A few days later, Maria was hanging up a streamer. She was helping decorate for the masquerade ball. Unfortunately, she was stuck listening to Matt and Tyler's conversation, since no one else was there.

"She's this amazing girl one minute and then this raging jealous freak the next." Matt told him.

"Look, you know what I think about Caroline Forbes. She's an insecure narcotic bitchy little twig."

"Hey!"

"But the girl's got heart, she means well. You just get the mean with the best sometimes." Tyler pointed out.

"Yeah. I'm gonna go get an extra. I'll be right back."

"Look, I know Caroline seems insecure, but she's had a really rough few weeks." Maria told him once Matt was gone. "She's been having issues with her parents."

"I've been there." Tyler said. "Guess that's the only thing we have in common. They're always so busy. You know?"

"No, I don't know, Ty. I never knew my parents." He looked at her. She realized he didn't know. "They're dead." She added.

"Oh, sorry."

Just then, Jeremy showed up. "Hey."

"Hey."

"Hey, so I did a little research on that stone you showed me." Jeremy told him.

"What? Why?"

"I don't know. Curiosity, boredom"

"What did it say?"

"Well, it turns out that it's part of this Aztec legend but I want to make sure it's the same kind of stone." Maria looked over at him. "You think I could check it out again?"

"No. I gave it to my uncle."

"Why did you do that?"

"Because I'm done with legends and curses. I don't want anything to do with it, okay?" Tyler explained.

"Jeremy, can I talk to you?" Maria asked. They walked away from Tyler. "What are you doing?"

"Look, I know about the curse, okay?" Jeremy told her. "They filled me in. It turns out that Mason's after the moonstone and that he's working with Katherine."

"I knew there was something weird about that guy." Maria said. "It must be bad if she's after it. I'm going to find the guys. I'll see you around."

It didn't take her long to find them. They were with Bonnie for some reason. She ran over to them.

"I know how you feel about helping us out but since you're the one that linked Mason with Katherine, we finally have an opportunity to get an upper hand on both of them so just hear us out." Stefan was telling her.

"I'm listening." Bonnie said.

"I have to clue Elena in on what's going on." He turned to Damon. "Can you play nice please?"

"Don't worry, I'll keep him in line." Maria told him.

"Hey." Bonnie hugged her. "I thought you'd be with Caroline."

"I wanted to give her some space to deal with what's been happening." Maria said.

"Now that we've got that out of the way, we have business to get to." Damon pointed out. Maria let go of Bonnie. "All you have to do is touch Mason Lockwood again to see if he gave Katherine the moonstone"

"My visions don't work like that." Bonnie told him. "I don't get to ask questions."

"One of the inconveniences of being a witch." Maria explained. Bonnie looked at her. "Even half-witches struggle with it."

"Okay, what's that witchy mojo you do with me. You know the fun one, when my brain burst into flames? What is that?"

"That's me giving you an aneurysm. Your blood vessels go pop but you heal quickly so I do it over and over again." Bonnie explained.

"I know where this is going and I think it's a really bad idea, Damon." Maria said.

"Mason Lockwood's a werewolf, Katherine's evil. They're the bad guys. Really? You're gonna play morality police with me right now?" He asked them. "Let me explain it to you another way: they're a threat to Elena. You two are gonna get over yourselves and help us."

"Not a chance. Although I hate him for what he did to you and Stefan, I'm not taking my chances with him." Maria said as Stefan returned. She turned to Bonnie. "I hate making you do this, but think you could…"

"I see what you mean." Bonnie said. "Alright, what do you need me to do?"

"If you need me, send out a psychic wave." Maria said as she and Damon left.

"Hey, about the other day…" Stefan began.

"Relax. I'd never tell anyone." Maria told him. He looked at her and knew that she meant it.

"Thanks."

"I'm going to see how Elena's doing. It must be hard on her." Maria went over to help Elena sort masks. "Need a hand?"

"Thanks. What are you doing here?"

"I wanted to see if you needed help since you guys broke up." Maria said.

"I'm dealing with it." Elena told her. Matt came over a few minutes later to help them.

"How do you organize these?"

"Here, let me help." Matt came over and helped Maria untangle the masks she was holding.

"Thanks, I don't even want to know how they got like that in the first place."

"Guess that's why they asked for volunteers with helping set up." Elena pointed out.

"So where's Caroline?" Matt asked. "This is like her thing. I can't believe she's not here."

"She has something else to do" Elena told him.

"Is she seeing someone?"

"Matt, come on. No, she's not."

"She's having family troubles." Maria said. "That's why she's not here." Just then, she felt a rush of heat. She nearly passed out, but Matt and Stefan caught her.

"You okay?" Stefan asked her. Elena looked at her, wondering what happened. The guys helped her get back up.

