[2x18; The Last Dance]

"Please sign here and here."

Lucy did as Mr. Henry told her, writing her signature on the two lines he pointed out. Next to her, Elena did the same, scribbling her name down quickly. Bonnie watched them, bewildered by the change of events.

"So, you guys own his place?" she asked, furrowing her eyebrows. "They just gave it to you?"

"For now," Elena confirmed. "As the owners, we're the only ones who can invite—" she gave Mr. Henry a hesitant glance and revised her words. "—a certain type of person in here, if you know what I mean."

"Your own personal safe house."

Lucy nodded. "That's the idea."

Bonnie hummed and looked around the library, taking in the massive room. "Wouldn't want to clean it."

Lucy scoffed in agreement as Elena giggled.

They finished up signing the deed to the Boarding House and once Mr. Henry notarized it, only Lucy and Elena could invite vampires into the house—it was officially theirs. Having a safe house to stay in really helped Lucy feel better, especially with Elena being protected from Klaus. It was the best option for her—and even Lucy—and it was very nice of the Salvatore brothers to let Elena and Lucy have the deed until everything was over with.

Elena, Lucy, and Bonnie led Mr. Henry out of the house.

"Thank you, Mr. Henry," Lucy said graciously as Elena opened the door to let him leave; Mr. Henry shook her hand and bustled away from the house, passing Stefan, Joel, and Damon on his way out.

Stefan, Joel, and Damon went to walk in but were stopped at the threshold. Lucy smirked; it looked like signing the deed had actually worked as plan.

"I'm sorry, I completely forgot," Elena giggled, turning back to the door. She looked at Stefan with a large smile. "Would you like to come inside my house?"

Stefan smiled fondly as he walked into the house. "I would love to. Thank you."

"Joel, come on in," Lucy waved Joel into the house; he walked forward, giving Damon a pleased smirk.

"What?" Damon complained. "You're inviting him in before me? What, are we twelve?"

Elena's smile fell. "One of us is," she said firmly. "If I let you in, do you promise to obey the owners of this house?"

"No."

"Seriously, Damon? My way," she reminded him. "You promised. I call the shots. No lies, no secret agendas, remember?"

"Yes, Elena," Damon rolled his eyes. "Sure."

"Then, please, come in."

Damon walked into the house and sent Lucy a smirk before scowling at Stefan and Joel, who were both looking at him in amusement. "Shut up."

Bonnie walked up to Elena and passed her jacket to her. Elena thanked her and put it on as Lucy grabbed her bag from one of the couches.

Stefan saw Lucy swinging her bag over her shoulders and furrowed his eyebrows. "Wait, where are you going?"

Lucy gave him a weird look. "To school…?"

"Huh?"

"No, no, no," Damon objected, walking over to join their group. "We didn't create a safe house for you guys to leave it."

"Guys, Klaus is still out there," Joel reminded them, firmly on the Salvatores' side. "We know that."

"Right," Elena agreed, fixing her hair. "but where? No one knows. Look, I really appreciate what you guys are doing and I'll be able to sleep at night knowing that we'll be safe here, but I'm not going to be a prisoner."

"Plus, I have to help Caroline with the decade dance," Lucy spoke up. "There's no way I'm missing that."

Damon rolled his eyes and sighed heavily. "Your way, Elena."

"Don't worry," Bonnie assured Damon, Stefan, and Joel. "I'm ready. If he shows his face, I can take him. I know how."

Lucy smiled at Bonnie and turned to her brother, Stefan, and Damon. "Next to Bonnie is going to be the safest place for Elena," she said confidently. "I know it."

The girls started to walk out the door, hardly stopping when Stefan volunteered to come to school with them.

Lucy rushed down the English hallway, cursing Caroline for making her leave the gym a few minutes late. They had been decorating for the decade dance since Lucy got to school and continued until the end of third period, when Lucy excused herself to make it to Alaric's class. Caroline wanted her opinion on one more playlist before she was able to go.

She turned into the history hallway and ran right into someone's chest. Lucy grunted in surprise and felt hands steady her. Luckily, when she looked up, she saw a familiar face that assured her she wouldn't get a detention for being tardy for class.

"Sorry, Ric," she apologized lamely as she steadied her grip on her textbook. "I'm heading to your class now, I swear."

