Chapter 3: Charity, for once just do what you're told

Hope stared at her children. Neither of them answered her questions and she grew impatient. This is bad, like really, really bad, she thought to herself. If her necklace is off they'll be able to track us. We have to leave, they'll be on their way. Hope paced back and forth, her children just watched her, confused and frankly, a bit frightened.

After a few moments, Hope finally looked up at her children. "How long has your necklace been off? What happened that caused it to come off? And why does your brother look like he fell off a cliff?" Her questions were directed towards Charity, but Hope did well to hold back her anger and panic this time.

"It's been off since 8th period. L-Liam caused a fight," Charity took a deep breath before continuing, causing a concerned look to be thrown her way, by her mother, once she mentioned her ex boyfriend's name. "Things got chaotic and he broke the chain. Lucas fought him, as well as another, older, football player, and things ended within a few minutes. Lucas looks like that because.." Charity paused, not sure what to say next, she looked at the floor and fumbled with her fingers. "Because..?" Hope questioned. This snapped Charity out of her thoughts. She looked at Lucas, he nodded, as if telling her to continue, so she did.

"Liam and the older kid cornered us on the bridge. They picked another fight. Lucas knocked the other kid out, but Liam was insane and hard to get away from. He had a knife and he tried killing Lucas. I tried to help Lucas, but everything was blurry because Liam hit me in the head with the knife, I'm sure he intended for me to pass out. He stabbed Lucas in the stomach, which is why he has a hole in his shirt with blood stains. Lucas was somehow able to push Liam, away, like pretty aggressively, and... uhm...Uh, Liam tripped, falling backwards...and hit his head on the edge of the bridge. H-he's dead. T-then we freaked out and didn't know what to do, so we ran here, but we should have called the cops." Charity finished explaining everything to her mother.

By the end of her little 'story time' she was almost sobbing. Not because she cared about Liam, but because even though he was a horrible person, she felt like he didn't deserve to die so soon. And she was also scared for her brother, scared of how he would handle this after everything he has gone through.

Hope hugged her daughter tightly until she calmed her down. Then she saw the dry blood on Charity's head and examined its origin. But it seemed to have already healed. I don't think she even noticed. I mean at least I won't have to explain the magic, there was no magic involved at all. All I have to do is fix her necklace and get them away from New Orleans for a few weeks to be safe. Then it hit her. Except Lucas technically killed Liam.

Hope looked from her daughter to her son. She walked over to Lucas and looked at the wound that should have been on his stomach. She knew it would have healed fast due to his blood, but if he activated his curse, the wound would have healed twice as fast. She looked at his bracelet next and studied it. If he wore this the entire time, it would have been extremely difficult to kill Liam. Hope looked at Charity, debating if she wanted to have this conversation in front of Lucas. She thought for a moment then spoke.

"Did his bracelet come off at any point?"

Charity was taken aback by the question her mother just asked. Why is that important whatsoever? I know the bracket belonged to dad, but it seems like it should be the least of her concerns. Come to think of it, why was she so upset when she realized I wasn't wearing my necklace? Charity had no idea what was going on, and she had no idea why the question was remotely related to the topic.

"Charity, did his bracelet come off before he killed Liam?" Hope questioned again.

"Mom! It isn't his fault Liam is dead!"

"Charity. Please just answer the question, times running out and we need to hurry." Hope begged her daughter. At this point it was nearly 7 pm, and they had to get far away to make sure they were safe.

"What are you talking about? Are we going to go one the run with Lucas? It wasn't his fault-"

"Dammit just answer the question, Charity!" Hope yelled. She rarely raised her voice to her children. And the sudden outburst of anger scared them.

Charity looked at her mother. Uncomfortable. She knew she pushed too hard, but she really didn't understand why knowing whether or not Lucas' bracelet came off was important. Finally she answered her mother's question. "Yes, it came off at some point when they were fighting, before Lucas pushed Liam."

"Crap.." Hope sighed. She began moving around the house quickly.

