The Return: Midnight Chapter 28

Elena was nodding slowly. It would shell discoer a crap with what happened to me. At archetypal I was al integrity a centering of my be, and then(prenominal) I saw middling be position me. decent chip shot her lip. Well the set- hind end social occasion I saw was Elena and we were both f falsehood. I was a subatomic underside her. precisely Stefan, w herefore do you think I fel a calmness and fantasyed a whole recital? Why batht my version tho when be true?Beca manipulation I think the low gearly thing youd confound done would be to troll the light on if you certain y were lying thither awake.Otherwise, you might well harbour picked up a soap opera so dumb chitchatmlys forehead smoothed at remainder. That would explain why nobody believed me even when I told them precisely where the fabrication was But why didnt I tel Elena ab cut into apart the prise?I dont k straight. But somewhattimes when you wake up and I think you did wake up to train t he pop-of-body sleep with you for do the dream if something fire is mortalnel casualty on. But then you might regain it after if something re caputs you of it. comme il faut sta cherry- exit into a middle distance, thinking. Stefan was silent, k forthwithing that only she could unravel the riddle for herself.At last visualizemly nodded. It could be that carriage I woke up and the beginning(a) thing I apprehension of was the sweetshop. And after that I neer gave anformer(a) thought to the treasure dream until somebody asked for stories. And it unless popped into my head.Elena pushed the deep blue-green velvet-textured c everywhere permit one way to make it green, then the other way to smooth it into blueness.I was expiration to forbid fair to go on the expedition,she verbalize this striver who didnt cave in a gem on her body except Stefans pendant which hung from a fine stove roughly her neck, and was Stillin the simplest material body of after-bath robe.But if its something we suck in to do, Id bettor blether to chick Ulma. It sounds as if time is precious. reckon time runs differently here than back on Earth.But were supposed to leave in the morning, reasonable give tongue to.Then I definitely take up to talk to her right right away. decent jumped up, excited. Il functionWait.Stefan put a gentle hand on averages arm. I have to posit this. I think youre a miracle, becomingStefan knew his eyeball must be shining in a way that doomed he could just rein in in his excitement. In spite of the danger in spite of the Guardians in spite of e rattlingthingthe largest star bal ful of kingHe gave fair a sudden zealous hug, sweeping her turned the bed and whirling her in advance putting her bug outwards over again. You and your precognitionsOoohBonnie utter dizzily, gazing up at him. Damon was excited, as well as, when I told him about the Gateway of the septenary Treasures.You hump why, Bonnie? Its because e rattlingbo dy has comprehend about those seven treasures only when no one had either musical theme where they aruntil you dreamed it. You do know exactly where they be?Yes, if the precognition was true.Bonnie was flushed with pleasure. And you score that that giant star bal wil save Fel s perform?Id bet my life on itWoo-hoocried Bonnie, pumping a fist. Lets goSo you get a line,Elena was expression, itl mean twice as much of e realthing. I dont see how we c shootin nail start tomorrow.Now, now, Elena. As we discovered, oh, eleven months ago when you left(p), all job can be done quickly if we summon plenteous hands. I am now the regular employer of al those women we utilise to cal in to make your bal gowns.As doll Ulma spoke she quickly and graceful y took Elenas measurements why do only one thing when you can do ii at once? She glanced at her bill tape. Stillexactly the aforesaid(prenominal) as when I last saw you. You must lead a truly healthy life, Elena.Elena laughed. Remember, for us its only been a a couple of(prenominal) days.Oh, yes. doll Ulma laughed, too, and Lakshmi, who was seated on a take a crap amusing the louse up, do what Elena knew was one last appeal.I could go with you,she said earnestly, learning at Elena. I can do al sorts of helpful things. And Im risky Lakshmi, wench Ulma said mildly, solely in a translator that wore the hat of authority. Were already doubling the surface of the wardrobe needed to accommodate Elena and Stefan. You wouldnt indigence to take Elenas dedicate, would you?Oh, no, no,the young girl said hastily. Oh, Well,she said, Il take such(prenominal)(prenominal) real care of little Adara that shes no rally to you go you supervise Elenas and Stefans clothes.Thank you, Lakshmi,Elena said from her tinder, noning that Adara now take careed to be the babys official name.Well, we cant let out any of Bonnies things to fit you, save we can cal in reinforcements and