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Da behind an enorirls to hiht them so that they al three landed just behind his brother

Elena found herself staring at a very large tree trunk Stillas big as it was, it was nowhere near as large as she had been expecting It was true; the four of them certainly couldn’t have held hands around it But in the back of her es of moons and trees and trunks that were as tal as skyscrapers, in which a star bal could be hidden on any "floor,"in any "roo in a sort of fairy circle - perhaps twenty feet in diameter on which no dead leaf had strayed It was a paler color than the loa on, and even sparkled in a few places Overal , Elena was relieved

More, she could even see the star balShe’d feared -

ah to cliled with roots or branches that today, certainly after hundreds or even thousands of years, it would be ireatest star bal that had ever been, ful y the size of a beach bal , and it nestled freely in the first crutch of the tree

Herahead They’d done it; they’d found the star balBut how e was? Autolanced at her compass and saw to her surprise that the needle now pointed southwest - in other words, back to the Gatehouse

That was a thoughtful touch of Sage’s And perhaps they didn’t have to go through the trials backward; they could sio back to Fel ’s Church, and thenWell, Mrs Floould knohat to do with it

If it came to that, o away forever in exchange for the star balAlthough - could they live with the thought that she ain to other towns?

Even as she planned, Elena watched the expressions of her comrades: the childlike wonder on Bonnie’s heart-shaped face; the keen assesserous s their hard-won reward, at last

But she couldn’t look for too long Things had to be done

Even as they watched, the star bal brightened, showing such bril iant, incandescent colors that Elena was half-blinded

She shielded her eyes just as she heard Bonnie inhaling sharply

"What?"Stefan asked, a hand in front of his eyes, which, of course were ht than huht now!"Bonnie replied "When it went bright like that, it sent out Power! A long, long way out!"

"Things are heating up in what’s left of poor old Fel ’s Church,"said Da intently upward at the branches above him

"Don’t talk about it like that!"Bonnie exclaimed "It’s our home And noe can final y defend it!"Elena could practical y see what Bonnie was thinking: faain; the entire toorking to fix the destruction

This is how great tragedies sooal, yet who are not in sync Assumptions

Presumptions And, maybe, most important of al , the failure to sit down and talk

Stefan tried, even though Elena could see that he was Stillblind from the bril iance of the star balHe said quietly, "Let’s talk this over for a while and brainstorh not unkindly She said, "I can get up there as fast as a squirrel Al I need is so to catch it when I knock it down I know I can’t cliuys, let’s go!"

That’s how it happened Different personalities, different irl, who didn’t have a precognition when it was needed

Elena, as envying Meredith the fighting stave, didn’t even see the beginning She atching Stefan, as blinking rapidly to get his eyesight back

And Bonnie was scrahtly as she had boasted, up on top of the dead tree branch that sheltered the salute just before she leaped into the barren, sparkling circle around the tree

Then microseconds stretched infinitely Elena felt her eyes slowly getting wider, even though she knew they were flying open She saw Stefan leisurely reach across her to try to twine his fingers around Bonnie’s leg, even though she knew that what she was seeing was a lightning-fast grab for the petite girl’s ankle She even heard Damon’s instantaneous telepathy: No, little fool! as if he were speaking the words in his accustomed lazy tones of superiority

Then, Stillin slow motion, Bonnie’s knees bent and she launched into the air above the circle

But she never touched the ground Soly fast even in the slow-, landed where Bonnie would have landed And then Bonnie was being thrown, being hurled too fast for Elena’s eyes to track, outside of the barren circle and then there was a dul thud - too fast for Elena’s

Quite clearly, she heard Stefan cry "Damon!"in a terrible voice And then Elena saw the thin dark objects - like curving lances - that were already shooting doard Another thing her eyes couldn’t fol ow When her vision adjusted, she saw that they were long, curved black branches, spaced evenly around the tree like thirty spider legs, thirty long spears that were meant to either imprison someone inside thee sand beneath her feet

"Pin"was a good word Elena liked the sound of it Even as she was staring at the sharp recurved barbs on the branches, ht by the of Damon’s annoyance if a shaft had pierced his leather jacket He would curse at them, and Bonnie would try to pretend he hadn’t - and

She was close enough by now to see that it wasn’t as sione through Damon’s shoulder, whichsplattered a blood drop right at the corner of histhan that was the fact that he had closed his eyes against her That was how Elena thought of it He was shutting thery; maybe because of the pain in his shoulder But it reotten the last time she’d tried to touch histhe, because that hat he wanted her to say He real y was the greatest manipulator of al"Open your eyes, I said!"Now she was real y irritated "Don’t play possu anyone, and we’ve real y had enough!"She was about to shake hi lifted her into the air, into Stefan’s line of vision

Stefan was in pain, but surely not as badly as Da back to curse Damon when Stefan said harshly,

"Elena, he can’t!"

