CASTLE OF THE ROSE
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX | LIGHT
Logan's biological father lived in a big old farmhouse in Charlottesville with his new family. It was in one of those overly fancy rich-people neighborhoods, with the houses spread out between old pieces of farmland that existed for the aesthetic now, the houses themselves sprawling antique affairs. It was rather similar to where the Salvatore Boarding House was located, actually, in that there were a lot of very big houses that were very spread-out.
The thought of the Salvatore Boarding House did not serve to help Logan in any way at all—whenever she thought about it, or either of the Salvatores for that matter, she thought about the compulsion thing. And the more she thought about the fact she must have been compelled, she felt increasingly panicked, which only stressed her out. She was doing her best not to think about any of these things. Mostly because if she'd been compelled to do something bad, she would have done it already.
It was more likely she'd been compelled to forget something, but considering how much she hated compulsion anyway, she didn't want to think about that, either. Instead she focused on her impending doom.
As always Logan was tempted to just keep driving past her father's house. Instead she stifled a sigh and turned into the circular drive. As she pulled up outside the front door, she could have sworn she saw a semi-transparent white curtain in one of the front windows flutter. Logan had a feeling she knew who that'd been.
She parked, only sort of trying to stay out of the way of the garage and the other cars, before climbing out of her car, grabbing her duffel bag, and then closing her door. Logan locked her car and paused, squinting up at the gigantic house, before walking around the front of her car and up in the direction of the front door.
Logan took a couple of marching steps up to the door and rang the doorbell. Then she stood back and waited.
Even though she knew she'd just seen someone in the window, nobody came to the door. Logan side-eyed the window somewhat suspiciously. She totally knew that had been her abominable stepsister Ashleigh. Ugh, thought Logan, already annoyed with her. Of course the bitch wouldn't even bother opening the door.
Logan considered; maybe her father was too busy somewhere else in this fancy house to actually come to the door. How long should she wait before making her escape? To start keeping track of the time Logan moved to pull her phone out of her back pocket. Unfortunately, though, it was then that the door swung open inward.
"Logan!" cried her father Nathan. Logan lifted her hand to wiggle her fingers a little in a sarcastic wave; Nathan stepped outside and threw his arms around her. Logan patted his back lightly but didn't return the gesture. "I'm so glad you made it!" Nathan stepped back and frowned at her black floral duffel bag. "Is that all you brought?"
Logan arched an eyebrow. "I'm here for two days."
Nathan just kind of shrugged. "Well, come on in," he said, turning to gesture at the open doorway. Before Logan could take more than a step he put his arm around her shoulders and walked her into the foyer. "You can leave your shoes there."
"I've been here before," Logan pointed out mildly, as she turned to kick off her ankle boots.
"I know," said Nathan. Logan glanced back at him and then looked around the house, folding her arms. It looked as impersonal and hotel-like as it had last month. "Logan's here!" Nathan called down the massive main hallway. Logan imagined his voice echoed slightly.
Some female voice yelled back from the kitchen. "Let's head on back," Nathan said. At least he let Logan walk herself down the hallway.
About halfway down it, though, Nathan halted and turned toward Logan. Logan paused to look back at him, raising her eyebrows. "I forgot to let you know, your grandfather's here," Nathan said in a low voice. "He's only visiting for the weekend before he goes back to Kentucky."
"Okay," said Logan. She hadn't seen her grandfather from her father's side in ages. At least, she thought, already brightening a little, that would make this visit more interesting—her grandfather on this side of the family was generally considered crazy. Logan, for the most part, agreed with this assessment.
This was because he had been doing very strange things for as long as Logan could remember. Way back when Logan and Aaron had been little, they'd had a crappy trampoline in the backyard; and for reasons only known to their grandfather, he'd decided for some reason that both Logan and Aaron needed to understand something important.
"You see," he'd said, sitting down in the middle of the trampoline with them and looking grave, "once you understand that the pineal gland is the way to the third eye, you will be able to take control of it, and you will access your superpowers." He hadn't let them get off the trampoline until they'd agreed.
Not to mention the various other stories Logan had heard from other family members at holidays—apparently her grandfather had tried to sneak into Canada in his friend's trunk, and for a little while he claimed to have been abducted by aliens while camping in a cave in a national park. And then there were all kinds of stories about how he kept joining cults.
Logan wasn't sure how much of it was true, but she could see almost all of it. Personally she was rather fond of the man; he always tried to tell her stories about ancient Mexico. A lot of the time it ended up being the same story, just told in a different way, or set in a different location. Mostly the locations were always in the Americas.