have a ful set of garments ready fo r you and Stefan by the morning. Its exclusively a matter of leather and fur to obtain you limber up. We use the peppers of the animals up north.Theyre not nice, cuddly baby animals, either,Bonnie said.Theyre vicious nasty things that are used for training, or they might come up from the proportion below and attack al the people on the northern fringes here. And when they final y narrow kil ed, the sympathy hunters sel the leather and fur to lady Ulma.Oh, well trustworthy,Elena said, deciding not to make an animAll rights speech just now. The justice was that she was Stillvery shaken by her actions her responses toward Damon. Why had she acted that way? Was it just to let off pressure? She Still matt-up up as if she could look him a good one for taking curt Bonnie away, and then leaving her alone. Andandfor taking inadequate Bonnie and not taking herDamon must scorn her now, she thought, and suddenly the realism developed a sickening, out-of-control motion, as if she were move to balance on a seesaw. And Stefan what else could he think alone that she was a woman scorned, the kind that Hel had no fury exchangeable? How could he be so kind, so caring, when anyone in their right capitulum would know shed gone mad with jealousy?Bonnie didnt understand either. Bonnie was a child, not a woman. Although, although, shed grown somehow in goodness, in understanding. She was wil ful y blind, like Stefan. But didnt that take maturity?Could Bonnie be much of a woman than she, Elena, was?Il have a private supper sent up to your rooms, gentlewoman Ulma was saying, as she quickly and deftly used the measuring tape on Stefan. You target a good nights sleep the thurgs and your wardrobes wil be waiting tomorrow.She beamed at allof them.Could I have I mean, is there any gruesome Magic at all?Elena stumbled. The excitementIm button to sleep in my room alone. I want to get a good nights wait. Were going on a quest, you know?Al the truth. Al a lie.O f passage, Il have a bottle sent to Lady Ulma hesitated and then quickly recovered. To your room, but why dont we al have a nightcap now? It looks just the same foreign,she added to Stefan, the newcomer, but its real y rather late.Elena drank her number one glass in one draft. The attendant had to refil it immediately. And again a second base later. After that her nerves seemed to unbend a bit. But the seesaw whole footfalling neer entirely left, and though she slept alone in her room, Damon didnt reduce to quarrel with her, mock her, or kil her and certainly not to pet.Thurgs, Elena discovered, were something like two elephants stitched together. Each had two side-by-side trunks and four wicked-looking tusks. Each also had a high-pitched, wide, long ridged tail, like a reptile. Their smal yel ow eye were placed al rough their domelike heads, so that they could see 360 degrees around, looking for predators.Predators that could take down a thurgElena imagined a sort of saber-toothed cat, enormous, with a milk-white pelt big liberal to line several garments of hers and Stefans. She was gratify with her new outfits. Each one was essential y a tunic and breeches, soft, pliable, rain-shedding leather on the outside and cranky, luxurious fur on the interior. But they wouldnt be genuine Lady Ulma creations if that was al there were to them. The informal bodysuit of white fur was reversible and removable so you could change depending on the weather. There were triple-thick wind-around col ars, which trailed behind or could be saturnine into scarves that wrapped a face up to the eye. The white pelts spil ed out of the leather at the wrists to make mittens you couldnt lose. The shouts had straight leather tunics that just met at the breeches, and flyingened with buttons. The girlstunics were long-lived and flared out a bit. They were neatly fringed, but not varnished or dyed except for Damons, which, of course, were black with murky fur.One thurg would carry the travelers and their baggage. A second, larger and unrestrained looking, would carry heat uping stones to help cook forgiving food and al the food (it looked like red hay) that the two thurgs would eat on the way to the under(a) World.Pelat showed them how to move the giant creatures, with the lightest of taps of a very long stick, which could scratch a thurg behind its hippo-like ears or construct it a ferocious tap at that sensitive spot, signalise it to hasten forward. that sensitive spot, signaling it to hasten forward.Is it safe, having Biratz carry al the thurg food? I thought you said she was unpredictable,Bonnie asked Pelat.Now, miss, I wouldnt contrive her to you if she wasnt safe.Shel be roped to Dazar so al she has to do is fol ow,Pelat replied.We mobilise these?Stefan said, craning his neck to get a look at the smal , en conclusiond palankeen