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Hope woke up to her alarm clock. She shot out of bed and frowned. She didn’t own an alarm clock. She was then reminded that Cleo liked to sleep in, and had the clock so she wouldn’t be late to class. Her roommate was rubbing sleep from her eyes as she said,
“Good morning, Hope.”
“Morning,” Hope said with a yawn. She was moving the covers out of the way when Cleo handed her a stack of letters, “What’s this?”
“Mail,” she said, “It came in late last night, so I answered the call for you.”
“Thanks,” Hope said, looking through the stacks. Letters from Aunt Rebekah, Freya, Keelin, Davina, Uncle Kol, and Marcel. She smiled, knowing what they were for.
“I’m going to grab a shower,” Cleo said, grabbing her supplies from her closet, “I’ll see you in class.” Hope nodded and said,
“Yeah, of course.” There was a silence, and part of Hope wondered if Cleo was going to say something, but she just smiled before leaving. Hope reminded herself that she hadn’t told Cleo what today was, and decided to just read her letters. It wasn’t Cleo’s fault that she didn’t know, plus she was sure somebody would tell her. Hope opened her Aunt Freya’s letter first, where she saw a note, as well as a picture of Nik at the park.
“Happy Birthday, sweetheart,” the top of the card read, “We’re so sorry we can’t be with you on your special day-Nik has come down with a terrible flu-but we all love you very much, and we can’t wait to see you soon. Here’s Nik at the park near our house. He can’t wait to show you how tall he can build his sandcastles.” Hope gave the picture a fond look before getting out of her bed and pinning it up on the wall of photos Landon and Josie had put up all those months ago. Her smile faded at the picture of her and Landon.
Ever since he’d come out of the prison world, he’d been off. It hadn’t been noticeable at first, but it hda soon gotten to a point where Doctor Saltzman had suggested some time off would be good for him. He was currently on a backpacking trip that Hope had been against, but had decided was a good idea when Landon suggested that the two of them needed space. Not a breakup...but a break. Hope sighed and unclipped the picture, placing it in her drawer.
She read through the rest of the notes, which all contained similar messages on how they loved her, missed her, and couldn’t wait to see her soon.
“You could have been here today,” she murmured. Not all of them had sick kids. But she knew her family was busy. Aunt Davina had work all around the world, Marcel was keeping things safe back at home, and she honestly wasn’t sure what Kol and Rebekah were up to, but she knew they were busy people. It was near impossible to even get them on the phone. Hope folded up all the notes and placed them in the nightstand before going to her closet to find an outfit for the day. She was just finishing her hair when there was a knock on the door.
“Cleo?” she asked, not wondering why the other girl hadn’t just walked in. It was her room, too. But it wasn’t Cleo on the other side of the door, it was Lizzie. Usually the Saltzman twin could be exhaustive in the early morning, but Hope took comfort in knowing one thing, which was that Lizzie knew today was her birthday. And Hope could really use an in person birthday wish. Hope opened the door, expecting Lizzie to have some balloons like she’d had for Rafael’s last birthday, or a cake-that Josie had baked-for MG’s, but instead she saw the girl holding a book. Was it a birthday present?
“We have a problem,” Lizzie said. Oh they were definitely about to have one. Hope was ready to spit that out, but she saw the concerned look on Lizzie’s face, so she sighed, pushed down her annoyance, and asked,
“What’s going on, Lizzie?”
“Our monster traps caught something last night, and Dad needs us to figure out what it is,” Lizzie said, handing her the book. The very heavy book, she would add.
“Why can’t he figure it out?” Hope asked. She had no want to flip through pages all day, especially on her eighteenth birthday.
“He has to deal with the finances again,” Lizzie said, “With Landon gone on his retreat, we’re a student short again so a bunch of people on a board are mad. Serves Dad right, though. I told him letting bird boy go was a bad idea-”
“Lizzie,” Hope said, “I really don’t want to talk about Landon right now.”
“Right, my bad,” Lizzie said after a moment, “Will you at least help me with the research? This is only one of four books.”
