章 20: Nullius In Verba
"He who does not trust enough will not be trusted."
".."
It took Hayley two weeks to get her emotions back in control. She went through the motions, smiled when she had to, but she wasn't really there. Her mind was elsewhere. It wasn't until Sheila barged in her room one evening, slapping a grimoire on her desk and storming out that Hayley woke up.
It gave her an anchor. Something to stop her moping because she was starting to annoy even herself.
The grimoire surprised Hayley. It was one of the oldest Bennett magic books and Sheila had actually given it to her? Strange.
One evening after classes, Hayley opened the book and started flipping through the pages, to look for something interesting. She must admit, the first few spells were a let down. They were spells Hayley could do even in her sleep, without breaking a sweat.
As she began to turn a page once more, her hand froze and her gaze sharpened on what she was seeing.
With a little smirk, Hayley closed the grimoire, slipped it in her school bag and went back to sleep. She had a lot to do tomorrow.
".."
Back in Finn's clearing, Hayley laid on the grass, her eyes closed.
"It's been awhile, little one." She couldn't see him but Hayley felt the tall vampire take a seat next to her.
"Yeah..." she hummed. "It's been quite a month for me." And though the silence was always comfortable with Finn, Hayley had something on her mind. "Hey ..."
"Hm?"
Her eyes opened now, she turned to the side to look at him, a hand holding her head steady.
"Do you trust me?" She asked.
In the past couple of weeks, aside from moping around, Hayley had also reflected on her actions ever since coming to this world.
And full of doubt she was.
Since day 1, Hayley held an unconscious, or very conscious, bias towards the Mikaelson but she didn't really know them. She realized it came from this deep need to feel wanted but what did it mean for her future in this world? For them? Did she really want to know them? Did she want to do more than help their cause? Be more than casual friends who sometimes saw each other in dream-like states?
Maybe she was overthinking but she needed something. It didn't mean she would stop helping the family, when she same a promise she would keep it. It just meant that maybe, she would have to emotionally distance herself from them altogether. But a small voice deep down had hope. It was foolish, that she knew. But she had hope Finn would say exactly what she wanted to hear. Even if it was a lie.
Finn looked down at her, his green eyes running over her face. He could see it in her eyes.
"What do you want to hear?" He asked.
Her breathing came to a stop, her heart dropping to her stomach. "The truth?" she lied.
"No," Finn replied, keeping his eyes on hers. Hayley ignored the painful pinch of her heart. "I like you, little one, but I don't know you outside this ... world. And life has taught me to only trust in family."
"It's okay," Hayley replied, not breaking the eye contact. "It's ...
Before she had the chance to say more, she was yanked out of the dream by the sound of her alarm clock.
Hayley heaved a sigh, knocking her head against her pillow. What the hell was wrong with her? She was the same as the Mikaelson, she wouldn't trust so easily, even her closest friends. If it was anyone else, she wouldn't care, so why did Finn not trusting her hurt?
Not wanting to know the answer - or maybe not ready for it - she shook herself of those thoughts and flung her covers aside.
She had much to do today.
".."
Later that morning, Hayley was walking at a brisk pace through the Mystic Falls cemetery, the Bennett grimoire in her left hand and a big bag in her right.
Before long, she arrived in front of the Fell's church.
She'd been studying the grimoire and a particular spell caught her eyes. This one was supposed to open a communication with a deceased witch.
'One last time', Hayley kept repeating inside her mind. She needed to know if Marmee was well. Needed to know if she was shining that beautiful smile down on her, a familiar glass of bourbon in hand. If Marmee was still around even, or if she'd found the peace she deserved so much. When she arrived at the Fell tomb underneath the old church, Hayley dropped the bag, eyeing the big boulder blocking the tomb's entrance. She didn't even think about opening the tomb right now, that she would leave as a Scooby gang issue.
After drawing a pentagram on the floor with a wooden stick and putting five candles at each extremities, she plopped down in the middle of it , a small box and the Bennett grimoire in her lap. She snapped her fingers, the candles lighting up before she opened the grimoire, tearing the page she needed and placing it in front of her. Hayley then put the grimoire aside, crushed a mix of herbs on top of the grimoire page and opened the small box to reveal a dove. She pulled it out of the box, swiftly snapping its neck and letting the blood spill on top of the spell. Closing her eyes, she finally started the spell. "Phesmatos lux ostende. mihi viam. Phesmatos sensati ablata proferet," she chanted, feeling the candles' flames go higher. "Phesmatos lux ostende. mihi viam. Phesmatos sensati ablata proferet. Phesmatos lux ostende. mihi viam. Phesmatos sensati ablata proferet." There was a huge magical blast in front of her, the wind blowing her hair backwards and a small smile flirted at the edge of her lips.
Hayley slowly opened her eyes, the expectation evident in her eyes, making her disappointment even more clearer.
"... Emily?" Hayley called out, her brow furrowed and confusion clear in her tone. "Why ..?" Why her? Where the hell was Marmee?
The Bennett ancestor quietly looked down at Hayley before nodding her head, quite aware that she couldn't move outside the younger witch's powerful pentagram. "Hayley Smith, I have a message from the Other Side."
Startled, Hayley sat up straight, narrowing her eyes at the use of her past life's last name. "Speak."
"We shall not get in your way, daughter of another world," Emily monotonously said, the voices of millions of other witches added to her own. "And you shan't get in ours."
With a distrustful gaze aimed at the older witch, Hayley tilted her head. "And if I say no?"
"We shall not get in your way, daughter of another world," Emily repeated, with the same eeriness as the first time. "And you shan't get in ours."
With a small chuckle at the challenge, Hayley was definitely pulled out of her funk. Even though the witches on the Other Side knew of her, they didn't. Otherwise they wouldn't have imposed an ultimatum on her. Those she always had a hard time to follow.
"This next advice is from me, not the other witches," Emily added, her voice clear. "Stay away from the Mikaelson family , they will hurt you."
"How?" Hayley's voice was hard. She had her own doubts but she would keep them to herself. All the questions she had she would ask the interested party directly.
"Nobody has ever been included in their family," Emily gave a cryptic answer. "Not a single person." Before Hayley could ask about Marcel, Emily shook her head. "Take care, daughter from another world."
".."
Walking back through the cemetery, Hayley was so lost in her thoughts she missed the crow staring at her through eyes that were too human. Her phone ringing pulled her out of her dazed state.
"Slater." Hayley replied, "speak."
"Well hello to you too, cheerful princess," Slater sassed.
Rolling her eyes with a small grin, Hayley urged him. "Time is money Slater, what do you want?"
"A meeting." For once, Slater went right to the point, his voice serious.
With narrowed her eyes, thinking what now?, Hayley sighed. "What happened?"
"Elijah's lackeys are asking for a meeting with you," he announced. "Soon."
"Do I get a say in this?"
"Do you?" The vampire threw the question back to her, making Hayley resist the urge to groan.
It wasn't that she was scared but she also did not want Elijah to come to Mystic Falls so soon. The timeline was already fucked enough and she clearly didn't know how he would act since none of the main players had their show counterparts' personalities.
With a long sigh, Hayley finally replied. "Set the time and the place." Before hanging up.
Fuck. Me.
クリエイターの想い 
_fleur
_fleur dear readers, I'm honored so many of you like this story. I would like to apologize for the late update since life (my studies + job) got in the way but I'm back and working on regular chapter updates yaaay! One thing I would like to reiterate though : this story is a slow/medium burn reverse harem, meaning Hayley is gonna end up with four men, most of you have guessed which ones so if you don't like this, you're free to click off.
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