She laid on her back and watched the stars cover the sky in a thick blanket, outshining the darkness and promising good. She was tempted to snort at the thought. If only things were as simple as that. She wondered what life would have been like had she not been a witch or known of her family curse. The idea got lost very quickly for she had known that she was far from normal since her youth. It was that way for her and the realist inside never allowed room for anything else. It would do her no serve anyway and she rather liked that she was gifted in something beyond the norms of life, beyond the book-worm self that she tried to suppress everyday because they did not understand. She was sick and tired of hiding, using a facade that no one noticed was a mask just for the sake of everyone else's comfort. She was always practical Bonnie Bennett, the girl everyone sought out to solve their troubles, no matter the consequence. She was no longer fraught with live wires, ready to trip and bolt because there was a massive lever dangling over her head, waiting to consume her. The cat was out of the bag and she was comfortable at last, excitement was finally coming into her life. She wondered sometimes if she had asked for too much, was it difficult to ask for a breathe of fresh air without being uneasy with the thought that the world might enact revenge for her momentary laps of peace? It was days when her exhaustion with her state of living crowded her mind and wouldn't leave that she felt bereft of words and wanted to take back her confession from that long time ago to Elena and keep her secret. Mentally shaking her head, she knew that that was not fully true. She would do anything to save her best friends, whom had grown with her and changed and danced and lived...

She had watched them begin to settle in their states and habits, moving on and away from her, drifting for the first time in forever on a plane of their own. Bonnie was facing realty now and she realized that she was alone. With herself. It was terrifying, how good it felt, lacking burden and worry. She wanted to feel guilty for the sense of liberation that washed over her but it never came. She was beyond the moon only to be bound to earth with it's never ending cycle of turmoil and pain.

Her eyes wondered back to the skies and for the first time she noticed how different they were from the sky in Mystic Falls. They lacked heavy clouds and drenched sadness but instead promised fruitful and gratifying satisfaction...passion...It was probably the moonshine that Sophie had given her. She really needed to stop drinking even though she was of legal age and could do whatever she wanted, her mind tried to protest. She was no longer being practical she reminded herself and hushed her conscience as she lifted the mason jar to her lips and took another sip of the enticing brew. It intoxicated her senses and she lulled for a moment, her eyes closed and focused. Her breaths came soft and long almost of if she were asleep or in a great trance.

Bonnie tried thinking about what had brought her the New Orleans but her mind just pulled a blank until she remembered the map that had drifted on her car windshield as she had been driving past the welcome sign of Mystic Falls. She had stopped the car instantly and stumbled out. The wind in the roaming fields had picked up and wafted to her and the thought of fresh rain had crowded into her mind and she watched as the clouds darkened. A tingle of pleasure rushed up her spine and she felt drunk with life...There was something magical in the moment, the way the breeze twirled in her clothes and engulfed the space that surrounded her, charming her in their embrace. She grasped the map before it had the chance to fly away and New Orleans called out to her. Again the thought of magic came into her mind, the blood in her veins singing...there was something there...life changing...she could feel it in her bones and then her grams came to mind. Looking up at the heavens, she smiled, thanking her for the sign and rushing back into the car with the map, she buckled in and realized she was shaking violently. It was most definitely not from the contact with wind but something else entirely.

New Orleans drew her in with it's close knitted community and the ancient architecture that spoke of a long time, a past that must have been full of color and spectacle. She had heard of Sophie and her sister, some sort of old family ties from what her grandmother had told her and Sophie had grasped at her and clung for dear life. Somehow the feeling became mutual. She was strong, determined and anything but piety. Finally, she was in company that understood the need to be strong and move on...to be powerful because no one else was going to protect her but herself. There was something going on however. Bonnie was anything but blind and she knew tension and bordering war when she saw one; being a witch and Elena Gilbert's best friend had trained her for it. It also taught her to not pry, things had a way of revealing themselves when the time was right and she did not want to push. After all, her great expanse of knowledge and energy was able to be tapped in to because of the scribes she had found in the family archives. Sophie had warned her about not using magic but seldom people knew her ability to go undetected. She was capable of blanketing a clear atmosphere when conducting any form of magic. The warning had made her extra cautious with her clean up. Her ancestors magic was now linked through her and their knowledge was hers; she had made sure of that. The Bennett line had been threatened far too often for her liking and it was time overdue to link them all in a hereditary bond.

It was a long time before she opened her eyes and decided to get up. She had been away from home long enough and her bed was calling her name. Folding the plaid picnic blanket she had retrieved from her closet, she grabbed her moonshine and set off. The road was empty and she walked alone the yellow markings at the center. It was silly trying to walk a straight line when her head swung the way it did but it was also a neat little mechanism that drove her thoughts to the back of her mind. It worked for the most part and as she lifted her face up to enjoy the moonlight being cast down on her pathway and saw the rays point ahead.

There was the wind again, coming from no where and gripping her in it's arms. The sudden down pour nearly crippled her in it's velocity, sobering her instantly. Picking up her pace, she ran and found temporary safety underneath a large Spanish moss tree that seemed to expand and travel onto forever. It's energy drew her and on her third circle around the tree she noticed through a gap in the draping limbs, an old fashioned home with large floor to ceiling windows. The lights were on and rushing out, she ran across the fields of wildflower and rich, lush grass land towards it hoping that she would have some luck.

She was completely soaked from head to toe when she reached the wrap-around porch and realized just how grand the house was. Panting, she stepped forward and felt the first dizzy spell of her drinking hit her. Running, moonshine and rain weren't a good combination. She gripped the railing as she stepped onto the first step and felt like she was going to throw up. Her head wouldn't stop pounding and the swirling of her surroundings caused her to sit down for a while. Alcohol had never given her such a reaction but then again, she had never had so much all at once.

Bonnie rubbed her temple and prepared herself to make it up the final steps and knock. She made it up to the door and when she couldn't hold the pounding in her brain away more, she collapsed, the moonshine jar shattering beside her unconscious form.

Klaus paused on his way out of his study, the sound of shattering glass jolting the silence in the house. Moving, he reached the front hall and took the three stairs in one jump and pulled open his front door only to find Bonnie Bennett in an unconscious state before him!