“Fine,” Hope said, “But what about class?” Lizzie scoffed and said,
“Since when do we go to class?” Hope would have offered a defense for the sake of her teachers, but she had nothing. She couldn’t remember the last day she’d attended all of her classes.
“I’m gonna wait for Cleo to get out of the shower,” Hope said, “Maybe she’ll wanna help too.”
“Excellent,” Lizzie said, “If there’s more of us we’ll be done faster.” Lizzie then turned on her heels and walked away. She’d clearly forgotten. Hope grabbed her backpack from her chair and slid the book inside. She decided to get some breakfast before going back for Cleo. She was walking down the hall when she saw Jed. A smile spread across her face when she saw him holding balloons. Yes, someone remembered! He waved her over, and she half walked, half skipped over. She was going to thank him for the balloons when he asked,
“Have you seen Wade?” she frowned.
“Wade?” she asked. What did Wade have to do with her birthday? But it was then that she noticed the balloons didn’t even say ‘Happy Birthday.’. They said ‘Get Well Soon’.
“During PE yesterday I challenged him to a race and he pulled a muscle. I felt kinda bad so I went to the store and got these. Have you seen him.” Hope didn’t want to make Jed feel worse than he probably already felt, so she sighed and said,
“I think he’s in the library.” Wade liked going to the library on Thursday mornings to eat breakfast since he didn’t have a first period. A fact Hope knew because she liked knowing things about her friends, like how Rafael’s favorite video game was Mortal Kombat, how Kaleb loved sports, but the piano was his favorite hobby, Josie’s favorite flower was a gardenia, MG’s favorite superhero was the Flash, Lizzie wanted to be a fashion designer when she grew up, and, oh yeah, she knew all of their birthdays! God this was ridiculous.
Breathe, Mikaelson , she told herself as she felt her anger rise. Everything was okay. Someone was going to remember. They just had to.
After an hour of doing research with Lizzie and Cleo, Hope was ready to bite somebody’s head off. Not one single mention of a birthday from Lizzie, even after Hope had dropped hints.
“Do you have anything special going on today?” she’d asked the blonde Saltzman twin.
“I’m meeting MG later,” she said, “We’re seeing the new Spiderman.” So she had plans with MG on Hope’s birthday...meaning they’d both forgotten. In fear that she would lose her temper, Hope had excused herself from the library to take a look at the creature that had been caught. What was making it harder on all of them was that the creature had only left footprints, a fact that Lizzie had of course left out after Hope had agreed to help. She’d shown pictures taken on the school phone, but they’d been blurry, so Hope decided to take a walk and check for herself.
Hope walked behind the school where the traps were set up, and winced as she saw how dismantled the traps were. The monster must have really put up a fight. She peered down and looked down at the prints. They looked big and curved, with pawprints. They looked like a bear. Or maybe they’d just caught Clifford the Big Red Dog. Hope wouldn’t put that past whoever was sending the monsters. She followed the prints down the side of the school, and she froze when she noticed they stopped outside her window. The monster was probably after Cleo again! Hope picked up the pace and went back to the library. She had to warn everyone.
Lizzie had placed a protection spell over Cleo, and so far there hadn’t been any excitement, but Hope was worried for her roommate, so she was putting more effort into her research, with Kaleb’s help.
“Did the prints look like this?” he asked, holding up a picture of a hellhound.
“Kind of?” Hope asked, “But not really. Plus, hellhounds have the ability to pose as normal dogs. I feel like we would have seen one by now.”
“True,” Kaleb said. He flipped the cards and asked, “What about Cerberus?”
“The three headed dog?” Hope asked. Kaleb nodded and said,
“You said the prints were bigger than a normal dog. Cerberus fits that criteria.”
“Yeah maybe,” Hope said, “I’ll look into it. You just make sure Cleo is safe.”
“Will do,” Kaleb said, closing the deck of cards. As they packed up their stuff, Hope took a gamble and decided to ask.
“Do you have any plans tonight?” she asked. Kaleb shrugged and said,
“Not really. I’ll probably just hang with Cleo. You?” Well, it’s my birthday , she wanted to say. But then Kaleb would only remember because she told him, so she just shrugged and said,
“Not much. Might do some painting.”
