Author's Note: Hello my loves! I am on a Vampire Diaries kick right now, so I'm working my way through these stories again! I am so sorry that it is all just contingent on my feelings but I never truly lost interest in these stories. I am super excited as we are drawing closer to the scene I originally imagined that made this story come to life. It'll probably be in the next chapter or two, I think! But I am so super excited about it! Thank you all so much for your support! I hope that you all continue to enjoy this story!
There is freedom waiting for you,
on the breezes in the sky,
And you ask "What if I fall?"
Oh but my darling,
What if you fly?
-e.h
Caroline sighs at Elena's crisp response to meeting up so that they can apologize to everyone. She's not surprised, to be honest, she wouldn't want to interact with the person who attacked her and her friends, turning one of them unwillingly into a hybrid, but that doesn't mean she's not upset by it. She hates that things have been so bad. She kind of hates Klaus right now and if she could, she would have throttled him.
She spent the following days lazing around on the couch, trying hard to build up her strength to go about her normal life. She spent some time really listening to Klaus and Rebekah as they tried to explain why they did what they did. And it all came down to her. They did it for her. Klaus was terrified when she wouldn't wake up that she wouldn't again. He riled Rebekah up with his mania over her being unresponsive and so the two of them ran to the high school to ambush Elena and her friends.
Neither would admit to feeling bad about it, seeing as it ended up working out - both Caroline waking up and Klaus finally being able to make his first hybrid in Tyler Lockwood. Sure, Elena, Matt, and Bonnie were a little freaked out while Damon had a sore neck and Stefan was manhandled a bit, but Tyler came out better than before. He was stronger than any other single species, vampire or werewolf.
"He's very welcome for the gift," Klaus had boasted again. He wilted under the glare she sent his way.
Once they reached the two-week mark since the night at the school gym, Caroline finally had enough of everyone dodging her and went to corner Elena, Stefan, Bonnie, and Damon at the Salvatore Mansion. As unfair as it is, Caroline reached out to Tyler, asking him to get them all together. She promised to sit down and talk with him privately, but she wanted to get them all together for a minute so that she could apologize to everyone, then she would pull him aside for later.
Thankfully, Tyler agreed.
Caroline waited until Klaus and Rebekah were busy talking on the phone with Elijah to sneak out so that she could go and meet them without the Original Siblings - who she loves - hovering and intimidating Elena and her friends. She knows Klaus is going to be mad at her for just sneaking out without saying anything, but she had to do this.
Klaus had to apologize too, that much Caroline knew for certain, but she also knew that she was definitely the more delicate of the two. They could yell and scream at her and she would be able to take it without losing her temper, not like a certain someone she knows. Not that she wouldn't deserve any of it. But at least once they are done yelling at her for being the reason for the terrible act, then she can bring Klaus in to actually apologize for doing the terrible act.
Caroline discreetly steals the keys to one of the cars that Klaus has been letting her borrow - she suspects that it's now hers seeing as she helped pick it out thinking it was for him with a lot of "oh, I really like that color and those features" but no one ever really said it was hers, so she's stealing it until she knows otherwise. He'll forgive her. It's the leaving without telling him that he's not going to forgive.
Once Caroline makes it to the Salvatore's mansion after having gotten the address from Tyler and learning that it wasn't too far away, she finds said new hybrid waiting for her outside. He looks good in blue jeans and a simple white t-shirt. He looks strong and healthy. He even cracks a little smile when Caroline exits the car and walks up to him.
"Hi Tyler," Caroline says softly, forcing herself not to pull away from his eyes.
"Hi Caroline," Tyler says, stuffing his hands into his pockets. "Are you okay? You kind of look like hell."
"Thanks for that, and for helping me meet up with everyone..." she says slowly, then forces herself to swallow her worry. She has to do this. It's only right for her to acknowledge her part in all of this. She was going to pull Tyler aside later and talk to him, but maybe talking to him first is a better idea. He was the one more affected by this than any of the rest of them.
"It's not a problem," Tyler says easily, staring at her face, watching her expressions. "Are you sure you're okay?"
"Listen, Tyler," Caroline says, sucking in a deep breath, not interested in talking about herself at all, "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry about what happened. Klaus was worried about me. He thought after the full moon that I wasn't going to wake up anymore. Look, I know as far as excuses go, it's both a terrible one and unwarranted, but I'm really sorry about what he did to you, especially because he did it for me."
