Stefan had thankfully gotten Elowen home in the nick of time. Esmeralda had narrowed her eyes at him and thanked him for getting her home. She attempted to close the door before Elowen bid him good night, though that didn't work out so well.
The next day, Elowen and Josiah were getting ready to meet everyone (everyone being Elena, Bonnie and Caroline) at Elena's house. They were instructed by Caroline, who claimed she had prepared the two siblings outfits to wear.
"I don't know why she put something together for me. I actually have formal wear in my closet." Elowen nudged Josiah as they walked towards her car.
"Shut up," he lamely shot back, climbing into the passenger seat. "She probably figured that since she was already taking care of my outfit, she might as well do yours. She's Caroline, if there's anything I learned from being at Mystic Falls High, she likes to be in charge of virtually everything. Even if it's something as simple as clothing coordination."
"Aww, look at you, coming to your girlfriend's defense."
"She's not my girlfriend!"
"Yet."
Josiah made a noise that was a mix between a whine and a groan. "Whatever. Just drive."
After getting directions from Caroline, Elowen and Josiah made it to Elena's house in no time. They barely made it out of the car before the front door opened. Caroline came out, grabbed their wrists and dragged them into the house. Elowen almost didn't have time to lock the car.
"Jeez, Care. Don't rip their arms out of their sockets," Bonnie joked as Caroline pulled them into Elena's bedroom. Caroline only rolled her eyes and walked towards a bag. She took a pair of clothes out and put them on Elena's bed, then tossed the bag towards Josiah. He caught the bag with one hand.
"You can change in Jeremy's room. It's through the bathroom." Caroline pointed out the right door and Josiah headed that way without a second thought.
"Where'd you get the clothes from?" Elowen asked once her brother had left. Caroline shrugged.
"They used to belong to my dad. I guess they don't fit him anymore so he left them behind."
"Oh…" Elowen didn't know too much about Caroline's parents, but she was aware of her dad divorcing her mom and leaving (Bonnie mentioned it once). Deciding not to dwell on it, Elowen made her way to the bed and dropped her bag on it. "Please tell me you didn't pack some super revealing dress for me to wear."
"Nonsense! I would never."
Elowen narrowed her eyes as she walked around to the other side of the bed to inspect the dress. It was a navy blue bodycon with off the shoulder straps and an asymmetrical skirt. Elowen picked it up and pressed it to her body.
"Isn't this going to, y'know… cling a bit?"
"That's the point! You have curves that you need to show off more; they'll blow Stefan away if you showcase them! Which is why I brought the best hip-hugging dress I could find in my closet." Caroline crossed her arms nodded her head. Elowen stared at the dress uncertainly and looked at Bonnie for her opinion.
"I mean, it'll probably look nice. That's all that matters, right?"
"Exactly! Thank you, Bonnie!" Caroline pointed to her friend. "Trust me, it'll look great. Especially paired with those black, strappy platform wedges Elena has. It's fine if she uses them, right, Elena?"
"Yeah, I guess so. I wasn't planning on using them anytime soon."
"Great!" Caroline clapped her hands together. "Now let's get to work."
Josiah was in the next room over. He was in the middle of buttoning up the maroon dress shirt that Caroline had handed him. Jeremy was sitting at his computer desk. He was watching Josiah get dressed, an amused smile on his face.
"You're really gonna go to this thing? With Caroline?"
Josiah looked up at Jeremy and sighed. "You're not gonna make fun of me, are you?"
"No." Jeremy immediately shook his head. "It's just…. Interesting, is all. I never pegged you as the type of guy to be into formal ball crap. It's also a bit weird to see you have a thing for Caroline. She's practically like my sister."
Josiah finished buttoning up his shirt and went to sit at the edge of Jeremy's bed.
"Let me let you in on a little secret." He dramatically looked around the room to mimic making sure no one was listening in, then dropped his voice to a whisper. "I hate formal occasions. I'm only going because Caroline asked and I want to impress her."
Jeremy also dropped his voice to a whisper. "I thought so."
Both boys broke out in laughter. Jeremy shook his head and went back to his computer. Josiah got up and lifted the black slacks Caroline had given him. He wrinkled his nose.
