virginia. I introduced her to your mom and the three of us became the Three Musketeers... Best friends.” 

She stared at the photo longingly. “Did she...I mean is she…”

Lucy looked her way and gave her a grin, “She’s alive and well and currently lives in New York with her girlfriend.”

Autumn could feel her face get warm, slightly embarrassed that she even asked if Bonnie was dead. However, in her defense one of the three was gone so how was she to know. 

“She’s a witch too ya know, one of the most powerful I’ve ever met,” she nudged Autumn, “right next to your mom.”

“Dad said she basically knew everything.” Autumn looked to Lucy.

“Oh kiddo, I wish you could have seen her in action. She taught me so much,” Lucy looked back at Autumn, “and apparently she’s teaching you too.” 

Lucy lifted up the notebook that Autumn's mom left her. She went over to the day bed and sat. Autumn followed.  

Lucy handed the book back to Autumn who took it and held it tight. 

“I figured out why you're able to do magic, kiddo.”

Autumn’s eyes grew bigger, “how?”

“Autumn, you have to understand that you come from a special bloodline.”

Autumn knew where this was going, “Yeah, I know the Crescents can turn at will which make them special, but what does that have to do with magic?”

Lucy gave her a little side grin, “True, but not the bloodline I was talking about,” she took in a deep breath, “Your mom comes from a very powerful coven, one of the most powerful in South America. Normally, if someone of that caliber reproduced with a werewolf the gene would cancel out and the offspring could potentially possess some magic, but not enough to use it.”

Autumn wasn’t following, “okay, but I did.”

“I know and that’s because both of your bloodlines are special. You have never killed anyone so your cuse hasn’t been activated, so technically you're not a wolf yet. Which means your moms magic flows freely, making you a witch.” 

Okay so Autumn was special, but for how long she wondered.

“What happens if I trigger my curse? Would I still be able to do magic.”

Lucy leaned back, not expecting such a question.

“I, uh...I don’t know about that one kiddo.”

The two just sat there for a moment. The silence was nice for once.

“Let’s go downstairs, your dad and I have to talk to you about something.”

--

Sitting at the table, Autumn felt like she was in trouble. Her dad and Lucy were sitting next to each other across from Autumn looking like they were waiting for someone to start talking.

“Autumn, while you were upstairs I called Bonnie for some advice on your situation.”

Autumn's eyes narrowed but continued to listen.

Her dad cleared his throat and repositioned himself, “Sweetie, there is a school where supernatural kids can go to learn how to control their powers and learn all about the supernatural world.” Autumn’s dad was smiling and nodding as to reassure his words. 

Autumn’s eyes were darting back and forth between her dad and Lucy.

“And…” 

“Kiddo, we think it would be really good for you to go there.”

And there it was. The piece of resistance.

“I’m not going, I don’t need to go to a school to teach me, I have mom’s books in the secret room and all your research dad, why would I need to leave?”

Her dad looked disappointed and almost angry? 

“Autumn, you can’t even read half of the books up there, most of them are in Latin. Besides, there will be witches there your own age so you can have people to confide in.”

Lucy decided to chime in, “Kiddo, Bonnie’s nieces go there and they love it.”

Autumn had had it with this, “Look, I’m sure it's a cool school and all but I’m going into my senior year of high school, so I’m not leaving.”

“Autumn, magic can be very dangerous if you don’t know how to use it and control it. Going to this school can teach you that. I’m sorry sweetie, but you're going.” 

Autumn’s face was red hot. This is not what she wanted and she wouldn’t go down without a fight.

As her anger grew and so did her powers. 

The lights started to flicker, throughout the house. The cabinets in the kitchen flew open and the table started to shake.

Lucy knew what was happening, “Autumn, you need to calm down.”

Still angry and not paying attention to what was happening around her, Autumn let out one final protest.

“I AM NOT LEAVING,” her shout sent a shock wave through the house.

Autumn finally saw what she had done. 

Her dad and Lucy took cover under the table and peaked up when the shaking had stopped. The place looked like a tornado had run through it. They looked at each other then back to Autumn who was scanning the area.

A single tear fell from her eyes, “I did this?”

