The sun finally sets and the festival begins. It feels like the entire town is here in the square, and it reminds me quite a bit of the football crowd at my first high school. Everyone is dressed for the somewhat chilly fall air, holding candles in their hands as they wait for the celestial event to begin.

If I don't intervene, in a few months, tomb vampires and the Founders' Council will descend upon a gathering not unlike this one. If I could count on plot armor actually being a thing in real life, I could probably just let things play out the way they did and focus on side projects for the real threat. Admittedly, basically everyone who matters walked out of that one unscathed.

But I don't want to do that. I want to be involved in the greater world around me. I want to oppose the Originals. I want to stop Silas and the Travelers and whatever else will pass through town. The tomb vampires are just practice for the real deal.

"Logan, right?"

The sound of the voice is all too familiar, and I look up to see Elena approaching. Glancing over her shoulder, Stefan is not far away, holding a candle and pretending to look busy. He makes eye contact and looks away.

I nod. "Yeah, that's me. You're Bonnie's friend."

She smiles her million dollar smile. "Elena Gilbert." Holding out her hand, I take it and have to force myself to let go quickly. The burning temptation to absorb the doppelganger magic stirring within her comes to mind and disappears in a fraction of a second.

"Right. You enjoying the festival so far?"

"Yes. It's always fun to see everyone together." She pauses, unsure of where to take the conversation, but eventually settles, laaning in and bringing her voice down. "Listen, Bonnie-"

"You know the secret, don't you?" Blunt and straight to the point. Just the way that it's supposed to be. "About the Hog and the Warts?"

She guffaws. "Wait, Hogwarts is a thing?" Ah, it's fun to troll. She's so in over her head.

"Oh god no." I giggle. "Of course not. That's a children's story."

She recovers. "Oh, okay. Anyway, so all that is real? You're not trying to prank Bonnie or something like that, are you?"

I point to her candle, and when she realizes what I'm doing, the flame sputters out. She looks up in awe, and I relight the candle with another pulse of magic. Not difficult with my reserves at all.

I glance to where Stefan was, but the vampire is no longer there. Hmm.

"That's amazing. So Bonnie can do that too?"

"If she learns how, yes. This is nothing though, just the tip of the iceberg. We're meeting with Bonnie's grandmother at her place tonight to go over some basics, do a few spells, practice. Give her a real mentorship."

Elena nods. "That sounds great. But if you don't mind me asking, why are you doing this? I mean, you stumble into town and immediately reach out to them."

Ah. Protective Elena. The Elena that makes decisions for everyone else. Right. Here she is.

"Us witches gotta stick together, Elena. Trust me, you're going to be extremely glad that I stumbled into town soon."

She frowns, but is interrupted when Stefan steps up, the candlelight making his face look menacing. "Stefan."

As I shake his hand, a psychometric flash hits me hard.

A sword slices through the air, glinting with a reflected flame. Two shadowed figures speed back and forth across the room, cracking stone as their bodies impact against the walls. The physically larger of the two slams the man's back against a portrait so hard that the window six feet away shatters instantly, so strongly that I feel his pain. The tables turn as the other iterally flips a table on top of his attacker, the other hand grasping the hilt for dear life. The other attempts to grab for the leg of the table, reaching so fast that my eyes can't follow, but suddenly, the man is there with his foot crushing his opponent's elbow. It feels as though my own arm snaps as the figure tries to swing the sword and fails, launching the sword across the room. It clatters against the wall, a ruby stone bouncing down the stone steps. Moments later, a subdued and unfamiliar laugh echoes through the room as Stefan's bloodstained head bounds after the ruby down the long staircase.

I grimace and let go.

Fuck. I've gotten actual visions before, but nothing like that. A visceral experience that forces me to question everything that I've ever planned. The Phoenix Sword or Stone or whatever the fuck the whole contraption's called coming into play several years before it's supposed to happen could be devastating.

And powerful. Oh fuck is it powerful.

"Uh, Logan. Anyway, if you'll excuse me, I'm not feeling well all of a sudden."

Elena glances toward me with concern, but I've no idea how to interpret Stefan's look as I disappear into the crowd.

I spot Bonnie, talisman around her neck, talking with Jeremy as I speed toward the nearest bathroom. I really hope she doesn't notice me disappearing, just to avoid the awkward.

I dip into the restroom just as the comet blazes across the sky. I was going to do this spell out in the open, off to the side of the festival with Bonnie watching me closely, but it's too late now.

Checking to see that no one's in the room, I have mere moments to try to channel its energy. Shutting off the lights and stepping into the square of the comet's light from the window, I pull the objects from my pocket and drain the watch on my wrist completely.

A simple silver ballpoint pen and a large tightly-sealed mason jar of specially-prepared ink. This is what I've been doing all day today, after the bank robbery netted me fifteen grand. The spice shop in town almost had everything that I needed, but I had a little to spare from raiding the Parkers' kitchen before I left the Pacific Northwest. This is a fascinating spell that I totally stole from the Tulle family grimoire, but coven secrets are coven secrets.

I focus on the light around me, the comet blazing across the window, and the air begins to pick up in the room. I open my palms, laying them flat, as the words to the ancient spell spill from my lips. The light from the comet intensifies, the objects begin to glow with its light, and they lift off from my skin, spinning faster and faster through the air. The silver casing of the pen flickers and turns to gold, the ink shifts from black to red and then black again.

And as I utter the last word, my magic totally spent, I grin at the newly formed Dark Object. Spelled Object. Whatever you want to call it. Would have been easier to create on any other day if I had a few people working in unison, but the energy from the comet and the pre-made materials gave me just enough boost to succeed all on my own.

I almost don't catch it until blood runs over my lips. Flicking the bathroom light back on, I glance toward the mirror to see blood dripping from my nose.

Huh. I guess that was a little bit more than I thought. Casual head trauma aside, I run water over my face and plug my nose, waiting for the bleeding to stop so that I can test out my new toy. I'm a little lightheaded, but it should clear up soon.

Somewhere folded up in my wallet- ah, there we go.

A tiny little map of Mystic Falls, printed from before the trip. Has enough detail to see street names and such, so it should be good.

I think intently of the person that I want to locate and write their name in the margin of the map. Ink bleeds into the paper and then the pen does its magic, gathering the ink into a bubble. And then the ink bubble spins across the map until it settles in the center of town square.

Fuck.