Alaric was silent, causing Lucy to look up in concern. He was just staring at her with wide eyes, his expression a mixture of sadness, awe, and happiness.

"Um, are you okay, Ric?"

Alaric shook his head minutely, pulling himself together. "I'm fine," he assured her with a small smile. "I was just glad to see you."

Lucy raised her eyebrows in surprise. "You saw me yesterday, remember? Before the whole Isobel thing."

"Well, that's why I'm glad to see you," Alaric stated. "I'm glad you're safe."

"How are you feeling, by the way?" Lucy gave him a concerned look. "Damon said he told you about Isobel. I know it must be hard. I mean, I hardly knew her and I was effected by her death."

Alaric frowned sadly. "I'll get through it. Thanks, Lucy."

"No problem."

"We better get to class," Alaric suggested.

Lucy chuckled. "Good idea."

Together, Lucy and Alaric walked down the history hallway and entered the classroom just as the final bell rang. Lucy hurried into her seat in front of Stefan and gave him, Elena, and Bonnie small smiles in greeting.

"Hello, class," Alaric greeted everyone. "What are we learning today?"

"With the decade dance tonight, we've been covering the sixties all week," Dana—one of the girls on the cheer squad—answered Alaric eagerly from the seat in front of Lucy.

"Right," Alaric nodded and Lucy frowned, thinking that he looked a little off guard. "The sixties."

As Alaric turned toward the board, Lucy pulled out her notebook and flipped to the next blank page. Already they had gone over the Cuban Missile Crisis, JFK's assassination, the Civil Rights Act, Martin Luther King Jr.. She was eager to keep the ball rolling.

Alaric cleared his throat and wrote on the board. "The sixties," he sighed, turning back to face them. "I wish there was something good I could say about the sixties but, actually, they kind of sucked. Except for the Beatles, of course. They made it bearable."

"Uh, what else was there?" he asked himself as he started pacing behind his desk. "The Cuban Missile thing, the—we walked on the moon. There was Watergate."

Lucy raised her eyebrows at him; they had gone over most of the things he listed already and he got the Watergate dates wrong. What was up with him today? Was he hungover or was he mourning Isobel more than he let on?

"Watergate was the seventies, Ric," Elena corrected him; she grimaced when some of the students gave her weird looks. "I mean, Mr. Saltzman."

"Right. It kind of mushes together up here, the sixties, seventies," Alaric smiled sheepishly. "Thank you, Elena."

Elena nodded and Alaric continued his lecture, going over JFK like they hadn't already had the lesson before.

"Did Ric seem strange to you?" Lucy asked Elena as they walked through the cafeteria line, grabbing their lunch. "I mean, we went over JFK already."

"Yeah, that was kind of weird, but I thought he seemed fine," Elena shrugged as she picked up an orange from the fruit bin. "Maybe he's just having a hard time with Isobel and Jenna being gone."

"Yeah," Lucy nodded, grabbing a pudding cup. "You're probably right."

Elena and Lucy grabbed sandwiches to finish off their lunch and paid for their food. Once they were through the que, they found Bonnie and Jeremy sitting at a table and made their way toward them.

As they got closer, Lucy saw that Jeremy looked upset about something. His mouth was set in a frown and his eyebrows were furrowed as he quietly spoke with Bonnie. Unfortunately, when she and Elena walked up to them, he fell silent so she couldn't figure out what was going on.

"Hey, Jere," Lucy smiled at him as she sat down at the table.

"How are you doing?" Elena asked him. "Are you okay at the house alone with John?"

Lucy wished that Jeremy wasn't at the house by himself with John but, for now, he couldn't really go anywhere else. Jenna was still at Whitmore and Joel had taken up residence at the Salvatore Boarding House with Lucy and Elena until John left. He wasn't taking any chances alone with a man that hated vampires, even if he was their uncle.

Jeremy scowled as he got up from his seat. "It's not ideal."

"Have you heard from Jenna?" Lucy asked him.

"It looks like she's staying on campus instead of coming home," he told her something she already knew. "I'm late for class."

Lucy narrowed her eyes as Jeremy practically ran away from them. She couldn't help but wonder what was going on with him.

