"Okay, fun's over, Caroline. You made a point, and I get it. Now give it back," Elena accused, her arms crossed.
"What? I didn't take it!"
"Elena, you seriously believe that Caroline managed to create all those effects on her own and took my necklace from my neck without me noticing?" Elowen defended. Elena huddled into herself, probably embarrassed. She noticed something outside the door, knitting her eyebrows together. "What? What is it?" Elowen turned to look out into the dark hallway. She didn't see anything.
"I don't know. Nothing." Elena walked into the hallway and looked around. "Jeremy? You home?"
"Guys…" Bonnie called, catching everyone's attention. She stood in front of the bathroom door, looking down at the two necklaces that were lying in front of the sink. Elowen walked over to see what she was talking about. She paused uncertainly when she saw the necklaces. Her and Bonnie made eye contact, both of them unsure of what to do. Bonnie started to venture into the bathroom, which made Elowen to grab hold of her arm.
"Are you sure it's safe?"
Bonnie shrugged. "I don't know."
She continued making her way through the door, taking Elowen with her. Bonnie bent over and picked up both pieces of jewelry. The door slammed shut once they were both in the room. Bonnie and Elowen both surged forward and immediately started trying to open the door.
"Open the door! Help me!" Bonnie yelled, banging on the door. Elowen ran to the door that lead to the hallway but ran into the same problem. She ran over to the last door in the room, the one that lead to Jeremy's room, but again, couldn't get it to budge. Bonnie continued to pound on the door, crying for help. The lights began to flicker throughout the house, causing Bonnie to hit the door harder.
"Please!" She screamed. "Get me out of here!"
"Unlock the door!" Caroline yelled back.
Elowen didn't know what to do. All she knew was that they weren't alone in here. Bonnie, also running out of options, blindly dashed over and grabbed onto Elowen, holding on for dear life. Elowen wrapped her arms around Bonnie, doing her best to offer comfort. She felt something cold wash over them and a tingling sensation started in her feet, crawling all the way up her body. By the time it reached her head, everything went dark.
The door to the bathroom swung open. Elowen and Bonnie stood there, tightly hugging one another. Bonnie's face was buried in Elowen's shoulder and Elowen's face was covered with her hair.
"What happened? Are you guys okay?" Elena asked worriedly. Slowly, Elowen and Bonnie lifted their heads and stepped away from one another. Like robots, they turned towards Elena and Caroline.
"We're fine," they answered in the same monotone voice. Elena and Caroline both leaned back and glanced at one another.
"Okay… that was creepy," Caroline mumbled. Elena nodded in agreement. In the reflection of the mirror stood Emily and Esperanza. They both left the bathroom and walked out of Elena's bedroom.
"We must go," they said in perfect unison, heading for the stairs.
"Wait! You can't just leave after something like that!" Caroline ran after them and tried to block their way to the stairs. Without missing a beat, Emily and Esperanza stepped around Caroline and made it to the top of the stairs.
"Thank you for having us," said Esperanza/Elowen.
"We'll take it from here," echoed Emily/Bonnie. The two started descending downstairs, ignoring Elena and Caroline's calls.
"Where are you going?" Elena asked, chasing after them. Caroline was on her heels.
"Back to where it all began," they answered, once again, in unison.
"Bonnie! Elowen!" Elena watched them make it to the bottom of the stairs and paused as it finally hit her. "Oh my god, Emily?"
"You mean?" Caroline screeched to a stop behind Elena. "Esperanza?"
The two witches stopped and turned to look up at Caroline and Elena, confirming their guess.
"We won't let him have it," Emily said.
"It must be destroyed," stated Esperanza. The two turned and continued their way to the door.
"Wait!" Elena yelled. Emily and Esperanza disappeared through the front door. When Elena tried to pry the door open, it wouldn't budge. Emily had spelled it shut.
"What's happening? Open it!"
"It won't!"
Caroline attempted to help Elena get the door open, but to no avail. Finally, it opened and in walked Jeremy and Josiah. The girls screamed, taking the two boys off guard.
"What the hell?" Jeremy questioned, looking between the two girls. Caroline immediately jumped at Josiah, wrapping her arms around him. Jeremy shook his head and walked off.
"What's going on?" Josiah asked, pulling away from his kinda-girlfriend.
"I don't know- I think Elowen and Bonnie are being possessed."
"What?" He turned to Elena, looking for an explanation.
"Emily and Esperanza. They said something about destroying the crystals."
In a second, Josiah had his phone out, dialing Stefan's number.
"Now's not really a good time," Stefan said when he answered.
"Screw that. There's something wrong with Elowen. Bonnie, too."
Stefan almost forgot that Damon was sitting a few feet behind him when he heard Elowen was in danger. "What's wrong?"