"Yeah. Thanks to you guys."

"Maria…" Elena began. That's when Stefan's phone vibrated. He read the message and left. Matt looked over at Elena.

"I'll let you two talk for a minute." Matt told them. He walked away from them.

"Are you okay?"

"I had a vision." Maria explained. "I must've inadvertently connected with Bonnie when she helped them. I know where the moonstone is, but there's…" She didn't even get to finish speaking before Elena went off in the same direction that Stefan did. Maria sighed and took off after her.

Elena found Stefan in the woods first. Maria found them both shortly. "What's going on?" Elena asked.

"You shouldn't be here." Stefan pointed out.

"I know but I am. What's going on?" Elena asked.

"Bonnie thinks the moonstone is down here." Stefan told her.

"We know." Maria told him. He opened the well. They looked in for a second.

"Hey. Be careful." Elena said.

"Wait. You can't go in there, Stefan." Maria said.

"He's the only one of us that can, Maria."

"No, he's not." Maria said. Just then Caroline showed up.

"What's going on? I heard you arguing."

"The moonstone's down there, but the well's full of vervain." Maria explained. "If you try to go in, you'll burn up."

"That was probably Mason's intention all along." Stefan realized. Maria looked into the well again and knew what she had to do.

"What's going on?" Bonnie asked as she arrived. Maria was sitting on the edge of the well now.

"Are you insane?" Elena asked. "You'll burn up if you go in there."

"Do you trust me?" Maria asked them.

"Just hurry." Bonnie said. Maria jumped into the well and started searching the walls, focusing her powers. When she felt a response, she turned toward the direction it was in.

"Are you okay down there?" Caroline called down.

"Yeah." Maria called back. "I found it!" She found the box and got the moonstone from it. "Bonnie, I need you to help me out of this thing!" Bonnie helped her as she climbed out of the well. Finally, when she was out of the water, she jumped out and was sitting near the edge of the well. The group was surprised to see that her skin was unharmed.

"How did you do that?" Stefan asked.

"You really think Katherine's the only one immune to it?" Maria asked. "Okay, it can still burn my skin, but the pain doesn't hurt as much."

"Never do that again. I was so scared." Caroline told her.

"So was I." Bonnie admitted.

"Sorry I didn't tell you, but I don't know if she's spying on me or not." Maria explained. "Not that I think she'd recognize me, but I don't want to take the chance."

"Hopefully everything will be okay now that we've got the stone." Elena said. The others agreed with her.

That night, Maria was with Damon. "What happened?"

"I messed up."

"Provoking Katherine was a really bad idea." Maria said. "Did you hear about what she did to Jenna?"

"I know. I really screwed this up."

"If you need me, I'll be upstairs." Maria told him. She went to her room. Then she heard them talking.

"We did this. Stefan, Jenna's in the hospital and Jeremy could be next all because we didn't listen to her, because we're together." Elena was saying. "Stefan…"

"I know what you're gonna say to me."

"Then let me say it." She told him. "I've been so selfish because I love you so much and I know how much you love me but it's over. Stefan, it has to be."

"Elena…"

"No, Stefan. It has to be." Maria stepped into the hallway and headed for Stefan's room. Elena walked right past her in a rush.

"Elena…" Maria began, then stopped, realizing it was pointless. There was nothing she could say to help her out of this one. She went into Stefan's room. "Hey. I heard."

"She's right." Stefan said. "This was our fault."

"No, it's not." Maria pointed out. "Katherine's the one who compelled Jenna. You couldn't have known about it. Besides, you two are good together. I'm sure it'll work out later."

"How do you always know what to say?"

"When you've lived a long time, you learn from experience." Maria told him. "Besides, you're my friend, Stefan. You think I'm going to let you're vampire ex get away with this?" She wasn't afraid of Katherine anymore. Now she was angry.

"She can be really dangerous."

"I don't care. Hurting one of my best friends is bad enough, but everyone I care about, she's crossed the line."

"Thank you, Maria. Sometimes I don't know what I'd do if you weren't here." Stefan told her.

"I know you'd do the same if the situation were reversed." She pointed out. She wrapped her arms around him. A few minutes later, she headed back to her room and ran into Damon along the way.

"How's he doing?" Damon asked.

"I thought you heard everything."

"I stopped listening in after Elena left." He explained. "It was stupid of me to provoke her."

"Hey, at least now we can get back at her." Maria pointed out. "He's still sad, but I think he'll be okay. But it's probably best if we give him a little space right now."

"He's lucky to have a friend like you, you know." Damon said as she walked into her room. Maria started to write in her diary, but couldn't even finish a complete sentence. Giving up, she decided to go to bed. She was sure she'd figure out a way to stop her tomorrow.