AN: Thank you all for sticking with me. I'm currently working on Chapter 18 right now. Chapters 9 thru 17 are being reviewed and editing in the near future. I plan on releasing one or two chapters every week. So wish me luck. If you like the story or have any ideas or questions I would love to hear from you review or PM.

Previously on The Vampire Diaries... fade to cut scene... okay everyone all caught up. Now on with the show.

"Werewolves?" Elena parroted, unsure why they would be of concern to a witch that lived 1000 years in the past. It's not as if she wasn't aware of them being present here in this time period. But then again Elena had only gained the impression from Klaus's sister, and the pictograms they decoded each group had lived together in harmony. Just perhaps, maybe that wasn't really the case she found herself reconsidering.

"Yes, child. Werewolves!" Ayana exclaimed, not even trying to hide her growing exasperation with Elena's odd naivete about what should be a known threat.

"If I don't question your sincerity about the town, you will be born in having around seven thousand people living together In fact, it still doesn't address the issue that having that many humans around would most surely attract werewolves into your midst. Which will only elicit a werewolf attack at some point during a full moon? We had to learn this harsh truth the hard way. Such as when and how often we could increase our population of our own settlement here."

It had never occurred to Elena that a large population of humans could actually provoke an attack but it did perhaps fit with some of the research notes she found in her biological mother's papers that they had retrieved from her university office. Werewolves were a supposedly a product of nature and helped keep the balance, but if too many humans in one area upset that balance? There was still so much she didn't understand about the supernatural in general. As far as she could recall, the werewolf species were nearly extinct, and an individual with the gene only triggered it when they themselves killed someone by accident or not. Did they know that here, Elena found herself questioning the possibility.

"The only werewolf I'm personally aware of is my friend Tyler Lockwood from school. Okay, I will admit at one time my friends and I were concerned about him, but he found a way of dealing with the change the full moon puts him through." Elena said.

That wasn't exactly true, but she wasn't ready to mention vampires or hybrids for that matter she had no idea how that could impact the timeline. It's not like she had a family picture she carried around with her to see if her or brother were fading out, but that had been a movie prompt right she found herself arguing with her subconsciousness.

"You're friends with him as well as go to school together? Why is this boy and his family not ostracized or even banished from your community by your elders?" Ayana asked, dumbfounded. Elena sighed and had to keep reminding herself that she couldn't apply her twenty-first century morals and beliefs to people that are literally living on a new frontier in a strange land.

Caroline had once shared with her that Tyler and his uncle Mason had taken drastic steps to keep them from hurting others, and to these people it must be easier to send the person away rather than risk the entire community. It sounded cruel, but even Elena had to see the stark reality of what could happen if they didn't. The mere thought still sent an unsavory shiver down her spine.

"Ah… Well, if you must know, the Lockwood family are actually one of the founding families of Mystic Falls and have contributed significantly to the growth and development of our community. In fact, Tyler's father was once our town's lead civil authority figure before he died in a tragic accident, and now his mother is our current leader." Elena said, then added.

"Before I continue, could you maybe tell me why is this so important to you? I don't understand, but perhaps if you explained it to me I would."

The older woman regarded Elena for a moment, and she wondered if she had asked too much. They were still getting to know each other and considering her odd predicament. She didn't have many friends currently around. Just as she was considering what else to say that might help, the older woman sighed and shook her head in resigned acquiescence.

"It all started with my friend Esther Mikaelson and her husband Mikael losing her firstborn Freya." Ayana started and for what would be the next several hours Elena just listened.

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Gilbert Residence
October 11, 2010

Bonnie was exhausted and typify the feel of becoming somewhat put off with the near constant demands others were putting on her under in the last few weeks. It didn't help matters that she, like everyone else, was also worried about Elena's whereabouts too and was using every spare moment she could. To try to find her best friend, but every variation of the locator spell she tried simply did not work. Each attempt only yielded inclusive results that only confused her even more. If she had been dead, the spell would have led to her body unless the Elena's remains had been masked with magic, but who would go to such an extent she'd explained to first Klaus and then to Damon. Tracking vampires is even trickier and since Klaus had been hunting unsuccessfully for Katherine Pierce for nearly five centuries if Stefan had changed her no one would be the wiser, but doing so would have been counterproductive for Stefan so Bon didn't consider it a likely possibility. The closest she had gotten had required a few precious drops of Elena's doppelgänger blood to form a link to and getting the vial was only grudgingly given to her by the Original Hybrid himself.

