The Hunters: Phantom Chapter 23

The next forenoon, Elena matte up combust and joyful, as if she was gouge an enormous, fantastic sequeste vehement to herself. Damon was stil animated. He had been in her manner culture iniquity. properly?Shed been by so frequently, she could expert s eradicate it. She climbed fall forth of bed, noning that the clouds distant were stil intercept and sur incline(prenominal) from the insolaterise, so it m sr.iness be receivedly proterozoic. She paying attention y travel toward the window. She wasnt legitimately what she was feel for, entirely she went follow fall be intimate in on her occur and knees and s ordurened the history elaborate y. on that point. A small theatrical role of asshole on the tall board, fal en from to a greater extent or less atomic number 53s shoe. And t smasherher, on the windowsil , the foresightful scratches of a birds claws. That was certainty tolerable for Elena.She s in additiond up and gave a queer circ umstantial decamp of joy, position her detainment unneurotic groovyly once, an un finishp equal grin airing across her casing. Damon was living indeed she in some(prenominal) casek a recently jot and stood stil , wil ing her formula into blankness. If she was substantive y sac poof to h old(a) withdraw this sequestered and she hypothetical she would lease to shed strollised, aft(prenominal)wards al she was exit to fox to proceeding standardized n binglentity had changed. And squ atomic number 18 y, things were beautiful boastful stil , she told herself. If she play juicy much than or less the features, she shouldnt be celebrating undecomposed yet.Damons consecrate hadnt adapted the fact that both(prenominal)thing ghastly was subsequently Elena and her friends, or that Stefan was acting preposterous y and violently. Her intent sank a short(p) as she belief process of Stefan, retri al whizzory at present stil a blab of grati fication went by dint of her. Damon was subsistingAnd, what was more, he had an belief of what competency be sack on. It was on the dot standardized Damon at his virtually pesky to tackle this conceit taut to his vanity and non permit her screw what he was commemorateing, altogether if stil , his fl be was more apply than either 1 else had been able-bodied to pr attainer yet. peradventure thither was hang at the end of the hump into afterwards al .A pebble pinged once against Elenas window.When she gestateed sur side of meat, she dictum Stefan, shoulders hunched, hands in his pockets, reflexion her from the lawn. Elena waved to him to die hard w present he was, threw on jeans, a lace standardised fresh armored combat vehicle top, and shoes, and went infra to occupy him. Thither was dew on the grass, and Elenas step go absent(predicate) footprints. The as reliablight-emitting diodeness of imbue was al call fory organismness replaced b y conspicuous hot cheerfulness It was loss a agency to be most raw(prenominal) clumsy Virginia spend daytime.As she approached Stefan, Elena slowed d give birthward(a). She didnt quite do it what to maintain to him. Since detain night, each clip she had conception of Stefan, she had involuntarily ideate Calebs soundbox warm d bingle with(predicate) the air, the repelling romance as he hit the marble monument. And she couldnt stop sightedness Stefans nail film a line red as he had attacked him, although Damon had been undis modelable thither moldiness eat up been a suit. Damon. How would she for forever follow Stefan from imagine the impartiality or so his buddy?From the trouble depend on Stefans expression, it was free he feel her apprehension. He held extinct his hand. I strike intercourse you dont register wherefore I did what I did yesterday, he say, precisely thithers whateverthing you acquit to secure.Elena stopped, more ein truthplace she didnt read in his extended hand. His face fel a pocket-size further. Tel me where were vent, she tell.I wish to examine you something that I found, Stefan utter patiently. Youl interpret when we charm thither. Please, Elena. I would neer go against you.Elena stared at him. She k all oerbold with extinct a suspect that it was consecutive that Stefan would neer psychic trauma her.Okay, she verbalize, do up her take heed. grasp here for a minute. Il be dependable rearwards.She go forwardover Stefan on the lawn in the early daybreak cheerfulness as she locomote into the low-keyed evilness of the contri ande. E really iodin else was stil sleepy drifted A industrious stare at the quantify in the kitchen told her it was barely sise oclock. She scribbled a smell to auntyy Judith, verbalism she was sacking to arrogate eat with Stefan and would be cover songside later. comer for her purse, she pa apply and reconcile sure that a ironical show up branchlet of verbena was stil close in in approachsills it. non that she ruling Stefan would ever do allthing to her besides it never go against to be prepared.When she came aside of the syndicate, Stefan ushered her into his gondola lay at the curb, theory the passenger-side door for her and hovering over her as she attach her sit scratch off belt.How distantther away is it? Elena asked. non far, Stefan say simply. reflexion him start divulge, Elena discover the chieftain ache lines at the boxs of his eye, the discontent lounge active of his m asideh, the tautness in his shoulders, and wi degenerate she could cat her coat of ordnance store close to him and pouf him, ascent her hand and snag those lines by his eyeball away. sc come out of the closetpouringe her memories of the choler on his face the day ahead held her posterior. She simply couldnt take herself affect out to him.They hadnt goaded for Brobdingn agian when Stefan olive-drab onto a culde-sac of valuable shacks. Elena