Chapter 11: Bloodlines

December 3, 2009

Dear Diary,

Last night was… eventful. Tyler's dad is a grade A asshole but Mr. Saltzman stopped him from doing what he'd planned on. Maybe one day Tyler won't have it so bad. Everything just seems so weird, but I just need to get myself to somewhat of a normal routine. Go to school, practice, and I don't know, normal things people do.

The kitchen was filled with the smell of bacon as Ellie slipped the last of it onto the plate and set it out on the counter. "Good morning, Ellie." Jenna greeted as she grabbed a plate to fix her food.

"Morning Jenna, how's your school stuff going?" Ellie asked.

"My advisor has me doing revisions on literally everything but I'm almost done. Well, at least I hope I'm almost done. They could change their mind and give me another fifty things to change. I'm so tired of them nitpicking at everything." Jenna complained.

"Yeah, that sounds like it would get old and fast." Ellie commented. "I'm gonna go see if Jer is up so he can get some breakfast." She made her way upstairs and found Jeremy dressed but sitting on the bed, absorbed in what she assumed was Jonathan Gilbert's journal. "Hey, Jer, put the journal down for five seconds and come eat."

"Is Elena up yet?" Jeremy asked as he did as he was told. "I never heard her."

"I'll go see, head on down and eat." Ellie told him as she walked through the bathroom to Elena's room. "Hey, Elena, are you up?" She opened the door and found that Elena's bed was perfectly made up, unslept in. "Elena?" There was no response, she had no idea where Elena would be. Surely not with Stefan... right? Maybe she was with Bonnie? She pulled her phone out and dialed Elena's number. She listened to it ring and ring until her sister's voice filtered through the phone telling her to leave a message. "Hey, Elena, I have literally no idea where you are, so can you call me back?"

When she walked back downstairs, both Jenna and Jeremy looked up. "Where's Elena?" Jenna asked curiously.

"I'm not sure. Not here. I don't know maybe she's with Bonnie? I called her but she didn't pick up so I left a voicemail. Surely I should see her at school." Ellie said as she sat down to finish eating.

"That's really weird. I'll try calling her in a bit if you don't see her at school." Jenna said. "I'm sure she's fine." The teenagers nodded in agreement and ate quickly.

"Hey Jer, do you need a ride to school?" Ellie asked as the three of them put their dishes in the sink.

"Yeah that would be great actually. Let me grab my bag; I left it upstairs." He told her before rushing off to his room.

"If you see Elena at school let me know. It's not like her to not come home." Jenna said seriously, very clearly concerned for Elena, as was Ellie.

"I will, right after I give her hell for not telling anyone she wasn't coming home." Ellie said as Jeremy appeared back in the kitchen, bag in hand. "All right, we're gone Jenna. See you later." As they headed to school, Ellie asked, "So, have you figured out what you wanna do for your topic?"

"Actually yeah, Jonathan Gilbert's journal has a lot of good inspiration so I think I'm gonna focus on Mystic Falls during like the Civil War and all that stuff." Jeremy told her.

"I'm sure you'll do really well Jer. Mr. Saltzman really seems like he wants to give you a good grade." Ellie said.

Once they arrived at school they came across their new favorite teacher digging through his car and Jeremy said, "Hey, Mr. Saltzman."

He turned back and saw them standing there and replied, "Hey Jeremy, Ellie. I um… can't find my ring. I took it off for the gym and I thought I put it… there it is." Mr. Saltzman said with a breath of relief as he stood up and slid the ring onto his finger. "Losing family heirlooms… bad. How's your extra credit coming? You pick a topic yet?"

"Mystic Falls, the Civil War era." Jeremy told him.

"What's the angle?"

"My family. I found a journal of an ancestor who lived in the 1800s. And the Gilberts were one of the original founding families of Mystic Falls. So…"

"That sounds good." Mr. Saltzman commended.

"You'll be very pleased to know that he's been reading that journal like nonstop." Ellie added.

"That is good to know. I'm really proud that you're taking this assignment so seriously, Jeremy." Mr. Saltzman praised. "Well, I gotta go, but I'll see you both later in your classes?"

