Elena was sitting on the couch in the Mikaelson mansion. She was still very shaky, but at least things stopped exploding or falling for the most part. The last incident had been in Elijah's car. She'd broken one of the windows.

Elena soon heard her phone ring, which made her jump slightly. She took it out and saw that it was Damon. She immediately rejected the call. She could not talk to Damon. It was literally the exact opposite of what she needed right now.

"Not going to answer it?" Kol asked from the doorway.

Elena turned to him and shook his head. "You said I need to be calm. Talking to Damon would be counterproductive to that."

"Is that the bloke you brought with you to the ball last night? Yes, he seemed like the annoying type," Kol said.

"I didn't bring him, but, yes, and annoying is probably one of the kinder ways people have described him. If I were to tell him that I was here, he'd freak out and probably try to storm this place," Elena said.

"And we would break his limbs off," Kol said with a grin.

"And that would not be good for my stress level or your house," Elena said.

"Got it," he said.

"Do you know what's happening to me, Kol? I didn't even know that witchcraft ran in my family. I don't even know how it does. My father's side definitely didn't have it, and if Isobel, my biological mother, had it, she never mentioned it. Of course, I only met her twice, and she was a vampire by then," Elena said.

"She was turned?" Kol asked.

Elena nodded. "She wanted it. She begged Damon to do it."

"She couldn't have been a witch. No self-respecting witch would ask for that," Kol said.

"Because of the whole 'against nature' thing," Elena guessed.

"No, because it would take their magic away. No witch would be okay with that, trust me," Kol said. He spoke from experience. He'd been crushed when he realized his magic was broken, angry even. He'd never truly forgiven his mother for taking it from him.

"You weren't okay with it," Elena realized.

Kol shook his head. "None of us were given a choice though."

"Where could my magic have come from if neither of my parents had it. Can magic just appear in anyone?" Elena asked.

"No. It's hereditary. Some people don't receive magic even if their parents do, like Nik and Elijah, but no one will get it without having the gene," Kol explained.

"Can another witch give it to someone? I think your mother did something to me. I started to feel strange after talking to her last night," Elena said.

"No, she couldn't have transformed you into a witch, but she could've inadvertently unblocked your magic," Kol said.

Just then, Elijah came into the room with a teacup in his hands. "Elena, I brought you some tea. Hopefully, it will help calm your nerves.

"Thanks, Elijah," Elena said before taking the teacup. She took a small sip and then placed it on the table.

"How are you feeling?" Elijah asked before taking a seat next to her.

"Terrified, but I haven't destroyed anything else yet. Sorry about your car," Elena said.

Elijah waved off the apology. "It is of no consequence. A window can be fixed easily. The entire car could be replaced if need be."

"Something else is going to happen at some point though. Hell, probably when Klaus gets home," Elena said. She was calm now because she trusted Elijah and Kol had been kind to her, but she hated Klaus. She would be far less calm with him there.

"That's where setting him on fire comes in," Kol said with a grin.

Elena smiled back at him.

"Elena, I would like to talk with you, but I don't want you to become upset," Elijah said carefully. He needed the truth about what happened with his mother, both because he knew his mother was planning something nefarious and because it seemed to be the catalyst for what was happening with Elena. However, the last time he'd tried to talk to her about it, she'd lost control of her magic because she was so upset.

"You want to know what really happened with your mother," Elena said. The guilt began to creep up again and her nerves kicked up. She could hear the table in front o her rattling. Her teacup shook.

"Calm down, dear. I'm not angry. I will not so much as raise my voice, I promise," Elijah said.

"That's not exactly comforting, Elijah. I watched you decapitate a vampire while used the same tone you'd use to discuss the weather," Elena said. That wasn't what was upsetting her though. It was her guilt. She knew what she did was wrong.

Elijah couldn't deny that was true. He didn't appreciate being betrayed. It would nearly always result in the person's death. Elena seemed to be the exception. He didn't know why, but he could never bring himself to truly hurt her, not permanently so at least. He'd intended to threaten to earlier, but he never would've been able to go through with harming her. "I will not harm you in any way. You have my word."

Elena nodded and took a deep breath. "Your mother took my blood for a ritual. She led me to believe that she was going to use it to kill Klaus. I didn't know her true intentions until it was too late."

"And what were her intentions?" Elijah asked.

"To kill all of you. She linked all of you together. She figured that way, she only had to kill one of you to kill the other four. I'm sorry. I didn't know what else to do. Klaus had killed my aunt. He turned Stefan into a cold bastard. He was using me as a human blood bag! I just wanted to protect the people I loved," Elena cried.

Elijah sighed. He could understand that. He knew what it was like to be willing to protect his loved ones no matter the cost. It was what nearly led to the actions he'd planned to take. "I understand why you gave my mother your blood. The truth is, I doubt you could've stopped her from taking it. What I don't understand is why you lied to me once you knew what would happen."

"I wanted to. I almost did, but I thought about everything Klaus had done to me and my family. I thought about what he could still do. I also thought about my friends, half of whom were at the ball. I knew how they'd react," Elena said.

"You were afraid they would turn on you," Elijah said.

"I'm sorry. I know how shallow that sounds under the circumstances. I should've told you. This morning, before everything completely fell apart, I kept trying to find someone else who could see how wrong it was. The fact that I couldn't made me unsure of myself," Elena said.

Elijah sighed. He wanted to be angry, and a part of him was, but he realized something as she spoke. Elena was only eighteen. She was barely an adult. Making poor decisions and being susceptible to the influence of others was a part of that. She usually acted so much older than she was that he forgot that she was so young. Everything she knew about the supernatural world came from the Salvatore brothers. It was natural that she let them influence her so much.

