A/N: Thank you so much for your amazing reviews! :]:]:]

Since I got asked about this a couple of times lately, just a little reminder: this year the story's going to be longer than 22 chapters ;)

Chapter 21

Damon wished he had an answer to Elena's question, but since he didn't know how he'd landed in the water himself, he couldn't really provide her with any insight as to what had happened to her. However, he doubted admitting that he was just as clueless was a good beginning of the conversation, so he decided to start with a reasonable suggestion that they should discuss the situation after getting out of the water.

Unfortunately, it turned out not the be the best idea either, because the suggestion led to a discovery that made Elena's face drain of all color.

"Where are my clothes?" She whispered, horrified and Damon blinked, the confusion that she must've noticed on his face probably saving him from being accused of having something to do with her clothes being gone.

He'd been so bewildered by the entire situation and then so focused on getting Elena to calm down after rescuing her from what could've very well led to drowning, that he hadn't even noticed quite a noticeable fact that the girl in his arms was indeed unclad.

"I don't know," Damon replied in a hurried whisper, all thoughts concerning what to say and what not to say immediately flying out of his head.

All of a sudden he became acutely aware of his open palm pressed against Elena's bare skin and he wondered if he should stop holding her. Chances were, she wouldn't drown with him nearby, but at the same time he didn't know if she could swim or not. Which, he thought, might or might not be considered by her a valid excuse for him not taking his hands off her.

Elena instinctively wrapped her arms around herself and with her hands no longer anchored on his shoulders, Damon was afraid she'd... Well, he wasn't sure what was precisely his reasoning there, but he automatically tightened his embrace around her, one of his hands sliding roughly up her back.

Elena's eyes darted to his in alarm, the movement of his arms probably abrupt enough to make it look suspicious under the circumstances, but before the fear could materialize in a form of a slap he was sure he deserved if only for not noticing her lack of clothes right away, Damon blurted out the only quick solution that came to his mind.

"I'll give you my shirt!"

Granted, his shirt was soaking wet which made the white fabric more than a little transparent, but he thought that the idea would at least signal to Elena that his intentions were amiable.

Having unbuttoned his shirt half-way through, Damon awkwardly wiggled his arms out of the sleeves and pulled his shirt over his head with one hand while still supporting Elena with the other.

With Elena's help, they managed to slide the shirt over Elena's head and shoulders and Damon even squinted in order to obscure his vision. He also tried to focus on her face only, but despite his best efforts he couldn't exactly not see, on the periphery of his vision but still, the upper part of Elena's body that he found very alluring despite trying not to think about it at all.

"There," Damon said with a weak, reassuring smile, hoping Elena wouldn't notice how his shirt was clinging to her, because if she looked herself over, he wasn't sure she wouldn't have started questioning his intentions all over again.

They swam together toward the river bank and when they were close enough that they could feel the ground under their feet, Elena gasped, a grimace of pain flitting across her face.

With a worried frown, Damon lightly touched her cheek. "How are you feeling?"

Elena's eyes darted to his face and for a few moments they were staring at each other in silence, the sound of river humming in the background.

"Something is wrong with my foot," Elena murmured at last, shaking herself out of her reverie.

He should've probably warned her, but acting on an impulse, Damon just swept Elena into his arms and gently sat her down on the grass.

"I'm sorry," he whispered, only then noticing that she didn't immediately remove her arms from around his neck.

Their eyes met for a second and then Elena blinked rapidly and drew her hands back to cross them over her chest in a protective gesture.

Wet strands of hair were clinging to her cheeks and Damon's eyes lingered on her face for a few more moments.

Her delicate features, brown, shining eyes and dark, sunlit hair made for the most mesmerizing sight and he found it difficult to tear his gaze away from her. But remembering her earlier words, he turned his attention to her foot and frowned when he realized it was bleeding.

