Chapter Text
Josie was walking around the woods trying to clear her head. She had been restless all day and couldn’t relax enough to sleep when night finally came. She had tried rolling around in bed for a few hours, but her mind just wouldn’t stop.
Josie knew her father still wasn’t thrilled with her, with what happened with the knife, but he was pretending everything was okay and normal in public but then he was also being extra cagey and spending a lot of time locked in his office. Josie had wanted to talk to him again, but it seemed her father had been hiding from everyone. Something had happened while her father was out. She didn’t know what but could tell it was big.
All she knew was that a knife was taken then a few hours later her dad and Hayley returned with Hope and Landon and the knife then they had a long conversation in her dad’s office which he made sure to keep secret, then after they left her dad had asked a couple witches to help with a boundary spell to seal the knife away some place in the school. He had never asked Josie or Lizzie for help in any of it. Josie wasn’t sure why their father was keeping them in the dark.
She still didn’t believe Hope had anything to do with taking the knife but her coming back to school with Landon and the knife made it clear she knew something. Josie wasn’t sure why she trusted the other girl so much already, Josie tended to see the best in people, but it felt different than that. Also, if Hope had taken the knife Josie was sure her father never would have just let her walk out of the school.
Josie got pulled out of her thoughts by a loud snap. She froze, slowly turning around, but she didn’t see anything. She picked up her pace and headed back to the school. She knew no one should be out in the woods but they lived in a dangerous world.
Josie heard another snap and picked up the pace. She was so busy focusing on looking behind her trying to figure out what was out there with her, when she heard the snap again, it hadn’t come from behind her but from right in front of her.
Josie stopped, whipping her head around only to see a giant stone creature in front of her. It towered over her. She could see wings peeking out from behind the creature but they, like the rest of it, were made out of solid stone. The monsters face seemed frozen in a terrifying snarling expression. It was now so quiet that the only thing Josie could hear was her own heart beating, if it weren’t for that Josie was sure she had stopped breathing.
The creature had long razor-sharp claws. It had its arms extended out as it slowly stalked towards Josie. Josie still hadn’t moved. She could only stare at the monster’s face. Its eyes were glowing red. It had long fangs to go with its claws. The monster was close enough that Josie could see the blood dripping from the monster’s mouth, she looked down and saw blood still coated the claws, it wasn’t even dry yet.
Before the monster could make her another victim Josie finally came back to herself and took off at a full sprint. This time she didn’t try looking behind her. Even though she couldn’t hear it she knew it wasn’t far behind.
She kept running until she ran into something full force, it felt like slamming into a brick wall. Josie didn’t realize it was a person until she was falling backwards, and two hands wrapped around her arms stabilizing her.
When Josie finally looked at who she had run into she was met with the most piercing blue eyes. She knew who she had run into, she would never forget those eyes, Hope.
Josie was struggling to catch her breath as she asked what Hope was doing out there. She wasn’t sure why Hope would be lurking about their school at night. Hope told her she got alerted to another monster and held up her wrist showing off the bracelet that had a glowing red light.
Josie was to focused on the fact the girl said another monster. That meant there had been more monsters. Then she learned that her dad had apparently known about the monsters and neglected to tell her or anyone else about them.
Josie was telling Hope about what she saw when their conversation was cut short by a piercing roar. Josie stumbled back a little as she turned to see the creature stalking towards them again.
“Shit, gargoyle,” Hope whispered. Josie shot her a confused look. Monsters were clearly not new information to Hope.
Hope flawlessly pushed Josie behind her so she was all that stood between Josie and the gargoyle. Josie wasn’t sure why, but she felt safer already, though she didn’t want the other girl getting hurt trying to protect her.
“You need to run,” Hope said. Her voice left no room for argument.
Josie hesitated a moment. She didn’t want to leave the girl to fight the creature on her own. She didn’t want to be someone who was forced to run away when things got bad. She wanted to be someone who could help and fight back when her friends needed it.
“Run!” Hope said again. Despite herself Josie knew she had to do what the other girl said.
