Elena came into the dorm room, where Elowen, Caroline and Veronica were going through Megan's things, which hadn't been picked up yet.

"Megan's memorial outside is growing by the minute," she said.

"Ugh, college kids are so dramatic," Veronica deadpanned. "She was on campus for like, one day. She couldn't have made that many friends."

"Veronica, she's dead," Elowen reminded. "I know we've already established that you have apathy issues, but be a little more sympathetic."

"How's the snooping going?" Elena asked, changing the subject. "Any explanation why our vervain laced," she looked over her shoulder and lowered her voice, "vampire slaughtered roommate had a picture of my dad on her phone?"

Caroline sighed. "No."

Elena remembered the folder in her hands and passed it over to Caroline.

"Oh, um, I went by the hospital this morning. Megan's death certificate. It says she died of suicide. No mention of the gaping vampire bites on her neck, so whoever signing off on the cause of death was part of the cover up, just like the founder's council back home."

Caroline had opened the folder and Elowen and Veronica peered over her shoulders.

"Dr. Wesley Maxfield."

"Aka, our applied microbiology professor. I switched our class around, so that we could-"

"Applied- wait, what? Elena, we are supposed to be taking Intro to Communication! I'm supposed to be a drama major!"

"Yeah, and I'm supposed to be taking Music Theory, you know, because I'm a music major?" Elowen stressed.

Veronica crossed her arms. "And I'm supposed to be taking Intro to Ethnic Studies, since that's what I'm majoring in."

"And what happened to our fun freshman year at college?" Caroline asked.

Elena sighed. "We are still gonna have our fun year, Caroline, but you and I need to protect ourselves. If we aren't careful, we could get exposed as vampires!"

"Shh!" Elowen shushed because Elena's voice had gotten too loud.

Elena lowered her voice. "Look, the way Damon kept his secret in Mystic Falls is because he infiltrated the founder's council, so, bust out those alleged acting skills, and let's get on it, okay?"

"Don't see why Elowen and I have to be involved," Veronica piped up. "You two are the vampires at risk here."

Elowen shot Veronica a look and she rolled her eyes, shrugging.

"Fine, but I refuse to be dragged down because of you again."

Elena frowned. "I didn't drag you down."

"My brother was turned into a vampire to force my sister to activate her hunter's mark not only so your little brother wouldn't have to get involved, but so everyone could find you the cure because you whined about not wanting to be a vampire. Honestly, I wanted to leave Mystic Falls the second that didn't pan out the way we'd hoped, but here we are."

"Nobody's stopping you from leaving by yourself," Elena shot back with a small glare.

"And leave my brother and sister in the hands of the likes of you? No thanks."

Elena opened her mouth to retort when Caroline jumped in to diffuse the situation.

"Okay! Let's just worry about surviving Applied Microbiology. Sound like a plan?"

Caroline clapped her hands even though nobody answered.

"Perfect! We're all on the same page. Now let's go."

xxxx

Caroline, Elena, Veronica and Elowen all entered the classroom to Applied Microbiology. As they walked up the steps to an empty row of seats, they came across Jesse.

"Hey, Veronica, right?" He asked as she passed him.

Veronica smiled down at him. "Yeah, and you're Jesse."

"Correct." His eyes found Caroline and Veronica's smile slipped slightly. "And Blow Off Girl. Aren't you guys freshman? How are you in this class?"

"What?" Caroline stuttered. "I love… Applied Microbiology. It's like, my favorite biology. You know, little things are just so… cute."

Veronica rolled her eyes at Caroline's terrible acting skills.

"Are you going to the bonfire tonight?" Jesse asked Caroline. "Or are you just gonna get really close and then turn around and leave again?"

"She'll be there," Elowen said quickly before Caroline (or Veronica) could answer.

"Sweet. We'll hang."

Elowen shot him a thumbs up and Caroline started pushing her a few rows back, shooting her a look. Even Veronica looked not pleased.

"I totally had dibs on him!" Veronica whispered.

"And he's totally into Caroline," Elowen whispered back.

As they took their seats, Dr. Maxfield entered the classroom.

