"God, your relatives were such packrats," Elowen said as she searched through various boxes that Damon had pulled out. She was settled on Stefan's bed with two boxes seated in front of her while Stefan and Damon watched her. Finally, she found two outfits she liked and pulled them out to show the two of them. "Okay, so what do you think? Twiggy or sexy hippy?"
"Ooh." Damon pretended to think it over. "I say sexy hippy. Stef?"
"Agreed. Sexy hippy all the way."
Elowen laughed with a smile and tossed the second outfit back in the box. She stood up, stretched and then started to take her shirt off. Damon wolf whistled and she threw her shirt at him in annoyance. He caught it with a smirk.
"Do you ever shut up?" Elowen questioned as she started to pull the mini dress over her head.
"Nope."
She wiggled out of her jeans and kicked them aside. The dress was a light, pale yellow with big white and pastel orange flowers covering it. The sleeves flared out halfway down and just about swallowed Elowen's hands. She stood barefoot and walked over to the mirror in Stefan's room to look over her hair.
"I'm going to look like a disaster. I have no shoes to match this and I don't have Caroline helping with my hair. She's supposed to be going as Jackie O. and my brother's supposed to be JFK." She looked at Stefan and Damon through the mirror. "Help?"
Damon walked over, placed his hands on her hips from behind and kissed her cheek. "Even as a disaster, you look beautiful."
"You're not helping."
Stefan chuckled from behind them. "I think I saw a pair of white boots in here somewhere."
There was the sound of him rummaging through the boxes and he must've found what he was looking for, because Damon and Elowen heard him go, "Aha!". They turned around just as he held up a pair of white knee high boots.
"See if these fit," he said as he handed them to her. Elowen took them in her hands and turned her head back to look at Damon over her shoulder.
"See? At least someone is helping."
Stefan beamed at the praise while Damon grumbled.
"Yeah, whatever."
Elowen sat back down on Stefan's bed to put them on. They had heels, which wasn't a problem, and she stood back up when she had them on. She took a few test steps around the room and hummed in approval.
"They're a little big, but they'll have to do. Thank you." She walked over and gave Stefan a long kiss. His hands were firmly on her waist and her arms were slung over his shoulder. They only broke apart because Damon loudly cleared his throat.
"Okay, kids, that's enough."
"What, are you jealous?" Elowen teased. Damon stayed silent, not willing to admit it, and Elowen laughed again. She walked over and pecked his lips. "There, you got one, too."
She turned to walk away, but Damon grabbed her wrist, spun her back around and pulled her towards him. Elowen yelped in surprise and was cut off by him planting his lips back on hers. She pulled back with a grin. Slowly, the grin left her face. An image of Klaus in Alaric's body flashed in her mind, and she knew it was finally time to tell them.
"What?" Stefan asked when she turned around and saw her expression. "Is something wrong?"
"There's something I have to tell you guys," she said slowly.
Stefan and Damon looked at her expectantly. She opened her mouth to speak when Elena entered the room.
"There you guys are- Oh, am I interrupting something?"
Stefan and Damon each looked at Elowen, as if waiting for her to finish, but she found herself shaking her head before she could stop herself.
"You know what? Nevermind. It can wait. We should go."
Elowen quickly walked past the three of them and out of the room. Stefan and Damon both furrowed their eyebrows and glanced at each other. They'd have to get to the bottom of this. In the meantime, they had a dance to get to.
xxxx
Elowen had found a matching yellow bandana to wrap around her head just before they'd left the boarding house and was currently tying it together as Elena went to meet up with Bonnie and Jeremy. Damon had gone on ahead and, while he didn't exactly mean to, he overheard what Bonnie and Jeremy were talking about.
"Well, I have to do something," Jeremy was saying. "I can't just… I can't just let you get yourself killed. It's not fair to you and it's not fair to Elowen that you're risking your lives just to save everybody else."
Damon just about stopped in his spot. What?
"Just because a bunch of dead witches gave us a warning doesn't mean either of us are going to die," Bonnie replied.
"So, you're saying there's a 50-50 shot you two won't? Look, I'm sorry, but… you know I don't have the best luck in the girlfriend department, and Josiah's my best friend. Losing Elowen would kill him."
"Hey, listen, I… I can't explain it, but I can feel them. I'm empowered, Jeremy, and so is Elowen. I can do this. So can she. I know we can. We're strong enough."
Bonnie closed the gap between her and Jeremy and wrapped her arms around him in a hug. She saw Damon over Jeremy's shoulder and pulled back.
"Damon."
