I didn't know if I could do it. I mean, I hadn't been inside for 3 and a half years. I hadn't even been anywhere nearby. When I moved in with my Aunt Jess, I'd refused to come anywhere near my house or neighborhood. They reminded me too much of finding my slaughtered parents.

I guess me trying so hard to forget their death is what made me temporarily forget about Damon before I came to Mystic Falls.

But now I was back in Brunswick, and heading back towards that same house that I'd tried to desperately to forget. Beside me, driving us towards that point of no return. was Damon. Stefan and Klaus were somewhere behind us, but I paid almost no attention to them. What was going to happen was way too important.

"Carrie..." I looked beside me at Damon. He'd finally shaved and put on some nice clothes before we'd left, though I didn't know what he expected to encounter. I hadn't even told him why we were going. "Are you sure you wanna do this?" I nodded. "Why?"

"I just...need to, okay? With all that's happened to us lately, are you really gonna hold it against me?" He sighed and so did I; I didn't mean to be snappish, I just really wanted to get this over with.

I stared blankly out the window until Damon said "We're here." The car slowed to a stop beside the curb, but I didn't get out right away. "Carrie, we have to go inside."

"I know, I know..." I got out and looked up at the desolate looking house that used to be my home. Stefan and Klaus finally pulled up behind us and approached, but I still didn't move.

"Carrie..."

"Just...be quiet. Please..." I heard Stefan trying to reassure Damon, but I stepped forward and finally went up to the abandoned house.

Nobody had lived there since I left, but the place looked as if a cheerful family still inhabited it. The front and back lawns were perfectly trimmed, and there wasn't a single thing out of place from the day I left. The bank must've still been sending a housekeeper to clean the place up every two weeks, like they used to do when I lived with Aunt Jess.

"This doesn't look like it was abandoned for three years. Sure we're at the right place?" I didn't snap at Stefan's comment.

"When I still lived with my Aunt Jess, a maid was

employed to come every two weeks to keep everything presentable...in case I ever wanted to move back in. It was a part of my parents' trust fund agreement with the bank."

"Trust fund? What are you talking about?" Damon looked genuinely surprised.

"When I turn 21, or when I would have turned 21, every cent of my parents' money comes to me."

"How much are you supposed to get?"

"I have no idea. It started at $100,000 so it's probably up to...like four million by now." Damon's jaw practically dropped off. "You never asked."

"I didn't know I needed to...Anyway, are we going to go inside or not?" I looked up at the house again. "Whatever we're here for, you're the one that wanted to come."

I ignored him and stepped up onto the porch. I was immediately filled with a sense of dread, which only increased when I went to the front door. I still had the key, which Aunt Jess had kept with her things when we moved, and I unlocked the door.

It opened noiselessly and I went inside, and the dread and familiarity washed over me. This was why I didn't want to come back. It felt like my insides were ripping themselves apart and my head felt like it was made of lead. I wanted to cry out, but then Damon would just want me to leave.

I heard them follow me into the house, but I just continued on through without a word. I could feel that there was magic in the house, magic I hadn't felt the last time I was here. It reminded me of back in Scotland, when I'd followed the trail of Blair's magic to find her house. I could feel a trail now, one that led to the basement door.

I looked behind me and saw Damon and Stefan going to explore the upstairs, while Klaus simply watched me from the living room. I left his line of vision and cracked the basement door open. It smelled somewhat dank, and I could tell the maid hadn't been down here, probably in the entire four years she'd been employed.

I flicked on the dim lightbulb and went down the rickety stairs, afraid they they would break. They wouldn't harm me at all, but I still kept my arm curled around my stomach as I went down.

The basement was relatively empty, but the trail of magic was still flowing strong through the room. I went around the stairs and found a small door behind them. It looked like it was for a child or an animal, because it only came up to about my waist. Or maybe may parents just didn't want anybody to find it.

Just as I was about to push it open, Klaus breezed down the stairs and said "Are you sure you want to do that?" I turned to face him. "You have no idea what's in there."

"I know that is where I'm supposed to go, and I know that you aren't going to stop me." I reached down to push the small door open, but it didn't budge. I put more force behind it but it still didn't move.

