I feel like I haven't told you guys how much I appreciate you lately. I do. Your reviews make even my crappiest days brighter. So thank you. Though we won't get a new episode on Thursday (boo!), I'm still going to give my fingers a rest tomorrow. I'll be back on Friday with a new chapter. But how exactly do you outsmart an immortal hybrid? Let's find out. Please enjoy.
"It looks like something out of Snow White," Elena said. "You know, a coffin in the middle of the woods? Maybe that's the secret—Snow White's inside, waiting for a kiss." Her giggle was half-hysterical, but she no sooner could have stopped it than she could have stopped the tide. This was insane. Everything about it was insane. The coffin sat on a plush pile of leaves in the forest clearing just outside the tomb, the sunlight gleaming off the polished wood. They'd decided this was neutral ground for the release of their prisoner.
"That was made of glass," Damon reminded her, wrapping a protective arm around her shoulders. "Keep it together, Elena. We're almost done."
Elena did her best to remember what the calm lady on her yoga video always said: be conscious of your breath. Feel yourself grounded to the earth beneath you. Embrace the serenity you wish to feel. That was easy to do when you weren't dealing with pissed-off immortals. But Elena knew they'd done everything they could do to make this work. It wasn't a great plan, but it was better than any of the alternatives. She pulled in a few deep gulps of air, but her breath hitched when Elijah and Klaus melted out of the forest, as silent and dangerous as wolves.
"I'm so glad you've decided to see reason," Klaus said warmly. "I do like it so much better when we can all cooperate and be friends."
"Yeah. Kinda surprised to see who you're friends with these days. You're awfully forgiving, Elijah," Damon said, his hand tightening on Elena's arm.
"My desire to be with my family is stronger than my desire for revenge. I believe you can understand that," Elijah said. "Though I also believe I owe you my thanks."
"Yep. I'd hoped you'd rip your brother's head off or chain him up and throw him into the river or something, but I guess you're still welcome," Damon said.
"Well, if we have the pleasantries out of the way, we'll be off, then," Klaus said, stepping towards the coffin.
"Not so fast. We need to discuss terms," Elena said. They had to have a firm, explicit agreement. Maybe with Elijah there, Klaus would actually stick to the deal. He was the moral brother, after all.
"Oh, very well. State your terms," Klaus said, clearly bored by the whole affair.
"We'll give you this coffin," Elena said. "In return, you will not kill, maim, turn or otherwise harm us or our loved ones. I think Elijah should have a list—that still applies."
"I remember your list. We agree to the terms," Elijah said.
"I want to hear him say it," Damon said, gesturing to Klaus.
"Of course. No maiming, turning, killing, or enforced captivity. In return, you'll agree not to try to get the coffins back. This includes Stefan and the little witch, too. Any breach of that, and our bargain is null and void," Klaus said.
"Agreed," Elena said.
"Always a pleasure doing business with you," Klaus said as he seized one end of the coffin. Elijah took the other, and they disappeared back into the forest.
Elena was weak-kneed with relief. She started to speak, but Damon shook his head, tugging on his earlobe. Damn vampire hearing. They walked silently back to the car, hand in hand. Only when they were on the road home did Elena finally speak. "Do you think they bought it?"
The hardest part had been finding an exact match for the coffin. It couldn't just be close—it had to be exactly the same. Damon had driven to a funeral home just over the North Carolina state line to pick it up while Elena made sure Bonnie could make it convincing. If Bonnie couldn't pull off the spell, there was no plan, just an empty coffin.
"You're going to give Klaus a decoy?" Bonnie asked, staring at her friend as if she was insane. Again.
"Damon came up with this plan, didn't he?" Stefan asked. He was skulking in the back of the room, arms crossed.
"If you think you can do it. We need it to be sealed just as tightly as the real thing, and the same weight. We can make it look the same, we need you to make it feel the same," Elena said, ignoring Stefan.
"If Klaus figures it out, he'll kill you," Bonnie said. "Are you absolutely sure he can't open that coffin?"
"I'm not sure," Elena admitted. "But I am absolutely sure that whoever's in that coffin, we don't want Klaus having them. Damon is going to hide the real coffin—no one else will know where it is. Not even me. If Klaus kills him, its hiding place dies with him. We can't give up now, not when you're so close to opening the coffin. Something tells me whoever's in there could be the key to killing him once and for all," Elena said, hoping her voice sounded more confident than she felt.