"These aren't going to fit me."
It was true. The slacks were a bit too wide in the waist for Josiah's slimmer physique. Jeremy moved his laptop off of his lap this time and got up to head for his closet.
"Don't worry, man. I've got a pair that'll fit you."
"Thank god. Please tell me you've got nice shoes I can wear, too. I don't think it'll be very impressive if I walk in there with converse."
Jeremy tried to fight away the smile on his lips, instead turning to face his closet and dig around for the pair of pants he was talking about.
"Of course I do. When you're apart of a founding family around here, you need to have nice clothes." Jeremy came back out of the closet and tossed another pair of black dress pants in Josiah's direction, who caught them with ease.
"Well, then, thankfully I'm not a founding family member."
"Stefan says he likes my hair in its natural curls."
About half an hour had passed. Caroline had done Elowen's makeup; it was a simple nude look with nude pink lipstick. Elowen was in the middle of doing Elena's hair and Caroline was about to start on Elowen's hair. She put her hands on her hips and observed Elowen's hair for a moment.
"Up or down?"
"Down," Bonnie piped up from the bathroom, where she was curling her own hair.
"Natural curly, styled curly or straight?"
Elena looked up at Elowen through the mirror and squinted her eyes. "Styled curly," she said at last.
Elowen huffed. "Guess I don't have a say in this at all, huh?"
"Nope," Caroline answered as she plugged in the second curling iron. The doorbell rang and Elena moved to get up.
"That'll be Tyler. He's supposed to pick up some things for the party tonight." She left the room and headed downstairs. While waiting for the curling iron to warm up, Caroline pulled her own dress out of the bag and started getting changed. It was a strapless yellow dress. As she pulled the dress up, there was a knock on the door. Elowen and Caroline looked over and saw Jenna peeking her head through a crack.
"Can I come in? I need to talk to Elowen."
Said girl looked up in confusion while Caroline turned.
"Sure, but only if you zip me up."
Jenna walked in, closed the door and went to zip up Caroline's dress.
"What did you want to talk to me about?" Elowen asked, skeptical and confused.
"I understand you're dating Stefan."
Elowen crossed her arms. "And I understand you're dating his brother, Damon. Your point?"
Jenna sat at the edge of Elena's bed and patted the seat next to her. Elowen stepped over and slowly sat down.
"My point is, Damon told me some….. Unsettling things about Stefan recently and it worried me. I just wanted to warn you."
"About?"
Caroline had now tiptoed over to the bathroom and lightly tugged Bonnie's arm to get her attention on what was going on in the room. They stayed standing in the bathroom but were leaning into Elena's room, listening.
"What do you know about Katherine?"
Realization dawned on Elowen's face. So that's what this was about. She let out a hybrid scoff/laugh and shook her head.
"Katherine was a manipulative, two timing liar who played them both. What about her?"
Elena had opened the door and was about to reenter the room when Caroline quickly put her index finger to her lips. She nodded her head towards the other bathroom door. Elena, as quietly as she could, stepped back out of her bedroom and once again closed the door. She ran over to the bathroom entrance in the hall and snuck in that way.
"What the hell is going on?" She asked in a low whisper, leaning over Bonnie's shoulder to get a look in the room. Bonnie shook her head.
"I don't know," Bonnie mouthed back.
"I think they've about to have some sort of Salvatore brother showdown." Caroline was standing on the other side of the doorway, hiding halfway behind the actual door. The three girls were all straining to hear Jenna's response even though they were barely a few feet away.
Jenna shook her head at Elowen. "No, Stefan was the manipulative one. They both dated her but she chose Damon. Stefan didn't like the outcome so he tricked her into dumping Damon for him." Here is where Jenna rested on of her hands over Elowen's, who just stared in disbelief and mild disgust down at their hands. "I wanted you to know while you're still in the beginning stages of your relationship. It's easier to get out that way."
Elowen ripped her hand away from Jenna's hold. "If we're telling each other their personal interpretations of one another, I might as well blurt that Damon is dangerous and you should stay away from him." Her words came out a bit more heated than she had meant, but Tanner's death played in her head, as well as her two premonition dreams where she watched Damon kill even more innocent people. She could see Bonnie and Elena stepping forward, ready to swoop in and stop anything from escalating, from the corner of her eye. Jenna's eyes widened slightly.