"Perhaps you aren't supposed to go in there after all." I frowned and drew upon my magic, and the door clicked open by itself.

"Perhaps you're wrong." It was dark, but I could tell there was another room through the tiny doorway. I crouched down and looked inside, and said to Klaus "Give me your cell phone."

"Why?"

"Please?" He pulled it out and I tapped on the screen to light it up, but the other room was still mostly dark. "Watch my back..."

I crouched lower and went in, and Klaus said "How's it look?"

"Pretty plain..." I stood up and saw the ceiling was only about six feet tall. "It's pretty small."

"Well, it is a tiny little room you found in the basement...Hey!" The little door swung shut and I was enveloped in darkness again. "Carrie, was that you?! Are you okay?!"

"Yeah, I'm fine...I used magic to open the door, that's probably why it didn't stay open...Just go get Damon and Stefan,okay?" I heard him disappear and I faced into the room.

There was a spirit inside, I could tell.

I stepped further into the room, to what I hoped was the center, and a light sprung up. I saw it was a small candle flame, and realized there must've been candles scattered throughout the room. I used my power to light them all, and the entire room was suddenly visible. I nearly screamed once it was, though.

In the corner of the room, surrounded by the candles, was an old set of bones. They were gray and turning to dust, and wore what looked like the remains of a dress.

"A woman..?" Why would there be bones buried underneath my house? And who? I decided to appeal to the spirit I could still feel lurking underneath the house. "Who's there?"

There was a whispering breeze and the candles flickered.

"Could it be...Kenna?" The candle flames flared and the dusty bones moved and crumbled. "It would be nice to see the one who's supposed to be seeing visions of me."

"Nach bhfaca; chonaic." She materialized in the middle of the room. She had short, dirty brown hair and wore a ragged dress.

"Well, don't you just look pleasant...Why am I standing here in my parents' basement?"

"Tá tú anseo toisc go bhfuil tú ceaptha a bheith anseo." I looked at her oddly; I didn't understand a single word she was saying. "Tá tú anseo a fháil ar an tablet de mo físeanna."

"I can't understand a word you're saying. What are you talking about?"

Kenna muttered something else in that other language and the bones in the corner crumbled. She went and picked up something from the pile of rubble and handed it to me.

"Visions, stone." Talking in broken words, I realized she probably didn't know very much English.

I reached back in my memories to try to recall some of her language. "Um...Do ... físeanna?" She nodded. "Cén fáth...an seomra seo...faoi teach?"

"Ní raibh sé ina chuid den teach bunaidh. Bhí sé seo nuair a fuair bás mé. Bhí séalaithe an doras ionas go bhféadfaí aon duine ach amháin tú isteach."

From my multitude of memories, I could pick out some of the words she was saying now, and got a general idea. She'd said 'magic' and 'door', so I figured the door was probably sealed with magic. That was probably why only I could open it.

I magicked the door open again and the candles instantly went out, and several voices started shouting on the other side. Klaus and Damon both tried to shove their heads through at the same time and nearly got stuck.

"I'm fine, just move so I can get out." They did and I pushed the stone tablet through the doorway and crawled out. Stefan picked it up and I said "That was what I found."

"I figured...but what language is this?"

"I don't know..!" It looked like a bunch of tiny scratches. "It's really old, that's all I know."

"Well, we can probably have someone take a look at it for us...Alaric knew people at his wife's college, and there has to be some ancient language professor or something we can talk to."

"Well, then someone better be prepared to compel them, because they're gonna ask where we got this, and I don't feel like making up some bullshît explanation." Stefan and Damon just kinda stared at me, so I pushed past them and went back up the stairs.

I saw the maid come out of the front room and she skidded to a stop when she saw me too.

"Ms. Macleod..? What are you doing here?!"

"This is my house, isn't it?"

"Yes, but...Are you finally going to move back in?" I shook my head.

"I just needed to get something from the basement. Sorry if we've made a mess, we'll be leaving now." I went past her outside and the others followed soon after. Almost to myself, I shouted "It's a six-hour drive from here to Duke University, and we don't have that kind of time to spare! What the hell are we supposed to do!?"