Nathan was, of course, correct—when they entered the big kitchen at the end of the hallway, Logan spotted her grandfather sitting at the round kitchen table almost immediately. "Logan!" he said, glancing up and spotting her. He smiled and rose to his feet. "It's wonderful to see you, darling."
Logan walked over to give him an actual hug. "Good to see you too, Grandpa."
"Oh, you've grown so much," said her grandfather as he leaned back. He kept his hands on Logan's shoulders and leaned in, looking deeply into her eyes. "But I can see you're the same person you were. That's very good, you know who you are."
"Thanks," said Logan brightly. Her grandfather nodded and released her, then turned to reseat himself.
Sadly this left Logan having to turn and greet the other people in the kitchen. This included the new Mrs. Nathan Ramos. "Logan, it's great to see you," said Audrey, Logan's stepmother. She was standing back by the marble-topped island, and, as usual, she was dressed to the nines for no apparent reason. "How are you?"
"Fine," said Logan shortly. She walked around the kitchen table to pull out a chair across from her grandfather, who had picked up a magazine he'd been reading. Then Logan turned around, one hand on her hip. "Are we staying in for dinner or going out?" You never knew with these fancy PTA people. Logan had no clue what her father saw in Audrey. At least Joseph was a decent human.
Honestly, Logan was surprised her parents had even raised her Catholic. Once they had started arguing, both of them had dropped church completely. Then Kelly met Joseph and she decided to switch churches so she could remarry, and Nathan did the same thing. They were such hypocrites it actually hurt.
Logan had no idea how she was related to either of them, outside the obvious. Her father had curly dark hair and her mom had dimples, and they both similar skin tones; neither of them were tall for their age. Other than that, though, Logan couldn't see any part of herself in either of her parents. Maybe her stubbornness, or her tendency to yell at people when she was angry. That was literally it.
Her dad's new family seemed to make a lot more sense, the more Logan learned about her father. "That depends on what you want to do," said Nathan fairly.
"Whatever," said Logan. She half-glanced down. "I mean, I'm not exactly fancy."
Ashleigh, who was standing on the other side of the kitchen island across from her mother, snorted. "Oddly right on the money," she remarked. She and Logan had detested each other since meeting.
"Ashleigh," said Logan darkly, narrowing her eyes at the redhead.
"That's my name," said Ashleigh breezily. "Don't wear it out." She eyed Logan briefly. "Speaking of worn out—where did you even find that outfit? The thrift shop?"
"It was ninety-nine cents," Logan shot back.
"Girls," said Nathan. He scratched the back of his neck and took a step back toward the refrigerator. "Logan, you can eat whatever you find, alright? This house is your house, too." Logan openly rolled her eyes this time.
At least Audrey and Ashleigh disentangled themselves from the situation sooner rather than later. This left Logan sitting at the kitchen table with breakfast casserole, a Coke, Nathan, and her grandfather. Logan was extremely grateful that her grandfather was there—her dad just wouldn't stop trying, and he was being stupid at this point.
"So," said her grandfather, "Logan—how have you been, really?" He glanced around, like he might find some secret police listening in, and then leaned forward a little. "Has anything…strange been happening?"
Logan choked on her Coke. You have no idea, she thought. "Dad," said Nathan disapprovingly. "Let her eat."
"I just wanted to know," said her grandfather, leaning back again. "I've been getting some weird vibes is all." He tapped his temple and nodded significantly at Logan, who had no choice but to nod back. Then he gave her a look that she couldn't decipher before excusing himself.
Dammit, thought Logan once he had disappeared down the main hallway. Thanks a lot. "Sorry about that, but you know him," said Nathan, turning back toward Logan. "So—really. How've you been? Your mom said you went to a dance with Owen."
"Yeah, last month," said Logan. For a split second she considered telling her dad that she was dating a twenty-six-year-old man named Elijah, just to freak him out. Then she figured her dad would try and track Elijah down and turn him in to the police for sleeping with a minor. Her dad didn't have much faith in Logan's Catholicism. "Haven't done anything else, really." Just gotten kidnapped by vampires and half-dated a man who was trying to get her best friend murdered.
"Your mom said that, too," said Nathan. He looked significantly more awkward. "She's really worried about you, Logan."
Logan laughed bitterly. "Why, because I'm apparently a friendless loser?" She threw her hands in the air and then began to count off. "You know, because it's not like I'm friends with Caroline, Elena, Bonnie, Matt, Tyler, Caitlin, Stefan, Rachel, Tessa, Owen—" Logan stopped and looked at her hands. "Oh, I'll have to start over, I hit ten. Where was I? Right—Jackson, Lilly, Harper, Jonathan—"
"Alright, alright," said Nathan, lifting his own hands in surrender. "Your mom didn't explain anything to me in detail. All she said was you were having trouble being social."