"There must've been something sharp in the water," he said, absently glancing right and left in search of something to use as a bandage and since no better idea came to mind, he used his teeth to tear off the lower part of his trousers from around his left leg. He paused briefly, only then noticing that he must've lost his shoes in the water.

Squatting down near the river, Damon gently lifted Elena's foot and after washing off the blood, he wrapped the fabric around her foot and tied a knot over her ankle.

Elena was sitting very still, watching him in silence and he was rather stunned by how just knowing that she was looking at him made his heart race.

"Thank you," Elena whispered in a slightly strained voice when Damon's eyes shifted back to her. "I will try to stand."

She propped her hands on the ground, but Damon quickly stopped her.

"Miss Elena, you can't walk with your foot hurt. I will carry you home," he said in a low, but decisive voice, bending down to help her.

Only when he picked Elena up from the ground he noticed that she was trying not to laugh.

"I'm sorry. I don't even know why this made me laugh," she said, almost absently draping one arm around his neck, the touch of her hand on his bare shoulder sending sudden shock-waves of heat through his body. "Just call me Elena," she added and only then Damon realized what had made her laugh.

"Of- of course," he stammered, giving her a brief smile and scolding himself inwardly for not coming up with anything better to say.

The situation was awkward enough even without him having troubles to speak. A story or an anecdote would certainly make her feel better and less aware of the fact that she was scantily clad in a soaking wet piece of garment while being carried by a half-dressed stranger.

"At least in the river it's not possible to get lost. This forest over there, they say if you stay in it after sunset, you'll be lost forever," Damon chattered on, grimly impressed that he could simultaneously talk and scream at himself for saying such thoughtless things. So much for hoping to make her feel better.

Elena's eyes shifted to the forest and she seemed to ponder his words for a second with a pensive frown. Damon watched her, once again struck by how beautiful she was, also in a way he couldn't quite explain. It wasn't just her features that he found beautiful. It was as if every fibre of his body knew that everything about her was beautiful.

"Damon?"

Damon blinked, snapping back into consciousness.

"Careful. If you trip, we'll no doubt ruin our only shirt," Elena said with a smile that made Damon grin so much he was sure she might start thinking he was going mad.

"I will be ca-"

Elena gasped when he almost tripped while saying that he'd make sure not to do just that.

Fortunately, Damon instinctively pulled Elena closer and with Elena holding onto him even tighter, he managed to maintain his balance and after a couple of unsteady steps they continued as before.

"I'm sorry," Damon murmured with an apologetic grimace.

Elena shrugged, a smile returning to her face and he found it exhilarating that she didn't seem to feel awkward and uncomfortable anymore. "We survived it," she said with a trace of humor in her voice.

Damon smiled back at her. There was something in her eyes that felt endlessly familiar and he couldn't stop marveling at the impression.

"So you also don't remember how you found yourself in the water?" Elena asked after a pause, her eyes searching his face and the proximity of her lips hovering over his cheek made Damon's heart hammer in his chest, the sound reverberating in his ears.

"No, I don't."

"It's a strange coincidence, isn't it?" Elena muttered with a sigh, her breath skimming across his skin.

Damon drew a breath, doubting for a few moments if he'd be able to breathe out, especially after Elena's next words.

"Your heart's beating so fast."

There it was, her hand over his heart and he was grateful there was no trees standing in their way, because he was certain he'd walk straight into one of them, his eyes drawn to her hand splayed over his bare chest.

"I'm sorry," Elena said nervously, as if she just realized she was acting strangely.

She hastily withdrew her hand and Damon half-considered stopping her, but that would require for him to drop her in the first place, so he settled for reassuring her that it was completely, absolutely alright and she seemed to find the zeal in his voice amusing.

"Where are we, exactly?" Elena asked after taking a longer look around.

"Mystic Falls, Virginia."

"Mystic Falls."

"Does it feel familiar?" Damon asked uncertainly.