Tyler nods slowly, sucking in his own deep breath, looking at the air around their heads for a moment to collect his thoughts before looking back into Caroline's eyes. "Okay."
Perplexed, Caroline echoes, "Okay?"
Tyler nods, more assuredly this time. "Yep. Okay. I hear your apology and I accept it."
Caroline blinks a few times, knowing that it certainly couldn't have been that easy. "You do?"
"Sure, I was mad at first. I mean, he killed me, Care. On a maybe. I know he said that he was certain it was going to work, but he wasn't really and yeah, I was pissed about that. But then I got to thinking about it. He really did set me free, in a weird sort of way. No longer am I a slave to the full moon. I don't ever have to shift again if I don't want to," Tyler says, a smile working its way across his face. "I am so thankful for that. As I'm sure you know, the shift at the full moon is the worst kind of pain imaginable."
Well, to be honest, Caroline didn't mind the shift. Yes, it hurt. Yeah, it sucked, and really, she would rather not. But at the same time, she didn't hate it. It almost felt right. Like morphing into her real skin. She knows that she shouldn't be let loose when she couldn't control her wolf so she tempers her time as a wolf, but she did always love being a wolf. And besides that, comparatively, when her bones break the pre-full moon that definitely hurts a lot more than when she shifts one the full moon.
But it didn't really matter at this point, so she'll just nod and agree with him. At least she is okay with him being happy. It doesn't mean she doesn't still feel bad, but it's good to know that at least he isn't suffering terribly for it. That might just help her sleep at night. For a little bit, she supposed.
"Well, I'm glad that you don't have to shift any more," Caroline says carefully. "But I am still sorry about the part I played in it."
Tyler nods his head slowly. "I accept your apology. Despite what I said about being pissed, I was never angry at you, Caroline. I heard what you said to Elena, and you're right. It isn't your place to apologize on Klaus's behalf. Just because we care about someone doesn't mean we are responsible for them. I get it. Thank you for apologizing because it was done on your behalf, but as I said, I'm happier now."
"I'm... happy to hear that," Caroline admits. She tries not to fool herself, though. Just because Tyler was easy to apologize to doesn't mean everyone else is going to make it easy.
Tyler offers a loose smile. "They're mad, we all kind of were, but it's impressive that you're willing to apologize."
Caroline shakes her head. "I don't think so. It's only right. But thank you for saying that. And for helping me corner everyone."
Tyler lets out an easy laugh, shrugging his shoulders. "It'll be fine. They'll be fine."
Caroline follows Tyler into the Salvatore mansion. Caroline can only take a brief moment to look around in awe at the beautiful home decor, the house that Klaus bought for her was nice, but everything about it was brand new and fresh. The house itself wasn't even all that old. Not like Stefan and Damon's home. There is a lot of history here.
"What's blondie doing here?" Damon asks as they step into the living room with everyone gathered around.
Damon was standing by the fireplace, lips half wrapped around a glass of bourbon. Elena, with her arms wrapped around herself, and Stefan with a hand on her shoulder stood a few feet off to the side. Even Matt was there, sitting on one of the couches next to Bonnie. They all turned to look at her and Tyler as they walked into the room. Caroline knew that this wasn't going to be easy, but she never did like being the center of attention. Mimicking Elena, she wraps her arms around herself and forces her shoulders back. No matter how much she wanted to make herself small and disappear into the ground she wasn't going to let herself do that. She was here for a reason.
She was going to apologize and if they didn't forgive her, well, there was nothing really that she could do.
"Down, Damon," Tyler says, crossing his arms over his chest and spreading his legs into a wide stance. "I invited Caroline here. She wants to talk to you guys and everyone's been avoiding her."
"That's not true..." Bonnie says slowly.
"Sure it is," Damon says, pretty blue eyes widening. "It's her fault that Elena's blood is now part of a supply and demand."
Elena casts him an unappreciated look. She was definitely no more a fan of that than Caroline was. Stefan sighs, rubbing at his forehead. "Damon, that wasn't Caroline's fault. Klaus went after her long before Caroline came around."
"He killed Lockwood for her!" Damon exclaimed, eyebrows pulling together. "Or was I the only one who was listening?"