"What's going on?" Elena asked Bonnie, noticing her brother's behavior as well.

"I told him he had to dress up tonight and he got all uptight," Bonnie excused him.

Lucy and Elena laughed; that did sound like Jeremy. Ever since he was little, he hated occasions where he had to dress up. The month leading up to Founder's Day was torture when their parents were alive because Grayson always made sure that Jeremy was in attendance; Jeremy threw so many fits over the years that Lucy lost count.

"Elena, Lucy, there you are," Lucy, Elena, and Bonnie looked up as Dana approached their table with a happy smile. "Okay, this is going to sound freaky but this totally hot guy just asked me to ask you if you guys were going to the dance tonight."

Bonnie furrowed her eyebrows as Elena chuckled. "Tell him she has a boyfriend."

"I'm not interested," Lucy said bluntly, opening up her pudding cup.

"Well, you could meet him at least," Dana insisted. "He'll be at the dance tonight. Look for him. His name is Klaus."

Lucy stiffened as she processed Dana's words. Klaus was here? Klaus was here and he compelled Dana to ask them about the dance. Klaus was here somewhere in the school and they had no idea what he looked like.

"I'm sorry, what did you just say?" Elena asked her, shocked.

"His name is Klaus," Dana looked confused. "I know the name's stupid but I swear he's hot."

Lucy's heart started to race as she looked around the cafeteria, trying to spot someone she didn't know. There was no one new that she could see and that freaked her out.

Where was he?

"Where is he?" Bonnie asked Dana. "Is he here?"

Dana blinked and shrugged. "I don't know."

Lucy pressed her lips together and looked at Bonnie and Elena, whispering, "She's compelled."

"Elena, he wants to know if you'll save him the last dance," Dana continued, unaware that she was delivering bad news. "How cute is that?"

"So we go to the dance and we find him," Damon said as he walked into the living room where Stefan, Lucy, Elena, Joel, and Bonnie were waiting for him, almost too casual about Klaus being at the school and compelling Dana to give them a message.

"Really?" Stefan raised his eyebrows at Damon. "How are we going to do that? We don't even know what he looks like."

"Something tells me he's not going to be sixteen and pimply."

"He could be anywhere at any time," Joel reminded everyone, scratching his chin. "He compelled somebody at school."

Stefan gave Elena and Lucy a pointed look. "I guess it's not as safe as you guys thought, huh?"

Lucy rolled her eyes at him. "Oh, save your I-told-you-so for someone who cares, Broody. The fact is, no one could have known he was going to show up at school."

Stefan pressed his lips together and gave her an annoyed look as someone knocked on the door. Alaric slipped into the house without an invitation and joined the group, smiling sheepishly.

"There you are."

"Sorry, I'm late," Alaric excused himself to Damon.

Damon waved him off. "Hey, I need you to put me and Joel down as chaperones at the dance tonight," he requested. "Klaus made his first move."

Alaric raised his eyebrows in surprise.

"Okay, so we find him and then what, hmm?" Elena spoke up anxiously. "What's our plan of attack?"

"Me, I'm the plan," Bonnie said, looking around the group. "He has no idea how much power I can channel. If you can find him, I can kill him."

"That's not going to be that easy," Alaric chuckled nervously. "I mean, he is the biggest baddest vampire around."

"Ric's right," Lucy agreed. "They said Klaus is worse than Elijah and Elijah literally beheaded a man in front of me and Elena."

"True," Damon pointed at Lucy. "I mean, what if he—"

Damon didn't finish his sentence as he used his vampire speed to rush at Bonnie. Bonnie casually lifted her hand and Damon went flying, crashing into one of the tables on the other side of the room.

Everyone gave Bonnie impressed looks.

"Well, I was impressed," Stefan commented, smirking at Damon as he got up and joined them once more.

"It doesn't matter if he's an Original," Bonnie declared, shuffling closer to Elena. "I can take down anyone who comes at me," she looked at Elena, promising, "I can kill him, Elena. I know I can."

Elena nodded and smiled at Bonnie.

Joel clapped his hands. "Well, then, I guess we better get ready to take down Klaus."

Lucy pouted at the mirror in the bathroom attached to the room she was staying in, carefully applying a layer of bright red lipstick to her lips. Once she was sure that her make-up was perfect, she settled a cream beret on top of her curls.

