"I got something," Hope said, waving the picture in her hand.

"What is it?" Lizzie asked.

"Something that'll help us." Hope laid the photo on Alaric's desk. The other three leaned in to get a view of it. It was clear as day that the little girl sitting on the older man's shoulder was Melori, and the rest of the bunch were her family. Of course, not knowing they existed, it was a shock to see two other kids clinging onto the mom's side.

Josie's head cocked to the side as she lifted the picture. "They look just like her...she's a triplet?"

"Was," Hope silently corrected. "Have we come up with a solution to the anti-locator spell?"

Josie shrugged helplessly. "It would help if we knew what to look for exactly. Or who, besides Mel."

"The best questions here are one; who would want to take Melori, two; why have they done it, and three; is she hurt?"

"That's very considerate to ask," Alaric joked with Lizzie. The girl childishly stuck her tongue out at her father. "And extremely valid. Hope, you know the most about her past... what have we got?"

"Nothing besides those vampires, far as I know. They're still on the run from Marcel and potentially my aunts... How they evaded them for thirteen years, I have no idea."

"Well, maybe they have a few more witches up their sleeves. That makes sense, right?"

"There's also the possibility of it not being those vamps," Hope sighed, rubbing her temples in frustration. "There could be a lot of people that know about her... And then there's Clarke. He had to be the one that tossed her in the pit."

"So... maybe we find him?"

"I like this plan," Ric nodded. "We can question him about the whole thing and get Melori back too."

"So, what do we have of his that will help us locate him?" Lizzie asked.

Hope smiled proudly, knowing of the best possible link to the man-golem. "His brother. Same father, partially the same blood."

"This is too easy," Lizzie smirked, blowing on her nails and checking them for effect. "I love when it's easy."

"I'll go get him—"

"Slow your roll, speedy." Ric held his hands up, facing the teenaged girls in the office. "I want to get Melori back to safety as much as the rest of you... but you need rest."

"She's in danger. I can't sleep knowing someone's probably torturing her right now."

"I know, but we can't be much use to anyone if we go in half-cocked and unrested. We all need sleep. I'm sure whatever's happening, she can handle it until we get there, right?"

"But—"

"No buts. To your rooms, all of you."

Hope sighed heavily, snatching Mel's family photo off the desk before storming out of the office. The twins bid their father goodbye, then followed Hope as closely as possible. But angry Hope was fast... The other girls struggled to keep up.

Despite Lizzie and Josie's pleas for Hope to slow down, the young Mikaelson kept her pace as she made twists and turns around the necessary corner and jogged up the stairs off to the wolves' section. Eventually, they stopped just in front of Rafael and Landon's door.

The twins looked at each other, both smiling, then turned back to look at Hope. She raised her hand to knock but stopped when the sisters stood on either side of her. Smirking, Josie looked into her eyes. "We're totally going to help her still, aren't we?"

"Absolutely," Hope nodded, knocking on the darkened oak door. It was mere seconds before Rafael opened the door, surprised to see the girls standing there.

"Hope...?" The fact that their faces showed nothing but determination and worry, Raf could tell something was wrong. "Is everything okay?"

"We need Landon, ASAP." Raf gave her a confused look, but still stepped to the side and opened the door wider. Not only was Landon sitting on his bed, but the vampire boys were there as well. The entirety of the 'Dream Team' was there, and Hope figured that was good. They can use all the help they can get.

Landon rushed over to the door. "Are you okay?"

"We need you to come with us. All of you, maybe... power in numbers and all, but- Mel's been kidnapped... and Landon, we need your blood to help find her."

"Mine? What do we need that for?"

"Because, Lover Boy, we need to track down dear ole daddy's boy."

Since none of the boys understood what Lizzie was saying, Josie sighed heavily with an eye roll and translated her twin sister's words. "We need your blood to track down Ryan."

---

Moments had passed after breaking the news to the other half of the team. The girls had gathered all that was needed to do the tracking spell. Hope had also retrieved Blake Bennett's spellbook in hopes of there being something useful. If their current plan to track Ryan Clarke to find Melori fails, perhaps there was another way. Perhaps it was in the book.

They'd also managed to hijack one of the trucks and sneak out of the school and through the barrier without raising the alarm. Kaleb drove them into Mystic Falls, given the fact that it was the last place Mel had been. It was likely where she was being held...and if it was easier to search every corner of the town, they'd have done so.

But Hope was determined to find her best friend as soon as possible.

"So, about the blood thing... you don't need that much, do you?"

"No," Hope assured. "I just need one drop to use on this compass." She pulled a small, black compass out of her jacket pocket. In Blake Bennett's grimoire, there was a tracker spell with instructions on how to find someone. All that was needed was a compass and an item (or blood) of the person they were trying to find. It was a near-flawless spell.

"The red pointer should lead us in your brother's direction."

"Which will hopefully lead us to Melori..." Kaleb said. "You realize he could very well not be the kidnapper here?"

"Yeah, but given his dedication to destroying his father, he could be as unhinged as to retrying throwing her into a pit," Josie reasoned.

"Ok...If you say so."

MG sat atop one of the picnic tables. He reached into his own inner pocket to retrieve the small dagger he managed to steal. "Should we get started?"

Josie nodded and took the dagger, then reached out her hand for Landon to take. The slightly squeamish boy winced in discomfort before inevitably giving her his hand. The girl snickered a little, shaking her head. "It's not even gonna hurt."

"Yeah right, it could hurt very much."

"Is that so?" Josie teased, tilting her head to the side as she looked down at his finger. She had pricked it lightly, just enough for a literal drop of blood to surface.

"Oh..."

