A few days after their run in with Katherine, Maria was at Caroline's house. "Hey, how are you?"

"I'm fine. Matt doesn't remember anything." Caroline told her.

"I don't know, Care. I have this weird feeling he's hiding something."

"Like what?"

"I'm not sure, but I don't know if I want to find out." Maria said. "Anyway, I need to stop by the guys' before school. Wanna come?"

"Actually, Matt's picking me up." Caroline told her.

"We can be there and back in five minutes, remember?"

"Yeah, I just forgot for a second."

The two of them ran to the Boarding House. When they were about to enter, it was like they hit a wall. "Ow." Maria put a hand to her forehead. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah. What happened?"

"Their plan. I almost forgot about it." Maria said. Bonnie was in the hallway and noticed them.

"What are you two doing out here?"

"Uh, we're kind of…" Maria began. Bonnie realized it.

"Uh, Elena?" She called. It wasn't long before she noticed them.

"Sorry."

"It's fine." Caroline said. "Not like we didn't just hit an invisible wall or something."

"Maria, Caroline, get in here." Maria stepped in, but Caroline was hesitant.

"It's fine, now, Caroline." Maria told her.

"I don't know." Maria grabbed her arm and pulled her in.

"See, I told you, we're clear now."

"I should head back. My mom would freak if she knew I snuck out." Caroline said. She walked out the door.

"What's Barbie's problem?" Maria jumped when she heard Damon's voice.

"You have got to stop doing that." She said, turning around.

"Sorry. I couldn't help it that time."

"Guys, we need to focus on how we're going to handle the Klaus situation." Stefan reminded them.

"Well, now that Bonnie's got the power of those witches, everything should be fine, right?" Maria asked. Nobody answered. "Spirits talk you know. By the way, guys, did no one think to call and tell me the signing was today?"

"It was kinda a last-minute thing." Damon told her. "Besides, I thought you knew."

"You try walking into an invisible wall." She told him. "It's not fun."

"Well, we're going to be late if this keeps up." Elena said, breaking the tension in the room.

"Wait, with Klaus out there being late to school is what you're worried about?" Damon asked.

"Relax, we'll all be there." Maria said. "Between a witch, a vampire, and a mix of the two, she's got nothing to worry about." They headed out the door.

The group sat down in history class. Maria looked at the others, wondering why Ric was late. A couple minutes later, he came in. "Hello, class. What are we learning today?"

Maria got nervous. With everything going on with the group preparing to take on Klaus, she had completely blanked on everything school-related, including her geometry homework.

"With the decade dance tonight, we've been covering the sixties all week." One of the students spoke up.

"Right. The sixties." He turned to the board and began writing. "The sixties. I wish there was something good I could say about the sixties, but... Actually, they kind of sucked. Except for the Beatles, of course. They made it bearable. Uh, what else was there? The Cuban missile thing, the... we walked on the moon. There was Watergate."

"Watergate was the seventies, Ric." Elena said. Everyone turned to look at her, including Maria. Did she forget that they were in class? "I-I mean, Mr. Saltzman."

"Right. It all kind of mushes together up here, the sixties, seventies. Thank you, Elena." Alaric told her. Maria looked at him. She instantly had a bad feeling about him, but didn't know why.

A few hours later, Maria and Elena were headed toward Bonnie and Jeremy's table. "So, why did you decide to come here in the first place?"

"I don't know. I feel like something led me here." Maria told her. "And I've always liked school. I know it's weird, but it just makes me feel normal. Like I'm not some kind of freak."

"You're not a freak." Elena pointed out. "You're one of the most amazing people I know." Maria looked to her. "Anyway, why did you befriend me that day?"

"When I first saw you, I had a feeling you might need an extra hand dealing with everything." Maria said. "I mean, related to the supernatural. Besides, you seemed like the type who didn't really spend much time with her friends."

"Well, I was going through a rough time." Elena told her. "Losing your parents will do that to you." Maria just nodded. She didn't want to point out she couldn't even remember her parents.

They sat down with Bonnie and Jeremy. "Hey, Jer. How you doing? Are you ok at the house alone with John?" Elena asked.

"It's not ideal." He told her, getting up. Maria knew that their household was going through a rough time because Jeremy and Stefan filled her in on it.

"You haven't heard from Jenna, have you?" Elena asked.

"It looks like she's staying on campus instead of coming home." Jeremy told them. "I'm late for class." He left in a hurry. Maria felt bad about the mess. She couldn't help but feel slightly responsible for what happened.

