𝟙.𝟙𝟙: 𝕎𝕖'𝕣𝕖 𝔾𝕠𝕟𝕟𝕒 ℕ𝕖𝕖𝕕 𝔸 𝕊𝕡𝕠𝕥𝕝𝕚𝕘𝕙𝕥

—Narrator's perspective—

Arabella rounded the corner when she finally arrived from where Dorian told her to go to. She exhaled when she saw Hope with them, still disturbed of what she learned from her. Nonetheless, she walked towards them in a bored way.

"Latest monster?" She asked and they all turned their attention to her, Hope stayed staring at her when she remembered what she said earlier.

"Good you're here." Dorian said and told her what happened before continuing. "Okay, we have no idea how long the unicorn was infected before it keeled over. So, we should figure this our right now." He said while all of them were flipping through pages of multiple books.

"I thought only one monster comes for the urn at a time." Landon asked in confusion of their situation.

"Except the unicorn wasn't the monster. It was just the host to this thing." He pointed at the jar where a slug looking creature was in. "A parasite. It hitched a ride here in that trojan horse, and then it moved on to us. From what Hope describes, it sounds like it latches onto the prefrontal cortex, the part of the brain associated with inhibitions."

Arabella frowned, disappointed of the truth. "So she was like, drunk?" She asked and crossed her arms. There was something inside her that was pleading that the slug controlled you, not show your inhibitions but she was wrong.

"Slug-drunk?" Hope questioned in a disguted tone.

"Since we have multiple slugs, it must replicate inside the host, and then lie in wait for the opportunity to infect someone else." He explained more thoroughly.

"I'm good on the gory details, thank you." Hope said and closed the book on her hands. "How do we stop it?"

"That's the weirdest part. I can't find any ancient legends about a creature like this." He sighed out in defeat, everyone seemed to lose hope when Landone spoke up.

"Invasion of the body snatchers? The faculty. I say again, wrath of Khan. Sci-fi is our

modern-day myths." He pointed out. "Meaning they could have been inspired by something, right? In thise movies, it's all about mind control. Before the slug popped out, Hope wanted to take the urn someplace. I'm guessing Malivore." He finished and everyone looked at each other.

Dorian exhaled, "So, it's like an infection. It gets worse as it spreads. Stage one, it lowers your inhibitions. It makes you act out of character. Stage two, once you're susceptible to suggestion, you'll do whatever the slug wants." Hope picked up the jar, looking at their latest monster more up-close.

"Till stage three. You go the way the unicorn." Landon finished.

"Did you see this? Part of this thing looks bioluminescent." Hope pointed out, observing the slug more.

Dorian reached inside his bag, finding something. "Let me check that out." He said and took the jar, pointing a light and pointing it at the jar. "See that?" He asked and pointed the light to the slug, then moved to Hope's face which a trail of the bioluminescent was going through her nose.

"Okay..." Arabella whispered, giving a thumbs up to Hope who was curious.

"I don't want to know, do I?" She asked and everyone agreed to her.

"You know what? We can use these lights to find anyone who's been infected." Dorian gave each of them a uv flashlight, them walking down the hall to find more about this.

While the boys were at the front, Hope took the chance and held Arabella's arm, forcing her to fall back while they walked cautiously. Feeling a little bit of guilt run her veins.

"Hey, I'm sorry for saying what I said." Hope started, pointing her flashlight down the floor where a trail of slugs can be seen. "I didn't mean to, I swear." She said, looking at the blonde who exhaled and nodded.

"Say no more, I get it. We are in the middle of crisis so It's best if we talk about it later, okay?" She asked, looking over to Hope with a gentle smile.

Hope nodded, sadly smiling. She still, herself, was surprised when she said those words to Arabella. She didn't knew where it came from. When they all went to the archway to the lounge, there were many slug trails around the room.

"This is why I hate sci-fi." Hope whispered and pointed their flashlights to the wall, revealing even more and more trails.

Dorian lead them to the stage where every students is, indistinct chatter were spreading inside the room. Arabella just hoped that only a few were infected and not the whole school.

"We need a way to de-slug whosever infected, fast." Dorian said, looking over downstairs where someone is about to do a talent.