Lucy and her dad nodded in sync. Lucy stood up and scooped Autumn into her arms. She was shaking and clinging to Lucy.

“Magic is powerful kiddo, you have to learn to control it,” Lucy whispered to Autumn. 

Autumn slowly let go of Lucy and whipped her tears. She looked to her dad who was looking at her with sad eyes. She went up to him and hugged him. Once she let go, she muttered,

“I’ll go.”

Chapter Text

They pulled up in the late evening to gates that had a giant ‘S’ on the front. They had finally arrived at the Salvatore Boarding School for the Young and Gifted. Driving up the way, Autumn began to panic. She agreed on going weeks ago after a disturbing display of her power erupted at her aunt Lucy’s, but she only did so out of fear. That moment shook Autumn’s core and made her almost want to never do magic again. Even though she knew it would be good for her, she still didn’t want to go. They parked in front of the main doors, where a man was waiting. He seemed rough in his expression. Next to him was a boy that seemed to be Autumn’s age. He was wearing a yellow sweater that had the same ‘S’ as the front gate, with plaid pants and some fancy sneakers. Unlike the man he had kind eyes.

Autumn didn’t want to move. She just sat there staring at the road wind down back through the gates and wanted nothing more than to follow that path.

“Autumn, we gotta get out, they are waiting for you.”

She came back into the moment, letting that thought float away. She shook her head and proceeded to get out and was now standing in front of the two strangers.

“Autumn it is so nice to meet you. My name is Dr. Saltzman and I’m the headmaster.” He held out his hand to shake which Autumn did so unenthusiastically. “This is MG, my student assistant and tour guide.”
MG held out his hand with a big smile on his face, which made Autumn smile just a bit. She gladly took his hand. “Hey Autumn, it’s cool to meet ya!”

“Nice to meet you too MG.”

As the introductions went on her dad was getting her things from the car. He started to waddle over with all her things, when MG caught sight of him.

“Oh, let me help you with that sir.” Before Autumn could even blink, MG was back in front of her with two of her bags.

Autumn's eyes were like that of a deer in headlights, “How did you- wait what…”

MG gave her a side smile, “It’s cool Autumn, I’m a vampire so I have cool super powers.”

For the sake of not wanting to sound dumb, Autumn just smiled and nodded, “Right, of course.” She was pretty clueless, her dad and aunt didn’t really prepare her for vampires.

Now Autumn’s dad was by her side with the rest of her things and seemed to be gazing at the school, trying to make sure it was good enough for his daughter.

Dr. Saltzman noticed the man looking at the school, he knew it was a fatherly gaze.
“You must be Autumn’s dad,” held out his hand for a handshake and her dad took it warmly, “Don’t worry, Autumn is in good hands here.”

Autumn’s dad gave the man a warm smile, “Thank you.”

“MG and I will take your things to your room so you can have a minute to say goodbye to your dad Autumn.”

She gave the man a little smile. MG had already grabbed another bag and was gone and Dr. Saltzman followed right behind.

Autumn turned to her dad, “you know dad it’s not too late to go back home.”

Her dad chuckled, “As much as I would love to have you home, you need to be here sweetie.”

She hung her head and stared at the ground, “This isn’t fair.”

He put a hand gently on her shoulder and tried to find her eyes, “You keep thinking of this as a punishment and it’s not. This is an amazing opportunity. You have no idea how lucky you are that a place like this even exists sweetie. Don’t dwell on it, use it.”

She finally met his eyes and tears started to gather. She had never been away from her dad. She was scared, she was anxious and all she wanted to do was feel safe. But she knew she couldn’t tell her dad this. He wanted her to succeed and be the best version of herself she could be and she didn’t want to let him down. “Okay dad, I’ll try.”

His eyes began to water and he pulled her in for a hug, the last hug for a while. She felt like a little kid again on the first day of kindergarten not wanting to let go of her dad. Just like in kindergarten she let go and he said the same words, “I love you to the moon and back sweetie.”

With those words he wiped his tears and headed back into the car. As he drove away he waved and didn’t stop until Autumn was no longer in sight.

Autumn stood there staring at the road when she felt a small breeze brush pass her. MG was standing next to her. “Autumn, you ready?”

She looked to MG and gave him half a smile, “As ready as I’ll ever be.”