"What's going on?" Elena asked, snapping Maria out of her thoughts.

"I told him he had to dress up tonight and he got all uptight." Bonnie told them. Maria knew she was lying, but decided to keep it to herself. One of the girls from class sat with them.

"Hey, Elena, there you are." She said. "Ok. This
is going to sound freaky, but this totally hot guy just asked me to ask you if you're going to the dance tonight."

"Tell him she has a boyfriend." Bonnie said.

"You could at least meet him." The girl, Dana, told them. "He'll be at the dance tonight. Look for him. His name is Klaus." Maria froze.

"I'm sorry, what did you just say?" Elena asked.

"His name's Klaus. I know the name's stupid, but I swear he's hot." The girls started looking around the room.

"Where is he? Is he here?" Bonnie asked.

"I don't know." Maria looked at the girl.

"She's being compelled." She told them.

"But he wants to know if you'll save him the last dance. How cute is that?"

"Yeah, cute. If you like unwanted stalkers." Maria said. Bonnie and Elena looked at each other. "What?"

A few minutes later, the three of them were meeting with Stefan and Damon at the Boarding House. They had explained what had happened at school. "So we go to the dance, we find him." Damon said.

"Really? How are we going to do that?" Stefan asked. "We don't even know what he looks like."

"Something tells me he's not going to be 16 and pimply." Damon said.

"Would you stop making jokes?" Maria snapped. "This is serious!"

"He could be anywhere at any time. He compelled somebody at school." Stefan pointed out. "I guess it's not as safe as you guys thought, huh?" There was a knock at the door. Alaric entered the house.

"There you are."

"Sorry I'm late." Maria frowned. It wasn't like Ric to be late. She knew something was wrong.

"Hey, I need you to put me down as a chaperone at the dance tonight. Klaus made his first move." Damon told him.

"Okay, so we find him and then what, hmm? What's our plan of attack?" Elena asked.

"Me. I'm the plan." Everyone turned to look at Bonnie. "He has no idea how much power I can channel. If you can find him, I can kill him."

"Are you sure about that, Bonnie?" Maria asked. She knew exactly what risks she was taking to do this.

"That's not going to be that easy. I mean, he is the biggest, baddest vampire around." Alaric pointed out.

"Alaric has a point." Damon said. "I mean, what if he..." He sped over to Bonnie, but she threw him to the other side of the room with her powers without even looking. The others looked at her in surprise.

"Well, I was impressed." Stefan said.

"It doesn't matter if he's an Original. I can take down anyone who comes at me." Bonnie said. "I can kill him, Elena. I know I can." She turned to Maria. "Trust me on this." Maria nodded.

That night, the group headed to the dance. Maria was wearing a red long-sleeved dress with a belt that had purple hearts on it. For accessories, she was wearing two fake pearl bracelets on her wrists and a purple chocker. They showed up outside the school to see Jeremy going inside, away from Bonnie.

They walked over to them. "Hey, guys." Elena said. "You look nice."

"You, too." She and Bonnie embraced.

"Did you two get into a fight or something?" Maria asked. Bonnie looked over at her. Maria understood and decided to keep quiet about it.

"You guys ready to do this?" Stefan asked.

"Let's just get it over with." Maria said. They all headed inside. The gym was already crowded, full of people dancing. Maria saw Dana go up on stage.

"Thanks for being here, everybody. We have a special shout-out tonight. This is for Elena. From Klaus." She put on a song. The rest of the group was stunned.

"That was a lame, cheap shot." Damon said. "He's just trying to bait us."

"I know everyone here." Elena pointed out.

"Maybe he's not here." Stefan said. "Just wants us to believe that he is."

"You know what I think? He's probably just trying to freak us out." Maria said.

"Well, it certainly worked." Bonnie said.

"It's a party, people. Blend. Let him come to us." Damon said.

"Good idea." Bonnie grabbed Jeremy's arm.

"No, no, I really don't feel like dancing." Jeremy told her.

"Too bad." Maria watched apologetically as she dragged him to the dance floor.

"There's Ric. I'll be back." Damon told them. He walked over to him. Maria still didn't know if she should tell them or not about what she'd felt.

"Hey, you okay, Maria? You seem a bit distracted today." Elena said.

"I'm fine, Elena." Maria told her. "I've just been getting a weird feeling about things, but I don't know who to talk to."