Damon approached me and said "Calm down...We can just send Stefan and Alaric, or work something else out...Me and you can go back to Mystic Falls and keep making preparations..."

"For what!? It's not like I'm gonna last long enough to have this supernatural freak of a baby anyway!" He gasped. "I'm collapsing almost every other day and the baby is using magic by himself. Oh, I also forgot to tell you that we came here because the ghosts of my dad and two people I killed told me to!"

"What?"

"Yup. And if I'm getting sent on missions to retrieve crazy witch prophecies, I'm pretty sure it isn't a good thing for any of us."

"Witch prophecies..? Carrie!"

I was about to yell something back at Damon when Klaus bellowed out "Children! If we could all calm down for a moment, I have something to tell you." We turned to look at Klaus. "There's no need to make that long journey. I can read what that little stone tablet says perfectly fine."

Stefan asked "Why didn't you say that right away?"

"Well, you three were so busy bickering, I didn't have the time to." I frowned. "I will read it for you...but you must do something for me." I didn't miss that he was looking at me as he said it.

"Do what?"

"I will translate the entire text when we get to Mystic Falls, provided Carrie will ride in my car on the way back."

"No!" My shocked gaze turned from Klaus to Damon. "I know what you're trying to do, and I won't let you!" I put my hand on his arm and he quieted.

"Damon...If it means this gets done faster, don't fight it. Please." He grunted angrily and got into his car and didn't say anything else. I sighed and turned to Stefan. "Make sure he doesn't try to purposefully crash or something, okay?"

"Yeah...Don't let Klaus do anything incredibly stupid either."

"I'll try." Stefan got in the car with Damon and they immediately sped off, leaving me alone with Klaus. Before I turned to face him I announced "You planned this the second we left Mystic Falls, didn't you?"

"It wasn't exactly planned, just...hoped for."

I turned angrily. "Can you even read this?!" I held up the tablet, which Stefan had handed back to me. "Because if not, then you and I are going to have a serious problem."

"Carrie, darling, I have already told you I intend to win you back, regardless of your situation with Damon. You cannot be angry, as I'm simply keeping to my promise."

"The hêll I can't..." He chuckled. "But seriously, can you read it?"

"Of course I can. It's written in runes, about 1,000 years older than the version which I learned to use as a human. Here, give it to me and you drive." I traded the tablet for the keys. "I'll take a look while you're driving. Take the scenic route, won't you?"

I grumbled. "You mean the route through the backwoods that'll take us an extra hour to get back to Mystic Falls? That's a four hour drive." He shrugged. "You'd dâmn well better not be lying."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

We were about an hour away from Mystic Falls when Klaus looked up from the tablet. We'd stopped at a store along the highway to pick up a pen and pad of paper, which was now covered in scribbles.

"Well, I can say you're not going to like what this says."

"What do you mean?"

"Pull over, I'm driving." Staring inquisitively at Klaus, I pulled the car over and he got out. I slid over to the passenger seat as he got in and the car took off again. "Here."

He handed me the scribbled up paper. It looked like he'd copied down the scribble text and had been trying to figure out what each line meant.

"And all this clutter is supposed to mean something?"

"Turn to the next page darling." I flipped to the next page and saw what looked like his mostly finished version of the text.

/ᛊᚻᛖ ᚹᛁᛚᛚ ᛒᛖᚨᚱ ᚨ ᛊᛟᚾ ᛟᚠ ᚦᛟᚱ
ᚹᚻᛟ ᛊᚻᚨᛚᛚ ᛒᛖᚲᛟᛗᛖ ᚨᛊ ᚻᛁᛊ ᚠᚨᚦᛖᚱ ᚹᛖᚱᛖ

She will bear a son of Thor
Who shall become as his fathers were

ᚻᛖ ᚹᛁᛚᛚ ᛒᛖᚲᛟᛗᛖ ᚦᛖ ᛒᚨᚾᛖ ᛟᚠ ᚦᛁᛊ ᛖᚨᚱᚦ
ᚨᚾᛞ ᚻᛁᛊ ᛈᛖᛊᛏᛁᛚᛖᚾᚲᛖ ᚹᛁᛚᛚ ᛊᛗᛁᛏᛖ ᚨᛚᛚ ᛁᚾ ᚻᛁᛊ ᛈᚨᚦ

He will become the bane of this Earth
And his pestilence will smite all in his path