"No, what he's saying is, before me there was Katherine," Elena says, reaching up to tuck loose strands of her long, straight dark brown hair behind her ear before turning beautiful brown eyes toward Caroline. Her smile is small and thin. "Hi, Caroline."
"Elena, I'm so sorry," Caroline says, not daring to walk into the room. "I know that apologizing doesn't do anything, especially since I can't apologize for Klaus or what he did, but I am so sorry about my part in this. Klaus was desperate. I know that it doesn't excuse him not only hurting some of you, killing one of you, and scaring all of you, but I can't change that."
"No one is asking you to do that," Bonnie says, standing up. "We were all a little freaked out, Caroline. But you aren't responsible for Klaus. He's old enough that he should be held completely responsible for his own actions. We don't get to decide what others do on our behalf," she says sagely, walking up to Caroline and placing a hand on her arm. "I'm sorry that I haven't reached out. There is no need for you to apologize."
"Bonnie's right," Stefan says. "We had problems with Klaus long before you showed up. Don't listen to Damon. He's just mad because while there is nothing we can really do about Klaus and Rebekah, he can take his anger out on you. Don't let him get to you."
Damon flashes two rows of pearly white teeth, very threateningly, making Caroline's skin crawl in fear. "Yeah, who knows what I'll do to you."
"Knock it off, Damon," Matt snaps, glaring at the older vampire brother. His pretty blue eyes glare back into Damon's own pretty blue eyes. Damon's smile back at him is chilling.
Caroline looks at him, narrowing her eyes. Normally, at any other time, Caroline would be terrified of Damon. He's a vampire - how old? She has no idea - and no doubt stronger than her. And if she could, Caroline would find every way around any sort of conflict with the "live and let live" mentality. Caroline isn't really a fighter. She knows how to fight - sort of - but it was all stuff Rodney taught her. Cassie a bit too. Scrapper werewolf fighting, definitely nothing official. Or refined in any sense of the world.
But she's too tired, too upset, too wound up to just accept a blatant threat like that without saying anything.
"Watch yourself, Damon," Caroline growls, feeling the moonlight trickle into her skin as once more they are slowly working their way back to the full moon. It's still a few weeks off, but that doesn't mean she can't tap into its power, at least a little bit. And from talking with Tyler, apparently, the Mystic Falls gang hasn't had a whole lot of run-ins with werewolves. Only a handful of them, to be honest.
Her eyes transform until they are glowing bright golden, feeling the pull of exhaustion as the threads of her remaining energy - something she can't exactly afford to lose - is pulled from her. At least Damon looks a mixture of shocked and concerned with only the widening of his eyes and his lips pressing together tightly.
"One small bite from a werewolf is enough to kill a vampire, no matter how old you are."
"Hang on, Caroline," Stefan says diplomatically, stepping between the two of them. "I'm not going to let him do anything. He's just a lot of talk, I promise."
"You'd best hope so," Klaus says from somewhere behind her. Caroline twists around to see Klaus standing in the doorway to the house, kept outside by the magic around the house. He wasn't like Rebekah, who Elena - who owns the deed to the house for some reason that Caroline doesn't know - ultimately allowed it. Rebekah was invited in, Klaus was not. "I'd hate to have to rip his throat out so soon after I promised Caroline I would be on my best behavior."
Rebekah steps up next to her, crossing her arms over her chest as she glares beautiful blue eyes around the room, clicking her tongue distastefully at Elena before moving on. "I won't hate it, and I didn't promise anything," Rebekah says, narrowing her eyes. She does spare a moment to grin wickedly back at her older brother, rubbing it in that she can be part of the conversation while he's stuck outside.
Caroline opens her mouth, about to tell them that obviously now wasn't the time to work through their problems, even though Caroline was kind of the aggressor first on their side against Damon, but before even a sound could exit her lips, Rebekah flashes across the room at Damon, tossing Stefan out of the way almost effortlessly before hoisting the older Salvatore brother up into the air by his throat.
"Now, the lady came to make peace," Rebekah sneers, her full upper lip curling in anger and annoyance, "I think you should be a little nicer, don't you?"
"Rebekah, stop," Caroline says, pulling her eyes away from the banished hybrid to make her way over Damon and Rebekah. "I came here to apologize, not start a brawl." She looks up at Damon, honestly impressed that Rebekah was able to heft a full-grown man over her head like that. Vampire strength is amazing.
