The Hunters: Phantom Chapter 23

The next morning, Elena felt light and joyful, as if she was hugging an enormous, wonderful mystery story to herself. Damon was stil alive. He had been in her room last night. Right?Shed been through so much, she could hardly trust it. She climbed start of bed, noting that the clouds outside were stil pink and gold from the sunrise, so it essential be very early. She careful y moved toward the window. She wasnt sure what she was looking for, merely she went down on her work force and knees and s tail assemblyned the floor careful y. on that point. A comminuted piece of dirt on the squeaky board, fal en from someones shoe. And there, on the windowsil , the long scratches of a birds claws. That was proof enough for Elena.She stood up and gave a funny little jump of joy, clapping her hands together sharply once, an unstoppable grin spreading across her face. Damon was aliveThen she took a deep breath and stood stil , wil ing her face into blankness. If she was veridical y tone ending to have this secret and she supposed she would have to shed promised, after al she was going to have to act like nothing had changed. And real y, things were charming bad stil , she told herself. If she thought about(predicate) the facts, she shouldnt be celebrating just yet.Damons return hadnt altered the fact that something grungy was after Elena and her friends, or that Stefan was acting irrational y and violently. Her emotional state sank a little as she thought of Stefan, hardly stil a bubble of happiness went through her. Damon was aliveAnd, what was more, he had an idea of what might be going on. It was exactly like Damon at his most infuriating to play this idea close to his chest and not let her know what he was thinking, but stil , his flash was more hope than anyone else had been able to offer yet. Perhaps there was light at the end of the tunnel after al .A pebble pinged once against Elenas window.When she looked out, she saw Stefan, shoulders hunched, hands in his pockets, watching her from the lawn. Elena waved to him to stay where he was, threw on jeans, a lacy white tank top, and shoes, and went downstairs to meet him. at that place was dew on the grass, and Elenas steps left-hand(a) footprints. The cool of dawn was already being replaced by dazzling hot cheerfulness It was going to be another sticky Virginia summer day.As she approached Stefan, Elena slowed down. She didnt preferably know what to say to him. Since last night, incessantlyy time she had thought of Stefan, she had involuntarily pictured Calebs body flying through the air, the sickening crunch as he hit the marble monument. And she couldnt stop seeing Stefans savage anger as he had attacked him, although Damon had been sure there must have been a reason. Damon. How would she ever keep Stefan from guessing the truth about his brother?From the pained look on Stefans face, it was clear he sensed her apprehension. He held out his hand. I know you dont substant iate why I did what I did yesterday, he said,but theres something you have to see.Elena stopped, but she didnt take his outstretched hand. His face fel a little further. Tel me where were going, she said.I need to disposition you something that I found, Stefan said patiently. Youl understand when we get there. Please, Elena. I would never hurt you.Elena stared at him. She knew without a doubt that it was true that Stefan would never hurt her.Okay, she said, making up her mind. Wait here for a minute. Il be right tooshie.She left Stefan on the lawn in the early morning sunshine as she retreated into the quiet swarthiness of the domicile. Everyone else was stil asleep A quick glance at the clock in the kitchen told her it was barely six oclock. She scribbled a peak to aunty Judith, saying she was going to entrance breakfast with Stefan and would be back later. Reaching for her purse, she paused and made sure that a dried sprig of vervain was stil tucked inside it. Not that she t hought Stefan would ever do anything to her but it never hurt to be prepared.When she came out of the house, Stefan ushered her into his car parked at the curb, opening the passenger-side door for her and hovering over her as she fastened her fag belt.How far away is it? Elena asked.Not far, Stefan said simply. Watching him drive, Elena noticed the worry lines at the corners of his eyes, the unhappy droop of his mouth, the tension in his shoulders, and wi hold she could put her arms most him and comfort him, raise her hand and wipe those lines by his eyes away. unless her memories of the rage on his face the day before held her back. She just couldnt make herself give out to him.They hadnt driven for long when Stefan turned onto a culde-sac of expensive houses. Elena leaned forward. They were pul ing up to a large white house fronted by a spacious pil ared porch. She knew that porch. later junior prom, she and Matt had sat on its steps and watched the sun rise, stil wearing the ir clothes from the dance. She had kicked off her satin sandals and laid her head against Matts tuxedoed shoulder, listening