Vampire Diaries - The Struggle | Page 9

was the wrong
place. We're looking for somewhere quiet, no noises, and closed in. I felt…
surrounded," she explained to Matt.

Matt looked back at her warily, as if she might bite. "Sure you did," he said.
"There were rocks around me, but not like these river rocks."
"Uh, no, of course they weren't." He looked sideways at Meredith, who took pity
on him.
"Bonnie had a vision," she said.
Matt backed up a little, and Elena could see his profile in the headlights. From his
expression, she could tell he didn't know whether to walk away or to round them all
up and cart them to the nearest insane asylum.
"It's no joke," she said. "Bonnie's psychic, Matt. I know I've always said I didn't
believe in that sort of thing, but I've been wrong. You don't know how wrong.
Tonight, she—she tuned in to Stefan somehow and got a glimpse of where he is."
Matt drew a long breath. "I see. Okay…"
"Don't patronize me! I'm not stupid, Matt, and I'm telling you this is for real. She
was there, with Stefan; she knew things only he would know. And she saw the place
he's trapped in."
"Trapped," said Bonnie. "That's it. It was definitely nothing open like a river. But
there was water, water up to my neck. His neck. And rock walls around, covered
with thick moss. The water was ice cold and still, and it smelled bad."
"But what did you see?" Elena said.
"Nothing. It was like being blind. Somehow I knew that if there was even the
faintest ray of light I would be able to see, but I couldn't. It was black as a tomb."
"As a tomb…" Thin chills went through Elena. She thought about the ruined
church on the hill above the graveyard. There was a tomb there, a tomb she thought
had opened once.
"But a tomb wouldn't be that wet," Meredith was saying.
"No… but I don't get any sense of where it could be then," Bonnie said. "Stefan
wasn't really in his right mind; he was so weak and hurt. And so thirsty—"
Elena opened her mouth to stop Bonnie from going on, but just then Matt broke
in.
"I'll tell you what it sounds like to me," he said.
The three girls looked at him, standing slightly apart from their group like an
eavesdropper. They had almost forgotten about him.
"Well?" said Elena.
"Exactly," he said. "I mean, it sounds like a well."
Elena blinked, excitement stirring in her. "Bonnie?"
"It could be," said Bonnie slowly. "The size and the walls and everything would
be right. But a well is open; I should have been able to see the stars."

"Not if it were covered," said Matt. "A lot of the old farmhouses around here
have wells that are no longer in use, and some farmers cover them to make sure little
kids don't fall in. My grandparents do."
Elena couldn't contain her excitement any longer. "That could be it. That must be
it. Bonnie, remember, you said it was always dark there."
"Yes, and it did have a sort of underground feeling." Bonnie was excited, too, but
Meredith interrupted with a dry question.
"How many wells do you think there are in Fell's Church, Matt?"
"Dozens, probably," he said. "But covered? Not as many. And if you're
suggesting somebody dumped Stefan in this one, then it can't be any place where
people would see it. Probably somewhere abandoned…"
"And his car was found on this road," said Elena.
"The old Francher place," said Matt.
They all looked at one another. The Francher farmhouse had been ruined and
deserted for as long as anybody could remember. It stood in the middle of the
woods, and the woods had taken it over nearly a century ago.
"Let's go," added Matt simply.
Elena put a hand on his arm. "You believe—?"
He looked away a moment. "I don't know what to believe," he said at last. "But
I'm coming."
They split up and took both cars, Matt with Bonnie in the lead, and Meredith
following with Elena. Matt took a disused little cart track into the woods until it
petered out.
"From here we walk," he said.
Elena was glad she'd thought of bringing rope; they'd need it if Stefan were really
in the Francher well. And if he wasn't…
She wouldn't let herself think about that.
It was hard going through the woods, especially in the dark. The underbrush was
thick, and dead branches reached out to snatch at them. Moths fluttered around
them, brushing Elena's cheek with unseen wings.
Eventually they came to a clearing. The foundations of the old house could be
seen, building stones tied to the ground now by weeds and brambles. For the most
part, the chimney was still intact, with, hollow places where concrete had once held it
together, like a crumbling monument.
"The well would be somewhere out back," Matt said.
It was Meredith who found it and called the others. They gathered around and
looked at the flat, square block of stone almost level with the ground.
Matt stooped and examined the dirt and weeds around it. "It's been moved

recently," he said.
That was when Elena's heart