Night had fallen over the town, enveloping the surrounding area in an eerie darkness that warned attentive citizens of the dangers that lurked beyond their seemingly protective walls in both a literal and a figurative sense. The air had picked up speed a few hours past dusk, giving off the impression that a hurricane long past overdue by a couple decades was fast approaching as many ran into the safety of their sturdy homes and buildings while others felt the dire need to be curious and play weather man in the flesh and blood. As strange as when the wind storm had begun, it just as swiftly came undone, leaving Mystic Falls with little evidence of any such disaster with the exception of a couple lawn ornaments scattered among the yards and front lawns of confused neighbors. Almost entirely oblivious to the events occurring in the area outside of the abandoned Young house was a petite caramel-skinned girl with piercing emerald eyes that closed off the rest of the world from the concentrated thoughts looming inside her mind. She was accompanied by a taller, seductive girl with long brown locks that curled beautifully and danced along the back of the leather jacket she wore who was left feeling impatient and not at all interested in remaining still.
"Twelve humans burned to death here," she murmured softly, her eyes still closed. The memories of her conversation with the late professor who confirmed her father's suspicions in the dimmed interrogation room of the Mystic Falls Police Department threatened to interrupt her from her thoughts, but she refused to be distracted. "They died in vain for Silas," she added bitterly with the last part of that statement spat out like venom.
Just as her companion had begun zoning out, obviously uninterested, the limited light supply they had in the small farm house blew out without warning.
A confused Katherine immediately turned to face the diminutive witch. "What did you do?" she asked, eyeing her warily through the darkness that enshrouded the room.
With her eyes still closed, she replied, "I linked the final hot spot." At that moment, her eyes opened with determination. "It's time to drop the veil."
Katherine glanced outside of the rusted window, checking to see if the wind storm outside had died down. Sure enough, it had. With a heavy sigh, she turned her attention back to the witch who remained standing at the center of the room as if she had been standing there for hours unmoving. "Alright, so you already linked the site where twelve witches were killed, unbeknownst to you if my knowledge serves me right, and you linked the Lockwood cellar where Klaus killed twelve of his hybrids because we all know he's a big, bad Original with a weak ego. And you just finished linking the site where almost everyone in the Founders Council was caught in some creepy murder-suicide explosion. So, what do we do now? Do the spell right here and get it over with? Technically, you'd still be inside all three points."
"No. In order to drop the veil, I would have to be within all three points of the Expression Triangle within equal distance of each other in order to balance out each site marked with the mystical energy from the massacres."
"Alright. And where exactly would the center of the triangle be?"
Bonnie paused briefly, allowing her mind to travel through the mental map she had in her head to come up with the right answer. "Underneath the school."
"Underneath the school?"
"Yes. When we get there, I'd be able to channel all the energy from Silas' tombstone."
Katherine's vampire senses allowed her to see Bonnie's gaze on her through the dark. "Yeah, yeah, yeah. Then you could drop the veil and flood this place with all the dead supernatural creatures ever to have graced this earth for who knows how long while we wait for your sour sport of an ancestor who obviously couldn't take a hint when she got one. I know. You've given me the speech how many times now?"
Bonnie rolled her eyes, wishing it had been anyone but Katherine who had access to Silas' tombstone. "Come on. Let's go," she said lowly as she picked up her own feet and headed for the door without turning back, afraid she would be tempted to blow up a couple arteries in her like a balloon in order to knock some decency into the vampire. "The faster we get to the school, the faster I'll get to be away from you."
Katherine followed a couple steps behind Bonnie, knowing if she stalled for too long she would end up being dragged along by the invisible force that linked her to the witch anyway. "And the faster I get to the immortality you promised me."
She said nothing. Bonnie had indeed promised Katherine her freedom—the opportunity to become truly immortal—with the help of Qetsiyah who was the only known witch to perform such a spell, demonstrated on Silas who was able to stay alive for two thousand years even after being left in a dessicated form. However, whether her promise to Katherine was fulfilled or not was not up to her. The vampire's threats on her life would have shook her to the core around this time last year, but now she was simply an obstacle in the way of her master plan: to talk to Qetsiyah and ask her how to put Silas down. Everything else was secondary. If she had the choice, she would have up and left Mystic Falls when the opportunity presented itself to her if it wasn't for the fact that graduation was only a couple days away and the one time she tried to distance herself from Silas, he threatened Caroline. She was sick and tired of having to do Silas' dirty work while he went off to torment her and her friends if she even implied an objection. She was spent on being used up like a pocket hankie by everyone, including herself, but knew in her heart that if her friends were in any sort of trouble, she would never forgive herself if anything bad was to happen as a consequence to her abandoning them in their time of need. Her life had become one big supernatural rollercoaster ride that not even death could part her from.
