I pop a grape in my mouth, shrugging and look around as Hayley joins me. "So, which restaurant is missing a compelled chef?" Hayley asks upon seeing Klaus' arrival.

"It certainly was a card I played in the past, but I had no hand in this." He says pointing to the table full of food.

"I guess we have 'lijah to thank Then." I say turning seeing the man in question walk down the stairs of the compound.

"This wasn't my doing." He states looking at it with confusion.

"Then where did this all come from?" Hayley asks looking at the two brothers as I stop eating the random, but delicious, looking, food.

Suddenly, something rattles under the metal lid and me and Hayley jump back and make a sound of surprise.

Elijah watches as Klaus lifts up the lid and starlings come flying out. Klaus, Elijah and Hayley all move back as I gasp and instinctively move closer to Klaus' side.

"Oh my god." I breathe out, putting a hand to my chest. "What the hell was that?"

Klaus looks at the piece of paper left on the plate and picks it up, silently reading it. "An invitation from our mother."

I gulp as the two Mikaelsons look at each other with worry.

*

"You know," I start to speak up from my laying position on Klaus' bed, "its times like this I'm really glad that I don't know my mother."

"We have enough enemies here, and now the war of our home is to be fought against my own family." Klaus says angrily, looking over at me.

"Your wretched mother and her disciples tried to put a carving knife through your baby's heart, Klaus. I will happily add to the body count." I sit up and look at Klaus as he smirks at my words, making me smile.

"You will do no such thing." I groan and lay back down at Elijah's words. "Esther is a master in the art of possession. We know whose body she currently inhabits. We must decipher her intentions before she finds a new host."

"Well her last invitation was an assassination attempt on all her children. I think we can assume her intentions are decidedly foul." Klaus tells Elijah as I lay there in Klaus' very comfortable bed.

"Well, then we have..." Elijah looks at his watch speaking, "This afternoon to prepare for the worst."

Elijah walks straight out of the room not even looking at Hayley who just decided to walk in. Klaus smirks and begins to leave as well. "Bloom is off the rose, I see."

"Shut up." She says to him and comes to lay next to me.

"I hate boys." I tell her as I close my eyes, feeling her nod in agreement.

*

"And skip the salad course." I hear Klaus say as he hands to bottles of wine to someone. "Let's not make this dreadful evening any longer than it needs to be."

"So I guess letting Oliver live paid off, I just heard from Hayley. He just informed her your mother has a partner in crime, another witch." I say to Klaus with a sigh. I miss my magic.

"Building alliances in her quest to destroy us, I imagine." He says not turning my way.

"Why does she hate you so much, Klaus?" I ask softly. "She had 6 kids. It's not like she doesn't have the maternal gene."

"7, actually," he tells me, finally turning to look at me, "and I think at one time, she loved us very much. One died before I was born."

"I didn't know that." I look down, feeling bad for saying anything.

"Years later, my brother Henrik was killed by the werewolves in our village." Guilt stormed in his eyes as he organized the napkins in the table. "The loss of another child pushed my mother over the edge. So she used her magic to turn us into immortals. I think that's when she loved us the most, but it was her undoing."

He walks around the table and goes to the fancy glasses, continuing, "it triggered a sequence of events that led to the reveal of her long-held secret. My birth father was the werewolf whose pack killed my little brother. Of course, when Mikael found out, he murdered my real father, and so my mother lost her lover, too."

"Wow." I shake my head, shocked. "No wonder she's crazy."

"You know, my siblings used to tell each other she didn't hate us." Klaus walks in front of me, really close, might I add as I look up at him. "She hated herself for what we'd become. I think they believed that, even after she tried to kill us all."

"What did you believe?" I whisper, looking in his eyes.

"I don't know." He says quietly before looking at me. "I just knew I wanted her dead."

"Well, every good story needs a wicked witch." I smile. "It'll be all the more satisfying when we melt her."