Hope shook her head slightly before lifting the compass in Josie's direction. She took Landon's finger and squeezed it over the object. A singular drop fell, and it was all that was needed from the curly-haired boy. Hope reached in her pocket for the other object they needed: the picture. It would strengthen the chances of finding the hybrid girl. Clutching both items in one hand, Hope focused again, this time more optimistic in finding Melori. "Sequitur sanguine, sequitur cor."

The blood boiled and sizzled until it evaporated. But the objects in hand began to glow a bright red, and the hand of the compass began to spin wildly, occasionally stopping in different directions.

"It's going haywire," Lizzie pointed out. "Is it supposed to do that?"

Hope shrugged. "It's searching...I think." Eventually, the hand stopped, the red pointer picking a certain direction. "Northeast."

"It's pointing at Landon..."

"No," Hope moved past Landon, watching the hand intently. It remained pointing northeast. Hope turned the compass in two different directions and watched the hand continue to point in the same direction as it initially did. "Let's go." Hope trailed off to follow the glowing compass. The others followed closely behind.

They'd followed the hand for a good fifteen minutes, wandering across Mystic Falls. But at some point, the hand changed abruptly, and so Hope stopped abruptly. It was so sudden that MG bumped into her. "It changed."

Rafael leaned over to see it himself. He looked over in the direction it was pointing. "We're standing in the middle of town, following a compass that's supposed to lead us to this golem dude... and it leads us to a music store."

"It's official. This is useless. It's midnight, I'm cold, we're defying Dad's curfew rules—"

"Lizzie, since when do you care about Dad's rules?"

"Shut up, Josie, I'm trying to make a point," she scoffed.

"Seriously, though," MG sighed, "why'd the compass lead us here?"

Hope tucked the items into her pocket, shrugging. "I don't know...? I just—I know Mel was here earlier. She bought that guitar."

"Maybe y'all are looking at the wrong thing." Kaleb pointed upward, behind the line of buildings. "There."

The others looked up past the music store, finding none other than the clock that's striking midnight. It made sense. A music store owned hiding a brown-skinned, green-eyed tribrid girl? No way. Though... they have seen lesser things. Weirder things. Kaleb took lead in going to the clocktower. No one was around at this hour, likely courtesy of Mystic Fall's sheriff. Safety precautions are needed these days.

Upon reaching the entrance, Kaleb brought a finger up to his lips. He and MG shared a look, both knowing. "Someone's up there," MG whispered.

"Why're we whispering?" Rafael whispered.

"Dude, just— shh."

"Half of us should stay. Keep watch," Hope suggested. "If Sheriff Donovan sees us, someone needs to come up with a quick lie or something."

"Not it!" MG quickly raised his hands. The others gave him an odd look. "What?! I crack under pressure, okay? I'm not a good liar."

"You stay. I'm going," Landon insisted. "I mean, if Ryan is here...well, he's my brother..."

"Okay. Who else stays?"

"I don't want to be in the same room as that guy so I'm staying too," Lizzie said. Eventually, it was decided that only Hope, Landon, and Kaleb would go in. The others kept watch.

Kaleb led them up the flights of stairs as quietly as possible. He was able to hear whoever was there. They were shuffling around, maybe looking through boxes or something. Whatever it was, they were too occupied to hear the faint footsteps against the metal stairs.

Soon enough, they'd reached the last turn up the stairs, and we're just under the floor of the top of the clocktower. Kaleb looked back down at the other two, giving them a nod. Hope whipped out the compass to check it, just in case. When she looked down, she saw that the hand was spinning and spinning and spinning, never stopping once. It meant they were there.

Kaleb looked at Hope and cocked his head towards the landing. She was the one with the magic, she could easily overpower whoever may be there. Kaleb would be limited on his abilities to overtake this person, if they were a witch. That chance couldn't be taken. Not while Melori's life was at stake.

Half of the team may not know Mel very much on a personal level, but they knew she didn't deserve anything bad happening to her.

Hope went around Kaleb, ready to do whatever it takes. She took the last step up quiet enough to not be noticed. The person was hunched over some boxes, searching them desperately for something.

"Where is she, Ryan?"

The person suddenly stopped. They rose their head, revealing straight, blonde hair. The exact opposite to Ryan Clarke's curly, brunette hair. Plus, when they stood, the curves in the waist and at the hips were the things that told them this was no man. The blonde woman turned around slowly, eyeing the three teens.

Hope's eyebrows connected as she looked down at the compass in her hand. It pointed directly at the woman no matter which way Hope turned it. She looked up and met the other pair of blue eyes. "Who are you?"

"Who are you?"

"I asked you first. And I won't ask again."

The woman lifted her chin a little as she looked Hope up and down, examining the girl, unable to quite figure her out yet. She then glanced at Kaleb, already knowing of his vampirism as his eyes had changed. But eventually her eyes came across Landon, and they lingered... longer than anyone in the room expected. She knew him... and she knew him exceptionally well.

"My, my, my... if it isn't Daddy's perfect creation. Just look at you... all grown up. Practically a little man," she smirked.

Hope's eyes darkened, exposing her golden identification. "What the hell are you talking about?"

"Oh, I know who you thought I was. Ryan. And I know who that boy is. Why?" The woman took a few steps forward, careful not to get too close to the (very clearly) vexed girl. "Because he's Malivore's last born. Me? I'm his first."

not gonna lie, I've barely written ANYTHING for like, two weeks? I've been obsessed with playing this game, subnautica, and it's completely distracted me. and I've had this flare of really bad migraines so do I feel like doing anything? nope. absolutely not.

ANYWHO, I'm curious... can anyone predict what's gonna happen? like, I'm curious to see if anyone can guess it, so let's give it a shot, eh?