"Evenin'," Damon responded as calmly as he possibly could. He was still trying to process what Bonnie and Jeremy were implying. Channeling those witches could kill Elowen? Is that what she was going to tell them earlier? And why hadn't she told him before?
Elena walked up and Damon continued on his way into the dance. He'd have to ask Elowen, or maybe even Bonnie, if it really was true or not.
Inside, everyone was dancing and having a good time. Elowen walked in with Stefan just as Elena, Bonnie and Jeremy did. Damon was already somewhere in the crowd and they all made their way towards the stage when Dana jumped up and took the microphone.
"Thanks for being here, everybody! We have a special shoutout tonight. This is for Elena, from Klaus."
Elena looked the most stunned between them all.
"That was a lame, cheap shot," Damon yelled over the music. "He's just trying to bait us."
"I know everyone here," Elena said, glancing around her shoulders at the people dancing.
"Maybe he's not here," Stefan suggested. "Just wants us to believe he is."
"It's a party, people. Blend," Damon told them. "Let him come to us."
"Good idea." Bonnie took hold of Jeremy's arm and started dragging him towards the dance floor as he protested behind her.
"No, no, I really don't feel like dancing."
"Too bad."
Damon spotted Alaric/Klaus across the room and pointed him out to Stefan, Elowen and Elena.
"There's Ric. I'll be back."
Damon walked off and Elowen saw Caroline and Josiah enter. She gestured towards them.
"They don't know what's going on. I'm gonna go tell them."
Stefan and Elena nodded, but before she left, Elowen grabbed each of their arms and placed them around each other.
"Blend in, remember? It'll look suspicious if you two are just standing around. Dance."
They did as they were told, albeit a little awkwardly, as Elowen walked off towards Caroline and Josiah. They were already dancing together and Elowen joined in when she reached them.
"Hey!" Caroline greeted with a smile. "You look great!"
"No, I don't," Elowen replied. "My hair's a mess."
Caroline glanced at her hair and shrugged. "I'll admit, I've seen better, but you look fine. What's up?"
"Klaus is here."
"What?!"
"You're serious?"
Were Caroline and Josiah's respective reactions. Elowen nodded in confirmation.
"Yeah."
"Where?" Josiah asked, looking around people's heads. Elowen shook her head and prepared to lie again.
"We have no idea. But, keep your eye out for anything that might be weird, okay?"
Both of them nodded and Elowen danced away. She was pushing her way back towards Elena and Stefan when somebody stepped in front of her and she crashed into them. She looked up to apologize and saw it was just Toby.
"Hey! What are you doing here?" Elowen asked in surprise. "Dances aren't usually your thing. I had to practically tie you to the top of the car in middle school that one time."
Toby laughed. "Esmeralda sent me here in her place. Said she wanted to keep looking for something that might help Elena. She also got your text about looking into reincarnation and she wanted to see what she could find."
They were lightly dancing together and Elowen looked over and saw Alaric/Klaus standing a few feet away talking to Damon. A look must've come across her face, because Toby furrowed his eyebrows and followed her line of sight.
"What's wrong?" He questioned. Elowen bit her bottom lip and suddenly grabbed onto Toby's arm to pull him out of the crowd. "Elowen? Where are we going? What's going on?"
She didn't stop until they were safely in the empty hallways. She was sure that Stefan and Damon wouldn't hear her all the way out here through the loud music inside the cafeteria and she was burning to tell somebody the truth.
"Klaus is in Alaric's body," she blurted. Toby's eyebrows shot up and his eyes widened.
"He's what? Does everybody else know?"
Elowen shook her head and looked down at the ground. "No," she responded quietly. "I couldn't find it in me to tell them. I don't know why, but I think it has something to do with Marisol. Please don't tell anybody."
"You're kidding me, right? The guy that's been gunning after both you and Elena is here and you don't want me to tell anybody? Is this a joke?"
Elowen looked up from the ground and shot him a pleading look. "Please, Toby. I don't- They shouldn't-" She took a deep breath. "They should hear it from me. If they find out I told you and nobody else, they'll get mad."
"'They' being Stefan and Damon, right? I thought you were still on the outs?"
"We made up this afternoon. Look, Toby, you know I don't typically ask you to do things like this, but I need time. They're already gonna be upset that I kept this to myself. I need to find a way to soften the blow. Please."
Toby looked at her for a long moment before sighing loudly. "Fine. You're my best friend and that means that sometimes I have to keep secrets I don't want to keep. I've got your back. Don't worry."
Elowen hugged him tightly. "Thank you. Now, let's get back to the dance, shall we?"