"No. Absolutely not. I'll go along with this stupid plan right up until that point. But there's no way we're trusting Damon with something so big. This was all my idea to start with, I get to make the call," Stefan said.
Elena fixed Stefan with an icy stare. "Listen carefully," she said. "You don't get a vote. You are here so you're aware of the plan because we knew you'd do something to blow it if you thought Klaus was getting the real coffin. We're in this mess because of you, but it's my life that's on the line. You either go along with this plan, or we give him the real coffin and you lose any hope of revenge. Those are your options. Pick one."
Stefan shrugged. "As long as the real coffin's safe, fine. There are only so many places in Mystic Falls to hide a coffin, and Damon's not that smart. I'll figure it out eventually—and so will Klaus. But I'm going on the record as saying this is a bad idea."
Bonnie's eyes darted between the pair like she was watching a tennis match. "You two done?
"Yep," Elena said. Damon had wanted to keep Stefan in the dark about the entire affair, but Elena knew that would end in failure. Stefan was willing to risk too much for his revenge; if he'd had to stage some big rescue attempt of the "coffin," the whole game could've been lost.
"I don't like trusting Damon with this either," Bonnie sighed.
"I know you don't. I'm not asking you to trust him; I'm asking you to trust me," Elena said.
Bonnie caught her bottom lip between her teeth, mulling over the plan. "I think Mom and I are really close to getting the coffin open," she said. "I know there's a way, we're just not there yet. I need more time."
"And this will buy us that time, Bonnie. This isn't the ultimate solution, this is a Band Aid. We know that. But the question is: can you do it?"
"Yes. If you can get me an exact match for the coffin, I can make Klaus believe it's his," Bonnie said. "There has to be something big in there, or I wouldn't be having those crazy, vivid dreams. Mom has to be the key somehow."
"How are things with your mom?" Elena said. She knew time was critical, that every wasted moment made their plan less likely to succeed, but reuniting with a mother who'd abandoned you? Elena knew a little something about how hard that was.
"Weird. Awkward. But I think we're getting somewhere with the coffin, at least. Just a few more days and I think we could get it open." Bonnie hesitated a moment, then nodded. "I'll do it."
Elena caught her friend in a tight hug. "Thank you. I know things have been weird and awkward between us, too, but thank you. I know I can always count on you."
"I hate that things are weird and awkward," Bonnie said, returning the hug. "Don't let Klaus kill you, or we'll never be able to make things right."
"This is so touching," Stefan snarked.
"Shut up, Stefan," the girls said in unison.
Bonnie spelled the coffin. It was a thing of beauty: an exact match for the real McCoy in every way. Elena didn't understand the more subtle details of the spell, but she'd essentially created a fake body within the coffin. It would shift and move when carried, just like the real locked coffin did. And it wouldn't open with brute force or magic—she'd made doubly sure of that. Bonnie said it even felt the same, magically speaking. Elijah and Klaus never seemed to suspect as they carried the box away.
"That went well. That went waytoo well. My plans never go that well," Damon said as they drove back to the boarding house after the exchange. "Fuck. Will you please let me drive you to the airport? Hop a plane to Denver, go see Jeremy. Go to DisneyWorld, I don't care. Just let me get you out of town for a few days until we know if he bought it or not."
"Not going to happen," Elena said. "If we go down, we go down together. Not to mention leaving would be incredibly suspicious. We have to act natural."
"When did you start being so sneaky? You used to be so naive and trusting," Damon said.
"I think it was sometime after I was sacrificed on an altar but before we found out that my blood makes hybrids," Elena replied.
"Fair enough." Damon parked the car, but neither of them moved to exit the vehicle. He reached for her hand. "You know we're probably both going to die," he said without emotion. It was a simple fact.
"I know," Elena said softly. "But if we're together, I'm not afraid." Before she could blink, Damon had scooped her out of the car and was carrying her towards the house. She nuzzled against him, arms clasped around his neck. Yes. There were things much worse than dying. If she walked into that darkness knowing they'd fought as hard as they could, knowing this kind of love? That wouldn't be a defeat.
"Then we'd better make tonight count," he said.