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"Oh," said Elena The sounds fro, and they heard an outside door slahtht in the graveyard, that night when Bonnie had sent the none of theet back to business," said Meredith Elena shook herself out of her reverie and nodded

"We we could have a graveyard," Bonnie said tentatively, as if she’d been reading Elena’s thoughts "In the Haunted House, I mean"

"No," said Elena sharply "No, we’ll just stick e have," she added in a calain there was no sound but the soft scratching of pens and the rustle of paper

"Good," said Elena at last "Noe only need toto have to get in behind the bleachers What now?"

The lights in the gyone down to half power

"Oh,no ," said Meredith, exasperated The lights flickered again, went out, and returned di," said Elena, staring at what now seemed to be a featureless piece of white paper She looked up at Bonnie and Meredith and sahite blobs of faces

"Soenerator," said Meredith "I’ll get Mr Shelby"

"Can’t we just finish tomorrow?" Bonnie said plaintively "Tomorrow’s Saturday," said Elena "And ere supposed to have this done last week"

"I’ll get Shelby," said Meredith again "Co with o-" but Meredith interrupted

"If we all go and we can’t find hiet back in Come on, Bonnie, it’s only inside the school"

"But it’sdark there"

"It’s dark everywhere; it’s nighttied an unwilling Bonnie to the door "Elena, don’t let anybody else in"

"As if you had to tell o a few paces down the hall At the point at which they began to e with the dimness, she stepped back inside and shut the door

Well, this was a fine mess, as her mother used to say Elena an stacking filing folders and notebooks back inside it In this light she could see theue shapes There was no sound at all but her own breathing and the sounds she e, di her

She didn’t kno she knew, but she was sure SoEyes in the dark , the old man had said Vickie had said it, too And now there were eyes on her

She whirled quickly to face the roo not even to breathe She was terrified that if she et her But she could see nothing, hear nothing

The bleachers were diness And the far end of the rooht, and she could feel every ly tense as she listened desperately Oh God, as that soft whispering sound? It ination

Suddenly, her et out of this place,nowThere was real danger here, not just fantasy So that wanted her And she was all alone

So moved in the shadows

Her scream froze in her throat Her muscles were frozen, too, held motionless by her terror-and by some nameless force Helplessly, she watched as the shape in the darkness moved out of the shadows and toward her It seemed almost as if the darkness itself had co on for htened you" The voice was pleasant, with a slight accent she couldn’t place It didn’t sound sorry at all

Relief was so sudden and complete that it was painful She sluuy, some foruy, as s faintly, as if it had amused him to see her almost pass out

Well perhaps not quite ordinary He was re His face was pale in the artificial twilight, but she could see that his features were cleanly defined and nearly perfect under a shock of dark hair Those cheekbones were a sculptor’s drea black: soft black boots, black jeans, black sweater, and leather jacket

He was still ser

"How did you get in?" she de here? Nobody else is supposed to be in the gym"

"I came in the door," he said His voice was soft, cultured, but she could still hear the a

"All the doors are locked," she said flatly, accusingly

He raised his eyebrows and smiled "Are they?"

Elena felt another quiver of fear, hairs lifting on the back of her neck "They were supposed to be," she said in the coldest voice she could ravely "I said I was sorry to frighten you"

"I wasn’t frightened!" she snapped She felt foolish in front of hi hueable It rier "I was just startled," she continued "Which is hardly surprising, ith you lurking in the dark like that"

"Interesting things happen in the dark so at her; she could tell by his eyes He had taken a step closer, and she could see that those eyes were unusual, alhts in them As if you could look deeper and deeper until you fell into the Why didn’t the lights co the end of a bleacher between theet the rest of the work for tonight All she wanted to do noas leave

But the continuing silence , watching her Why didn’t he say so for so the one to speak

He was still gazing at her, those dark eyes fixed on her in a way that made her more and more uncomfortable She sed

With his eyes on her lips, he otten what she’d asked Her cheeks and throat were flushing, burning with blood She felt so light-headed If only he’d stoplooking at her

"Yes, I ca for someone," he repeated, no louder than before Then, in one step he moved toward her, so that they were separated only by the corner of one bleacher seat

Elena couldn’t breathe He was standing so close Close enough to touch She could sne and the leather of his jacket And his eyes still held hers-she could not look away from theht, the pupils dilated like a cat’s They filled her vision as he leaned toward her, bending his head down to hers She felt her own eyes half close, losing focus She felt her head tilt back, her lips part

No! Just in time she whipped her head to the side She felt as if she’d just pulled herself back froht in shock I was about to let hier, soo

But that wasn’t the worst thing For those fewunbelievable had happened For those few e filled herfor him was like a physical pain in her body She wanted Stefan, wanted his arms around her, wanted to be safe with him

She sed Her nostrils flared as she breathed hard She tried to keep her voice steady and dignified

"I’ for somebody, I think you’d better look so at her oddly, with an expression she couldn’t understand It was aelse Sohtened her in a different way

He waited until her hand was on the doorknob to answer, and his voice was soft but serious, with no trace of amusement "Perhaps I’ve already found her Elena"

When she turned, she could see nothing in the darkness