She was nervous for tonight, almost impossibly so. For some reason, now that Klaus was actually in Mystic Falls, everything felt real. This man—an original vampire who was just as scary as Elijah—was here to sacrifice her sister and he wasn't going to leave until Elena was dead. It terrified her and she wasn't even the one being sacrificed, so she couldn't imagine how Elena must feel.

Their plan for Bonnie to kill Klaus was a good one but Lucy couldn't help but be worried. They didn't know what Klaus looked like or if he had anyone on his side. Who knows if he had a few witches that could step in and overwhelm Bonnie. What were they going to do then?

She hated feeling so useless. If she had her own magic, she would be able to help Bonnie protect Elena. She had nothing to offer as far as being useful.

There was a knock on the door; Lucy called for the person to come in as she adjusted the sleeves of her rainbow striped long-sleeve shirt.

"Did you see the Salvatore's store of vintage clothing?" Joel asked as he walked in. "I'm pretty sure they still have stuff from the eighteen hundreds."

"It wouldn't surprise me," Lucy laughed as she examined Joel's era-appropriate polo shirt and khaki pants. "It looks like you found something, though."

"Yeah," Joel nodded and gestured to her overall dress. "You too, huh?"

"Caroline and I found this when we went shopping," Lucy informed him. "I wanted to be Jackie-O but Caroline wanted to dress up with Matt, so…"

She shrugged and went to walk past him, out of the bathroom, but Joel grabbed her arm.

"Hey, are you okay?"

Lucy flashed him a smile that didn't reach her eyes. "Just nervous, I guess."

"It's okay to be nervous," Joel assured her with a comforting smile. "Just know that Stefan, Damon, and I are gonna protect you guys and Bonnie's going to kill Klaus. This will be all over by tonight."

Lucy gave Joel a small smile and exhaled shakily. She wished that he was right; Klaus was going down tonight or they were all screwed.

Lucy and the others arrived at the school only twenty minutes after the dance had started. Damon and Joel went ahead of them so they could register as chaperones and Lucy, Stefan, Elena, Bonnie, and Jeremy gathered in front of the school. Once they all complimented each other's outfits—mostly it was Lucy, Elena, and Bonnie who gave out the compliments—they entered the dance and met up with Joel and Damon.

The gym was crowded as they entered, couples slow dancing in almost every inch of space. Lucy was glad that the dance had turned out to be such a success, as she and Caroline worried that the sixties was going to be a decade no one would enjoy. Everything was on theme, from the decorations and food to the slow song playing over the speakers.

Lucy and the others made their way into the thick of the dance floor, each one of them keeping a look out for anyone they didn't recognize.

The slow song finished playing and Dana, on behalf of the dance committee, went up to the microphone to make an announcement.

"Thanks for being here, everybody!" she exclaimed, causing everyone to clap. "We have a special shout-out tonight. This is for Lucy and Elena from Klaus."

Everyone started cheering again as Lucy stiffened and looked at Dana, bewildered. Klaus had undoubtedly compelled her again just so they would know that he was here and ready to meet. It scared the shit out of her and she definitely wanted to leave.

'Dedicated to the One I Love' by The Mamas & the Papas started playing as everyone around them started dancing again. Lucy's heart started racing as she continued to look through the crowd for whoever seemed to be Klaus.

"That was a lame, cheap shot," Damon scoffed, unimpressed. "He's just trying to bait us."

Elena looked around, shaken. "I know everyone here."

"Me too," Lucy added.

"Maybe he's not here," Stefan suggested, trying to comfort her and Elena. "He just wants us to believe that he is."

Lucy doubted that was the case. If Klaus was as obsessed with breaking the curse as Elijah said he was, he was probably going to want to make sure that Elena and Lucy knew he was ready for them. She didn't doubt that Klaus liked to play mind games, she just didn't think he was doing right that moment.

"It's a party, people," Damon caught everyone's attention. "Blend. Let him come to us."

"Good idea," Bonnie nodded and grabbed Jeremy's arm, pulling him away so they could dance.

"No, no, I don't really feel like dancing," he tried to object but Bonnie wasn't hearing it.