dreamily to the melody and voices coming from the afterprom party in the house behind them. It had been a good night from a different lifetime.She stared at Stefan accusingly. This was Tyler Smal woods house, Stefan. I dont know what youre planning, but Calebs not here. Hes in the hospital.Stefan sighed. I know hes not here, Elena. His aunt and uncle havent been here either, not for several days, at least.Theyre out of town, Elena said automatical y. Aunt Judith talked to them yesterday.Thats good, Stefan said grimly. Then theyre safe. He cast a worried glance up and down the street. Youre sure Caleb wont be out of the hospital today?Yes, said Elena acidly. He was too injured. Theyre keeping him for observation.Elena got out of the car, slammed the door, and marched toward the Smal woods house, not looking back to see whether Stefan was fol owing.He caught u p to her instantly. She cursed his vampiric speed in her head and walked faster. Elena, he said, circling in front of her and forcing her to a stop. Are you angry that I want to keep you safe?No, she said scathingly. Im angry that you almost kil ed Caleb Smal wood.Stefans face sagged with exhaustion and sorrow, and Elena instantly felt guilty. any(prenominal) was going on with Stefan, he stil needed her. But she didnt know how to deal with his violence. Shed fal en in love with Stefan for his poetic soul, for his gentleness. Damon was the dangerous one. Dangerous looks much best on Damon than it does on Stefan, a dry observing voice at the back of her mind said, and Elena couldnt deny the truth of it.Just show me what you wanted me to see, she concluding y said.Stefan sighed, then turned and led her up the drive of the Smal woods house. She had expected him to go to the Smal woods front door, but he cut around the side of the house and toward a smal shed in the backyard.The toolsh ed? asked Elena quizzical y. Do we have a lawn mowing emergency we need to address before breakfast?Stefan ignored her joke and went to the shed door. Elena noticed that a padlock that had held the double door shut had been wrenched apart, pul ed to pieces. A half loop of metal hung uselessly from the shackle. Stefan had clearly broken in earlier.Elena fol owed him in. At first, after the dew-bright morning outside, she couldnt see anything in the dimness of the shed. Gradual y, she realized that the wal s of the shed were lined with loose papers. Stefan reached out and shoved the doors wider, letting the sunshine stream into the space.Elena peered at the papers on the wal s and then stepped back with a sharp gasp The first thing she had been able to make out was a picture of her own face. She yanked the paper off the wal and looked at it more closely. It was a clipping from the local paper, showing her dressed in a silver medal gown, dancing in Stefans arms. The caption under the p icture read Robert E. Lee High School prom queen Elena Gilbert and prom king Stefan Salvatore. mall queen? Despite the seriousness of the situation, her lips curled up in a smile. She real y had finished high school in a snake pit of glory, hadnt she?She pul ed another clipping from the wal and her face fel . This one showed a coffin carried through the rain by pal bearers, grim-faced mourners standing by. In the crowd, Elena recognized Aunt Judith, Robert, Margaret, Meredith, and Bonnie, lips set, cheeks streaked with tears. The caption here read Town mourns local high school student Elena Gilbert.Elenas fingers tightened unconsciously, crumpling the clipping. She turned to look at Stefan. This shouldnt be here, she said, a note of hysteria creeping into her voice.The Guardians changed the past. There shouldnt be any newspaper articles or anything left.Stefan stared back at her. I know, he said. Ive been thinking, and the best guess I can make is that maybe the Guardians just chan ged great deals minds. They wouldnt see any evidence of what we asked the Guardians to erase. Theyd just see what supported their new memories, the memories of a normal smal town and of a good deal of ordinary teenagers. Just another school year.Elena brandished the paper. But then why is this here?Stefan dropped his voice. Maybe it doesnt work on everybody. Calebs got some notes scribbled in a notebook computer I found, and it seems from them as though hes remembering two different sets of events. Listen to this.Stefan scrabbled through the papers littering the floor and pul ed out a notebook. He writes There are girls in town now that I know were dead. There were monsters here. The town was destroyed, and we left before they could get us too. But now Im back and we never left, even though no one but me remembers. Everythings normal no monsters, no death.Hmm. Elena took the notebook from him and scanned through the pages. Caleb had lists there. Vickie Bennett, Caroline, her. Al o f them. Everyone who was different in this foundation than in the other one. There were notes about how he remembered them how he thought Elena was dead and what was going on now. She turned a few pages, and her eyes widened. Stefan, listen. Tyler