Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Reincarnation was kind of bland if I’m honest.

Sure it was a bit weird remembering my past life, but there was just enough distance from whatever faulty process was supposed to remove them that what I did remember was oddly impersonal.

Just enough that despite the twenty something years of life experience hanging around in my brain it was obvious I was a different person. I mean it was really apparent I liked pink way more than my past life, math was way easier than my memories hinted, and despite having memories of a loving family I didn’t mourn them.

Well that, and the boobs made it very easy to differentiate between both lives.

Not that I had much of a problem with that, I’m only like seven, I’m to some extent just happy to be alive without my countless mental issues bleeding over from my last go around. For the most part I didn’t think about it really, just assumed whatever reincarnation cycle had a bit of glitch.

It wasn’t like I was in a TV show or anything, at least not that I could tell. There wasn’t any leaf village, or any records of captain america, or a city called gotham. Just what seemed to be an exact copy of my world still in the early two thousands.

My dad was out of the picture, and my mom’s job required a lot of traveling. Something she usually took me along for, just having me run though her own pieced together version of homeschooling.

So I did as anyone would, and well acted my age. I made messes, pulled the puppy dog eyes, and just caused chaos whenever possible. At least as long as Mom didn’t seem too stressed, I wanted to have fun, not drive the woman off the deep end.

I was a child, and I played my part, everything was a-okay.

Until my Mom took some vacation time, dragging me out to Virginia to hang around in the woods. A nice mansion in the middle of nowhere, the closest town thirty minutes away by car, and our only company being each other and the nifty deep woods vibe.

Amazingly nothing went terribly wrong, we didn’t spontaneously discover werewolves were real, no bat people hiding in the woods decided our blood would be tasty.

To the outside world all that changed was that my Mother discovered a taste for solitude, and decided to straight up buy the creepy mansion in the middle of the woods. While I, her loving daughter got a new pet rock.

Behind closed doors? A lot more changed.

It took me a month to figure out just what My pet rock liked to eat.

A strange thing considering most pet rocks don’t require food at all. Then again most don’t find their pet rocks deep underground, screaming for food.

I should probably explain from the start.

It all started the summer of 97, July had just started to die out as we moved into the neat mansion in the middle of the woods my Mom had decided to rent for god knows what reason. Don’t get me wrong, the place was beautiful, green trees taller than my tiny mind could comprehend in every direction for miles.

The mansion was obviously a place someone had loved once, two stories done up in classical eighteen hundreds architecture that made me certain this place was probably a plantation at one point.

It was also kinda creepy, at least to my seven year old mind. We’d only been there a week and I had already decided to spend most of my time outside the dark, incredibly large mansion.

So I played around, chased a couple squirrels, played make believe with a couple of sticks I convinced myself were missile launchers, and found some that were the perfect size and shape for a sword fight.

Sadly I was alone, so it was me and my two wooden swords against the hordes of countless ninja’s, samurai, mongols and a couple of Knights Templar that my mind conjured up as enemies.

I think it’s fairly obvious that I was going to be a Tomboy when I grew up. My life goal in this turn of the wheel was to be able to kick someone's head off if they tried to mug me.

Naturally as a result of my clash with the hoards of my imaginations that had at some point been replaced by the legions of hell from several different franchises, I was not paying attention to where I was going. Not really a problem since I could still see the Mansion from here and the many lights would have made it easy to find even if it grew dark.

It did make it really easy to fall into the convenient crevice the size of a small adult, hidden between some tree roots though. I had about a third of second to think ‘Fuck’ before I was tumbling into the earth.

I don’t remember much of the fall, even if it wasn’t very deep. Whether that was because I hit my head on the way down or because I was too busy panicking to form memories is up in the air.

Either way my next truly clear memories were laying on the floor of a cave, my body throbbing from my rough and tumbling fall down the hole. I could feel a couple scrapes and my vision was a bit off from a cut on my forehead dripping into one of my eyes.

Really I was kind of lucky if I was honest, it was a miracle I hadn’t outright smashed my head open. Didn’t stop my brain from absolutely flooding my head with a sense of terror and panic.

Thankfully I wasn’t a totally normal child, otherwise I probably would have just stayed there and cried until I passed out. Instead I pulled myself onto my incredibly bruised knees, that were ever so helpfully screaming at me in pain, before I shoved myself onto my feet with a wobble.

Now standing on my own power, it was only then that I noticed that I could in fact see. Something that shouldn’t be possible in a dark cavern a least twenty to thirty feet underground, then again most caverns don’t have a soothing blue glow pulsing with a calming hum.

I couldn’t think, it was like my brain had been dipped in a soothing bath made of warmth and tasting of honey as it dripped onto my brain. It was like an out of body experience as I stumbled away from the entrance I fell down, the light pulling me towards it.

Next thing I know I’m staring in fascination, a large blue crystal emerging from the wall, roots wiggling all over it as it hummed softly. It was warm to the touch, soft despite it going against all common sense as I ran my hand over its surface.

I could feel blood drip out of my nose like a river as I admired the crystal, something wiggling around in my skull as I felt like I could suddenly see something that had been right in front of my face for my whole life- Then everything went black.

I could feel confusion bubbling in my chest as I scrambled over the rocks, rough stone scraping my hands even as the climb somehow felt easy despite my lacking physical abilities. My hands finding the foot holds, and the nearest sturdy hand hold with an ease that made it feel like I’d done this a hundred times over.

When I finally pulled myself out of the same crevice I tumbled down what seemed like days ago, I could physically feel the exhaustion tugging at my muscles. The sun was much higher in the sky than when I had fallen down, so it must have been at least a night since I fell.

Not that I cared much, I was far too tired to do much but roll over onto my back and grunt as I stared at the trees like I was seeing something completely new. I couldn’t help a fascination bouncing in my skull as I stared at the tree, it felt like something I had never seen as my mind folded over it like wet cloth. Clinging to the bark tightly as I memorised every ridge in the bark, every leaf on it branches. The texture of each leaf, to its individual branches impressed into my memories even though I was more than a foot away from the tree itself.

Exhaustion crashed over my shoulders, I could feel hot liquid drip out of my nose, a blur creeping on the edge of my vision as I struggled to stay awake. It got pretty cold out here at night, what if it rained? The idea that an animal might hurt me didn’t even occur to me as a soothing pulse lured me further into sleep, banishing my worries as my hand tightened around the source. A softball sized rock humming quietly, held fast in my grip even as I fell into sleep.

I could half remember a shout, someone all but collapsing at my side. My Mother’s blond hair falling onto my face as she screamed, whether out of emotional turmoil or for help I don’t know. Just the feeling of someone picking me up before everything turned into a mess of gibberish I didn’t understand.

Needless to say it wasn’t exactly a stellar start to our vacation.

The following week felt like a fever dream. I woke up in a hospital with my Mom asleep in the chair next to me. Everything felt floaty and it was only previous experience that made me realize I was on painkillers.

The reason for it was quite apparent, after all it wasn't every day you woke up with your entire right hand in a cast.

The drugs made everything a bit blurry and I can just barely remember my Mom waking up as a doctor came in. However I didn’t understand a word they were saying, probably trying to tell me my arm was broken if I had to guess and I could feel something warm drip down my face, but it was all just this side of gibberish to my mind so I just went back to sleep.

A neat summation of my time in the hospital was waking up high as a kite, not understanding anything, getting a nose bleed, and then going back to sleep.

By the time I was to leave the hospital I was finally able to understand human speech again, and my nosebleeds had cut to every couple of hours, instead of nearly every minute I was conscious. The Doctors were mystified by the nosebleeds, and quite concerned about it so I’d been stuck in the hospital an extra couple of days while they did some tests.

I didn’t have any of the things they were worried about so I was let go as soon as they were done. Otherwise I was just left with my arm having several hairline fractures from my fall and an overprotective mother.

My Mom, Alice Maddson, is a lovely woman. She was a bit shut off from other people, and the constant moving her job demanded didn’t make having friends easy.

She could be distant at times but she did her best and sometimes I think she hated herself for it. She didn’t really know how to have a child let alone a reincarnated one.

However she always did her best, and I loved her for it.

Her best in this case was constantly hovering over me for the next couple of days. Little touches, her hand on my shoulder, sitting a little bit closer when just being present would have been more normal.

Honestly she seemed to be taking the whole thing much worse than I did. While I was the one who started sleeping with my Mom the first night, my underdeveloped brain was not yet able to prevent random shadows in the night from turning into nightmares.

Plus the fractured arm hurt like hell and I wanted someone to cry on.

However all the following nights it was her coming into my room in the middle of the night to make sure I wasn’t gone. The creek of my door waking me everytime, the light of the hallway creeping in as my Mom made a reflexive gasp of relief.

My Mother crying herself to sleep next to me is going to be something that haunts me for a long time.

With my little trip to weird cave hell, My Mother decided we’d spend the time until my hand was healed up in our little creepy rented mansion in the woods.

At least that was the plan at the start.

For the first day or so after we got home from the hospital everything was fine. I had my pet rock sitting in a planter in my room and I mostly just spent my time trying to ignore the persistent scream of pain from my arm.

Then I started getting headaches, the nosebleeds I’d suffered in the hospital never really stopped. The frequency just decreased, and would lose time on occasion. Mostly when I was in my room I’d just find myself lost looking at my pet rocks' weird glow.

My Mother never mentioned the glowing rock but she did get a concerned look on her face whenever she had to shake me back into reality. Her Warm hazel eyes glazed over with persistent worry every time she found that I had zoned out most of the day.

By the second week even I was aware something was really wrong, even if my zone out periods had decreased. My headaches had stopped going away, instead I found myself with a single constant headache that only varied in severity.

Some days were better than others, most of them were pretty bad though and I tended to just sleep the days away for the most part. I was fairly sure My Mom was on the edge of bringing me back to the hospital, only by the end of the week my constant headache disappeared entirely.

It was like waking up to a whole new world.

Colors were more vibrant, The sun was brighter, sounds were clearer, and I could suddenly hear my pet rock screaming for food.

Honestly, hearing my pet rock crying like a toddler was so surprising I can barely recall when My mom stormed into the room looking ready to haul me into a car only to stop stunned when she noticed my pillows, stuffed animals, and the desk in my room floating around like I was in space.

Not that I payed much attention to any of that myself, I was far to distracted by the fact my Rock could fucking cry.

The rest of the month was, blurry, to say the least. Mostly because I couldn’t figure out how to feed the stupid fucking rock, and as a result it kept screaming.

Every second, of every hour, of every day for the next two weeks.

Half way through I was so sleep deprived that if My Mom didn’t reference her old friend who owed a favor, I would have believed the meeting with the supposed witch was a hallucination. I only just managed to catch enough sleep that I didn’t die from exhaustion when I figured out the rock liked coke (The soda to be specific).

Not enough for it to stop screaming but enough to be able to get more than ten minutes of rest a day. Just needed my Mom to pour it over the rock for the entire time I was trying to sleep, not exactly a perfect solution but enough to keep me alive.

It’s the only reason I can remember finding out the exact thing to feed the fucking rock at all. Not that I actually mind it all that much anymore since I found out it’s favorite food, but still nearly a month worth of constant torture to find out the thing needed fucking mineral water for food.

The occasional supplements of iron and other things aside, it needed fucking Mineral water.

Honestly finding out about vampires, werewolves, and other shit was kind of a nothing-burger after that.

As it turns out, my mother’s family had a bit of history and funny enough so did my fathers. My Mom’s side the Maddsons had been a line of Seers, as in predicting the future and they had been pretty accurate with it too. Sadly no Seer can be accurate one hundred percent of the time, that would be oracles and they are a whole other thing.

Seer were just people with a knack for seeing the future, sometimes in the mirror, other times it’s just a random vision, technically they were stunted witches or something. Regardless they only see possibilities, something a pack of werewolves had taken advantage of in the eighteen hundreds by contemplating massacring the clan every day for three years straight.

Until it was just rote and everybody stopped reacting when they saw themselves getting attacked by werewolves, then they actually went through with it. Everyone saw it coming, but it had happened so many times everybody thought it was just a repeat.

The family of over seventy people shrunk to ten, and scattered after that. My Mom hand been the second of four siblings. Two boys, two girls only two of which were seers.

My Mom wasn’t one of them, and don’t get me wrong they didn’t hurt her, but they certainly hadn’t treated her very well either. Explains the distance, hard to parent when you don’t have a good example.

Regardless, as soon as my Mom hit eighteen she was out of there for good, she’d kept in very light contact with one of her brothers, the one that wasn’t a seer just like her, but otherwise she hasn’t even thought of the rest since.

Not really all that impacting since as far as I can tell, I have yet to see the future in any way. However my father’s side was a bit more important.

He’d been a witch, as in full on fireballs and throwing around aneurysms like candy witch. He’d also been a bit of a hotshot and while my Mom Couldn’t remember his name since he’d fucked with her memory, she did know his family wouldn’t tolerate me being outside their control if I was a witch.

Thankfully, I wasn’t or not anymore at least.

Apparently during the time I’d been near delirious with sleep deprivation, she’d called on an old friend. An old witch friend who had been completely flabbergasted by me, mostly in the sense that as far as she could tell I should have been a witch. However I didn’t have so much as an ounce of magic in my body, and when she got near me she found her magic just wouldn’t touch me.

I was a certified magic dead zone, no matter what spell she threw at me (harmless stuff like glowing balls of light) they refused to make contact. She had been a bit fascinated by me moving shit with my mind, but telekinesis was pretty common among witches.