Elena bit her lip. "No," she said with a shrug. But then the expression on her face brightened a little, her eyes returning to his face. She lowered her voice to a thoughtful whisper. "But you do."

xxxdelenaxxx

"I knew someone would be down here." Jeremy marched into the kitchen and gave Desmond a small smile. "I ran into three people in the hallway, one on the stairs and two in the parlor."

"I can't sleep," Desmond said in a low voice, looking up from the table, his hands resting on top of a white envelope placed carefully in front of him.

"No one can. Even though we've been through a few things before."

Jeremy poured himself a glass of juice and glancing at Desmond over his shoulder and noticing that he wasn't drinking or eating anything, he also poured a glass for him.

He placed the juice in front of Desmond who gave him a weak smile in return. "Thank you."

Jeremy sat down at the table. "Elena mentioned in her letter to me who you are..." he started cautiously after a moment of silence.

Desmond eyes shifted to him. He nodded sadly. "I thought I could... turn back time. In a way. Maybe. A little. But I ran out of all time instead."

"At least you've met," Jeremy pointed out.

"That's true," Desmond allowed, his voice grim. "Were you good friends?" He asked after a pause and then added in a strained, warm, broken tone that made Jeremy feel deeply sorry for him. He instinctively felt a connection with anyone who was genuinely grieving. "With my son?"

"Well, he annoyed the hell out of me," Jeremy replied, searching for something most sincere to say. "Even after I accepted the fact that my sister couldn't live without him." He smiled pensively, squinting into the distance. "But then one day I realized... he was always the first person I would think about calling if something happened, when I needed help, when anyone needed help. Because I knew that nothing could stop him. He'd always come and try to find a way out, try to come up with a solution." He looked back at Desmond and said in a low, firm voice. "He was someone we could always count on."

Desmond smiled and for a second sadness in his eyes was overpowered by pride. "Thank you for telling me that," he said quietly.

"So this is the moment when people in movies order the strongest drink in the bar."

Jeremy and Desmond's eyes were drawn toward the entrance where Bonnie appeared.

With a heavy sigh she placed the grimoire on the table and sat down across from Jeremy with Desmond to her left.

"What? You already realized Caroline was right about pretty much everything?" Jeremy asked, standing up to pour a drink for Bonnie.

"You mean everyone knew she was right?" Bonnie asked flatly with a resigned frown.

Jeremy stifled a smile. "Except for Caroline herself, probably."

Bonnie snorted. "Thanks," she said, when Jeremy placed a glass of orange juice in front of her.

"Have you finished reading?"

"No. When I got to the merging part I decided to take a break," Bonnie muttered, glaring at the grimoire. "If at least it was all written in a straightforward way. But no, riddles upon riddles, that's why it's taking so long to read all of it."

"The merging part?" Desmond echoed uncertainly.

"The good news is, Damon won't run into himself in the past," Bonnie said in a mockingly optimistic voice before continuing in a serious tone. "The bad news is, he'll merge with himself and the practical result of that is that he'll only have his memories as they were in 1864."

"Could've been worse," Jeremy offered, but Bonnie shot him a look signaling he shouldn't try cheering her up, because it wasn't going to work. "What about Elena?"

"She didn't exist in 1864 at all, so she'll be herself with no memories at all. Oh, and apparently objects of any kind can't travel back in time, so their daylight rings in which we put vervain probably didn't survive the trip. Same with their clothes."

Jeremy seemed to ponder this for a second. "So when they meet they won't remember each other and they will be naked? This can't possibly go wrong, can it?"

Bonnie covered her face with her hands, stifling a humorless laugh. "This isn't funny. I feel terrible. It's all my fault."

"Come on, Bonnie. They knew it was a crazy idea," Jeremy said in a low voice, so warm and firm that Bonnie lowered her hands onto the grimoire and looked at him. "That was the only way. The only shred of hope. Besides... you don't look all that depressed," he pointed out with a cautious smile.