As they walked away, Damon nodded across the gym. "There's Ric," he pointed out and Lucy followed his gaze to see Alaric standing in the middle of the dance floor, watching over the couples swaying to the music. "I'll be back."

Lucy sighed anxiously and searched for the refreshment table. "I'm going to stuff my face."

"I'll come with you," Joel volunteered, not willing for Lucy to go off by herself when Klaus was in the building.

Lucy nodded and they made their way to the table stacked with food and drinks. Lucy headed right to the punch bowl and poured herself a cup, swallowing it down in one gulp. She wished that someone had spiked the punch but she guessed her luck was sucky that day.

"You need to calm down, Lulu," Joel clicked his tongue as she shoved a cookie in her mouth. "Your heart is racing a mile a minute."

"Leave me alone," her words were muffled by the treat in her mouth.

"Since when do you stress eat?"

Lucy swallowed and picked up another cookie. "I usually don't. I stress clean and I stress plan. Since I can't do either of those right now, I'm gonna eat my weight in these sucky sugar cookies."

She emphasized her statement by shoving the cookie into her mouth.

The song that Klaus requested for Lucy and Elena eventually died down. Lucy was in the middle of picking up some potato chips—much to Joel's disapproval—when Stefan approached them.

He held out a hand for Lucy to take. "Dance with me."

Lucy forcefully choked down her chips. "I don't really feel like dancing."

Stefan raised an eyebrow at her. "Since when am I the one who has to convince you to dance?"

"You have before," she reminded him of the night of the masquerade party where they plotted to kill Katherine.

"Please just dance with me, Goofy," Stefan arranged his lips into a cute pout that had Lucy practically melting.

"If you must," she sighed like it was a burden to dance with him and gave him her hand, allowing him to lead her onto the dance floor.

A quicker paced song came on and Lucy started bouncing to the beat, letting Stefan twirl her around and pull her back to his chest. The longer they danced, both of them in sync to the rhythm, Lucy couldn't help but let a smile engulf her face.

She could be having the worst day ever and Stefan could probably still put a smile on her face.

"You look beautiful," Stefan complimented her earnestly as they bopped from foot to foot. "The sixties really suit you."

Lucy flushed as Stefan pulled her to his chest and twisted her out again. "Thank you," she managed to say. "And I think you already know how good I think you look in a suit."

"Well, it's always nice to hear," Stefan cocked his head playfully. "

Lucy chuckled. "I think you're getting too cocky, Broody. I thought Damon was the conceited brother," she shook her head and sighed, looking around at the couples surrounding them. "Speaking of Damon, where is he?"

Stefan pulled Lucy closer to him and let her rest her chin on his shoulder, sliding his hand down her back as they danced in a circle. "He's dancing with Elena."

"Why aren't you dancing with Elena?"

"Because I wanted to dance with you."

Lucy pulled away from his shoulder, looking him in the eyes. His forest-green eyes were serious but somehow soft as he stared back at her, causing her heart to race. She sighed, convincing herself that Stefan just wanted to dance with her because she was his best friend. They had danced plenty of other times so it was sort of a tradition with them.

Lucy awkwardly looked away, trying to find anything to change the subject and get her mind off of Stefan's warm hand on her lower back. Thankfully, she spotted Caroline—dressed in a pink outfit inspired by Jackie O—and Matt walking through the crowd.

"Caroline's here," she quickly told Stefan. "She doesn't know what's going on. We should probably tell her."

Stefan nodded and twirled Lucy around one last time. "Let's go then."

The two of them made their way through the crowd to where Caroline and Matt had just started dancing.

"Hey, guys," Lucy greeted them with a smile.

"Hey, Luce," Matt looked relieved to see her.

"You guys look so freaking cute," Lucy happily looked between Caroline and Matt. "Matty, do you think Stefan and I could talk to Caroline for a second?"

"Sure," Matt nodded and turned to Caroline. "I'll get us something to drink."

"Thanks," Stefan told him as he walked off to the refreshment table.

As soon as Matt was out of hearing range, Caroline turned to Stefan and Lucy worriedly. "What's wrong?"

"Klaus is here," Stefan informed her.

"What?" she hissed, grabbing Lucy's wrist; Lucy rearranged her hand so she could slip it into hers properly, squeezing it for comfort and for reassurance.