Josie ran faster than she ever had in her life. She hated leaving the other girl, but it was clear her being there was a distraction. If Hope was too busy worrying about Josie, then she wouldn’t be able to focus on the monster. Hope had called it a gargoyle. Josie was still trying to process the fact that monsters were real and that her father apparently knew about them. She was also just a siphoner and knew she was useless in a fight.
When Josie finally made it back to the school, she burst through the doors slamming them shut behind her. She instantly ran into her father after that letting out a yelp.
“Where the hell have you been?” Her dad asked angry.
Josies eyes were wide, she kept looking from her dad back to the closed doors as if she could see through them and all the way back to Hope and the monster. “There was a…” she was panting unable to form her sentences. “There was a…”
Alaric’s eyebrows knitted together in confusion. His face quickly went from angry headmaster to concerned father.
“What? What happened?” He asked much softer, resting both hands on Josies shoulders trying to calm her. “What did you see?”
Josie took a couple deep breaths before she tried speaking again. “There was a monster.”
Josie could feel Alaric tense by the way his grip on her shoulders tightened just slightly.
“Where?” He asked now serious.
“In the woods.” Josie started to get frantic again. “I was in the woods. I know I wasn’t supposed to be, but I needed to clear my head. I was in the woods when I heard a noise, and I couldn’t see anything, but I got scared so I started to head back when I saw it…” she trailed off remembering the monster towering before her.
“What did you see?”
“I-I don’t know. Hope-”
“Hope was here?” Alaric cut her off.
“Yeah, she said she got an alert another monster showed up. I was running for my life when I ran into her. She told me to run.” Josie zoned out no longer focusing on her father, it was as if she was staring through him. “She saved me. She stayed behind to fight that thing. I just left her.” Josie collapsed to her knees.
Alaric caught his daughter not letting her fall to the floor. He helped stand her back up and knew she couldn’t stand on her own, so he let her lean most of her weight on him as they went back to his office.
“We need to go back out there. We need to help her.” Josie’s voice was almost a whisper.
“We will. I need to call Hayley first.”
Josie was sitting in her father’s office, her hands clasped together against her mouth. She was replaying everything in her mind. She knew Hope told her to run but she should have stayed and helped. She should have done more. She really was just a powerless siphon witch.
Josie wasn’t sure how long she was drowning herself in her own guilt and self-doubt but the next thing she knew Hayley was walking through the door.
“What happened?” Hayley asked. She glanced down at Josie; her eyes softened. “Are you okay?”
All Josie could do was nod. She didn’t interact with Hayley much. She knew her mom knew her from a long time ago and there was some drama, but they had since moved past that. She knew that Hayley came by once a month at most to drop off new files for recruits or bring some in herself. Hayley really cared about helping kids it seemed. She was also nice to Josie and Lizzie every time she saw them even if it was just a simple smile or wave. As she got older though Josie noticed there always seemed to be a sadness or longing in Hayley’s eyes whenever she looked at the twins.
“There’s another monster,” Alaric said.
“Hope!” Josie jumped up from the chair frantic again. “She’s still out there. She told me to run. I just left her. She stayed to fight the monster.”
“Hey,” Hayley said as softly as Josie ever heard her speak. The hybrid put both her hands on Josie’s shoulders giving her soothing rubs until she calmed down. “Now tell me what happened.”
Josie took a deep breath before answering. “I was out in the woods when a ran into a monster. I ran away and ran right into Hope. She told me to run so I did, and she stayed behind to fight the monster. She’s still out there.”
“She’s fighting some monster alone?” Hayley’s voice became accusatory, but it wasn’t directed at Josie, no, the hybrid was glaring at her father.
Josie had never seen her father scared before. Alaric swallowed a lump in his throat before speaking. “We don’t know what it is. I wasn’t about to send one of my students out there. I called you.”
“So, it’s okay for another kid to die as long as they aren’t one of your students?”
“I never said that,” Alaric defended. He was becoming irritated as well.
“Enough!” Josie shouted shocking the two adults in the room. “We have bigger issues right now. Hope is out there alone with a monster.”
Hayley nodded. Alaric let out a long exhale. “Where was the monster?” Hayley asked.
“I can show you,” Josie said.
“No. No way,” Alaric said.
“I’m going,” Josie’s tone left no room for debate. She was already headed for the door not waiting on the two adults to follow.