The results of that particular spell had been better but still oddly confusing since it showed Elena in being in two places at the same time before the sample of blood was consumed. She had some ideas on how to filter out the secondary location indicators, but Klaus had been near apoplectic when she asked for a bigger sample. Bonnie knew that asking had been a risky but one of the locations had been the Old Witch House and when she called upon them to help find Elena. They adamantly refused to assist, leaving her with more unanswered questions. The spell she's cast had been specifically tailored to either show Elena's actual location or find those who could assist, but she could only guess that since the witches were already helping her and Stefan hide Klaus' coffins, they weren't too receptive in helping her find something he wanted. She didn't have any idea what she was going to say to either Jer or Care about what she had to guess was another attempt to find where Elena was. On top of that, she hadn't been sleeping very well. Her dreams didn't make any sense, and it didn't help that she had almost fallen asleep in one of her classes.

"Hey Bon, thanks for coming over on short notice!" The blond vampire spoke rapidly. Bonnie didn't need to guess. Caroline had probably heard her the moment she stepped up on the front porch steps so it was not really a surprise that her closest friend, other than Elena, greeted her in an overeager rib breaking hug.

"Ugh… Human here, Care?!" Bonnie uttered weakly, gasping for air.

"Oh, God… Bon, I'm so sorry! I sometimes just get so… well, you know." Caroline apologized. Bonnie watched as her friend literally jumped back several feet.

"No, it's okay Care… Really. Its just been a long couple of weeks." Bonnie yawned. She had already made up her mind she would politely listen to them and then tell the truth. Well, she thought maybe not all the truth as far as she knew. They didn't know she was working with Damon and Stefan to hide the coffins. She would just tell them she's already tried every variation of the locator spell she had access to. With no luck. Maybe I'll treat myself to a nice long bubble bath tonight?

Caroline lead her into the kitchen whereas expected she found Jeremy waiting with a half finished glass of milk and a hesitant smile on his face. Bonnie pursed her lips and shifted her gaze between her best friend and her other best friend's baby brother. He'd always hated when Elena's friends had called him. She thought wistfully that was before she knew she was a witch or vampires existed, or that Elena was a doppelgänger.

"So… Bonnie we would like for-" Caroline started but was cut off when Bonnie held up a hand to forestall hearing anything more.

"I'm sorry Care and you too Jer, but I've tried practically every locator spell in almost all the grimoires I have trying to help find Elena, and none of my attempts gave me a solid location. Trust me, I've done everything I could think of. It's been rather frustrating these last few weeks." Bonnie stated as firmly as dared they were still her closest friends, but she knew Caroline enough that she could talk anyone into doing something and she had that trait before she had even become a vampire. If anything, it had become even more amplified.

"That's perfectly fine because we don't want to use you or your magic to locate Elena." Caroline said, smiling deviously at her best friend.

"Oh!? So… What is it? That you want me to try now?"

"So instead we were hoping that you'd be willing to try something else." Jeremy spoke up before Caroline could, for the first time since she'd arrived. Bonnie couldn't help to observe that ever since then he'd been making hesitant eye contact with her before, looking elsewhere. Bonnie sighed, knowing they were going to need to talk about their issue, but someone was going to have to explain what they wanted her to try now.

"Well, it all started when Jer and I had to get out of his house, since Damon and Stefan were fighting. And you know, like we went to the Grill to allow things to calm down. We were talking when-" Caroline said when Bonnie interrupted.

"Wait! Hold it… Exactly why were they fighting?" Bonnie demanded. It didn't take long for both Jeremy and Caroline taking turns to explain the stunt that Stefan had pulled on Klaus and who'd been used as the ultimate leverage. I'm so going to give him the worst brain aneurysm the next time I see him, Bonnie swore internally.

"So are you saying that Stefan might have been the one that kidnapped her and he has Elena hidden somewhere right now?" Bonnie asked. Her two friends looked at each other and as if by unspoken consent Jeremy spoke for the two of them.

"I don't know but it seems highly likely. If that is the case then how could he be hiding Elena so effectively? He doesn't have a witch does he?" Bonnie had to admit that was a rather curious question if he had taken Elena where was he keeping her, but if he had it might explain why she quietly observed Stefan texting with someone on his phone for almost the last week and half. Hell, she thought, he could have compelled her to stay where she was and not to contact anyone.

"Stefan has had over a hundred and fifty years to find a couple of witches who'd probably be willing to help. It might explain why it's been so difficult to attempt to use my magic to find her." Bonnie said, pursing her lips in mild concentration. "So before we get further off track, what were are you talking about specifically that meant you needed my help?"