"I was only trying to-"
"Jenna," Elowen's voice was calmer now, but still firm. "I know you meant well, but Stefan and Damon have some serious family problems that we should stay out of until they're ready to truly disclose that information. They hate each other so obviously they wouldn't have anything nice to say. Damon says Stefan manipulated Katherine and Stefan says Katherine was the one who manipulated them. Do you see how different those stories are?"
Jenna opened her mouth to argue back but Elena decided to step in.
"Aunt Jenna? Maybe you should finish getting ready. Wouldn't wanna keep Damon waiting, right?"
It was tense in the room until Jenna was gone and the door was closed once more. Elena shook her head, sighing.
"I don't know what's gotten into her…. She's been like this ever since she started seeing Damon. I'm not liking him too much." Elena glanced at Elowen. "Stefan's version of that Katherine story is sounding more believable at the moment."
"Okay, okay, as much as I love gossip and drama, I care about being punctual and looking good a lot more." Caroline picked up the now hot curling iron. "Now, let's get started on your hair, shall we?"
All four girls were finally ready, about to exit Elena's room to go downstairs when the phone rang. Elena doubled back to answer it.
"Hello? Hi, Mrs. Lockwood….. What? Are you sure? Okay, I'll look for it and bring it if I find it. Mm-hmm, bye." Elena hung up and sighed. She closed her eyes for a minute to collect her thoughts.
Her first thought was that Jeremy had taken it to sell online, like he'd mentioned earlier. She could just bust into his room and take it back, but the last few times she'd used force on him backfired in her face. Josiah's words from a few nights ago rang in her ears.
He needs his sister. Not the parent police.
When paired with Elowen telling her not to automatically assume the worst in her brother, it was made clear that she should handle this calmly. If Josiah and Elowen's close bond told her anything, it was that they knew what they were talking about. It was settled. She'd give him a chance first.
"Is everything okay?" Bonnie's voice brought Elena back to reality. She nodded and headed towards Jeremy's room, entering through the joint bathroom. Him and Josiah were sitting around his computer, watching some video on youtube. At the sound of the door opening, Josiah stood, under the assumption that they were ready to go, but Elena only crossed her arms, her eyes on Jeremy. Josiah glanced at Jeremy and quickly moved out of the way.
"I want you to be honest with me, Jer. Did you take the pocket watch from mom's box?"
Jeremy blinked, taken off guard by Elena's behavior. He had grown accustomed to her being rough and accusatory with him, so to see her not yelling at him for once was weird.
"Jeremy? Did you hear what I said?"
The others had decided to give the Gilbert siblings space; they all backed into Elena's room and closed the door. Elena went to sit on his bed. Jeremy still hadn't said anything.
"Look, I'm done fighting. If you took it, I won't be mad."
"Are you sure about that?" Jeremy finally looked at his sister, staring her down.
"I promise. Mrs. Lockwood called me in a frenzy saying she couldn't find it and she thinks she's the one who lost it. I just wanna make sure nobody took it. I'll even ask aunt Jenna just in case."
Jeremy studied Elena's features and saw nothing that indicated she was trying to trick him. Swallowing, he got up from his seat and grabbed the pocket watch from its hiding place.
"I wasn't gonna sell it. I know that's what you were thinking."
"No, it wasn't."
"Yes, it was." He stared at the watch in the palm of his hand. "It was supposed to be mine," he said quietly. "Dad said it goes to the firstborn son. His father gave it to him…."
"And he was going to give it to you," Elena finished his sentence, standing up. She walked over to Jeremy and closed his fingers around the watch with her hand. "Keep it. I'll make up some excuse to Mrs. Lockwood."
Jeremy looked up in surprise, his eyes slightly wide as Elena left the way she came. When she was gone, a smile spread across his face as he clutched the watch.
"Thanks, sis….."
"Caroline! You look lovely!" Mrs. Lockwood greeted Caroline and Josiah as they approached the door.
