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Elena refused the bait "What about Tyler Smallwood?" she h"

"And he’s not bad-looking," agreed Meredith solemnly "That is, of course, if you’re an aniirls looked at each other and then sirass at Meredith, who brushed it off and threw a dandelion back at her So to be all right She was herself again, not lost, not a stranger, but Elena Gilbert, the queen of Robert E Lee She pulled the apricot ribbon out of her hair and shook the hair free about her face

"I’ve decided what to do with narrow eyes as Bonnie finger-corass out of her curls

"What?" said Meredith Elena tilted her chin up to gaze at the red and purple sky above the hill She took a thoughtful breath and let the suspense build for a moment Then she said coolly, "The Italian Renaissance"

Bonnie and Meredith stared at her, then looked at each other and burst into whoops of laughter again

"Aha," said Meredith when they recovered "So the tiger returneth"

Elena gave her a feral grin Her shaken confidence had returned to her And though she didn’t understand it herself, she knew one thing: she wasn’t going to let Stefan Salvatore get away alive

"All right," she said briskly "Now, listen, you two Nobody else can know about this, or I’ll be the laughingstock of the school And Caroline would just love any excuse to maketo have him I don’t kno yet, but I aive him the cold shoulder"

"Oh,we are?"

"Yes,we are You can’t have him, Bonnie; he’s mine And I have to be able to trust you colint in her eye She unclasped the cloisonne pin fro up her thuivethe pin suspiciously

"Because I want to marry you Why do you think, idiot?"

"But-but-Oh, all right Ow!"

"Now you, Elena" Meredith pricked Elena’s thuet a drop of blood "Now," she continued, looking at the other tith sparkling dark eyes, "we all press our thuether and swear Especially you, Bonnie Swear to keep this secret and to do whatever Elena asks in relation to Stefan"

"Look, swearing with blood is dangerous," Bonnie protested seriously "It means you have to stick to your oath no matter what happens, no matterwhat , Meredith"

"I know," said Meredith gri you to do it I remember what happened with Michael Martin"

Bonnie ht away anyway and-Oh, all right I’ll swear" Closing her eyes, she said, "I swear to keep this a secret and to do anything Elena asks about Stefan"

Meredith repeated the oath And Elena, staring at the pale shadows of their thu breath and said softly, "And I swear not to rest until he belongs to h the ce dry leaves fluttering on the ground Bonnie gasped and pulled back, and they all looked around, then giggled nervously

"It’s dark," said Elena, surprised "We’d better get started ho her pin as she stood up Bonnie stood, too, putting the tip of her thu the headstone The purple blossoround She picked up the apricot ribbon that lay next to it, turned, and nodded to Bonnie and Meredith "Let’s go"

Silently, they headed up the hill toward the ruined church The oath sworn in blood had given the, and as they passed the ruined church Bonnie shivered With the sun down, the te Each gust sent whispers through the grass andleaves

"I’ for a moment by the black hole that had once been the church door and looking down at the landscape below

The raveyard and Wickery Bridge beyond it The old graveyard dated from Civil War days, and many of the headstones bore the names of soldiers It had a wild look to it; braraves, and ivy vines swarranite Elena had never liked it

"It looks different, doesn’t it? In the dark, I mean," she said unsteadily She didn’t kno to say what she really o the long way," said Meredith "But that would "

"I don’thard "I always said I wanted to be buried down there in the old one"

"Will you stop talking about being buried!" Elena snapped, and she started down the hill But the farther down the narrow path she got, the more uncoht up with her As they neared the first headstone, her heart began beating fast She tried to ignore it, but her whole skin was tingling with awareness and the fine hairs on her arusts of wind, every sound see of their feet on the leaf-strewn path was deafening

The ruined church was a black silhouette behind them now The narrow path led between the lichen-encrusted headstones, h for soht Elena uneasily So, like the one with the cherub that looked like a real baby, except that its head had fallen off and had been carefully placed by its body The wide granite eyes of the head were blank Elena couldn’t look away fro?" said Meredith

"I just I’m sorry," Elena murmured, but when she forced herself to turn she immediately stiffened "Bonnie?" she said "Bonnie, what’s wrong?"

Bonnie was staring straight out into the graveyard, her lips parted, her eyes as wide and blank as the stone cherub’s Fear washed through Elena’s stomach "Bonnie, stop it Stop it! It’s not funny"

Bonnie made no reply "Bonnie!" said Meredith She and Elena looked at each other, and suddenly Elena knew she had to get away She whirled to start down the path, but a strange voice spoke behind her, and she jerked around

"Elena," the voice said It wasn’t Bonnie’s voice, but it came from Bonnie’sout into the graveyard There was no expression on her face at all

"Elena," the voice said again, and added, as Bonnie’s head turned toward her, "there’s so out there for you"

Elena never quite knehat happened in the next fewthe dark hu between them Elena screa, and Bonnie was running with the, too

Elena pounded down the narrow path, stu for breath behind her, and Meredith, cal wildly There was a sudden thrashing and a shriek in an oak tree above them, and Elena found that she could run faster

"There’s so behind us," cried Bonnie shrilly "Oh, God, what’s happening?"

"Get to the bridge," gasped Elena through the fire in her lungs She didn’t knohy, but she felt they had to make it there "Don’t stop, Bonnie! Don’t look behind you!" She grabbed the other girl’s sleeve and pulled her around

"I can’ther side, her pace faltering

"Yes, you can," snarled Elena, grabbing Bonnie’s sleeve again and forcing her to keep lea between the oak trees, and the bridge just beyond Elena’s legs obbling and her breath histling in her throat, but she wouldn’t let herself lag behind Now she could see the wooden planks of the footbridge The bridge enty feet away from them, ten feet away, five

"Weon the wood

"Don’t stop! Get to the other side!"

The bridge creaked as they ran staggering across it, their steps echoing across the water When she juo of Bonnie’s sleeve at last, and allowed her legs to stuhs, deep-breathing Bonnie was crying

"What was it? Oh, as it?" she said "Is it still coht you were the expert," Meredith said unsteadily "For God’s sake, Elena, let’s get out of here"

"No, it’s all right now," Elena whispered There were tears in her own eyes and she was shaking all over, but the hot breath at the back of her neck had gone The river stretched between her and it, the waters a dark tumult "It can’t follow us here," she said

Meredith stared at her, then at the other shore with its clustered oak trees, then at Bonnie She wet her lips and laughed shortly "Sure It can’t follow us But let’s go hoht out here"

Soht, thanks," she said She put an ar "It’s okay, Bonnie We’re safe now Coain "You know, I don’t see a thing back there," she said, her voice cal behind us at all; maybe we just panicked and scared ourselves With a little help fro as they started walking, keeping very close together on the dirt path But she wondered She wondered very much