Admittedly she had no idea what I was, but I didn’t set off alarm bells when she touched me, so I apparently wasn’t an ‘abomination’ like vampires.

Just the way she said abomination made me think I didn’t like this chick very much. Even her explanation of vampires going against nature didn’t make much sense to me. I mean getting my blood drunk didn’t exactly seem like a fun time, but her explanation was very vague and just made me think she had a lot of prejudices.

Regardless she lost interest in me pretty quickly, after confirming with my Mother that no I wasn’t a witch.

Honestly her visit was a bit of a blur because of sleep deprivation, and I honestly thought the whole thing was a hallucination until my mom brought up my father and clarified the whole family situation I already summed up.

I was honestly still a bit out of it at the time, and by the time I was actually able to think about it all I’d quietly come to terms with it subconsciously.

Meanwhile I’d had new float-y powers to play with, for the most part it was both easy and hard to use them. A bit of a contradiction, but also very true. Trying to say lift a stick with my mind was honestly kind of a struggle at first, however just idly grabbing at it without much thought was incredibly easy.

Mostly because at times I forgot my right arm was in shambles and just used my weird new powers as a substitute without realizing. A good thing for me, but rather bad when Mom’s vacation time was running out and needed to go back to work. Something that couldn’t be done when there was an off chance I’d accidentally float my juice box to me in public.

However I was also seven, no matter how mature I could act if needed and couldn’t be left alone.

Thankfully as it turns out, the supernatural have a great need for discreet babysitting tutoring services. Services rather disposed to children that might accidentally set something on fire with their mind, or not ask questions about the blood bags in the refrigerator. 

As a result there were entire agencies held straight with everything from legal repercussions, to spells binding them to absolute silence, with painful death being the result of breaking them.

Ignoring the hired babysitter and tutor thing.

I had finally realized why I was feeling a weird sense of deja-vu whenever I looked at my pet rock. It was just a smaller version of the weird cave thing in Chronicle! Chronicle was a found footage style movie with four guys crawling into a cave (been there done that) that leads to a big glowy rock. The guys start getting nose bleeds and shit then suddenly the rock starts flashing red, then it skips to the four guys struggling to catch baseballs with their minds a month or two later.

Needless to say, I’m not exactly struggling with mere baseballs. By the second week of having my powers I was already juggling lawn chairs, and if the movie was right, then I was only going to get stronger.

Admittedly I also don’t remember the movie having any Vampires or Witches in it, so maybe I’m hilariously wrong.

Either way, I had a lot of power to grow into.

Chapter Text

If I were to tell the truth, the three years after my cave adventure were some of the best of my life.

I got introduced to my live-in tutor/babysitter and to be honest she was a fun teacher. Ms. Middles was a lady in her mid thirties and knew how to teach in a fun engaging way that just made learning easy.

Admittedly Math still wasn’t my best subject, but I learned better under her than I had under any of my teachers from my last life, or the homeschooling program I’d used in this one. I was taught under her from seven until I hit ten and she did a very good job. 

My Mom did her best to come home as much as she could, so I saw her for a good two weeks every month or so and while it was odd being away from her for so long I adapted. Half a year through, Mom got a promotion that greatly reduced her travel time even if she still did it a lot.

Now she stayed home for at least half the year doing more managerial tasks through the computer, and only occasionally covered a few days for those doing her old job when they ran into trouble.

It was nice being in one place for more than a week or two at a time, and Ms. Middles was quite happy to stick around. She even took to explaining the supernatural world in between breaks, and seemed amused whenever I’d make my pencils do the macarena without realizing. 

As a combo teacher/babysitter for the hidden side of the world, she had the privilege to know a great deal more about it than even those who had lived it for centuries. After all, the big shots in the supernatural world didn’t want their children making missteps because of false, or wrong information.

As a result I found a lot of stuff that most under the moonlight didn’t seemed to realize or just shrugged off without thought. For one, most governments were well aware of the thing lurking in the shadows. However for once, the politicians used their single collective brain cell and decided to not interfere to the best of their abilities.

As it turns out having the president, dictator, or whatever else you wanted to call your national leader. Assassinated repeatedly because they tried to forcibly put witches under their thumb, or because they decided to steal something from Klaus the Mad, or maybe just went crazy and tried to achieve immortality, forced them to learn quickly.

Instead most government systems had easy ways in, most vampires if they were aware could just hop over to the dmv and get replacement papers and citizenship by saying their old ones had been printed wrong.

Not that most realize they could do that, and the system had flags in them to not look too closely, at people who happened to look exactly like someone born a hundred years ago with shoddy fakes.

Witches on the other hand had been subtly shifted into something people just didn’t ask about, and most would by default just assume you were into occult studies if you tried to claim it. It was honestly weird how well Occult studies 101 had slid into college classes, as something closer to an actual profession than just something that only historians and weirdos found useful.

Unfortunately the world beyond normal was very fragmented and even Ms. Middle admitted that it was hard to explain historical events when everything supernatural did it’s best to hide.

There was quite a bit known, with a great deal of purely supernatural events being more documented than things that mixed in with your average person. Like The Destroyer going around making enemies with just about everyone he ever encountered, or the burning of New Orleans under his fury.

If anyone knew why he seemed to have it out for Klaus the Crazed, then they weren’t interested in sharing. Only the trail of catastrophe that followed their every encounter was left to tell their stories.

On the other hand, apparently most of the supernatural world was under the impression that werewolves were extinct, or never existed, which was weird. Sure not a lot of normal people go around killing anymore, but werewolves were pretty common in most of the mountainous regions apparently.

Then again, werewolf venom killing vampires doesn’t make much sense either. Vampire venom (something they don’t actually have) killing werewolves would make sense. It’s literally a part of the vampire image, vampires were the blood sucking immortals with attractive faces meant to lure you in to kill you. 

Werewolves were all brute strength and savagery. Claws and teeth ripping out your throat before you even knew it. 

Vampires fought by setting an ambush and making the terrain help them. No matter how fast or strong their victory condition was to not fight at all. Werewolves fought with strength and instinct, hunting their prey and tearing it to pieces regardless of its advantages. 

It’s one of the reason’s people hop onto the vampire vs werewolf bandwagon. 

Then again that was my last life, and despite how much I want it to, it doesn’t give a fuck about my opinions. So yeah the uncontrollable berserker wolf gets venom I guess, despite how it would fit vampires better. 

My misgivings against reality aside, there were also other things running around. Not as plentiful as Witches, vampires, or werewolves, but still present. 

Sirens were a thing apparently, so were banshees, wendigos, and countless other less common creatures that I would likely never have to deal with since they just hadn’t adapted to the modern world as well as the most plentiful three.

I was more likely to run into a sea monster in the ocean than I was to find anything other than anything since modern times hadn’t really affected the deepest parts of the sea. There were apparently some kind of pocket realms where things were still in the medieval era with entrances hidden all over the place. 

Though Ms. Middles had never found one herself and was mostly speaking about the experience of one of her friends who was prone to exaggeration. So I would take it with the grain of salt it was offered with.

I was getting stronger.

It was something incredibly apparent since in the period of about six months, I went from barely moving lawn chairs, to feeling like I could juggle the car. Of course I wasn’t about to risk breaking Ms.Middles cherry Cadillac, so instead of going big I went for more. 

To be precise I tried moving more objects at once, going from three marbles if I wanted a headache to juggling thirty ball bearings like it was nothing. 

The three years before I hit ten only made it more apparent that I wasn’t going to stop getting stronger. It also caused a bit of a problem when Mom tried to get me back into public school once I hit ten, and we moved into a little townhouse. It was still in Virginia, but I was ninety percent sure there had never been a city called Germont here in my last life.

Something None of us had realized was that I was not only ridiculously ahead of my peers, but I was also just used to doing too many things at once. It made sitting at a desk while the teacher went over something I’d learned in my past life annoying and borderline torture.

Which led to me zoning out as I floated the leaves outside the window into interesting patterns while staring out a window. Then the teacher would notice and try to shame me only to find out that not only do I know the question, but I’m also completely shameless.

The constant disregard for authority figures had three reactions from my fellow children. Uneasy nervousness, Complete hatred, or idolizing me as the cool loner girl.

None of which was a good place to start making friends, and the fact I didn’t really find action figures or dolls interesting (far too focused on trying to figure out how to generate lighting with telekinesis thank you very much) made it all but impossible.

Not gonna lie, it kinda sucked and the only bright point of the place was PE classes, something I would have found abhorrent in my last life. But in this life I was still a child, a child who had done her best to be as physically fit as possible in order to beat up muggers. Even if I had slipped somewhat since I started using my mind to do the lifting instead. 

It helped that everyone always wanted me on their team because they didn’t want to suffer from being on the receiving end of a dodgeball thrown by me, which helped quite a bit. It was the only time I really got to interact with other kids in a way that didn’t leave them glaring at me, or like I was some kind of alien.

I refuse to acknowledge the ones who stared at me with blushes, not only was it kind of creepy, but I also refused to date anyone in this life before both of us were eighteen.

I’m no pedo, and anyone I would be interested in before then would have to be a pedo to even consider it. So no, foot down until I hit the majority, not that big of a loss if I was honest. Girls were supposed to mature before boys, and my sister in my last life had definitely been eyeing boys at this age, but I had yet to feel even the faintest bit of attraction to anyone in this life. 

Regardless, school was like someone trying to put a cheese grater to my brain, and Mom refused to let me test out until I was at least fourteen- probably sixteen knowing her. So I had to suffer through it, thankfully the litter townhouse we’d moved into was in the city, and close to the local college. 

As a result whenever school ended I’d sneak over and listen to whatever professor was lecturing at the time. It drove Mom mad the first time I’d done it, but once it became obvious I was going to keep doing it regardless she left the issue alone. 

Admittedly College hadn’t been my first attempt at keeping myself busy, but after Mom found me hauling sticks under the classroom window to use during class I’d had to find something else to take my attention.  

Though it was kind of funny when people spotted me sitting in the rafters of a lecture hall, taking notes and swinging my feet. Though I’d had to stop hiding up there after someone managed to take a picture before I noticed. Sucked though, I’d had a strange kind of comradery with a bunch of people who’d notice me often enough. Some of them even thought I was a ghost and kept offering me food and A4 notebooks. 

Though we’d had to leave for a bit after one of the teachers realized I had yet to show so much as a scratch the entire year and a half we lived there. Mostly because at some point I’d started projecting the telekinetic barrier around my skin without even realizing it.  

Having my school counselor trying to stab me with a wooden stake had been a bit panic inducing. The parent teacher meeting hadn’t gone very well after that, especially when the stake had shattered against my back, and the math teacher tried to take Mom down in the same way.

The two teachers moonlighting as vampire hunters quickly realized their fuck up when Mom drew the biggest revolver I’d ever seen out of her purse. Meanwhile the rest of the teachers present had frozen at the sudden violence and only snapped out of it when Mom yelled for them to call the cops.

I’m still not sure how they convinced themselves that the stake had shattered on the back of my chair, then again the truth was much stranger than fiction. That the two teachers had shouted about me being a vampire had only caused the whole thing to get even weirder.

Though I think at least someone in the police had been read in on the supernatural. There had been plenty of vervain flowers decorating the station, and a tension I hadn’t even noticed seeped out of the police officers. All when I ‘accidentally’ pulled a petal off one and didn’t hiss in pain.

The last three months of the school year had been tedious, especially after one of the kids got a hold of the vampire accusation and spread it around as an insult. Truthfully only three or four kids actually used it, but it was grating after everyone in the school had done their best to ignore me for more than a year and a half.

After all the attention Mom decided it was time to retreat back to the Mansion in the woods for the summer. Something I wasn’t particularly against, people were kind of annoying and the town had gotten pretty clingy since the story ran on the news.

Everyday I just seemed to get stronger, to the point I was able to micromanage hundreds of things at once. Making dizzying displays by moving entire mountains of leaves into portraits was easy as breathing, and I had finally figured out how to catch lightning. It was incredibly hard and I still hadn’t figured out how to make it myself, but layering my power over my hands so I could hold a literal spear of lighting was too cool to not use.

It took only asking Mom if I could take over and remodel the cave I’d fallen into as a sort of me space to get permission. Then I had my project for the summer, and turned the place into my own underground haven. Admittedly I’d had to read up on how exactly to carve out a cave twenty-thirty feet deep in the ground without causing issues and I’d had some trouble figuring out how to dry out the lumber I cut down with my mind.

It was only after I had gotten all of that done that I actually headed into the cave to check out how I was gonna have to do things. Imagine my surprise when I found the much larger form Of my Pet rock. Apparently It was some kind of hive mind thing and my pet rock was just a smaller body while the bigger form was something like twice the size semi and got all the nutrition I fed the smaller form.

I don’t think I’d be inviting anyone into my little cave, but that just sealed the deal. It also made rearranging the rock around it pretty easy since it would squeal in concern if I was about to render the cave unstable.

It made all the times I’d fed the stupid glow ball at two in the morning worth it. Though how the fuck it was surviving off an ounce of mineral water a month was a mystery to me.

Regardless, by the end of the month I’d made myself a cool little hideaway and I’d hidden the main body of my Pet rock behind a secret door that needed telekinesis to open. Being able to manipulate shit with your mind made the whole thing much easier and it would probably pass as some kind of masters engineering project.