"Thank you, Mrs. Lockwood. This is my date, Josiah."
"Ah, yes. Your mother is the esteemed fantasy author."
"That would be correct, Mrs. Lockwood," Josiah politely replied.
"Well, it was nice to meet you. Enjoy the party, kids."
Caroline and Josiah entered the Lockwood manor. She immediately noticed her mother standing in the other room wearing her uniform.
"Wait here for a sec, okay?" She smiled at Josiah, going off to talk to her mother. Elena had walked up to the door in this time, catching Mr. Lockwood's attention.
"Hi, Mayor Lockwood! Have you had the chance to meet Elowen or Stefan yet?"
Elena pulled the couple forward and into Mr. Lockwood's line of view. He gave them a smile in greeting and stepped closer.
"I believe I met your mother sometime last year soon after you moved here, but I don't think I've had the pleasure of meeting you yet." He turned towards Stefan. "And you must be the newest member of the football team that I've heard about from Tyler. Come on in, guys."
"Thank you, Mayor Lockwood. It was lovely meeting you." Elowen stepped through the threshold, pulling Stefan with her. Bonnie trailed in behind them, quickly swapping hellos with Mr. Lockwood before walking off somewhere with Elena.
"I honestly thought that would've been a lot more difficult," Elowen mumbled lowly towards Stefan, talking about him getting invited in.
"So did I. I thought the townspeople of Mystic Falls knew better by now. Let's hope Damon doesn't have the same luck."
As Elowen and Stefan walked farther into the manor, she spotted Vicki standing on the other side of the room with Tyler by her side.
"Vic!" Elowen called out, waving when the girl looked over. She broke out in a smile and ran forward to engulf Elowen in a hug.
"Hey!" She cast a glance at Stefan. "I see it worked out."
"It did indeed," Stefan replied, laughing. He looked over at Tyler, who quickly cleared his throat. He pointed over his shoulder.
"I'm gonna get us some drinks, alright?"
Vicki nodded and Tyler leaned forward to give her a peck on the lips. Once he was gone, she rolled her eyes. "I think his ego is still a bit bruised that Tanner put you on a pedestal so fast."
"Ah. Well, it's not like that matters anymore."
"Yeah…." Vicki sighed, meeting eyes with someone in the room. Elowen turned to look and saw Mrs. Lockwood. Upon seeing Elowen looking, she smiled and quickly left the room. Elowen grimaced.
"I don't think she likes you very much."
"No, she doesn't," Vick shrugged. "Oh well. She'll just have to get used to me."
Tyler came back with his and Vicki's drinks and handed one to Vicki.
"Well, I guess we better go. I need to make sure Jo doesn't try to sneak any alcohol," Elowen laughed, leaving the couple to themselves. Stefan followed her, grabbing her hand as they went to explore the house.
Nightfall came. Elowen and Stefan wandered into the room where all the founding family items were, spotting Elena by the Gilbert section. The both of them came up behind her to see what she was looking at.
'On loan from the Gilbert Family. Wedding rings.'
"Were these your parents' rings?" Elowen asked softly. Elena nodded.
"Yeah. There's a lot of history here." Elena took a deep breath, walking off to read some of the other stuff in the room. Jenna came rushing in a moment later, pulling Elena in front of her.
"Hide me. Logan Fell has been pursuing me all night."
"Logan Fell?" Elowen questioned. "The local news guy?"
"They dated in high school," Elena elaborated. "Did you tell him you're with Damon now?"
"Yeah, but he didn't want to take no for an answer. Asshole."
Elowen, Stefan and Elena created a small barrier around Jenna to hide her in case Logan came looking for her. They huddled near the first registry from the first founder ball. Elena squinted and leaned up slightly to get a better look of it.
"'The founding families' in Mystic Falls welcomes you to the first inaugural council celebration.'" She read off of the paper, missing Elowen and Stefan's worried glance at each other. "Wow, look at all these familiar names. Sheriff William Forbes, Mayor Benjamin Lockwood…. Is that, Damon Salvatore? And, Stefan Salvatore?"
Stefan closed his eyes and dropped his head. He had been hoping that maybe Elena wouldn't have noticed. However, before he or Elowen could say anything, a new voice joined the conversation.
