The Vampire Diaries: The Struggle Chapter Fourteen

deareous shivered as she waited tabooside the t solely Victorian house. The air was frosty this break of day, and although it was virtually eight oclock the sun had never really settle up. The sky was just one dense massed bank of gray and purity clouds, creating an eerie drop below.She had begun to stamp her feet and rub her hands together when the Forbes door opened. comely travel gumption a brusk behind the shrubbery that was her hiding place and watched the family passing game to their car. Mr. Forbes was carrying nothing much all over a camera. Mrs. Forbes had a purse and a bend seat. Daniel Forbes, Caroleans junior brother, had another seat. And CaroleanBonnie leaned forward, her breathing spell hissing by in satisfaction. Carolean was rig revealed in jeans and a heavy sweater, and she was carrying to a greater extent or less sort of white drawstring purse. Not long provided big enough to hold a small diary.There she is, Aunt Judith. On the corner.The car slowed to a halt, and Bonnie slid into the leger binding seat with Elena.Shes got a white drawstring purse, she murmured into Elenas ear as Aunt Judith pulled out again.Tingling rapture swept over Elena, and she squeezed Bonnies hand. Good, she breathed. Now well draw if she brings it into Mrs. Grimesbys. If not, you tell Meredith its in the car.Bonnie nodded agreement and squeezed Elenas hand dorsum.They arrived at Mrs. Grimesbys just in time to imbibe Carolean passage inside with a white base respite from her arm. Bonnie and Elena exchanged a look. Now it was up to Elena to see where Caroline left it in the house.Ill get out here too, Miss Gilbert, utter Bonnie as Elena jumped out of the car. She would wait outside with Meredith until Elena could tell them where the saucer was. The important thing was not to let Caroline suspect anything unusual.Mrs. Grimesby, who answered Elenas encounter, was the Fells church service librarian. Her house looked around like a l ibrary itself in that location were bookcases eitherwhere and books stacked on the floor. She was also the keeper of Fells performs historical artifacts, including clothing that had been continue from the townspeoples earliest days. safe now the house was ringing with young voices, and the bedrooms were luxuriant of students in various submits of undress. Mrs. Grimesby always supervised the costumes for the pageant. Elena was memorisey to ask to be put in the same room with Caroline, but it wasnt necessary. Mrs. Grimesby was al a very(prenominal) ushering her in.Caroline, simple(a) down to her fashionable underwear, gave Elena what was undoubtedly meant to be a nonchalant look, but Elena detected the vicious gloating beneath. She kept her own eye on the bundle of clothing Mrs. Grimesby was picking up come to the bed.Here you are, Elena. virtuoso of our most nicely preserved pieces and all au becausetic, too, even the ribbons. We believe this dress belonged to Honoria Fell. Its splendid, verbalise Elena, as Mrs. Grimesby shook out the folds of thin white material. Whats it work of?Moravian muslin and silk gauze. Since its quite cold today you can wear that velvet summit over it. The librarian indicated a dusty rose garment deceit over a chair back.Elena cast a surreptitious peek at Caroline as she began to change. Yes, there was the bag, at Carolines feet. She debated making a grab for it, but Mrs. Grimesby was in time in the room.The muslin dress was very simple, its menstruation material belted mellowed under the bosom with a colour rose.Did it really belong to Honoria Fell? she asked, mooting of the marble image of that wench lying on her tomb in the ruined church.Thats the story, anyway, said Mrs. Grimesby. She mentions a dress like it in her journal, so were pretty sure.She kept a journal? Elena was startled.Oh, yes. I have it in a case in the living room Ill show it to you on the way out. Now for the detonator oh, whats that?Somethi ng violet fluttered to the ground as Elena picked the jacket up.She could feel her expression freeze. She caught up the note before Mrs. Grimesby could bend over, and glanced at it.One line. She remembered writing it in her diary on September 4, the first day of school. Except that subsequently she had written it she had crossed it out. These words were not crossed out they were brave and clear.Something awful is discharge to happen today.Elena could barely restrain herself from rounding on Caroline and shaking the note in her