"So 'Madame,'" Shinichi mocked, "you think you have gained 'Sage.' But I wonder if you know what in chess we call a 'gambit' is? No? Well, I'm sure your intellectual friend will be glad to inform you."
There was a pause. Then Meredith said, with no expression at all, "A gambit is when a chess player sacrifices something - for instance, a pawn - deliberately - just to get something else. A position on the chessboard that they want, for instance."
"I knew you'd be able to tell them. What do you think of our first gambit?"
Another silence, then Meredith said: "I presume you mean you've given us back Stefan to achieve something better."
"Oh, if you only had golden hair - as your friend Elena has so generously displayed."
There were various exclamations on the theme of "Huh?" - most of them directed at Shinichi, but some at Elena.
Who promptly exploded. "You took Stefan's memories - ?"
"Now, now, nothing so drastic, my dear. But a thirty-meld-a-session beautician - now, she was most cooperative."
Elena turned her gaze up at the giant face with a look of utter contempt. "You...cad."
"Oh, I'm stricken to the heart." But the thing was, Shinichi's giant face did look stricken - angry and dangerous. "Between you, all such close friends: do you know how many secrets there are? Of course, Meredith is a mistress of secrecy, keeping her secrets from her friends all these years. You think you've already pumped her dry, but the best is yet to come. And then, of course, there is Damon's secret."
"Which if spoken of here and now will mean instant war," Damon said. "And you know, it's strange, but I got the feeling that you came here tonight to negotiate."
This time Shinichi's laughter really was a gale, and Damon had to leap behind Meredith to prevent her being knocked into the hole the elevator had made.
"Very gallant," Shinichi boomed again, shattering glass somewhere on Mrs. Flowers's house. "But I really must be going. Shall I leave a synopsis of the prizes you still have to search for before your little company can look each other in the eye?"
"I think we already have them. And you are no longer welcome around this home," Mrs. Flowers said coolly.
But Elena's mind was still working. Even standing here, knowing that Stefan needed her, she was searching for the reasons behind this: Shinichi's second gambit. Because she was sure that this was one.
"Where are the pillowcases?" she said in a sharp voice that frightened and bewildered half the group, and simply frightened the rest.
"I was holding one, but then I decided to hold on to Saber instead." - Sage.
"I had one, at the bottom of the hole, but I dropped it when somebody lifted me out." - Bonnie.
"I've still got one, although I don't understand what good - " Damon began.
"Damon!" Elena whirled to him. "Trust me! We've got yours and Sage's safe - what's happening to Bonnie's in the hole?"
The moment she had said "trust me" Damon had dumped his pillowcase on top of Sage's, and by the time she was finished, he had leaped into the hole, which was still so bright with leylight as to hurt any vampire's eyes.
But Damon made no complaint. He said, "I have it safe now - no, wait! A root! A damned root is curled around one of the star balls! Someone toss me a knife, quick!"
While everyone else was slapping their pockets for knives, Matt did something that Elena couldn't believe. First he glanced down into the six-foot-deep hole while pointing - a revolver, was it? Yes - she recognized it as the twin of Meredith's. Then without trying to let himself down easily, he simply jumped as Damon had, into the hole.
"DON'T YOU WANT TO KNOW - " roared Shinichi, but no one was paying any attention to him.
Matt's jump didn't end lightly as Damon's had. It ended with a gasp and a stifled curse. But Matt didn't waste time; still on his knees, he handed the gun up to Damon.
"Blessed bullets - shoot it!"
Damon moved very fast. He didn't even seem to aim. But he must have clicked the safety off and aimed immediately, for the root was now streaking for the soft wall of the hole, its end wrapped tightly around something round.
Elena heard two shattering revolver shots; three. Then Damon stooped and picked up a vine-wrapped ball, medium-sized and crystal clear where its true surface could be seen.
"PUT THAT DOWN!" Shinichi's rage was beyond all measure. The two burning red spots of his eyes were like flames - like moons of fire. He seemed to be trying to get them to comply by sheer volume. "I SAID, DON'T TOUCH THAT WITH YOUR FILTHY HUMAN HANDS!"
"Oh, my God!" gasped Bonnie.
Meredith said simply, "It's Misao's - it has to be. He'd gamble with his own; but not with hers. Damon, hand it up to me, along with the revolver. I bet it's not bulletproof." She knelt, reaching into the hole.
Damon, with a raised eyebrow, did as she said.
"Oh, God," Bonnie cried, from the edge of the hole. "Matt's sprained his ankle - at least."
"I TOLD YOU," roared Shinichi. "YOU'LL BE SORRY - "
"Here," Damon said to Bonnie, taking not the slightest notice of Shinichi. Without any more ado, he picked up Matt and floated up out of the hole. He deposited the fair-haired boy beside Bonnie, who looked at him with the wide brown eyes of utter confusion.
Matt, though, was a Virginian through and through. After swallowing only once, he got out a "Thank you, Damon."
"No problem, Matt," Damon said, and then "What?" as someone gasped.
"You remembered," Bonnie cried, "You remembered his - Meredith!" she broke off, looking at the tall girl. "The grass!"