We had time with the nice doppelgänger, but there's a twisted one waiting for them around the corner.

Where do we go when we walk on light

Who do we call at the edge of night

Carry me close like the teardrops in your eyes

All I can give you is memories

Carry them with you and I'll never leave

I'll lay my head down

But when I lay my head down

RAIGN, "Don't let me go"

25. TIME TO REMEMBER, TIME TO FORGET

"Bonnie says you cannot let him get to you, Caroline," Jeremy tells her.

It's so weird that she's communicating with her friend's ghost through him. Dying and coming back to life gave Jeremy that ability, but Caroline is still having some trouble coming to terms with this.

"And she's right, of course," Stefan says. "We won't put you at risk and let him play with your mind."

The three, no, the four of them are in an impromptu meeting in her bedroom, no one else knows they are back in Mystic Falls, but it's just a matter of time. And Silas will see her, or any of them, and they won't be able to hide a thing.

"He wants to test his powers," she repeats for the hundredth time that day. They've had this conversation before, all the way from New York actually.

"Because of your dreams?"

"That… Bonnie says that there's definitely a spell involved in Caroline's dreams, but she won't tell me more. She says it's a kind of magic others should not know."

This is new. She looks at Jeremy, surprised.

"Is she still next to you?"

He nods.

"I should have told you before, Bonnie. I'm sorry."

"She says it's okay. She would have not known about that kind of magic without the witches of the Other Side… and it's… very personal."

"So, what's the source of this magic?" Stefan asks Bonnie, then turns to look at her. "When did you start to have these dreams?"

"When I turned into a vampire."

He stares at her, lips pursed tightly, and whatever it is he wants to say, he doesn't say it.

"Bonnie cannot really tell what the source is. Just that is very powerful magic, meant to protect Caroline in some way."

None of this helps with Stefan's reluctance to meet Silas.

"It doesn't matter. I am moving to college tomorrow, and I have to catch up with Elena, right before breaking this news to her."

Her decision is final. Nothing he says will change her mind.

Stefan sighs. "Fine then. We're going to Whitmore."

"Wait, what?"

Maybe the evil original version of Stefan just wanted to scare them. They don't hear from him in the next few days, even though Caroline has not made it a secret that she's in town.

On the bright side (or she wants to consider it like that) Stefan has finally met his brother and his ex-girlfriend again. He says he's okay, and she doesn't believe it completely, but those things need time, so she leaves him alone and does not ask much (for the moment).

The only ugly thing she faces is Elena's reaction when she finds out Stefan has been traveling with her this whole time.

"You knew how worried I was, and you couldn't just let me know?"

"I'm sorry, but he did not want me to say anything, partially because of that small incident with Silas trapping him in a safe, as I told you, and oh, the fact that you chose his brother over him."

Elena doesn't say another word about the matter for a few minutes, but maybe it has little to do with shame and more to do with the fact that their human roommate has walked into the room. Occupying the place that should have been Bonnie's.

What she really wants to tell Elena is about Bonnie's death. Their friend is adamant that they keep the truth a secret for as long as possible, but it's just a matter of time until it breaks Elena's heart.

Then her mom calls her.

"Your friend Silas stopped by to say hello."

"Mom? Are you okay? Where are you right now?"

She rushes to find her mom. She's sitting at a table outside of the campus restaurant, wrist dripping blood, but there's no sign of Silas around.

Silas tries to get Katherine, but he fails. So the next thing he does is kill Bonnie's dad.

Their roommate dies. The police say suicide, but apparently, it was a vampire. Caroline and Elena suspect the girl knew about them too because she had bottles of water mixed with vervain in their dorm.

She thinks Elena is hiding something from her, but that's fair. She's hiding plenty of secrets of her own.

Silas is messing with her.

Looking outside her window, she sees Stefan sitting under a tree from the other side just meters away from the building. This is absurd. It won't work.

And maybe, deep down, it's because she wants to know that she sneaks out and goes to her house, where she has a feeling that Silas will find her.

She's right. He has a malicious smile on his face when he walks into her house, not long after she has arrived. His shirt is covered in blood.

"Did someone shoot you?"

He doesn't answer.

"I knew you would eventually come on your own."

"That's why you've been taunting me, using my mom to scare me?"

"Come on, where's your sense of humor?"

This guy has Stefan's face, but it's so easy to tell them apart. He's sick.

"Oh, you're wrong. About the first part, at least. It's the other way around, Stefan has my face. He's the copy, I'm the original."

"Cut the crap." Caroline is tired of this. "You said my dreams are memories. But how can I have memories of things that haven't happened yet?"

"That's the interesting part. Magic that has never done before, some very talented witch, no doubt." He gives a few steps towards her. "It means all of this, you have lived it before. How? That's something I also want to learn now."

"You are not doing this to help me."

"As it happens, I got shot today, and it's not really a big deal. I'll catch up with that nasty doppelgänger sooner or later, and those gypsies are nothing compared to me. But I figured out that I can save myself a lot of trouble if I can access those hidden memories, and see how things will play out."

"Why would I let you do that?"

"We don't have to be enemies, Caroline. You want to know as much as I do."

She remains silent.

Stefan will hate her for this.

"Come on!" Silas sighs loudly and shakes his head "Can you stop thinking about my shadow self for a moment? Think about what's important to you!"

"All you want is the cure and to reunite with your lover, right?"

"Exactly."

"Okay"

She hopes she doesn't regret this later. She feels a chill in her bones when he places his hands on both sides of her head.

"This is going to hurt." He tells her.

It starts at the beginning. When things become different for her, when the dreams started, the very same day she woke up as a vampire in transition.

She sees things that were supposed to happen. Or happened to her before.

She falls in love with Tyler.

Being friends with Stefan.

Silas wanting to die, the agreement of his life in exchange for Bonnie's.

Her head hurts.

She and Stefan.

The twins. Alaric.

Stefan.

Klaus, another friend saying goodbye.

Somewhere, someone is screaming. Caroline realizes it's her voice.

It hurts.

Silas forces his way into the memories he cares about, and she sees another girl who looks like Elena, but isn't.

It's the Anchor. The key to bring Bonnie back.

And then…

They fall to their knees, screaming in pain. The connection with Silas is gone and his eyes are bleeding.

"What happened?" She asks.

"I lost my psychic abilities."

"What? No! I haven't seen enough!"

Silas closes his eyes, trying to stand on his feet.

"Maybe it's for the best that you haven't seen it all. It would be too much for your little vampire brain. Right now, what's more important is that my crazy ex-fiance is back, and you probably want to check up on your boyfriend."

She blinks, confused.

"How do you think Qetsiyah has gotten to my brain? Using my shadow self, of course."