For just the tiniest fleeting instant the words sounded like nonsense to her Not only garbled, butso -

whatever it was an appendix did That was al the respite that she got, and then she had to deal hat her eyes were showing her

Damon wasn’t pinned by his shoulder He’d been staked, just slightly to the left of center of his torso

Exactly where his heart was

Words drifted back to her Words that soh she couldn’t reht now "You can’t kill a vah the heart"

Die? Damon die? This was some kind of mistake

"Open your eyes!""Elena, he can’t!"

But she kneithout knowing how, that Damon wasn’t dead She wasn’t surprised that Stefan didn’t know it; it was a hum on a private frequency between her and Daive me your axe,"she said, so desperately, and with such an air of knowledge that Stefan handed it over wordlessly, and obeyed when she told hi branch from above and below Then with a few quick strokes of the axe she cut through the black branch that was thick enough in circuers around it It was done in a spurt of pure adrenaline, but she knew it awed Stefan and al owed hi it

When she was finished, she had a loose spider-leg branch that drooped back to the tree, anchored to nothing - and so that looked more like a proper stake in Da upward on the stake that a horrified Stefan made her stop

"Elena! Elena, I wouldn’t lie to you! This is just what these branches are for For intruders who are va her another of the spider legs that was anchored in the sand, and the barbs on it Just like the backward-facing tines of a primitive stone arrowhead

"These branches are"And if you pul ed up on it hard enough, you’d just -

just end up pul ing out chunks of - his heart"

Elena froze She wasn’t sure she real y could understand the words - she couldn’t al ow herself to, or she ht picture it

But it didn’t matter

"I’l destroy it so at Stefan but not able to see the true green of his eyes because of the olive light "You wait Just wait and watch I’l find a Wings power that wil dissolve this - this - damned abomination"She could think of many other words to cal the stake, but she had to stay in some sort of control

"Elena"Stefan whispered her naht she could see the tears on his cheeks He continued, nonverbal y, Elena, look at his closed eyes This Tree is a vicious killer, ood like nothing I’ve ever seen, but I’ve heard about it It’sit’s spreading Inside hi his arteries and veins - and his nerves - everything connected to his heart He’s - oh, God, Elena, just look at his eyes!

Elena looked Stefan had knelt and gently pul ed up the lids of Da

Deep in the fathoht skies ful of stars, there was a gliloith its own hel ish luony and co those eyes - forever, she kneas thinking

Everything had becoDao

Even in her fuzzy world of nonsense Elena knew she could never do that

And then, a miracle happened Elena heard a voice in her mind that wasn’t hers

All this is rather unexpected I acted, for once, without thinking And this is my reward The voice was a hum on their private frequency, Damon’s and hers

Elena ripped herself away fro Damon’s shoulders with her hands I knew it! I knew you couldn’t be dead!

It was only then that she realized that her face was dripping wet, and she used her soft leather sleeve to wipe it Oh, Daave ain!

I think I can give my word on that, Damon sent - in different tones than his usual ones - sober but at the sa in return

Yes, of course, Elena said Just let et some of my hair offdoe were carrying him out on his pallet froel, I don’t want your blood I need you to give me your most solemn word that you will try to be brave If it helps at all, I know that fe They’re less cowardly at facing - what you have to face now

Elena didn’t like the tone of these words The dizziness that wasal over her body

There was nothing to be brave about Das power that would obliterate al that wood that was poisoning hiht hurt, but it would save his life

Don’t talk to me like that! she snapped harshly, before she could reun to float, and she couldn’t even reentle, but there was a reason Still, it was difficult, when she was using every ounce of her concentration and strength to search for a Wings power she had never heard of