"Jenna, there you are!" Damon made his way through the crowd, pulling Jenna out of the barrier they had created. He glanced at the registry and feigned surprise. "Oh! The original Salvatore brothers. Tragic, really, about what happened to them."
As expected, Elena fell for the bait. Her eyebrows furrowed, curious. "What happened to them?"
"Jeez, Damon. You don't wanna bore her with family history, do you?" Elowen butted in, laughing.
"And what has Stefan told you about our family, Elle? I can call you Elle, can't I?"
"I'd actually prefer it if you didn't," she declined as politely as she could, though the smile on her face was tense and forced. "Elle is reserved for close friends. Ellie if you're my brother."
"My apologies, Elowen." Damon's eyes flickered over to Stefan briefly. "I'm just a bit surprised Stefan told you anything about our family. He's usually really hush hush about it."
"I don't know much," she answered honestly. "Just that they loved the same girl and died trying to save her." Damon's eyebrows shot up in mild surprise. Stefan's head snapped to look at Elowen. He didn't remember telling her about the church fire. It took him a second to realize that most likely her power was helping her.
"Huh. Interesting."
"Are you up for dancing now?" Jenna piped up from next to Damon. He didn't even spare her a glance.
"Nope."
"You're no fun." Jenna turned to Stefan and narrowed her eyes as if an idea just struck her. "Stefan? If Elowen doesn't mind, can I steal you for a moment?"
Elowen and Elena both gave her funny looks, considering she had accused Stefan of being a bad person earlier in the evening. While Elena stayed confused, Elowen guessed it Damon compelled her to ask.
"I don't dance," Stefan shook his head.
"'Course you do! He does it all, trust me." Damon smirked, knowing that he was pushing Stefan into a corner. Jenna put out her hand expectantly. Stefan reluctantly took it, allowing Jenna to pull him out of the room. Now only Elena, Damon and Elowen were left. While Damon started to go into a spiel about how he was sorry for trying to kiss Elena the other night, Elowen grabbed a glass of champagne from a waiter passing by and walked out of the room.
As she walked down the hall towards the stairs, she stared down at the flute of champagne in her hand. She hated alcohol. After seeing the negative impacts it had on Josiah, she swore she'd never drink. Seeing any form of it just brought back memories she'd rather forget. She halted in the middle of the hallway.
"I don't know why I grabbed this," she mumbled. Damon stood just behind her. She turned and handed the flute over to him, completely unfazed by his sudden presence as she knew he'd been there the whole time. "I don't drink."
Damon took the glass without a word and downed the contents. Elowen was already heading down the stairs by the time he was done. Her sudden behavior change piqued his interest and he quickly followed after her.
"So, what's the story?"
"What story?"
"The story behind the reason you don't drink."
"What makes you think there's a story?" Elowen stopped at the foot of the stairs and glowered slightly up at Damon, who was a few steps up. He searched her eyes, his stoic expression softening just slightly.
"There's always a story." His soft tone caught Elowen off guard. Her eyebrows crinkled together as they stared at one another for a long moment. Not wanting to let her guard down, she crossed her arms and stood up straighter.
"Don't act like you care about me. You just want me to open that stupid tomb so you can get your girlfriend back and then you'll leave and forget I exist. I'd rather we skip the pleasantries." Elowen left afterward, leaving Damon in search of her brother. Being reminded of the past made her feel the urge to check up on him, especially with all the alcohol surrounding him.
She was joking earlier when she was talking to Vicki but now she found herself being serious. It wasn't that Elowen didn't trust him. She did, but she realized it must've been difficult for Josiah to be around the very thing that was his downfall a couple of years ago.
Elowen found herself outside in the backyard, scanning the crowd for either Josiah or Caroline. Finally, she spotted them just across the lawn.
Caroline swiped two glasses from a waiter and quickly looked around. She handed one to Josiah when she was sure her mom wasn't around.
"Keep an eye out for my mom, okay? She'll kill me if she sees I'm drinking."