"Maybe you should tell Damon. You two seem to be close lately." Stefan suggested.

"You're right." She walked over to him just as Ric left. "Hey, can I talk to you?"

"Sure." They danced while Maria spoke, in order to maintain their cover.

"I've been getting a bad feeling about Mr. Saltzman." Maria said.

"What do you mean?" Damon asked.

"I keep feeling this dark vibe coming from him, but I don't know why." She explained. "It's like there's something wrong and I can't tell what it is."

"Are you sure you're not just nervous because of Klaus?" Damon asked.

"No way. I'm not even afraid of that guy. He's putting all my friends…no, my family, in danger." Maria said. "Just be careful around Ric. I don't think he's himself." She saw Caroline and Matt come in. "Dance with Elena. I'll be right back."

Elena noticed them, too. "Caroline's here. They don't know what's going on. We have to tell her."

"I'm on it." Stefan told her. He looked and saw Maria and Damon.

"I'll keep Matt busy while you talk to Caroline." Maria told him. They headed over to them.

Caroline and Matt were awkwardly dancing together. "What?" Caroline asked.

"You look really pretty tonight." Matt told her. Stefan came over to them then.

"Hey, guys."

"Hey, man, what's up?" Matt asked.

"Hey. Do you mind if I steal your date for a moment?" Stefan asked.

"No, not all. I'll get us something to drink." Matt left them alone, when Maria walked over to him.

"Matt, hey."

"Maria. Haven't seen you in a while. What's up?" Matt asked.

"Just the usual, trying to do well in school and hopefully figure out what to major in." Maria said.

"What's wrong?" Caroline asked Stefan.

"Klaus is here." He told her.

"What?!"

"Yeah."

"Where?" Caroline asked.

"We have no idea. But keep your eye out for anything that might be weird, ok?" He told her.

"Caroline said that you've been acting kinda distant lately." Maria said as she danced with Matt.

"Well, she's been hiding something." Matt told her. "It's almost like she hasn't been herself." He spun Maria in. The instant she touched his arm, she knew why he'd been so weird with Caroline. She nearly fell from the shock. "You okay?"

"Yeah." Maria said. "Look, I don't know what's going on with you two, but you need to know this: whoever Caroline is, she is still the same person inside, no matter how she changes." She looked around and heard Jeremy trying to talk Bonnie out of their plan. "I have to go. The bottom of my dress ripped." She headed over to them at the same time Damon did.

"May I?" Damon asked. Jeremy tried to leave, but Maria stopped him.

"Can we talk?" She asked him. The two of them moved away from them.

"You know what she's planning to do, don't you?" Jeremy asked.

"Of course I do. We never keep secrets from each other." Maria told him.

"Then you know how dangerous this is."

"Relax, I promise that nothing will happen to Bonnie." Maria said.

"How can you promise that?"

"I'm a witch, too, remember?" Maria pointed out. "And we have a few back-up plans in case he tries to surprise us."

"Got it." Jeremy said. "But still, this whole thing seems really messed up." He headed outside. Maria went outside to find Elena and Bonnie arguing.

"Elena."

"How can you be okay with this?" Elena asked her.

"Calm down, I can use my powers to protect her." Maria said. "That way, nobody dies."

"I don't know, Maria." Bonnie said. "We haven't had the best luck with spells lately."

"Look, I don't want to see you die any more than the others." Maria said. "We're practically sisters."

"Elena." They looked up and saw Alaric.

"What is it?"

"He has Jeremy."

"What?" Elena asked.

"I can lead you to him. Come on." Maria went in with them, still sensing something wasn't right. But this time, the feeling was getting stronger. That's when it hit her. "Oh my God. I should've known." She fell to the ground.

"Maria, are you okay?" Elena asked. Bonnie went to her side.

"She's okay. She just fainted." Bonnie said. They continued walking down the hall until they realized something was up. "Where's Jeremy?"

"I just had to get out of there. Sixties, not my decade."

"Alaric, are you on vervain?" Elena asked. Neither of the girls saw Maria get up.

"Why would you ask that, Elena?"

"He's being compelled." Bonnie said.

"Good guess, but no."

"But you do know, don't you?" Maria said. She was right behind the other girls now. "Because you are NOT Alaric!"

"Wow. You're smarter than I gave you credit for."

"You pretended to faint." Bonnie whispered to her. Maria nodded. Then she knew the girls knew, too.

"Klaus." Elena said.

"Surprise." Bonnie stepped in front of Elena. They were both thrown back by something.