ᚦᛖᚱᛖ ᛁᛊ ᛒᚢᛏ ᛟᚾᛖ ᚦᚨᛏ ᚻᚨᚦ ᛈᛟᚹᛖᚱ ᛖᚾᛟᚢᚷᚻ
ᛏᛟ ᚱᛁᛞ ᛏᚻᛁᛊ ᚷᚱᛖᚨᛏ ᛞᛖᛗᛟᚾ ᚠᚱᛟᛗ ᛟᚢᚱ ᚹᛟᚱᛚᛞ

There is but one that hath power enough
To rid this great demon from our world

ᚦᛖ ᛁᛗᛗᛟᚱᛏᚨᛚ ᛗᛟᚦᛖᚱ ᛗᚢᛊᛏ ᛊᛏᚱᛁᚲᛖ ᚻᛖᚱ ᛊᛟᚾ ᛞᛟᚹᚾ
ᛟᚱ ᛒᛖ ᛊᛏᚱᛁᚲᛖᚾ ᛞᛟᚹᚾ ᛒᛇ ᚻᛖᚱ ᚲᛁᚾ

The immortal mother must strike her son down
Or be stricken down by her kin

ᚻᛖ ᚻᚨᚦ ᚦᚹᛟ ᚠᚨᚦᛖᚱᛊ ᛟᚠ ᚹᚻᛁᚲᚻ ᚻᛖ ᛁᛊ ᛒᛟᚱᚾ
ᛟᚾᛖ ᛟᚠ ᛒᛚᛟᛟᛞ ᚨᚾᛞ ᛟᚾᛖ ᛟᚠ ᚠᚨᛁᚦ

He hath two fathers of which he is born
One of blood and one of faith

ᚨᚾᛞ ᚦᛖ ᛁᛗᛗᛟᚱᛏᚨᛚ ᛗᛟᚦᛖᚱ ᛊᚻᚨᛚᛚ ᚻᚨᚦ ᛒᚢᛏ ᛟᚾᛖ
ᚠᛟᚱ ᚦᛖ ᛊᛟᚾ ᛟᚠ ᚦᛟᚱ ᚹᛁᛚᛚ ᚲᛁᛚᛚ ᚦᛖ ᛟᚦᛖᚱ

The immortal mother shall hath but one
For the son of Thor will kill the other/

All I could manage to blurt out was "What is this crâp?"

"There is some other, nondescript letters, but that is the message. It seems this Kenna saw a grim future for you indeed."

"How do you know it's even me? The 'immortal mother' part maybe, since I'm a hybrid and I'm having a baby...but what is this 'son of Thor' stuff? It doesn't make sense!"

"To you it doesn't, because you weren't here in the time of the Norsemen. From the way this is, I suspect it was copied from something else, probably many times over. This 'son of Thor' business is a metaphor for a god-child. Like the demi-gods in Italy or Greece."

"Demi-god..? My son? She's saying my son is a demi-god?"

"I have to admit, it is a bit of a shock...but read on." I quickly scanned the text again, and the lines 'He will become the bane of this Earth, And his pestilence will smite all in his path' jumped out at me./ And then there was the part about a demon...

"This can't be right! This says my kid is gonna come out a demon, basically! And he's gonna kill people..! You can't be serious!"

"And you have to strike him down, which most likely means you'll have to kill him." I took the pad of paper and the stone tablet and crushed them both in my hands, and threw the pieces far out the car window. "What was that for?!"

"It's not true...it can't be true..."

"Well, we'll see if that comes to be. Did you pay attention to the two fathers..?"

"Yeah...all I got was that he'll be immortal like Damon was. I don't know about that 'other father' part..."

"Well, whomever this other man is, either he or your precious Damon are going to die, according to that thing you just chucked out the window."

I had an idea about that other man. A 'father of faith' was what the tablet called him. I hoped dearly that everything it said, that Kenna said, was wrong...It couldn't be true, I couldn't let it be true...

Because if it was, that meant either my unborn son had to die, or a bunch of innocent people...Perhaps even Damon or Klaus...