"Mm-hmm," Josiah hummed tightly in response, staring at the glass of champagne in his hands. The temptation was definitely there, but he knew that once he took even a sip, he wouldn't be able to stop. Taking a deep breath, he returned the glass to the platter as another waiter passed by. He looked up and met Elowen's eyes, who was a few feet away.
Her face was full of concern, her eyes asking the obvious question.
'Are you okay?'
Josiah gave her a reassuring smile and nodded. Satisfied with the answer, Elowen walked over to the gazebo where Stefan and Jenna were. Damon showed up soon after.
"What did we miss?" Damon asked, coming to stand next to Elowen.
"Nothing much. We were just chatting." Stefan set his glass down on the table beside them and put out his hand. "Care to dance?"
Elowen accepted his hand. "I'd love to."
As they made their way onto the dance floor, Elowen noticed Vicki and Tyler dancing in the middle of the floor. She caught the backside of Mrs. Lockwood walking away from the scene, most likely still unhappy her son had brought Vicki of all people.
Josiah led Caroline onto the floor as well, setting his hands on her waist.
"Damon didn't give you too hard of a time while I was gone, did he?"
Just over Stefan's shoulder, Elowen saw Damon walk off with Jenna. She shook her head.
"Nah. I can handle him."
"Good." Stefan leaned down and gave her a quick kiss. "Now, I need to tell you something important." He dropped his voice to a low whisper. "I spiked Jenna's drink with vervain. I plan on taking Damon down tonight."
Elowen nodded her head. "Thanks for the heads up."
"No problem."
Damon pulled Jenna upstairs with him, heading back into the room with the founding family items. He positioned her in front of the door.
"I need you stay right there." Damon walked over to a box and picked it up, propping it on a table. Jenna watched him, stepping forward in protest.
"Hang on a minute, you're not supposed to touch this stuff!"
"Shut up." He hissed over his shoulder, popping out the false bottom of the box. He pulled out two crystals, one amber and one amethyst. Jenna eyed them in confusion.
"What are those?"
"Two very important crystals." Damon pocketed them and replaced the false bottom.
"How did you even know they were in there?"
"Because I put them there." He closed the box and put it back where it found it.
"When?"
"A long time ago. Tonight, I'm taking them back. C'mon." He grabbed Jenna's arm and steered her out of the room, heading back downstairs before they were caught.
Elowen and Stefan were standing by the pond, hand in hand.
"It's been peaceful so far. I'm surprised." Elowen turned to Stefan.
He turned as well, brushing some strands of hair out of her face. His hand came down to cup her cheek. "Have I told you that you look beautiful tonight yet?"
Elowen smiled shyly, shaking her head. "I don't think so."
"You look beautiful tonight," he repeated, leaning down to kiss her. However, he stopped short, his head perking up. Elowen furrowed her eyebrows.
"What is it?"
Stefan looked back towards the party. "Something's wrong."
Elowen looked over and sure enough, Elena was storming down the steps towards them. The two broke apart, watching Elena come to a stop in front of them.
"I don't mean to interrupt you two, but, I don't know who else to go to."
"What happened?" Stefan asked, his voice laced with worry.
"Damon. I- Jenna has bruises all over her. Bite marks," Stefan and Elowen shared a dark look at this piece of information. "And he's got her all confused and messed up in the head." Elena finally took notice of their expressions.
Elowen was looking down at the ground forlornly. Stefan's face was neutral, though there was a hint of disappointment in his eyes.
"You two don't seem surprised," Elena scoffed. Her eyes trained on Elowen. "And you didn't think to warn me that my aunt was dating some crazy abusive egomaniac?"
"I said he was dangerous earlier, didn't I?"
"Hey," Stefan cut in before it got ugly. "I'm working on getting rid of him, okay?"
"Working on it? Stefan, you should be having him arrested!"
Elowen acted quickly, reaching forward to grab Elena's shoulder. "Harás lo que digo. No tienes ninguna opción," she recited, watching Elena's eyes gloss over. "We're handling it. Go back to the party and leave it to me and Stefan." Elowen let go and the mystified look on Elena's face immediately disappeared.