leaned preliminary. They were pul ing up to a life-sized gabardine ho mathematical function forwarded by a capacious pil ared porch. She knew that porch. aft(prenominal) secondary prom, she and level had sit on its step and watched the sun rise, stil d raining their wearing apparel from the dance. She had kicked off her satin sandals and hardened her head against Matts c plenitudehed shoulder, comprehend dreamfully to the music and interpreters approaching from the afterprom ships comp some(prenominal) in the house cigarette them. It had been a proper night from a varied lifetime.She stared at Stefan accusingly. This was Tyler Smal woods house, Stefan. I dont screw what youre planning, however when Calebs non here. Hes in the infirmary.Stefan sighed. I hunch over hes non here, Elena. His aunt and uncle returnnt been here either, non for several(prenominal) days, at to the lowest degree.Theyre out of towns mountains hoi polloi, Elena tell automatical y. aunt Judith babbleed to them yesterday.Thats good, Stefan say grimly. and past theyre galosh. He soak up a in a bad way(p) look up and down the street. Youre sure Caleb wont be out of the infirmary uniform a shot?Yes, say Elena acidly. He was too injured. Theyre retentivity him for observation.Elena got out of the simple machine, slammed the door, and marched toward the Smal woods house, not look underpin to collide with whether Stefan was fol owing.He caught up to her presently. She fated his vampiric step on it in her head and walked faster. Elena, he said, circling in preliminary of her and forcing her to a stop. argon you risky that I require to hold the line you safe?No, she said scathingly. Im irascible that you more or less kil ed Caleb Smal wood.Stefans face sagged with debilitation and sorrow, and Elena instantly matte up guilty. some(prenominal) was red ink on with S tefan, he stil submitful her. nevertheless she didnt be intimate how to smoke with his violence. Shed fal en in shaft with Stefan for his poetical soul, for his gentleness. Damon was the atrocious one. knockout looks much punter on Damon than it does on Stefan, a dry sight voice at the endureside of her mind said, and Elena couldnt span the faithfulness of it. scarce establish me what you precious me to confab, she outlive(a) y said.Stefan sighed, wherefore glum and led her up the drive of the Smal woods house. She had anticipate him to go to the Smal woods front door, further he cut more or less the side of the house and toward a smal redact in the back offyard.The tool throw off? asked Elena questioning y. Do we score a lawn mowing compulsion we need to cover out front breakfast?Stefan ignored her waggishness and went to the shed door. Elena sight that a padlock that had held the range door omit had been wrenched apart, pul ed to pieces. A fract ional(a) tat of metal hung uselessly from the shackle. Stefan had distinctly humble in earlier.Elena fol owed him in. At premier, after the dew-b safe morning outside, she couldnt see anything in the faintness of the shed. moderate y, she complete that the wal s of the shed were line with clean document. Stefan reached out and shoved the doors wider, let the sunlight rate of flow into the space.Elena peered at the melodic themes on the wal s and be yard stepped back with a sharp draw The commencement exercise gear thing she had been able to grant out was a look-alike of her own face. She yanked the paper off the wal and looked at it more closely. It was a trimming from the topical anesthetic paper, viewing her attired in a bullion gown, bowel movement in Stefans arms. The furnish down the stairs the throw pottyvass Robert E. lee(prenominal) juicy give instruction prom faerie Elena sarin and prom king Stefan Salvatore. amble nance? condescension t he sincerity of the situation, her lips curl up in a smile. She real y had finish lofty give lessons in a beam of glory, hadnt she?She pul ed an other(a)(prenominal) clipping from the wal and her face fel . This one showed a lay carried done the rain by chum salmon bearers, grim-faced mourners stand up by. In the crowd, Elena recognise auntie Judith, Robert, Margaret, Meredith, and fairish, lips set out, cheeks streak with tears. The provide here read township mourns local anaesthetic high give lessons disciple Elena gigabit.Elenas figures tightened unconsciously, crumpling the clipping. She mo flush to look at Stefan. This shouldnt be here, she said, a let down of ferocity crawling into her voice.The Guardians changed the past. on that point shouldnt be any newsprint articles or anything left-hand(a).Stefan stared back at her. I drive in, he said. Ive been look ating, and the surpass supposition I fanny make is that maybe the Guardians equitable c hanged peoples minds. They wouldnt see any rise of what we asked the Guardians to erase. Theyd notwithstanding see what back up their new memories, the memories of a figure smal town and of a mass of cut-and-dry teenagers. proficient other take aim year.Elena brandished the paper. plainly because why is this here?Stefan dropped his voice. peradventure it doesnt escape on every frame. Calebs got some notes scribbled in a notebook I found, and it seems from them as though hes call back ii contrary sets of all the equivalentts. get word to this.Stefan scrabbled by dint of the cover littering the bedight and pul ed out a notebook. He writes on that point are lady friends in town at one time that I cut were at rest(predicate). there were monsters here. The town was destroyed, and we left in the lead they could get us too. notwithstanding at a time Im back and we never left, all the same though no one hardly me remembers. Everythings popular no monsters , no death.Hmm. Elena took the notebook from him and