He didn't really need a new shirt, but it was worth it to see her face lighten. As he followed Elena to the checkout line, though, he couldn't help the nagging worry that always lived at the back of his mind now, that had lived there for years.
The worst is still to come.
When Elena got back home, Stefan was digging through the hall closet. "I'm looking for my axe," he explained, a bit awkwardly, not looking at her. "Have you seen it?"
Elena shook her head, and he shoved a bunch of coats aside. "Here we are," he said, pulling it out and turning away. "I need to go. I'm late meeting Jack."
"Stefan-" Elena reached out to stop him.
He turned back toward her, seeming reluctant. There was so much pain in his face, lines of strain around that perfect sensual mouth and hurt darkening his eyes, making Elena's heart ache. All the way home, she had been thinking of what Matt said: You love each other, and that's hard to lose.
"Stefan," she said, helplessly. "I don't want to hurt you. I never, ever want to hurt you. I love you so much."
Stefan's face softened and he stepped toward her. "I love you, too, Elena. Everything I do is for you."
"I know that," Elena said, her voice calm and even. She smiled at him and held out her hand, feeling like she was coaxing some small animal out of its hiding place. He took it, hesitantly, and she squeezed, her palm warm against his. "I'm sorry we argued. But I'm worried about you. I'm afraid wanting to protect me has kept you from seeing how someone as innocent as Trinity-the real Trinity-needs us to give her a chance."
Stefan opened his mouth to object, and Elena pushed on quickly. "I worry that your morals are getting out of whack, Stefan, because you're so worried about me that you're not stopping to think. It's what I've always admired most about you, your sense of right and wrong," she finished softly, and rose up to brush her mouth against his.
But Stefan pulled away. "I love you, too, Elena," he said. He was frowning, his face hard with determination. "But we have to stop Solomon before he kills again. If that means losing Trinity, that's the price we have to pay. If we had any proof, any sign at all that Trinity was still in there, I'd be with you on this. But all I see in there is Solomon."
"We need to give her a chance," Elena said, her voice rising. "It's not fair. I know I don't have any proof, but we aren't sure. If there's even a shred of a chance that Trinity's trapped in there, we have to do everything we can to save her." She'd tried to talk to Stefan with a cooler head, but here they were, right back where they'd started.
Stefan turned away and headed for the door, his axe swinging easily from his hand. "I'm sorry, Elena, but I can't promise you that," he said coldly over his shoulder. "I have to do what's right, what's best for everyone. Even if you can't see it." He closed the apartment door quietly behind him.
Elena stared after him, her heart aching. He shouldn't have to shut himself off from her like that. She was losing Stefan-and he was losing himself.
Chapter 25
"Ready?" Bonnie asked, reaching for Marilise and Rick. They each joined their free hands with Poppy's, forming a circle of four.
Poppy blinked rapidly, clearly nervous, and Bonnie grinned at her reassuringly. They all could feel Alysia watching them from the other side of the roof and, behind her, the other groups with their mentors.
Bonnie swallowed and steeled herself, shutting out everything except her three friends and the cool stone of her falcon resting at the hollow of her throat. She used it to center herself, breathing deeply, and closed her eyes.
Her consciousness flickered along their joined hands, going around the circle, pulling on Marilise's solidity, Poppy's energy, Rick's calm. To each of them, she said, silently, Can I? Can I? Let me in, and felt each reply a wordless yes. Their hands warmed in hers, and she waited.
And then Bonnie felt a little thrill along her spine as something slid into place between them, all their edges neatly fitting together. With a jolt, they were connected. Power began to pour into Bonnie from all three, filling her, making her gasp. She was a balloon, swelling with the others' Power, stretched so thin it was almost too much for her to contain.
Bonnie opened her eyes-or rather, opened several pairs of eyes, each in a different place. She saw the faraway stars glowing faintly above the city from four different angles. She could see her own profile through their eyes, her head tilted backward, her cheeks round and soft. Bonnie felt like a live wire, thrumming with the energy of four people, burning and fizzing with it.
She took all this Power, her own and her three partners', and gave it a direction. It roared fiercely through her and up toward that clouded, dim-starred city sky. Flooding through her body and expanding farther and farther out, the Power cleared away the clouds, brightening the stars.
Bonnie gasped for breath and kept pushing. Power pulsed steadily through her as she concentrated on summer back home, picnics down at Warm Springs when she was in high school, the sun hot on her back and the smell of fresh-cut grass underfoot. Mixed up with this were Poppy's memories of her days at summer camp, pounding along on horseback on a wooded trail; Rick's of a childhood creek, cold water splashing around his calves, sharp river pebbles underfoot and sticky humid heat wrapping around him like a blanket; and Marilise digging in her garden, fragrant plants and crumbling dirt under her hands.
All those summers combined into one. Bonnie felt it take shape-hot and long and glorious, a perfect summer-and then she pushed it into the night.
Slowly, a bright white light began to grow and grow on the rooftop, Bonnie at its center. A few querulous chirps sounded and then a growing cacophony of birdsong, as birds awoke and decided that they had somehow missed the dawn. Everywhere else, it was night, but here on the rooftop, surrounded by their joined Power, it was day.