Logan snorted. "She just wants me to hang out with different people," she explained. She fairly stabbed her breakfast casserole with her fork. "She must think Elena and Caroline and Bonnie are bad influences or something." She heaved a sigh and took another bite of casserole. Once she had swallowed she added, "And she doesn't believe me about anyone else I say I'm friends with."
"Well, I'm sure if you brought them over and introduced her to them she'd believe you," Nathan pointed out. He was probably trying to be helpful but this was not good advice.
"Sure," Logan said, just to make him stop offering such advice.
"You know, if you want," Nathan offered after a moment of silence, "I can still try for cust—"
"No way in heck," said Logan at once. She pointed around with her fork. "You want me to live in the same house as Ashleigh?"
Nathan grimaced. "Fair point."
"Plus doing literally anything with the courts takes forever, as we know from experience, and I shouldn't move around so my transcript won't get messed up," Logan added. "And don't you dare try and get custody of Ethan or Abby before I've moved out, you are not leaving me alone with my mother."
Ethan and Abby had a different arrangement with their father. They weren't nearly as perpetually angry with him as Logan was, although Ethan was always fairly frosty toward him; they met up to hang out with him a few times a month. Logan was only here because she'd tried to skip her weekend of doom once and had ended up in a tangle with the courts for a while.
Nathan sighed and leaned back in his chair, folding his arms. He studied Logan with some kind of patronizingly pitying expression that pissed her off. "I hate that you don't even like living with her."
"Don't worry about it," muttered Logan. "I'm going to college soon." She wanted to go anywhere out of state, honestly. It didn't even matter where. She'd go to school on another continent, even, as long as she didn't have to live with her mom anymore.
"Do you know where you want to go?" Nathan asked.
Logan shrugged. "Wherever I get in." She didn't want to admit that she'd been interested in William and Mary for a long time; she wasn't sure yet if two hours out was still too close to home. She wanted to be as far away from Mystic Falls as possible—especially if the supernatural population kept booming.
"I'm sure you'll find plenty of schools," Nathan said. "Your GPA is great." She had a 3.4. "Although," he added fairly, "you should definitely think about James Madison." He'd gone there himself.
"Yeah, maybe," said Logan, because she didn't want to argue with him right now.
"How's school going?" asked Nathan.
"Fine," said Logan. "Physics is hard." She shrugged and took a sip of her Coke. "I have a 92 in AP US."
"That's great!" burst Nathan. Logan had to half smile at that. "Whatever college you get into," Nathan continued, "it'll be great that you'll already have transfer credit from AP classes. You might even be able to graduate early if you get enough."
Logan thought about it. "Bonnie probably will," she said. Nathan looked curious; before he could ask, Logan added, "She's in AP Bio and AP Calculus. She's probably going to take all AP classes next year."
"Wow," said Nathan.
"I know," said Logan rather dryly. "The only AP I'm doing next year is AP Euro." She paused. "And maybe AP Chem."
"You know, Ashleigh is going to be taking AP Chem herself," said Nathan. Ashleigh and Logan were the same age, which probably contributed to their hatred of each other. "You two could—"
Logan was already shaking her head. "Come on, Logan," Nathan pleaded. "At least try to get along with her. I'm sure once you two actually spent some time together…"
"Nope," said Logan shortly.
Their conversation ended rather soon after this, and Nathan left Logan eating by herself in order to take a phone call. Logan was relieved to be left alone. She took out her phone and half played Candy Crush while continuing to eat.
She'd passed three levels when her grandfather reappeared. "Oh, hey," said Logan, upon glancing up toward the main hallway and sighting him. She furrowed her eyebrows; he still looked suspicious, like he might find someone listening in at any moment. "What's up?"
"I need to talk to you," said her grandfather. He quickened his pace in order to walk over and sit down in the chair Nathan had recently occupied. Then he leaned forward a little, quite serious again. "Listen," he said in a low voice, "even if nothing has happened yet, it will soon. How old are you? When do you turn eighteen?"
Logan was really tempted already to not give any credence to this conversation, but it occurred to her then that Bonnie's alcoholic grandmother had been right on the money about pretty much everything. "November," she said cautiously.
"You'll have to be careful this summer, particularly on the solstice," said her grandfather gravely. "Your father didn't want me to say anything—" He suddenly stopped and looked back. "Never mind, he'll be back soon. Don't tell him I said anything."
Before Logan could respond, he was up and gone again, this time heading in the direction of the drawing room. Logan looked after him for a second. What the heck? That conversation, combined with the whole maybe-compulsion thing, was really freaking her out.