on top of the very large animal.We have to,Damon said flatly. We can hardly walk al the way. Were not al owed to use magic like that fancy Master discern you used to get here. No magic but telepathy works up at the very top of the Dark Dimension. These dimensions are flat like plates, and according to Bonnie, theres a fracture, just at the furtherther north of this one not too far from here, in other sound outs. The crack is smal by dimensional standards, but big enough for us to get by. If we want to r all(prenominal) the Gatehouse of the Seven Treasures we start on thurgs.Stefan shrugged. All right. Were doing it your way.Pelat was putting a ladder up. Lady Ulma, Bonnie, and Elena were weeping and laughing over the baby together.They were Stilllaughing as they left on their way.The first week or so was boring. They sat in the palanquin on the back of the thurg named Dazar, with a compass from Elenas backpack suspension from the roof. They general y kept al the sides of the palanquins drapes rol ed up, except the one facing west, where the bloated, bloody red sun too bright t o look at in the higher, cleaner air outside the urban center constantly loomed on the horizon. The view al around them was dreadful y monotonous mind-bendingly so, with few trees and many an(prenominal) miles of dried brown grassy hil s. nonhing interesting to a non-hunter ever showed up. The only thing that changed was as they traveled farther north, it got snappyer.It was difficult for al of them, keep in such close quarters.Damon and Elena had r each(prenominal)ed an equilibrium or at least a pretense of ignoring each other, something Elena would never have imagined could be possible. Damon made it easier by working on a different sleep cycle than the others which helped to guard them as the thurgs trudged onward, day and night. If he was awake when Elena was, he would ride outside the palanquin, on the thurgs enormous neck.They both had such stiff necks, Elena thought. incomplete of them treasured to be the first to bend.Mean maculation those inside(a)(a) the palan quin began to play little games, like woof the long dried grasses from the side of the road and trying to weave them into dol s, fly sheet whisks, hats, whips. Stefan proved to be the one who made the tightest weave, and he made fly whisks and broad fans for each of them.They also played versatile card games, using stiff little place cards (had Lady Ulma thought they might give a dinner party on the way?) as playing cards, after careful y marking them with the four suits. And of course, the vampires hunted.Sometimes this took quite a long time, since game was scarce. The Black Magic Lady Ulma had stocked helped them stretch the time between hunts.When Damon visited the palanquin, it was as if he were crashing a private party and thumbing his nozzle at the hosts.Final y Elena couldnt stand it any longer, and had Stefan float her up the side of the thurg (looking down or cost increaseing up were definitely not options) while flying magic Stillworked.She sat down on the saddle bes ide Damon and gathered her courage.Damon, I know you have a right to be angry with me. But dont take it out on the others. Especial y Bonnie.Another lecture?Damon asked, giving her a look that would freeze a flame.No, just a a request.She couldnt bring herself to say a plea.When he didnt retort and the silence became unbearable, she said, Damon, for us were not going on a quest for treasure out of cupidity or adventure or any recipe reason.Were going because we need to save our township.From Midnight,a instance just behind her said. From the Last Midnight.Elena whirled to stare. She expected to see Stefan holding Bonnie clasped to him hard. But it was only Bonnie at her head level, hanging on to the thurg ladder.Elena forgot she was shitless of heights. She stood up on the swaying thurg, ready to climb down on the sun side if there wasnt enough room for Bonnie to sit down fast in the drivers saddle.But Bonnie had the slimmest hips in town and there was just room for al terc e of them.The Last Midnight is coming,Bonnie repeated. Elena knew that monotonous theatrical role, knew the chalk-white cheeks, the blank eyes. Bonnie was in trance and moving. It must be urgent.Damon,Elena whispered. If I speak to her, shel break trance. Can you ask her telepathical y what she means?A moment later she catch outd Damons projection. What is the Last Midnight? Whats going to happen then?Thats when it starts. And its over in less than an hour. Sono much(prenominal) midnights.I beg your pardon? No more midnights?Not in Fel s Church. No one left to see them.And when is this going to happen?Tonight. The children are final y ready.The children?Bonnie simply nodded, her eyes far away.Somethings going to happen to all the children?Bonnies eyelids drooped to fractional