“Sounds nice,” he said, “I’ll see you around, Hope. Let me know if you find something else.”
“You too,” Hope said through gritted teeth. Kaleb gave her a warm grin before taking his laptop and leaving the library. Hope was bored, so she decided she would go to her classes today. Cerberus hadn’t shown up yet, and at least it would give her something productive to do.
No one in her classes had remembered either, but that had made sense considering all of them were new students who’d just transferred. Hope missed how things used to be in the school. Alyssa Chang pranking the vampires, Pedro and his little witch friends running around the garden with Josie sometimes playing the ukulele for them. The school had felt a lot more like a home back then. One of the reasons Hope was so grateful for Cleo’s presence was because she made her feel less lonely. She wasn’t sure how she’d survive without a roommate in the barren school.
When she entered her room, she found it empty, but there was a note for her from Cleo on her desk that read, “ Went to watch a movie with Kaleb, Jed, and Wade in the common room. Come join us! :)” The invitation seemed appealing, but she wasn’t in a movie watching mood. She was content with staying in her room and working on her art. She placed her backpack on her bed, and was unzipping it to get her box of brushes out when she noticed something peeking out from under her pillow. She moved it out of the way and saw a yellow envelope. She opened it up and saw a shiny silver bracelet with small sapphires embedded throughout. Hope loved sapphires. Accompanied was a small note that said,
“ Happy Birthday, Hope. A special gift for your special day” Whoever had written it had signed with a heart, but not their name. Hope slid the bracelet on her arm. It fit perfectly. The sapphire gems sparkled as the sun hit them, and Hope marveled at their beauty. It was an amazing necklace, but what made her the most happy was that someone remembered her birthday. The only question was, who?
Hope left her room to go and ask, which was where she saw Lizzie by the door pulling her jacket on. MG was with her, too.
“Hey Hope,” he said, “What’s going on?”
“Not much,” she said, her annoyance over him forgetting her birthday being trumped by her curiosity over who gave her the gift, “Are you two heading out.”
“Yeah,” Lizzie said, “Cerberus hasn’t made their appearance yet, and I still have a protection spell over Cleo, plus she has the boys and you, so I figured she’d be fine.”
“Sure,” Hope said, moving her arm to rub her chin so that the two of them would see the bracelet. MG didn’t notice it, but Lizzie did.
“That’s cute,” she said, “Present from your family?” So she hadn’t left it.
“Um, I’m not sure,” Hope said, “I found it under my-” She didn’t get to finish because Lizzie got a text on her phone.
“Crap, we gotta go. The doors to our theater will close soon,” she said.
“Then you two should head out,” Hope said. Lizzie clearly hadn’t left the bracelet, and MG didn’t even live here anymore, so she had no reason to keep them there.
“See ya, Hope,” MG said before he and Lizzie ran out of the school. Hope held in probably her tenth sigh of the day as she walked to the common room. Kaleb, Jed, Cleo, and Wade were spread across the couch, watching Finding Nemo. A timeless classic.
“Hey Hope,” Jed said, “Wanna watch with us?”
“Um, sure,” she said, taking a seat next to Wade, who noticed her bracelet.
“That’s so pretty,” he said, “Where’d you get it from?” His question caused the others to admire the bracelet, too. It proved even more that none of them had given it to her.
“A lovely color,” Cleo said, “I remember you mentioning to Landon that you liked sapphires. Did he get that for you?”
“No, I don’t think s-” Hope started, then trailed off. Wait. Landon wasn’t at the school, but that didn’t mean he wouldn’t have been able to send the gift. Maybe he’d mailed it over, and someone who Hope didn’t know had placed it under her pillow with his instruction. Or, maybe it was something he’d planned for weeks in advance, and he’d found someone to spell the gift under her bed. Yes, that had to be it! Hope stood up from the couch and said,
“I need to make a call. I’ll catch up with you guys later.” Cleo was safe, Landon had given her the present, now all that was left for her to do was thank him. Hope went into Alaric’s office, where she saw him at his desk, looking through papers.