"I'm denial," Bonnie muttered, shifting her gaze to an unidentifiable point in space. "Grams says it's because deep down I believe this is all reversible."

Desmond smiled sadly. He half-wished he could be in denial himself, but instead, he felt searing pain in his chest getting stronger and stronger with every minute. Every few moments, a renewed realization that he was never going to see his son again would pierce through him like a cold blade. He hadn't even ever called him that... His son. How long it had even been? Three days? He'd known his son for three days. The remaining lifetime felt unbearable in comparison. He couldn't imagine a lifetime spent on thinking about what could have been.

"Did you get the keys?"

Bonnie's question shook Desmond out of his reverie and his eyes automatically drifted to Jeremy who was the addressee.

"No. I thought you might have," Jeremy said, squinting.

Bonnie shook her head. "Maybe Stefan did. He spent four months renovating that car, after all."

Car keys. Desmond slid his fingers off the white envelope and slowly pulled a set of keys out of it.

Bonnie widened her eyes at him. "How come you got the car?!"

"I think it's quite obvious," Jeremy said with a small smile.

"What's obvious?" Bonnie shifted her eyes between Jeremy and Desmond in confusion.

Jeremy frowned. "You don't know?"

"Don't know what?" Bonnie demanded, growing irritated.

"Elena and Damon didn't write anything about it in their letter to you?"

"Their letter to me?" Bonnie repeated in a wry voice, but Jeremy also noticed a glimpse of amusement in her eyes. "You mean this?" She pulled out a piece of paper from between the pages of the grimoire, unfolded it and lifted it for Jeremy and Desmond to see.

Jeremy bit back a chuckle. "This... speaks volumes," he said, regarding with a smile the page covered with drawings of hearts, feathers, sunglasses, flames, smiley faces with fangs and smiley faces with their fangs crossed out signed with a 'Thank You' and a big heart with Damon and Elena's names in it. "And they were in a hurry."

"I didn't get a letter either. Just these," Desmond said thoughtfully.

Bonnie snorted. "We can trade any time you want," she said, waving her letter in the air.

"These car keys count as a letter, trust me," Jeremy said with a wink.

Desmond smiled weakly.

Bonnie tilted her head backwards at the sound of footsteps.

"Shouldn't you go to bed? It's late," Enzo said, walking into the kitchen while putting his jacket on.

Bonnie arched an eyebrow. "And where are you going at this late hour?" She asked, turning around.

Enzo flashed her a crooked grin. "I have a date."

"With whom?" Jeremy asked with a dubious snort.

"With Freya."

"Makes sense. Only someone who was asleep for a millennium could agree to go on a date with you," Bonnie deadpanned.

Jeremy bit back a laugh.

Enzo ignored them. "As for you..." he said, narrowing his eyes at Desmond. "Ten in the morning will be good?"

Desmond blinked in puzzlement while Bonnie and Jeremy exchanged confused glances.

"You got car keys and driving lessons," Enzo said with a smile, pointing to the camaro keys in Desmond's hand. "With me."

xxxdelenaxxx

Sneaking into the house unnoticed seemed like a nigh impossible endeavor, but somehow they managed it and Elena breathed out a sigh of relief when Damon sat her down on a bed and closed the door behind them.

She looked around the room, quickly guessing that it was Damon's. Taking in all the details, the furniture, the books on the nightstand she couldn't shake off the impression that it all felt oddly familiar even though she also knew for certain she'd never been here before.

"Elena, may I leave you here alone for a few minutes?" Damon asked, bending on one knee in front of her and checking if her foot had stopped bleeding. "I will go find Hazel and ask her to draw a bath for you. And I will bring you my mother's dresses so you'd have something dry to change into," he said with a timid smile, glancing up at her.

There was something breathtaking in the realization that she was really here. Down by the river, out in the clearing, in the bright sunlight she'd seemed like taken out of a fairy take, but now she was in his room, she was looking at him with her warm, curious, beautiful eyes and he could feel her hand in his. She was real.