Just then, they all heard footsteps. Rebekah appeared in the doorway moments later looking annoyed. "What the bloody hell is going on? I waited inside these bloody tunnels for more than an hour!"

Elijah looked over at her. He'd forgotten to inform Rebekah that she no longer needed to keep Elena in the tunnels. He'd been preoccupied with what was happening to her. "I apologize, sister. Things took an unexpected turn."

"Clearly," Rebekah said as she glared over at the doppelganger. "I take it you no longer want the doppelganger as bait for the Salvatores?"

"You wanted to use me as bait?" Elena asked Elijah. She was confused at first, but she quickly realized why. Elijah had known that she'd lied to him. He wanted to use her to stop Esther. "I guess I can't really blame her for that."

"You are not the only one who almost did something they would've regretted," Elijah said.

Moments later, Klaus returned and entered the room. As soon as he noticed Elena, he knew something was wrong. She wouldn't be there willingly, especially not alone. "Would someone like to tell me what is going on?"

"Apparently, Mother wants us all dead," Kol said.

"Elena, do you know what her next move is?" Elijah asked.

Elena nodded. Before everything completely fell apart, she'd spoken with Bonnie and Caroline. "Esther is planning some sort of ritual tonight. She asked Bonnie and her mother to help her with it. I don't know what exactly she's going to do, but Bonnie thinks you'll all be dead tonight."

"That is ridiculous. She wouldn't be able to kill all of us. Nik can't even be killed," Rebekah said.

"She doesn't have to kill him. She only has to kill one of you. She linked all of you together last night using my blood. Killing one of you kills all of you," Elena explained.

Klaus glared at her. "Oh, I see. That's why she invited you last night. That's why your two stalkers were hovering over you and why you disappeared for a bit. You were helping my mother kill us."

Elena stood up and glared dangerously at him. She felt badly about what she did to the others, but she refused to be guilted by Klaus. He was the reason for all of this. "No, I was helping her kill you! You, the plague that has been my life since before I even laid eyes on you!"

Everything in the room began shaking. A large vase fell from the fireplace and shattered on the floor.

"Elena, calm down," Elijah said as gently as possible.

Klaus looked around in surprise as his living room began to take a life of its own. There was no doubt that the doppelganger was doing it, although he had no idea how. Witchcraft did not run in her bloodline. "Well, this is interesting, isn't it?"

"Interesting?! This is just another curse that has come with knowing you! I was fine before I met you. You destroyed me, and then I met your mother and she did this to me!" Elena screamed. Several more objects crashed to the floor.

"Oh, I didn't do this, love. This is inside you," Klaus said.

"You do everything! You killed my aunt! You turned Stefan into a cold son of a bitch that would actually try to hurt me! You forced me to send my brother out of town! You took everything from me!" Elena snarled. The next thing she knew, Klaus went flying into the nearest wall hard, leaving a big crack in the wall.

"Well, that's not setting him on fire, but it will do for the moment," Kol said with a grin.

Elijah took Elena by the shoulders and turned her towards him. "Elena, listen to me. I know you're angry, but you need to calm down. Take a deep breath."

"I hate him!" Elena yelled. One of the windows shattered as she said it.

"I know, but this isn't helping you. Please try to calm down," Elijah said before sitting her back down on the couch.

Elena took a deep breath and started counting to ten. That's what she'd always been taught to do when she was overly angry or upset. Slowly, everything stopped shaking.

Klaus stood up and brushed himself off. He said nothing. As annoyed as he was at the doppelganger getting the jump on him, he didn't want to cause another incident right now. That had other things to worry about.

Elijah knelt in front of Elena. "Thank you. Elena, do you know where my mother plans to do this ritual?"

Elena shook her head. "Not for sure, but I can take a guess. Your mother is drawing power from the Bennett witch line. The only place I can think that they'd use is the old witch house where they were hiding you and your siblings while you were daggered."

"And why should we believe you?" Klaus asked.

"Niklaus, shut up," Elijah said. The last thing they needed was for him to rile Elena up again.

Elena glared at Klaus, but she managed to keep her voice calm. "Because you're the only one I wanted to stop. It's not worth the collateral damage. Besides, I want to know what your mom did to me."

Elijah stood up. "We need to go now. Elena, I'm going to leave you here with Rebekah. Please do not try to leave."

"Where am I going to go? Home? Where I might hurt someone a lot more breakable than Klaus?" Elena asked. The idea of staying in Klaus' house with Rebekah did not appeal to her in the least, but it was better than hurting someone when her emotions became out of control. Hopefully, they could figure out what Esther did and put a stop to this. A deep part of Elena kept telling her that that wasn't possible, but she ignored it.

"What? I'm not staying with her?" Rebekah protested.

"Yes, you are," Elijah said before taking his sister by the arm and pulling her from the room. "Elena is very volatile right now. The slightest thing sets off her magic. I can't leave her alone."

"What do you even care? She tried to have us killed," Rebekah said.

"She is a young girl that has been put through hell because of this family and was negatively influenced by her so-called friends. This is not all her fault. She needs help right now. I need someone here to help keep her calm," Elijah said.

"And you think the best person for that is me? Leave Kol with her. He's the witch expert," Rebekah said. Even if she liked Elena, she was the last person that should be left to calm someone down. That was far from her expertise.

"Tell me something, Rebekah. If it comes down to it, will you be willing to do what is necessary to stop Mother?" Elijah asked. That was why he chose her to stay instead of Kol. Kol would do what was necessary.

Rebekah said nothing in response to her brother's question. She knew what he meant, and she didn't know that she could do that.

"I didn't think so. Please stay with Elena and keep her calm any way possible without harming her," Elijah said.

"Fine," Rebekah agreed reluctantly.

Elijah nodded before going back to the others.