Thirty-six

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"Why does it have to be in a dark, creepy cave anyway?" I ask unhappily, as I take care not to twist my ankle with these unexpected rocks on the ground.

"That Mystic Cave map really freaked you out when you were a kid."

I wince at him behind his back. I could insist and say it would be better and easier to be out there above the surface, but it wouldn't. When we left the house to find that cave tonight, the winds were howling and snowflakes were attacking us from everywhere; now as creepy as being here might be, it's not nearly as difficult as the snowstorm above our heads.

When the tunnel leads us into the larger cave, somehow less dark than the others, I follow Kai toward the center of it. Right above us, a hole in the ground allows us to see the night sky and the northern lights; snowflakes spin in the air and fall, accumulating in small, white piles at our feet. The witch takes a look at the lights, then at his watch and nods to himself.

"Right on time; now we wait."

He settles the ascendant right under the lights, then takes a couple steps back, so as not to remain under the snow fall, and drops his backpack to the ground. I watch him take a box of biscuits out of it and shake my head when he offers me some. My stomach is all twisted and tensed, I can't eat anything. I drop my backpack next to his and silently watch the sky and the northern lights, those beautiful ribbons of vivid blue and green, dancing in the dark. It is a wonderful thing to see, it's a shame we didn't come to enjoy it more often; but then, it was always more comfortable to stay home at night, where it was warm and cozy, rather than go up against a snowstorm. Besides, I never felt completely safe at night in this world; not since realizing we weren't alone.

It's weird to think we'll be leaving this place without knowing who or what was there with us. Spirits? Ghosts? Other prisoners? I guess Kai will have to dig into his family archives to know more. I look at him and watch him stare at the ascendant, waiting for that blessed, bright, white light to embrace us and take us home.

I start pacing around, unable to remain clam; my stomach twists and twirls with apprehension. As soon as the rescue team lands, they'll probably try to hinder him somehow so I need to be quick and firm about my decision to bring him back. Once this part done, they'll see over time that he's changed, just like I got to see it. All I need is to make sure he comes back with us. I can't just leave him here alone. Breathe, Andy. Let's get this over with.

I exhale once more with impatience and freeze. I listen hard for a second and then my head whips to the right, towards the dark tunnel we just came from. I can't help but feel like we're not alone; is someone there with us? I frown and step towards the entrance of the larger cave, peeking out in the darkness. It's like there is this presence, lurking right here, the same one as in the house.

I don't know whether it's because I'm about to go back to the real world but I'm not feeling defenseless right now; if anything, I'm feeling strong and untouchable. I turn my head to Kai, about to ask him to come with me check it out but I catch myself before that – he's terrified of missing the ride home, I won't get him to step away from the northern lights. Besides, I probably shouldn't care for it; we're this close to going home, I should just stick with my witch. Yet, there is this presence calling for me, right here in the dark, this pull to go and see the face of what's been lurking behind my door for so many nights.

"Watch for the portal," I say, "I'll take a look around."

He distractedly nods, still absorbed in his contemplation of the ascendant, as if he could activate it by mere will, and I step out of the cave, squinting in order to see better but there's nothing to see except the narrow walls of the tunnel. I know I should go back; the portal is going to open any minute now and they'll be here, attacking him with weapons, words and looks, but the pull is too insistent, the curiosity too appealing and the others are going to land and rescue us anyway, nothing can happen to me. I step further into the darkness and take a careful look around– What was that? Right there, it just disappeared at the corner of the tunnel. Was that a Light? I'm not even sure, it was so quick and so grim.

"Andy!" Kai's voice shouts from behind me in the cave and I motion to walk back but there is that glimpse again; not even a glimpse, more like a lighter shade of darkness blending in the darkness, so thin and so tenuous I can't even tell whether it's real while I'm looking at it. And it's staring right back. I shiver.

"ANDY!" he calls louder, and I can hear the urgency in his voice.

I finally unlock my attention from this presence and walk back to him only to stop at the entrance of the larger cave. My witch is there, standing in that white light that invaded the space, holding on to the ascendant that started floating in the air, calling out my name like he's not gonna hold. Our backpacks are still on the ground not far from him and his box of biscuits is lying there as well, as if it fell when he got up and lunged for the ascendant. A terrifying anguish settles inside me, as I understand what's going on: the others are not coming, they simply threw this life belt in the sea and wait for us to grab it; for me.

I immediately run for it; Kai outstretches his arm toward me and I tap into my supernatural speed, aiming for his hand. It all happens in half a second, though it feels like an eternity; I run, reach out for his hand and lunge– Nothing. The cave is dark and my hand grasps for emptiness in the air. He's gone.