"I'm gonna go back to the party and let you guys take care of this, okay?" Elena repeated what Elowen just told her to do and they nodded. Elena turned and started heading back. As she left, Stefan noticed Damon dragging Jenna down the steps and away from the party.
"C'mon." Stefan started heading in the direction Damon was going. Elowen followed behind him, a sinking feeling in her gut that something bad was going to happen to Jenna. She found herself rushing past Stefan in a fast walk. By the time they arrived, Jenna was passed out on the ground and Damon was too weak to move.
Elowen crouched down on the ground, seeing the fresh wound on her neck from where Damon had bit her. Without really thinking, Elowen hovered her hands over the injury and began muttering a healing spell.
"Elowen, wait. Last time you did this you fainted. I can't tend to you and make sure Damon doesn't get away at the same time." Stefan was in the middle of picking Damon up, though he stopped once he realized what she was doing.
"Then go. I can take care of myself. I just don't want Jenna to become collateral damage. I wouldn't forgive myself if she bled out on this lawn."
Stefan nodded in understanding. "Alright. I'll call you when this is all over."
There was a whoosh sound and Elowen knew he was gone. Just as she was about to resume the spell, she noticed something in the corner of her eye. Something was glittering in the grass. Slowly, she creeped towards the items and picked them up. Resting on the palm of her hand were two crystals, one amber and one amethyst, gleaming up at her. For some reason, she felt herself heavily drawn to the amethyst crystal. She was broken out of her trance when Jenna groaned, beginning to move. In a panic, Elowen jumped up and ran back into the darkness. The last thing she needed was Jenna asking questions she couldn't answer.
Heart racing, Elowen dashed back to the party and searched around for Josiah.
"I had a great time tonight," Caroline shyly admitted as her and Josiah sat on a bench a little ways away from everyone.
A wide grin appeared on Josiah's face. "Really? I had fun, too." He hesitantly scooted a bit closer to Caroline, wiping his sweaty palms on his pants. He'd never kissed anyone before and he felt very nervous. What if he was bad at it? Thankfully, Caroline picked up on his cues and slightly leaned in. This gave him the encouragement he needed and he leaned in the rest of the way. Butterflies erupted in his stomach the moment their lips touched.
The kiss lasted for a few seconds. When Josiah pulled back, their moment was cut short when Elowen's voice broke through.
"Josiah? Are you over here?" Elowen turned the corner and finally found him sitting with Caroline. She'd obviously interrupted something, judging by Caroline's awkward cough and Josiah sliding to the opposite side of the bench, but she was too distracted and tired to care.
"There you are," she breathed. She ran a hand through her hair, sighing. "Listen, um, we've gotta get going. It's getting late."
Josiah and Caroline both stood.
"I should go find Elena and Bonnie. They're my ride out of here." Caroline cast one last smile at Josiah and hastily kissed his cheek. "I'll see you later."
Once she was gone, Elowen's shoulders sagged and she turned and started walking in the direction of her car. Josiah jogged to catch up to her.
"I'm exhausted," she filled him in. "Stefan drugged Damon and, 'handling it,' as he put it. I also found these." She showed Josiah the crystals that were still securely in her hand. He instantly picked up the amethyst crystal, turning it over in his hands. "It feels like it's calling to you, right? Like you're meant to have it."
"Yeah….." Josiah stared at the crystal a little while longer before pulling himself away from it, handing it back to Elowen. "Like it's pulling me towards it."
"I don't know what they are. I'll have to ask mom later."
An hour later, Elowen and Josiah were home.
Elowen had just gotten out of the shower and was in the middle of blow drying her hair when her phone rang. She almost didn't notice over the sound of the dryer.
It was Stefan. She answered it.
"Hey. Is it done?"
"Yeah," Stefan replied. "He's locked up in the cellar. How are you doing?"
"Tired. I just want to sleep, to be honest."
"I'll let you get some sleep, then. See you later?"
"Yeah. Goodnight."
"Night."
Elowen hung up the phone and set it on her nightstand. She exhaled and threw herself down on her bed. Turning her head back towards the nightstand, she picked up the amethyst crystal sitting next to her phone. She examined it for a moment before setting it back where it was and shut the lamp off.
She'd question her mom about the crystals in the morning.