The trio made their way through the woods back to where Josie had left Hope and the monster. The sun had fully risen by this point.
When they made it to the clearing there was no signs of Hope or the monster.
“This is where I left them,” Josie said spinning around looking for any signs of the other girl.
“Well, they’re not here anymore. That’s good,” Hayley said.
“How is that good?”
“Well, no body means Hope is still alive.”
“How can you be so sure? You didn’t see this thing.”
“I watched her take down a dragon. Trust me, that kid wouldn’t go down easy.” Hayley had a small smile on her face as she said that last part. Josie didn’t see Hayley smile to often or if she did there was always a sadness behind it.
“This also means the monster is still out there,” Alaric said. “Let’s get back to the school. We can research, search, and try coming up with a plan.”
“What about Hope?” Josie asked concerned.
“I’m sure wherever we find the monster we’ll find Hope,” Hayley reassured. “We can talk to Rafael though, see what he knows.”
Alaric nodded agreeing to that. Josie hated the idea of just waiting around while her new friend if she’s even allowed to call her that was out there alone hunting a monster. It seemed that was a normal occurrence for Hope but Josie still worried. She also didn’t want anything to happen to the girl because she had decided to save Josie’s life. Josie would never forgive herself if she were the cause for Hope getting hurt.
When they made it back to the school they headed straight to the library. It was still early enough that no other students were awake. Josie figured Lizzie would wake up and when she didn’t see her in bed would come searching for her. Until this was figured out and she knew for sure Hope was okay Josie wasn’t going back to class and her dad would just have to deal with it.
“Okay what are we even looking for?” Hayley asked her eyes scanning the rows of books.
“Hope called it a gargoyle,” Josie said. “So, I guess anything with them?” It wasn’t much to go on but considering they knew absolutely nothing about what they were dealing with it was a pretty good start.
“Like those things they build on the top of churches and stuff?” Hayley asked skeptically.
“Yep, but it’s definitely a lot bigger than one of those.”
Alaric grabbed a stack of books, sitting them on one of the tables where Josie and Hayley took a seat.
“I’m gonna get Dorian to help out, maybe he can find more books.”
Josie and Hayley started flipping through books looking for any information on gargoyles. It was a lot harder that it seemed because until a few hours ago Josie assumed gargoyles were a myth. She wasn’t sure how they were supposed to find reliable information when all these monsters were just stories.
After a few moments, Alaric came back with Dorian in tow. She figured Dorian would be getting up soon because he was a teacher, but the man was dressed and ready for the day not as if he’d just been woken up out of bed an hour early.
After another hour or so of searching books Josie slammed another shut, sighing in frustration.
“Anything?” Hayley asked softly.
“No,” Josie groaned. “Everything just talks about gargoyles being guardians, protecting the buildings they reside on from evil spirits, not evil monsters. I can tell you that thing in the woods definitely didn’t look like a guardian to me.”
Before anyone else could speak someone burst through the doors yelling, “Where the hell have you been!?” It was Lizzie. Josie knew this would happen. Lizzie approached her sister, her hands on her hips waiting for an answer. When she noticed the other adults in the room and books all sprawled out, she asked, “What the hell is going on?”
“There’s another monster,” Josie answered. She watched her twins face go from annoyed to confused. “Yeah, monsters are a thing now. Apparently, they’re all real and dad knew and didn’t say anything.” She shot a glare at her father who just sighed but opted to not comment on it anymore.
“What. The. Fuck,” Lizzie said slowly. Josie could see the wheels turning in her sister’s head, she was still processing.
“Language,” Alaric said, not looking up from his book.
“Trust me I wouldn’t have believed it if one hadn’t attacked me this morning,” Josie said.
“Oh my god, you were attacked? Are you okay? Why were you out alone?” Lizzie fired a million questions at Josie in one breath.
“Yes, I was attacked. Yes, I’m okay. And I just wanted to clear my head,” Josie mumbled the last part. She still felt slightly bad about the whole knife thing but knowing her father kept monsters a secret from them was helping lessen the guilt. “Luckily Hope saved me.” Josie formed a shy smile at the memory. She had never been so happy to literally run into someone. She loved being so close to Hope. She was so scared but the second she met Hopes eyes it was like her fear disappeared, like she knew she was safe.