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%

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"NO!"

The bright, white light vanishes and Kai's feet settle on the ground. He is confused but the daylight, the warmer temperature and the woods around him, all bare of the inches of snow he is used to seeing every day, force him to understand. "No," he whispers, looking at the ascendant in his hand like he doesn't know what it is.

"Kai?"

"Oh, God, no."

"What the hell, Bonnie?" The voices are distant, non-existent, void of any meaning. Powerful hands abruptly grab him by his coat and a man's face appears in front of his, distorted with anger.

"Where is she? What did you do to her?"

Kai couldn't care less about him; he needs to do the spell again, they need to get her back. He looks around for the Bennett witch, ignoring Liv's pained and scared face as she stands closer to Alaric, and locks eyes with her, not letting her fear and hatred get to him.

"Do it again," he orders, holding the ascendant towards her.

"I can't," she says quietly, guilt clouding her eyes.

"She was right there!" Kai shouts, feeling more and more oppressed with despair, "We're doing it again; I don't care if I have to bleed you for it."

"Hey," Damon says with authority, as he protectively steps before Bonnie, "No need to bleed anyone. We're going to cast the spell again and we're going to get Andy back."

"Damon, I can't," Bonnie whispers.

He turns to her sad face and then looks up to the sky; they all imitate him and understand they are now missing a key element to opening the portal. Magic, ascendant, Bennett blood, recurring celestial event. Now that this one is over, Andy is stuck; until the next one.

"We can't leave her in there," Alaric points out, his arms folded.

"I know," Bonnie turns to him.

"Look," Damon intervenes calmly, "We knew it might not work, that's why we have our back-up plan." He turns to the stranger still holding Kai in his grip and assures him he looked up all the celestial events coming up in the next few days. "There is this moon eclipse coming up soon so everybody just chill; we're getting her back."

Silence meets his words and they all look at Kai, who is now staring at his other hand, the empty one, like something is missing. The stranger squints at him, undecided as to what to do with him, and Damon seems to detect his lust for murder. "Hey, remember this is the Gemini leader's skull you're about to smash; you might want to think about it twice before you murder his entire coven for free."

"All you do is talk, Damon," the stranger retorts, not leaving Kai out of his sight, "You promised this spell would get her back and it didn't."

"But it brought Kai back, which means it works," the vampire points out.

"Well, one of you definitely needs to learn how to aim properly," the other man retorts.

"I'm sorry," Bonnie snaps at him, "I tried, okay? It wasn't easy but I tried; and I failed."

"You tried?" Kai coolly repeats, a cold anger taking over him, "She was right there! Had you waited for one more second, she would have made it back; had you come to 1903 yourself and secured her way through, she would have made it back. Don't say you tried, Bonnie. All you were trying to do was hold me back, no matter whether she got through."

Silence meets his words and the two stare with animosity. They all certainly expected him to snap and try to murder everybody if he were to escape – they know he is still able to do that with just one and a half thought – but until now, he's been rather passive and his anger doesn't seem to be about revenge. That is what throws them all off.

Bonnie is the one to look away. She purses her lips and shakes her head, probably angry with herself for failing at rescuing the right person.

"It was supposed to be her," she whispers after a while, "not you."

"She was right there."

The mood changes in the woods; now that they're done arguing, the atmosphere shifts to general disappointment and defeat. They were trying to rescue Andy and they failed. Liv brushes a hand in her hair and shakes her head.

"What do we do now?" she asks Damon.

"We wait," Kai answers for him. Heads whip to him at these words. He looks calm now, composed. There is a plan and he can act on that. "We wait here for the next event and make sure we don't miss it."

Liv internally shrinks back when hearing this, and she doesn't know why immediately. She never saw her brother so serious and calm about something, not about the right thing, that is. Just now, he sounded a lot like her dad when he would wear his leader hat and give an order. Just now, with this fierce resolution in his blue eyes, he looks a lot like Luke. She looks away and Damon winces.

"Yeah, when I said it's coming up soon, I didn't mean in a matter of hours." Both Kai and the stranger frown at him and he cautiously announces, "The moon eclipse is in twelve days."

"Twelve days?" Kai and the stranger snap in one voice.

The witch looks at him and squints, finally acknowledging his existence. The guy is nearly as tall as him, a couple years older and more broadly shaped; his skin is tanned, his black hair is streaked with silver near his temples, and his big brown eyes convey nothing but utter defiance towards him – the same as everybody else here, one might say – and animosity.