They nodded before continuing on their way. Before classes started, she could have sworn that she saw Stefan, but he wasn't in class. What she found more concerning was that Elena wasn't in school. She asked Caroline and Bonnie if they'd seen her, which was a strong no. Tyler and Matt were also clueless, but she did find herself sitting with Tyler on a picnic table, trying to get him to talk. "Did your dad cool off?" She asked gently, entirely aware that if she phrased it wrong he would shut down and shut her out.

"Yeah, he went back to his normal dick levels after I got home but he was pissed with Mr. Saltzman. I really wouldn't be surprised if he did everything he could to get Mr. Saltzman fired." Tyler confessed.

"Well that would lead to him needing to explain why he wants Mr. Saltzman fired. 'Oh yes, I want him gone because he didn't let me make my kid and the Gilbert boy beat the shit out of each like real men'." She mocked and the sass was enough to make Tyler laugh. "But really, you might have taken it as a joke but if it ever gets to where you really don't want to be at home you can come to mine, Tyler."

The Lockwood pulled her into a tight hug, pressing a kiss to her hairline. "Thank you, Ellie. That really means a lot to me."

"Of course, someone has to take care of your royal dumbass."

"Mmhmm, that's what it is. Admit it, you're a big softie for me." He retorted, hiding how touched he was behind a mask of sarcasm.

Jeremy made his appearance then, with his bag pushed high onto his shoulder. "Hey Ellie, do you think you can give me a ride to the library so I can do some more research?"

"Yeah, Jer, that sounds like a great idea." Ellie said. "Don't do anything stupid today, Tyler." She teased as she slid off the picnic table. He waved her off and she and Jeremy headed for her car. "Hey, did you see Elena at all today? She wasn't in class."

"No, why? Do you think something bad happened?" Jeremy asked worriedly as they got in the car.

"I mean, I don't think so, Stefan wasn't at school either. So maybe they skipped together again and they are off somewhere being gross." She suggested hopefully, but there was worry digging a hole in her stomach. Elena never used to randomly disappear before, but this isn't the first time she's done it since school started. "I'll try calling her again when we get to the library."

"Ok."

Once they'd arrived, Ellie propped against her car. "You go on inside while I try and call Elena again." He nodded, disappearing through the double doors as she listened to the sound of the call trying and failing to connect. Once she was told by Elena's recording to leave a message she huffed, "Elena seriously, where the hell are you and why aren't you answering the phone? Are you hurt? Because if you're not hurt and you're just ignoring my calls, you're probably going to end up hurt. Just… damn it just call me back, Elena. I'm really starting to get worried."

She found Jeremy waiting for her at the stairs. "Anything? Did she answer?" He asked as he fiddled with the piece of paper in his hands.

"Nope, I was given the voicemail again. Which means when she shows up at home, I'm going to murder her." Ellie told him seriously. "Like, not even a 'hey, I'm alive' text. If you ever do that you know you'll die a slow and painful death right?"

"I'm very aware, thanks for the reminder though." Jeremy told her as they turned down an aisle and he tried to find whatever was written on the paper. As he turned around several books were pushed forward, falling to the ground and giving the Gilberts a near stroke.

They both reached down and grabbed a couple of the books, as they stood a girl was hurriedly saying, "Oh my god, I am so sorry." She apologized and Ellie was surprised to see Anna standing before them. "There was this one book wedged between the other and I pulled and then kaplunk, kaboom." She rambled. "Are you ok?"

Ellie smiled softly when she saw Anna's focus was entirely on Jeremy. "Yeah, yeah I'm fine." He assured her. Jeremy and Anna knelt to get the rest of the books, and headbutted on accident.

Anna laughed before introducing herself to Jeremy. "I'm Anna."

"Jeremy." He said as he offered his hand for her to shake. "This is my older sister, Ellie."

"Oh, we met a while back, Jer. But it's nice to see you again Anna." She said kindly.

"When did you guys meet?"

"We met at the comet thing. We only got to talk for a second before her blonde friend pulled her away." Anna explained to him. "Ok, I feel really bad. I nearly attacked you with books and then headbutted you, anything I can do to help you out?"

Jeremy glanced up at Ellie and she shrugged, what could it hurt? "Um, yeah, ok, I'm writing a paper and I need some more information, but I'm hardly ever in the library so I don't really know where anything is." He confessed.

Anna was positively beaming at him. "Well, you bumped into the perfect person!" She told him happily. "Ok, let me give you the run down." She immediately started listing off what the aisles had, with an accuracy quite impressive. "This aisle is local and state history and Civil War is one over." She said. "What do you need?"