"Morning, everyone. I'm Dr Maxfield. First name is Wes, but call me Dr. Maxfield. One day, when you're out of med school, you'll understand. So, you're all going to this bonfire tonight, right? Well, here's a quick history lesson for you. Whitmore was founded as a hospital during the Civil War. Deadliest war in American history; over 600,000 casualties. Disease was so prevalent that once a week, they had to gather all the dead, rotting bodies, put them in a pile, and light the whole thing on fire. So tonight, when you're getting drunk and partying, stop for a second, close your eyes, and imagine the rancid smell of a hundred rotting corpses."

"Creepy," Caroline muttered under her breath.

"Which brings us to microbiology…"

"But hottie," Elena muttered back.

"... because that rancid smell comes from a very specific bacteria. Isn't that right, chatty girls in the back?"

Elena and Caroline's giggles stopped and their smiles faded immediately as they turned to Dr. Maxfield.

"And what is that bacteria?"

"Putrescine and cadaverine," Veronica answered without missing a beat.

Elena and Caroline shot her looks of surprise. Dr. Maxfield chuckled.

"At least someone brushed up, but it's rude to speak out of turn, Miss…?"

"Garcia."

"Miss Garcia. Don't make a habit out of it in my class, understood?"

"Yes, sir."

Dr. Maxfield turned to Caroline and Elena. "You two, however, are clearly freshmen who shouldn't be in this class. How do I know? I'm observant, a skill you'll learn in Bio 101, down the hall."

Caroline and Elena both shifted awkwardly in their seats before they collected their things, slowly stood up, and did the walk of shame as they left the classroom. Dr. Maxfield turned to the rest of that class after they were gone.

"Now, where were we?"

xxxx

After class, Elowen was on the phone with Damon.

"I felt kinda bad for them, but honestly? It was kind of hilarious. Painfully awkward and probably mortifying for them, but hilarious. I'd never say that in front of them, though."

"And Mary Jane just happened to know the answer?"

"My guess? She read up on microbiology before going to the class. Pretty smart, if you ask me." Elowen sighed. "I don't know why I'm letting Elena drag me into this."

"Because Caroline's involved, and she's your best friend."

"Well, whatever this guy knows, we're gonna get it out of him."

"Did you do the compulsion spell?"

"No, because then I'd be putting myself on his radar, and if he knows about vampires, that's a bad thing."

"How about violence? Did you threaten him?"

"No, I didn't threaten him."

"Would you at least tell me you used torture? Because you sure seemed good at it when you were prancing around the east coast with Klaus, and definitely good at it if said Original hybrid took you on a mystery field trip to New Orleans to be his partner in crime."

Elowen sighed. "I only resort to violence when it's needed, and right now, it's not needed. I only play devil's advocate when I need to. Veronica had the bright idea to try and seduce him, but the rest of us said that was a disaster waiting to happen."

"Seduction certainly worked well for Katherine for 500 years, and Veronica is like… a less impressive, 20 year old human version of her."

"Dr. Maxfield is also a professor and she's a student."

"So?"

"So, if it backfires, she could get expelled! College isn't cheap, you know, and not all of us are lucky enough to have a very rich Original hybrid as a friend who cut you a check as a graduation present."

"Still can't believe he did that, by the way."

"I'm just grateful that I won't be drowning in student debt for the next 30 years of my life."

At the mention of 'drowning', Damon thought of Stefan and how he currently had Sheriff Forbes putting her deputies on finding Stefan duty, and he fought himself on whether or not he should tell her the truth. As he opened his mouth, Elowen stopped walking across the campus and came face to face with Silas, who she thought was Stefan.

"Stefan?" She blurted.

Damon furrowed his eyebrows. "Stefan? You mean you know?"

"I know that Stefan is back? Yeah, he's standing right in front of me."

"What?"

Silas smiled at Elowen. "Turn off your phone."

Elowen slowly put her phone down, smiling, as what was happening clicked in Damon's head.

"Wen, whoa, that is not Stef-"

He was cut off as the call ended. Elowen smiled widely and ran forward to fling her arms around Silas's shoulders. She pulled away, grabbed his face and got on her tiptoes to kiss him. When she pulled away, the smile dropped from her face and she started hitting Silas against the chest.

"You jerk! You had me worried sick all summer that something was wrong! No phone call, no note, not even a postcard! I even called Klaus up all the way in New Orleans to have him help me find you, and he had every right to say no, but he didn't and even he sent out people to find you when my locator spells didn't work! And then you call me out of the blue a few days ago and act like everything is okay? Because it's not! You-"

"Elowen. Hey. Elle!"