Her kids followed her as she went to her room and grabbed a box from under the floorboards and put it into a bag. She grabbed clothes from her dresser then packed it as well.

"Mom what's going on? Why are you packing?"

"Go upstairs and both of you pack one backpack worth of clothes. Pack your phones and chargers. Nothing more than that, maybe anything you hold really valuable. Just hurry."

"Mom-"

"Charity, for once just do what you're told!"

Charity and Lucas looked at each other, then quickly ran upstairs. Charity packed as much clothes as she could into her backpack. She put her necklace into her pocket because in the chaos she forgot to ask her mom if she could have her spare golden chain. When she finished packing she took her bag and went into Lucas' room. When she walked in he had his shirt off, he was examining the spot on his stomach where his wound should have been.

"Your eyes turned a golden yellow. After Liam died. I didn't want to tell you, at the moment it happened, because I knew you were scared and- I don't know. I guess it didn't seem like the best thing to bring up at the time."

Lucas nodded then put a fresh, gray button up shirt with a collar on. His bag was already packed. Then he grabbed his journal and held it up to Charity with a questioning look.

Charity chuckled, "yes I packed my journal Lucas, I know I'm forgetful but I'd never forget to pack that."

Suddenly there was a loud bang that sounded from downstairs. Charity and Lucas both grabbed their bags and ran down. They were at the foot of the steps when they saw the front door had been blown off its hinges and was laying on the floor. Outside people could be seen trying to get in but being stopped by some sort of barrier? What the heck, Lucas thought as he saw them.

"Charity, Lucas, Run!"

"Mom what's going on! What's happening" Charity screamed as she couldn't believe the scene in front of her. The people outside were chanting and yelling, causing a heavy wind to blow, inside their house? This is insane, it has to be some sort of prank? Charity's mind was spinning with thoughts as she looked around the living room.

Out of nowhere the windows burst and glass flew everywhere. Charity ducked down by the couch, as shards of glass landed all over the floor. Charity looked around and found her brother under a table, damn we both ran for cover pretty fast, she thought to herself. Then a panicked expression formed on her brother's face as he met her eyes.

"Please! Let them go! They're just children please!" Hope pleaded with the intruders who continued to try and break into the house.

Charity tried to get up, pain instantly striking, causing her to fall back down. She touched her hand to her stomach to find a glass shard. It wasn't big, but it definitely wasn't small. As tempted as she was to pull it out, she knew the shard was the one reason she wasn't bleeding out.

"Your daughter should have been dead from infancy, you son shouldn't even have been born! They're freaks and a danger to all our kinds!" One of the intruders screamed.

Hope turned to look at her children. She saw Charity injured and Lucas on the verge of tears. She knew she couldn't hide it any longer, if she continued, her children would end up dead.

Hope ran as the intruders began to chant more incantations of spells. She reached Charity and quickly spoke a single word, "invisque", then examined Charity's wound. She gripped the shard lodged in her daughter's stomach.

"Mom?"

"Sweetie, this is going to hurt, okay, 1, 2-"

A piercing scream filled the air. Lucas, still hiding under the table, looked around the room and panicked. He could recognize the scream to be Charity's, but she was nowhere in sight. The glass shard was longer than it looked and the cut in Charity's stomach was deeper than she thought. Hope took the glass shard and held it to her hand.

"Mom what are y-'' Charity was cut off as Hope sliced her hand and put it over Charity's mouth. Charity was gagging as she swallowed her mother's blood. What the hell is she doing, Charity thought as she tried to pry her mom's hand off. Hope knew Charity didn't necessarily need her blood, but she was hoping it could help speed up the healing process.

"Lucas get over here!" Hope yelled.

Lucas looked around but could not see his mother. As she continued to yell for him he followed the sound of her voice. When he suddenly felt a hand touch his face he jumped. Hope muttered something he could not understand and then, to his surprise, he could see his mother and Charity right in front of him. What the hell was all that crossed his mind.

"Mom what the hell is happening, why'd you just make me drink your blood?" Charity asked, panicked.