“Hope?” Lizzie asked. Josie could hear the annoyance in her sister’s voice even though she was trying to hide it. Lizzie had no reason to not like Hope since she and Rafael were just friends. She wasn’t sure when her sister would get over this little grudge.
“Yeah,” Josie answered shyly. “She seems to be a part of this. She apparently knows a lot about the monsters.”
“Sweetie, can you go see if Rafael is awake yet?” Alaric asked. “We need to ask him some questions. He might be able to enlighten us a bit.”
“Sure thing,” Lizzie said with a bright smile practically sprinting out of the library. Josie rolled her eyes. Of course, Lizzie was happy to help if it meant going to talk to Rafael.
“Maybe it is a guardian,” Hayley said. Josie turned back to the hybrid with a confused look. Hayley had continued to focus on the reading, completely ignoring Lizzie’s questioning.
“What?” Alaric asked clearly just as confused as Josie.
“The gargoyle.” Hayley looked up at Josie. “You said you found nothing about a gargoyle being evil, everything was about it being a guardian.”
“Right,” Josie said hesitantly. She still didn’t get where Hayley was going with this. “But it attacked me.”
“Yeah, but what if it’s because it is a guardian just not for us,” Hayley tried to explain.
“What do you mean?” Alaric asked.
“Malivore.” Alaric sucked in a breath as if he were catching on to what Hayley was saying. Josie was even more confused now; she had no idea what the hell Malivore was.
“Malivore?” She questioned.
“So, you’re saying the gargoyle is a guardian but because it’s controlled by Malivore it’s a guardian of Malivore?” Alaric asked ignoring his daughter’s question.
“Exactly,” Hayley said. “The dragon came for the knife, we know that. They said more would come for it.”
Alaric rolled his eyes and was about to dismiss it before Hayley continued. “What if they were right? They’ve been right so far. Assuming they’re right then the gargoyle is after the knife. The gargoyle is guarding or protecting Malivore, so it has to do his bidding meaning his goal is to return the knife to Malivore.
The only things Josie got from that conversation was that Malivore was some sort of being that apparently controlled monsters and that he wanted a knife. Josie assumed it was the knife that had been taken the other night. She had no idea what Malivore was exactly or why the knife was so special.
“If that’s the case then the gargoyle will be coming back to the school,” Alaric said. Josie didn’t usually see her father with such a serious look, but she’s seen it twice now within twenty-four hours.
“Which means everyone here is in danger,” Josie said. Her face now shared the serious worried look of her father and the hybrid.
Lizzie barged back into the library this time with Rafael right behind her. He was in hoodie and sweatpants, so Josie assumed he hadn’t actually been awake yet when Lizzie found him.
“What’s going on?” Rafael asked, his voice still raspy from sleep.
“Malivore,” Alaric said looking at Rafael.
Josie could see the wolf tense. He clearly knew what Malivore was but didn’t know that her father knew.
“Relax,” Hayley said. “We know.”
“What do you know?” Rafael asked skeptically.
So, it wasn’t just Hope with all the secrets. It seemed all three of them had secrets or shared one secret.
“Only what Hope told us.”
“What did Hope tell you?” Rafael was still cautious. He was refusing to say anything until Alaric and Hayley gave him an idea of what they knew. Josie wasn’t sure why everything was such a big secret but clearly Hope, Landon, and Rafael had a pact of some sort. The only person she was that loyal to was Lizzie.
“She told us about Malivore, the full story,” Hayley paused, “or most of the story. When we found her and Landon there was a dragon.”
“It was kind of hard for them to come up with a lie after that,” Alaric said. There was an edge in his voice. Josie really had no idea why her father disliked Hope so much.
“They also told us about Triad,” Hayley added.
Josie saw Rafael’s mouth twitch just slightly. If Josie had to guess Hope and Landon had told her father and Hayley a lot more than usual. Probably because they witnessed it and it wasn’t possible to keep the secret after that. Josie would also guess they told them so they could protect themselves and the school. If monsters were coming for the knife and her father refused to get rid of the knife for whatever reason, then they would need to know what they were up against.
