The next few days were hard for Josie. She couldn't stop thinking about Tyler. Wondering if their break was a break-up or just a pause until he returned. Her friends dragged her to a few parties and while it was a nice distraction from all the supernatural drama, her heartache was like a shadow over everything she did.

The morning after Caroline, Bonnie and Elena had their girls night at the Grill with Jenna, Josie woke up to Elena shaking her.

"Jo, wake up. I need to talk to you."

"What? What is it?" Josie sat bolt upright, fearing the worst. "Oh god, who died?"

"No one," said Elena, shaking her head. "You'll never guess who showed up last night after you went to bed."

Josie rubbed the sleep out of her eyes. "Who?"

"Isobel."

"What?!" exclaimed Josie.

Why the hell was Isobel here? Why hadn't Katherine contacted her?

"She just showed up. Jenna answered the door. Now she won't come out of her room." Elena sighed, clearly trying to hold tears back. "Jenna knows we all knew Isobel was still alive."

Josie sighed. Poor Jenna. She was the adult in the house and she was completely in the dark on everything important.

"Does she know that Isobel's a vampire?"

Elena shook her head.

"What does Isobel want?" asked Josie.

"I don't know," said Elena. "She and John were working together before. Maybe they are again."

"But John wants to protect you."

Elena raised her eyebrows. "So he says. I don't trust either of them." She paused. "You don't think she's working for Klaus?"

Josie smiled. Elena could be smart, at times. Though Josie hoped she was wrong in this instance.

"I hope not," said Josie, shaking her head. "We should be careful though, just in case."

Elena nodded. "We'll have to hope that Elijah holds up his end of the bargain. And keep the moonstone safe."

"Bonnie's done a good job of that so far," smiled Josie, thinking it had been a good idea to give her the moonstone. No one except their little group knew where it was, not even Uncle John, and they were all drinking vervain, even the vampires.

Elena nodded. "I called Alaric. I thought maybe he could help with Jenna."

"Okay," yawned Josie. "I'll get ready and join you downstairs."

Once Elena was gone, Josie grabbed her phone and called Katherine. When she didn't get an answer, she sent a text. Josie was confused. Why the hell was Isobel in town and Katherine wasn't? She hoped nothing had happened to Katherine. Had she betrayed Josie and their deal?

Sighing, Josie got out of bed and got ready. She was just coming down the stairs when Alaric punched Uncle John in the face. Alaric mumbled an apology and left.

"You know this is your fault, right?" said Elena to John, snidely.

Josie frowned. How was this John's fault? He wasn't the one who insisted on keeping Jenna in the dark.

To his credit, John accepted the blame without question. "Right," said John, nodding his head.

Elena scoffed. "Jenna left because Isobel is back," she said to Josie. "She's staying on campus for a few days."

Josie nodded as Elena passed her, walking up the stairs.

"You okay?" asked Josie, walking down the stairs and coming to stand in front of John.

John nodded. "I'll be fine."

"I'll get you an ice pack," she said, moving into the kitchen.

An hour later, Josie was reading in her room when John knocked on the door, beckoning her to join him, Stefan and Elena downstairs. Josie was only slightly surprised to see Isobel standing in the Gilbert kitchen. She was more surprised, however, when Isobel starting spewing lines from the show. The lines she'd spoken when she'd been under Klaus' compulsion.

After Elena dismissed Isobel and her offer of help, Josie left the house and called Elijah. She told him of Isobel's strange behavior and he agreed they must locate her immediately. Knowing that Isobel had favored expensive foreclosures, it didn't take long for Josie and Elijah to track down Isobel.

"I wondered when you'd come," said Isobel, as Josie and Elijah walked into the foreclosed house. "The dagger I gave to John didn't quite take did it?"

Elijah sped over to Isobel and grabbed her by the neck. "You know who I am?" he asked, voice dangerously low.

"Of course."

"And yet you are not afraid," he said, gripping her neck tighter. "He must have compelled you then."
Suddenly, Josie was grabbed from behind and she could feel a hand around her neck.

"You don't think he sent me here alone?" asked Isobel, eyes sliding over to where Josie was being held tightly.

Elijah followed Isobel's eyes and saw Josie being held by an unknown vampire. Before Elijah could say anything, Josie heard the vampire behind her groan. Turning around, she saw a stake poking through his heart and his face go all grey and veiny. As the vampire fell to the ground, Josie saw the smirking face of Katherine Pierce.

"Sorry I'm late," she said, stake in hand. "Miss me?"

Josie laughed and rolled her eyes. "Where have you been? I've been calling you all day."

Katherine's eyes narrowed and she looked over at Isobel. "She snapped my neck when she realized I'd figured out she was working for Klaus."

Katherine sped over to Isobel and snapped her neck. "Just returning the favor."

Glancing nervously at Elijah, took a wary step back.

"We're on the same side," said Josie, trying to ease Katherine's fears of Elijah. "I told him that you and I were working together to track down Klaus."