"Trust me, love," Rebekah says chillingly, "killing Damon Salvatore would be the same as nothing of value being lost. Nothing at all."
"Rebekah, stop!" Elena calls from Rebekah's other side.
"Rebekah, please," Stefan says, coming up behind Caroline with his hands out in surrender. "Damon didn't mean anything. I swear."
The Original sister lets out a sigh, rolling her eyes. "I'm not a fool, Stefan. I know Damon is dangerous and I'm not going to let him hurt Caroline."
"No one is going to hurt me," Caroline says, placing a hand on Rebekah's arm. "I'm going to be fine." She looks over at Klaus, who was just standing where she left him with an annoying smile on his face, obviously amused by all of this. "Do you mind?"
"Not at all," Klaus says easily. "Snap his neck like a twig, dear sister."
Rebekah grins playfully at the notion.
"Rebekah! Klaus!" Caroline chastizes. She knows it's not supposed to be able to kill a vampire, but this isn't exactly going to endear them to any of Caroline's friends if they go around breaking people's necks. Not that Caroline is so completely against it being Damon's, but he's her mom's friend. She's got to at least try and be nice, even if she's not his biggest fan. She's not obligated to like everyone.
"Alright, Rebekah, let the poor man down," Klaus says, amused. He waves his hand around a bit and Rebekah rolls her eyes.
"Fine," she says, disappointed, then drops Damon onto the floor.
"Glad to see the two of you are having fun..." Elijah says, chidingly, walking into the room behind Caroline. Klaus looks after him, still trapped outside with an indignant look on his face, obviously appalled at being the only Original forced to remain banished. There is a beautiful dark-skinned woman attached to Elijah's arm wearing a white romper with a large silver locket a little larger than a half dollar around her neck. Something about it... Caroline can't place it but doesn't have a lot of time to look at it. She's too enraptured by the beautiful woman in front of her.
"Hello, baby werewolf," the woman says carefully, staring at Caroline. She extracts herself from Elijah's arm stepping forward only to pause and look at Tyler standing next to her. She gives him a once over. "Oh, two baby werewolves." She reaches out and touches his arm, and Tyler, like Caroline, looks too intimidated to be put-off with the term, "baby". She blinks a few times, pulling her hand away slowly, contemplatively. "I'm sorry. Baby hybrid, I mean."
"Uhh..." Tyler draws out, eyes wide staring after her as she turns from him.
"Who the bloody hell are you?" Rebekah asks, crossing her arms over her chest.
"Yeah," Damon wheezes, climbing to his feet. "Who are you? When did our house become the place for all the supernatural in Mystic Falls to gather?" He gives a look at Stefan who sends him one back.
"Sorry about showing up unannounced, everyone, but I'm afraid this can't wait," Elijah says, straightening out his suit.
The woman walks toward Caroline, studying the young werewolf carefully. She says, softly, "I am Athena. Elijah asked me for help..." She stops right in front of Caroline. "He was telling me all about you on the way here. He told me that you've been having some problems. I... came to see you for myself to test a theory. I'm not sure if I was hoping to be right... or wrong."
Caroline's eyebrows pull together, turning completely to face the beautiful woman in front of her. "Elijah asked you to come to see me?"
The woman, Athena, nods slowly, her eyebrows pulling together slowly. "Oh dear," she says, reaching out to cup Caroline's face. It was strange, having this unknown woman holding onto her face, but then she felt something weird. A tingling across her body that started from her cheeks, down her neck, across her chest and back, all the way down to her fingertips and toes.
Then that feeling washes over her. She feels a partial transformation wash over her. She can feel it in her eyes, but there is something different about it. In the depths of Athena's dark eyes as her lips move, speaking words in a language that the young werewolf doesn't understand, Caroline sees a spark of blue in them. Suddenly, a searing pain shoots through Caroline's body. She chokes out a scream before collapsing onto the ground. It starts in waves up and down her body before that familiar feeling washes over her.
Caroline feels hands grab at her, hearing Klaus call out her name from just outside the house. She can feel shivers run up her body before the first bone breaks. Snapping and cracking in and out of place. She curls up into a ball. Yes, it is definitely getting worse. This is the worst one she's ever gone through. It's multiple bones all breaking at once before sealing back in place. It hurt so much worse than the last time, Caroline is sobbing.
