The Vampire Diaries - The Struggle | Page 5

or trapped somewhere, or…
She wouldn't let herself think about that last "or." Stefan was alive; he had to be
alive. Damon was a liar.
But Stefan was in trouble, and she had to find him somehow. She worried about it
all through the evening, desperately trying to come up with a plan. One thing was
clear; she was on her own. She couldn't trust anyone.
It grew dark. Elena shifted on the couch and forced a yawn.
"I'm tired," she said quietly. "Maybe I am sick after all. I think I'll go to bed."
Meredith was looking at her keenly. "I was just thinking, Miss Gilbert," she said,
turning to Aunt Judith, "that maybe Bonnie and I should stay the night. To keep
Elena company."
"What a good idea," said Aunt Judith, pleased. "As long as your parents don't
mind, I'd be glad to have you."
"It's a long drive back to Herron. I think I'll stay, too," Robert said. "I can just
stretch out on the couch here." Aunt Judith protested that there were plenty of guest
bedrooms upstairs, but Robert was adamant. The couch would do just fine for him,
he said.
After looking once from the couch to the hall where the front door stood plainly
in view, Elena sat stonily. They'd planned this between them, or at least they were all
in on it now. They were making sure she didn't leave the house.
When she emerged from the bathroom a little while later, wrapped in her red silk
kimono, she found Meredith and Bonnie sitting on her bed.
"Well, hello, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern," she said bitterly.
Bonnie, who had been looking depressed, now looked alarmed. She glanced at
Meredith doubtfully.
"She knows who we are. She means she thinks we're spies for her aunt,"
Meredith interpreted. "Elena, you should realize that isn't so. Can't you trust us at

all?"
"I don't know. Can I?"
"Yes, because we're your friends." Before Elena could move, Meredith jumped
off the bed and shut the door. Then she turned to face Elena. "Now, for once in
your life, listen to me, you little idiot. It's true we don't know what to think about
Stefan. But, don't you see, that's your own fault. Ever since you and he got together,
you've been shutting us out. Things have been happening that you haven't told us
about. At least you haven't told us the whole story. But in spite of that, in spite of
everything, we still trust you. We still care about you. We're still behind you, Elena,
and we want to help. And if you can't see that, then you are an idiot."
Slowly, Elena looked from Meredith's dark, intense face to Bonnie's pale one.
Bonnie nodded.
"It's true," she said, blinking hard as if to keep back tears. "Even if you don't like
us, we still like you."
Elena felt her own eyes fill and her stern expression crumple. Then Bonnie was
off the bed, and they were all hugging, and Elena found she couldn't help the tears
that slid down her face.
"I'm sorry if I haven't been talking to you," she said. "I know you don't
understand, and I can't even explain why I can't tell you everything. I just can't. But
there's one thing I can tell you." She stepped back, wiping her cheeks, and looked at
them earnestly. "No matter how bad the evidence against Stefan looks, he didn't kill
Mr. Tanner. I know he didn't, because I know who did. And it's the same person
who attacked Vickie, and the old man under the bridge. And—" She stopped and
thought a moment. "—and, oh, Bonnie, I think he killed Yangtze, too."
"Yangtze?" Bonnie's eyes widened. "But why would he want to kill a dog?"
"I don't know, but he was there that night, in your house. And he was… angry.
I'm sorry, Bonnie."
Bonnie shook her head dazedly. Meredith said, "Why don't you tell the police?"
Elena's laugh was slightly hysterical. "I can't. It's not something they can deal
with. And that's another thing I can't explain. You said you still trusted me; well,
you'll just have to trust me about that."
Bonnie and Meredith looked at each other, then at the bedspread, where Elena's
nervous fingers were picking a thread out of the embroidery. Finally Meredith said,
"All right. What can we do to help?"
"I don't know. Nothing, unless…" Elena stopped and looked at Bonnie. "Unless,"
she said, in a changed voice, "you can help me find Stefan."
Bonnie's brown eyes were genuinely bewildered. "Me? But what can I do?" Then,
at Meredith's indrawn breath, she said, "Oh. Oh."
"You knew where I was that day I went to the cemetery," said Elena. "And you
even predicted Stefan's coming to school."

"I thought you didn't believe in all that psychic stuff," said Bonnie weakly.
"I've learned a thing or two since then. Anyway, I'm willing to believe anything if
it'll help find Stefan. If there's any chance at all it will help."
Bonnie was hunching up, as if trying to make her already tiny form as small as
possible. "Elena, you don't understand," she said wretchedly. "I'm not trained; it's
not something I