Of all of the guys she'd known, Damon had been the only one Elena couldn't break.
Oh, Matt was stubborn, and Stefan could be impossible sometimes. But they both had brightly colored buttons somewhere inside them, labeledPUSH ME , and you just had to fiddle with the mechanism a little - okay, sometimes more than a little - and eventually even the most challenging male could be mastered.
Except one...
"All right, kiddies, enough time out."
Elena felt Matt pulled from her arms and held up - she didn't know by what, but he was standing. Something held him in place, upright, and she knew it wasn't his muscles.
"So where were we?" Damon was walking back and forth, with the Virginia pine branch in his right hand, tapping it on his left palm. "Oh, that'sright " - as if making a great discovery - "the girl and the stalwart knight are going to kiss."
In Stefan's room, Bonnie said, "For the last time, Meredith, did you find a backup file for Stefan's note or not?"
"No," Meredith said in a flat voice. But just as Bonnie was about to collapse again, Meredith said, "I found a different note completely. A letter, really."
"Adifferent note? What does it say?"
"Can you stand up at all? Because I think you'd better have a look at this."
Bonnie, who had only just gotten back her breath, managed to hobble over to the computer.
She read the document on the screen - complete except for what seemed to be its final words, and gasped.
"Damon did something to Stefan!" she said, and felt her heart plummet and all her internal organs follow it. So Elena had been wrong. Damonwas evil, through and through. By now, Stefan might even be...
"Dead," Meredith said, her mind obviously following the same track that Bonnie's had taken. She lifted dark eyes to Bonnie's. Bonnie knew that her own eyes were wet. "How long," Meredith asked, "has it been since you called Elena or Matt?"
"I don't know; I don't know what time it is. But I called twice after we left Caroline's house and once at Isobel's; and when I've tried after that, I either get a message that their mailboxes are full or it won't connect at all."
"That's about exactly what I've gotten. If they went near the Old Wood - well, you know what it does to phone reception."
"And now, even if they come out of the woods, we can't leave them a message because we've filled up their voicemail - "
"E-mail," Meredith said. "Good old e-mail; we can use that to send Elena a message."
"Yes!" Bonnie punched the air. Then she deflated. She hesitated for an instant and then almost whispered, "No." Words from Stefan's real note kept echoing in her mind:I trust Matt's instinctive protectiveness for you, Meredith's judgment, and Bonnie's intuition. Tell them to remember that.
"You can't tell her what Damon's done," she said, even as Meredith began busily typing. "She probably already knows - and if she doesn't, it'll just make more trouble. She's with Damon."
"Matt told you that?"
"No. But Matt was out of his mind with pain."
"Couldn't it have been from those - bugs?" Meredith looked down at her ankle where several red welts still showed on the smooth olive flesh.
"It could be, but it wasn't. It didn't feel like the trees, either. It was just...pure pain. And I don't know, not for certain, how I know that it's Damon doing it. I just - know."
She saw Meredith's eyes unfocus and knew that she was thinking about Stefan's words, too. "Well, my judgment tells me to trust you," she said. "By the way, Stefan spells ¡®judgment' the preferred American way," she added. "Damon spells it with ane . That may have been what was bothering Matt."
"As if Stefan would really leave Elena alone with everything that's been going on," Bonnie said indignantly.
"Well, Damon fooled all of us and made us think so," Meredith pointed out. Meredith tended to point out things like that.
Bonnie started suddenly. "I wonder if he stole the money?"
"I doubt it, but let's see." Meredith pulled the rocking chair away, saying, "Grab me a hanger."
Bonnie grabbed one from the closet and grabbed herself one of Elena's tops to put on at the same time. It was too big, since it was Meredith's top given to Elena, but at least it was warm.
Meredith was using the hooked end of the wire hanger on all sides of the floorboard that looked most promising. Just as she managed to pry it up, there was a knock at the open door. They both jumped.
"It's only me," said the voice of Mrs. Flowers from behind a large duffel bag and a tray of bandages, mugs, sandwiches, and strong-smelling cheesecloth bags like the ones she'd used on Matt's arm.
Bonnie and Meredith exchanged a glance and then Meredith said, "Come in and let us help you." Bonnie was already taking the tray, and Mrs. Flowers was dumping the duffel bag on the floor. Meredith continued prying the board up.
"Food!" Bonnie said gratefully.
"Yes, turkey-and-tomato sandwiches. Help yourselves. I'm sorry I was away so long, but you can't hurry the poultice for swellings," Mrs. Flowers said. "I remember, long ago, my younger brother always said - oh, my goodness gracious!" She was staring at the place where the floorboard had been. A good-sized hollow was filled with hundred-dollar bills, neatly wrapped in packets with bank-bands still around them.
"Wow," Bonnie said. "I never saw so much money!"
"Yes." Mrs. Flowers turned and began distributing cups of cocoa and sandwiches. Bonnie bit into a sandwich hungrily. "People used to simply put things behind the loose brick in the fireplace. But I can see that the young man needed more space."