Silas grabbed onto Elowen's hands to stop her assault on him.

"I'm sorry, okay? You're right, I should've said something, but I'm here now, aren't I?"

Elowen sighed. "Yeah. Where did you even go?"

"Well, that's not important. I'm sure Damon will fill you in eventually."

"When did you talk to Damon? Because he was just on the phone with me and he didn't really say anything."

"Oh, weird. Maybe he has his hands full helping Toby."

Elowen tilted her head. "What's wrong with Toby?"

"Oh, you know, not much. Just that Jeremy got expelled on his watch."

Elowen's eyes widened. "Jeremy got expelled? Wha- Does Elena know?"

"I don't think so. All I know is that Toby and Jeremy got into this fight and that Jeremy bolted."

"Oh my god. Is he okay? I mean, where is he?"

"Actually, that's why I'm here. I was hoping maybe you'd know, or that maybe you could call Elena and see if she knows."

Elowen nodded, holding her phone back up. "Yeah, lemme try calling Jeremy first. He's been… hovering around a lot these past couple of months, you know, since..."

Silas nodded in understanding. "Him and your brother were pretty close. It makes sense that he'd want to make sure you were okay."

"Actually, he's been offering to let me talk to Jo, you know, since he can see dead people? But… I don't think I'm ready for that."

Silas cupped Elowen's face with one hand. "How are you holding up?"

Elowen cleared her throat and shied away from Silas's touch.

"Lemme just call Jeremy, okay?"

She was dodging, that was obvious, but Silas didn't really care, so he let her let it go. Instead, she scrolled through her contacts, stopped when she found Jeremy's name, and hit dial.

xxxx

Damon burst through the door to Elowen's dorm room, but found that she wasn't there. Elena wasn't present, but Veronica was seated at the vanity applying lip gloss and Caroline was in nothing but a towel with her back to the door. Caroline turned around, expecting with Elowen or Elena, but widened her eyes when she saw that it was Damon.

"Damon! Towel! Knock!"

"Caroline, no one cares, no! Where's Elowen?" Damon asked immediately.

"Probably gloating somewhere that she didn't get kicked out of class," Caroline grumbled.

Veronica smirked, putting her lip gloss away. "No, I think I've done enough of that for the both of us."

Caroline narrowed her eyes at Veronica. "How'd you even know the answer, anyway?"

Veronica shrugged. "Googled a bunch of facts about microbiology and gave myself a crash course before we went in there. Didn't think it was smart to go in blind."

"And you didn't think to share this genius detail with the rest of us?"

"Hey, it's not my job to carry this whole operation on my shoulders. You do your part, I do mine."

"Ugh!"

"Okay, nevermind that," Damon quickly cut in. "Silas is here. He's with Elowen, pretending to be Stefan. Get dressed."

Caroline frowned. "I thought that Stefan dropped his body in the quarry-"

"Join the club. Get dressed."

Caroline suddenly remembered something.

"Oh my god, oh my god. Move in day, Elena told Elowen that she'd had this pit in her stomach every time she thought about Stefan. She was actually right."

Veronica furrowed her eyebrows. "Elena was worrying about a guy who wasn't even her boyfriend?"

Caroline shrugged. "I don't know. She just said that she had this weird feeling that something was wrong with him."

"That's not creepy at all."

Damon grabbed some clothes off of Caroline's bed and threw them at her.

"We don't have time for this. Put some clothes on. Meet me out there. We have to find Elowen."

"What about Elena?" Caroline asked. "Maybe she could help."

Veronica rolled her eyes. "Please, Elena's more concerned with Dr. Maxfield and his supposed involvement in Megan's death."

"I don't care!" Damon hissed in frustration. "Can we hurry it up please?"

Veronica threw her hands up and stood up from the vanity. "Whatever you say, boss. Let's go."

"Not you."

"First of all, I don't take orders, especially not from you, and second, shouldn't you want all hands on deck looking for your girlfriend? I'm helping, so move out of my way."

Damon looked up at Caroline, as if she was going to help him or something, and she shook her head.

"Don't look at me. She's not going to listen to me, either. Now can you get out of here so I can change?"