"Thank you. But will it be alright with your mother?" Elena asked, shifting her eyes between his face and their hands clasped together in her lap.

"My mother..." Damon trailed off and drew a breath before adding in a stifled, sad voice. "She passed away seven years ago. As for the dresses, she wouldn't mind at all. She would offer them to you herself. She was the most kind-hearted and compassionate person."

Elena grimaced. "I'm sure she was. I'm so sorry that you lost her," she said earnestly, squeezing Damon's hand in hers.

Damon nodded quickly and Elena's hand flew to his face in an instinctive, reassuring gesture. But when his eyes darted to her, she withdrew her hand with an embarrassed smile. She looked away, but her eyes returned to his when he spoke in a murmuring whisper that sent shivers up her spine.

"Your hands are cold."

Elena inhaled slowly, holding Damon's gaze, feeling his thumb graze the backs of her fingers.

Sudden laughter coming from downstairs broke them both out of their reverie and they exchanged nervous smiles. Damon jumped to his feet.

"You will feel better after a hot bath," he said reassuringly.

"I feel quite alright," Elena replied without thinking and their eyes locked once again before Damon forced himself to look away.

He walked to the wardrobe to take dry clothes for himself. "I will speak to my father. You will stay here until we figure out where your family is."

"Thank you. But what if I don't have any family?" Elena asked with a frown, struck by the thought.

Of course she might've been a victim of some kind of a terrible accident, but she wasn't sure how probable it was that she had a happy, caring family if she'd found herself alone and unclad in the water, apparently far away from home, because had she been living in the neighborhood Damon would've recognized her.

"Then you will stay here forever," Damon blurted out before amending quickly. "If you would like."

Elena didn't say anything, only gave him a faint smile, but the warm glow in her eyes made him dare to hope that she might.

And he couldn't recall feeling that exhilarated by any thought ever before.

xxxdelenaxxx

"Bad news?" Enzo asked, watching Freya's facial expression change after she'd received a text message.

"Good news and bad news, all rolled into one, I guess," Freya said carefully, putting her phone away.

She looked at Enzo who was staring at her with unwavering intensity that could easily be interpreted as intrusive, but for some reason it kept making her smile.

Maybe because it seemed to be a mask and behind it, she could sense sincerity and not an unfamiliar kind of self-consciousness.

"Enjoy the good, ignore the bad," Enzo offered, pouring her another drink.

He glanced around the dimly lit place. The bar had been closed, but Freya had opened it with a flick of her hand, so he decided to contribute by playing the barman, which resulted in a series of improvised drinks that were yet to be named.

"My brother Elijah's coming back tomorrow," Freya said after a moment of silence, straightening up with a heavy sigh.

"I heard of him. Did you tell him Hope was alright?"

Freya smiled. "Yes, I did. Since I suspected from the start Klaus would only do it with a great delay." Freya's smile turned into a hesitant frown before she continued. "Elijah thinks he found a way to free Hayley. That's what he's been doing for the last several years. Trying to find a way to lift that curse."

"Hayley is... Hope's mother, right? As a side effect of one of Klaus' grand schemes she got turned into a wolf and now she can only see her daughter for one night each month. See? I'm all up to date," Enzo said with pretended smugness, smirking at her.

"It seems you are," Freya allowed with a small smile, squinting.

"So what's the problem? You don't like her? Don't want her to rejoin the family?"

"I highly doubt she'll want to rejoin. But that's not it. It's just... Elijah wants to meet with me, but he is asking me not to tell Klaus about it."

"Ah. So you have a loyalty dilemma," Enzo said, tilting his head to the side.

"I'm afraid it may spiral out of control into something more than that. If Elijah's planning on doing something Klaus won't like, then I'll be forced to choose a side and I'm not looking forward to that," Freya explained, propping her chin on her hand.

"Call your sister and form the third alliance. You'll have the majority." Enzo raised his glass to his lips.