No where near professional though, and you still had to crawl down to the door even if I had made a ladder by wearing holes into the rock. Still made it a much easier trip than what I’d had to do on my first trip out. 

In other news, I’d figured out how to fly and after a quick internet search, I’d found out that Germont wasn’t too far at my top speed. Something I was fairly certain I could improve on as I got stronger. So hopefully if Germont got too much again, I’d be able to fly back to my little haven in the woods. 

Though Germont actually wasn’t actually the closest town to the uh, Maddson Mansion (how much I hated that alliteration) that position belongs to a small town a sixty minute drive away. Some place called Mystic Falls, honestly I’d only been there a couple of times as a pit stop on the way home. If I hadn't looked up the distance to Germont I probably wouldn’t even have learned the name. 

Though something about it sent a tingle in the back of my head for some reason. 

Only then I had to go to the hospital because my eyes turned fucking pink, and honestly it was mystery to everyone why. Just like the persistent nosebleeds that showed up every once in a while despite nothing actually being wrong. Well I say pink but by the end of the day it shifted from hot pink to dark red which didn’t exactly help my reputation as vampire girl. 

Thankfully, unlike what most stories would have you believe most people don’t consciously try to remember people's eye colors. They also weren’t able to meet my eyes long enough to tell my eyes were red instead of an odd shade of brown.

By the time I was eleven all the hubbub about someone trying to kill me because of their own paranoid delusion, had calmed down.

Sure I still had to deal with annoying kids occasionally referencing it in ways they probably thought were subtle. You could only hear someone say “what are you gonna do? Bite me?” Or “Get away from her, she might give you a case of blood loss.” So many times before all the words lost any meaning at all.

Most of the school was content with ignoring me, some thought they were comedic geniuses, and some hated me like I’d ruined their lives, but most just didn’t give a shit.

Even the Teachers had stopped trying to shame me for not paying attention, and only called on me because of habit. Instead it’s just the tedious grind of things I’d already learned and the quiet grind of time. Summers were spent at the mansion and the school year was spent shoving my brain against the barb wire of torturous boredom.

It all blended together, and before I knew it I was fourteen and entering High School all over again.

At some point my status as the cool grumpy loner girl had solidified amongst those who didn’t actively disparage me. I’m not sure how being isolated from everyone else was cool, but at the same time it was kind of fun to lean into the image a bit.  

I’d taken to using darker makeup, and my brunette hair was always a brighter shade. It was easy enough to make it darken by using my telekinesis to sort of wiggle the light a little bit.  It wasn’t hard and it was something to take up my attention while bored out of my mind.

Though making my skin pale was a sham, I’d been far too active and outdoorsy to be anything but mildly tan. Plus shifting the color of my hair was easy- no one was trying to touch my hair on the other hand basic physical contact would disrupt my light wiggling enough to be pretty god damn obvious.

So no pale skin for me, though I’d never bother hiding the eye color change. The dark mascara had made it more than apparent to anyone able to look me in the eyes for more than two seconds. Otherwise, maybe two people in the school had noticed at all.

I didn’t however change how I was dressing, I kept to my persistently green clothing, regardless of the day I always had at least a hint of green. It was my favorite color and I didn’t care enough about anyone else's opinion to change it up.

Though seeing as I tended to match green with black,white, with the occasional outdoorsy combination that made me look like the living embodiment of a leaf… well it didn’t exactly go against the grumpy loner girl reputation.

Though I admit I’m exaggerating, even I needed a break from my favorite shade every once and a while. 

Now I’m sure someone is wondering why I’m in school at fourteen instead of testing out like I wanted to.

The answer is simple: Mom.

Not to say she was against it, but she had conditions. For a start I had to stick through my first year of high-school, another thing I had to do was find some kind of job I could do over the summer.

I also had to get straight A’s, not exactly difficult since I’d only had A’s and B’s in this stint of life, but it did mean I had to actually try. A large shift from just whittling the day away by ignoring the teachers and floating anywhere between thirty, to a hundred steel ball bearing’s in several complex patterns above the ceiling tiles. 

In the meantime I’d discovered an absolute dearth in talent for computers. I could use them for typical functions like playing games or browsing the internet but anything else and I would somehow end up crashing the thing. 

Strange since I’d been fairly competent in my last life but no big deal. I Was also banned from the music club after making a recorder wail like a dying cat. Sewing was easy by hand but the machine refused to do what I wanted. 

I was honestly glad that home economics didn’t lead to a fire, just a rather tasteless omelet. I was so far ahead of science it was like shoving a spike into my skull sitting in to listen to the teacher drone on for an hour. Math was honestly not all that bad, my skills with it had increased the more I used my brain to lift shit in a weird correlation.  

History was all old news, and the teacher insisted on going over the Indians by rote. English was honestly kind pointless since I had already been forced to read the books they were trying to shove down my throat again. Art sucked because I had to use my hands, and the teacher was obsessed with painting. I not only sucked at painting, but I was only barely competent in any art directly using my hands.

If I was using my mind however I was great, at least in carving wood and stone, I hadn’t payed much attention to any other art form. Though I was passable sculpting clay.

Regardless, all my paintings turned into puked colored blobs. 

Wood shop was all about safety for the first two months, and even then it required annoying amounts of supervision. 

PE was once more the only light in the darkness, I was after all a sporty tomboy and I more than resembled the remark. Climbing ropes was both fun and it didn’t require me listening to a teacher drone on like a barely present corpse. I killed at tennis, and once we got to things like the school rock wall I had a hell of time. 

I think the only time I ever smiled at school was when the instructor challenged us to run as long as we could. I was on the track for the full hour of class before he stopped me and I was sweating like a mother fucker, but damn if I wasn’t having fun pushing my limits. 

Though I think I sent my classmates for a loop when they saw me grinning like a maniac. 

The place was definitely better than middle school, if only because the teacher’s didn’t have some kind of persistent grudge against me. Plus the pace took in kids from every middle school in the town and as a result I didn’t have to deal with stupid kids that had either ignored me my entire life, or done their very best to ruin my day on the regular. 

I didn’t have anyone I would call a true friend, but now I could actually talk to people without getting weird looks from them. Well I still got weird looks, but only after I had talked to them and that made all the difference.

In other news, once I found out about my Pet rocks hive mind during the summer, I’d asked if I could have a smaller body from it. Incredibly weird conversation that made my head throb for a full day afterwards, but My pet rock had been more than accommodating.

Now in the past I’d just moved my pet rock with me whenever we moved, it was a bit of a chore since despite being the size of a softball it weighed like six pounds. I still don’t know how I managed to climb out of the cave with it in my hand at seven. Now I’d set up its own little gerbil cage in the Maddson Mansion in the woods. It had its own little bowl to sit in and I’d filled it up to the edge with mineral water and a modified gerbil drip feeder connected to one of those big ass blue five gallon water jugs.

Meanwhile I’d taken the small marble sized rock body and made it into a little necklace. I had long since figured out that no else could see the glow it emitted and it could easily pass as some kind of sapphire. 

As a result My rock buddy could still contact me if it wanted, but it was also in a safe space and being well fed. Midway through setting it up I’d had a bit of a crisis in the sense that giving my pet rock a cage and water feeder didn’t even feel strange. 

That I had been talking to said rock the entire time also made me feel like I was at least a five on the crazy scale. Probably only two on the crazy/hot graph though, so at least I wasn’t totally deranged.

Regardless It had left me pondering my Pet rock, I hadn’t even given it a name after all these years. Not to mention how hard getting anything out of it was, not because it wasn’t cooperative but because it was only about as smart as a really stupid four year old.

It also couldn’t really do much, if it was a video game character, then it had sunk all its points into its mind stat. Before pausing and then sinking all of its skill points into thought projection and then making it so other people could hear its thought projection without instantly rendering them brain dead. 

Giving said people ridiculously strong powers was just a side effect of making it so they could hear it scream for food. 

Fucking ridiculous. 

Lore dumping my life aside, it was summer finally and we were back at our mansion. Which also meant it was time for me to find some kind of job.

Yay.

Chapter Text

Everyone had their hobbies, my mother collected postcards from all the places she’d been. Had a whole wall covered in postcards from Paris and Berlin, to the British museum of stolen stuff and the lubyanka building in Moscow.

I on the other hand, had taken to wood carving and stone masonry. 

The fact I could do it all with the power of my mind certainly helped. Plus after the annoyance of my woodworking classes and realizing just how bad I was with my hands, I had taken to trying things directly. 

Usually I’d try to work through a small bit of whittling with a knife in my hands, while I carved away at a bigger statue with my mind. Even after several hours and painstaking effort My little dog figurine was little more than a rectangle with legs and my hands were informing me just how much they didn’t like this.

Didn’t mean I was going to stop anytime soon, but by now I had already formed callus’s so the pain was only a mild ache. I still set to stretching my hands out so they wouldn’t cramp, while I blew my hair out of my eyes.

Around the time I hit thirteen I’d gained a sort of seventh sense, as far as I could tell it literally my mental presence gently pressing up against everything around me. At this point I think my mind was just to strong to be contained by my body, and it was actually pretty helpful. 

As long as it was anywhere within a hundred feet of me I could sort of feel it in the back of my mind. I could feel every crevice and bump in the tree around me, every squirrel skittering by, every ant bustling through the undergrowth like they were the back of my hand. 

It was actually pretty annoying and I had to forcibly dial back the metaphorical fidelity anytime I went into town, or was just around people. Sure, being able to take someone’s pulse a hundred feet away was kind of cool, but I really didn’t need to know how much dandruff that one guy on the bus has, or that the shy blond at the back had nipple piercings. 

Thankfully it only took a minor bit of fiddling to dial back the detail and make it stop at the first layer of clothing. 

Regardless, as it turned out, being able to feel everything around you made telekinesis much easier. It also meant I could carve incredibly detailed sculptures in places I really shouldn’t be able to. 

As a result I was able to carve an entire spiral city into the Oak I was leaning against, all while I made meager progress with my hands. With my mind I’d made something most carvers and sculptor’s would be amazed by. 

A single solid oak with a spiraling city climbing along it, countless towers and buildings rising along it with tiny fully detailed people about the size of my pinky went about their lives in a frozen moment. Horses pulling carts, priests in the middle of sermons, and cats getting everywhere they weren’t supposed to be. 

I could feel the smile tugging at my face as I imagined some random hiker stumbling up my work at random. The sheer bafflement at it would be great, since the spiral went up until the canopy before cutting off. A good eighty feet up, it would require either incredible climbing skills or heavy machinery to get it done by an average human.

I could feel a bit of pride prickling at the back of my mind as I admired my work, both supernatural and not, when my watch started to buzz. It was a cheap plastic watch, with a digital screen that I could only just see in the daylight as I bright it up to my face. I had to squint a little until I was able to see the time.

Ah my new job, how wonderful. 

Thankfully I set my alarm for a full hour before I’d have to leave, but it was still annoying even If I’d already gone through the very limited training it required. 

Even so that meant my time here was over, so reached over to the oak and sort of pulsed my mind? Power? Through it. I’d discovered a while ago I could sort of push myself through something and with trees at least it left them far more durable than usual. 

I hadn’t tried it with anything other than making my sculptures stronger, and to be honest I wasn’t too curious to try it with anything else. I see the pulse of pink something crawling over the tree like static before setting down. 

I nodded to a good job, before bending my knees and jumping into the air. For a moment I was just a normal girl hanging in the air before I caught myself and burst into sky. 

I felt the vibrate as I broke the sound barrier, but I didn’t hear the boom at all as I rocketed through the air. Flying never got old, trees turning into a blur underneath me as I put on more speed, then suddenly nothing but fluffy white as I broke through the cloud cover. 

A kingdom of clouds and sunlight laid out before me, I could see a plane far off in the distance sailing through the air. 

I couldn’t help the smile on my face as a scream of pure joy jumped out of my throat. Happiness not abating even slightly as I began to plummet into a free fall.

I Pushed the door open with a creak, the old probably spruce door parting easily as I didn’t even bother using my actual hands to open it. Similarly it swung shut behind me without prompting under my telekinetic hold.

The Maddson Mansion had changed quite a bit since we’d first moved in. The old flooring had been redone with wood that we knew for sure wasn’t rotting, and the dark corners had been filled with lamps to push away the old creepy vibe it’d had.

The old stained windows had been replaced with clear glass that let in much more light, and we had long since rearranged and furnished the place to our tastes. Well I say our, but the mansion had been my project more than Mom’s. She had taken the house over in Gramont as her place to mess with, but the mansion here had become mine in a way, even if she’s been here just as much as me.

As a result the place was much more woodsy than my mother would prefer, but even she had to admit she liked the cozy feeling I’d all but forced on the place. Sure it was a bit hard to make a two story mansion that was probably a plantation feel cozy, But I’d done it!

It just took a lot of natural lighting, dim lamps, warm wood paneling, and a metric fuck ton of pillows and blankets everywhere except the kitchen.

The sun was already dimming as I rushed inside, running into my room to change into something at least a little bit presentable instead of my usual clothes. I came back down ten minutes later in a black, cap sleeve shirt that was probably a little bit too tight.

Thankfully I’d never been the chestiest girl around, and hopefully the plaid jacket I had hanging on my shoulders would distract from how tight it was. Not like it was two sizes too small or anything, I’d just outgrown it since I last wore it.

I was tying my hair into a ponytail using the kitchen mirror as a reference, when My mom came up behind me and pulled my hands away. A slight smile on her face as she untangled the hair tie from my brown hair and combed through it with her hand.