told him about us Tyler was afraid of Stefan Salvatore. He thought he kil ed Mr. Tanner and that there was something else strange about him, something unnatural. And he thought Elena Gilbert and her friends were tangled up in whatever was going on. And theres an asterisk referring back to Mr. Tanner being dead in one set of memories and alive in the other. Elena quickly scanned a few pages. It looks like he focused in on us as the cause of the changes. He figured out we were at the center of everything. Because were the race the most changed other than the vampire and kitsune victims and because he knew Tyler was suspicious of us, hes blaming us for Tylers disappearance.Two sets of memories, Stefan repeated, frowning.What if Calebs no t the only one remembering both realities? What if supernatural beings, or people aware of the supernatural, werent affected by the spel ?Elena froze. Margaret I wondered if she remembered something. She seemed so upset when she first saw me. Remember how she was afraid I was going to go away again? Do you think shes remembering me dying along with the memories the Guardians gave her?Stefan shook his head. I dont know, Elena. Do you have any reason to think Margaret is anything other than a suddenly normal little girl? Little kids can be very dramatic without needing a reason. Margarets got a lot of imagination.I dont know, Elena said in frustration. But if the Guardians just covered over the old memories with new ones, that would explain why my old journal was stil hidden in my bedroom just where I left it, and everything that had happened up until I left home written in it. So you think that Caleb suspects something is going on because he is a werewolf after al ?Look, Stefan sai d, gesturing around the shed. For the first time, Elena took in the whole scene and its implications. Pictures of her. Pictures of Bonnie and Meredith. Even pictures of poor Caroline, ranging from the haughty green-eyed debutante to a feral half monster, heavy pregnant with Tylers baby? Pup? Elena realized with a shock that she hadnt thought of Caroline in days. Was Caroline stil pregnant? Was she stil transforming into a werewolf because she was carrying Tylers baby? There were, Elena remembered, an awful lot of werewolves in Fel s Church. Powerful, important werewolves, and if that hadnt changed, and if the pack remembered everything, or enough of everything, then they were probably just biding their time.There were not only clippings but original photographs around the room. She saw a picture taken through the boardinghouse window of herself leaning forward excitedly to talk to Meredith, who was caressing her baleful hunting stave. Based on her outfit, it had been taken right a fter they picked up Alaric and Celia. Caleb had been not only researching the two sets of memories over the last few months but as well spying on Elena and her friends. Then she noticed something else. In the far corner on the floor was a huge bunch of roses. What ? Elena said, reaching for them. And then she saw. A pentagram was drawn around the roses. And encircling the pentagram was a bunch of photographs herself, Bonnie, Meredith, Matt, Stefan, Damon.Those are the same kinds of roses as the one Caleb gave you, arent they? Stefan asked softly. Elena nodded. They were perfect, delicate blooms in a dark luscious red that made her want to touch them.The rose that started it al , she whispered. It pricked Bonnies finger, and her blood spel ed Celias name. It must have come from here.Caleb isnt just a werewolf, Stefan said. I dont know exactly what he did here, but it looks like pretty dark magic to me. He looked at her pleadingly. I discovered it al yesterday, he continued. I had to fight him, Elena. I know I scared you, but I had to protect you and everyone else from him.Elena nodded, too stunned to speak. Now she understood why Stefan had acted the way he had. He thought she was in danger. But stil she couldnt help feeling sick when she remembered the arc of Calebs body as he was thrown. Caleb might have attacked them with dangerous magic, but his notes sounded confused and frightened. Elena and her friends had changed his world, and now he couldnt tel what was reality.Wed check pack up al of this and bring it back to the boardinghouse, she said briskly. Are there more notebooks? Stefan nodded. Then wed better look through them careful y. If he cast a spel on us some kind of curse it could stil be active, even though hes imprisoned to the hospital for now. The spel he used might be in one of the notebooks, or at least we might find some kind of steer as to what it is and exactly what its doing. And, hopeful y, how to reverse it.Stefan was looking a lit tle lost, his green eyes questioning. His arms were held out very slightly, as if he had been expecting her to handle him and hadnt remembered to put them down when she hadnt. But for some reason she couldnt quite put her finger on, Elena couldnt bring herself to hug him. Instead, she looked away and said, Do you have any tensile bags or anything in the car we can use to move it al ?