--

MG asked Autumn if she wanted to join him and some friends for dinner, but truly she just wanted to get settled in.

“Hey don’t sweat it, if you're up for it you can hang with us tomorrow,” He stopped in front of door 16, “well, this is it.” He opened the door and it was nothing that Autumn imagined. This room was huge and had two full sized beds. There were two sets of dressers and wardrobes and a gorgeous bay window. The bed closest to the window was empty and the one a few feet away had all of Autumn’s stuff on it.

“Do I not have a roommate?”

“They just finished renovating this room and since you are the only new kid this late in the semester, it’s all yours at least for now anyways.”

Autumn walked over to her things and tried to gather the fact that she was actually there. She noticed MG was still at the door.

“Thanks for the help MG, I really appreciate it.”

“Any time seriously, I know this is probably hella weird for you but this place is awesome. Also, I know I was assigned to help you out but that doesn’t mean we can’t be friends.”

For the first time since she stepped foot at this school, Autumn smiled a genuine smile.
“Thanks MG.”

MG smiled, “No problem, get some rest. I’ll be by bright and early to help get you to classes in the morning.”

“Sounds good, goodnight.”

“Night Autumn.”

For the first time all day she was alone. Usually she always felt alone, but this time she truly was, alone.

It didn’t take her long to get herself situated. She decided she wanted the bed closest to the window, so when she felt restless she could gaze out with no problem. With her bed made and belongings put away, Autumn plopped down on her bed. With all the adrenaline of a new place, it finally hit Autumn that she was exhausted. Without realizing it, Autumn fell fast asleep.

--

Autumn woke to a bright light in her face. It was the sunlight coming in from the window. It was morning? Autumn hadn’t even remembered falling asleep. In a panic, she darted out of bed to look at the time. Shit. It was already 7:30 am and MG would be coming by to guide her to her classes at 8. With seemingly vampire speed Autumn was able to shower, do her hair, put on some light make-up and get dressed in her new uniform just as MG knocked on the door.

“Autumn, it’s MG.”

Struggling to get her bag ready for classes she yelled, “just a minute.”

Seconds later the door opened and Autumn was greeted with that warm MG smile that she was introduced to last night.

“Ayy she lives, how was your first night?”

She closes the door and they start walking down the hall.

“It was okay, I don’t really remember falling asleep though, I guess I was really tired.”

MG nods along, “Yeah, it can be a bit overwhelming when you first get here but lucky for you, you got an MG.”

Autumn found it nice how friendly and fun the boy was being. So, she decided to indulge him.

“True, lucky me I get a super hero to show me around the school.”

MG smiled so big and his eyes almost shined, “Hell yeah, that’s what I’m talking about.”

Autumn couldn’t help but laugh at MG who was now posing as a superhero.

The two continued to talk and found they liked a lot of the same music and movies. They were so caught up in conversation that they almost walked right past Autumn’s class.

“Listen all I’m saying is Dracula is the goat.”

“And all I’m saying is that Frankenstein could so destroy Dracula.”

They stopped just outside the classroom, “Yeah well, we will finish this up after class. Because you clearly don’t know what you're talking about.”

Autumn starts walking towards the room when she notices that MG isn’t next to her.

“Are you coming?” She gestures towards the classroom.

“No, we don’t have the same classes but I’m just down the hall and I’ll meet you right here after class.”

A little disappointed, Autumn shook her head.

“Wait, what class is this again?”

MG started to shuffle around his bag and pulled out a paper, “Sorry, I forgot to give this to you earlier but its History of the Supernatural.”

He handed Autumn her class schedule and before she could look up, he was gone.
Ugg. Autumn hated when he did that.

With nowhere else to go Autumn went to her first class as a Salvatore student.

--

Autumn slammed the door once she got back to her room. Her first day did not go well. In her first class she was so lost she nearly walked out and when she asked the teacher for help they simply said, “looks like you have some catching up to do.” Then, she waited for MG who never came and so she ventured by herself and got lost. By the time she figured out where to go it was time for her third class, potions. That was a nightmare because she got paired with this girl Alyssa Chang, who while gorgeous was a total bitch. Autumn was so worked up about her day that she didn’t even attempt to go to her last class.