Back inside, Damon had just asked to dance with Bonnie and Jeremy had walked away.
"You heard Jeremy and me talking, didn't you?" She asked as she danced with Damon.
"Is it true?" He asked.
"Yes."
"About Elowen, too?"
"Yes."
Damon did his best to not clench his hands around Bonnie's. Instead, he clenched his jaw. "The part about you having a 50-50 shot at surviving? Is that true?"
Bonnie shrugged. "He was upset. I didn't want him to worry."
"And Elowen? What about her?"
Bonnie actually felt bad for him. She knew how much he loved Elowen and knew that he would do whatever it took to protect her. It's why he daggered Elijah even though that was the last thing Elowen wanted to happen. She slowly shook her head.
"I'm sorry. Just like you want to keep her safe, she wants to keep you safe. Klaus is a threat to her family, and that includes you. She's laying everything on the line for you, just like I'm doing for Elena. At least try to understand."
Elena came storming up to them and seized Bonnie's arm. "I need to talk to you."
Shortly after they left, Stefan appeared. "Hey," he said breathlessly. "We have a problem."
"Elowen's on a suicide mission," Damon told Stefan immediately.
Stefan blinked. "You mean you know?"
"Bonnie just told me. I think it's time we found our girlfriend."
They found her dancing with Toby. They weren't sure when he showed up, but they didn't care. They each grabbed one of her arms and started pulling her away from the crowd. Toby immediately followed them out into the hallways.
"Guys, lemme go!" Elowen was struggling against their grip. "What the hell is your problem?"
Toby had to wrap his arms around Elowen and use his own strength to pry her away from them. They both stumbled slightly and Toby found himself stepping in front of Elowen to shield her from Stefan and Damon. They both looked upset.
"When were you going to tell us channeling the witches could kill you?" Damon all but demanded. "Hmm?"
Toby didn't let up on his stance, but he opened his mouth to defend Elowen.
"Leave her alone."
Damon's eyes trained onto Toby. "You knew, didn't you?" He focused back on Elowen. "You tell your pet mutt everything, after all. Since when is your long lost ex boyfriend more important than us?"
Toby scowled. "I'm getting really tired of you talking about me like I'm not standing right in front of you."
"Oh, wah, wah, wah. Leave. This conversation doesn't include you."
Toby stubbornly shook his head. "No. No, I'm not leaving her to be torn apart by you two."
"I'm sorry, did I fucking stutter?"
Damon and Toby were sending each other deadly glares and both Stefan and Elowen were worried they would kill each other if they didn't do something. Stefan quickly placed a hand on Damon's chest.
"Stand down, Damon. That's not what we came here to talk about." He glanced at Elowen over Toby's shoulder. "How could you not tell us?"
"Because I knew how you'd react," Elowen explained from behind Toby. Truthfully, she was thankful that he didn't leave her. She didn't know if she could face these two by herself. "I knew you'd try to stop me."
"Of course we'd try to stop you. You're being incredibly stupid right now," Damon snapped. "I'm not letting you do this."
"It's too late. I've already done the spell. There's no way to stop me at this point."
"Sure there is. I can just lock you in the basement with Elijah until this blows over."
"With all this extra power, I doubt you'd be able to keep me locked up for long."
Damon set his jaw. Stefan decided to step in. "Look, we'll find another way, alright? There's no need to go through with this. We'll- We'll find another dagger, or something, okay?"
Elowen shook her head. "This is our only option, Stefan. Klaus is already here. What makes you think we can regroup that quickly? I can do this. With Bonnie's help, maybe combining our powers will stop us from using too much power."
"There's a very heavy emphasis on 'maybe' there," Damon pointed out.
"Just let her try first, okay?" Toby spoke up. Damon once again shifted his glare onto him.
"You, shut up."
"I'm sorry, do you see any other way for this to go? You used our only weapon on Elijah. There's no saying she'll die. I believe in her. You should, too."
"Oh, wake up and smell the flowers, mutt. You're only siding with her right now because you're in love with her and so far up her ass that you can't see what's right in front of you."
If it were possible, Toby's glare got deeper. Elowen furrowed her eyebrows and stared at the back of Toby's head. He felt her eyes boring into him, but refused to look back at her.
"For the last time, I'm not in love with her."
"Yeah, sure. Keep telling yourself that, kid."
Before anything else could be said, there was the sound of someone fighting around the corner and they all went to check. They found Jeremy on the ground with three students kicking him to keep him down.