"Do you remember the time when she was kidnapped during the Lockwood's Masquerade Ball and taken to some abandoned house? Then after you found her, you and I were waiting to hear back from Damon and Stefan's rescue mission. Do you recall what we did in the meantime? You were trying to calm me down. I… I was upset that Stefan and his brother didn't want me to come with them."

Bonnie's brow furrowed as she tried to recollect back to that date, so much had happened between them and now it's hard to believe that at one point the biggest threat they faced had been when the revenge fueled tomb vampires had been released from under Fell's Church. She didn't know if was the fact that she was just tired from splitting her time between opening that stupid coffin for Stefan or trying to find where Elena was, and not to mention that her dreams lately hadn't made anymore sense than they had the first time she started getting the same one. Bonnie groaned as she rubbed her tired eyelids and leaned down, placing her head on the kitchen island. Which, for some odd reason, it always seemed to be where they congregated around.

"Perhaps today is not the best day to do this Care maybe-" Jeremy said. Bonnie didn't need to look at him to know that he was concerned about her. She could just tell by the sound of his voice. "No Jer, its fine I'm just stressed and tired. Just tell me straight what you want me to do and I will either answer yes or no." Bonnie sighed before sitting upright and looking rather pointedly at him.

"Do you think we could perhaps send a message to Elena like we did when Stefan and Damon were off on their rescue mission?" Jeremy asked and just like that Bonnie felt as if the pieces of a puzzle all just suddenly snapped into place. Granted, at the time she'd been still feeling out the limitations of her magic, and the attempt had taken more out of her than she realized. However, this time it shouldn't be that difficult. Granted, Elena was probably being shielded by magic, but there were ways around that potential obstacle, Bonnie thought speculatively.

"I believe I can but, I'll need some spell ingredients first." Bonnie said, already going through a mental checklist of items she was going to need. Her thoughts faltered when to her surprise Jeremy smiled and bent down to pull a large unused candle and a familiar-looking hair brush. Bonnie hefted the surprisingly heavy candle and found herself smiling back at him.

"I see that you'd remembered, but for this spell, I need some additional items. This candle is a good start though." Bonnie offered, then moved towards the cabinet she knew from literally growing up in the same house Elena had and sorted through its contents for a large container of salt. Two items down, Bonnie thought, going through her checklist.

"What else do you need?" Caroline asked with her typical enthusiasm, looking about the kitchen Bonnie noted with a touch of amusement. She picks up the candle.

"I need more candles Care but don't stress out if they don't match, but it is vitally important that they have already been used that is crucial for this spell." Bonnie ordered, and was pleasantly surprised when her friend started her search without any of her usual drama. Turning back towards Jeremy, she paused, trying her best to collect her thoughts. "Now we will need to do this spell in Elena's room and next item we'll need something from her parents. Care you can start placing the candles in clusters no fewer than three, scattered throughout Elena's room."

He nodded and turned to go upstairs, but stopped when he paused to consider what she had last said. "Um… Bonnie, out of curiosity you sounded awfully specific about her parents. Normally you'd said something like 'our parents' or am I reading too much into this?"

"Nope, good catch if we'd used anything from your parents the spell might not have worked as well as it could have, so better safe than sorry we'll need items from preferably each of Elena's biological parents." Jeremy didn't say anything at first as he slowly considered their available options and with a frown, he looked towards her and held up his hand. Twisting the Gilbert Ring a little to draw her attention to it.

"Would this work? My Uncle John gave it to me, but it he had been his before that. Unfortunately I'm don't think we have anything of Isobel's." He said hesitantly before adding sheepishly. "I'm not saying I don't want to try this now but I… I really would like to keep my ring."

"Don't worry, the incantation will not damage it." Bonnie reassured her former boyfriend and although she could tell he wanted to believe her, he was still somewhat reluctant to give it up.

"I promise to do my very best, Jer." She looked into his eyes, doing her best to reassure him nonverbally as well. It still feels like forever before he gently pressed the ring into her open palm, then helping her to close it with his fingers. His touch lingered on her flesh and for the briefest of a moment she was rejoiced in the intimacy before stepping back.

"Ah… yes, thank you, Jer…. I… I need um… to go outside and grab one of my Bennett ancestors grimoires from my car." Bonnie hastily informed them before exiting the house for the safety of her car and away from the cause of her broken heart.

