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"Oi!"Damon shouted fro at this?"

Elena was Both Stefan and Bonnie had their eyes shut; Bonnie rapped in blankets and cuddled against Elena

They had rol ed down al the curtains of the palanquin except one

But Elena had watched through the single , and had seen how tendrils of fog had begun drifting by, first just filer, ful er veils, and final y blankets, engulfing the deliberately cut off fro a border into a place they weren’t meant to know about, ht direction?"Elena shouted to Dalad to be able to talk again

"The thurgs know,"Damon cal ed back "You set them on a line and they walk that line until somebody stops the

"Until we get to a place like this"

This was obviously bait, and neither Stefan nor Elena could resist taking it - especial y when the thurg they were riding stopped

"Stay here,"Elena said to Bonnie She pushed a curtain out of the way and found herself looking too far down at white ground God, these thurgs were big The nextup his arms

"Jump!"

"Can’t you co about this place inhibits Power"

Elena didn’t give herself tiht her neatly Spontaneously, she clung to him, and felt the familiar comfort of his embrace

Then he said, "Come look at this"

They had reached a place where the land ended and theheld to either side Directly in front of them was a frozen lake A silvery frozen lake, almost perfectly round in shape

"Lake Mirror?"Daht that was a fairy tale,"Stefan said

"Welcome to Bonnie’s storybook"

Lake Mirror forht into the ice sheet below her feet, or so it seemed

It did look like a mirror - a purse s?"Elena said - or rather whispered She couldn’t help whispering The silent lake pressed on her, as did the lack of any kind of natural sound: There were no birds singing, no rustling in the bushes - no bushes! No trees!

Instead, just the s,"Elena repeated in a slightly louder voice "They can’t possibly walk on that!"

"Depends on how thick the lake ice is,"Da his old 250-kilowatt sh, it’l be just like walking on land for thes float?"

Elena gave hilance and looked at Stefan "What do you think?"

"I don’t know,"he said doubtful y "They’re very large animals

Let’s ask Bonnie about the kids in the fairy tale"

Bonnie, Stillwrapped in fur blankets that began col ecting chunks of ice as they dragged on the ground, looked at the lake grio into detail,"she said "It just said that they went down, down, down, and that they had to pass tests of their courage and - and - wittiness - before they got there"

"Fortunately,"Dah amounts of both to make up for my brother’s entire lack of either - "

"Stop it, Damon!"Elena burst out The moment she’d seen the sht, and begun kissing him She knehat Damon would see when he turned back toward them - her and Stefan locked in an e said At least they could Stilltouch with their ht, Stefan’s war else in the world was cold She looked quickly at Bonnie, toquite cheerful

The farther I seeht Oh, Godthis is a problem

Stefan spoke up quietly "Bonnie, what it comes down to is that it has to be your choice Don’t try to use courage or wit or anything except your inner feelings Where do we go?"

Bonnie glanced back at the thurgs, then looked at the lake

"That way,"she said, without hesitation, and she pointed straight across the lake

"We’d better carry so stones and fuel and backpacks with iron rations in them,"Stefan said "That way, if the worst happens, we’l Stillhave basic supplies"

"Besides,"said Elena, "it’l lighten that thurg’s load - if only by a little"

It seemed a crime to put a backpack on Bonnie, but she insisted Final y, Elena arranged one fil ed entirely with the war furs, food, and poop - the dried ani that would from now on be their only fuel

It was difficult from the first Elena had only had a couple of experiences with ice that she had reason to be wary of - but one of those had almost been disastrous for Matt She was ready to jump and whirl at any crack - any sound that the ice was breaking But there were no cracks; no water flowing up to slosh onto her boots

The thurgs were the ones who see on frozen water Their feet were pneuinal size, avoiding putting toothe lake was slow, but Elena didn’t see anything particularly deadly about it It was simply the smoothest, slickest ice she had ever encountered Her boots wanted to skate

"Hey, everybody!"Bonnie was skating, exactly as if she were in a rink, backward and forward and sideways "This is fun!"

"We’re not here to have fun,"Elena shouted back She longed to try it herself, but was afraid to make cuts - even scuffs - in the ice And beside that, Bonnie was expending twice as y as she needed to

She was about to cal out to Bonnie and tel her this, when Damon, in a voice of exasperation, ht of, and a few more

"This isn’t a pleasure cruise,"he said shortly "It’s for the fate of your town"

"As if you care,"Elenathe unhappy Bonnie’s hand both to give coain "Bonnie, do you sense anything ination seeear "But athered to exchange spel s Or ic s"

"Maybe both of them,"Elena said, secretly amused, but Bonnie nodded solemnly

And that hen it ca for

Nor was it a distant boonored or discussed They had been walking at ar the ice, while the thurgs walked behind theeese with no leaders

This noise was a dreadful y near crack like the report of a gun Iain, like a whiplash, and then a cru

It was to Elena’s left, on Bonnie’s side

"Skate, Bonnie,"she shouted "Skate as fast as you can

Screale question She took off like an Olympic speed skater in front of Elena, and Elena swiftly turned

It was Biratz, the thurg Bonnie had asked Pelat about She had one led, more ice cracked

Stefan! Can you hearfor you

Yes - but only co

Influence the - ?

Make her cal up the ice and it’ll just et her out!

This time there was a pause before Stefan’s answer ca telepathical y with soht, love, I’ll do it I’ll take care of the thurg, too You follow Bonnie

He was lying Or, not lying, but keeping sohts to was Da her They didn’t mean to help at all

Just at that moment she heard a shril scream - not so far away It was Bonnie in trouble - no! Bonnie had found land!

Elena didn’t lose another second She duht back to the thurg

There it was, so huge, so pathetic, so helpless The very thing that had kept it safe from other Godawful Hel acious reat bulk - was now turned against it Elena felt her chest tighten as if she earing a corset

Even as she watched, though, the aniet her left hind leg out of the ice, whichup the ice around it