She paced around her room and her head was spinning. She didn’t like it here. She gave it a fair chance and it blew up right in her face. But she couldn’t go home, her dad and aunt would be so disappointed. Autumn couldn’t wrap her head around much but she knew she needed to get the hell away from the school.

She took off her uniform and put on regular clothes and got the hell out of there. She remembered driving through the center of the town Mystic Falls and figured it would be a nice place to cool off.

--

Being in the town made Autumn feel normal again. Getting coffee from a coffee shop, getting lunch at a bar and grill, walking in a park. It was a bit of sanity from her rather insane day. It was so relaxing to Autumn that she wandered around the town until nightfall. As the sky turned darker and the stars came out, she sat on a bench in the middle of town. It was empty, no one out and about except the few locals at the bar.

As she sat there, she realized how ridiculous she was being. She had a bad first day, that didn’t mean it would all be bad, right? Did it suck? Yes, but she didn’t truly give it a fair chance. Damn, she hated when her dad's logic got to her head. Taking in that last bit of normalcy, she decided to head back to school.

As she was walking, she heard a man's voice shouting. She looked and found some drunk dude standing in an alley behind the bar. She kept walking, but this time he shouted louder and this time Autumn recognized it as a catcall. Fucking disgusting. But this isn’t new because Autumn was from a city and she’s heard her fair share. Just like she would at home, she kept her eyes looking forward and kept walking. The shouting stopped, but the next thing she knew someone had a tight grip on her arm. It was the drunk dude. She turned as he grabbed a hold of her other arm.

“What’s wrong, scared of a good time.”

Quickly Autumn kicked him in the balls, which made him let go of her. However, she was now severely pissed off and wanted to teach this creep not to fuck with girls. So, she punched him as hard as she could dead center in the face. This sent the man to the ground. Happy with the result of the punch she leaned over him.

“Don’t ever touch me or another girl like that again you fucking piece of …”

As she was yelling, she realized that he wasn’t moving. Not even a little. Then she saw the blood.

When the man fell back from the punch he must have fell and hit his head on the curb.

Autumn was in a panic. She just killed a man. Oh fuck she just killed someone. She looked around and didn’t see anyone. There was no other choice. She ran.

She made a break for it into the woods off the main road. She didn’t want anyone to stop her in case someone found the body. She was running so hard that she could feel her legs burning and her chest was heaving from the quick intake of air.

All of a sudden there was a piercing pain in her spine. Autumn fell to the ground. Now all of her body was burning. It felt like lava seeping through her veins. Then there was the sound. That god awful sound and then the screams. Every bone in her body was breaking. In Autumn’s mind, she was going to die. More and more pain engulfed her body, she couldn’t hold on much longer.

She looked up to the sky and the moon was shining with full vibrancy. As she lowered her gaze, out of the corner of her eye she saw MG. Moments later a short girl with auburn hair was at his side along with a taller girl with blonde hair.

“Oh my god, Hope what do we do.” MG shreeked.

The auburn hair girl focused on Autumn while responding, “You and Lizzie get out of here and get a transition cell ready.”

MG and Lizzie lingered a bit too long for her liking.

“Now!”

MG swooped the blonde hair girl in his arms and was gone in seconds.

Another sharp pain shot through Autumn's legs, bringing her closer to the ground wailing in pain.

She could hear the girl trying to talk to her.

“Hey, I know this is awful but you can do this. Focus on my voice, not the pain.”

Autumn was sure she was dying, but seeing no other option she obliged.

Autumn concentrated on the girl's voice. As she was listening she could feel more and more bones breaking but she did what she was told.

“Don’t fight it, the more you fight it the more it hurts and the longer it takes.”

After what Autumn thought was surely Hell, the pain was gone but something was different. Autumn’s vision was in black and white and her gaze was much shorter. Her nose was overloading on smells.

It hit Autumn like a semi-truck. She just transitioned, she’s now a werewolf.

So caught up in her mind she almost forgot the auburn hair girl was there.

“Hey, hey it’s okay I’m not going to hurt you. I’m just gonna put you to sleep.”

Autumn couldn’t figure out what the hell she was talking about.

Then the girl waved her hand and everything went black.