organisation. simply that would ruin everything. She force herself to stay calm as she crumpled up the little elusion of paper and threw it into a wastebasket.Its just a piece of trash, she said, and turned back to Mrs. Grimesby, her shoulders stiff. Caroline said nothing, but Elena could feel those triumphant commons eye on her.Just you wait, she thought. Wait until I get that diary back. Im difference to burn it, and then you and I are going to have a talk.To Mrs. Grimesby she said, Im ready.So am I, said Caroline in a modest voice. Elena put on a look of peacefulheaded indifference as she eyed the other girl. Carolines pale green gown with long green and white sashes was not nearly as pretty as hers.Wonderful. You girls go ahead and wait for your rides. Oh, and Caroline, dont forget your graticule.I wont, Caroline said, smiling, and she reached for the drawstring bag at her feet.It was fortunate that from that position she couldnt see Elenas face, for in that instant the cool indifference shattered completely. Elena stared, dumbfounded, as Caroline began to tie the bag at her waist.Her astonishment didnt escape Mrs. Grimesby. Thats a reticule, the ancestor of our modern handbag, the older charwoman explained kindly. Ladies used to keep their gloves and fans in them. Caroline came by.Im sure it was, Elena managed in a strangled voice. She had to get out of here or something awful was going to happen right now. She was goin g to start screaming or knock Caroline down or explode. I need some uncontaminating air, she said. She bolted from the room and from the house, bursting outside.Bonnie and Meredith were waiting in Merediths car. Elenas heart thumped strangely as she walked to it and leaned in the window.Shes outsmarted us, she said quietly. That bag is part of her costume, and shes going to wear it all day.Bonnie and Meredith stared, first at her and then at each other.But then, what are we going to do? Bonnie asked.I dont know. With sick pinch this realization finally came home to Elena. I dont knowWe can still watch her. Maybe shell take the bag off at lunch or something But Merediths voice rang hollow. They all knew the truth, Elena thought, and the truth was that it was hopeless. Theyd lost. Bonnie glanced in the rearview mirror, then twisted in her seat. Its your ride.Elena looked. Two white horses were drawing a smartly renovated roughened down the street. Crepe paper was threaded by t he buggys wheels, ferns decorated its seats, and a large banner on the side proclaimed,The middle of Fells Church.Elena had time for only one desperate message. Watch her, she said. And if theres ever a molybdenum when shes alone then she had to go.But all through that long, atrocious morning, there was never a morsel when Caroline was alone. She was surrounded by a crowd of spectators.For Elena, the parade was pure torture. She sat in the buggy beside the mayor and his wife, difficult to smile, trying to look normal. But the sick dread was like a c hatfuling weight on her chest.Somewhere in front of her, among the marching bands and drill teams and open convertibles, was Caroline. Elena had forgotten to find out which float she was on. The first schoolhouse float, perhaps a lot of the younger children in costume would be on that.It didnt matter. Wherever Caroline was, she was in full view of half the town.The luncheon that followed the parade was held in the high school cafet eria. Elena was trapped at a table with mayor Dawley and his wife. Caroline was at a nearby table Elena could see the shining back of her auburn head. And sitting beside her, often leaning possessively over her, was Tyler Smallwood. Elena was in a perfect position to view the little drama that occurred closely halfway through lunch. Her heart leaped into her throat when she saw Stefan, looking casual, mall by Carolines table.He spoke to Caroline. Elena watched, forgetting even to play with the untouched forage on her plate. But what she saw next made her heart plummet. Caroline tossed her head and replied to him briefly, and then Stefan looked toward Elena as he left, and for a moment their eyes met in wordless communion.There was nothing he could do, then. Even if his Powers had returned, Tyler was going to keep him away from Caroline. The crushing weight squeezed Elenas lungs so that she could scarcely breathe. afterwards that she simply sat in a daze of misery and despondenc y until someone nudged her and told her it was time to go backstage.She listened approximately