“Don’t put your hair up Felicity, you look far more professional with it down.” She chided lightly and to be fair she was probably right. My hair was barley to my shoulders so it wasn’t like I had to tie it up.

Still I couldn’t help but turn around with a put-out frown on my face as her brown eyes lit up with amusement.

I didn’t really think about it but as I turned around I realized just how much Mom had changed since I was a kid. Her hair was still brown but had faded slightly and there were a couple of wrinkles on her forehead now. Her skin was a little paler now since she didn’t travel as much and it was almost surreal just to realize that she had in fact been aging all my life.

I could see the fading stress lines on her face, the intense worry she’d had for me since I first started moving shit with my mind. It had faded in recent years since I was able to figure out I could probably take a tank shell to the face and be more confused at where it came from then hurt.

Not that I ever wanted to try it out, but me being all but invulnerable had lessened the stress my mom was under by a great amount. It hadn’t however gotten rid of it all and I could see the faint anxiety in her eyes as my face scrunched up in thought. Before she could think to ask what was on my mind I pulled her into a hug. Not something I should be capable of since My Mom was kind of way above average height and I hadn’t even stopped growing yet. Regardless I pulled her for a moment before backing away slightly to look her in the eyes.

“I’ll be fine Mom, it’s just a babysitting job. I’ll be watching two kids while their parents have a date night, not attacking a pack of werewolves. Even should the worst case happen, I have the babysitting service behind me if they try to sue for something stupid.”

I could see it as she all but deflated for a moment before she pulled me into her own arms, her chin resting on my head as she murmured quietly. “Doesn’t mean I won’t worry, you're still my baby girl even if you managed to get hired by the fancy supernatural babysitting service.”

I rolled my eyes even if I didn’t try to pull away. It wasn’t like I was going to be watching after any supernatural children after all. For all that the Silver Stag Babysitting service mainly served those in the moonlight, they still got jobs by those who weren’t in the know and took the “sworn by a star to keep your child safe.” tagline as good marketing instead of a magically binding contract.

I let her hold me for a bit before I tapped out, patting her shoulder lightly. “Okay you really need to let me go now, or I’m going to be late.” She huffed a bit pulling me tighter before letting me go, and I knew very well that was her physical touch quota for the month even as she complained lightly.

“You won’t be late, you could make the flight back ten times in the time you have left.” I couldn’t fight back the sigh as I gave an exasperated look. “No I can’t because you know very well I can’t fly within city limits without a good way to explain how fast I’m moving around. Plus it would be weird for me to show up with no way to have gotten there.”

Instead I was going to have to fly to the city limits with the electric scooter I’d gotten specifically to explain how I was moving about without a car. I’d then have to make the thirty minute trip standing on said scooter so it wouldn’t look like I showed up out of thin air.

It was a lot of effort to hide my incredible psychic prowess, but damn if it wasn’t worth it.

In any case I gave my Mom a smile, before I fled out the door. Grabbing the scooter that was sitting in the driveway in my mental grasp before I shot into the sky.

Mystic Falls was a pretty friendly place for all that it seemed to idolize founders who were firmly for the confederate side of the war. As I rode my standing scooter through town, people waved with friendly smiles and passing drivers went out of their way to get out of mine.

The place just had the aura of a good family, small town where everybody's neighbor might as well be family friends.

If I didn’t know the statistics for just how many people went missing or died mysterious deaths, I Might have even thought it a good retirement town. Admittedly most of the missing people had probably tried to go cave diving in ill advised places. The amount of people who died here from mystery causes, on the other hand, was definitely ridiculous for all that most of them didn’t even make the news. 

Place might as well be the twilight zone. 

None of that mattered at the moment, as I slowed to a stop by the curb of a fairly nice two story house. Stepping off my scooter and nudging the kickstand down I made sure to double check the address on the mailbox was right, before walking up the front door. 

I took a moment to settle myself, before knocking on the door. 

It opened near instantly with a sort of frenzied intensity that made me think whoever it was really wanted to leave. Something I got confirmation of when sound began to leak out of the house, the sound of a kid screaming combined with a sniffing sound that made me think someone was crying. 

Out stepped a rather frazzled looking man in a nice button up and a pretty brown hair lady who looked like she’d just fought through a hurricane. Both of them were very obviously dressed up for a night on the town for all that they had the look of war veterans that had just escaped green hell. 

So they looked like parents, essentially.

“Hello,” I said, trying to sound just a little bit peppy as I addressed them ”Is this the Gilbert house?” I could practically see the guy deflate in relief while the woman looked me over like I was an unwelcome house guest. “You must be the babysitter, I’m Grayson Gilbert and this is my wife Miranda.” He seemed almost ecstatic as he all but pulled my hand into an enthusiastic handshake.

Miranda on the other was looking at me like I was some kind of bug, and to be honest she didn’t really pull it off. “You're ten minutes late.” She said flatly with such calm certainly that I almost believed her despite the fact I knew differently. Before she could open her mouth again I preempted her.

“Actually” I started looking at my watch like I needed the reference. “I’m eleven minutes early, according to the appointment you set.” Doing my best to sound chipper and completely ignorant of how that could have come off condescending.

Miranda narrowed her eyes at me like I was something beneath her and I just tried to ignore it entirely. Just as it was getting awkward she slumped a little, her entire demeanor becoming a little petulant.

Her husband on the other hand just looked smug and put his hand out towards her. She was somehow even more petulant and just slapped a twenty dollar bill into his hand. He waggled his eyebrows at her before saying in a triumphant voice. “Hah, I get to choose the restaurant!”

I was honestly just a bit baffled, as his wife sighed before giving me a warm smile that came off as though she was just a kind old woman instead of someone who looked like she’d barely left her mid twenties.

“Sorry about that Sweety, me and my husband had a bit of a bet on how you’d react.” Before shrugging in a what can you do kind of way. “Anyway, to get on with things, I’m sure you've heard the.. Ruckus inside.”

Grayson cut in with an apologetic smile as he patted my shoulder. “Their names are Jeremy and Elena. Jer’s ten Elena is twelve, and this is the first time we are not going to be with them for a place that isn’t a school.” I could feel my face blank slightly as I spoke.

“I can guess they are not exactly happy about that.” I could see the slight wince on Miranda’s face as she muttered under her breath. “That’s the least of it.” Shaking her head before continuing in a clearer voice.

“In any case, you’ll be fine just don’t give them any sweets after six and make sure they're in bed by ten. We’ll likely be back by eleven so just make sure they don’t hurt themselves if you can. Oh and Jeremy is allergic to almonds and Elena loves them so just make sure she doesn’t sneak any to him. She thinks we’re keeping them from him to be mean instead of- well you get the idea. Everything you might need from bandages to epi-pens are in the bottom bathroom cupboard.”

Miranda sent a glance to Her husband as if asking if she missed anything, and when he shrugged she turned back to me. “That should be everything so all that's left is to introduce you to them, if you're ready that is?” There was a hint of anxiety to her question as if she was afraid I was just going to turn around and run.

“As ready as I can be.” I said with the same smile I’d been trying to keep up through this entire conversation. They shared a glance and a smile before Grayson opened the door and ushered me in.

I had a feeling this was going to be either great, or a total catastrophe

Chapter Text

I admit I’m not sure what to do with two small children looking up at me, with their parents to the side looking expectant.

Really they kind of threw me into the deep end after ushering me inside, Miranda called her children into the room. Both of them were pretty young, Jeremy was a typical ten year old with dark brown hair and a too big nose that made him look a little comical. Meanwhile Elena was still in the middle of the awkward stage, her limbs just a little too small for her current body and ears just a little bit too big for her head.

They both had hints to what they’d look like when they grew up and they would both probably be equally attractive at some point. However, right now they were at just the right spot in their development compared to mine. That I felt like I was looking at sticks of dynamite rather than children.

Jeremy had the sort of red tone to his cheeks that made me think he’d only just stopped screaming, as he took in slightly to deep breaths like he was still trying to take in air. Elena on the other hand had red eyes attached to salt trails down her face as well as a despondent sniffle.

At least I knew where the screaming and sobbing had come from when Grayson had opened the door to come outside.

All of this led me to believe they weren’t exactly happy with the current arrangement, and I felt like they were going to start all over again at the slightest prompting. With all the gentleness of someone trying to disarm a bomb, I approached the two tiny doomsday weapons.

I tried to ignore it as the two older Gilberts smiled in encouragement, Grayson giving me a thumbs up and Miranda looking at me like I had just learned how to ride a bike.

Either way I didn’t bother trying to bend down closer to them, I’m only fifteen so it was as though I was Much bigger than them anyway. I tried to put a convincingly chipper smile on my face, but I failed so I just kept small as I brushed some hair out of my vision.

“Hello Jeremy, Elena, It’s nice to meet you.” I could feel my voice try to waver but I managed to keep it even. Meanwhile the two children looked at me like I was some kind of alien being. Which sadly isn’t exactly an odd experience for me.

Complete silence was kind of unnerving, and it was getting kind of awkward. I could already feel words bubbling in my throat as the instinctive urge to end this growing pause overcame my own composure.

Then Elena and Jeremy moved.

Elena just kind of Climbed onto my leg like a cat, claws digging into my jeans and all. Jeremy however grabbed my hand and started trying to pull me out of the entry hall. I barely caught it as Miranda got a surprised if smug look on her face while her husband reluctantly returned the twenty she’d given him earlier.

Jeremy had tugged me into the Living room with all the impatience he could bring to bear and the energy of an office clerk who couldn’t wait to get off shift. I wasn’t even being slow, I mean Elena clinging to my leg made walking kind of hard and I nearly banged my leg on the coffee table.

Well no that was wrong, I did bang my leg on the coffee table. It’s just that my skin tight barrier ment I didn’t feel anything. Before I could even register that, Jeremy had already tugged me over to the couch and pushed me into it.

I couldn’t fight the mild laugh that made it out of my mouth as Jeremy put his hands to his hips with his head tilted upwards. Meanwhile Elena had let go of my leg and sat next to me, but had soon attached herself to my arm like she had my leg. Doing her best to use my arm as her own personal hug pillow.

While Elena nailed me down like a ship anchor, Jeremy had brought in a bucket and dumped it into a pile on the carpet. Revealing a collection of legos that he started to make some kind of building with.

I was honestly kind of baffled, using my free hand to scratch my head in confusion. I almost missed the sound of the front door closing behind their parents as they left without a word.

“Since when do kids act like this?” I murmured, Elena having fallen asleep on my arm like she’d been doing this for years while Jeremy just clicked his legos together and built the structure higher.

Them being angels was in fact temporary, even if they were still leagues more cooperative than I expected.

It started when Elena woke up, she had opened her eyes clearly in the way that only comes from a really good nap. She’d had an obviously telegraphed moment of looking at the arm she was clinging to and the hallway, before getting up in a way I can only call grumpy. Her feet smacking against the ground like it had personally offended her as she marched into the hallway.

Some part of me thought I should check what she was doing, but I was fairly certain she was just going to the bathroom.

I took the opportunity to stretch my arm and grab the TV remote that had been taunting me since Elena had decided it was nap time. Not that it had been out of reach, I just hadn’t wanted to risk waking the girl.

I clicked the TV on just as I felt it as someone sat next to me, not that I was surprised I had already felt Jeremy get up from his spot on the couch. I turned to find him shoving a lego house into my face.

“Hey, want to look at my house! It’s got doors and I even made a secret room!” His face was practically glowing as used his fingers to move the front door of his lego house open and close.

Actually looking at the thing, it was pretty impressive. Two stories tall, with several windows and multiple doors. While the windows weren’t exactly symmetrical, it was close enough that it looked fine. So I put on a smile. “Sure Jeremy, why don’t you show it to me?”

His face got brighter, and he popped off the first floor and got to explaining. “So this is the living room and it’s got a table and tv just like the real one and I put the little pieces here like little pots on the wall-” I hummed along with his stream of info and made the appropriate comments and questions so he knew I was listening.

It wasn’t exactly the most engaging conversation, but it was light and pleasant. So I just let myself enjoy having a conversation that didn’t have a constant sense of discomfort haunting it. I noted it as Elena approached, but I didn’t think much of it as I kept my attention firmly on Jeremy.

I was not expecting her to grab her brother's shoulders, and shove him away from me. Jeremy let out a squeak of surprise, as he fell off the couch. Meanwhile Elena quickly swept the lego house aside and all bus shoved herself back into my side. Their was moment quiet, the TV I’d long forgotten sending out a stream of noise that fell into the background, when Jeremy jumped onto his feet.

Rushing at Elena he shoved her into the couch with the same force she’d used to shove him off. She made a grunting noise to express pain while Jeremy shouted “Don’t shove me!”

I could literally feel it as Elena prepared to Shove Jeremy again when I finally caught up to reality.

“Elena Jeremy!”They both froze like statues and turned their heads to look at me. Elena Still shoved into the couch and into my side and Jeremy standing in front of the couch to me left with impressively wide eyes.

“Elena Don’t shove your brother, and Jeremy don’t shove her back either!” Elena looked a little chastised but Jeremy was mildly incensed. “But she shoved me first!” I gave him a look and he snapped his mouth shut with a click.

“But nothing, two wrongs don’t make a right.” My voice was scolding but not overly harsh, so I was horribly surprised when they both burst into tears.