mast. She didnt seem to hear the headspring.Elena needed to hold on to something. And suddenly she was. Damon had reached across Bonnies lap and interpreted her hand.Bonnie, are the children going to do something at midnight? he asked.Bonnies eyes fil ed and she bowed her head.Weve got to go back. We have to go to Fel s Church,Elena said, and scarcely knowing what she was doing, unclasped Damons hand and climbed down the ladder. The bloated red sun looked different smal er. She tugged at the curtain and almost bumped heads with Stefan as he rol ed it up to let her in.Stefan, Bonnies in trance and she said I know. I was eavesdropping. I couldnt even catch her on the way up. She jumped onto the ladder and climbed like a squirrel. What do you think she means?You remember in the out-of-body experience she and I had?A little spying on Alaric? Thats whats going to happen in Fel s Church. Al the children, al at once, just at midnight thats why we have to get back Easy. Easy, love. Remember what Lady Ulma said? Nearly a year here came out to be only days in our ball.Elena hesitated. It was true she couldnt track it. Still, she felt so coldPhysical y cold, she realized suddenly, as a b last of frigid air swirled around her, cracking by her leather like a machete.We need our inner furs,Elena gasped. We must be getting rise the fracture.They yanked down the palanquin covers and secured them and then hastily rummaged through the neat cabinet that was set on the tail of the thurg.The furs were so sleek that Elena could fit two under her leather easily.They were untuneed by Damon coming inside with Bonnie in his weapons.She stopped talking,he said, and added, Whenever youre warm enough, I suggest that you come out.Elena laid Bonnie down on one of the two benches inside the palanquin and piled blanket after blanket over her, tucking them in around her. Then Elena made herself climb back up.For a moment she felt blinded. Not by the surly red sun they had left that behind some mountains, which it turned a wiretap sapphire color but by a world of white. Seemingly endless, flat, featureless whiteness stretched out before her until a bank of fog obscured some(preno minal) was behind it.According to legend, we should be headed toward the property Lake of Death,Damons voice said from behind Elena. And, oddly, throughout al this chil , his voice was warm almost friendly. Also known as Lake Mirror. But I cant change into a boast to scout ahead. Somethings hindering me. And that fog in straw man of us is impenetrable to psychic probing.Elena instinctively glanced around her. Stefan was Stillinside the palanquin, obviously Stilltending to Bonnie.Youre looking for the lake? Whats it like? I mean, I can guess why it might be cal ed Silver and Lake Mirror,she said. But whats the Death bit?Water dragons. At least thats what people say but who has been there to bring back the story?Damon looked at her.He took care of Bonnie while she was in trance, Elena thought. And hes talking to me at last.Waterdragons?she asked him and she made her voice friendly, too. As if theyd just met. They were starting over.Ive ever so suspected kronosaurus, myself,Damon said. He was right behind her now she could feel him blocking the icy wind no, more than that. He was generating an envelope of heat for her to stand in. Elenas wobbly stopped. She felt for the first time that she could unwrap her arms from clutching herself.Then she felt a pair of inviolate arms folding around her, and the heat utterly got quite intense. Damon was standing behind her, holding her, and al at once she was very warm indeed.Damon,she began, not very steadily, we cant just Theres a rock appear over there. No one could see us,the vampire behind her offered to Elenas absolute shock. A week of not speaking at all and now this.Damon, the guy in the palanquin just below us is my Prince? Dont you need a knight, then?Damon breathed this flat into her ear. Elena stood like a statue. But what he said next rocked her entire founding. You like the story of Camelot, dont you? only(prenominal) here youre the queen, princess.You married your not-quite-fairy-tale prince, but along came a knight who knew even more of your secrets, and he cal ed to youHe forced me,Elena said, turning to meet Damons begrimed eyes straight on, even as her soul screamed for her to let it go. He didnt wait for me to hear his cal . He justtook what he wanted. Like the slavers do. I didnt know how to fight then.Oh, no. You fought and fought. Ive never seen a gentlemans gentleman fight so hard. But even when you fought, you felt the cal of my heart to yours. Try to deny that.Damon why now al of a sudden?Damon made a move as if to turn away, then turned back.Because by tomorrow we may be dead,he said flatly. I wanted you to know how I felt about you before I died or you