Elijah fixed Katherine with a hard stare. "If you help us defeat him, I have assured Josie I mean you no harm, Katerina."

Katherine narrowed her eyes, clearly trying to decide if Elijah was telling the truth. Finally, she relented. "He's in a small town just over the border of Pennsylvania."

"Great, let's go," said Josie, moving toward the door.

"No, Josie," said Elijah, placing a gentle hand on her arm. "It's too dangerous. I will go. You will remain here, under the Martins' protection."

"How are you going to desiccate him without Jonas?" asked Josie, confused.

"Let's make sure he's truly there before we go in, what is the expression, 'guns blazing'."

Katherine raised an eyebrow. "Don't trust me, Elijah?"

"I won't be gone long," said Elijah, ignoring Katherine's remark.

Josie and Elijah left Katherine to tie Isobel up and Elijah dropped Josie off at her house, with assurances that the Martins would be keeping a close eye on her and Elena until Elijah returned.

Josie decided to go with Elena to the Lockwood luncheon, thinking there were strength in numbers. Uncle John, Bonnie, Stefan and Damon agreed because they decided to go to the luncheon as well. With all that protection, there were no disturbances at the luncheon like there had been in the original storyline.

Uncle John, Josie, Elena and the Salvatores were in the parking lot when Josie heard Elena gasp. To her shock, she saw Isobel standing behind Elena, her hands closed around her throat.

"What are you doing here?" asked Josie.

How did Isobel escape? Had Katherine let her go? Isobel just looked at her with a blank expression.

At that moment, several more vampires came and attacked. One grabbed Josie roughly and she could only watch as Uncle John was killed almost instantly, though he had his Gilbert Ring on, so it wasn't permanent.

The Salvatores were fighting a losing battle though, as they were vastly outnumbered. Stefan had his neck snapped within a minute and the vampires he'd been fighting turned to Damon, stakes in hand. Klaus clearly still had some affection for the younger Salvatore, due to their shared history, but Damon hadn't been given the same protections. Just as one of them was about to stake Damon, all of the vampires, including Isobel and the one holding Josie clutched their heads.

Josie whipped around to see Jonas, Luka and Bonnie with their hands outstretched. Before anyone could say anything, Damon grabbed a stake and proceeded to kill all of the vampires that had attacked them, except for Isobel.

"Wait!" shouted Elena, just as Damon was about to stake her birth mother. "Don't!"

"She's working for him!" growled Damon. "For Klaus."

"What if she's been compelled?" asked Elena.

Damon frowned and turned to Isobel. "Well?"

"Even if I were compelled, I couldn't tell you," said Isobel.

Damon sighed and released Isobel. "What do you want to do with her?"

Before Elena could reply, Isobel grabbed the stake out of Damon's hand and shoved it into her own chest. Everyone just looked at her in shock as she turned grey.

Damon was the first to speak. "Yeah, I did not see that coming."

"Why would she do that?" asked Elena.

"Klaus must have compelled her to kill herself if she failed," supplied Jonas.

Josie bit her lip. Something didn't feel right. Why would Isobel have attacked them when they had so many vampires and witches for protection? What had Isobel done to Katherine?

"I guess you were right this morning, Elena. She was working for Klaus," sighed Josie.

Elena looked at her confused. "What do you mean, Jo? I never said Isobel was working for Klaus?"

Josie frowned. "Yeah, you did. When you woke me up this morning."

"I didn't wake you up this morning," said Elena, shaking her head.

"Yeah, you did. You told me Isobel showed up and then we talked about the moonstone…" Josie trailed off, her heart dropping in her stomach. "Oh my god, it was Katherine."

Damon sped in front of her and gripped her shoulders tightly. "Josie, tell me you didn't tell Katherine where the moonstone is."

"Fuck!" shouted Josie, looking over at Bonnie. "I told her it was at your house."

Without another word, Bonnie ran to her car and sped off. But everyone knew it was too late.

"It was a trick," said Damon, releasing Josie. "All of this was just a distraction, so he could get Katherine to steal the moonstone from Bonnie's."

Josie looked over at Jonas and Luka, wondering if they were thinking the same thing she was. Had Katherine and Klaus' minions gone to the Martins' apartment during the distraction to retrieve the Grimoire with the desiccation spell? It seemed likely, given Katherine had apparently sent Elijah to Pennsylvania on a wild-goose chase.

Josie was furious. Katherine was under Klaus' compulsion. He had fooled her. Not only that, but Klaus knew what Katherine knew. Klaus knew Josie was working with Elijah. He knew Josie was planning to desiccate him. He knew Josie had visions, though thankfully she'd implied they were nothing special and that most of her knowledge came from Lexi. It was a small comfort.

All of a sudden, she was hit with a vision. She saw Elijah sitting in a packed café. Couples chatted jovially in the booths, old men sat at the counter, trying unsuccessfully to flirt with the waitresses. In the blink of an eye, every single person in the café turned to Elijah and attacked.