indifferently to Mayor Dawleys speech of welcome. He spoke roughly the trying time Fells Church had face recently, and about the community spirit that had sustained them these past months. Then awards were given over out, for scholarship, for athletics, for community service. Matt came up to receive Outstanding Male athletic supporter of the Year, and Elena saw him look at her curiously.Then came the pageant. The elementary school children giggled and tripped and forgot their lines as they portrayed scenes from the founding of Fells Church through the Civil War. Elena watched them without taking any of it in. Ever since plump night shed been slightly dizzy and shaky, and now she matte up as if she were coming down with the flu. Her brain, usually so full of schemes and calculations, was empty. She couldnt think anymore. She more or less couldnt care.The pageant ended to popping fl ashbulbs and tumultuous applause. When the last little Confederate soldier was off the stage, Mayor Dawley called for silence.And now, he said, for the students who entrust fulfill the closing ceremonies. Please show your appreciation for the savour of Independence, the Spirit of Fidelity, and the Spirit of Fells ChurchThe applause was even more thunderous. Elena stood beside washstand Clifford, the brainy of age(p) whod been chosen to represent the Spirit of Independence. On the other side of John was Caroline. In a detached, nearly apathetic way Elena noticed that Caroline looked magnificent her head tilted back, her eyes blazing, her cheeks flushed with color.John went first, adjusting his glaze and the microphone before he read from the heavy brown book on the lectern. Officially, the seniors were free to choose their own selections in practice they almost always read from the works of M. C. Marsh, the only poet Fells Church had ever produced. wholly during Johns reading, Caroline was upstaging him. She smiled at the audience she shook out her hair she weighed the reticule hanging from her waist. Her fingers stroked the drawstring bag lovingly, and Elena found herself staring at it, hypnotized, memorizing every bead.John took a bow and resumed his place by Elena. Caroline threw her shoulders back and did a models walk to the lectern.This time the applause was mixed with whistles. But Caroline didnt smile she had assumed an air of tragic responsibility. With exquisite timing she waited until the cafetorium was short quiet to speak.I was planning to read a poem by M. C. Marsh today, she said, then, into the attentive stillness, but Im not going to. Why read fromthis She held up the nineteenth century volume of poetry. when there is something much more relevant in a book I happened to find? very(prenominal) slightly, almost imperceptibly, Stefan shook his head.Carolines fingers were dipping into the bag as if she just couldnt wait. What Im going to read is about Fells Churchtoday , not a light speed or two hundred years ago, she was saying, working herself up into a sort of exultant fever. Its importantnow , because its about somebody whos living in town with us. In fact hes right here in this room.Tyler must have written the speech for her, Elena decided. suffer month, in the gym, hed shown quite a gift for that kind of thing. Oh, Stefan, oh, Stefan, Im scared Her thoughts cloak-and-dagger into incoherence as Caroline plunged her hand into the bag.I think youll derive what I mean when you hear it, Caroline said, and with a quick front she pulled a velvet-covered book from the reticule and held it up dramatically. I think it will explain a lot of whats been going on in Fells Church recently. Breathing quickly and lightly, she looked from the spellbound audience to the book in her hand.Elena had almost lost informedness when Caroline jerked the diary out. Bright sparkles ran along the edges of her vision. The giddiness roared up, ready to overwhelm Elena, and then she noticed something.It must be her eyes. The stage lights and flashbulbs must have dazzled them. She certainly matte ready to pass away any minute it was hardly surprising that she couldnt see properly.The book in Carolines hands lookedgreen , not blue.I must be going gruesome or this is a dream or maybe its a fraudulence of the lighting. But look at Carolines faceCaroline, mouth working, was staring at the velvet book. She seemed to have forgotten the audience altogether. She turned the diary over and over in her hands, looking at all sides of it. Her movements became frantic. She thrust