"When I touched the switch to the kitchen vent, it shocked me, and that's when the slug popped out." Hope informed.

"Great. So we just have to find a way to electrocute every student in the school without killing them." Landon remarked and sighed.

"If we don't, they're dead anyway. I'm gonna call Ric." He excused himself and went outside, leaving the three to turn around when people applauded.

Arabella frowned seeing Rafael, alone. Well, not technically alone seeing as there was a girl besides him playing an instrument.

"My name is Rafael, and my talent is spoken word poetry." He introduced and people snapped their fingers. "Stillness. A light breaks inside. Unity. And division. Tension. All these wolves staring at me, waiting for the answer. Expectation is a cancer. Oh, you can't, sir? Then who will? Two brothers brought up together. Then one's left behind because he's no longer needed. Violence inside of me. Inside, I'm, I'm bleeding. And I can't believe what I'm feeling. Since the moment you danced with me."

Arabella backed away when she was leaning on the ledge, looking at Hope and back to Raf knowing what he's saying. She exhaled and shook her head, continued to listen despite Hope staring at her.

"Buried so deep, rising up, enchanting me. And it won't go away. And I was never jealous of anything that you had until today." He stopped when something snapped inside of him, looking at Landon up the stairs. "And why is that artifact here? Monsters coming, people running. Ask for answers, always nothing. I say we get rid of it." People started to stand up, the slug controlling them now, them looking at the people upstairs.

"Great..." Arabella whined quietly, looking around the room but everyone is infected.

The three began to back away to the doors, "So they're all infected? Okay."

"Yeah, I'm not gonna wait around to find out." Landon remarked and they all ran to get away from the students that was chasing them like a madman.

Hope turned around and placed her hands up. "Dissera portus." She spelled and it stayed shut, looking back to the two. "That should hold the pod people in for now. Let's go." They all ran down the hallway, finding a way to

de-slug every single one of the students.

"I sealed the doors with a spell, but it won't hold forever." Hope informer when they met up with Dorian again.

"All right. These chains should help until we come up with a better solution." He gave it to Arabella who carried it. "I'll get the doors downstairs."

"At least we have all the infected people in one place." Hope sighed out in relief, looking over the blonde who agreed.

Lizzie spotted the three and walked to them. "What are you three doing out here?" She asked and smiled blankly, startling Arabella who found it creepy.

"Um... Should I?" Arabella asked hesitantly to Hope who nodded. "Right, okay. Sorry, Liz." She apologised and sped to the siphoner, using the chains to tie her up.

"What the—"

"—Get her in here." Hope cutted her off, opening the door. Arabella had to forcefully let Lizzie walk to the room, sitting her down.

"Have you gone crazy?" She exclaimed, looking at the three and mostly Arabella since she was the one who tied her up.

Hope exhaled, "You've been infected with a mind-controlling parasite. That's why you've been so nice all day." She explained quickly. Landon pointed her flashlight at her face to see if there were a trail, holding her nose up to get a closer look.

"That is not why I have been— Hey!" Lizzie said to Landon when he suddenly touched her.

"I don't see any slug trails."

"What are you freaks talking a— ow." She suddenly got electrocuted by her bracelet. "Unchain me and maybe I will tell you, you thrift store hobbit" She spat and gasped again by the sudden pain.

"Definitely not infected." Arabella pointed out, giving an apologetic look at the blonde.

"Then why are you acting so weird?" Hope questioned, squinting her eyes at the girl who was tied up.

"I'm not acting weird. I am turning over a new leaf. With this, I spelled it to zap me whenever I said anything mean. And in increasing voltage." She explained and gestured to her bracelet. "Worse Idea Ever."

Arabella sighed, rubbing the back of her neck to calm herself down.

"No. That's genius. That's why there's no slug in her. She's been zapping herself." Landon explained and began to unchain Lizzie to set her free.

"Then why are you wandering around here, instead of at the talent show like everyone else?" The Tribrid interrogated.

"I was looking for Josie. She's been acting weird all day and then she just bailed on the performance." She stopped when she saw the realisations on each of Arabella's and the others faces. "Probably because she's infected."

"We need to find her, now."