*

"Marcel's witch is being held captive in the quarter." Hayley says as the four of us stand in the compound hall.

"Oh, perfect. Mother is a step ahead of us, as usual." Klaus sighs.

"Oliver is with her. Maddie and I will go and we'll get her to do the spell but I need the necklace." Hayley tells them.

"I don't like this..." Elijah starts.

"No!" Hayley points her finger at Elijah. "You don't get to ignore me for days and suddenly act like you're concerned, Elijah." My eyes widen as I stand awkwardly.

"Just for once, please, will you trust us and that we will do something and it will get done?" I ask looking at the brothers.

Klaus brings his hand up towards me and the necklace hangs in his palm. "Thank you." I smile at him softly while starting to walk with Hayley but Elijah stops us.

"Wait. There's something else. A disciple of Marcel's was instructed to fetch another ingredient. Ask for Gia." Elijah tells us.

"Okay." Hayley turns and continues walking as I follow after.

*

"They worked her over pretty good." Oliver tells us as I walk towards the witch.

"We need to get her out of here." Hayley says as I break the chains off her wrists.

"Well, then what?" Oliver scoffs. "They'll know that I let her go. Look you asked me to infiltrate Cassie's coven, I'm not gonna blow my cover for some has-been, hippie witch, no offence."

I turn around to face him as Hayley catches Lenore. "I guess we could always make it look like you got jumped, tell Cassie that Lenore got rescued by her people."

"Let me guess." He nods his head. "You wanna beat the hell out of me, make it look convincing?"

"I can't say I won't enjoy it." I smile at him and hold my hand up in surrender.

He sighs heavily. "Okay, just...not the face." I nod before kneeing him in the gut and smirking as he groans and falls to the ground.

"It's gonna be okay, I promise." I sigh looking at Lenore.

"What's your dog in this fight?" She asks standing up. "Your not a Mikaelson."

"I'm just trying to protect the people I love, including the Mikaelsons." I tell her.

"Listen, can we do the spell or not?" Hayley interrupts from behind me.

"After what that bitch and her lackey did to me, I'll do any spell you want." She says angrily.

"Any spell?" I ask looking towards her nervously.

*

"Do you know what's wrong?" I ask Lenore quietly.

"It appears someone is trying to strip you of your magic. Day by day, your magic is fading." She tells me as I furrow my eyebrows.

"But why? Why would anyone want to do that?" I ask upset. I love my magic so much and now it's being taken from me.

"My darling," she grabs my hands gently as she speaks, "you have to fight it. Yes, your magic is fading but do whatever you can to fight to get it restored. Magic is a gift and you use it for good. So fight, Maddison."

"One more thing. I have this mark on my arm. I don't know what it means but it just appeared one day." I shrug and roll up my sleeve showing her.

A wave of shock crosses her face. "What? Lenore what is it?"

"Luctus"

I look at her in fear before I hear Hayley come into the store.

"Is this gonna take long?" She asks impatiently.

"You want me to soul brand the resurrected spirit of a 1000 year old witch. It's best I take my time and do it right." She takes the bag from Hayley and looks up at us. "For what's it worth, I'm sorry. No one should ever have to lose a child."

"No. No one should." Hayley says looking down.

"You have the talisman?" She asked as I dug my hand in my pocket and gave it to her.

"So how does this work? You brand Esther with the spell and then what?" Hayley asks her.

"The next time she jumps into a body, she'll be marked with a distinctive symbol on the back of her hand. This way, you always know who she is." Lenore explains while taking the snake in her hands.

"We still don't know why she's here. When Esther held you captive, did she give you any idea why she's doing all this?" I look at Lenore strangely as she puts the snake around her shoulders.

"Love." Lenore says.

"How hard did they hit you?" I question with a smile.

"What besides love inspires such pain and cruelty? And Esther..." I wince as Lenore cuts through the snake harshly. "Her love is...very, very strong."