“Hey Hope,” he said, “I just got back, did you find the-”
“It might be Cerberus, might be a hellhound, we’re not sure, Cleo’s fine, can I use the phone?”
“Um, sure,” Alaric said after taking a moment to absorb her sentence, “I’ll give you some privacy.” Hope ignored him forgetting her birthday. She was too excited to make the call. She dialed the number of the phone Landon had been given before he’d left. He picked up at the second ring.
“Doctor Saltzman?” he asked.
“No, it’s Hope,” she said. There was a pause before he said,
“Hope...hey.” Hey? That was all she got on her birthday? It’s okay, she told herself. Landon was the only one who remembered. That had to mean something.
“How are you?” she asked.
“I’m doing great, actually,” he said, “This retreat has been great. It’s been nice getting out of Mystic Falls, I really needed to clear my head.”
“That’s awesome,” Hope said. There was another pause before he asked,
“And you?”
“Oh yeah, I’m good too,” Hope said, “Big day for me today, so…” Another pause.
“Right right,” Landon said, “You had your Chemistry of Magic exam today, didn’t you?” Huh?
“No, that was last week,” Hope said, holding back an annoyed sigh. She took a breath to compose herself and said, “Anyway, I just wanted to thank you.”
“Thank me for what?” Oh God. Hope knew she wouldn’t like what happened next, but she really just needed a confirmation.
“For the bracelet,” she said, “The one I found under my pillow.” The pause was all she needed. Landon hadn’t been her gift giver.
“I’m confused," he said, "I never gave you-”
“Yeah, I’m starting to get that,” Hope said crossly.
“What are you so mad for?” he asked, “I’m sure somebody else at the school-”
“Because it’s my birthday, Landon!” Hope snapped, “I got the bracelet for my birthday, and whoever gave it to me seems to be the only person in this damn place who remembered, so I was hoping that it was you!” Her voice nearly shook the room, and she could tell Landon felt the effect, because it was a while before he responded with,
“Hope, I am so, so sorry. I swear I had it in my calendar, but we’ve been kinda off the grid for a few days, this is actually the first time in a while that I’ve gotten to a phone-”
“You know what?” Hope asked, “It’s fine, everything’s fine.”
“Hope,” he said, “I’m sorry. Please let me make it up to you.”
“Just take care of yourself, Landon,” she said, “I’m fine.” She hung up the phone before he could say anything else. She took another breath, then moved her hand to wipe away the forming tears on her face. She sat there until she stopped crying, then went to leave the office. When she opened the door, she was taken aback when she saw Alaric, Kaleb, Cleo, Wade, and Jed on the other side.
“It’s your birthday?” Jed asked. Shit, they'd all heard. Hope nodded, “Oh God, Hope…”
“We’re so sorry,” Kaleb said, “I swear I had it written down-”
“Guys, it’s fine,” Hope said. It wasn’t, but she didn’t really feel like having a pity party in the middle of the hallway, “I really just need a walk if that’s okay-”
“Of course,” Alaric said before anyone could stop her, “Take all the time you need.”
“Great, thanks,” Hope said. She walked away from them as fast as possible. If there was one thing she knew, she definitely didn’t want them seeing her cry.
Hope honestly had no clue where she was, but she could tell that she was in town. She could see the lights that illuminated the path to the square. She followed them and saw people dancing, families playing together, and a little girl blowing out her candles.
“Happy Birthday to you,” Hope murmured. There seemed to be some kind of town gathering going on, because someone from the grille was serving drinks from a cart. A drink didn’t sound bad. Hope murmured a small spell, and levitated one of his bottles over to her. She caught it with ease and left the square. She needed the alone time.
She unscrewed the cork with her magic, and took a swig of the vile liquid inside. She cringed at the strong taste. How could anyone drink this stuff for fun? She stumbled over to a bench in the park, and laid down on it. God, it had been a long day. And she still had to worry about Cerberus. She was mad at her friends, but a part of her was still hoping they were okay. She loved them, but there was no way they could take on a three headed dog without her.