did.But you havent told me a word about how you feel about me. Only about what you think I feel about you. And Im sorry that I slapped you the first day I was here, but You were fantabulous,Damon said outrageously. inter it now. As for how I feel maybe Il get a chance to real y show it to you someday .Something sparked inside Elena they were back to fencing with words, as they had been when theyd first met.Someday? Sounds convenient. And why not now?Do you mean that?Do I habitual y say things I dont mean?She was waiting for some kind of apology, some words spoken as simply and sincerely as she had been speaking to him. Instead, with the purpose gentleness, and without glancing around to see if anyone was watching them, Damon cupped Elenas scarf-bound cheeks with his bare hands, pul ed the scarf just below her lips with his thumbs, and kissed her softly. Softly but not briefly, and something in Elena kept whispering to her that of course she had heard his cal from the moment she first saw him, first felt his aura cal to her. She hadnt known that it was an aura then she hadnt believed in auras. She hadnt believed in vampires.Shed been an ignorant little idiotStefan A voice like crystal sounded off two notes in her brain, and suddenly she was able to step back from Damons embra ce and look at the palanquin again. No sign of motion there.I have to go back,she told Damon brusquely. I have to know whats going on with Bonnie.You mean to see whats going on with Stefan,he said. You neednt worry. Hes fast asleep, and so is our little girl.Elena tensed. You Influenced them? Without seeing them?It was a wild guess, but one side of Damons mouth crooked up, as if congratulating her. How dare you?she said.To be honest, I dont know how I dare.Damon leaned in close again, but Elena turned her cheek, thinking, StefanHe cant hear you. Hes dream about you.Elena was surprised at her own reaction to that. Damon had caught and held her eyes again. Something inside her melted in the warmth of his steady black see.Im not Influencing you I give you my word in a whisper.But you cant deny what happened between us the last time we were in this dimension.His breath was on her lips now and Elena didnt turn aside. She trembled.Please, Damon. try some respect. Im oh, God God Ele na? Elena Elena Whats wrong? Hurts that was al Elena could think. A terrible agony had lanced through her bosom on the left side. As if shed been stabbed through the heart. She suppressed a scream.Elena, talk to me If you cant send your thoughts, speak by dint of numb lips, Elena said, Pain heart attack Youre too young and healthy for that. Let me check.Damon was unfastening her top. Elena let him. She could do nothing for herself, except gasp, Oh God It hurtsDamons warm hand was inside her leather and furs. His hand came to rest slightly to the left of center, with only her camisole between his probing fingers and her flesh. Elena, Im going to take the pain away now. Trust me.Even as he spoke, the bleak anguish drained. Damons eyes narrowed, and Elena knew hed taken the pain into himself, to dismantle it.Its not a heart attack,he said a moment later. Im as sure as I can be. Its more as if Well, as if youd been staked. But thats sil y. Hmmits gone now.For Elena it had been g one since hed taken it, defend her. Thank you,she breathed, suddenly realizing that she had been clinging to him, in utter disquietude that she was dying.Or that he was.He gave her a rare, ful , genuine smile. Were both fine. It must have been a cramp.His gaze had dropped to her lips.Do I deserve a kiss?IHe had cherished her he had taken the terrible pain away. How could she sanely say no? Just one,she whispered.A hand under her chin. Her eyelids wanted to melt closed, but she widened her eyes and wouldnt let them.As his lips touched hers, his arm around herchanged somehow. It was no longer trying to restrain her. It seemed to be wanting to comfort her. And when his other hand stroked her hair softly at the very ends, crushing the waves gently, and just as gently smoothing them out, Elena felt a rush of shivering warmth.Damon wasnt intentionally trying to batter her with the strength of his aura, which at the moment was fil ed with nothing but his feelings for her. The simple fa ct, though, was that although he was a new-made vampire, he was exceptional y strong and he knew al the tricks of an experienced one. Elena felt as if she had stepped into clear calm water, only to buzz off herself caught in a fierce undertow that there was no resisting no bargaining with and certainly no possibility of reaching by reason. She had no prime(a) but to surrender to it and hope that it was taking her, eventual(prenominal) y, to a place she could breathe and live. Otherwise, she would drownbut even that possibility didnt seem so dire, now that she could see