Suddenly the house shook. An explosion went off and Hope panicked. She knew she wouldn't be able to leave with her children. Not all three of them would get out of this. She needed to cause a distraction, to be a distraction, so her children could slip away.

Hope grabbed her phone from her pocket and gave it to Lucas. She quickly unzipped her bag and grabbed the box, telling Lucas to put it in his bag. Hope grabbed Charity's shirt and pulled it up enough to reveal the wound. It was healing just as fast as Lucas' cut from Liam had. Both kids looked at each other, knowing something was being hidden from them, a secret, about them, their mother, and the world. Before Charity could say something, Hope grabbed the broken necklace from her daughter's pocket and held it in her hands. She closed her eyes then focused, when she opened her hands, the necklace was fixed and she put it around Charity's neck.

Another explosion echoed. "Lucas grabbed Charity and helped her up. Go to the backyard and in a bush you'll find a backpack, take in then get out of here and run. Once you're at a good distance call Josie. I know you don't know who I'm talking about but you'll see her name on my phone. Now go!"

The boy stood speechless, or well, in his case, thoughtless, as he looked at his mother. Hope hugged him and Charity, then motioned for them to leave. Lucas had to use as much of his strength as possible to support Charity, because she was still weak and barely able to walk.

"Mom, where are you going? Mom?" Charity yelled as she saw her mom run across the room.

"Charity go! Now! Lucas, get her out of here! GO!" Hope screamed as she took a bracelet off her wrist.

"Ah finally! Hope Mikaelson came out of hiding!" one of the intruders yelled, an evil grin planted on his face. Hope knew they had gotten through the barrier spell as she saw the intruder step through the doorway.

Charity and Lucas can hear them screaming words and phrases but couldn't understand a thing they were saying. Lucas grabbed Charity's arm and put it around his neck as he slipped his other arm behind her back and held her waist to support her. He ran to the kitchen hoping to escape from the back door.

The house shook again as more explosions sounded. Objects flying off shelves, and paintings falling off the walls. Suddenly smoke filled the air. Charity and Lucas looked back at their mother and saw her fighting, but not physically? She was shouting phrases, similar phrases as the intruders. Lucas and Charity watched as their mother threw someone to the wall without touching them. When Hope turned to see her kids one last time before they escaped, her beautiful blue eyes turned a golden yellow, just as Lucas' eyes had after the fight with Liam. Suddenly fire began to consume the living room, and at the center of it was Hope, manipulating it to the best of her ability. She looked back to her children, her eyes returning to a Blue color. She nodded at them, telling them to go, as the fire began to reach them. She gave a weak smile, then pushed them out the house with a wave of magic. Though, Charity and Lucas were oblivious to the fact that it was magic, of course, and had no clue whatsoever what hit them.

The entire house erupted into flames and Lucas let out a fearful scream. Charity gripped his hand as they saw people moving around in the house, running toward the back door. Holy shit. People are still alive, she thought. They looked at each other, grabbed the backpack their mother mentioned, and ran as their mother instructed. Once the two siblings stopped running, it had been 8 pm and they were five miles away from home.

Charity reached into the backpack Hope had told them to get and in it she found books. Really? She made us get a backpack full of books? She asked herself as she gave Lucas a look of confusion. She took one of them and looked through it, words written in what seemed to be Latin. Phrases. Charity recognizes them from fiction books she's read. Oh my god, these books are full of spells. Charity realized.

She put the book back in the bag then grabbed the box Hope had put into Lucas' bag. She opened it and saw pictures and a glass crystal. She looked through the pictures, her mother in most of them with a group of, what she thought, were her mother's friends. She then put the box into the bag with the books and put it over her shoulder on top of her own bag.

Lucas handed Charity their mother's phone. Both of them knew they had to call this, Josie. Charity took the phone from her brother and looked through the contacts, until she found one under the name Josie Saltzman.

"This one must be the one." She told her brother as she showed him the name. He nodded in agreement. Charity clicked the contact and began to call. It rang a few times and Charity began to believe that this Josie person wouldn't pick up. Until the third ring.

"Hello? Hope? Is everything okay?"