"Klaus, Klaus, Klaus," Caroline can hear herself crying despite everyone around her talking to her, or to each other over her.
"Oh my god, oh my god," Elena's voice pierces the painful haze around Caroline's head. "What is going on?"
"What did you do to her?" Rebekah snaps, no doubt to Athena.
"She's worse off than I thought..." Athena says softly. "Oh, sweet girl. I am so sorry."
"Klaus, Klaus, Klaus..." Caroline sobs, her shoulder snapping back into place, through watery eyes, she peers at Klaus, or what she thinks is Klaus, through blurry images of Bonnie and Tyler.
"Silence!" Klaus snarls so loud, the room falls silent, even Caroline's sobbing quiets down. "Shh, love. Shh. It's okay. Just breathe."
Caroline moans in pain as all the toes on her left foot break before sealing back into place once more. "It hurts, Klaus. Oh my god, this hurts."
Athena appears in her vision, kneeling down in front of Caroline and resting a hand on her head. "I didn't know that this would happen, dear. I'm sorry. You've progressed so far along."
"What are you talking about?" Rebekah snaps.
Caroline screams as her rips crack and break in rapid succession, all up and down her torso. She knows he can't do anything to really physically help her, but she always felt better just having him there with her. And it's torture that he's so close yet she can't touch him. She knows he can't help her, but it always made her feel better to think of him, and having him with her last time was enough to really alleviate a lot of the anxiety that this brings her.
She must have been begging for him because Elena cuts in with, "Oh my god, Klaus, come in!"
And then he was there, his arms wrapping around her, pulling him up to her chest. He brings her onto his lap, holding onto her tight to help stop her bones from breaking so violently. Once again, the ones in the main body can only crack and splinter a bit but are mostly in place, which is only a bit more bearable. She curls up as close to him as possible. Even though she can barely breathe, she gets the faintest taste of that sweet smell that is always coming off of him. She curls into his chest as much as she can.
With him by her side, she can deal with all the pain.
"What did you do to her, Athena?" Klaus growls, holding Caroline close. With him there, she's able to choke down her cries. It becomes just a bit more bearable.
"I didn't do anything, Klaus," Athena says softly. "I tried to draw out her magic, which unfortunately had a very bad reaction. Klaus, your girl is hemorrhaging magic because of how unstable she is. She has been for a long time. Her body isn't preparing for a full moon, it thinks it's in the middle of one, but without the assistance of a full moon to help her through the rest of the transformation, she's stopping before completely becoming a wolf."
"But why is that happening?" Elijah asks. "Is there anything we can do to help her?"
There is a long silence before Athena presses her hands onto Caroline's forehead and eyes, murmuring something in a language Caroline doesn't know and the pain slowly starts to ebb away until it's just a painful crawling of the skin that she'll definitely take over the breaking of her bones over and over again. As the pain eased, so did the tension in her body until she's sagging against Klaus, otherwise unmoving.
"Bloody hell, why didn't you do that ten minutes ago?" Rebekah snaps.
"I didn't fix the problem," Athena says slowly, "only slowed it down. But I'm afraid that's all I can do."
"What's wrong with her?" Bonnie asks, at the same time Matt asks, "Is she going to be okay?"
Athena comes in clearer as Caroline finally blinks the tears from her eyes, feeling completely exhausted and in pain. "No, dears, unfortunately, she isn't going to be okay."
Klaus growls out through gritted teeth, "Explain."
"Those eyes proved it..." Athena says slowly. "She's the Blue Spirit."
"What the hell is the Blue Spirit?" Damon asks, grabbing himself a drink on the other side of the room.
"It's nature's loophole," Athena says, her voice holding the hint of awe to it. "One of its ultimate fail-safes. It is one of the oldest beings on the planet. Its existence stretches back to ancient times."
"So, Klaus's childhood?" Damon quips, which no one approves of.
"Far older than that," Athena says, not missing a beat. "The Blue Spirit is nature's way of controlling magic. It took many forms for many, many years, but within the last thousand, it's taken the form of a werewolf."
"I don't understand," Elena admits, and even though Rebekah rolls her eyes, Caroline kind of doubts that she understands any better. "Caroline is an ancient spirit? But we grew up with her. That doesn't make any sense."