Freya snorted mirthlessly. "I wish it was that easy."

"So side with the one you like better."

She gave Enzo a bittersweet smile. "I love them both the same."

"So choose the one who will be right."

Taking a sip from her drink Freya slowly shook her head. "I was asleep for a thousand years, but even with my short life experience I know how hard it is to figure out who is right."

"I was locked up in cell for seventy years," Enzo said, noticing a brief, startled look that flitted across Freya's face. "So I had a lot of time to think about, well, everything and I came to the conclusion that it's actually very easy to decide what's wrong and what's right." He smiled pensively. "It's just that sometimes we can't or don't want to do the right thing."

xxxdelenaxxx

"Damon, where have you been?" Stefan widened his eyes at Damon, giving him an incredulous look and glancing over his shoulder toward the room where their father's and several other voices were coming from. "You should've been back three hours ago. Father is furious. Did you bring back the letters? Did Mr. Fell sign?"

The letters. Damon squeezed his eyes shut. He completely forgot all about that. He'd gone to Mr. Fell first, but then he had gone to town to the apothecary to get the medicine for Mrs. Peterson. Then he'd planned on taking the shortcut home and arriving early enough for Giuseppe not to realize he'd taken a side trip. But now that he couldn't remember what had happened later at all, he also didn't know what had happened to either the documents or the medicine bottle. Maybe they had got lost in the water, but that was as good a guess as any.

"He did but I don't have them," Damon said with a grimace. "I lost them."

"What do you mean-" Stefan started, perplexed, but Damon cut him off.

"Can you help me carry the chest with mother's dresses down from the attic?"

Stefan blinked. "What? Why? What are you talking about? There's no time for such things. Father is angry! We need to go to him and explain what happened. Everybody is there, waiting. We need to come up with some kind of a-"

Damon grabbed Stefan by the shoulder and walked them a few steps further away from the corridor leading to the dining room.

"There's a girl upstairs," Damon started to explain in a rushed whisper. "I found her in the river. I need some clothes for her. "

"You found a girl. In the river," Stefan repeated in a blank tone, for a second forgetting about their father and beginning to worry that something was wrong with his brother. "Are you feeling alright?"

Damon shook his head with a huff. "I don't have time for a longer discussion right now. Are you going to help me with the trunk or not?"

Stefan stared at him in bewilderment. He craned his neck to take another look toward the dining room where their father and his guests were waiting.

He exhaled hastily. "I hope you know what you're doing, because we're getting disowned for this. If father doesn't collect all the signatures today, the meeting-"

"Thank you, brother," Damon interrupted him with a smile, patting him on the shoulder and turning toward the stairs.

xxxdelenaxxx

"It seems it's true what they say that mother always knows best. You were right about Damon and I. You knew it'd work out between us before anyone did, before we did.

The day I died, earlier that day, I had a choice to make and I was thinking about how good it'd be to ask my mom for advice. But I had no mom to ask.

It doesn't matter now, because in the end everything worked out alright and I'm happy now, but I just wanted to tell you what I realized...

Mom, had I asked you that day for advice, I wouldn't have died.

Elena"

Tears burning her eyes, Isobel continued staring at the letter that she'd read so many times she already knew it by heart. She couldn't look away from the word 'Mom' so purposefully, so carefully calligraphed it was breaking her heart, making her want to cry out. But she never learned how to scream.

She'd been watching in helpless silence her baby daughter being taken away from her. And now she was sitting quietly on the bed in the dimly lit room, just looking at the words, tracing the black letters with her fingertips. But something was different now.

Now she didn't feel all alone in the scary, unfriendly world. She wasn't a stranded, abandoned teenager anymore.

With a broken smile, Isobel quickly wiped the tears off her face.

Now she was reading a letter from someone who cared about her. She was a reading a letter from her daughter.

Now she was a Mom.

