"The well would be somewhere out back," Matt said.
It was Meredith who found it and called the others. They gathered around and looked at the flat, square block of stone almost level with the ground.
Matt stooped and examined the dirt and weeds around it. "It's been moved recently," he said.
That was when Elena's heart began pounding in earnest. She could feel it reverberating in her throat and her fingertips. "Let's get it off," she said in a voice barely above a whisper.
The stone slab was so heavy that Matt couldn't even shift it. Finally all four of them pushed, bracing themselves against the ground behind it, until, with a groan, the block moved a fraction of an inch. Once there was a tiny gap between stone and well, Matt used a dead branch to lever the opening wider. Then they all pushed again.
When there was an aperture large enough for her head and shoulders, Elena bent down, looking in. She was almost afraid to hope.
"Stefan?"
The seconds afterward, hovering over that black opening, looking down into darkness, hearing only the echoes of pebbles disturbed by her movement, were agonizing. Then, incredibly, there was another sound.
"Who - ? Elena?"
"Oh, Stefan!" Relief made her wild. "Yes! I'm here, we're here, and we're going to get you out. Are you all right? Are you hurt?" The only thing that stopped her from tumbling in herself was Matt grabbing her from behind. "Stefan, hang on, we've got a rope. Tell me you're all right."
There was a faint, almost unrecognizable sound, but Elena knew what it was. A laugh. Stefan's voice was thready but intelligible. "I've - been better," he said. "But I'm - alive. Who's with you?"
She slapped the top of his head. "Don't joke about it! Get him up!"
"Yes, ma'am," said Matt, a little giddily. "Here, Stefan. You're going to have to tie this around you."
"Yes," said Stefan. He didn't argue about fingers numb with cold or whether or not they could haul his weight up. There was no other way.
The next fifteen minutes were awful for Elena. It took all four of them to pull Stefan out, although Bonnie's main contribution was saying, "come on, comeon ," whenever they paused for breath. But at last Stefan's hands gripped the edge of the dark hole, and Matt reached forward to grab him under the shoulders.
Then Elena was holding him, her arms locked around his chest. She could tell just how wrong things were by his unnatural stillness, by the limpness of his body. He'd used the last of his strength helping to pull himself out; his hands were cut and bloody. But what worried Elena most was the fact that those hands did not return her desperate embrace.
When she released him enough to look at him, she saw that his skin was waxen, and there were black shadows under his eyes. His skin was so cold that it frightened her.
She looked up at the others anxiously.
Matt's brow was furrowed with concern. "We'd better get him to the clinic fast. He needs a doctor."
"No!" The voice was weak and hoarse, and it came from the limp figure Elena cradled.
She felt Stefan gather himself, felt him slowly raise his head. His green eyes fixed on hers, and she saw the urgency in them.
"No... doctors." Those eyes burned into hers. "Promise... Elena."
Elena's own eyes stung and her vision blurred. "I promise," she whispered. Then she felt whatever had been holding him up, the current of sheer willpower and determination, collapse. He slumped in her arms, unconscious.
Chapter Four
"But he's got to have a doctor. He looks like he's dying!" said Bonnie.
"He can't. I can't explain right now. Let's just get him home, all right? He's wet and freezing out here. Then we can discuss it."
The job of getting Stefan through the woods was enough to occupy everyone's mind for a while. He remained unconscious, and when they finally laid him out in the back seat of Matt's car they were all bruised and exhausted, in addition to being wet from the contact with his soaking clothes. Elena held his head in her lap as they drove to the boarding house. Meredith and Bonnie followed.
Elena gently eased Stefan's head down and slipped out of the car, and saw one of the windows in the house brighten as a curtain was pushed aside. Then she saw a head and shoulders appear at the window, looking down.
"Mrs. Flowers!" she called, waving. "It's Elena Gilbert, Mrs. Flowers. We've found Stefan, and we need to get in!"
The figure at the window did not move or otherwise acknowledge her words. Yet from its posture, Elena could tell it was still looking down on them.
"Mrs. Flowers, we have Stefan," she called again, gesturing to the lighted interior of the car. "Please!"
"Elena! It's unlocked already!" Bonnie's voice floated to her from the front porch, distracting Elena from the figure at the window. When she looked back up, she saw the curtains falling into place, and then the light in that upstairs room snapped off.
It was strange, but she had no time to puzzle over it. She and Meredith helped Matt lift Stefan and carry him up the front steps.
Inside, the house was dark and still. Elena directed the others up the staircase that stood opposite the door, and onto the second-floor landing. From there they went into a bedroom, and Elena had Bonnie open the door of what looked like a closet. It revealed another stairway, very dim and narrow.
"Who would leave their - front door unlocked - after all that's happened recently?" Matt grunted as they hauled their lifeless burden. "She must be crazy."
"Sheis crazy," Bonnie said from above, pushing the door at the top of the staircase open. "Last time we were here she talked about the weirdest - " Her voice broke off in a gasp.