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Salvatore Manor Ruins
October 11, 2010

Damon was still fuming as he sped towards to where his younger brother was standing amongst the crumbling ruins of their childhood home. He'd almost gotten to the boarding house when it suddenly occurred to him that never once had either of them ever called the boarding house 'home.' In reality it was just a place they could crash and keep some of their most valued possessions. And if they wanted to get technical about it, the house was still legally in Elena Gilbert's name, it wasn't really theirs anymore. Not that venture panned out either, Damon thought bitterly. Elean had still been sacrificed. But very few people were still alive after nearly a century and half other than themselves and at least they forget the very vampire who had changed both of them. So the place they both called home back before 1864 should be a relatively safe place to talk with no one being the wiser. Still, Damon wasn't taking chances since he'd parked a suitable distance away and had more than once backtracked across his path and hopefully deter any attempt to track them both.

"About time you got here, I almost didn't think you would catch on to my particular word phrasing." Stefan started without turning to face his brother. He lapsed into silence, studying the broken masonry, wondering what their father and mother would have thought about the sad state of the home they built or even how their own children had turned out.

"Don't worry about me little brother." Damon answered then looked about, trying to remember where the front entrance would have been precisely. "I seriously wonder if our dearly departed father knew more about the Lockwood family than perhaps he let on. I found nothing in his journals."

"It could be a coincidence, but in this case I agree with you." Stefan answered, kneeling down to pull a stem of the flowering plant that grew wild in the rubbish of their childhood home. He stood, turning to face his elder brother holding up the plant. "Aconitum lycoctonum or lesser known as wolfsbane I think that should at least deter any of Klaus's Hybrids from getting too close to us to hear." He said before crushing the plant into a tight ball, then letting it fall freely from his plant stained fingers.

"Okay, so you're really on top of your plant botany. What makes you think I want to even talk to you right now after using Elena like that or even bothering about telling us you have her hidden away somewhere." Damon snapped. "I swear if it wasn't because you are the only one that knows her whereabouts, you'd find yourself with a nicely carved wooden stake driven into your undead heart."

"Which is why I'm not going to tell you where she is at the moment and besides, its better that she isn't in Mystic Falls, for what is inevitably going to go down around here." Stefan replied, nonplussed by his brother's threat.

"And whose fault is that!?" Damon retorted, stepping very close to his younger brother. A part of him he was suppressing the wanted urge to tear out Stefan's throat, but that would defeat the reason they met in the open like this. "Fuck Stefan out of anybody I'd never thought you would do that to her. What were you thinking about threatening to drive her off the very bridge her parents died? Where she almost died if hadn't been for you, honestly tell me how did she react when you almost murdered her?"

"I honestly don't know, but once she finds out what I did. Well… It will scarcely change anything." Stefan sighed, looking everywhere but at his own brother.

"What the hell are you talking about? What do you mean 'once she finds out'? She was there in the car with you!" Damon thundered. Stefan didn't even flinch or step sway when his brother's enraged face was only barely inches from his own. "You sonofabitch, you'd compelled her to act that way with you in the car!"

"Not exactly… And since you 're my brother, I will let you in on a little secret of mine. Elena Gilbert was never in danger. In fact, she wasn't even in my car." Stefan said, without even a trace of emotion in his voice. Damon stared back with a perplexed expression but as his words sunk deeper into thoughts, it didn't take very long for him to first hand show how devious or sick his brother had become with his personal vendetta against one of the most vicious immortals in history.

"I was wrong! You are completely out of your god damned mind. Why in the hell did you involve her, of all people!" Damon shouted, stepping back, running his hands through his hair. Not knowing what to do at the moment, he turned away and paced a few steps away before returning to his previous position in front of him. "Is she the one that is taking care of Elena?" He seethed.

"No, I can honestly swear to you, that Katherine is not anywhere near Elena." Stefan reassured his brother.

"After everything. You would kidnap the girl you supposedly love and then you would agree with the Psychotic Doppelgänger herself. And for what? Destroying Klaus?"

"Destroying Klaus is all that I've left." Stefan said, showing a brief glimmer of human emotion.

"Why!? You had everything. Human normalcy. And don't think I haven't noticed that you're no longer raiding my blood supply, you're back on your lame ass bunny diet again aren't you? Hell, Stefan, you even had her!" Damon shouted.

"I lost her the minute I left town with him. She just hasn't let herself admit that yet." Stefan said, not bothering to mask his resigned expression, before turning and with a burst of vampiric speed disappeared.