Damon clenched his jaw, but still turned and left the dorm, followed by Veronica.

xxxx

Elowen and Silas were walking around campus as Elowen tried calling Jeremy again.

"Jeremy's still not answering," Silas said. "Why not just ask Elena?"

Elowen sighed. "If Toby's messed up as bad as you said he has, it's his job to tell her, not mine."

Silas thought about maybe making Elowen call Elena, but decided that it might seem out of character for her, and he didn't exactly want to get caught, so he dropped it.

"Well, I'm gonna hold onto your phone in case he calls back."

"Why are you so worried about him?"

"Isn't that what I'm supposed to do? Worry about people and try to fix their problems? I thought that was the whole point of my hero hair."

Elowen laughed. Slowly, her smile disappeared as a little voice in her head spoke up.

This isn't Stefan.

She recovered quickly and pointed over her shoulder.

"You know what? Maybe I should find Elena. Jeremy's her little brother, after all, and if someone kept this from me if it were Josiah, all hell would break loose."

As she turned to leave, Silas dropped the act and wrapped his hand around her wrist tightly, stopping her from leaving.

"I can read your thoughts, Elowen. I know that you know who I am."

Elowen turned around to face Silas again and tried to pull her wrist back, but failed. She kept her emotions masked, but Silas smirked.

"You're scared. That's good. You have a really good poker face, you know that?"

"What did you do with Stefan?" Elowen asked instead, trying to make her voice sound demanding. "Is that why he's been missing all summer?"

"Ah, yes, guilty as charged. You actually came really close to finding him, but I made you forget. How frustrating."

"He didn't call me, did he? That was you."

"It's what I made you believe. I've gotten really good at that."

Elowen felt the familiar jolt in the pit of her stomach, signaling that a premonition was coming on.

Mayor Hopkins stood on a stage in town square, giving a speech for the end of the summer event when Silas came onto the stage, interrupting him.

"Do you mind if I say a few words?" He asked.

"Maybe when we're done here," Mayor Hopkins responded, but Silas looked him in the eye and used his mind control.

"I'll take it from here, Mayor."

Mayor Hopkins stepped back and Silas took the microphone.

"You're probably wondering how I did that. Well, it's pretty basic mind control."

The crowd started to murmur and whisper amongst each other in confusion and alarm as Silas continued talking.

"But, until now, it's been fairly limited to one person at a time. But, this summer, I have consumed an immeasurable amount of blood, and I've felt myself getting stronger and stronger every day, and I started to wonder, what are the limits to my powers? How many people can I influence? Two? Ten? An entire town square? Everyone stop talking!"

Everyone fell silent.

"Well, that worked. Now, let's try this. No one make a sound, or move a muscle."

The town square was eerily still, not a single sound being made. Silas walked over to Mayor Hopkins, pulled out a pocket knife, and slit his throat. As he fell to the ground, the crowd stayed unresponsive. Silas turned back to the audience.

"Well, now that I have your attention, I need a favor. I need you to find someone. You all know Elena Gilbert. Well, the person I'm looking for looks exactly like her."

"Ooh, that was interesting," Silas said as Elowen's premonition ended. "I've heard about witches who have visions, but never have I experienced one before myself."

"You killed Bonnie's dad!" Elowen gasped. "Oh my god. What am I supposed to tell her?"

"Something tells me that's the least of your worries."

Elowen struggled against Silas's grip again, but his hold was still vice.

"What do you want with Katherine?" She asked instead.

Silas smiled. "Wouldn't you like to know?"

Realization started to dawn on Elowen. Silas watched her intently as she slowly figured it out.

"Katherine took the cure," she whispered.

"Which is currently running through her veins, yes. Looks like you're the smart one. Every group of ragtag misfits has one who keeps everybody else from getting themselves killed. You're going to forget that you figured this out."

A blank look crossed Elowen's face as the thought was erased from her brain. She blinked.

"What did you just do to me?"

"Oh, don't worry about it."

Elowen's phone buzzed in Silas's pocket and he took it out to read the text.

"Sorry, don't mean to cut this very fun conversation short, but someone says they just saw Jeremy on Route 9. What's on Route 9? Answer me."

Elowen shook her head. "I think there's an old campsite near there. Jeremy mentioned to Josiah once that him and Elena used to go there when they were kids."

