"Bonnie, are you seriously not going to the Halloween party at the Parker's?" Elena asks incredulously, arching one perfectly-shaped brow in her direction. The two girls are sitting cross-legged on Sheila's antique, floral-printed couch, an episode of The Walking Dead playing in the background as they share a bowl of popcorn.
"Are you really gonna ask me that during a serious Daryl-Rick moment?" Bonnie gives her best friend a sly look, nodding to the screen. "If Michonne didn't have him wrapped around her finger, I'd say those two are in love, okay?"
Elena rolls her eyes, grinning. "Seriously, Bonnie. Enough zombie show for two seconds. Why aren't you going? You've never missed the oh-so-famous annual Parker Halloween celebration before."
Bonnie draws a deep breath. Elena's right. Ever since she was younger and Grams had forced her to spend time with the Parkers for 'witchy networking' propositions, she'd been almost obligated to go to every one of the family's social gatherings. It'd taken them a good deal of Sheila's coaching to even mingle with outsiders— the Gemini Coven had always been particularly secretive.
But after a certain incident transpired, Sheila had shown them the error of their ways and they'd become more forthcoming. To miss their now annual Halloween (or 'Samhain' celebration, as Bonnie knew it to be) was almost like snubbing her witch colleagues.
"Will it sound completely nuts if I say witchy stuff?" She feels herself sobering up. "Like... Ever since Caroline gave me that crystal, I've been... seeing things and doing things I can't explain. It just feels way too normal going to something like the Parkers' Halloween party when I feel so... out of it, y'know?"
Elena fixes her with a scrutinizing look. "Hmmm. Close to buying it, but no cigar. What's got you so wigged out lately? It's not just the crystal, Bonnie. Elaborate."
The witch lets out a sigh and pulls her legs up to her chest, leaning back into the couch. "If I tell you, will you promise not to think I'm crazy?"
Elena looks taken aback. "No— no, of course not."
When Bonnie's eyebrows shoot up a little, she amends herself. "I mean, no, I wouldn't think you're crazy. Just a couple weeks ago you helped me destroy an ancient vampire tomb just based on a hunch that a supernatural army could come pouring out of it. Crazy for us is kiiinda the norm, so.. just tell me, Bonnie."
In the dim firelight from the flickering candles on the coffee table, Bonnie realizes how earnest she looks. She's tucking her chestnut hair behind her ears and leaning forward expectantly.
"Fiiine. I'll spill. I've been having these— visions, I guess. Dreams? I don't know. I mean, I saw Emily in them at first, but now it's something else. Someone else." She fidgets with her fingers, feeling a chill wash over her skin as she has the distinct feeling of being watched. A prickling feeling dances in the spot between her shoulder blades and her hair stands on end.
Just as she's about to shake the sensation off, she feels a wave of heavy nausea slam into her and her head begins to feel light. She clutches the edge of the couch, her fingers digging into the soft cushion. There are spots swimming in her vision.
"No..," she begins, but doesn't finish.
"Bonnie? Oh my god, Bonnie? Stay with me, just—"
She feels like she's falling.
xxxx
Cold. Dark. Wet?
She jerks awake, gasping for air as if she's been underwater. Her arms feel like they're covered in something wet and gooey, and her nostrils are filled with the smell of fresh soil and.. decay?
Her eyes peel open. It's as if she's been asleep for centuries and her eyelashes feel like they're caked. It takes her a second to realize that it's mud— she's completely covered in mud.
"What the hell," she murmurs, but it sounds like she's hearing her own voice through some kind of distant tunnel. Adrenaline is kicking in, coursing through her limbs as she shakes herself out of the wet soil.
There's a boy not too far from where she finds herself. Or a man? She can't really tell. He's handsome and youthful looking, with smooth features and a nose that upturns slightly. His dark hair is caked with mud, and it isn't until she takes a closer look that she realizes his body is mangled and broken looking.
Dead.
He looks like he's washed up on the shore of the river, and his skin has a bluish tint. She wants to vomit as she imagines the way his beauty might become ghastly as his corpse bloats.
When Emily speaks, she almost isn't expecting it.
"He's waiting." Her voice is cold and matter-of-fact.
Bonnie spins on her heel to face the other Bennett, dressed in her familiar 1864 attire. She has a soft, knowing smile on her lips.
Bonnie's fear almost evaporates in her sudden spike of annoyance. "What, waiting for a morgue?" she retorts, not bothering to mind her scathing tone. "Yeah, Emily, I can see that. Why? Why did you bring me here? I've taken care of the tomb vampires- I did what you wanted, so can't you just leave me alone?"
The other witch shakes her head but doesn't speak. She just turns and starts to walk.
Bonnie follows, knowing the drill. She spares one last glance at the corpse of the dark-haired boy. He's still and almost picturesque in a morbid kind of way. He looks like if the river had coughed up some forest nymph that had met an untimely end.
It isn't until they break through the trees that she realizes where they are.
It's the Parker mansion, perched right on the edge of the Mystic Falls border. It looks vintage and welcoming, with a barbecue pit in the back and a hammock tied between two of the trees. There are lights on in the living room, and they're filtering through the curtains to shine a golden light across the porch. Emily is walking to the back door, and Bonnie follows. It looks almost like some kind of beacon.
Her ancestor pushes the door open like it isn't locked.
Stepping into the living room, Bonnie is surrounded by familiarity. There are pictures of the coven lining the walls— some with just Liv and Luke through the ages, and some with the rest of the family. There are even a couple of JoAnne Parker, Joshua's late wife.
It's then that Bonnie realizes there are a few others— ones she hasn't seen before. The dark-haired boy is in all of them.
A chill sweeps through her and she steps towards the wall, reaching a hand out to touch one. It's a Christmas photo— a young Liv and Luke, with Jo on one side and the boy on the other. Who the hell is he?
"Come," Emily beckons.
Shaking herself out of it, Bonnie follows.
The two witches make their way up the spiral staircase and towards the attic. Bonnie turns to look into one of the open bedrooms, and when she looks back towards the attic, Emily is gone.
The door has been opened and the ladder is lowered, though. She climbs up obediently.
The attic is dark— much darker than the rest of the house. The smell of mildew and dust bunnies fill her nostrils as she ascends.
She can hear the unmistakable murmur of Joshua Parker's voice as she crouches behind a large pile of boxes and gazes to the center of the room.
He's got an open chest pulled up beside him, with grimoires sprawled across the ground in all directions. A woman is crouching with him. She's blond and strict-looking, with a hooked nose that's much different than the gentle upward curve of the dark-haired boy's nose. Or Joshua's.
"What do you mean 'absorb'? Like the Merge? Blasphemous," she's saying in a harsh tone. She leans forward to get a look at the grimoire page he has open.
"Just like that," he agrees. "But it's not blasphemous, Marlie, it's the coven way. It's how we evolve. We're either blotted off the map by them, or we take over. We absorb their power."
He pauses before he says it.
"It's either the Geminis or the Bennetts. That's how the prophecy goes."
Bonnie feels her stomach drop. Absorb.. her? Her family? Grams?
Emily materializes again, and Bonnie only realizes because she places a hand on her shoulder.
It takes everything in her not to jump out of her skin.
When Emily speaks, it's like she's waking from a trance.
"He's waiting."