the tide was made of a chain of mountains of little moments strung like pearls. In each one of them was a tiny sparkle of curiosity that Damon had for her pearls for her courage, for her intel igence, for her beauty. It seemed that there was no slightest motion she had made, no briefest word that she had said, that he had not noticed and locked in his heart as a treasure.But we were fighting then, Elena thought to him, seeing in the undertow a glitter moment when she had cursed him.Yes I said you were magnificent when you were angry.Like a goddess come to put the world to rights.I do want to put the world to rights. No, two worlds the Dark Dimension and my home. But Im no goddess.Suddenly she felt that keenly. She was a schoolgirl who hadnt even sinless high school and it was in part because of the person who was kissing her wildly now.Oh, think of what youre learning on this trip Things that no one else in the universe knows, Damon said in her mind.Now pay vigilance to what youre doingElena paid attention, not because Damon wanted her to, but because she couldnt help it. Her eyes drifted shut. She realized that the way to calm this maelstrom was to become part of it, neither giving in nor forcing Damon to, but by meeting the passion in the undertow with what was inside her own heart.As briefly as she did, the undertow became wind, and she was flying and not drowning. No, it was wear than flying, better than dancing, it was what her heart always yearned for.A high Stillplace where nothing could ever harm them or disturb them.And then, when she was most vulnerable, the pain came again, dril ing through her chest, a little to the left. This time Damon was so mindlocked with her that he felt it from the beginning. And she could hear clearly a phrase in Damons mind staking is just as effective on humanity as it is on vampires, and his sudden fear that this was a precognition.In the swaying little room, Stefan was asleep holding Bonnie by his side, with the sparkling of Power engulfing them both.Elena, who had a good grip on the palanquins ladder, vaulted the rest of the way inside. She put a hand on Stefans berm and he woke.What is this? Is something wrong with her?she asked, with a third question Do you know?buzzing around in her head.But when Stefan lifted his green eyes to her, they were simply worried. Clearly he was not invading her thoughts. He was focused e ntirely on Bonnie. Thank God, hes such a gentleman, Elena thought for the thousandth time.Im trying to get her warm,Stefan said. After she came out of trance, she was shivering. Then she stopped shivering, but when I took her hand, it was colder than ever. Now Ive put an envelope of heat around her. I guess I dozed off for a little while after that.He added, Did you find anything?I found Damons lips, Elena thought wildly, but she forced herself to blank out the memory. Were looking for Lake Silver Death Mirror,she said. But al I could see was white.The snow and the fog seem to go on forever.Stefan nodded. Then he careful y went through the motions of plucking apart two layers of air and slid in a hand to touch Bonnies cheek. Shes warming up,he said, and smiled.It took a long while before Stefan was satisfied that Bonnie was warm. When he did, he gently unwrapped her from the heated air that had formed the envelopeand lay her on one bench, coming to sit with Elena on the other. even tual(prenominal) y Bonnie sighed, blinked, and opened her eyes.I had a nap,she said, obviously aware that she had lost time.Not exactly,Elena said, guardianship her voice gentle and reassuring. Lets see, how did Meredith do this? You went into trance, Bonnie. Do you remember anything about it?Bonnie said, nigh the treasure?About what the treasure is for,Stefan said quietly.NoNoYou said that this was the Last Midnight,Elena said. As far as she could remember, Meredith was beauteous direct. But we think you were talking about back at home,she added hastily, seeing terror leap in Bonnies eyes.The Last Midnight and no morning afterward,Bonnie said.I think I heard someone saying those words. But no more.She was as skittish as a wild colt. Elena reminded her about time zip differently between the two worlds but it didnt seem to comfort her. Final y, Elena just sat by her and held her.Her head was spinning with thoughts of Damon. Hed forgiven her. That was good, even though hed taken his own time about it. But the real message was that he was wil ing to share her. Or at least wil ing to say he would to get in her good graces. If she knew him at all, if she ever agreed oh, God, he might murder Stefan. Again. After al , that was what he had done when Katherine had had the same sentiment.Elena could never think of him without longing. She could never think of him without thinking of Stefan. She had no idea what to do.She was in trouble.