I admit to panicking a little as I pulled them both into a hug. “Hey, Hey, it’s fine. It was just a little fight. I'm not mad, I’m not going to yell.” It was honestly so weird when they both instantly latched onto me and held back.

Really I had only known these two for like three hours, and Elena had been asleep for most of it! They shouldn’t be all but clinging and crying from the force of my mild irritation!

I shoved the matter of how weird this was to the side, It wasn’t important right now. “Come on it’s fine, neither of you are hurt. So dry those tears, you're fine and you're still going to be fine when we're done here. Give me a smile you two, you don’t want to cry all day do you?”

Soon they weren’t even sniffling as I let them loose from my arms, trying to use as little force as possible to dislodge them from me. They didn’t seem particularly happy at the last part, but they also didn’t try to fight me as I moved them so I could look at them both.

The two of them had Red eyes from crying, and looked a little grumpy but they were calm enough so I started trying to figure out what the hell just happened.

“Elena, Why did you shove Jeremy?”  I forced my voice to be as gentle as I could make it. Elena winced slightly, hunching her shoulders as she spoke in a quiet voice. “It was my spot.” She was almost silent enough that I didn’t hear her.

“What do you mean it was your spot?” I prodded lightly, and Elena Exploded. “It was my spot! He wasn’t suppose to take my spot. It was comfortable and you were warm and he was in the way so I shoved him!”

I have no Idea what expression I was making as I looked at her and had a feeling the spot she was talking about wasn’t on the couch.

“Elena, I have two arms, you could have just sat on the other side.” The look of petulance she gave me all but confirmed she didn’t care about the couch at all. I turned to Jeremy and prompted him to speak so I wouldn’t have to question this more. “Jeremy, why did you think shoving your sister back was okay?” He all but mimicked his sister as he shrunk into himself.

“She shoved-me! And-it-it-hurt, and-she-broke-my-house! And I just got angry.” he said at a speed that most wouldn’t have even been able to make out, before running out of steam at the end. His breath coming out hard like he’d run a marathon instead of just shouting a the speed of an Olympic runner.

I sighed, this was confusing and I was so out of my depths I might had well started snorkeling in the Mariana trench. So I Imitated what my teachers had done in my old life, even if I’d hated it when it was done to me.

“Elena Apologize to Jeremy for Shoving him and breaking his lego house.” I said looking into her brown eyes and did my best to ignore the slight redness that tinged them, before turning to look at Jeremy in the same way. “Jeremy Apologize for Shoving your sister back.”

Their was a moment of quiet while my words sunk In and I thought this was going to be the moment everything really went down hill when Elena took a slightly hitched breath.

“S-sorry for Shoving y-you and Breaking you h-house Jeremy.” Elena Muttered quietly, but Jeremy obviously heard her as he hunched his shoulders a little. “Sorry for shoving you back Elena.” His voice was a little rough from crying but he was understandable and I didn’t even have to prompt them before they started to hug each other.

I smiled and hoped this would be the only roadblock for the rest of the job.

“Okay, now that we have that squared away, how about we watch a movie?” They both Brightened up like they had never had a fight at all.

By Seven the both of them were out like lights, I’d found a star wars marathon and Elena had been out since attack of the clones. Jeremy had been struggling to keep his eyes open when the first death star exploded and hadn’t managed to stay awake long enough to leave Hoth.

That left me to enjoy most of the empire strikes back and the return of the Jedi by myself. Not exactly a hardship and the two kids meant I wasn’t getting up any time soon. Regardless I enjoyed my time watching even if the third prequel wouldn’t be out until next year.

Elena snorted in her sleep as she clung to my right arm, and her brother imitated her as he did the same for my left. It was weirdly nice to just sit with someone like this. My Mom wasn’t exactly touchy feel-y, and the short hug she’d given me before I’d left. Was probably too much for her, so much so that she would probably go mute and avoid any contact for the next day or so.

So this was kinda nice.

Sadly it had to end eventually as I felt Miranda and Greyson walk onto the porch. I didn’t bother moving when they opened the door and only started to move when they flicked the lights on. They were early since it was only eight and they had said they’d be back at eleven, so I assumed something had gone wrong.

But as light rushed in I noticed the smile on their faces and assumed they might have just ended the night on a high note. “Hello Grayson, Miranda, I hope you had a good night.”

They blinked at me in surprise as they took in my current situation before giving each other a glance. Their smiles only grew when their eyes met and Grayson turned to me with a wide grin.

“Oh Spectacular now, I take the Kids didn’t have any issues?” He said lightly amused for some reason. Probably his two children attached to my arms like limpets.

“No Issues, well their was a small fight. But they apologized and hugged it out so everything's all good.” I said “Elena didn’t even try to sneak Jeremy any Almonds.” I said with a smile as I tried to get myself loose from the two children who hadn’t even budged when the light kicked on.

Miranda smiled in a way that made me think her face was probably hurting. “Don’t worry sweetie, Let me help you get out.”

An Hour later I was soaring through the sky, my scooter making idle loop-ty loops around me as I poured on speed.

Miranda had managed to get me free with minimal grumbling even though I had to take Elena to her room myself before she’d let me go. They had both been giving me looks I wasn’t able to make sense of before I’d managed to leave. They’d tried to get me to stay longer, saying it was late and offering some coffee as a pick me up.

So I’d stayed until the offered coffee was ready, chatting in the meanwhile. They’d started trading even weirder looks by the time the pot was ready. So I’d taken the offered disposable cardboard cup before getting out of there.

They were nice people, but I already got enough odd looks that I didn’t particularly want to stick around to get more.

Plus the night air had a nice chill to it at this elevation, and It was a nice way to sort out my thoughts.

Swiftly approaching my house I slowed to a crawl before changing my orientation to land on my feet. There the grass blew in a nonexistent wind as I slowed to a stop bleeding off the leftover energy into the ground. Standing back Up I straightened my shirt, as it had rode up a bit during the flight even if my jacket had prevented it from getting too bad. Brushed off my Jeans and started towards the mansion, setting down my scooter along the way.

Slipping through the door I headed to my room like a zombie. I thought I’d been doing pretty well on energy until I saw my house and realized I was dead tired. Watching the two kids had apparently taken way more energy than I had thought.

Taking the stairs as fast as I dared, I went to my room and got ready to sleep the week away.

Chapter Text

I slept like the dead after my first day of work. I probably had some kind of dream, but the second the sun shined in through the window it left me completely. I could feel a sense of contentment, something to do with a train, and the warmth of my bed bleeding into me slowly.

I was about to roll over and just ignore the waking world like any self respecting teenager during the summer. In fact I was already doing it, my mattress shifting under me as I snuggled deeper into my covers.

Then an inhumanly high pitched scream tore through the air. Discordant and like someone banging crystals together in an imitation of a chorus.

I all but flung myself off my bed on instinct, barging out of my room and into the hallway before I remembered exactly what the sound was. The reactive fear jumping in my chest settled into an emotional sigh of exasperation. Skidding over the laminated wood, I slid to stop as I rubbed my forehead in annoyance.

“Stupid fucking rock.” I muttered under my breath, spinning up a barrier around my mind as I made my way back to my room. Sliding past the half open door with Felicity written on it overly colorful rainbow lettering, resigning myself to the waking world I went over to my closet.

I was running on habit as I flung off my pajamas before slipping on my clothes for the day. Only Making sure they weren’t overly colorful and had the right amount of loner vibe to them, before pausing.

“It’s summer dumb-ass.” I remarked to myself, I didn’t have to fit into the bubble the small town of Germont had put me in right now. Shaking my head I pulled on socks and left my room at my own pace. Padding down the stairs I yawned my way into the kitchen.

The Fridge was my aim even if the chill I got from opening it was very unwelcome. I reached into the back and grabbed out a bottle of mineral water, before pausing. ‘Should I be nice?’ I ran through the idea before I decided I might as well and pulled out a can of coke.

I reached over to the cupboards with a thought, a cup floating out with a flex of my mind and had it float beside me as I walked over to the dinner table. I twisted the cap off the mineral water while I cracked the coke open with my mind, before pouring them both into the cup.

I used my telekinesis to remove the carbonation, a simple matter of just filtering the co2 out of the liquid and swirled it so they mixed faster. Once about half the bottle and all of the coke had settled in the cup I idly scratched my head as I walked into the living room.

It was a pretty average room honestly, cozy with a ton of blankets, but normal. Until you realized the gerbil cage in the corner only had a rock in it. A rock that glowed, at least to me, apparently it was just a normal looking rock to my Mom.

The fact it was sitting in a bowl with a drip feeder above it didn’t really help. If anything a lot of people would start to doubt our sanity. At least anyone who wasn’t able to come up with some random explanation on their own.

Like it being some kind of joke, or maybe we were just planning to get a gerbil, or maybe our gerbil had died. So I probably didn’t have anything to worry about on that note actually. Really it’s not like I invited anyone over here so I shook the thoughts off as I opened the cage.

Popping the little drip feeder off I pulled it out of the and started filling it with the Coke mixture. Making sure not to spill any I poured a steady stream of mineral-coke, before ceiling the drip feeder and putting it back in the cage.

I waited until there was a regular drip onto my rock before dismissing the shield around my mind. I was all but bombarded with a crystalline squeal of joy as it delighted in the treat I’d made for it.

I couldn’t help the smile tugging on my face as the sense of palpable delight surrounded me. My pet rock was a simple creature for all that it had the psychic strength to kill everything for miles. Admittedly the fact I’d been woken up by the hungry rock was kinda my fault.

While I was away I had the small baseball sized body in the planter hooked up to a five gallon jug of mineral water to keep it fed. While I did have a smaller body on a necklace that I kept on me twenty four seven, it still felt… Distant to feed them that way.

As a result while I was staying at the mansion I always made sure to swap them into the gerbil cage. Feeding the rock that way just felt better, and based on how happy they were to leave the planter set up they probably agreed.

Flopping into the couch I just let myself sink into my rock’s aura of happiness. I’d tried to name it, and it didn’t really seem to care what I called it. At the same time it hadn’t really liked any of the names I’d come up with either. A faint sort of negative feeling attaching itself to all the names I’d suggested, too faint to even qualify as dislike. Regardless I wasn’t going to call it anything it didn’t actually like either.

I hummed to myself trying to think of a new try. “Hmm how about Hecate?” I said allowed even if my pet rock didn’t pay attention to the noises living creatures made. It’s understanding of the question coming more from the mental image I was showing it.

It was so busy enjoying the equivalent of a good dessert that I honestly thought it might have missed my question. So I was a bit surprised when I felt the same disinterested response hiding the most minor traces of dislike.

I blinked in slight surprise, before mentally shrugging. ‘I guess my rock can multitask.’

If I Haven’t mentioned, My Mom is rich. Like ridiculously rich, could not work another day in her life with no problem kinda rich.

When I actually stopped to think about it, I was kind of confused. She definitely hadn’t gotten any kind of inheritance from grandpa and grandma considering their relationship or rather the lack thereof. Plus I didn't think her job would pay enough for it from what little I knew.

So When I was twelve and the thought occurred to me rather than do something stupid like look into it, or try to pull a scooby gang, I just asked her.

My Mom was a coordinator, as in arranging things and setting up stuff all over the continent. But while she did do the normal equivalent of the job sometimes. Most of the time she was doing the same thing but for the supernatural.

Mom’s job was that she knows people, and they know her. So if some vampire wanted to reconnect with someone they hadn’t seen in three centuries, or a werewolf got separated from their pack. Maybe a witch needed some very specific reagents in a very short amount of time, or a vamp lost their daylight ring. She was at the center of the huge web that kept the supernatural functioning, and her services were very much in demand. She offered them to anyone who could pay her price, a price that like all things in the supernatural came at a premium.

Rather funny considering how much she hates social interaction.

That meant I had a lot of luxuries for the current era, for example both me and my Mom had personal desktop computers. My Mom also had a laptop for when she was traveling, and we had another two computers back in Gramont.

My PC was essentially used to play doom 3 while I waited for modern media to catch up to what I was used to. FFN had launched years ago so I did stop by every once in a while but it was mostly just cliche scrap that wasn’t cliche scrap just yet.

So when I slipped into the room and slumped into my spinney chair, I was fully expecting no alerts in my email only to discover I had several more than I’d ever had in this life.

Apparently I’d done a very good job according to the Gilberts and that meant they had spread the word. As a result I had a bunch of the Mystic Falls town council interested in trying to feel me out. Mostly through Silver Stag, but a couple had tried to contact me directly.

My head was completely empty as I let out an involuntary “Huh.”

Needless to say I didn’t get the option to sleep the rest of the week away. The rest of the month was a blur of motion. Meeting so many parents happy to pay me to take their children off their hands for a night.

Practically overnight I went from a complete stranger to knowing most of the town council. The mayor was a dick, but easy to handle. All it took was responding to everything he did like he was a superior in the army. All yes sir, Understood sir, and a stiff spine was enough to have the man drinking out of your hand.

His wife was harder to please but the second her son Tyler looked at me like I was the best thing since sliced bread. Well her stern act crumbled in moments.

Sheriff Forbes was just happy she had someone trustworthy that wasn’t her husband, and Bill was a wall. Firmly against my existence until I drank the tea he’d dosed with vervain before he suddenly shifted into a jolly fellow. Caroline on the other hand was a sweetheart who promptly started color coding our plans for the day, and then my whole schedule for the next month.