Bonnie led the way toward the school with Katherine trudging behind her, her five hundred dollar designer boots too ravaged to even concern her anymore. She was a vampire. She could simply compel someone to hand over a new, or even better, pair of boots free of charge. A majority of the voyage to their final stop prior to dropping the veil was accomplished in silence save for a few snarky comments coming from Katherine. It was only a couple miles from the Young farm, but being dragged around on an invisible leash from swampy forest floors to old cellars that reeked of all things abhorrent about canines to somber explosion sites would not be considered anyone's cup of tea.
When they finally reached the side doors leading to the most discreet part of the school, Katherine kept moving forward, reaching out to curl her finely manicured fingers around the stainless steel door handles to peer at the inside of the unlit school through the small glass window built into the door. There was no movement she could pick up from inside. "Well, doors are locked. Should I just rip it open or—"
Without even a small notice, the doors flew open in a matter of seconds, almost knocking Katherine over. Her head took a sharp turn toward Bonnie with eyes wide with bewilderment. "I don't remember you being able to do that."
"It's called Expression. You have no idea what I can do now," Bonnie said flatly.
She walked into the empty school like she had done countless times before. Katherine quickly collected herself before making her way inside.
"We have to get underneath the school, so follow my lead."
Katherine scoffed. "It's not like I have much of a choice."
As they passed through the familiar routes, they eventually found their way underneath the school via specific passageways that only a few of the custodial staff knew about. The jagged pathway to the most appropriate clearing was a maze in itself. Unlike Katherine, Bonnie had trouble finding her way through the dark, being forced to use the light of her cell phone to aid her past the craggy rock walls until they both settled on an expansive opening on the lower level.
"We're here," Bonnie said. She glanced around the wide area, breathing in the murky air of the room caged in rock and shadows. She moved to the center of the room and closed her eyes, feeling the power of the three points slowly welling inside of her. Inhaling, she took the moment in, anxiety creeping over her. "Okay. This is the center of the triangle," she breathed. "I'm ready. Now, give me the tombstone."
Katherine pulled the satchel containing Silas' tombstone from her shoulder, grasping it with both hands in a way that Bonnie could easily retrieve it. "The fact that the spell hinges on some crappy hunk of blood rock does little to inspire my confidence," she said as the heavy weight of the bag shifted into Bonnie's determined hands.
"It's filled with the calcified blood of Qetsiyah, one of the strongest witches in the world." It'll work," she continued with a fire in her eyes while freeing the rock from the cocoa-colored leather satchel.
The bag fell to her feet which she kicked to the side.
The vampire cast off to the side studied her companion with beady eyes. Bonnie closed her eyes and took a deep breath, the rock balanced in her hands. Her eyes opened enough to peer down at the rock in her hands. She concentrated on nothing else but the tombstone filled with the blood of her ancestor and channeling the power harnessed inside of it to access the Expression Triangle. It was only a matter of time before Silas figured out what she was doing and only the worst could come out of it.
After only a few seconds, the sound of something spilling onto the gravel where they stood echoed through the cave walls. It wasn't until the drips started filtering onto the ground at a quicker pace did they realize it was coming from the rock.
Katherine's nose turned up at the smell of blood dripping, knowing fully well it belonged to Qetsiyah. It reminded her that she would probably need to stop by somewhere and grab a bite before heading home. The day had left her drained and her body demanded some rejuvenation.
"What is happening?" she asked, curiously approaching Bonnie and the dripping rock.
"I'm channeling the Expression Triangle," she replied with closed eyes.
The weary vampire paced around for a bit before finding her place against a large boulder protruding from the rock wall. She sighed heavily, arms crossed over her chest. After a couple seconds of actively staring down the concentrated witch, her body naturally flinched in reaction to movement from the rocky corridors a short distance away from the room. Glaring off into the dark opening, she called out to the witch, "Bonnie… did you hear that? Someone's coming."