"And who would you be?" he asks, recoiling from the stranger's grip.

"I'm Jared–"

"Great," Kai mutters, shaking his head and trying to remain calm, but anger isn't far, "It had to be you."

"What's that supposed to mean? I don't even know you."

"I just can't believe Alice wouldn't come, you know," he despicably smirks. "I mean, her sister goes missing for months and she doesn't even come herself, she sends her husband over like it's nothing."

Jared opens his mouth but doesn't reply, taken aback, and while they all frown – all except Liv, for she seems to be perpetually frowning by default – Alaric is the one to speak.

"Wait… you're the leader's husband? I thought you were important. Clanwise, I mean."

"I am," Jared finally says, glaring at Kai, "and not that it's any of your business, but our leader can't just drop everything and run over when someone goes missing; even when it's her sister."

"But she can spare her first lieutenant apparently," the witch retorts, not buying it.

"I've known Andy all my life, she's like a sister to me. Now I don't know what you think you know about us, but I'm not discussing clan business with you; with any of you."

"Wait," Damon says with a frown, "how do you even know all this? It took us weeks to get that guy to tell us how he likes his coffee and here you come, throwing intel like rank and marital status when only hearing his name."

"I don't know, Damon", Kai says with a shrug, "I probably tortured it all out of Andy during our time in prison."

At these words, Jared grabs the witch's coat again, threatening him with a clenched fist. Kai only smirks, unmoved, while Damon and Alaric start, not knowing whether to stop him or not. This is witch business after all, witches and Lightbringers; after spending time around Andy and after all those weeks spent with Jared, they can't help but wonder: are they allowed to interfere between the two?

"Don't hold your breath," Kai tells them dramatically, "He's not going to punch me; in fact, it's in his best interest to keep me alive and safe."

He offers the Lightbringer an angelic smile. His best defense.

"He's right," Bonnie intervenes, "If anything happens to Kai here, who knows what will happen to the prison worlds? Let's not do anything that could risk Andy's safety."

"See? You can be smart when you want to."

She glares at Kai, but he can't even look at her, and Jared lowers his fist. The Gemini leader steps out of his reach once more, saying, "The thing, Jar – you don't mind me calling you Jar, right? – the thing is, I know the reason why you're here. You're here because your lovely wife of a leader couldn't trust anyone else but you on this case." Jared stiffens and the others frown, listening. "You're here, because she couldn't send an entire rescue team over to Mystic Falls and risk exposing her father's secret alliance with mine."

The Lightbringer clenches his jaw and the witch addresses a self-important smile to his audience – most of whom are currently wishing they could snap his neck. "Because if your elders find out that she's been lying to them about it since last summer, chances are they're gonna get really pissed and they might… I don't know, destitute her from leadership? Like some sort of a supernatural impeachment. Of course, you and Andy would be suspended as well for complying and possibly endangering the clan, which usually doesn't sit well with any group of elders if you ask me, and the whole Lightbringer community would be forced to throw new elections or whatever, facing the turmoil of political unrest, instead of assessing witches who need it. That wouldn't be good, right?"

Jared glares at him, possibly hating him more than he ever hated anyone – especially a witch – but he doesn't say anything.

"So remember that, every time you want to hurt me or one from my coven, Jared of the Lightbringers: if you're the first one to strike, I'll become your worst nightmare; and not by tearing heads off, but simply by showing up in a certain house in Vermont and telling everybody the truth."

Happy with himself, Kai gives him a comforting pat on the shoulder before turning around to face the others.

"So," he says lightly, "who's up for pizza?"

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Aster's quick word: Bonjour ! I don't know about you, but finally stepping out of the prison worlds was such a breath of fresh air for me :') I hadn't realized how much it was oppressing me until I could finally have Kai interact with someone else and hear different voices. Am I alone in that or were kinda wondering when we/if we would EVER leave these prisons? XD So, Andy's kinda stuck over there, did you see that one coming?

Anyway, I'm so excited to have a overview of Kai's mind! Like, to watch him interact with people now that we know what's inside and through his own eyes and not through Andy's.

Livre Paris was so much fun! 3 3 It's definitely more human-sized than the Frankfurter Buchmesse in my opinion. I got to meet/reunite with authors, publishers, friends from the bookstagram community, which makes me wonder: are you guys into these kinda things? Like... I assume you enjoy reading, since you're here, but what's your poison? Do you have a favortie author? A favorite publisher? A favorite language to read?

I'll stop here for today, thank you for your interest, see you on Saturday! ;)

- Aster