"Yeah."

Caroline looked around suspiciously. "Where?"

"We have no idea," Stefan sighed. "but keep your eye out for anything that might be weird, okay?"

Caroline nodded firmly. "Of course," she agreed and gave Lucy a worried look. "Be careful, okay?"

"I will," Lucy squeezed her hand.

As Matt came back with drinks for him and Caroline, Stefan and Lucy left to meet up with Elena. When they got to her, Jeremy was leaving her side, looking upset about something.

"Is everything okay?" Lucy asked her sister, looking at her little brother's back for a brief second.

Elena followed her gaze. "I'm not sure," she turned back to them and addressed Stefan, "Can you go after him? Make sure he's okay?"

Stefan nodded and took off after Jeremy, leaving Lucy and Elena alone. The sisters chatted for a few seconds and Lucy made sure to tell Elena that Caroline was on the look out for anything suspicious. It was only a couple minutes later that Stefan came back to them, looking worried and mad.

He quickly told them what exactly was going on with Jeremy. According to their brother, when Bonnie received her extra powers from the dead witches, she always got a warning that if she used too much power, she would die. Bonnie hadn't told anyone but Jeremy and he was crumbling under the burden of knowing that Bonnie was going to die to save Elena's life.

Elena and Lucy were upset but Lucy could tell that Elena was also kind of mad. She understood; if Caroline—or even Bonnie—was going to sacrifice her life for Lucy, she wouldn't want that. She'd do anything she could to keep her friends safe, happy, and alive. But she understood Bonnie's point of view, as well. How could she not? Lucy would die over and over again if it meant protecting the people she loved.

"We need to talk to her."

"How could you not tell us?" Elena asked Bonnie as they—along with Lucy—walked out of the school.

"Because I knew how'd you react."

"No. No way," Elena shook her head firmly. "It's not an option."

Bonnie shook her head in disagreement. "It's our only option."

"Then we'll find another way," Lucy spoke up. "Magic is always changing and developing, right? Maybe we can find something in those grimoires—"

"I've already looked, Lucy," Bonnie interrupted her. "It's this. This is our one chance to stop Klaus."

"Bonnie, you're not dying to save my life!" Elena objected.

"I have the power to save you!" Bonnie stated passionately. "If I don't use it and something happens, that would kill me more."

Elena shook her head frantically, eyes filling with tears. "I can't let you."

"Just answer one question," Bonnie requested. "If the situation was reversed, would you do it for me?"

Elena didn't answer but she didn't have to. There was no question whether or not Elena would sacrifice herself to save Bonnie or anyone that she loved. When it came down to it, Bonnie and her friends and family were all she had. Lucy knew that and she understood more than most would; she thought the exact same way.

Bonnie nodded understandably. "So you know why I have to."

Tears finally fell from Elena's eyes and it took Lucy all her power not to join her. This was about Elena and Bonnie and she didn't want to take that away from them. It just hurt her that Elena and Bonnie had to go through something like this and had to make one of the most difficult choices that she could ever think of.

"No," Elena choked on her tears. "No!"

Bonnie didn't get to plead her case any longer. Alaric had rushed out of the school and came running up to them, an urgent look on his face.

"Elena, Lucy!"

"What is it?" Elena asked him.

"He has Jeremy."

"What?" Lucy, Elena, and Bonnie exclaimed at the same time.

"Yeah, Klaus has Jeremy," Alaric confirmed. "Come on."

Alaric took off running and Bonnie, Lucy, and Elena exchanged worried looks before following after him. He opened the door for them and let them run into the school first before shutting the door after them. Alaric quickly took the lead once more, leading them to where Klaus and Jeremy were.

They ran through the English hallway and passed the cafeteria before Elena spoke up, "Okay, so where are you taking us?"

"Just a little further," Alaric said casually, as they turned down the history hallway.

Lucy furrowed her eyebrows as she studied Alaric. All day he had been acting weird; from their run-in before class, to him not knowing the subject they were studying and giving a lecture he already had, and then now, he was way too casual about Jeremy being taken by Klaus. Alaric saw Jeremy as a son and would be a lot more worried.

"Wait, something's not right," she murmured as Alaric sent them down yet another hall.