"Locals. 1860s. Do you work here?" He questioned but Ellie let herself be content to watch the two and their subtle flirting.

" want reference. This way. Uh, home schooled. I study here for a mock school environment. Ah, here we go." Anna said as she stopped by a section of books. "Original settlers, town archives, founders stuff. It's all here. So what's your topic?"

"Uh, the town's fear and hysteria surrounding the war and how it influenced certain writers of the time." Jeremy told her.

"You might want to focus that." Anna suggested.

"The origin of local folklore and myths."

"You mean the vampires?" Anna asked with a smile.

"The vampires? What?" Ellie asked with interest as they started pulling out books and setting them on the table. "You don't mean like for real do you?"

"Mmhmm. For real." She assured them as they sat down at the table.

"You're kidding me, right? There's no such thing as vampires." Jeremy disagreed.

"Well, there's not a lot of documentation but the stories have been told since the Civil War. My granddad used to tell me all these creepy stories when I was little. And he said that his granddad told them to him." Anna explained.

"Yeah, that would be folklore. Vampires are a metaphor for the demons of the day."

"Which are?"

"The Union soldiers. I've read the stories myself." Jeremy said. "They talk about the enemy, the demons that attack at night."

"That sounds like vampires to me." Anna countered. "Don't you think, Ellie?"

Surprised at Anna asking for her opinion, Ellie just kinda shrugged. "It does kind of sound like vampires, Jer."

"Allegorical vampires. Which is what it is. Come on, Ellie, surely you don't really buy this crap?" Jeremy asked. "Creative expression during a very volatile time. I mean, a country at war doesn't want realism. They want fantasy. Thus, vampire fiction."

"Man, you're smart." Anna confessed, and even to Ellie she was surprised at how much thought Jeremy had put into it. "I gotta give it to you. When I first saw you, I missed it."

"Yeah, I've had a rough go of it lately, but I'm just now getting back to my old self." He confessed.

"Well, good luck on your paper. I gotta get home." Anna told him with a smile as she stood. "You know my great grandfather actually showed me a journal once of an ancestor and he had written all this creepy stuff about vampires. It was actually really believable."

Ellie looked over to Jeremy, both of them quite confused. What were the chances that their ancestor and Anna's had both written weird journals with the same type of things inside. "Wait, Anna. Did you say a journal?" Ellie questioned.

"Yeah? Why?"

"Are you sure you have to go?" Jeremy asked.

Anna took a glance at her watch and then shrugged. "I could probably stay a little while longer."

As Anna sat back down, Ellie's phone started to vibrate. "Hey, Jer, I gotta take this, it's Jenna. I'll see you later Anna." Ellie said as she stood and rushed down the stairs and out of the library. "Hello? Jenna?"

"Ellie! Did you see Elena at school today? I just got a call and they said that she never showed up." Jenna told her. "I called her earlier and she told me that she slept at Bonnie's and forgot to call because she wanted to get to school."

"What? I asked Bonnie earlier and she said she had no idea where Elena was and that she hadn't seen her." Ellie confessed. "I also asked Caroline and Matt and Tyler. No one saw her today."

"Why would she lie? Elena never lies like that." Jenna said with a huff. The blonde was not used to Elena causing any kind of problems. "Ok, I'm going to keep trying to get in touch with her. If you reach her let me know."

"I will, Jenna." She promised.

"Ok, I need to go and try and get in touch with her." Jenna said. "Love you, Ellie."

"Love you too, Jenna." Ellie replied before the call ended. The unsettled feeling in her stomach was back and she made a decision to send a quick text to Jeremy before heading out. As she drove, she subconsciously fiddled with Emily's bracelet and it was like she just had a moment of blank space, one moment she was driving for her house and the next she was standing outside of a very old, creepy looking house. She turned around and could very faintly see the outline of her car in the distance. "Where the hell am I?"

There was almost… a pull for her to go inside. Part of her was very aware that this could very quickly turn into a horror movie scenario, like a serial killer lurking in the shadows, but the urge was strong. There was something inside of her that felt like she would be safe in the house. Before she knew what she was doing, her body made the decision for her, feet moving her to the house. It was very clearly abandoned, dirt and leaves and twigs decorating what was probably once a beautiful home. When she found herself in the basement, the feeling of not being safe returned. She needed to leave. What was that sound? It sounded like whispering and Ellie took that as her cue to bolt. The door slammed shut and she fell back in surprise as she screamed. "You're safe here." The voice was familiar, but somehow it was also unfamiliar. In the same way it came from everywhere and nowhere.