“Drinking alone?” came a soft, but comforting voice. Hope looked up and saw Josie Saltzman. Her hair was out, and she was wearing an overall shirtdress over a turtleneck. A completely different style from the Salvatore School. She looked amazing.
“Yeah,” she said, “What are you doing here?”
“Aunt Elena and Uncle Damon take a walk with Stefanie every Thursday. MG was going out with Lizzie, so they asked if I wanted to come with.”
“Got it,” Hope said, taking another sip.
“And I know they don’t go together, but I wanted to give you this,” Josie said. She pulled a plate from behind her back, and Hope saw a beignet on it. A beignet that was covered in powdered sugar and chocolate sauce with a small candle poking out from the top. As Hope used her wolf vision to get a better look at the plate, she saw “Happy Birthday, Hope” written in loopy letters near the bottom.
“Did your Dad tell you?” Hope asked.
“I haven’t spoken to him in days,” Josie said, “He’s been busy.”
“So you just…” Hope started.
“I remembered,” Josie said, “I know we haven’t really been talking either, but…”
“Thanks Jo,” Hope said, “Really, it means a lot.” She took the plate from Josie’s hand, and her mouth nearly watered at the smell of sugary fried goodness, “This looks amazing.” The candle was unlit, so Hope murmured a small incendia . A small flame lit the candle.
“I miss being able to do that,” Josie said almost inaudibly. Hope was sure she wouldn’t have been able to hear her had she not been a wolf.
“You do?” Hope asked. Josie gave her a small nod.
“I like Mystic Falls High. I like my friends, I like being with Damon and Elena, but I miss my magic.” Josie studied the flame and said, “I miss the power, the rush…”
“There’s nothing like it,” Hope murmured, “But it has to be nice, right? Being normal.”
“I may not have magic, but I still feel like the furthest thing from normal,” Josie said, “Everything I’ve done...it doesn’t go away, you know?”
“I do,” Hope said. She looked down at the candle, and she was pretty much in a staring contest with it until Josie asked,
“Are you gonna make a wish?”
“Yeah,” Hope said. She closed her eyes. What do you want, Hope Mikaelson? That voice in her head asked her. She’d wanted everyone at school to remember her birthday, she’d wanted Landon to be home, but now she was here with Josie. Josie who’d remembered, and even after everything Hope had put her through, she was sitting in this bench with her, helping her celebrate her birthday. For a moment she felt at peace. She felt content. I wish for Josie to know peace like this, even if it’s only for a little while . Hope opened her eyes, and blew out the candle.
“What did you wish for?” Josie asked.
“Can’t tell you, then it won’t come true,” Hope said, peeling off a piece of the pastry, “Do you want some?” Josie shook her head and said,
“All yours. I will take some of this, though.” Josie reached over Hope and grabbed the bottle. She took a swig and said, “The Mystic Falls party scene is lame. Like, I thought it would be great, but the last time there was a party that was fun was probably when my Mom went to that school.”
“I’d say knock yourself out,” Hope said, “But what if your Aunt and Uncle find you?”
“You’re worth getting grounded for,” Josie said simply, taking another sip. Hope gave her a small smile, and took another bite of her food, “So why are you out here alone? Isn’t there anyone you wanted to celebrate with?”
“Not tonight,” Hope said. But I’m happy here with you. “There was a monster problem at the school. I think it might be Cerberus-a three headed dog-so people have been a little on edge.”
“Damn, where’d you get that from?” Josie asked.
“The monsters have been coming after my roommate, Cleo,” Hope said, “And this morning our monster trap was completely wrecked, and there were what looked like paw prints going from the trap to my window. Our guess was the monster escaped the traps, went for Cleo, but never got in.” There was a silence that followed until Josie said,
“Oh.”
“Yeah,” Hope said. Josie took another sip as Hope finished her beignet, “Thanks for this, Jo. I’ll let you get back to-”
“Josie!” an excited voice called before she could finish. A little girl that Hope assumed was Stefanie skipped up to them and said, “Mumma and Dad are looking for you.”