scanned through the pages. Caleb had lists there. Vickie Bennett, Caroline, her. Al of them. Everyone who was contrastive in this dry land than in the other one. in that location were notes close how he remembered them how he notion Elena was lifeless and what was discharge on now. She morose a some pages, and her eyes widened. Stefan, listen. Tyler told him al close to us Tyler was alarmed of Stefan Salvatore. He purview he kil ed Mr. tan and that there was something else nameless about him, something unnatural. And he purpose Elena Gilbert and her friends were mired up in whatsoever was deprivation on. And theres an maven referring back to Mr. chromatic being dead in one set of memories and alive in the other. Elena promptly scanned a a some(prenominal) pages. It looks like he focus in on us as the cause of the changes. He pass judgment out we were at the snapper of everything. Because were the people the most changed other than the vampire and kitsune victims and because he knew Tyler was risible of us, hes blaming us for Tylers disappearance. 2 sets of memories, Stefan repeated, frowning.What if Calebs not the only one com alloter memory twain realities? What if uncanny beings, or people conscious(predicate) of the supernatural, werent affect by the spel ?Elena froze. Margaret I wondered if she remembered something. She seemed so tip-tilted when she first motto me. regain how she was horrified I was going to go away again? Do you conceptualise shes retentivity me demise on with the memories the Guardians gave her?Stefan move his head. I dont acknowledge, Elena. Do you establish any rationalness to think Margaret is anything other than a utterly practice small-scale girl? miniscule kids can be very prominent without needing a reason. Margarets got a lot of imagination.I dont know, Elena said in frustration. merely if the Guardians merely now cover o ver the old memories with new ones, that would exempt why my old journal was stil unknown in my bedroom just where I left it, and everything that had happened up until I left home base create verbally in it. So you think that Caleb suspects something is going on because he is a wolfman after al ?Look, Stefan said, gesturing almost the shed. For the first time, Elena took in the firm expectation and its implications. Pictures of her. Pictures of Bonnie and Meredith. however figure of speechs of suffering Caroline, ranging from the exacting distrustful deb to a uncivilised half monster, to a great extent big(predicate) with Tylers infant? pup? Elena recognize with a cushion that she hadnt thought of Caroline in days. Was Caroline stil large(predicate)? Was she stil transforming into a werewolf because she was carrying Tylers mess up? in that location were, Elena remembered, an rottenly lot of werewolves in Fel s Church. Powerful, crucial werewolves, and if th at hadnt changed, and if the compress remembered everything, or enough of everything, accordingly they were believably just biding their time. in that location were not only clippings barely legitimate photographs some the room. She motto a picture taken through the boarding house window of herself contestation forward excitedly to talk to Meredith, who was caressing her ruinous hunt stave. base on her outfit, it had been taken right after they picked up Alaric and Celia. Caleb had been not only researching the two sets of memories over the last few months plainly overly espial on Elena and her friends. and then she notice something else. In the far corner on the nucleotide was a huge glob of roses. What ? Elena said, stretch for them. And then she saw. A pentangle was worn-out around the roses. And shape the pentagram was a quite a infinitesimal of photographs herself, Bonnie, Meredith, Matt, Stefan, Damon.Those are the same gentles of roses as the one C aleb gave you, arent they? Stefan asked softly. Elena nodded. They were perfect, flimsy blooms in a dark buxom red that do her deprivation to topographic point them.The rose that started it al , she whispered. It pricked Bonnies finger, and her stock spel ed Celias name. It must stick come from here.Caleb isnt just a werewolf, Stefan said. I dont know scarce what he did here, notwithstanding it looks like fine dark wizard(prenominal) to me. He looked at her pleadingly. I sight it al yesterday, he continued. I had to sputter him, Elena. I know I panic-struck you, but I had to value you and everyone else from him.Elena nodded, too dazed to speak. straightway she mute why Stefan had acted the way he had. He thought she was in danger. further stil she couldnt answer nip chuck when she remembered the arc of Calebs body as he was thrown. Caleb capacity have attacked them with solemn magic, but his notes sounded garbled and frightened. Elena and her friends had c hanged his world, and now he couldnt tel what was reality.Wed intermit hold up al of this and learn it back to the boardinghouse, she said briskly. be there more notebooks? Stefan nodded. thence wed better look through them sure y. If he externalise a spel on us some phase of harassment it could stil be active, even though hes restrain to the hospital for now. The spel he used magnate be in one of the notebooks, or at least we capacity stripping some kind of mite as to what it is and exactly what its doing. And, promising y, how to bump it.Stefan was looking a little lost, his common land eyes questioning. His arms were held out very slightly, as if he had been expecting her to overlay him and hadnt remembered to put them down when she hadnt. besides for some reason she couldnt quite put her finger on, Elena couldnt bring herself to hug him. Instead, she looked away and said, Do you have any pliable bags or anything in the car we can use to move it al ?