"Where's Jeremy?" Bonnie demanded as Alaric slowly stopped walking.

He chuckled and sighed loudly. "I just had to get away from that dance," he said, turning around to face them. "The sixties, ugh. Not my decade," he scoffed. "I mean, whose call was that, anyway? I much prefer the twenties. The style, the parties, the jazz…"

Lucy could have slapped herself for not realizing that something was up with Alaric. He could have been compelled by Klaus, but Lucy didn't think that was it; there was nothing robotic about him, as if he was on autopilot. It was like Alaric had a personality, just not his.

Lucy wracked her brain for an explanation.

"Alaric, are you on vervain?" Elena asked him cautiously.

"Now why would you ask me that question, Elena?"

Elena turned to Bonnie and Lucy. "He's being compelled."

"Nope," Alaric smirked. "Try again."

Alaric confirmed that he wasn't compelled, so Lucy moved on. Hadn't he just said that the sixties weren't his decade? Alaric was born in the seventies, and he had said that the twenties were his favorite decade. That could be the history teacher in him but Lucy doubted it. These were the words coming from a man who had lived through the twenties himself.

"What's going on?" Bonnie asked, stepping in front of Lucy and Elena protectively.

"It's Klaus," Lucy breathed in realization. "He's Klaus!"

Alaric—Klaus—beamed at her. "Surprise!" he exclaimed. "I knew you'd figure it out, Luciana."

Lucy furrowed her eyebrows as Elena freaked out about Klaus being inside Alaric. The only other person she met in this life who had called her Luciana was Elijah. Other than that, her the memories she had of her siblings in her first life were the only other people who knew her by that name.

Was Klaus…? Was he…?

Lucy felt like an idiot once more as she realized that Klaus sounded much like Niklaus. Niklaus, as in one of her older brothers in her first life. The fact that another one of her siblings was trying to kill her older sister made her want to scream.

She had such a fucked-up life.

"Just relax," Klaus soothed Elena, waving his hand flippantly. "I'm not here to hurt you. You're not on my hit list tonight and I would never harm a hair on Luciana's head," Lucy shivered as his eyes glinted when his gaze fell on Bonnie. "But you are."

Klaus lunged at Bonnie and she acted fast, flinging him against the wall of lockers. He groaned as he crawled to his feet, staggering slightly.

"Now, did I mention that I knew a witch?" he chuckled. "You're gonna have to hit me a lot harder than that."

Bonnie thrust out her palm again and Klaus flew down the hallway, crashing into the display case and shattering glass everywhere.

"By all means, fire away!" Klaus goaded Bonnie. "If you kill this body, I'll just get a new one. Maybe Jeremy."

Lucy inhaled sharply; she didn't want Alaric to die because she just knew that he was still in his body deep, deep down but what were they supposed to do?

"Go," Bonnie insisted, backing up toward Lucy and Elena. "Run. Run!"

The three girls took off, rushing down the hallway to get away from Klaus. Bonnie closed the doors behind them with her magic and they kept going as fast as they could until they ran into Damon.

"What happened?" he asked them urgently.

"Klaus is in Ric's body," Lucy told him breathlessly.

"What?!"

"He's possessing it or something," Bonnie tried to explain.

"Go find Stefan and Joel," Damon said immediately, looking at Elena and Lucy. "Now."

"Okay."

"Now."

Elena and Lucy took off running again, making their way to the gymnasium. They ran into Caroline as they searched for Stefan and Joel and simply told her to stay with Matt before they continued looking. It was then that Stefan and Joel actually found them.

The four of them found Damon…without Bonnie by his side.

"There you are," Damon greeted them casually.

"What are you doing?" Elena exclaimed. "Where's Bonnie?"

"She's doing what she has to do."

Elena gasped. "What?"

"Where is she?" Stefan asked his brother.

"Stefan, let her do this."

"Damn it, Damon, where is she?" Joel asked the older vampire harshly.

Stefan stiffened all of a sudden, his eyebrows furrowing; he started running out of the hallway, Elena and Lucy following after him. They ended up outside of the cafeteria and when they crashed into the doors, they discovered that they were locked.

Lucy pounded on the door at the same time as Elena. By the time she siphoned the spell away from it, Bonnie was on the floor.