"Elena, I will not have you speaking to me in that tone - "
"I'm finished anyway!" Elena cried, and whirled blindly for the stairs. She managed to keep the tears back until she was in her own room with the door locked. Then she threw herself on the bed and sobbed.
She dragged herself up a while later to call Bonnie. Bonnie was excited and voluble. What on earth did Elena mean, had anything unusual happened after she and Stefan left? The unusual thing was their leaving! No, that new guy Damon hadn't said anything about Stefan afterward; he'd just hung around for a while and then disappeared. No, Bonnie hadn't seen if he left with anybody. Why? Was Elena jealous? Yes, Elena immediately deduced that Alaric Saltzman's eyes were hazel.
She got off the phone at last and only then remembered the note she'd found in her purse. She should have asked Bonnie if anyone had gone near her purse while she was in the dining room. But then, Bonnie and Meredith had been in the dining room part of the time themselves. Someone might have done it then.
The very sight of the violet paper made her taste tin at the back of her mouth. She could hardly bear to look at it. But now that she was alone shehad to unfold it and read it again, all the time hoping that somehow this time the words might be different, that she might have been mistaken before.
But they weren't different. The sharp, clean block letters stood out against the pale background as if they were ten feet high.
I want to touch him. More than any boy I've ever known. And I know he wants it, too, but he's holding back on me.
Her words. From her diary. The one that had been stolen.
The next day Meredith and Bonnie rang her doorbell.
"Stefan called me last night," said Meredith. "He said he wanted to make sure you weren't walking to school alone. He's not going to be at school today, so he asked if Bonnie and I could come over and walk with you.
"Escort you," said Bonnie, who was clearly in a good mood. "Chaperone you. I think it's terribly sweet of him to be so protective."
"He's probably an Aquarius, too," said Meredith. "Come on, Elena, before I kill her to shut her up about Alaric."
Elena walked in silence, wondering what Stefan was doing that kept him from school. She felt vulnerable and exposed today, as if her skin were on inside out. One of those days when she was ready to cry at the drop of a hat.
On the office bulletin board was tacked a piece of violet paper.
She should have known. Shehad known somewhere deep inside. The thief wasn't satisfied with letting her know her private words had been read. He was showing her they could be made public.
She ripped the note off the board and crumpled it, but not before she glimpsed the words. In one glance they were seared onto her brain.
I feel as if someone has hurt him terribly in the past and he's never gotten over it. But I also think there's something he's afraid of, some secret he's afraid I'll find out.
"Elena, what is that? What's the matter? Elena, come back here!"
"Okay," said Meredith loudly, "senior privilege. You!" She rapped on the only closed door. "Come out."
Some rustling, then a bewildered freshman emerged. "But I didn't even - "
"Out. Outside," Bonnie ordered. "Andyou ," she said to the girl washing her hands, "stand out there and make sure nobody comes in."
"But why? What are you - "
"Move, chick. If anybody comes through that door we're holding you responsible."
When the door was closed again, they rounded on Elena.
"Okay, this is a stickup," said Meredith. "Come on, Elena, give."
Elena ripped the last tiny shred of paper, caught between laughter and tears. She wanted to tell them everything, but she couldn't. She settled for telling them about the diary.
They were as angry, as indignant, as she was.
"It had to be someone at the party," Meredith said at last, once they had each expressed their opinion of the thief's character, morals, and probable destination in the afterlife. "But anybody there could have done it. I don't remember anyone in particular going near your purse, but that room was wall-to-wall people, and it could have happened without my noticing."
"But why would anyonewant to do this?" Bonnie put in. "Unless... Elena, the night we found Stefan you were hinting around at some things. You said you thought you knew who the killer was."
"I don't think I know; Iknow. But if you're wondering if this might be connected, I'm not sure. I suppose it could be. The same person might have done it."
Bonnie was horrified. "But that means the killer is a student at this school!" When Elena shook her head, she went on. "The only people at that party who weren't students were that new guy and Alaric." Her expression changed. "Alaric didn't kill Mr. Tanner! He wasn't even in Fell's Church then."
"I know. Alaric didn't do it." She'd gone too far to stop now; Bonnie and Meredith already knew too much. "Damon did."
"That guy was thekiller ? The guy thatkissed me?"
"Bonnie, calm down." As always, other people's hysteria made Elena feel more in control. "Yes, he's the killer, and we all three have to be on guard against him. That's why I'm telling you. Never, never ask him into your house."
Elena stopped, regarding the faces of her friends. They were staring at her, and for a moment she had the sickening feeling that they didn't believe her. That they were going to question her sanity.
"Yes. I'm sure. He's the murderer and the one who put Stefan in the well, and he might be after one of us next. And I don't know if there's any way to stop him."