Lenore chanted for a few minutes before she fell forward a bit and opened her eyes. She looked around not really moving as I looked to Hayley and back to Lenore. "Are you okay?"

"Yes." Lenore says as I furrow my eyes brows.

"You sure?" Hayley asked standing up.

"Just getting my bearings." Lenore responded as she moved her hand to her face. I backed away and grabbed Hayley's arm upon seeing the brand on the back of her hand.

"Oh...the mark." I say as Hayley stumbles back. "It's you, isn't it? Esther."

Esther started cleaning the blood of her hands as my phone started ringing. "Go ahead. You can answer it."

I look at her and answer the phone quickly. "Klaus, Hayley and I are at Lenore's shop-"

I got interrupted by Esther as she used her magic to end the call. "That'll be enough."

"They're gonna come for us." I say hatefully.

"My darling, that's been the idea all along." I look at Hayley with a scared look.

"It's so lovely to finally meet you both. Tell me, do my sons ever acknowledge the good you two bring into their lives?" Hayley and I stay quiet as she looks at Hayley. "After all, it was you who gave them hope. The promise of a child shows us all the possibilities of a future that could be. Children are meant to save us from the worst parts of who we are, a truth that makes my own circumstances all more tragic, wouldn't you say?"

"We don't pity you, Esther." Hayley says crossing her arms.

"It's a terrible thing for a mother to fail her child, as you well know...but I now offer you freedom, the gift is a new body, freedom from being a hybrid." Esther looks at the both of us as I grow confused. "I have the ability to return to you all that you have lost, Hayley, Maddison, to make it so you can have a family of your own, more children of your own. Wouldn't that be nice?"

I grow tempted by her offer and I see Hayley does too but before anything else is said I hear footsteps from behind us.

"I assume I have the misfortune of speaking to my mother." Klaus says angrily. Esther throws something in front of him so he stops walking. "You hide behind your spells like a coward."

"I did not come here to wage war." She holds her hand up and takes more throwing it behind her to stop Elijah like she did Klaus.

"Everything you do is an act of war." Elijah tells her as he stands straight. "If you touch them, so help me..."

"Hayley and Maddison are free to go. I've spoken my piece, they know why I'm here." She moves her eyes from us to Elijah. " I have come to heal our family, Elijah."

"Well, that's a grim sentiment coming from you." Klaus turns to face me and looks me in the eye. "Go now."

I take Hayley's arm and immediately leave Lenore's shop. I would have stayed but I'm useless right now. Hayley and I make our way to the compound.

*

"Of course she used those damn birds to make her escape." Klaus paces angrily.

"Besides mothers offer of rebirth, what else did she say?" Elijah asks leaning against the wall.

"I don't know. She rambled a lot." Hayley starts as we're both sitting down. I haven't said anything since they got here. I know I shouldn't but I was tempted by Esther's offer. I could be a witch again. "She blamed the two of you for what happened to hope, to me, to Maddison."

"Well, I trust you're not thinking of taking her offer." Hayley puts her head down. "Hayley, I'm talking to you." He raises her voice as she stands up.

"What do you want me to say, Klaus? I lost my daughter, so, yeah,when your mother offers to wipe the slate clean, Excuse me if I'm tempted." She then turns to face Elijah. "By the way, thanks for the help tonight, Elijah. I'm sorry that it takes me being in danger for you to even talk to me."

Hayley walks away and I stand up quietly following her. "Leave them. I need you with me." I hear Klaus say to Elijah.

*

I sit on my bed and focus my eyes on the candle sat in front of me. I chant quietly and close my eyes, trying to use the last magic I feel but nothing.

"Come on." I whisper to myself and try again. I chant a little bit louder and stronger and open my eyes but once again...nothing.

I look down at my wrist at the mark and see it deeper in my skin. I sigh as a tear rolls down my cheek. I can't fight this. I sense someone and look up to see Elijah. He looks at me and the candle in front of me before walking forward and sitting next to me wrapping his arms around me as I cried softly.