"Caroline isn't the ancient spirit. It dwells within her. Her body is it's newest vessel. It's traveled through time with many vessels, most of which don't realize what they are for the entirety of their lives. One of the drawbacks of being a werewolf. First, the curse must be triggered, then the spirit must be awakened," Athena says, finally pulling her hands away from Caroline's face. "Unfortunately, the power has been steadily breaking Caroline's body down over the many years that she's been triggered."
"Well, great, how do we release the spirit then and fix this?" Klaus asks.
"Before that," Stefan cuts in, ignoring the glare that Klaus sends his way, "what does this Blue Spirit do? You said it was nature's loophole, but what does that mean?"
Athena gives him a sideways glance. "It keeps the balance. When nature is out of balance, the Blue Spirit is there to put it back into balance."
"Okay," Stefan says slowly, "but how does it do that?"
"Apparently the power that the Blue Spirit holds can eliminate all magic," Athena says slowly. "I'm not sure how it manifests itself, but its purpose is to destroy things that actively go against the balance of nature."
"Meaning," Stefan says slowly, "if the Blue Spirit would awaken... it would kill us."
The room falls silent for a long moment, no one knowing what to say.
"That can't be right," Bonnie says. "Magic has existed for as long as memory serves. She wouldn't be going around killing everyone!"
"No, Bon," Tyler says slowly, "Stefan means vampires. They are unnatural. If what Athena is saying is true, she's going to hunt down vampires." Bonnie and Elena stare at each other with wide eyes before looking down at the bleary-eyed Caroline, who's struggling to follow along. Does she have some sort of spirit inside of her? And it wants to kill vampires? Vampires like Stefan and Damon? Vampires like Klaus, Elijah, and Rebekah?"
"My suspicions were correct, when things started cropping up about the werewolves," Athena says slowly. "The Blue Spirit can use werewolves to help increase its potency. A werewolf bite can already kill a vampire. It would make sense that the werewolves' history stretches back a bit further than vampires do. Unfortunately, the Blue Spirit hasn't awakened in over a thousand years. None of its hosts ever made it that far. At least not as far as I know."
"If it's all-powerful, why is there still supernaturals to this day, huh?" Damon asks, blue eyes wide like he caught her in a lie.
Athena stares back at him with level brown eyes. "The Blue Spirit is still bound by nature and it's laws. It's not immortal. It lives a full lifespan of whatever being it inhabits, and must be reborn again through a specific set of circumstances. From what I've read, the Blue Spirit awakens, roams the Earth for about a hundred years, restoring balance, before it's host dies and the cycle continues."
"So, what does this have to do with Caroline? Is she part of its bloodline or something?" Elena asks.
"I doubt it," Athena admits. "I don't believe it follows a bloodline, just a race. It's chosen form is that of a werewolf, so it follows werewolf bloodlines, appearing in random ones when they are born."
"What if they never trigger their curse?" Tyler asks as Caroline sits up a bit, exhausted and hurt, but finally starting to pull herself together enough to follow along.
Athena shrugs. "From what I understand, a host can live their entire lives without knowing they are the Blue Spirit, just like a werewolf never triggering the curse. But the signs throughout the years from the witches that have been tracking the Blue Spirit know what signs to look for when it appears in a new host. It absorbs an extreme amount of magic from someone close to them, negating the werewolf curse when they are born."
Caroline's eyes widen. "My mom. She's part of the werewolf bloodline, but she's never triggered her curse..."
Athena nods. "And when I heard that Elijah was originally looking for a lone werewolf a... Cassandra Claire, I was curious and looked into it, but she's not overly important. I used my contacts to help me trace back her linneage seeing as Claire isn't a werewolf clan, and she had ancestors in the Crescent clan, but that was well over two hundred years ago. Some of my contacts in the Strix informed e that they were also looking for Cassandra Claire but wouldn't say why. But then when he came to see me, inquiring about strange things occuring with a girl who had weird werewolf abilities and a mother who didn't transform after having killed people in the line of duty, I knew they were connected."
Caroline nods slowly, rasping, her heart pounding as things are slowly starting to make sense, "Cassandra Claire is my aunt."
Athena presses bright red lips together tightly, looking over at Elijah, "Which would explain why your Strix are looking for her."
"And that is?" Rebekah asks, still perplexed.
Elijah rubs at his face. "Because they think Cassandra Claire is the Blue Spirit."