"Can you be quiet?" Bonnie asked irritably.
She glowered down at her before retaliating, slowly approaching her like a lioness her prey. "I have vampire hearing, Bonnie, and there's someone here. Now unlink me so that I could go stall them while we wait for you to drop the veil."
"I am not letting you go," she said firmly.
"Then at least give me some slack."
With no time to waste, Bonnie gave in. "Fine. Go. Stop them." She did not have time for distractions. She loosened the link between her and the irritable vampire that allowed more flexible movement between the two of them..
With that, Katherine left to scout the area with Silas on her mind, leaving Bonnie to finally get some peace and quiet to concentrate on the contained energy in the palms of her hands.
Once she could finally feel the ancient energy under her control, she attempted to fuel the three points of the triangle using the power that gradually built up inside of her. The gentle-burning torches in the cave began to flicker before one by one, each section of the rock walls illuminated down the row almost completely as a result of the veil gradually dropping down until a sharp pain shot through her body, breaking her concentration. She yelped, caught off-guard, and collapsed to the ground. The tombstone rolled from her hands, leaving a trail of blood where it touched, when her knees made contact with the ground. Her palms fell flat against the floor to balance her aching body. It felt as if someone had stabbed her somewhere along her abdomen. Letting out pained screams, she brought a shaky hand to where the source of pain was coming from. When she took her hand off of the tender spot, she could not tell the difference between Qetsiyah's blood and possibly her blood, but there was definitely something there. There was no denying it.
Katherine was right. Someone had been lingering outside the cave and it was obvious whoever that someone was had attacked Katherine and the link between them caused her to suffer the root of the punishment Katherine was receiving at that same exact moment. Even though her practice in Expression allowed her to heal at a quicker rate now, the pain still felt the same as it would have without Expression.
Bonnie was fully prepared to check out what was going on outside once she finally found the strength to stand, but just as fast as the sharp pain had took control of her body from the inside, her right cheek suddenly stung with an unimaginable burning sensation.
"Ah!" Her body fell to the ground, completely helpless. It felt like the sting of an iron turned up to the highest heat, but four times worse. She heard screaming and frustrated grunts from outside, assuming it was Katherine and whoever her attacker was. Katherine had been around for hundreds of years collecting handfuls of enemies who most likely found no reason not to attack her. She continued to scream, finding no other way to match the searing pain she felt on the side of her face. She needed an outlet. Bonnie clutched the side of her face with both hands even though she knew it would be of no use. "Ah! Oh, my God!" she breathed heavily in between wails. Aside from the pain, she could feel her body shaking violently against the cold ground as she tried to fight it.
She wasn't aware anyone else had entered the room until she felt a pair of strong hands taking a hold of her convulsing shoulders. "Bonnie!" a familiar voice had called out to her. She suddenly felt two more streams of light brighten the room. "Bonnie, what happened?"
Bonnie forced her eyes open to see a masculine face staring down at her with a deep concern glazed over his sharp green eyes. "Katherine," she managed. "Find Katherine. We're linked," she said before retreating back into a partial fetal position while Stefan tried to keep her steady.
"Then unlink her!" Caroline, the owner of the second light source, voiced from beside Stefan. "You go. I'll stay with Bonnie," she told him. He heeded, but not before he gave Bonnie a look that reassured her he would take care of things as soon as he could.
"Bonnie," she kneeled beside her best friend, holding her the same way Stefan had done just a few seconds before. "You need to unlink yourself from Katherine. Now!"
"I'm trying!" she spat out, unable to keep her body from involuntarily shaking even against the added weight. The pain was too much for her to bear.
"Try to withstand the pain. At least for as long as it takes to do the spell. Being linked to Katherine will kill you. Please, Bonnie!" Caroline pleaded.
Bonnie did her best to nod in agreement with her friend, closing her eyes to focus on everything but the physical pain thrusting itself on her petite body. After what seemed to be a minute or so, the pain had subsided. The blood from the stabbing sensation she felt in her stomach was still there, but she was finally able to breathe evenly and muster the strength to sit up straight.
"You okay?"
She nodded her head subtly. "Yeah," she exhaled. "Now that I unlinked her." She gently touched her cheek, checking for any damage. There was none. Her body had overcome with relief. Whether or not Stefan was able to stop Katherine's attacker was information she would have to acquire later. Knowing the devious vampire, she would have fled the scene when the opportunity was given to her. She was never the type to linger. Besides, Bonnie still had Silas' tombstone in her possession. That was all she needed from Katherine.