Regardless he knew about vampires I guess, and based on how the Fells had done the same thing. Well I assumed the town council in general probably knew.

The demand for my Babysitting services didn’t end there, as suddenly everyone with kids wanted a break.

Kelly Donovan was honestly way too happy to shove her children at me. To the point my first impression of her was that she was flight-y kind of shallow and more interested in men than her own children. A prediction that came true when I noted the absolute relief on her Daughters face when she found out I was the babysitter.

You’d think there would be some kind of conflict since she was only a year younger than me. However she handed over the reins with a sort of exhausted glee. Matt was kind of a brat, but so were most kids his age and Vicki was just so relieved to not be in charge that she was practically a noodle.

Regardless of who it was, my weird cooperative-children-field (Patent Pending) had yet to fail.

I was all but raking in cash at this point with my babysitting job having landed me more money than a babysitter should ever get. Thankfully People in Mystic falls just didn’t seem to get the value of money, or at least the town council.

As a result, as much as my Mom wanted to protest, she had to retract any opposition to getting my GED. I passed, with not so flying colors but by a more than comfortable margin.

Which meant I had much more time to dedicate to figuring out my own abilities. Whether that meant screwing around and having fun or dedicated training was up to my discretion. For example I had tested my weight limit and had to stop after about sixty tons. Admittedly a bit of guesstimate since I didn’t have an actual scale to weigh the granite block I was testing with.

I could also tear things apart at the cellular level. It took me about a day to completely disassemble a large oak tree that way, not exactly fast but still kind of scary. I could do it to a person after all. It also meant I could perceive things on the cellular level if I concentrated hard enough, gave me a bit of a headache after the tree,

Scary, but I also found out how to make the psychic version of an enchanted object. It was a bit of an accident, Mom had gotten me a keepsake from shaman of some kind. It was a leather necklace with a tooth threaded onto it.

Guy said it was a wolf tooth, but I think it was actually from a coyote since wolves were extinct in California. I’d been experimenting with my power at the time figuring out what would happen if I forced some of my telekinetic fields into a clash.

Answer was not much at first, it was a bit like holding your palms flat together and pushing. Then I layered another field over them and pressed more. After Repeating that several hundred times?

I had a ball of violently pink energy just sort of there. It was very bright as in lighting up the small clearing I’d been in at the time like a searchlight even though it was only about the size of a football. Dying the clearing in an eerie pink glow as the leaves shivered in the wind. The bright pink flash bang only a foot away from my face sent me reeling, falling backwards onto my back as I scrabbled through the dirt in confusion. I Rolled to my knees and looked just in time to catch the keepsake I'd been examining, falling right into the tiny pink sun.

The necklace had dissolved near instantly, not crumbled or broken, dissolved. A red mist bleeding into the pink ball like I'd dumped red ink into a water tank. The pink ball throbbing like a heart as the red settled into it's core.


I stared at the pink ball of condensed mental energy like it had come from outer space. "What the duck just happened!? How the hell did I make it!? Why did it turn red! Just What?!" I screamed into the suddenly well lit forest clutching my head in frustration.

As you might guess, the pink ball didn't answer me. Staying silent while my brain went on a confused tangent, before my curiosity sent me into a spiral of experimentation. As I tried to figure out exactly what the fuck I’d just done. I couldn’t disperse the pink ball, and at some point all the barriers I compressed into it had dissipated entirely, or had just stopped responding to me.

I could move around with my TK but it refused to make contact with anything else, and it wasn’t until I stumbled upon the long dead skeleton of, well something? Might have been a Bobcat, could have been a Wolf, or even (Though I very much doubt it) a Bear.

Didn’t matter, what did was that it had some very shiny pearly whites still in it’s skull. So in the spirit of science I started Ripping them out of it’s skull, before I dumped them into the ball. More red drifted into the ball of energy with every tooth I dropped into it, So I started looking for more.

Found quite a few long dead animals that sacrificed their teeth to my pink-red ball of who knows what. At some point I think I just cleared that area of the forest, but it still wasn’t completely red. So I tried to add the some of the many bones I'd found, and what do you know it worked.

I slid the rib shattered rib bone into the ball, that last piece of one that I'd found before rubbing my hands against my jeans in attempt to get the dirt off. I had about a half second before red energy settled into orb before it started to pulse like it had a heart beat. A heavy thunk, thunk on repeat loud enough to shake the air and make me cover my ears for a second as it turned into a flash-bang again.

Then it burst apart, like an over filled balloon or like a particularly violent egg. Red energy singed the forest floor beneath it, and blew away anything near enough to make contact. if it wasn't instantly annihilated that is. Thankfully my own passive barrier just shrugged it off, Red energy feeling like the teeth of a hungry animal against my skin as it broke against me barrier.

Imagine my surprise as the red light faded like a haze, to find a knife made of pale bones just sort of floating there under its own power. Crackling with wisps of red energy dancing over the blade as I took in it's appearance. The blade itself was a little bit less than two thirds the length of my forearm. The knife as a whole shimmering with misty red energy that clung to it like it had a mind of it's own, and a handle wrapped in leather?

That made me pause after all I kind of got the bone, I’d added more than enough bones to build myself a morbid menagerie. However I had no Idea where the hell the fucking leather came from?

I still don’t know what the knife does.

After a moment I had just sort plucked it out of the air. Hadn’t even thought to use my TK to do it, just my bare hand and yet it felt kind of nice? In a way at least, the handle had a rough texture against me skin. It fit perfectly in my grip like it had always been their and it was light enough that I almost felt like I wasn't holding anything at all. The occasional wisp of red coming off it was a bit disconcerting though.

Regardless, it cut good, and after sterilizing it… Well it was a good knife and it peeled potatoes like nothing else. It didn’t seem to have any ill effect on the food either! I’d even made myself a sort of shitty leather sheath for it and I’d probably get a professional one for it made. Eventually. Once I figure out how to make it stop glowing that is.

My Rock had been ecstatic about it though, mostly because it had no Idea what it was or how I’d made it.

I love my Rock, it’s a sweet innocent thing, with a deliriously happy outlook on life. At least when I remembered to feed it.

In the end, after about a week I had to get my makeshift sheath spelled by a witch. Mostly because I still hadn’t figured out how to make it stop glowing. I’d figured out how to make it a much subtler glow, but it did still glow, and the energy it gave off is kind of intense. However I also had it spelled so no one would question why a fifteen year old was constantly carrying a knife. Even if it was hidden by a light jacket most of the time, there was no reason not to be cautious after all.

Plus I wasn’t going to let the thing out of my sight till I knew how it worked inside and out.

Regardless it was August and school would be starting in a week, the dying days of summer would be happening before we knew it. Something a large portion of Mystic Falls seemed to realize suddenly and had decided to have a community picnic.

Admittedly I wasn’t exactly enthused by the thought. I was very aware however that denying the invite would probably put an end to my recent good fortune. Sure I probably wouldn’t be getting as many jobs once the summer ended, but that was no reason to ruin a good thing.

So as the sun hit it’s zenith I was zooming into town on my scooter. If you could describe the max speed of a scooter as 'zooming' anyway.

God I can’t wait till I have a car, it would be so much cooler than going around town on a scooter even if it was mostly a cover for flying.

Chapter Text

The Park was bright, a warm atmosphere hanging overhead while people crowded on the ground. Laughter in the air, bouncing off the many trees as people played set out games. Some running around a volleyball court, others swinging their rackets through the air in a game of badminton.

Standing in the crowd I don’t think I’ve ever felt more awkward. Standing around in a casual mild green shirt, and a pleated skirt that was long enough I didn’t feel like I was in danger of flashing strangers. Alongside a thin jacket draped over my shoulders, mostly there in case of sudden rain.

I didn’t really know anyone here beyond babysitting jobs. I didn’t have any friends, just acquaintances that were either twice my age or young enough to be awkward.

I blew some of my hair out of my face, trying to dissipate the twitchy feeling of being around way too many people. A deep breath later I decided to go over to the food table, and eat some of my anxiety away.

I had just assembled a burger with random condiments on complete autopilot, and poured myself some lemonade. Then I felt a tug on my jacket sleeve, and found Caroline. Her bright blond hair shining in the sunlight and a wide smile on her face as she pulled my sleeve excitedly.

“Felicity!” Her voice bubbling happily as she said my name. “I didn’t think you’d be here! Oh we have to find Elena, she'll be so happy to see you! And Bonnie! Do you know Bonnie? No, Bonnie would have mentioned it. You need to meet Bonnie You'll love her and she'll love you!” The twelve year old said at light speed, and was already tugging me along before I could even think of a response.

I got some smiles from the crowd and even saw Sheriff Forbes smiling out of the corner of my eye. I turned to look her way and was doing my best to quietly beg for help, but all I got was a wider smile as her daughter kidnapped me.

The only reason I didn’t dump my food was because I had Telekinesis as she pulled me through the crowd.

Somehow I really should have seen this coming. The second Caroline dragged me over to her friends I should have realized exactly what was going to occur.

I should have known for one, sparklingly, obvious reason. Of the five friends she was dragging me over to meet, I had babysit all but one of them.

She was a sweet girl, Bonnie Bennet, however she could not save me from the pre-ingrained dynamic I had with the others. Mainly as the one in charge, keeping them from doing stupid shit.

It started off with keeping Matt from jumping off the tallest branch of a tree, and swiftly devolved to stopping Tyler from starting a makeshift fighting pit. Something I only managed to defuse by distracting him with how much fun he was having making the pit, that followed into everyone digging a hole just because.

Only then Elena decided Matt's idea was fun and jumped from the exact tree branch I’d shooed Matt down from. If I didn’t have telekinesis she would have definitely broken at least two bones, or maybe she would have been fine cause children are just as durable as their ideas are stupid.

Regardless I managed to bonk down broken bones, to a small bruise on her knee she shrugged off after two seconds of regretting everything.

Things only got worse from there when some enterprising parents ‘mistook’ me as the chaperone for the picnic, and started dropping off more children.

It's been about thirty minutes since and I’d like to say I’ve done a good job at my involuntarily assigned slave labor. My hairs a mess, I feel like I’m about to burst a vein from how hard my head's throbbing, and all of the children are still alive.

I wiped a probably imaginary river of sweat off my brow and observed as Caroline was tagged in it and proceeded to scare Vicky into a screaming run as she tried to get away from her.

Elena was laying on the ground face first, the ground slightly muddy around her after Tyler dumped water over her head, and Jeremey proceeded to be my favorite by calmly sitting beside me making dirt drawings with a stick. Bonnie was up in a tree staring down at everyone with an innocent guileless smile that made me think this was all according to her plans while Matt sat beneath her in Tylers fighting pit trying to make a castle out of the dry dirt, while simultaneously throwing clumps at any peons who dared get to close.

I was just thankful for the park bench I’d found to sit on for a minute to scarf down my food before I was inevitably dragged back into the chaos.

Practically shoveling my food down I froze when a cold shiver sank through my body. My head snapped to the side, looking at the crowd of adults who were taking great joy in my suffering. Amongst the many familiar faces from my many babysitting jobs their were a lot I didn’t recognize. Not unusual, it was a small town, but not small enough for everyone to know everybody by sight alone.

But My eyes refused to leave one man, middle aged, pretty tall with darkish blond hair. About the same shade I wiggled the light to make my hair look like while in Germont, something I hadn’t bothered to do while in Mystic Falls.

Something about him just felt wrong in a way I couldn’t articulate, and his eyes were locked into a violent stare. One strong enough I could feel honest confusion that whatever he was glaring at hadn’t spontaneously combusted. I even double checked to make sure nothing had burst into flame while I was distracted, but when I turned back the man was gone.

My eyes narrowed reflexively, lips pressed into a line as I scanned through the crowd trying to spot him. I found nothing, the man in the wind and a slight annoyance that I hadn’t had my awareness field going full blast. If I had then I might have managed to figure something out.

My annoyance didn’t matter as I shook it from my mind. I could have ignored a man glaring at something like it insulted his entire family line, but said man evaporating like he was never their? No, nope, and no way could that be a normal thing.

No that was suspicious and more than enough of a reason to deal with the discomfort of knowing what everyone around me’s underwear looked like. Dialing my awareness to the max, I ignored the stomach turning level of detail, after all while I didn’t know what the man had been glaring at? I did know it was in the direction of the kids I was looking after.

That was more than enough of a reason to be a bit paranoid, even if Elena distracted me with a frown on her face and more than a little wet.

Thankfully the dress she was in was easy enough to wipe off with some paper towels, I did find the glare she turned on Tyler a bit much though. Something his palling face agreed with, even if I didn’t stop her from stomping off to get revenge.

The picnic ended as the sky started to dim, the sun setting ponderously as everyone started cleaning up.

I simply sighed, my tireless watch upon the munchkins ending as parents pulled the tiny balls of mischief away. Waving after them as they did their best to stay around just a little longer even as their parents did a passable imitation of what Caroline had done to me earlier.

No children here to catch my bad habits, I popped my neck and slumped into the park bench with a tired moan. I didn’t look at my clothes but even so I knew I’d have to take care getting them clean. My skirt was grass stained, and more than a little dirt covered after one of the kids had dragged me into a game of volleyball. My shirt had its own share of stains, plus bright pink paint standing out against the green. An enterprising brat had managed to sneak some finger paint into the picnic, and I’d been too distracted. Dragging a limp Vicky out of the hole her brother and Caroline had stuck her in, to realise the gremlin approaching me had ill intent.