There were whispers, other unfamiliar voices, whispering to her all the same. "Who's there?" She asked. The whispers whipped around her, just low enough that she couldn't understand. She reached for the bracelet and uttered, "Emily?" Immediately, everything went quiet. It felt like someone had pressed paused during an intense movie scene. She couldn't hear anything other than the sound of her own breathing and her heart hammering away in her chest. "Emily, is that you?"

"I am here."

Her voice came from nowhere and Ellie couldn't see anyone, but she was sure that it was Emily talking to her. "Why am I here?" She questioned.

"There's something worrying you. What is it?" Emily replied.

"Elena." She confessed. "She lied to Jenna about being with Bonnie and at school and she's not answering me when I call her. I don't know if something bad happened, but I don't know if I'm strong enough to find her on my own."

The whispers were quieter than before, but she could hear them. "You are strong enough, but you are stronger with us." Emily assured her. "Family is important. We can help you find her."

"We?"

"Those of our kind that die violently, our energy can remain there. We died here. We can make you stronger." Emily told her. "Go ahead, search for your sister." The candles that were scattered around the room shot to life at the command.

With a nod, Ellie pulled Elena's bracelet from her bag and the small letter open she had and cut her palm. "Phasmatos Tribum, Nas Ex Veras, Sequitas Sanguinem. Phasmatos Tribum, Nas Ex Veras, Sequitas Sanguinem." she could hear other voices chanting and in an instant her surroundings disappeared.

They were in a bar that Ellie had never seen before. The music was loud and a touch obnoxious and there was a crowd gathered around at the bar. A black woman was pouring shots for people gathered around, Elena included. She looked unharmed and definitely tipsy and nearly bouncing where she stood. "Ready… go!" The black woman said.

Everyone in the group downed a shot, Elena slamming her glass down onto the counter first. She did a little dance as she cheered, "That's three! Do you need a bib?" She asked... Damon teasingly. What the hell was she doing with Damon in a bar?

"Sorry, I can't unhinge my jaw like a snake to consume alcohol." He replied.

Elena just laughed at him. "Hmm whatever. All right. Who's next?" She asked as she drummed her hands on the table. "Another round, Bree?"

"Honey, you should be on the floor." A blonde woman was telling Elena.

"I am not even drunk." She insisted. "My tolerance is like… waaaaay up here." Elena said as she jumped up and held her hand up to show how high her tolerance was.

"All right. Here you go." Bree said as she handed them all another round. Elena was giggling as Damon spoke and Ellie was extremely conflicted with her feelings. She was relieved that Elena was fine, but she was furious at her as well. She could see Elena's phone sticking out of her back pocket and if she'd spoken to Jenna then she must have seen all of Ellie's missed calls and messages. How could she just not bother to at least text back? Her sister was grinning and laughing and obviously having a ball, but Ellie had spent the day terrified that she was dead in a ditch somewhere.

Why on earth was she here with Damon of all people after she kept warning her and Bonnie and Caroline to stay as far away from him as possible? Did Stefan know? She watched Elena and the blonde woman head over to the pool table. As they played Elena was taunting the woman and joking around, completely fine. She took a shot, sinking it into the hole before shooting up and spinning around as she yelped, "Yeah!" Her phone started going off, the ringer being on somehow upsetting Ellie further. Elena seemed to snap out of her drunken haze at the sound, rushing towards the phone. "Hello? Jenna!" She cheered nervously, "Ah hold on, it's loud in here." She said as she grabbed her jacket.

Ellie knew the look on her sister's face. It was the expression Elena had when she was scared of getting busted, but Ellie couldn't bring herself to feel bad for her sister. She'd scared Jenna to death. "Elena, where are you? Are you ok?" She could just barely hear Jenna after she'd stepped closer to Elena.

"Hmm? Yeah. No, I'm fine." Elena assured her as she was pulling on her jacket. "Everything's fine. Hold on, I can't hear you."

Ellie jolted from her trance and looked around wildly, expecting to see Emily only to forget that she'd only heard the witch not seen. "Your sister is unharmed. That is good." Emily's voice told her.