Just in case Nathan really was coming back, Logan quickly finished up and moved to put her dishes in the dishwasher. She grabbed her things and headed upstairs to her usual guestroom and spread out her things on the bed. They were all supposed to hang out together and see a play or something tomorrow, but she'd worry about it when the time came.
Logan flopped onto her bed after changing into a pair of shorts and a tank top. Once she was comfortable she reached for her phone to check it. She decided why the hell not and returned an earlier call from Elena. "Hey," said Logan, when Elena picked up. "What's going on?"
"Isobel is dead."
Logan jumped, startled, and nearly fell off the bed. "Wh—what?" She glanced toward the closed door, hoping none of the Ramoses had overheard this outburst. "When?" Logan asked, once she was slightly calmer. "What happened? Are you okay?"
"I don't know, honestly," said Elena, kind of laughing. Logan pictured her taking hold of her hair, then turning and dropping it again as she paced in her bedroom. "She—she showed up here this morning and tried to convince Stefan and I that she just wanted to protect me. Which, you know, made total sense, given that she basically didn't give a damn about me last time she was here."
Logan snorted. Elena continued, "She tried to tell me she had a safehouse with the deed in my name that she could take me to. Of course I didn't want to go. She ended up—she kidnapped me, and she brought us to a cemetery, and then she—she just let herself get burned. She took off her talisman and stood there in front of me and caught on fire, Logan!"
"Elena, Elena," said Logan quickly. "That's—that's some pretty crazy shit right there, but you've experienced worse, right?" She winced almost immediately after saying this; she was so not good at comforting people.
"I guess," muttered Elena.
"I'm really sorry she died," Logan said, because she wasn't sure what else there was to say. "It sucks."
Elena laughed a little. "Yeah, it does."
For a brief moment neither of them said anything. Logan rolled over onto her back and brushed out her long dark curly hair, so it was splayed out on the comforter behind her, and reached up to play with a couple of tendrils. "Oh," Elena suddenly said. "I almost forgot. You'll never guess what Stefan gave me today."
Logan wanted to laugh. "I don't know, a Tesla?"
"A house!" Elena sounded quite enthusiastic about this. "The Salvatores had me sign the deed to their house, so now I'm going to stay here until we know for sure I'm safe!"
"A house?" Logan echoed. She struggled to sit up. "How to heck do you forget about a house?!" Logan thought about it. "Especially that house?" She'd only been there twice, but she remembered that fancy and ornate place.
Elena laughed for real this time. "I know, right?"
Logan frowned. "How did Stefan get Damon to agree to this?"
"I have no idea," Elena admitted. "I probably don't want to know. It's really cool, though, right?"
"It's beyond really cool!" Logan replied. "That's—that's intense! That's some serious dedication, my friend!" Logan shook her head and leaned back against her free hand. "Stefan is head over heels for you, girl."
She could almost feel Elena blushing. "Oh, shut up."
"You know it's true," Logan insisted. "He gave you his freakin' house." Logan snickered. "I've heard of gestures, but that's on a whole new level."
"Ah," said Elena. "Speaking of new levels. Um, John died today." Before Logan could freak out, Elena quickly added, "But he was wearing the ring and Isobel killed him, so he came back a little while ago. He said he had no idea what Isobel's plan was or anything."
Logan frowned. "Do you believe him?"
"I don't know," Elena replied. "But he's the only parent I've got left." She sighed. "I told him he could stay in town."
"Cool," said Logan. "I guess that's you being the bigger person, right?"
"Yeah, I guess," said Elena, though she didn't sound very enthusiastic about it. "Hey—when are you coming home?"
Logan shrugged automatically, even though she knew Elena couldn't see her. "Sunday afternoon. I'm going to Mass that night though, right after I get home. Why? What's up, other than the obvious?"
"We just haven't hung out in a while," said Elena, who was clearly trying to extend some kind of semi-official peace treaty. "We should sometime this week."
For a split second Logan considered telling her off for getting mad about the tea party and Elijah. Then she said, "Definitely. Let me know when you're free." It wasn't worth it anyway. Elijah was gone.
"I will. Good luck with your dad."
Logan snorted. "Thanks. And I am really sorry about Isobel, Elena."
There was a pause. Then Elena sighed again and said, "I know. Me too." She hesitated before adding, "I'll talk to you later."
"Bye," said Logan, and hung up. She shook her head to herself and tossed her phone aside. Then she prayed for everyone in Mystic Falls, because everybody was going missing or dying as of late, and Logan didn't like it one bit.
AUTHOR'S NOTE | Sorry about the lateness of this, y'all! I have two internships that are kicking my butt. I'll do my best to update again next week :) And seriously, thank all of you so, so much for reading, favoriting, following, and reviewing! I love you guys! :D
DISCLAIMER | I don't own The Vampire Diaries.