Chapter 1
The Grimoire
The Camaro jostled Bonnie slightly as she squinted into the sun, now shining hotly just above the trees, and pulled into the looping driveway of the familiar Salvatore boarding house. She sat in the comfort of the car and contemplated the looming structure in front of her. She hadn't been back to the residence in the few days since she realized she had somehow been left behind, stuck in 1994 alone. Bonnie had opted to stay at the Gilbert house, in Elena's old room, trying to find what little comfort she could in the nostalgic surroundings. Staring at the house, Bonnie's eyes focused in towards the small window just to the side of the entrance. Had she seen a movement inside? Come on girl, get a grip. Shaking her head slightly, Bonnie got out of the car and tentatively made her way towards the house. She could feel her heart start to pick up pace at the blossoming flicker of hope that tiny, possible movement behind the window had caused. She stepped onto the sheltered porch area and glanced toward the still glass panes beside her. Licking her dry lips she turned towards the entrance and hesitated, one hand on the door the other hovered just above the weathered brass knob. "This is stupid Bonnie. There's no one there, he's not there. Just open the door." She muttered to herself, silently cursing her heart when it continued pounding harder than ever, at the doors easy swing open. She'd locked it out of habit before she'd left to meet Damon and Elena days earlier. She hurried the rest of the way inside, leaving the door open.
"Damon? Elena?" she whispered, not daring to hope, but feeling it there anyway. The foyer of the house was quiet, the small table situated under an old painting still held a folded note, left there in haste. Bonnie's eyes quickly skirted over the familiar handwriting and continued on into the house, ears perked for any sound at all. She stopped abruptly at the entry way of the parlor, breath leaving her in a harsh exhale, her stomach plunging down. The heavy velvet drapes were slashed to ribbons and the sunlight filtered weakly through, the rich leather furniture and worn Persian rugs were all in the same condition. She felt that little flare of hope stab painfully in her chest once before sizzling out completely. Kai must have stopped by before his timely exit, nice. As she stepped further into the room to investigate she saw that a few tables had been turned, the bottles of bourbon sitting on top smashed to bits, and a small unassuming book shelve had been torn completely apart. Every book thrown from the shelf, their pages ripped out and scattered throughout the room and, she saw peering down into the hallway, that a few pages had managed to drift that way as well. Bonnie continued down the long hallway and turned up the stairs near the end. When she reached the top of the stairs she came out at the beginning of the corridor leading to the library. She noticed stray pages began to litter the floor like bread crumbs guiding her to the room at the end. Bonnie stepped lightly over the papers strewn around and towards the room entry way. She stopped at the entrance and took in the scene before her. The shelves lining the walls were in a similar disarray to the small book shelve she'd come across downstairs. Not a book escaped notice, and all were torn apart. Why would he do this? What were you up to Kai?
Bonnie continued through the house, which was surprisingly untouched. The only odd thing to her was the books. Every single book she came across had been tossed aside carelessly, shredded. As a thought occurred to her she took off for the room across from Damon's, the one she'd been staying in before, and threw herself to the ground. Bonnie stretched her arm out underneath the bed and let out a sigh of relief when her fingers brushed against rough cardboard. She pulled the box into her lap and sat back on her heels, while blowing away the errant lock of hair that had fallen in front of her face. Bonnie lifted the lid of the box and felt another burst of relief at the sight of Grams' untouched grimoire. The box also held a couple of white chunky candles, a sharp tiny silver knife she'd found in the house bathroom soap basket of all places, a few empty stoppered vials and one long onyx ravens feather. Also, sitting in the corner of the box, was something she'd found when they had first come to the boarding house. When the Other Side had just fallen, Damon and she had thought they were all alone together, stuck in this repetitive dimension. So they'd almost immediately come to seek the familiarity of the Salvatore mansion and spread out to look for anything that might help to escape this place. While Bonnie had been searching through the house room by room she found herself opening the door to Stefan's room. Bonnie had been surprised at the time to see that it hadn't changed much since 1994. Bonnie quickly scanned the shelves and drawers, convinced she wouldn't find anything of value when she noticed a metal box on Stefan's nightstand. She'd opened it up saw that it was mostly filled with junk, odds and ends that people accumulate over time. But set on top, as if it had just been pulled out, had been a tiny wooden box. Bonnie had opened it up and discovered Elena's necklace, the one Stefan had given to her to guard her from compulsion, empty now of the herb that had given it its protective qualities. The same necklace that Bonnie and her Grams' had failed to destroy after finding out it had been Ester the Original witch's talisman, heirloom and full of her immortal power. It was essentially indestructible. However Rebekah, Ester's daughter, had hidden the necklace rendering its power useless. And there it was, sitting in a carved wooden box in 1994, before all of this could occur years later.
Bonnie had tried to ignore it for a while, but as the time went by and the bleakness of their situation had set in she would find herself more and more frequently locked in her room clutching the talisman and staring down at the pages of Grams' grimoire, trying desperately to get her magic back. She remembered Ester mentioning she had used the pendant to summon her magic from the Other Side but it had never worked for Bonnie. Bonnie didn't know what dimension the Gemini Coven had created but the same rules hadn't applied here as they did the Other Side. The talisman was no help in recovering her magic but Bonnie had kept it in its little wooden box, shoved under her bed. She couldn't bear the thought of it being lost forever and now as she held it in her hand, she could feel the power she hadn't been able to feel before she'd regained her own magic thrum through it. Ester had been strong. She was first of the witches but with the strength of Bonnie's bloodline magic, black magic, and Expression restored she felt that she was substantial in power herself, especially now that she held a remnant of Esters' magic in her hands. She slipped the pendant around her neck and let it settle below the hollow of her throat, the cool silver warming to her skin. The power contained within felt like a steady thrum, and she was glad to have that small reassurance of strength as she put the contents of the box away and carried it downstairs.
Bonnie packed up the rest of her sparse belongings and carried them to the foyer. She stood up and gave the room a casual once over as she stretched the tightness out of her back. Bonnie straightened abruptly when she spotted the old video camcorder wedged behind a vase of dying flowers on the small table where Damon's note remained. She turned her back on both and grabbed her few bags, shouldered her worn denim backpack and strode out toward the now open trunk of the Camaro. As she was shuffling her bags around the trunk's tiny space to get the best fit she continued to shove stuff around haphazardly until she could practically hear Damon's chiding voice, 'Are you done man handling the luggage Little Witch?' Bonnie let out a single huff of laughter and straightened from the car, slamming the trunk shut. She went back into the house, snatched up the camera and slid the note into her pocket, without a second thought. Bonnie paused as she locked the front door for the last time. She raised a hand to the aged wood and the corners of her mouth quirked, "It's been interesting." She went back towards the Camaro and slid into the low seat, setting the camera on the seat next to her along with her denim bag. She lifted the console lid to stash the camera but stopped when she noticed the small leather bound book. Bonnie lifted the book out and stroked her thumb across the branded TP on the bottom corner. She untied the single piece of leather wound several times around the book leaving worn groves on the cover and spine, and opened the book. As Bonnie flipped through the pages she realized with a growing mixture of excitement and wary that this was possibly what Kai had been looking for. It's not a just a journal. It's a grimoire.