"But why the hell is she with Damon?" Ellie asked with a huff as she pulled out a tissue to press into her hand.

"I'm sure that there is a reason for her to be in his company." Emily replied softly. "You have my bracelet on your wrist. Might I inquire as to why?"

Ellie felt the heat in her cheeks rise. "I um, I asked Grams about trying to contact you. She said that this might work since the necklace wasn't an option anymore after you destroyed it. She said your daughter Alice made it for you."

"She did." Emily confirmed. "Why did you wish to contact me?"

"You just seemed like this really powerful witch. I wanted to learn from you if I could." Ellie confessed.

There was a humming sound before Emily replied, "Interesting. I've not had one of my descendants reach out to me before, even when it might have been wise. What do you wish to learn?"

"Whatever you think I should, I guess."

It sounded like laughter, from the other witches but Ellie waited patiently for Emily's response. "One aspect of the craft that I spent a great deal of time practicing was healing magic. Is that something that might interest you? It's a tedious process and not easy to do on your own." She explained.

"Yeah, that sounds really good." Ellie agreed.

"Small wounds are always easiest, like performing small spells. Using power from the elements or other witches makes it easier, as I'm sure Sheila has already explained." Emily said and Ellie made a hum of agreement. "I want you to repeat after me: Phasmatos Sana Quod Sanguinem Vulnere."

Ellie nodded and watched as the flames of the candles flickered wildly. "Phasmatos Sana Quod Sanguinem Vulnere." She gasped when she felt the skin of her palm stitching itself back together. When she could hear the soft chanting of the other witches, the skin seemed to heal faster and then she was staring at a perfectly smooth palm. There was absolutely no indication that she'd been cut at all, except for the bit of blood left on her palm. "Holy crap."

"It will be something that will take some time for you to master, being here will make it easier for you. Some people are naturally more inclined to healing magic. I believe you have great potential." Emily told her and the praise from a powerful witch from the 1860s was enough to make Ellie's skin flush. "But, to practice healing spells like repairs cuts, there has to be an injury to fix. Are you willing to do that again?" Ellie hadn't even thought about that. Was that something she was willing to do? Hurt herself for the sake of learning? Her mind drifted to Emily when she was alive. Did she hurt herself to learn? Or were the people she cared about getting hurt already? But she needed to learn. It was important to Ellie to be able to take care of the people she loved. So, with a wince, she dragged the letter opener across her palm once again. Even Ellie had to admit that Emily sounded a bit impressed. "Very good. Now do it again."

So she did, the spell fell from her lips again and again as she ignored the pain in her palm. The witches were patient and kind, aiding her but not doing it for her. They whispered words of praise for her strength and determination as she slit her palm again and again. Then they would whisper words of comfort and reassurance when she was drained and panting. It was strange to be surrounded by people she couldn't see, but feel so utterly safe at the same time. The witches would protect her, just like Emily promised.

She had no idea how much time passed as she practiced what Emily asked of her, but it left her more drained than anything Sheila had ever trained her to do. Somehow that also made it more satisfying for Ellie, like she'd accomplished something more impressive. As she laid on the dirty floor she let the whisper of the witches comfort her. When she felt strangely energized, she looked up at the ceiling. "What are you guys doing?"

"We have the ability to restore your strength. With healing magic comes a great deal of possibilities. It's not just wounds and illnesses we can heal. When a person's energy is drained we can restore it to them. With all of us together we can restore your energy. Just relax, Ellie."

The young Gilbert nodded, and let the tension drain from her body. Once she felt alright and she felt the magic stop, she hummed to herself. If someone had told her a few months ago that she would find a kind of peace by lying in the middle of an abandoned, decaying house with a bunch of ghosts, she'd have said they were on drugs. Her peace was disrupted at the sound of her phone ringing. "Hello?"

"Ellie, where are you? I texted and you never responded to me." Jenna sounded frustrated and concerned. Having Elena drop off the face of the earth unannounced was surely not good for their guardian's sanity.

"You did? Jenna I am so sorry, I didn't hear my phone go off. I was in the old cemetery, at that old mausoleum thing or whatever it's called." Ellie told her. It wasn't much of a lie, the mausoleum wasn't very far from this house if she was remembering right.