Some were vampires, some were witches and others were just random people. Elijah put up quite a fight, but between his surprise at being attacked in broad daylight in a crowded café and the sheer number against him, especially witches, he was eventually subdued and a silver dagger thrust into his heart.

When Josie came back to reality, the others were still talking about what had happened, postulating on Klaus' next move, etc. Josie excused herself, saying she needed to go to the bathroom, and headed toward the Lockwood mansion. She pulled out her phone the second she was out of earshot and called Elijah.

Thankfully, he picked up on the first ring.

"Where are you?" she blurted out, not wasting time for greetings.

"I was just about to stop into a coffee shop on my way out of town. Unfortunately, it appears Niklaus has moved on from this place."

"Don't go in, Elijah. It's a trap. Everyone in there is working for Klaus. They're going to dagger you."

There was a loud whoosh, letting Josie know that Elijah had sped out of there.

"Thank you, my dear."

"Don't thank me yet," she said, frowning. She looked up and saw Elena walking towards her. "I have to go. Call Jonas. He'll fill you in. I'm sorry."

She hung up, made an excuse to Elena, and followed her sister back to the parking lot. The Martins had already departed, so Josie and Elena went with the Salvatores to the Boarding House, taking John's body with them.

"You okay?" Josie asked Elena as they sat on the couch in the living room. Elena was fingering Isobel's daylight necklace.

Elena nodded. "I never thought I would feel bad that she was dead, but…" Elena trailed off.

"She was your mother," said Stefan, coming to sit across from Josie and Elena.

"What I don't understand is why didn't they take me?" asked Elena. "Klaus' plan worked perfectly. He needs the moonstone and the doppelganger, but I'm still here."

Stefan shrugged. "Well, anything John told Isobel, we have to assume Klaus knows, right? He knows you're not going to turn yourself into a vampire. He knows you have us keeping you safe."

"He knows I'm not going to run," said Elena.

"Which is why we need to take some precautions," said Damon, striding into the room. He slapped a stack of papers into Elena's lap and the two brothers explained that they were giving the house to Elena, so that she could be safe there.

After Uncle John woke up and apologized profusely for trusting Isobel and Katherine (not that Josie hadn't made that same mistake), Josie and Uncle John went back to the Gilbert House, leaving Elena with the Salvatores.

As soon as she was safely in her room, Josie dialed Elijah.

"Hello."

"Hey, Elijah."

"It seems I missed quite the exciting day. I just got off the phone with Jonas."

"Yeah, you were right," said Josie, sighing. "Both Isobel and Katherine were under his compulsion. He tricked us. He has the Grimoire with the desiccation spell and the stone from Bonnie's. And he knows you and I were planning to desiccate him."

Elijah sighed. "It wasn't entirely unexpected. Even if his trap failed, he succeeded in removing me from Mystic Falls today."

"When will you be back?"

"Later tonight." He paused. "Is it safe?"

Josie smiled. "Yes, I have it right here in my hand. Along with the copy of the desiccation spell."

"Good."

Josie bit her lip. "How long will it take Klaus to figure out the moonstone Katherine stole was a fake?"

"Not long," Elijah admitted. "But it gives us the advantage. It has been many years since anyone successfully deceived him, paranoid as he is. He will be desperate to regain control of the moonstone. Without it, the curse cannot be unbroken."

Josie frowned. "A desperate Klaus sounds dangerous."

"Perhaps, but also more likely to make a mistake. "

"I hope you're right," said Josie, shaking her head. "I'd hate to piss him off just so he can come rip out my heart and steal the moonstone out from under us."

"I would not allow that to happen."

Josie nodded, wishing she shared his confidence. "Drive safe, Elijah." And she hung up.

She was just about to crawl into bed when her phone started ringing. Her heart nearly stopped when she saw Katherine's name flash across the screen.

It was Klaus. It had to be. He knew. Knew the moonstone was fake. Knew he'd been tricked. Knew Josie was working with Elijah to desiccate him. She debated not answering, but what would he do if she didn't?

Taking a deep breath and wishing that Elijah weren't so far away, she answered.

"Hello."

"Hello, Josie."

Josie was stunned. It was him. Real Klaus was calling. Not Alaric or some proxy. She hadn't expected that.

"Where's Katherine?" she asked, fearful of the answer.

"Katerina is paying for her failure today."

Josie cringed. Poor Katherine.

"Failure?" Josie feigned ignorance.

"Let's not play games, shall we? I know about your and Elijah's little plot to kill me. Perhaps I'd be willing to forgive your scheming if you hand over the real stone."

Josie fought to keep her voice even. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Don't test me. I will slaughter all of Mystic Falls."

"Elijah…" she began, but Klaus cut her off.

"You think he can stop me? Where was Elijah today? Where was he when your little wolf's curse was triggered?"

Josie clenched her teeth, furious. She knew it hadn't been an accident.

"Stay away from Tyler."

His tone dropped to a deadly whisper. "You will give me the stone, Josie. I'll be seeing you soon. Much sooner than you think."