“Okay,” Rafael said his tone not giving away any emotion. “It sounds like you know more than most people. So why do you need me?”
“There’s another monster,” Hayley explained. “It attacked Josie and Hope appeared and saved her and fought it off. When we got back to the area, they were both gone.”
Rafael smirked. “Well, I wouldn’t worry about Hope, she can handle herself,” Rafael said it so confidently. Josie wondered how the girl gained so much unwavering loyalty from these boys.
“We aren’t.” Hayley had a smirk on her face as well. Josie had no idea when Hope and Hayley bonded enough for the hybrid to be so confident in her. “But we were wondering if you could help us find her, maybe tell us her plan. She doesn’t have to fight this alone.”
“Look, I can call her and Landon and see what’s up, but besides that or going to her apartment, I’m not sure. If there is a monster in town then I can’t guarantee either will answer. Hope is probably out hunting it.” Rafael’s face softened, he looked sad. “I’m not really in the loop anymore,” he whispered.
“They probably just don’t want to trouble you. You have a lot going on with starting a new supernatural school,” Josie said trying to comfort the wolf.
Rafael smiled but it didn’t reach his eyes. “Thanks. I know why they haven’t. This is meant to be a fresh start for me. If there’s a way to keep me out of the monster hunting, then they’re going to take it. Hope doesn’t like other people being involved in it. It’s just more people that can get hurt.” Rafael glanced at Hayley and Alaric as he said the last part.
“I get it,” Hayley said. “But no one should have to fight this on their own.”
“I’ll see what I can do.”
Rafael moved off to the side as he tried to call both Landon and Hope. When he came back over, he informed them he couldn’t get a hold of either of them. Which means he was most likely right; they were out searching for the monster.
“What now?” Josie asked.
“We can try a locator spell,” Lizzie suggested.
“Won’t work,” Rafael quickly dismissed the idea. “Hope blocks any kind spell like that on her or Landon.”
Josie tilted her head at that but didn’t say anything. The only reason someone blocked a locator spell was when they didn’t want to be found and if Hope did that for her and Landon then they really didn’t want to be found. Josie just couldn’t figure out who they could be hiding from though. Landon also being hidden raised her suspicions because sure they were like family, but Landon was human, who would want to be tracking him?
“I doesn’t matter anyway,” Hayley interrupted. “Finding them is meaningless if we don’t know how to defeat the thing.”
“I haven’t seen anything so much as mention a weakness,” Josie sighed slamming another book closed.
“I think I have a few more books in my room,” Dorian said standing up. “I’ll grab them and my laptop. If they don’t offer anything then there’s always Google.”
Rafael pulled up a seat grabbing from one of the many stacks of books. “They don’t want me in the fight that doesn’t mean I can’t be of use elsewhere,” Rafael said.
Lizzie also pulled up a seat next to Josie grabbing a book. When Josie shot her sister a questioning look Lizzie just said, “What? I want to help. Monsters, that’s a threat to us all.”
Josie rolled her eyes. She knew Lizzie was only helping because Rafael was there and probably by helping research she could also get out of classes. Josie wasn’t gonna argue it though because the more help the better.
They flipped through book after book over and over again still not finding anything. Dorian scrolled through pages and pages on his laptop. He was finding most of the same information as in the books though.
At some point Josie had dozed off, she woke up to find herself drooling on one of the books and a page stuck to her face. When she looked around, she saw Hayley had her head down on the table as well. Her sister was sprawled out in the chair with a book lying on her chest. Rafael was like her mouth wide up fast asleep drooling on a page. Dorian was cuddled up in a chair clutching a book like it was a security blanket. Then there was her father, feet propped up on the table leaning back in his chair, so the front feet were just barely off the ground, a book in hand but was hanging over the edge waiting for him to drop it to the floor.
Josie was rubbing the sleep from her eyes trying to decide if she wanted to try going up to her room for some actual sleep or continue the endless search when a loud roar ripped through the air starling everyone awake.
Josie jumped up looking around in a panic. She would never be able to forget that roar. She knew it wasn’t at the school yet, but it was close enough.