Jenna's sigh of relief was like a knife to the gut to Ellie. The last thing she'd wanted was to cause Jenna any more worry today. "Ok, ok no you're fine. I just… I called Elena and she answered and then she just stopped responding and then I couldn't reach Jeremy at first and then you." Jenna admitted. "When are you coming home?"

"I'll come home now. Last I saw Jeremy was when I dropped him off at the library, so he probably turned his ringer off. Plus, he was talking to a cute girl so he was definitely distracted." Ellie confessed.

"Ok, that's actually a relief. If you get a hold of him, can you see when he plans on getting home?" Jenna asked.

"Yeah, I will." Ellie promised. "I'll call him now. Love you Jenna."

"Love you, too." Jenna replied before the call ended.

She didn't hesitate before turning and calling Jeremy, he picked up on the third ring. "Hello?"

"Hey, Jer, where are you?" Ellie asked as she shuddered. Being outside in the middle of the woods, no longer in the safety of the witch ghost house was unsettling.

"At The Grill. Why? I just saw the calls and texts from Jenna. Is everything ok? I was about to call her." Jeremy asked as Ellie slid into the safety of her car.

"Yeah, she just couldn't get a hold of you so she was a little worried, but I told her that you were at the library with a pretty girl so you were probably just distracted. Is Anna still there?"

"No, she left like… a few minutes ago." Jeremy said.

"Ok, are you ready to go home? I'll swing by The Grill and pick you up." Ellie offered as she made her way out of the woods.

"Yeah, that would be great, thank you. Should I get us all something to eat? Jenna probably hasn't eaten much today."

Ellie nodded her head in agreement even though he couldn't see her. "Yeah, that's probably a really good idea, Jer." She said. "Did you have a good time with Anna?"

He scoffed at her but she grinned, he definitely thought Anna was cute. "Yeah, yeah, I had a good time. But she thinks that what they wrote about the vampires and demons was literally vampires and demons. There's no way." He told her. "She kind of suggested we have a fright night and watch a bunch of vampire movies."

At his confession, she cheered and asked, "So what did you say?"

"The truth, that I just got out of something and it might be too soon. I kinda feel like a jerk."

"You aren't a jerk, Jeremy. Honestly, you did the right thing by giving her a heads up. But you can still have a fright night as friends."

"Yeah, she said as friends, but then she left so…"

"I'm sure you'll see her again soon. She seems into you." Ellie told him. "But I'm sure she'd still want to hang out with you even if it's just as friends."

"You think?"

"Mmhmm, definitely." She assured him. She waited quietly as Jeremy ordered before telling him that she would be there soon. Once the call ended, she was left with her thoughts. Training with the dead witches had been an interesting experience. Although she cut her hand countless times, the skin of her palm was flawless and there wasn't even a hint of phantom pain. She was still unsure as to how she ended up at the house in the first place though. Had Emily influenced her? Taken control of her the way she had Bonnie? She lost herself in thought and before she knew it she was parked in front of The Grill.

Jeremy was sitting at one of the tables outside, bags of food carefully placed in front of him. Once he spotted Ellie, he grabbed the bags and got into the car, a bright grin on his face. "Hey, perfect timing. I just got our food."

"Good. now let's get home and maybe distract Jenna from worrying about Elena." Ellie suggested.

"Where do you think she is?" Jeremy asked.

Ellie knew she was in a bar, given she had no clue where. "I have no clue but she better have one hell of a reason for disappearing and then lying to Jenna." Ellie told him. The frustration that Elena had disappeared with Damon of all people was still royally pissing her off.

"I just don't get it. Elena's never been that type." Jeremy said as he fiddled with the bag handle.

"I don't know either. She's been acting really weird lately. Ever since school started really, but she won't talk to me about it." Ellie confessed.

"What? She tells you everything."

"Not anymore." Ellie told him. It was something that had been bothering her for a while now. The secrets Elena was clearly keeping. Then she felt like a hypocrite. How could she get upset at Elena for keeping secrets, whatever they may be, when she was lying to her and keeping the fact that she was an actual witch a secret as well? Did Elena feel the same way about Ellie? Could she tell Ellie was lying too? It was always different between Ellie and Elena than them with Jeremy when it came to lying. For them, it was practically impossible to keep a secret from their twin, and at least for Ellie, she always knew when Elena was lying. Jeremy wasn't as good at telling when they were lying, or when he was trying to lie.