"I'm gonna hand the phone to Elena."
Elena practically snatched the phone from Josiah. "Emily and Esperanza are possessing Elowen and Bonnie. They said, 'We won't let him have it. It must be destroyed,' and then they just left."
Josiah was hovering over the phone, listening in to the conversation.
"Where do you think they went?"
"Fell's church," Josiah answered. "It's where they take them in their dreams."
"You have to help them, Stefan," Elena pleaded.
"I know, and I will. I'm going to find them." Stefan hung up. Elena tossed the phone back to Josiah and headed for the door.
"Where are you going?" Josiah asked, barely catching his phone. It fumbled in his hands for a second before he was able to clamp his fingers around it.
"To help Bonnie."
"I'm coming with."
"No!" Caroline held onto Josiah tighter. "Please don't go."
Josiah looked down at Caroline and saw how shaken up she looked. He sighed. "Okay, I'll stay. I guess I have some explaining to do." He looked back at Elena. "Be careful."
She nodded and then she was out the door.
"Hello, Emily. Esperanza," Damon greeted, coming up behind the two. "You look different."
"We won't let you do it," Emily said blankly. Both her and Esperanza had sticks and were drawing a symbol in the dirt.
"We had a deal."
"We know, but things are different now." Esperanza answered this time. "We have to protect our family."
"I protected your family," Damon snapped with clenched teeth. "I made sure Javier went to another loving, witch family after you burned. I made sure they would never find him. I even checked in on him from time to time! I kept my distance, but I never abandoned him."
"I know. And I will be forever grateful to you. I'm sorry."
"You're about to be a lot more than that." Damon tried to attack the two witches, but Emily was quick to use her powers. He flew through the air and collided with a tree. A lone branch impaled him through the stomach and he shouted with a groan.
"Eeh, I dunno. I wouldn't say I'm pathetic, but I do have my moments," Esmeralda said. Her and Alaric were still at The Grill, talking about everything and nothing.
"Good, because I've got pathetic down to a science."
"Hmm, not to fast. We haven't even covered high school yet." Esmeralda started to list things off with her fingers. "I was pregnant, my breasts were the size of two watermelons and I had terrible acne."
"Okay, okay," Alaric laughed. "I think that beats glasses and a skin condition."
"Ha," she smirked. "I win."
Esmeralda's phone went off and upon seeing it was Josiah, she answered it. "Hey, honey. How's the research going?"
"You need to get to Jeremy's house. Now."
Esmeralda sat up, turning serious. "Josiah, what's wrong?"
"I don't have time to explain. It's Elowen. Bonnie, too."
"Okay. I'll be right there."
"Is everything okay?" Alaric asked once she hung up. Esmeralda shook her head.
"No. I need to get home. I'm sorry."
"No, no, it's alright. Family always comes first."
"Family man." She nodded in approval. "Those are hard to come by in my world."
"Well, welcome to my world, where nothing but family men exist. Do you need a ride home?"
"My car is out front. Thanks for the offer, though."
Both of them stood from the table. "I hope everything is okay."
"Me, too. See you later?"
"Well, I'm sorta your kids' teacher now. Of course you'll see me later. Have a nice night, Esmeralda."
Stefan and Elena both arrived at the church ruins. Stefan went over to Damon and pulled him off of the tree branch.
"Stefan," Emily acknowledged. Esperanza continued drawing the symbols on the ground. However, she did look up briefly. She'd always preferred Stefan. It seemed a lot of people did, even when Damon wasn't a raging dickhead. A small smirk crossed her lips. Even her, however many greats, granddaughter seemed to share the same thought. However, said smirk slowly disappeared. Her eyes once again flickered over, this time to Damon. Something had potential to happen there and she wasn't quite sure she approved. Damon did have a knack for falling for his brother's girl.
"Nice to see you again," Esperanza said, though she still didn't stop what she was doing. "These people don't deserve this," she continued. "They should never have to know such evil."
"What do you mean evil?" Stefan asked uncertainly.
"I swear to god, I will make sure you two regret this," Damon threatened from his spot on the ground. Stefan ignored it and stayed focused on the two witches in front of him.
"I won't let you unleash them into this world," continued Emily.
"Them?" Stefan turned to Damon. "What part of the story did you leave out, Damon?"
"What does it matter?" He bit out weakly. He was still healing.
Stefan turned back to Emily and Esperanza.
"Tell me what you did."
"To save her, we had to save them," they said simultaneously.
"You saved everyone in the church?" Stefan asked, his voice incredulous and full of disbelief.
"With one, comes all." Both Emily and Esperanza looked directly at him while still speaking at the same time. It gave Stefan the creeps. He turned and continued his argument with Damon, while Emily got back to helping with the pentagram drawing.
"We can't free them. We won't," said Emily when they were done.