The result was bright pink palms all over my shirt and made me think said brat was going to be a pervert with how many hand prints were scattered over my breasts.

Stretching out my shirt to check the damage with my actual eyes, well it made me happy I had molecular scale telekinesis. Otherwise this shirt would be trash, and so would the skirt since I just found another palm print overlapping both on my side.

I forced a deep breath, and tried to look on the bright side. At least I wouldn't have to throw either of them away. I liked this skirt after all, and the shirt was just a cheap walmart buy but that didn’t mean I should just chuck it. Even if it would take at least an hour to get the paint out with my mind.

Phenomenal psychic power go!

I was winding my way out of town on my soft white scooter when I felt the tug. More precisely that was when I noticed it. Only a block or two from the park I’d started getting tense for no reason. Irritation bubbling in the back of my mind as my hands clamped down on the hands with enough force to turn my knuckles white.

But as I approached the town exit, it suddenly flared to life. A pull from something behind me in the town, urgent, forceful, like someone screaming for help.

I had already turned the scooter around and was boosting my speed with TK before I even noticed. The wheels hovering centimeters above the ground as the flimsiest excuse as I propelled myself at speed far above what my scooter was actually capable of.

I liked to say I knew what was going on, or that I had some plan. But the truth was that I wasn’t thinking, nothing but the pull yanking on my brain as I rushed to it. A subtle fury bubbling in my mind as my surroundings blurred.

Later I wouldn’t even remember half the trip, just a simmering anger like someone had tried to kill my rock jumbling in my brain.

Then I was at the Gilbert house, two police cruisers out front with their lights on. Blood laced in the air and at least one dead body torn apart on the sidewalk. A Man doing a Darth Vader march towards the front door, I could vaguely remember him as the guy from the picnic but My brain was forced onto other things.

Namely the Sheriff standing protectively in the front door, gun drawn, the slide of her pistol moving in what seemed to be slow motion as she fired repeatedly at the man. Miranda and Grayson behind her, Miranda clutching her children with wide terrified eyes while Grayson had his own gun drawn.

I saw all of that, but what My eyes focused on was the kids in Miranda's arms. Jeremy was clinging to His Mother, but Elena was limp. Her eyes clouded over in an eerie way with a set of large puncture marks on her neck dripping with blood.

I don’t know what was going through my head as I stepped off my scooter, feet gliding over the asphalt as I stepped onto the sidewalk, and then onto the stone pathway to the gilberts home. I couldn’t hear anything, not the gunshots, not the woman I noticed only through her shadow behind the Gilbert family itself.

It was like reality was on Mute, I couldn’t even hear what the man said as he pulled sheriff Forbes up by her neck. Only that whatever he was saying was a command, one the sheriff refused by the snarl on his face.

Then everything rushed in as I stepped quietly behind the man, and tried to obliterate him. The entire force of my mind collapsing onto him like a mountain as I tried to grab every cell and rip it apart. Something stopped me, held the man together like glue as all I managed to do was force him to drop the Sheriff.

He turned around in a blur I knew was faster than most could see, yet it was like he was stuck in molasses as he faced me. Rage and confusion written in large all over his face in pink light, as I raised a hand up. Dropping the knife I hadn’t drawn, tip first in a hammer blow into his shoulder.

It slid through his skin like butter, flesh parting like air, and dug right into his collar bone. I had the vague thought that I wasn't going to be using it on any food from now on when a feeling boiled out of the knife.

I could make a choice, the knife if I willed it, would kill this man. It would sink into him, cutting everything from his heart to his blood, to the magic that made him. It would kill him, keep him from life, and as the knife died ensure he never rested at all.

The man must have felt the danger, his blue eyes widening in terror as I almost made the decision then and there. But something whispered into my ear, ancient, kind, loving. Right into my mind, a gentle request not to, that the man would pay his price without my knife taking this tole. That if I took that path things would take a terrible turn, not for just me, but everyone.

It angered me in a way, but it felt truthful. Like it’s words had long been written into stone that taking that path would bring nothing but sadness.

So I didn’t take this path, and my knife lessened and grew. A different path chosen as my knifes purpose changed, instead of killing this man it would debilitate, lethal to all but a sparse few like this man. No longer capable of killing him, but inflicting great weakness as its blade pierced his bones.

This path I chose, and the knife glowed a brighter more violent shade of red reflecting off the man’s blue eyes as I yanked it out of his shoulder.

My knife felt solid in a way it never had as I pulled it from his flesh. The blade longer as his right arm deflated like a balloon, boneless like something straight out of harry potter as half his rib cage suddenly liquefied. A slurping sound was the first thing I heard through this entire encounter as bone white liquid flowed out of the cut towards my knife.

The man was screaming in agony as his organs became suddenly familiar with the rest of his flesh. Rhythmic chanting haunting the air as I recognized the sound of magic being cast, I quickly kicked the man away to make sure my presence didn’t interfere.

The man flew onto the steps of the Gilbert house with a loud thud just in time for the chanting to reach a crescendo. Blood bubbled out of the guys nose, then his eyes, and finally his mouth as he seemed to mummify right in front of our eyes.

As the man slammed to the ground unmoving and looking like someone buried decades ago, I was left standing in front of the Gilbert house. The sheriff pointing a gun at the mummified corpse, but looking at me with wide eyes the adult Gilbert's behind her shared.

I stood there, my chest heaving as I gulped for air realizing I hadn’t taken a single breath since I’d parked my scooter. Lingering rage fading from me as I stood in front of the Sheriff with a glowing red knife that was suddenly the size of a machete and bright pink kiddy hand prints all over my shirt, after I had just stabbed a vampire.


Right. In. Front. Of. Her. You know, the sheriff, whose kid I regularly babysat.

My mouth moved before I could even think about it. “Oh man, Mom is gonna kill me.” I groaned out, my Mom's disappointed face surfacing in my mind before the world began to tilt as exhaustion tried to swallow me whole.

Chapter Text

I was somewhere nice. Somewhere peaceful. It was dreamy in a way my mind just didn’t want to distinguish from reality. Warm arms wrapped around my waist as I was held in a gentle embrace.

My thoughts came like cold syrup, sluggish even though I felt nothing but comfort. Opening my eyes was more of an after thought as fingers combed through my hair. Primordial forest overwhelmed everything else. A warm darkness hiding under the canopy, only broken by golden beams of sunlight piercing the tree cover revealing ankle deep mist covering the ground.

I only just had the thought that some stranger was currently treating me like a cat when a voice broke the silence. A motherly voice soaked in amusement as the forest seemed to reach out towards it.

“Time to Wake up Felicity.”  And suddenly I fell through the mist, slipping through Her(?) arms like smoke as plummeted into the ground.

My first thought was that my head hurt, my second thought was that my head hurt a lot. Even that little bit of contemplation felt like I was bruising my brain meats, an incessant ringing in my ears as I tried not sear my brain with any further attempts at thinking. An ever present pressure weighing down my thoughts like a ship anchor covered in sand paper.

I don’t know how long I struggled to not think to avoid the reverberating ache in my brain. Before I remembered that I had a body, and it took that moment to notify me that it also was not happy with me right now.

It was like someone had taken a sliver of pain and placed one in the center of each and everyone of my bones. Meanwhile someone had decided to replace my skin with the sole sensation of exhaustion. Really I could have done without both, but life was very generous with its gifted irritants.

“I am sorry mam, but you may need to consider”

I was honestly contemplating just ripping out my bones to escape the ache when I remembered sight was a thing, along with eyes. Really a stupid thing to forget and reflexively opening my eyelids was just the worst decision I could have made at that moment.

“We are sorry that you have to hear this, but she may not recover.”

Impersonal searing needles of white light just jumping right into my eyeballs made me regret everything as I let out an involuntary sound of pain. Not sure if it qualified as a moan or a squeak to be honest, only that it also hurt my ears.

‘Felicity Hurt itself in confusion!’ practically forced its way through my mind like the bad meme it was and I let out a swiftly aborted laugh. Really the pain was just getting repetitive at this point and the fact it was all self inflicted just made the situation worse.

“Felicity!” A voice I could recognize regardless of my current situation slammed into my ears like a stack of falling metals pipes. I forced my scrunched eyes open just to glare at my Mom, because shouting someone who was in obvious agonizing pain was just rude.

I probably should have expected to find myself in a hospital room, really it seemed obvious in hindsight. Though I can honestly say that I really wasn’t expecting the stunned look on both my Mom and whatever doctor she was talking to. My mother looked as pale as a ghost, and the doctor looked like I was crawling out of the grave just to make him look bad.

Well, that's certainly a unique way to wake up I guess. I opened my mouth to say something, probably sarcastic. But before I could get a word out the room in front of me started to spin, and it took all my energy to not throw up as the doctor's baffled face did loopty loops around my vision before it all turned black.

Something you have to realize, regardless of when or where, is that people are really good at ignoring things they don’t want to exist.

For example two deputies torn apart on a sidewalk after a vampire decided to go on an enthusiastic walk right through them? I can’t even remember their names, if I even knew them in the first place, and after my two week coma the rest of the town couldn’t either.

Really they got a foot note in the newspaper about dying while serving the local justice to the best of their ability, and then they just ceased to exist in people's minds.

At least as far as Mystic Falls was concerned, I found a couple of blogs talking about how weird it was online. Small very niche conspiracy blogs at that, nothing with even a slight chance of hitting mainstream, though I was curious on how they even found out about it.

The townspeople, on the other hand, just forgot. as if it just slipped from their minds as not important or something. I’m not sure really and I don’t have the psychiatric degree needed to figure out just what was wrong with the people in this town.

At least this time it was acting in my favor, in Gramont they probably would have decided I was the killer somehow.

To be honest I was just glad to be home after another two weeks of being trapped in the hospital after a brief week long coma. Admittedly I did kinda need to stay there for a bit.

Not only had my childhood nosebleeds come back, with a vengeance, but something had changed when I did whatever it was with my knife. Now I could feel a constant pressure, like coarse sand pressing against my mind. At first I thought it was just the consequence of bringing all my power to bear. Even if it didn’t do much since whatever was going on with that guy was bullshit.

However as I got used to it I realized I was sensing something else as it collided with psychic or whatever field I was constantly emitting. Something that is just floating around everywhere like a gas, like it existed solely to give me migraines.

Regardless, the constant pressure was hell on my brain and was probably the reason my nose kept bleeding too. Something, something, stressing my psychic power, probably.

At least I’ve gotten used to it?

Checking out of a hospital is just a pain, not only do you deal with the annoyingly white walls, sterile air, and either hyper chirpy or just done with everything nurses. No that would be too kind, you also have to be wheeled out of the place in a wheelchair. After two weeks of nothing but bed-rest, with only the odd chance to move on my own?

I kind of wanted to chuck this stupid folding wheelchair into the damn sun, my fingers tapping against the arm rest in impatience as the Nurse wheeled me out the front door to my Moms car.

The baby blue Jetta looked like salvation, an imagined holy light surrounding it as I the nurse handed me off to my mom.

Only for it to fade away with a bitter shadow as a hand settled onto my shoulder. Really I should have seen it coming but my most recently introduced issue had drastically shrunk my awareness range.

As a result the growing hope I’d be able to go home and just rest in my own room? It was all but smashed to pieces when I turned to find the town Sheriff looking down at me, a hint of apprehension in her usually warm eyes.

An overly plastic smile stretched over her face as she opened her mouth and spoke my doom.

“Ms Maddson, Felicity. I had heard you would be getting released today and Hoped we might be able to go over the incident?” It was a normal sentence yet all I could hear in my mind was the dreaded ‘We need to Talk’ that doomed many a relationship.

It took all I could to hold in my groan as my Mom answered. “Yes, we might as well get it over with.” Her signature ability to unintentionally come off as rude or confrontational shining through as usual.

Sheriff Forbes was to be blunt, a very by the book person. She followed every rule she came across like it was written in the bible. Protocol might very well have been her god for how well she followed the letter of the law.

So needless to say it was kind of baffling when she had us follow her in my Moms car. I expected to end up at the Sheriff office to give out a statement, followed by trying to figure out what in the hell just happened.

I was not expecting to end up in a neat little mom and pop diner with. Typical booth tables and all. I was not expecting to find Grayson Gilbert practically chewing on his nails in a corner booth, only to nearly jump to his feet and start waving us over the second we entered.

The man looked almost manic, his hair slightly askew, white button up buttoned wrong and his tie done up in completely the wrong way. He looked one bad day away from just snapping honestly. Whether snapping meant taking a nap mid surgery, or starting a murderous rampage.

I was instantly on guard, after all I was in rampage distance. Even if he wasn’t really a threat to me, my mom was still just a regular human. Still as the man smiled and all but tried to will me and my mom to just sit down already, we listened to his rather enthusiastic demand.

“Thank you Sheriff, I’ll take things from here.” It took so much effort to not just snap my attention to the sheriff, and I was still fairly certain I’d turned just a little bit to fast to come as someone unworried when Elizabeth Forbes gave my mom and me the side eye.

“You’ll explain everything Grayson, I know it’s a bit much to do on your own?” But the man shook his head and spoke firmly. “I’ve got this Elizabeth, and we both know you’d be missing Caroline’s Theater performance if you stay much longer.” The sheriff huffed but nodded in ascent, leaving with only a tangential reply I didn’t really hear.