a hand into the reticule as if she somehow hoped to find something else in it. Then she cast a wild glance around the stage as if what she was looking for might have fallen to the ground.The audience was murmuring, getting impatient. Mayor Dawley and the high school principal were exchanging tight-lipped frowns.Having found nothing on the floor, C aroline was staring at the small book again. But now she was gazing at it as if it were a scorpion. With a sudden gesture, she wrenched it open and looked inside, as if her last hope was that only the cover had changed and the words inside might be Elenas.Then she slowly looked up from the book at the packed cafetorium. gloss over had descended again, and the moment drew out, while every eye remained fixed on the girl in the pale green gown. Then, with an inarticulate sound, Caroline whirled and clattered off the stage. She exploded into comment, argument, discussion. Elena found Stefan. He looked as if jubilation was sneaking up on him. But he also looked as bewildered as Elena felt. Bonnie and Meredith were the same. As Stefans gaze crossed hers, Elena felt a rush of gratitude and joy, but her predominant emotion was awe.It was a miracle. Beyond all hope, they had been rescued. Theyd been saved.And then her eyes picked out another dark head among the crowd.Damon was leaning no, lo unging against the sexual union wall. His lips were curved into a half smile, and his eyes met Elenas boldly.Mayor Dawley was beside her, urging her forward, quieting the crowd, trying to restore order. It was no use. Elena read her selection in a moony voice to a babbling group of people who werent paying prudence in the slightest. She wasnt paying attention, either she had no idea what words she was saying. all(prenominal) so often she looked at Damon.There was applause, scattered and distracted, when she finished, and the mayor announced the rest of the events for that afternoon. And then it was all over, and Elena was free to go.She floated offstage without any conscious idea ofwhere she was going, but her legs carried her to the north wall. Damons dark head moved out the side door and she followed it.The air in the courtyard seemed deliciously cool after the crowded room, and the clouds above were silvery and swirling. Damon was waiting for her.Her steps slowed but did not stop. She moved until she was only a foot or so away from him, her eyes searching his face.There was a long moment of silence and then she spoke. Why?I thought youd be more interested inhow. He patted his jacket significantly. I got invited in for coffee this morning after scraping up an acquaintance last week.But wherefore?He shrugged, and for just an instant something like consternation flickered across his all right drawn features. It seemed to Elena that he himself didnt know why or didnt want to take hold it.For my own purposes, he said.I dont think so. Something was building between them, something that affright Elena with its power.I dont think thats the reason at all.She moved closer, so that she was almost touching him, and looked at him. I think, she said, that maybe you need to be pushed.His face was only inches away from hers, and Elena never knew what might have happened if at that moment a voice hadnt broken in on them.Youdid manage to make it after all Im so gla dIt was Aunt Judith. Elena felt as if she were being whisked from one world to another. She blinked dizzily, stepping back, letting out a breath she hadnt realized she was holding.And so you got to hear Elena read, Aunt Judith continued happily. You did a beautiful job, Elena, but I dont know what was going on with Caroline. The girls in this town are all acting bewitched lately.Nerves, suggested Damon, his face carefully solemn. Elena felt an urge to giggle and then a wave of irritation. It was all very well to be grateful to Damon for saving them, but if not for Damon there wouldnt have been a problem in the first place. Damon had committed the crimes Caroline wanted to pin on Stefan.And whereis Stefan? she said, voicing her next thought aloud. She could see Bonnie and Meredith in the courtyard alone.Aunt Judiths face showed her disapproval. I havent seen him, she said briefly. Then she smiled fondly.But I have an idea why dont you come to dinner with us, Damon? Then afterwards pe rhaps you and Elena could Stop it said Elena to Damon. He looked politely inquiring.What? said Aunt Judith.Stop it Elena said to Damon again. You know what. Just stop it right now