“I’ll be there soon,” Josie said, “Stef, this is Hope.” Hope waved at the girl, who’s eyes widened when she saw her. Almost like she was looking at a celebrity. She walked over to Josie and whispered way too loudly,
“ The Hope?” Hope held in a laugh as Josie visibly blushed.
“Oh, so I’m The Hope now?” Hope asked.
“Shut up,” Josie grumbled. Stefanie gaped and said,
“Josie, that’s a bad language word. You have to buy me an ice cream.”
“You’re right, I do,” Josie said, giving Stefanie a squeeze on the shoulder. She gave Hope the bottle back and said, “I should get going and walk this off.”
“Sure,” Hope said, “It was nice to meet you, Stefanie.”
“You too,” she said, “Did you like Josie’s present?” Hope’s eyes widened as Josie hissed,
“Stefanie! What did I say earlier?”
“You said not to tell anyone, but I heard you talking to Mom about how Hope isn’t just anyone, so I thought I could tell her.” Oh my God… Josie’s face was beet red at this point. She watched the girl reach into her overalls pocket, pull out a five and say,
“Go get yourself a cone, I’ll catch up with you.”
“Okay! Bye, Hope!” Stefanie said before skipping away, leaving the two girls sitting by the bench. Josie was avoiding eye contact, so Hope spoke,
“You bought me this bracelet?” Josie looked at her and gave her a small nod, “Wha-how-when did you get into my room?”
“Last night,” she said, “I slipped out after curfew and went to the school since I wanted you to see the bracelet in the morning. I was going to your window when…” she trailed off. Hope frowned and asked,
“When what?”
“This happened,” Josie said. She pulled up the tights she was wearing under her dress, and Hope saw a giant bandage on the bottom of her right leg.
“What the…”
“I got stuck in one of your monster traps, so it took forever to pull myself out. It was made for something a lot smaller than me, so I got out, but the trap suffered, then I went to your window and I climbed up using the handlebars-”
“Wait,” Hope said, “ You’re Cerberus?” Josie blushed and said,
“I was still in my pajamas when I went, and I was wearing my pair of these matching puppy slippers that Stefanie and I have, so yeah…”
“Oh my…” Hope said, running a hand through her hair.
“I really am sorry,” Josie said, moving her tights back down, “It’s just that it’s your birthday, and I wanted to get you something, but with everything that’s happened between us recently, I wasn’t sure if I could give it to you in person so I-” Hope tried her best to listen to what Josie was saying-no, she was listening-but it still didn’t stop her from laughing, “What?”
“I’m sorry,” Hope said, “This is just the first thing I’ve heard all day that has made me genuinely happy.” The nervous look faded from Josie’s face, and she started to laugh too. She started to laugh so much that she ended up falling on the bench.
“I think your laughter is contagious,” she said.
“That or we’re just drunk,” Hope said, showing her the bottle.
“That too,” Josie said as her laughs subsided. They were quiet for a bit until she asked, “Do you like it? The bracelet?”
“I love it,” Hope said, “Sapphires are my favorite.”
“Yeah, your Aunt Freya mentioned you liked them when we came back from New Orleans together. I was gonna get you a necklace, but-”
“The bracelet was perfect,” Hope said, “Thank you, Josie.” Josie gave her a small smile and said,
“No problem.” She took Hope’s hand and gave it a squeeze. Hope squeezed it back, “I should be getting back to Stefanie.”
“Yeah,” Hope said. Josie got up from the bench, but before she could leave, Hope asked, “Hey, Jo?” She turned to her and asked,
“Hmm?”
“Would Stefanie be too starstruck if The Hope came over for dinner one day?” Josie’s face reddened a bit, so Hope continued with, “The school feels a little empty sometimes, and I kind of miss eating with people around a table.”
“I’ll talk to Aunt Elena,” Josie said, “I’m sure she’d love to have you.”
“Thanks, Jo,” Hope said, “And um…” C’mon Hope, you can say it.
“What?” Josie asked. Hope took a breath and said,
“I’ve really missed you, too,” she said. She saw a small smile spread across Josie’s face. She gave Hope a warm look and said,
“I’ve missed you, too. Happy Birthday, Hope.” For once today, the happy was fitting.