Caroline brought out a helping hand to aid her onto her feet. "What are you doing down here?"
Still a little woozy, she rubbed her temples. "I was planning to drop the veil to buy enough time to contact Qetsiyah."
"You might be waiting a while." Her face had turned cold and deadpan.
"Qetsiyah won't come," a deep, raspy voice said from behind her. Fear had suddenly struck her. She turned around quickly to come face-to-face with the gruesome complexion she had been running from, partially concealed within the shadows.
Fear had immediately swelled inside of her. "Silas? But… I saw Caroline." She glanced around the room quickly, searching for the blonde vampire who was just in the room with them before coming to the conclusion that it must have been another one of his illusions. "How? I thought you couldn't get inside my head."
"That's what I wanted you to think. I can make you see whatever I want you to see." He slowly made his way toward the frightened witch. He could sense the fear growing inside her. It transferred onto her physical appearance through her facial expressions and the way her body went stiff with terror. This was her greatest fear—to come face to face with the man she betrayed—and this was the number one sign signifying her failure. The closer he got the more weak and vulnerable she felt, even with Expression backing her up. "Am I a disfigured monster?"
"A monster is what I wanted you to see," a velvet voice said on the opposite side of Silas. She turned around and saw Stefan, his tender eyes locking with hers. He had the face of the gentle, compassionate friend she grew to trust, but he had the personality of a dark being that would never compare. He came toward her just as Silas had moments ago, but she knew all too well it was not him. Silas was truly the master of disguise.
"And that's the beauty of all this," Caroline's voice now filled her ears. "You have no idea who I am."
"Or what I look like." She turned back to Stefan.
"Or how deep I am inside of your head." He had now taken on his hooded, disfigured form. Each of his disguises came from the same direction every time she turned around and they were all headed for her.
"You thought that you were more powerful than me?"
Stefan.
"I am stronger than you can imagine. I defeated the Hunter's Curse in minutes. You thought that you could betray me."
Caroline.
"You can't." The more Caroline's furious form stepped toward her, the more Bonnie began backing up, stumbling on the jagged ground while she tried to fight off the fear Silas was igniting in her and failing miserably. "I will always be one. Step. Ahead."
Bonnie finally managed to muster up enough will to stand up and fight the way she was known to do. "Stay. Away. From me," she said through gritted teeth, glaring up at her friend's blue eyes but knowing it was Silas dancing behind them.
"Gladly," Caroline's voice whispered. He began retreating, headed in the opposite direction. "Once you finish the spell." He then came to a stop before turning back around to face the little witch. "Then when the veil is dropped completely, I can take the cure," he continued, taking the vial out of one of Caroline's pockets. "I just want to pass on, Bonnie. I'll even let you kill me. I'll be out of your life for good."
"But every dead supernatural creature would be roaming the Earth."
"Well, if you don't help me, I'll be roaming the Earth."
"I was never going to drop the veil," Bonnie revealed.
"I'm curious. What was your plan?" He began advancing towards her again. "Pow-wow with Qetsiyah? Brainstorm ways to put me down?" He chuckled condescendingly. "Qetsiyah won't come. She wants me on the other side with her… for eternity."
Suddenly, a voice from the outside filled her ears. "Bonnie!" Her eyes darted in the direction where the voice was coming from which happened to be right behind Silas. "Bonnie!" he called out again.
Silas turned around to face the direction Bonnie's gaze was focused on. "That sounds familiar." This time, Caroline's voice was laced with a slightly deeper voice, signifying he was possibly aiming to shift into another form.
"Maybe Stefan can convince you." He now took on the form of Lexi, Stefan's best friend.
"I won't let you—"
"You won't let me what?" Lexi's form glared down at Bonnie, the bitterness of the question coming out as an obvious threat.
Just as she was about to spit out something else, the air seemed like it had run out on her. Bonnie gasped, trying to breathe in all the oxygen she could, but not came out of it. Breathing through her nose was no use either. Her lungs felt constricted. The more she searched for anything to fill her lungs, anything at all, there was nothing. She was getting weaker and weaker as each second passed.