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Gilbert Residence
October 11, 2010

Clutching Emily's grimoire to her chest, Bonnie took in a deep breath, then holding it in before slowly releasing it. Once she felt centered enough, she opened the door and headed inside. To her surprise, she didn't find either Jeremy or Caroline on the main floor. As she opened her mouth to ask where everyone was, an all too familiar voice called down from upstairs.

"Bon, we're up here in Elena's room. Don't forget to close the front door, okay thanks." Caroline called down from upstairs. Choosing to refrain from grumbling under her breath, she did as she had been told and headed upstairs to find that Caroline had once again outdone herself. If she wasn't a witch or that she didn't understand the importance of candles in a magical ritual, the setting in Elena's room looked like the start of a rather romantic rendezvous. They had a brief but heated argument about the contents of the message they were planning on sending. Finally, they settled on Bonnie starting it, Jeremy added a brief sentence then as they had agreed they all signed it and Caroline added a postscript.

"Uh… Good job, guys. Care you might want to move things that might get in the way of the flame. I'm not sure if the size will increase but lets not burn down her room." Bonnie suggested. She carefully placed her ancestor's grimoire on Elena's bed. While Caroline fretted with moving some of the candles into potentially less fire damaging placements, Bonnie started going through her mental checklist once more.

"Hey Jer, did you see where the salt container went?"

"Um… I don't see it up here I don't think Care or I remembered to bring it upstairs." Jeremy said. Then he made for the door.

"Thanks Jer." Bonnie responded. With a nod, he went downstairs to retrieve the missing spell ingredient.

"Bonnie, is everything alright? You've been acting different lately. And don't say its all due to stress, we all are experiencing it with Lena's disappearance and yes you have been trying to find her with your magic. I'm sure that Damon is putting a great deal of pressure on you to do so, but remember you still have friends if you need us, right? Even if its to just talk or otherwise." Caroline said, breaking the awkward silence that came unexpectedly with Jeremy's quick departure.

"Care really everything is fine with me, just lately I haven't been sleeping as well as I should." Bonnie sighed, watching her fiddle with some of the picture frames they'd moved for the sake of the better placement of the candles she'd somehow managed to have scrounged up. "Not that I'm complaining, but using all the magic really takes a toll on my body."

"Are you sure you really want to do this, then? We could wait until you 're feeling better. Bon… I just don't want what happened the last time to happen again." Jeremy said from behind her, startling Bonnie.

"It will be alright Jer I just really need to get some sleep afterwards. I really am exhausted." Bonnie yawned, then looked about Elena's room. As they had everything they needed. The candles were organized and placed in such away that it wouldn't accidentally torch her friend's bedroom.

"Hey guys, come over here and check this out. I can't believe that I've never noticed this before." Caroline's normally bubbly voice, sounding a little more somber and reflective, called out to them both. Jeremy and Bonnie exchanged glances and with a near perfectly timed eye roll they moved to stand directly behind Carol as she continued fussing with Elena's oddments.

"What is it, Care?" Jeremy asked, looking over Caroline's shoulder. Arrayed before them on top of Elena's bureau were framed pictures of all her friends and family. Some still living in the case of Jeremy, Matt, Alaric and even Bonnie herself. Then there were the undead like Caroline, Stephan, and even Damon, Bonnie observed. But even she wasn't immune to the sudden welling of grief when she took note of the three picture frames. One was of course was of Jeremy and Elena's parents. The next was of her uncle/biological father John Gilbert and the last was candid shot of Alaric and their Aunt Jenna eating pizza together.

"I was trying to find a space to put some candles, and I had originally thought this area would be perfect but half way through moving things around it just didn't feel right so I've been putting everything back into their rightful places as before." Caroline explained. "I was also wondering if we could use the pictures of her family in the ritual you mentioned?" She looked back over her shoulder expectantly at Bonnie.

"It wouldn't hurt, but it is still not the same as having an actual physical item that once belonged to them. I think the Gilbert ring should be enough but…" Bonnie finally said after considering Caroline's suggestion.

"That's part of the reason I wanted to show you these." Caroline said, holding up a small cardboard stock picture frame in one hand and in the other held an intricately made pendant.

"I found these almost hidden in the back of the other pictures, but I'm not sure if 'Lena would like their being used in your spell ritual." She didn't have to elaborate any further once both Bonnie and Jeremy got a better look at the photo and the pendant.