"That wasn't me." Maria told them.

"Relax, you're not on my hit list tonight." Klaus told them. He turned to Bonnie. "But you are." Bonnie threw him back.

"Not now. Run!" Maria told them. The three of them ran down the hallway. Bonnie closed the doors behind them with her powers. Maria kept running until she bumped into someone. The person grabbed her arm. "Let go of me!"

"It's me." She looked and saw that she'd bumped into Damon. "What happened?"

"Klaus is in Alaric's body." Elena told him.

"What?"

"He's possessing it or something." Bonnie explained.

"It's why I've been having such a bad feeling about him all day." Maria added.

Damon turned to Elena. "Go find Stefan. Now." Elena took off down the hallway. Maria started to go with her. "Hang on, we might need a hand." He turned to Bonnie. "Can you kill him?"

"He's got some kind of protection spell."

"You have the power of a hundred witches. Break it."

"We've tried that." Maria said.

"If I kill Alaric, he'll just possess someone else. He knows I have my power, Damon. He's trying to kill me." Bonnie explained.

"We're not going to lose you, Bon." Maria said. "I won't let that happen."

"Klaus does not get to win tonight, no way." Damon told them. "You still willing to do whatever it takes to kill him?" Maria looked at him and realized she knew what the plan was.

"That's risky, Damon." She said. She looked at Bonnie. "Can I see your necklace for a second?" She held it briefly. Then she let go and ran to find Stefan and Elena.

"Guys, sorry I took so long."

"Later, we have to find Bonnie. Have you seen her?" Elena asked. Maria clenched her fists. She hated lying, but it had to be done.

"No, sorry. Last I saw, Damon was with her. He told me to find you guys."

"Can't you track her down?" Stefan pointed out.

"Klaus has a witch helping him. He'd probably block me." Maria said. "Even if I could find a way around it, there's no chance I'd make it, even if I am half-vampire."

"Let's just try to find Damon." Elena said. They took off running down the hall again. Damon found them.

"There you are." Bonnie wasn't with him.

"What are you doing? Where's Bonnie?" Elena asked.

"She's doing what she has to do." Damon told her.

"What?"

"Where is she?" Stefan asked.

"Stefan, let her do this."

"Damn it, Damon, where is she?"

"Oh my God!" The argument was broken off as Maria spoke. "I feel it. She's trying to fight Klaus." Elena and Stefan took off.

"Can you really tune into that?"

"Yes." Maria told him. "I still can't believe you agreed to let her risk her life." She ran down the hallway to look for Elena and Stefan.

By the time she caught up to them, they were outside a locked door. She showed up just as Bonnie fell to the ground. For a moment, she was scared. Her friend really looked like she was dead.

They got into the room then. Stefan and Maria looked around. Klaus was gone. "Man, I hate those illusion spells." Maria said.

"Stefan, she's not breathing!" They turned to find Elena holding Bonnie in her arms. Stefan went to her side while Maria looked at Bonnie. "Stefan! Stefan, I can't find her pulse!" Just give her blood, do something, please!" Maria touched Bonnie's wrist. She was right about having no pulse, to her shock.

"It's too late. I'm sorry." Stefan told her. Maria felt really bad about not telling them. She hated seeing Elena like this. Just then Damon showed up.

"Stefan, get Elena out of here. I'll deal with this." He told him.

"What do you mean, deal with this?" Elena asked.

"The sheriff can't know about this. Last thing we need's another mysterious death." He pointed out.

"This is Bonnie!"

"Elena." Maria said. Everyone looked at her. "It's okay. I will make sure that nothing happens to her. Now go." Stefan helped Elena get to her feet.

"Wait, what about Jeremy?"

"I'll find him." Damon told her. They left the room, leaving the two of them. Maria went to Bonnie to see if she was still wearing the necklace. She found it on her. She felt a rush of power as she took her hand and felt part of it leave her.

"You sure you want to do this?"

"It was the only way." Maria said. "Get her out of here safely and carefully. When she wakes up, I don't want her to be uncomfortable." He nodded and helped get her out of the school.

Maria got back to the Boarding House early. Elena was sitting in the living room. "She's still in shock." Stefan told her. She jumped. She hadn't expected to run into him in the hallway. "Are you okay?"

"I've been better." Maria told him. She went into the living room and sat on a chair next to Elena. "Hey." It was killing her to see Elena so upset. "She's okay, Elena."