"I'm sure she'll be home soon." Jeremy told her, trying to reassure his sister. She'd always been the worrier in their siblings. Elena was the most outgoing, Jeremy was the artsy one that got sucked into alcohol and drugs, and Ellie had been the mother hen that worried over everything. He remembered when he broke his arm diving off the dock of the lake house when he was six. She refused to leave his side for what felt like ages. Their dad constantly reminded her that he thought she'd make a fantastic doctor. "It'll be ok, Ellie." Ellie didn't voice her concerns, opting to just nod at him instead, and the conversation fell into talking about his assignment and Anna as they drove home.


When morning came and Elena was still nowhere to be found, Ellie felt the worry eating away at her insides. Had Damon done something to her? She had looked to be having fun with Damon, but it's not like serial killers can't be charming. She sat next to Jenna on the couch as the blonde flipped through a magazine to try and distract herself. Honestly it was more like an anxious tick, the same way Ellie kept pulling at the stray pieces of thread on the blanket she was under.

They'd managed to convince Jeremy that it was fine for him to go ahead and go to the library, his extra credit assignment was insanely important. Ellie was sure part of Jenna's insistence came from a place other than the desire for him to have good grades. It was the fear that at any moment they were going to get a call telling them something awful had happened to Elena. When the front door opened, Ellie and Jenna turned, there was no way Jeremy would be back that soon. So it must be Elena. "I don't set a lot of rules, Elena. Not with you. I trust you to tell me the truth. Where were you? And why did you lie to me about it? I thought that we were closer than that." Jenna didn't wait for Elena to take more than two steps into the house before asking.

Ellie followed behind her as they approached Elena. However, Ellie couldn't for the life of her understand what gave Elena the idea to get an attitude as she snapped back, "Now is not the time you want to talk to me about lies."

"Don't do that. Don't turn this back on me. I didn't do anything." Jenna said as Elena tried to walk off.

"Ok, question. Are Ellie and I adopted?" Elena asked and Ellie could feel the air rush out of her lungs as if she'd been hit. The wide eyed look of panic on Jenna's face said everything but Ellie was struggling to remember how to breathe. "I trust you to tell me the truth too, Jenna. How could you not tell me? I thought we were closer than that."

Jenna turned as Elena rushed up the stairs. "Elena, I didn't… they asked me not to."

"I don't want to hear it!"

Once Elena had rushed off, Jenna turned back to Ellie, who was dangerously pale. "Ellie, Ellie I'm sorry. I'm so sorry." Jenna apologized. She was in tears, terrified of Ellie's reaction. "Ellie please say something to me."

"I need to sit down." Ellie said shakily and Jenna reached out and helped her over to the couch.

"Ellie, I'm so so sorry. Please, I didn't keep it from you guys to hurt you. Your parents asked me not to and then everything happened and it just slipped my mind and please I didn't mean to hurt you guys." The apologies kept pouring from Jenna but Ellie just reached out to hold her hand.

"It's… I'm not mad at you Jenna. I just need a minute." Ellie promised. How many times this year was her world going to get turned upside down?


Author's Note:

Hey guys! I am so sorry that the update is late. My computer has been acting up, but I hope you guys enjoy this chapter! Please leave a review and let me know what you thought. Also we have hit over 5000 views! Thank you guys to everyone who is reading this I hope you enjoy it!

To Mimi: Agreed! When you think about it, he was the one that was going that was going to have to kill all those vampires and she didn't care in the least about what he wanted. It's so frustrating that basically everyone's world revolved around Elena. Don't worry, she's definitely going to have something to say about it.

To Only Reviewer: I hope you enjoyed her reaction to Elena going missing! How do you think her friendship with Katherine would work? I'm not sure if I can see it with Ellie's personality but it's a possibility.

To RiRi: Aw! Love Callie! Honestly, as far as we can see, nothing is going on between the two of them. They're just really good friends.

To Leila Davis: I'm sorry you feel like that. But part of the reason she hasn't changed anything is because she doesn't know about what's happening yet.

To Oz: I'm not surprised either that some people can see them together either. Maybe he does have feelings for her, maybe he doesn't.

To Guest: Favorite character. God that's hard, I love literally any of the Originals, except maybe Finn. I also love Katherine and Kai. I don't think I can pick a favorite. Worst character uh... maybe Esther or Mikael because they had no excuse for the crap they did to their kids.