☘︎︎

"Not so fast, Thelma and Louise." Hope spoke with Arabella besides her, spotting Josie with Penelope who was about to grab the urn. "Icaeus." She countered quickly when Penelope was about to attack her.

The girl flew backwards with a shout and hit a wood, dropping to the floor along with the canes that Josie was suppose to find for the talent show.

"Well there's the canes." Arabella panted out, looking at an unconcious witch on the ground with the canes.

"You shouldn't have done that." Josie warned and brought her hands up together, creating a ball of flames.

"Hope— damn it." Arabella spoke and grabbed her wrist, turning her around when the tribrid was about to launch herself forward. She used her arm to stop the girl and luckily, Lizzie swiftly put the bracelet on Josie and darted her attention to her.

"Jo. Don't. This isn't you." The Blonde siphoner said, trying to rationalise.

"You don't even know the real me." Josie spat and was about to turn around to attack Hope and Arabella again but Lizzie turned her around once more.

Lizzie held her back. "Then answer one question while you're saying how you really feel. Am I a good sister?" She asked and Jo pushed her back.

"Are you kidding?" Josie scoffed, looking at her with a glare. "You're a terrible sister." When she said that, she shouted when the electricity ran through her. The slug inside her ear also popped out quickly to the ground.

Hope stepped on it, breathing heavily before it could harm anyone ever again.

"Lizzie. Lizzie, I'm so sorry." Josie apologized, her voice went back to normal when she looked at her sister in realisation of what she said. Lizzie hummed and just went forward to hug her twin.

"We should go." Arabella said to Hope, smiling a bit when she saw the sisters hugging. The vampire sighed in relief, walking outside the mill in tiredness.

The blonde didn't feel like Hope was trailing close by, so she used her vampire speed to get inside the house.

The night consisted of everyone having a fun evening. Alaric gave in and told everyone the talent show will go on as planned. Arabella didn't plan to do anything about it so she just sat on the chairs, watching the students pile up on the stage and did their talents. Disclaimer, her favourite one was the witches since Josie finally got the recognition she deserves on singing in the spotlight.

She still hasn't talked to Hope, letting her shower from her being slug-drunk today. Arabella stayed in Ric's office, him telling her what happened in his day making her laugh throughout the whole night.

Apparently, Emma was also infected and they went to a bar and got drunk. When they electrocuted themselves, Ric was the only one who wasn't infected and the worse thing was is that they kissed. More screwed up things is that Emma is seeing Dorian. When Alaric practically have to force her out of his office, she didn't know whether to go to her room or let Hope have some space. She decided to give in and wanted to sleep so she went.

Arabella found Hope sitting inside the room, in front of the vanity while she had a towel to dry her damp hair. "Hi." Hope greeted with a wide smile and turned around. "So, it took three showers but I think I'm finally clean."

The blonde chuckled, closing the door behind her before she walked forward to the tribrid and sat on the bed near her. "I didn't think three showers was necessary."

"Oh it is, trust me." Hope remarked, sitting besides the blonde and held her two hands that was resting on her lap. "About earlier. What I said?" She started, dropping her smile.

"I'm sure you have a pretty good reason why you wanted to push me away." She said honestly, exhaled when their eyes met. "You can tell me another time if you're ready. No pressure."

Hope got taken aback, squinting her eyes at Arabella who looked dead serious. "I hate you." She said in a playful manner making Arabella laugh. "Is it bad that I hate and love you at the same time for being so adorable and considerate?"

The other chuckled, shaking her head. "Trust me, I'm starting to feel the same way." She teased and Hope laughed, maintaining her gaze on the blonde.

"I'm gonna tell you anyway." Hope said, smiling genuinely and readied herself. "I was— I am, just scared. People have the tendency to leave every once in a while. Especially people around me." She whispered the last part, feeling a little vulnerable.

"Hey." Arabella said, lifting her hand to cup one side of Hope's cheek. "I will never leave you. Even if you're being stubborn and want to push me away, you're stuck with me." She smiled, frowned immediately when Hope started to tear up. "Okay, should I be worried?"

Hope muster out a chuckle and shook her head, wiping the tears away. "You're perfect. I love you." She said and leaned to kiss her. Arabella smile against her lips, reciprocated the contact before pulling away to say something.

"I love you too."

☘︎︎