"Do you feel that, Bonnie?" Silas asked. He seemed to be getting taller and taller as Bonnie fell closer to the ground, clutching her throat. "The air… thinning? Barely enough to breathe?" He chuckled, walking away to leave a struggling Bonnie fighting for her last breath.
She needed to stand up. She needed to find a way to get back on her feet. This was not the way she wanted things to end. She refused to leave this earth knowing Silas would be left tormenting everyone she loved with no one to stop him. Continuing to gasp for air, she crawled her way to a nearby rock a couple feet away. She could feel her lungs giving in to the lack of oxygen. It was only a matter of time before her time ran out.
Suddenly, the voice she always sought for comfort came from behind her, "Bonnie."
She held her breath. She knew that voice. Turning around, she saw the familiar face of her Grams who kneeled down to her level, placing a hand on her back.
"This isn't real, Bonnie. Feel the air in your lungs. Break through."
Refusing to give into any more hallucinations, she tried to push her Grams away. "Silas!" she exclaimed airily.
"Would Silas try to save your life?" Sheila asked her granddaughter, reassuring her that she was who she claimed to be. The spirit of the woman Bonnie still held near and dear to her. "Now please, child," she pleaded.
Bonnie stopped struggling and did as her Grams had suggested. Just. Breathe. And with that, she broke through. She felt the air in her lungs again. She was finally able to breathe.
Sheila smiled down at her granddaughter before bringing her up to give her a nice, warm embrace. Bonnie put her arms around her Grams and held onto her tightly. This was the first time since the spirits had tortured Sheila on her behalf that she saw her. "I was so worried about you," she said into Sheila's shoulder, relief sweeping over her.
"I know. And I'm okay." They both smiled, glad to be back in each other's arms. "I've been watching over you," she started, releasing herself from Bonnie's hold and clutching her soft hands to look into her gleaming green eyes. She smiled.
Bonnie shook her head, ashamed. Tears had begun to form in her eyes as the memory of what happened to her Grams began to play in her mind over and over again. "I messed up. I'm sorry," she croaked.
"You can still stop Silas."
"No, I can't. Qetsiyah was able to immobilize him so he couldn't feed and get into people's heads. I don't know how to do that. I don't know how to put him down!"
"You can do that," Sheila replied which received a baffled look from the younger witch. "Expression is the manifestation of your will. You could do anything. I don't like it, but sometimes there are no choices. But you are strong enough." A small smile formed on Bonnie's pink lips with the wise words of Sheila Bennett. "You can do this. I believe in you, child."
Bonnie put her arms around the older witch one final time. "Thank you," she whispered. "I miss you so much, Grams." The tears that had welled up in her glossy eyes had spilled out, trailing down her cheeks.
Sheila tightened the embrace. "I know, child. I know." She took one last look at her granddaughter, beaming at her with encouragement. "I believe in you," she said, placing a hand on her cheek. And with that, she left Bonnie until the next time they would meet again.
Once Sheila had left, Bonnie was able to collect herself. She noticed that neither the tombstone nor the leather satchel was anywhere to be found. Silas must have taken it back while she was busy fighting for her right to live. After finding her phone, she turned it on and used the light to help her find her way out to where she heard the echoes of Stefan and what sounded a lot like Damon fending off a struggling Silas who was still in Lexi's body.
"Your mind games don't work on me, Silas," she heard Stefan growl in between Silas' yelps. "I think I would know my own best friend. She's dead," he continued before yanking on the chain around Silas' throat while Damon held the other half of him down.
Silas let out one more pained scream by the time Bonnie came into view of the trio. "I may not be able to kill you, but I will stop you," she said determinedly, marching right up to him. Keeping Lexi's body in place, both Stefan and Damon yanked on the chains wrapped around her body and neck to ensure she had no possible way of escaping. Bonnie closed her eyes, accessing Expression from inside her, the wind beginning to whip around her. "Go make the blood clot in your veins. I will make every bone, muscle, and joint in your body turn to stone. You won't have power over us anymore!" she chanted, her hands curling like claws with the venom of every word escaping her lips. She was angry and she wanted Silas to know it. To feel it. Silas gurgled. Lexi's body had begun to turn to stone as the hair on her head began to grow short and wispy and her shoulders became more broad.
"What the hell is happening?" Damon asked from behind.
"He can't hide behind his mind control anymore. He's becoming his true self."