"Like it or not, Isobel Fleming was Elena's birth mother and if we need something like what I strongly suspect is her daylight pendant necklace, then I say we go for it." Jeremy sighed.

"But…" Caroline started but Bonnie interrupted her by saying. "No Jer is right this is exactly what I need and the fact that 'Lena has a picture of Isobel or that she actually kept the one item that represented what she had become is rather telling, don't either of you think?"

"Care I agree even after what she had done to Elena still did sometimes talk about her actual mother. Thankfully I had only met her briefly when she kidnapped me in order to force 'Lena into giving her that vampire killing device my ancestor created."

"Well, if that's the case, then shouldn't we have everything we need? Okay, Bon what else do we need to do for this spell of yours?" Caroline said finally, after digesting everything that had been said. Bonnie started explaining what they needed to do. She had to sniffle a smile when she heard Caroline bemoaning the fact that she needed to pour out a salt circle onto Elena's bedroom floor. That was large enough for Bonnie and Jeremy to kneel inside of with the other spell ingredients. Jeremy needed to arrange the photos of his and Elena's family evenly spaced along the inner circumference of the circle before taking his place along with Bonnie. From his position he was the only one facing Elena's bedroom open doorway until everyone else was facing him.

"Okay, Bon, now what?" Jeremy asked. Bonnie looked up from her grimoire and motioned for him to pick up the ring and the necklace.

"First, put your ring back on your left hand and then wrap the necklace chain around your palm of the same hand. Afterwards please hold out your other hand palm up." Bonnie explained and watched in silence as he did as he was told. By the look in his eyes, she knew what might come next, and she didn't see any reason to prolong it. She still hated the spell, needed it. With a quick swipe, she sliced a long cut in his palm and watched as his blood welled out. They both ignored Caroline's sharp intake of breath. They knew their vampire friend had mastered her bloodlust, but she was still relatively newly turned.

"Alright now what." Jeremy grimaced, being careful not to spill his blood. "Now you'll need to care and dribble some of your blood over your other hand just enough to get some of it over the ring and then Isobel's necklace, afterwards you need to grasp the candle and don't let go until I say so." Bonnie ordered.

"What do I do, Bon?" Caroline asked. As they watched Jeremy do as Bonnie had instructed. Bonnie didn't say anything at first as she lit the candle Jeremy was now holding with a match and then pointed at the letter they had written for Elena.

"You need to crumple the letter up into a ball and place it in my palm above the candle flame. Be careful in not disturbing the salt, then afterwards I need silence as I concentrate on the incantation. Try not to be too alarmed by the sudden uptake of flame from the surrounding candles." Bonnie stated, focusing on the crumpled letter Caroline had done as she was told, and started her chant. There was a sharp gasp from them as the unlit candles around them suddenly sprang to life with their own sizable gouts of flames. Jeremy was so focused on what Bonnie was doing, he just barely caught movement through the corner of his vision. He turned, expecting to see Caroline, but the person standing there could never be mistaken with Caroline, and it took him a mere instant to remember the last time he had seen her.

"Hey, I believe that I just saw… " Jeremy uttered, the shock evident in his voice.

"What?" Caroline asked in turn, looking about the room. He was about to repeat his last statement, but he'd blinked, not even for a second, and the apparition was gone.

"Jeremy?" Caroline pressed.

"Guys! A little busy here!" Bonnie hissed through tight lips and as if to further indicate her irritation with them both having interrupted her concentration, the flames of the surrounding candles surged even higher. As she murmured the incantation repeatedly intensified with each repetition, she watched with grim satisfaction as the crumpled ball of paper started to smolder. All of her attention was focused on it, and her incantation from the world around her started to blur together. As her voice grew louder, the note to their loved one smoldering suddenly caught and in a blink disappeared into a pile of drifting ashes. Then, as quickly as it had started, the room fell into utter silence.

She didn't know how long the shared silence had been It still took Bonnie a moment to understand that her friends had asked her a question.

"What?" she asked weakly, her voice sounding raw and for some odd reason her arms felt rather leaden to her. She absently wondered if she could even stand.

"We asked if it had worked?" Caroline asked. Bonnie's head felt heavy as she looked between them and absently noted that Jeremy seemed distracted.

"Yes." She croaked and before she could elaborate further or even ask what Jeremy seemed to be looking for behind her. The world slowly tilted on its side and before her mind could process the meaning of why. Her world awareness abruptly faded into a darkening void, stretching out to greet her. The last thing she vaguely remembered hearing was her own name being called out repeatedly.