Grabbing a box of tissues, Isobel dried her tears and smiled mirthlessly at the post scriptum in Damon's handwriting that consisted of a phone number and a note:

"Brace yourself for rude voice mail."

Reaching out for Damon's phone, Isobel slowly picked all the digits and then brought the phone to her ear.

Her heart clenched at the sound of a familiar voice.

"If you're Damon or Jeremy, leave a message. If you're someone else, hang up and text me the name, so I'll know which one of them to kill for giving you this number."

A ghost of a pensive smile flitted across her face and Isobel opened her mouth, the words "Hello Ric" on the tip of her tongue, but after a second she changed her mind, ended the connection and put the phone away.

xxxdelenaxxx

"I may not even ask you for the simplest thing!" Giuseppe bellowed, waving his hand dismissively at Stefan who tried to interfere. "How difficult it was to bring back a signed piece of paper from a neighbor?"

"I'm sorry, father," Damon said in a low voice. "I know it is an inconvenience, but I could just take another copy-"

"I don't have another copy! It will need to be written anew."

"So let me write it-"

"We don't have time for that," Giuseppe said angrily, looking around the room with a sigh.

"It seems we will have to postpone the meeting," George Lockwood said, standing up.

"I apologize for this, George," Giuseppe said through his teeth, giving Damon a glare. "And I still don't know where have you been? You have been gone for hours!"

"I'm sorry for the intrusion, but..."

Everyone's eyes darted toward the door and Stefan noticed Giuseppe's face pale at the sight.

Elena was standing in the doorway, feeling a little intimidated by the large gathering in front of her, but when after walking downstairs she'd overheard the conversation she couldn't stop herself from walking in and explaining what had happened.

"I just wanted to explain... Damon's late arrival was caused by me. He rescued me from drowning and then carried me here, because I couldn't walk and I also didn't remember how I'd fallen into the river in the first place. I didn't even have a chance to thank him yet," she added and after looking around the room her gaze rested on Damon and she smiled so brightly that Damon was sure the sun itself didn't radiate with that much warmth.

He stared at Elena, caught off guard by her sudden appearance and rendered speechless by her words and by how beautiful she looked in his mother's favorite apricot dress, her damp hair falling over her shoulders in smooth, dark brown tresses.

The way in which their eyes locked and simultaneously lit up didn't escape Stefan's attention and he smiled inwardly at the thought he'd finally have a valid reason to tease his brother about being smitten with someone. He was glad that the situation got cleared up so quickly, even though he was certain once all the guests were gone, their father would demand more than a brief explanation, no matter how genuine or impressive. Not to mention that Giuseppe still looked flabbergasted because of the dress and was yet to say anything.

Fortunately, everyone else seemed to be put in a good mood by the turn of events.

Jonathan Gilbert walked up to Damon and tapped him on the shoulder. "Sounds like we should make a toast to a hero instead of scolding the boy for negligence and delay."

Winston Forbes nodded with a laugh. "I will drink to that!"

xxxdelenaxxx

"I guess I should rather be going back to New Orleans," Freya said, closing the car door behind her.

"In the middle of the night?" Enzo asked with a lop-sided smile, walking around the car to stand in front of her.

Freya smiled. "It's technically early morning."

Enzo was about to jokingly say he was just thinking about moving to New Orleans, but then he noticed a frown on Freya's face and turned around to see what she was looking at.

"What is it?" He asked, not really seeing anything out of the ordinary.

But apparently Freya was still seeing something, because without a word, she quickly walked toward the place where the time travel spell had been performed.

Following her, Enzo kept straining his eyes to see what she was seeing, but he wasn't able to notice anything until they were both within the mandala, the outline of it still visible on the ground.

"What is that?" Enzo repeated, but now his question was referring to something he was also able to see.

Freya lifted her hand and lightly touched what looked like an extremely thin and delicate gold thread stretching from the ground all the way into the sky.

She shook her head. "I have no idea."