Silas began dessicating against the rock wall, concealing his face from the rest of the world in his final, gruesome form. Stefan took a step forward, eyeing Silas curiously. "And who exactly might his true self be?"
The wind had finally stopped the moment Silas' dessication was complete. "I guess we'll never know," Bonnie stated.
"Well, kids. It looks like we can knock Defeating Silas off the to-do list. At least for now," Damon said.
"We need to get rid of Silas' body."
"Well, there's a slight problem, Medusa. Even though you turned him into stone, if he gets one more drop of blood, he's back to his old mind tricks."
Stefan stepped out from behind his brother. "Alright, so let's do what we should've done to Klaus. Drop his body in the middle of the ocean."
"Stefan and I will take it out to the car. The faster we can get rid of his body, the less we'd have to clean up later," Damon said, patting his brother on the back.
Bonnie nodded. Silas was finally off her back. She couldn't find any viable reason for anyone to retrieve Silas and resurrect him when he's stuck at the bottom of the ocean, strewn far out at sea. But that's not to say it wasn't impossible. "Thank you."
"Do you need us to take you home?" Stefan asked, eyeing her up and down and noticing the mud stains trailing down the bottom of her denim skinny jeans and covering the padding on her boots. His strong sense of smell allowed him to take a whiff of the rancid odor that covered her. She would have to have been outside and who knows where else to smell like that.
She shook her head. "No. I think I'll stay here. There are a few more things I need to take care of."
"Like what exactly? Once we dump him in the middle of the ocean, Silas won't have to harass you or any of us anymore."
Bonnie sighed. "When I was planning to drop the veil, my main priority was to get in contact with Qetsiyah so I could find a way to stop Silas. But I also thought that if I was able to keep the veil down long enough, I could find Jeremy… for Elena."
More than anything, she wanted to see Jeremy. She wanted to apologize for everything she put him through. Knowing that she was the reason why Jeremy's life was taken from him again was something she could not live the rest of her life knowing. She wanted to see him again. But above all, she knew she needed to help Elena tie up some loose ends with her little brother. Jeremy was the only family she had left. She needs him.
"Bonnie, no." Stefan placed his body directly in front of hers, his strong hands curled around her small shoulders. He bent down to get a good look at the witch, making sure she was staring up at him the way he was staring down at her. This was Stefan Salvatore's art of persuasion. "I know your intentions are good, but you need to start learning to take care of yourself."
"But Elena—"
"Has already been through a lot today and so have you. Bonnie, you need to give yourself a break. One day, all this magic will get the best of you."
"And for the record, Witchy, Elena's been put on house arrest for the day. We're not taking any chances on letting her out to get into it with Katherine again."
So she was the one that was attacking Katherine, Bonnie thought, unfazed. It was no surprise. She wondered how Stefan and Silas were able to find her so easily. They probably came to the school with Elena.
She stared up at Stefan, hesitating at first before she gave in. She knew she was peering into persistent green eyes that would not budge. "Okay. Fine."
"We can take you home," Stefan said. His eyebrows curled up at her expectantly.
"No. It's fine. The school isn't too far from my house."
"Okay. Let me re-phrase that. We will take you home."
Bonnie let out a soft laugh. "Don't you have Silas to take care of?"
He shrugged. "He's a thick slab of rock. I don't think there's much he can do," he smiled.
"Come on, Witchy. We don't bite… much," Damon chimed in with a wink. "Pun very much intended."
Bonnie rolled her eyes and smiled at the two brothers. "Fine. I'll go."
She watched as the two taller men approached the dessicated Silas, lifting him off of the side of the rock wall. Stefan gripped Silas from around the head and shoulders while Damon picked up his chained feet, grunting at the weight.
"Hey, BonBon."
"Hm?" she asked, her attention now on Damon.
He grunted some more as he lifted the rock body onto his shoulder. "Is that something that still concerns you?" He gestured to the leather satchel lying on the floor a couple feet away from them.
Bonnie picked up the satchel, the weight of the tombstone inside feeling massive on her non-dominant arm. She followed shortly behind the two boys, glancing around the area one last time before never turning back again.
Silas was gone for now, but she had a strong feeling this was not going to be the last time she saw him. All of the events that had occurred within the past year alone taught her that she could never be too sure of anything. But the one thing she knew for certain was that whenever the next time she was going to come face-to-face with Silas was going to be, he better believe that she would be ready.