"How are you doing with all this?" She asked.

"It's hard." Maria said. Luckily, Stefan walked in then. He handed Elena a glass.

"Here, drink this."

"I can't." She said.

"Yeah. Yeah, you can." Reluctantly, she took the glass.

"This is my fault." She cried. Maria and Stefan looked at each other, then turned back to Elena.

"No, no, no, no, no. No. Hey. This was Klaus. Listen to me. Klaus did this."

"He's right, you know. It's his fault Bonnie's like this now." Maria said. Just then, Damon walked in.

"What did you do with her?" Maria stepped back. She was a little scared of Elena right now.

"Will you please calm her down?"

"We tried." Maria told him.

"Don't talk like I'm not standing right in front of you."

"Please calm down."

"You knew! Didn't you? You knew that if she harnessed all that power, that she would die, didn't you?" Elena asked him.

"Yes, I knew." Damon told her. She slapped him. Maria just looked surprised.

"You need to listen to me, and prepare for what I'm about to say. Bonnie had to die. Klaus using Alaric's body was a total surprise. She wasn't prepared for that. And he wasn't going to stop, and we weren't going to be able to stop him until he knew she was dead." Damon explained. "He had to believe it."

"Wait, what?" Elena asked. Just then, Maria felt a shock pass through her. She looked at him and nodded.

"They cast a spell. She's alive, Elena. Bonnie's okay."

"They?" Stefan turned to Maria. "You were in on this?"

"Do you really think I'd leave a member of my family in danger?" Maria pointed out. "I came up with a couple of back-up plans to make sure she'd be okay. Faking her death was all Damon's idea, though. I just helped put the protection spell on her."

"And did it work?"

"I think it did." Maria told Elena, smiling. "Sorry I lied, but we had to think on our feet." She was surprised when she felt Elena's arms around her.

"Thank you.

"Hey, there's no way I'd let anything happen to either one of you." Maria said.

She headed upstairs to call Bonnie, like they'd arranged. "Hey, how are you?"

"I feel fine. Thanks to you."

"Hey, it was your spell. I just helped." Maria pointed out.

"Still, I'm not sure…"

"Relax, I have an idea on how we can destroy Klaus." Maria said. "And no, you won't be sacrificing you're life then either."

"Can you tell me about it tomorrow? I have to let Elena know I'm okay." Bonnie pointed out.

"No problem."

Maria went to Damon's room to see how he was doing. "Hey, looks like it really worked." Maria told him.

"Yeah, I'm glad she's okay." He told her.

"How are you doing?"

"Fine."

"You know, you did kinda come across as a jerk." Maria told him. "Back when we were explaining everything."

"At least you're not the one who got slapped."

"No, but I'll bet Stef's going to be angry with me." Maria said. She walked over to him. "But we did what had to be done." She kissed him on the cheek.

"Yeah, we did."

"I'm going to head to my room." Maria told him. She turned to leave and saw Elena. Damon noticed, too.

"Look. Klaus had to think she was dead. Your reaction had to be real." He told her.

"I understand why you did what you did. Klaus was fooled, and Bonnie's alive." Elena said.

"Here's to duplicity."

"But let's get one thing straight, Damon. Bonnie will not die for me, I will not let that happen." Elena told him.

"We need to kill Klaus, Elena. Real Klaus. Who will probably be coming to pay you a visit soon now that he knows that Bonnie is dead. She's the only one who can do it."

"We'll find another way." Elena said.

"I hope so."

"Same here." Maria said. "Look, I promise nothing will happen to Bonnie, ever."

"Thanks." Elena said. She turned to Damon. "I shouldn't have hit you".

"Apology accepted. Let me be clear about something. If it comes down to you and the witch again, I will always choose you." Damon told her.

"Good night, Damon." Elena said.

"Good night." Elena left the room.

"You know Bonnie might not make it if…" Damon started.

"Bonnie's not the only witch around here, remember?" Maria said. "Should anything even start to go wrong, I will make sure to stop it." They looked at each other for a moment. Then, Maria headed out of the room and up to hers.

Dear Diary,

We managed to stop one of Klaus' plans, at least. Now we just need to find a way to end him so that no one else gets hurt in the process. I know my idea is a little risky, but it might be the only chance we have.

A/N: And that's it for this chapter. Maria's role in Damon's plan might cause a small problem, though. But he's not the only one coming up with ideas, it seems. What do you think Maria's planning to do to stop Klaus? Review and let me know what you think.