"Hey, idiots!" Damon called as he ran over. One of the boys pulled out a crossbow and shot a stake at Damon. It hit him in the shoulder. The other two boys also started to pull out weapons as Damon ripped the stake out of his shoulder. "Let me guess, Klaus says hi?"
Toby had ran over and punched one of the guys in the face, knocking him unconscious. Nearby, Stefan did the same. Damon grabbed the last boy and held a stake up as if to kill him. Elowen rushed over and grabbed his arm to stop him.
"Stop! He's been compelled."
"So?" Damon asked offhandedly.
"This whole thing was a distraction. Somebody go find Elena and Bonnie."
"I got it," Toby said as he turned to leave.
"Oh no you don't." Damon went after him. "I'm coming with you."
"Somebody needs to get Caroline and Josiah," Elowen said as they left. Stefan stood and nodded his head.
"I got it."
He left and Elowen turned to help Jeremy up to his feet.
"You okay?"
He nodded. "Yeah."
It didn't take Damon and Toby long to find Elena and Bonnie. They just about crashed into them in a different set of halls as they were running away from Klaus.
"What happened?" Damon asked immediately.
"Klaus is in Alaric's body," Elena told them breathlessly.
"What?"
"He's possessing it or something," Bonnie explained. "Damon, Elowen knew. She knew this whole time."
Damon's face went stoic and he glanced at Toby. "You know anything about this?"
It took Toby a moment to answer. He wasn't sure he wanted Damon to know that he knew. Finally, he sighed and gave in. "I told her I wouldn't say anything. She wanted to tell you herself."
"Damn it, Wen!" Damon swore under his breath. He looked at Elena. "Go find Stefan. Now."
Elena nodded and ran off. Toby quickly followed her. They found Stefan talking to Caroline and Josiah. They looked equally worried. When they reached them, they were already all heading out of the dance.
"Where's Bonnie?" Stefan asked as him, Caroline and Josiah ushered Elena and Toby back into the halls.
"With Damon," Elena replied. "Stefan, Klaus is in Alaric's body and Elowen knew about it."
"What?" Stefan shook his head. "We'll worry about that later. Let's go."
Elowen had told Jeremy to find the others and was already running through the halls to find Damon, Toby, Elena and Bonnie. Jeremy had caught up with everyone else and now they were all rushing through the halls on a mission. Elowen found Damon first.
"Why didn't you tell me Klaus was in Alaric's body?" He asked in an accusatory tone. "How many other lies are you hiding?"
"Not now, Damon," Elowen replied. "Where's Bonnie?"
"Doing what she has to."
Apparently, the gang had split up to try and find Damon, Elowen and Bonnie and Stefan and Elena went off together, because they came running up behind Elowen, who tried to step around Damon. He stepped aside with her to block her way.
"Don't make me hurt you," he threatened. Elowen narrowed her eyes and suddenly, Damon flew across the halls and slid several feet away.
"Don't make me hurt you," she corrected before taking off. Stefan and Elena both crouched down to help Damon up.
Elowen rounded the corner and saw the room Bonnie and Klaus were in. Bonnie used her powers to close the door to stop Elowen from coming in, who banged on the doors. Stefan and Elena were just behind her and were almost caught up when a bright golden light engulfed Elowen and she was magically transported into the room. Stefan and Elena stopped momentarily in surprise before continuing on.
Elowen was only taken off guard for a second before remembering where she was and dashing over in front of Klaus. She threw her hands out to shield him and the same force field from before appeared in front of them. Klaus was crawling on the floor because Bonnie had broken one of his legs and was able to pop it back into place now that Elowen was protecting him.
"Why are you helping him?!" Bonnie yelled over the sound of the lights above them shattering and sending sparks flying down towards them.
"It's Alaric, Bonnie!" Elowen shouted back. "I can't let you kill him."
Blood was starting to gush from Elowen's nose and, ignoring it, she thrust her hands out, throwing the energy from the force field in Bonnie's direction and sending her off of her feet. Elena and Stefan were trying their hardest to open the double doors with no luck. Bonnie got up and used her powers to knock Elowen off of her feet now that the force field was gone. She fell over and blindly waved her arm, telekinetically throwing one of the tables in the room at Bonnie. It missed by only a few inches.