Alaric and Hayley were already on their feet ready for an attack when they realized the monster wasn’t that close yet. Josie was most surprised her father didn’t fall out of the chair when he woke up.
Rafael startled awake quickly wiping away the drool realizing what he had been doing. Lizzie also jolted awake flinging the book she was holding to the floor. Dorian was the most calm when waking up, it didn’t seem the roar did it but Lizzie’s book hitting the floor. He startled awake and lightened his grip on the book when he realized he was clutching it like it was his baby.
“What the hell was that?” Lizzie whispered.
“It’s back,” Josie answered.
“You guys lock down the school,” Alaric said already moving to the doors with Hayley close behind him. “We’ll try and stop it before it gets here.
“I’m coming with you,” Josie stated already following her father.
“No,” Alaric said, blocking Josie from following him. “Stay here where it’s safe. You, your sister, and Rafael are the only thing stopping that thing from getting into the school and getting the knife if it gets past us.”
“Lizzie and Raf can handle that just fine on their own. I’m going. You can’t stop me.” Josie shoved past her father, storming out the door headed in the direction the roar came from.
Hayley quickly caught up with Josie, her father trailing close behind. Josie had an idea of where the roar came from, but she wasn’t a vampire or werewolf, so she let Hayley lead to make sure they were going the right direction.
They heard a couple more roars but otherwise it had been silent. Josie was surprised the creature hadn’t made it to the school yet, it wasn’t exactly slow. Josie had been running as fast as she could, and the thing didn’t have trouble keeping up with her.
Hayley picked up her pace and Josie could see a concerned look on her face. Josie assumed the hybrid had heard something neither Josie nor her father could. It worried Josie. They were on school grounds, it was late, and all students were inside, there wouldn’t be any civilians around, and the only person who would be out wandering around with a monster would be Hope.
As they got closer Josie could hear the fighting. Then when they got to the small clearing, she saw it.
It seemed the gargoyle had knocked Hope back because she was pushing herself off the ground. Josie could see Hope trying to catch her breath. Josie knew Hope had a much stronger endurance than her based on what she saw earlier so she couldn’t image how long this fight had been going.
The gargoyle stood in the middle of the small clearing holding Landon up high as the boy was draped over his claws.
“Dammit.” Josie could hear Hope grumble. She peeled her eyes away from the site in front of her to look at Hope again. The girl looked annoyed and not the least bit concerned or sad that her friend, the person she said who was family, was now dead.
There was a loud thud and Josie took her eyes off Hope again to see the gargoyle had callously dropped Landon’s body to the floor. Even from the distance she could see the boy’s lifeless eyes staring back at her.
Josie didn’t know what to do. She couldn’t move. All she could do was stare back at the boy. Josie had never seen a body before let alone seen someone killed in front of her. Landon was so sweet from the short conversations she had with him. He wasn’t much older than her. She couldn’t believe his life had been ripped away so quickly.
Even though Josie was still distracted by Landon she could feel her father and Hayley beside her. She knew they both had seen plenty of people die and many of them were just kids like Landon. Josie knew the boy’s death wasn’t effecting them like it was her. She wasn’t sure why they weren’t moving.
What brought Josie out of her trance was a bright white light. Josie had to shield her eyes from the intensity. Josie tried to sneak a peek but all she could see was her father and Hayley also shielding their eyes. She also saw Hope, her hand stretched out and muttering to herself. She was doing a spell. The light was coming from Hope.
After a moment the light disappeared. Josie had to blink clearing her eyes trying to get them to adjust back to the darkness.
She looked around at her surroundings even though she was still seeing spots she saw the monster was gone. She looked to the sky and saw nothing but the stars. Her father and Hayley were rubbing their eyes taking in the surroundings again as well.
Landon’s body was still on the cold forest floor. Hope started to move, slowly approaching her friend’s body.
Hope whipped her head around staring directly and Josie then Alaric and Hayley.
“Fuck!” Hope screamed. Josie could see the other girl clenching her jaw. She ran a hand through her hair, looking up to the sky. It seemed like she was trying to calm herself down.
Josie wasn’t sure why, but Hope seemed more angry at Josie and the two adults being there than at the fact Landon was dead.