The Sheriff had only just left the door and the waitress, a thirty year old woman who looked so done she wouldn’t have blinked if we were murdered in front of her, had just slipped into the back with our order when Grayson's entire demeanor started to shift.

I honestly thought he was about to commit a crime when his body language shifted from manic to barely holding on at all. Losing all the jittery energy in an instant as an exhausted sag seeped into his body.

I honestly didn’t know how to react when he reached out and took my hands into his own. Tears pouring out of his eyes so intense they nearly drowned out the devastation on his face as he spoke.

“Thank you, Thank you for saving my daughter, for protecting my son, just thank you so much.” The grown man sobbed like the world had only just managed to hold on by string.

Three weeks earlier, on the night of the vampire attack

Klaus opened his eyes, a resounding throbbing in his head as he climbed on to his feet. One hand slapping against wet canvas, smearing the paint as he regained his bearings. The mighty  original’s knees wobbling like a baby horse as he just barely managed to slump into a spare chair.

His memory was covered in a haze, he’d been Painting? Yes he was in his studio, the paint covering his shirt should have made that obvious. Not to mention the now ruined canvas he’d just slapped his palm onto.

Yes he had been painting, then suddenly a pain had torn through his shoulder. It was like nothing he’d ever felt with the sole exception of the Hunter’s curse. The mere fact it was comparable was honestly worrying, the sense of fear as though he’d been teetering on the edge of death.

It was a sensation very few things could evoke, his Father being the most pertinent. Yet he had no idea what had provoked it? Had some witch tried to curse him? Was this some scheme of Katarina? He didn't know, and that was not only dangerous. As it sent his well worn, and well earned paranoia into a tailspin.

“What the Hell Just Happened?”

Chapter Text

I stared down at my phone, The number still displayed plainly against the dim green background. The ten digit number all but burned into my eyes over the last four hours, ever since my mother and I left Grayson in the diner.

(“We don’t expect you to tell us everything, the supernatural is a secretive thing even at the best of times. Just, we know you are capable, even if we don’t know exactly what is going one with you and that knife.”)

I sighed, flopping backwards onto my pile of pillows, irritation tingling down my spine. In hindsight I’d really changed My Rock’s cave from the first time I’d fallen into it like I was little Timmy down a well.

The most secret place on the property of the Maddson Mansion (Have I mentioned how much I hated that alliteration?) and my favorite little nook to hide in. I’d all but fled down here after getting home, trying to hide from my issues in the usual way.

Getting down here was slightly convoluted to most people, to me it was pretty simple. The entrance wasn’t exactly hidden I guess. It was a wooden trap door set beneath a large oak, and sandwiched between a pair of large tree roots.

Said trap door led to a near thirty foot drop with only a wooden ladder, that transitioned into caved handholds halfway down to keep you from falling.

I was very proud of both, I’d gotten better at carving stone over the years and had been forced to do some touch ups over the years. However the majority of the work is still the initial carving I did as a ten year old.

Admittedly I had actually been forced to replace most of my original work for the rest of the nook. The cave floor smoothly transitioned to stained wood and an inlaid door of the same make.

Inside said door was my nook, sort of. A room about the size of an average new york apartment. I’d installed lights that gave off a warm glow when turned on, a little fireplace on the right wall that only worked because of magic smokeless fire. Right next to a small hole in the wall designed to mimic those windows with in built seats all Introverts craved by instinct.

The far wall has a writing desk next to a shelf with some nicknacks my mom gave me from her travels and some of my own carvings.

Meanwhile the far right wall was just one big library shelf stuffed with all kinds of books. Admittedly some of them were supernatural, mostly in the sense of what they contained. I did have one Grimoire a witch had sold me, but it was only really useful for some herbal knowledge and cursing anyone who didn’t know how to open it.

Thankfully none of them had titles that would stand out too much, and the ones that did had no writing on the spine.

Cosey place with a little coffee table in the middle yeah? Too bad that was only the surface. The right wall had a latch that could only be opened if you could use telekinesis, doing so caused the middle section of the wall to sink in a little and allowed it to swing open on a hinge.

Inside of that was a third of the size of the previous with all but one wall covered in even more books. This was where all my childhood text books rested, or at least the ones Ms. Middles had given me for tutoring.

One of said books covering the most accurate timeline of the supernatural, another a bestiary for all things I might just stumble into. Alongside several more covering everything from common magical plans, to how to make mildly effective deterrents for whatever was trying to rip out your throat.

That was only my text books, the rest of the room had just as much info on the things dancing in the moonlight. If I didn’t know about things like just how many immortals were still hanging out, I’d think it was a truly large collection of knowledge.

The far wall however was completely bare, just plain wood with an odd pattern, another desk, and a bed covered in pillows and fuzzy blankets. A bed that I was currently splayed on like a starfish trying to drown in fluff.

My phone was still clutched tightly in my right hand even as I tried to forget it existed for a moment or two. Another over exaggerated sigh building up alongside a viscous emotional cocktail just jumping around in my chest while I started playing idly with my necklace.

Before it could escape I forced a deep breath, and sat up. Determination keeping the sore feeling of atrophied muscles at bay as my left had pressed lightly to the wooden wall and pushed it up. The entire wall slid into the ceiling with a click. Revealing an entirely new circular chamber, what I referred to as My rocks' bedroom.

The floor was the same wood as every room before it but the walls were bare cave rock. The entire room carrying a chill with it even as it was lit with deep sapphire light. A giant crystalline boulder set into the center of the chamber, resting in a small pond of water as wiggling tree roots climbed over it as they grew down from the ceiling.

Slipping my legs off the side of the bed, I faced my oldest friend. The cold blue light rendering the chamber in stark contrast as it brightened at my attention, the warm light of my library nook rendered almost dim in response.

The full attention of my pet rock crushing down on the physical world, my hair fluttering slightly under it's power, the fragment in my necklace glowing just as bright. I slumped a little, resting my head on my left hand as I was suddenly bombarded with My Rocks attempts at communication.

Even after years of practice talking to my rock was, lets go with hard to interpret. Multiple streams of consciousness pinging my brain with everything from images to scents, emotions and colors humans couldn’t actually see.

Thankfully I was fully able to withstand it now, my own ability to split my attention having long grown to the extent I could keep up. Though that didn’t necessarily mean I understood. It was something similar to listening to a four year talk with both a Boston accent and a lisp.

By the third time it brought up both eating and hiding pine cones, I caught on that it had been using its phenomenal psychic powers to stalk a squirrel. Peering into the squirrel's mind as it climbed up trees and jumped from one to another. Following it, as it went about eating and hiding pine cones wherever it went all summer break.

For a moment I allowed the thought of slipping into a squirrels’ mind as it lived its life. How it would feel the cold air against it’s fur, the fear of fleeing from predators, the simple goal of living to the next day, all of it. A smile spread across my face.

It sounded pretty neat in its own way. ‘Sadly’ I thought with a downward twitch to my lips, ‘I have absolutely no capability to interfere with other creatures' minds.’ The whole process that had given me my powers had metaphorically turned me into an encrypted cell tower. I could certainly receive signals and put them out, but only to things using the same encryption.

In other words my pet rock was the only thing I could mentally interface with. Admittedly probably a good thing. I already had more power than I know what to do with and I really don’t want to know what I’d do with the power to mess with other people's minds.

Why did any of this matter? Most certainly not because I was trying to not think of the phone still sitting in my right hand, screen still displaying a certain number in black text.

(“Elizabeth- Sheriff forbes that is, and I would like to have to keep looking after our kids. Having someone in the know, someone who could keep them safe if anything happens would be a great relief.)

What do you know? I'm thinking about it again!

(“The rest of the town council isn’t so, open to things. Even Elizabeth is very, err, on edge about this but she’s also able to see reason. I would recommend against telling them anything about yourself, even if they have been informed that you know about vampires… Well that's all they know about you.”

Why did Mystic Falls have to be such and odd fucking place?

This was the part where most would face their current issue head on, get over with and all that.

I however, really, really, didn’t want to think about the fact Mystic falls council also doubled as a secret vampire hunting club. Hence I was now doing just about anything else. Which lead towards a deep dive in weird knives.

Currently I was looking over my Knife. Vampire Knife? Bone Knife? Well whatever I’m going to call it, was currently watching it float through the air of it’s own power. My eyes following it like the stupid DVD logo, as it bounced around my nook like it was in zero gravity.

As interesting as it was, it was also only one of the new things I’d found out about my knife. The fact I’d only discovered this by accident when I screwed up twirling it, is also irrelevant. Curiously I had an idea and with a thoughtful look on my face I stuck my right hand out. For an instant my knife paused in its idle bouncing. It vibrated visibly with an audible buzz, before shooting straight into my palm.

The blade's handle slipped into my hand like it belonged there, my pet still expanding upon the squirrel it had been stalking in the background. The knife feeling more like a part of my body in a way I wouldn’t be able to explain to anyone else. Predatory sparks of red tingled against my palm as the crimson energy flared to life. After liquefying half the super vampires bones, it had gone through several changes.

The most striking was it’s physical appearance, it had lengthened. Before it had been at most a pocket knife, now the blade was about half the length of my forearm. The blade looked normal but a simple touch revealed it was now serrated, and the most apparent change was the fact it was no longer white bone.

Now it was pitch black, it almost looked like someone had chipped the thing from stone. If it wasn't for the fact I could tell it was still made of bone I’d think it was an entirely different knife.

Yet as I twirled the incredibly sharp knife between my fingers, I could feel it in my own bones that it was mine. I had a feeling that even If I tried, it wouldn’t cut me at all. Not that I was going to try, even if My rock didn’t let out a near scolding screech at the thought.

Psychic rock thought police, that was a new one. I’d have to find a conspiracy forum to post it on.

My life is kind of surreal now that I think about it. Here I am deep underground in my own private hiding place, sitting with my back pressed against a giant sentient boulder. One that had just happened to give me incredible psychic power when I fell in a hole as a kid. Twirling a dagger covered in unknowable energy that I’d made by shoving the bones and teeth of predators into a glowing ball.

My Mother is a supernatural coordinator and all around girl in the know with connections all over the planet. My father was a witch strong enough to tear memories straight out of my Mom’s head, and I’m descended from a coven of nearly extinct seers. Oh and I just happen to remember my last life.

I also spend the majority of my time in a town that just happens to have a city council that doubles as a vampire hunting club on off hours.

A council who’s number I have just in case something goes on a killing spree.

I blink to myself a grimace on my face as I realize just how absurd it comes off when all put together. It was like I was living in a comic book.

“Nope!” say firmly to myself, climbing to my feet. My pet boulder dimming slightly as I break contact, the sapphire light sinking away like it was sulking. I can’t help the smile that breaks over my face as I pat the boulder, my hand running over the rough crystal that made up its body.

“I’ll come back tomorrow, don’t sulk so much. It’s not like I’m ever not with you.” My voice is just this side of amusement as I poke at the fragment of its body hanging from my neck. I got the feeling it was pouting at me as I turned around with an amused snort.

Slipping into my library nook I reached out with my mind pulling the wall back down and hiding my pet rocks’ bedroom once more. My feet moving out of habit as I slip back into the main room, the hidden door sliding shut behind me as I left the warm light behind me and entered the dim cavern.

Thankfully I didn’t actually need my eyes to see, and to be honest the ladder only existed so my mom could get down here. Even so it was convenient sometimes when I just didn’t want to fly out, something I just didn’t feel like in my current mood.

I took the ladder one rung at a time, my form of oddness had certainly prevented me from turning into a pile of muscle atrophy. But I had still been in a coma for more than two weeks, I’m not exactly tip top shape if you get me.

The first five rungs were easy, the sixth through seventh rung were difficult, everything after that was just agony. As I opened the trapdoor to the surface I was huffing like a working dog and my arms were barely responding to me as they turned into cooked noodles.

Flopping on my back, dying grass crinkling beneath me. I took a moment to just sit as I waited for my lungs to realize I wasn’t going to die from climbing a frickin ladder.

It was going to take so much effort to get back to average human levels of fitness, getting back into my previous level was going to be agony. Groaning my pain to the empty forest around me, I decided tha my moods could fuck off in the future I wasn’t going to climb that latter until I’d recovered from my coma.

At least it would give me something to do over the school year. Babysitting wasn’t exactly in much of a demand while school was keeping the little goblins busy.

Watching as the sun continued it’s long crawl towards dusk, I contemplated just what I was going to do with my life now that I wasn’t held back by nefarious binds of high school.

‘Maybe I’ll just tag along with Mom.’ Traveling always was fun, and now that I’m both older and in the know I might be able to see some of the supernatural outside of books.

Some clouds drifted over the sun leaving a sort of diffused warm light to glide over the darkening forest. I was honestly tempted to just take a nap, sure it was fall and all but I subconsciously kept myself at a comfortable temperature. How I did it was another thing that I still didn’t get, but it wasn’t like I was going to be in danger. Even if nature's frozen cocaine decided to bury me.

Then I felt the irritating grinding sensation against my awareness, no longer in the cave and protected by my pet’s own power. Whatever energy it was that just seemed everywhere was once again pushing up against my mind. My tolerance to just ignore it having worn away as I just laid their.

Naturally I said fuck that, rolling onto my feet as I forced my tired limbs to work. All but stomping off towards my home to just take a fucking nap.

I ignored the grasping sensation, a faint tingle in the way the energy encompassed me. Almost like it wanted me to stay.

Once again, I ignored it. It was probably just my overworked brain playing tricks on me.