It had taken Matt a long time to get over her the first time. Maybe that was something else she could fix while she was back here, Elena thought, resisting the urge to turn around and look at him again. If she handled their breakup better …
She pushed through the front doors of the school and set off. Crossing the parking lot, she tilted her face up toward the warmth of the late afternoon sun and hesitated for a moment.
Her biggest problem right now was how to approach Damon in the right way. If she was going to get him to fall in love with her before Halloween, she had better get started.
Tucking a stray hair back behind her ear, Elena turned down the sidewalk toward home and began to go over her first memories of him, ignoring the chatter of the other students leaving school all around her. He’d come to her in the school gymnasium once, while she and her friends were planning the Haunted House, but that was after she knew Stefan. She didn’t know if Damon would have come after her at school if not for Stefan. It wasn’t really Damon’s kind of place.
She’d met him at Alaric’s house at the party Alaric had thrown looking for evidence of vampires. But Alaric wasn’t here, wouldn’t be here if she accomplished her mission, because he had come after Mr. Tanner was murdered.
She’d sat through history class today, watched as Mr. Tanner mocked Bonnie for her lack of knowledge of history, as Stefan cooly put him in his place. She was struck by how young Mr. Tanner was—about the same age as Elena and her friends were in her real present. He was inexperienced and desperate to keep the attention and respect of a class of kids only a few years younger than he was. But despite all that, he’d known a lot about the Renaissance and spoken well about it. Maybe in a few years, he’d be a good teacher. If he lived.
With renewed purpose, Elena walked faster, thinking hard. Damon had come to Bonnie’s house. But that was when he was looking for Elena, after she’d already gotten his attention.
A caw came overhead. Elena stopped short and craned her head back to catch a glimpse of a fat black crow in the maple tree overhead. It wasn’t Damon, she saw immediately. This bird was plumper, smaller. Probably just a bird, she told herself as it cawed again and then spread its wings and flew off, low, past the house behind her.
But the sight prompted the memory of a dark shape winging its way up from the oak trees at the edge of the cemetery, when she had gone there to visit her parents, before she had known Damon. He’d been keeping an eye on her, hadn’t he?
Elena stopped dead. The cemetery.
The horrors of her senior year hadn’t begun with Mr. Tanner’s death on Halloween. They’d begun today—when Stefan had fed from an old vagrant sheltering under Wickery Bridge. And it had happened because Stefan had watched Elena in the cemetery, then been caught by a wave of angry Power, leaving him dazed and ravenous.
Katherine’s Power, which she had unleashed after witnessing Stefan’s interest in Elena, driving Elena out of the churchyard.
The man hadn’t died, but his injuries had been the first sign to the people of Fell’s Church that danger lurked in their idyllic little town.
Hesitantly, Elena took a few steps toward home. If she didn’t go to her parents’ graves, the attack wouldn’t happen. The old man would be fine, the townwide panic wouldn’t begin.
And yet … Elena stopped again and rocked back on her heels, thinking.
She hadn’t been talking to Stefan, hadn’t shown any interest in him this time. He wouldn’t be following her, would he? And the graveyard would be a good place to try to find Damon. That was the most important thing.
A cloud passed over the sun, and Elena felt a little colder, a little sadder. It had been a long time since she had visited her parents. Now that she lived a few hours away, she hardly ever made it back to Fell’s Church. She could see them now, she thought longingly. The cemetery would be isolated and peaceful after her long day. She could be alone there, and Damon would be more likely to come to her when she was alone. Making up her mind, Elena hitched her backpack higher on her shoulders, and headed toward the cemetery, her steps sounding loud and firm in her own ears.
It was a fairly long walk, almost to the edge of town. Coming close to Wickery Bridge, another rusty caw grabbed her attention. Wings spread wide, the huge crow glided to land on the bridge’s parapet. Turning its head, it fixed one bright eye on Elena. It seemed to be waiting.
Elena smiled. Challenge accepted, Damon.
She had expected to be a little shaky crossing Wickery Bridge, the place where Katherine had pursued her, and Elena had driven off this bridge and drowned. She could still remember the horrible rending sound as the hood of Matt’s car had smashed through the old bridge’s side. She could almost feel how icy-cold the water had been as she struggled.
But with Damon here, she could be brave.
“Hello, bird,” she said casually. The crow stayed very still, its shining dark gaze fixed on Elena. She glanced up at the blue sky, and back at the crow. Then, slowly and deliberately, holding the crow’s gaze, Elena smiled, a smile full of secrets. And then she walked on, straight past him, her head high. The bird watched as she passed.
As she entered the cemetery, Elena’s gaze fell on the ruined church, and she felt a tremor of foreboding deep inside her. Katherine was down there in the dark passages of the crypts already, watching them all.
At the thought of Katherine, Elena’s hands automatically clenched into fists, anxiety running through her. Katherine had been furious when Stefan and Elena had fallen in love, and had attacked them both, had gone after the whole town. It had been the beginning of everything terrible.