Blood was dripping down Elowen's neck now, but she wasn't paying any attention to it as she pulled herself back onto her feet. More lights broke and sent more sparks throughout the room. There was a short moment where Elowen and Bonnie stared at each other. Then, with an abrupt jerk, Bonnie bent backwards and fell to the ground. The double doors burst open and Stefan and Elena came running into the room. Elowen didn't have time to grieve for Bonnie, because Klaus grabbed onto her and fled from the school.
xxxx
The front door to Alaric's apartment opened and Klaus came through with Elowen's arm around his shoulders. She was completely slumped against his body and could barely stay standing. With whatever energy she had left, she pushed herself away from Klaus and over to the kitchen sink to throw up. Instead of vomit, it was blood that coated the sink. She wiped her mouth with the back of her hand, smearing blood over her face and her knees buckled, sending her onto the floor. Klaus didn't pay her any mind as he kicked the door shut.
"Get her some water or something, Maddox."
Maddox did as he was told and put the cup up to her lips and made her drink when it became apparent that she was too weak to lift it herself. There was dried blood around her nose from when it had been bleeding earlier and she looked worse for wear. Katherine peered at her from her seat and she actually felt pity for Elowen.
Another wave of nausea hit Elowen and this time she wasn't fast enough to make it to the sink, so she threw up blood all over the floor. Klaus made a face as he looked over.
"Clean that up, will you?"
Maddox quickly got to his feet and started working on cleaning the floor up as Elowen groaned and reached up the kitchen counter to pull her wobbly legs back onto her feet.
"Why- Why am I here?" She asked Klaus weakly. "You can't keep me here."
Klaus gestured to the front door. "By all means, leave."
Elowen grabbed onto the wall for support and dragged herself over to the front door. She'd just gotten it open when she toppled over. Klaus came over, helped her back onto her feet and closed the door again.
"You're too weak to do anything, witch. Stop trying."
"What do you want with me?" She questioned, her throat scratchy and hoarse. "Is it because of Marisol?"
Klaus didn't answer as he brought her over to Alaric's bed.
"We need to get you out of these clothes before you get blood everywhere."
"My mom stays the night sometimes." Elowen coughed into her hand and when she drew it back, there were sprays of blood on her palm. "Look in the closet."
Klaus wandered over to the closet and sure enough, at the back of the closet were women's clothes. He pulled out a shirt and jeans at random and tossed them at Elowen.
"If you can make it to the bathroom, get changed."
She did make it to the bathroom, barely, and managed to get out of her dress. She tightly gripped onto the sink after changing and looked at herself in the mirror. She looked like utter shit. She wasn't exactly sure when it happened, but all she remembered doing was wishing she wasn't there. She wasn't even aware she'd done it until the bathroom door opened and Klaus appeared in the doorway.
"Love, please don't tell me you've died- Where did she go?" Klaus wildly looked around the bathroom and kicked at her discarded dress on the ground. "Where is she?!"
Elowen looked down at her hands and realized she'd gone invisible. She was stunned for only a moment before she came to, quietly sneaking around Klaus, who had gone ballistic, and stumbled towards the front door. Her hands fell against the wood and then through the door, until she was completely on the other side. She could walk through walls now? Not having time to dwell on it, Elowen made her way out of Alaric's apartment complex.
xxxx
Elowen wasn't sure how, but she'd made it all the way to the boarding house. Continuing to use her powers was probably the worst thing she could do at the moment, but A) she had no idea how to make herself visible again and B) how else would she sneak in undetected?
Pressing her hands against the front door, she waited to walk through like last time, but nothing happened. Yet another wave of nausea hit her and she held her stomach as she bent over and threw up on the doorstep. Blood splattered everywhere, but she kept pushing through the pain.
She remembered the golden light that had surrounded her at the school and how it had teleported her and she decided to concentrate on that instead. It took a few moments, but finally, it worked. Elowen found herself inside the house and she used the walls as support so she could make it down to the basement. She found the room Elijah was in (it looked like Stefan and Damon never relocked it after Jonas magically unlocked it) and dropped to her knees to pull the dagger out. Finally, it seemed like her body was giving out. Elowen swayed and fell forward, landing face first into the ground. The dagger clattered somewhere beside her.
Elena snuck down the stairs to the cellar and stopped short when she saw Elowen unconscious on the floor. She'd become visible again once she'd knocked out and Elena was shocked to see her. She'd disappeared after Klaus left and everyone was sure she'd ran away with him willingly. Damon had been livid.
'First Elijah, now Klaus?! Is she insane?'
Elena looked over and saw the dagger a few inches away from Elowen and realized she'd done exactly what Elena had been sneaking down here to do herself. Deciding Elowen probably hadn't teamed up with Klaus like Damon, Jeremy and maybe even Stefan thought (Toby was adamant that she would never do that and Josiah just about started a fight because people thought that in the first place), Elena took a seat next to her and waited for Elijah to wake up.
She'd ask Elowen what the hell she was doing later.