Silas smiled.

"Perfect."

xxxx

Elowen huffed loudly and blew a raspberry as she walked through the bonfire alone. She vaguely remembered Elena saying that she was planning on going to try and get more intel on Dr. Maxfield and that Veronica wanted to go to find Jesse, so she knew they were around here somewhere, but she didn't feel like looking for them. Caroline, she wasn't sure about, but she was pretty sure that she wouldn't want to sit around at the dorm by herself, so chances were, she was there, too.

She came across the kegs of beer and stopped in front of them. Suddenly, someone's hand shot out and held a red plastic cup in front of her. She looked up in surprise and found Jesse standing there. He smiled at her.

"Here, took the liberty of pouring one out for you."

Elowen looked down at it before shaking her head.

"Ah, I appreciate it, but I don't drink."

"Oh." Jesse pulled the cup away. "You came to a bonfire where everyone is drinking cheap beer when you don't drink?"

Elowen laughed softly. "Yeah, I know how it sounds. Makes me look like a goody two shoes in college or something."

"No, just… different. Drinking is common, but not mandatory at these things. Don't let anyone pressure you into anything you don't wanna do. If they do, just come find me and I'll put them in their spot."

Elowen smiled. "I'll be sure to keep that in mind."

"Do you mind me asking why you don't drink? Is it like a religion thing, or…?"

"It's… a personal choice. Alcohol almost messed up my little brother's life a few years back and I made a vow with him that I would never touch it after he got sober. I was like his sober coach and it would've been a little redundant if I drank in front of him or something."

"Makes sense. Where's your little brother now?"

The smile on Elowen's face vanished. She cleared her throat.

"He's, uh… dead."

"Oh. I'm sorry."

"Thanks."

"So, tell me, what was your secret into sneaking into Applied Microbiology today? Your other friends weren't so lucky, but you and Veronica successfully blended in without Dr. Maxfield noticing."

"Oh, I'm pretty sure he noticed, but because I wasn't talking during lecture and Veronica answered his question correctly, he let us stay. What's his deal, anyway?"

"Dr. Dickfield?"

Elowen snorted. "Yeah, him."

"Tell you what. Help me grab more firewood, and I will tell you everything you need to know."

"Sounds like a fair trade off to me."

Jesse nodded his head in a direction and he led Elowen off into a brightly lit shed full of firewood.

"I had Dr. Maxfield for a few classes last year. He's a jerk, but he's brilliant, so I'll give him a pass."

"I had a dick for a teacher once in high school. Mr. Tanner. I was notoriously on his shit list. So was my boyfriend."

Jesse laughed. "Well, there's this rumor that Dr. Maxfield is apart of this… secret society on campus."

"What, like middle aged men at an elk lodge?"

"No idea. All I know is that a few times a week, they supposedly meet at Whitmore House, but you didn't hear that from me."

Damon suddenly vamp sped into the shed and hit Jesse over the head, effectively knocking him out cold. Elowen gasped and took a step back.

"Damon? What the hell?"

Caroline came in behind Damon and saw Jesse on the ground.

"Seriously? That's Jesse. I kind of liked him."

xxxx

Matt's eyes opened and he stood up in confusion. The last thing he remembered was Silas snapping his neck, but now he was nowhere to be seen.

"Jeremy?" Matt called out loudly.

The next second, he saw Jeremy and Katherine running directly towards him.

"Jeremy, hey, there you are, man. What-"

Jeremy and Katherine ran past him without acknowledging him at all. Matt furrowed his eyebrows.

"What the hell?"

"Freaky, isn't it?"

A male voice said from behind him. Matt turned and saw Josiah and Bonnie standing there.

"The feeling… the void. The emptiness."

"Josiah? Bonnie? What's going on? Where the hell am I?"

"The other side," Bonnie answered. "The Gilbert ring brought you here when you died. That's how it works. Temporarily brings your spirit here. To go back, you have to reconnect to your body."

Matt looked around. "My body's not even here."

"That's because each time you die, you wake up farther and farther away from it," Josiah explained. "And you wander the other side until you find it."

"Wait, if I'm on the other side… Josiah, you I understand, because you're dead, but Bonnie? How can you see me?"

Josiah and Bonnie shared a look. Bonnie sighed.

"There's something you should know..."