"We refuse," Esperanza continued. She moved to stand behind Emily, back to back.
"Incendia!" Emily chanted loudly. The pentagram they drew burst into flames.
"No! Please!" Damon ran forward but knew he couldn't go any farther than the flames. Together, the witches threw their respective amulets up in the air, where they exploded. When the spell was done, the flames died out and Emily and Esperanza departed from Bonnie and Elowen's bodies. The two looked around, lost and confused. Where the hell were they?
Damon, in a fit of anger, rushed forward and bit Bonnie, as she was the closest. Elowen twisted around, still dazed but was able to act quick enough to get Damon off of Bonnie. It was more on reflex than anything else, but her hand flew out and the next second, Damon was pulling away from her neck, holding his head in pain. She felt something wet on her face and wiped at her nose, finding that it was bleeding. That was new. Her body must've been heavily weakened from Esperanza possessing her.
Stefan dove down and checked Bonnie's pulse. "She's alive, but barely. I can save her." He bit his wrist and pried Bonnie's mouth open, allowing his blood to drip into her mouth. Elowen noticed Damon disappearing into the woods and, still out of it, made the reckless decision to follow him. She didn't make it far, as Stefan sped in front of her. She crashed into his chest.
"Wha….. What happened?" She asked.
"Esperanza took ahold of your body."
"She possessed me?"
Stefan nodded, holding onto her arms to keep her steady. "Listen, I have to ask. Did you know all along? About why Damon was back in Mystic Falls?"
This is what seemed to slap Elowen back to reality. She blinked up at him. "He finally told you about the tomb."
"Yeah. And he said you were gonna help him get in. Is that true?" There was already an undertone of hurt in Stefan's voice. He seemed to already know the answer.
"Not…. exactly."
"What does that mean?"
"I never told him yes, but…" She trailed off.
"You never said no, either." Stefan's grip loosened on her arms, leaving Elowen to stumble slightly before she caught herself. "You've been lying to me. Have you been working with Damon this whole time?"
"What? No!"
"But you just thought to withhold this piece of information when you knew I've been trying to figure out why he's back?"
Elowen clutched at her head. Everything was still a little fuzzy and this was not a conversation to have when she was in the state. "Um, I wasn't- I just- I was trying to…. Get all the details, I guess. I knew if I told you the little bits, you'd overreact."
"Right," Stefan nodded his head. "Because overreacting when it comes to my brother is the wrong thing to do."
"No, that's not what I'm saying-"
"I'm leaving town," he blurted instead.
Elowen felt like she had whiplash at the very abrupt subject change. "What? Just because I wasn't honest with you?"
"No." He shook his head. "Too many people have died. Too much has happened. I can't stay here anymore. Coming home was… a mistake."
"Was I a mistake, too?" Elowen asked, her voice going quiet.
"No," Stefan said, his voice assertive and reassuring at the same time. He stepped forward and grabbed her face. "You were the best part of coming home. Don't forget that." He planted a gentle kiss to her forehead. "Goodbye, Elowen." He pulled away disappeared the same way Damon went.
Elowen felt tears pooling in her eyes. Not because of Stefan leaving, but from everything else that happened, too. Vicki, Lexi, Tanner. Stefan was right. She wiped her eyes and as confidently as she could, continued on her path. By the time she found Damon, Stefan was already gone.
"Were you ever really going to help me?" Damon asked, his voice sounding absolutely broken. Elowen stopped a few steps behind him and shrugged.
"I don't know." She took a few cautious steps towards him and sat beside him. "I was on the fence about it. From what I know, Katherine's not a nice person but….. I knew how much you loved her. I didn't want to get in the way of that."
"Well, you did anyway," came his bitter reply.
Elowen shook her head. "That wasn't me." Nothing was said after that, so she stood from her spot and sighed. "For what it's worth, I'm sorry." She turned away but stopped, looking back at Damon, whose eyes were wet with tears. "See? You do still have some humanity in you."
Damon turned his head in the opposite direction, blocking his face from her view. Elowen sighed again and left him alone.
Esmeralda and Josiah smooshed Elowen in between them in a big family hug when she finally made it back to Elena's house.
"I was so worried about you," Esmeralda said when she pulled back. She brushed some hair out of Elowen's face, checking her over for any injuries.
"I'm fine, mom."
"Caroline knows, now." Josiah glanced at the porch, where Caroline was smothering Elena and Bonnie.
"Sorry you didn't get to tell her on your own terms."
Josiah shrugged. "It's fine. But she's pretty shaken up still. Said she's gonna stay here with Elena for tonight."
"That's probably a good idea," Elowen sniffled. "Can we just go home? I'm ready for bed."
"Of course, sweetie. Let's go."
Elowen fell asleep before her head even hit her pillow.