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I’ to hit it with Power Do it - now!"

His voice was like a whiplash Everyone stepped back, even Meredith who had been probing the snake with her stave

Stefan curled his hand around nothingness, around air, and it turned to sparkling, swirling bright energy He threw it point-blank into the cobra ots

There was an explosion, and then suddenly it was raining ots Elena had her teeth locked so as to keep herself froots broke open on the kitchen floor like overripe pluain she saw a black stain on the ceiling

Beneath it, s quick, tried to put the stave through hi out of her way, and out of the next thrust, and the next

"You huht final y coht"as if he were saying "the Apocalypse"

"We were sh to discover that you weren’t Stefan,"Matt said from behind Shinichi

Shinichi rol ed his eyes "And to put me into a little room roofed ood You can’t even remember that kitsune control al plants and trees? The wal s are al ful of hly infested"His eyes flickered - and he glanced backward, Elena saw, looking toward the open door of the root cel ar

Her terror soared, and at the same time Stefan shouted, "Get out of here! Out of the house! Go to somewhere safe!"

Elena and Meredith stared at each other, paralyzed They were on different teao of each other Then Meredith snapped out of it and turned to the back of the kitchen to help Mrs Flowers Matt was already there, doing the sa

And then Elena found herself swept off her feet andtoward the front door

Distantly, she heard Shinichi shout, "Bring ots that Elena batted out of the way burst its skin and Elena saw so out These real y were malach, she realized Smal er editions of the one that had sed Matt’s arain

She noticed that one was stuck on Stefan’s back Reckless with fury, she grabbed it near one end and ripped it off, yanking relentlessly even though Stefan gasped in pain

When it calimpse of what looked like dozens of sainst a wal as they reached the front door

There they almost col ided with Matt, Meredith, and Mrs

Flowers, coh the den Stefan wrenched the door open and when they al were through Meredith sla ones - made it out with them

"Where’s safe?"snapped Meredith "I mean, real y safe, safe for a couple of days?"Neither she nor Matt had released their grip on Mrs Flowers and froht as a straw figure She kept saying, "My goodness! Oh, gracious!"

"My house?"Matt suggested "The block’s bad, but it was okay the last tione with Dr

Alpert"

"Okay, Matt’s house - using the Master Keys But let’s do it froain, no matter what,"Elena said

When Stefan tried to pick her up she shook her head "I’m fine Run as fast as you can and smash any e rooh-pitched buzzing that could only have been produced by thethe Mrs Flowers to sit on the bed

Stefan hesitated "Is your house real y safe, do you think?"

"Is anywhere safe? But it’s empty, or it should be"

Meanwhile, Meredith drew Elena and Mrs Flowers aside To Elena’s horror, Meredith was holding one of the s it so that its underside was turned upward

"Oh, God - "Elena protested, but Meredith said, "They look a lot like a little kid’s teeth, don’t they?"

Suddenly Mrs Flowers became ani that the femur we found in the thicket - "

"Yes It was certainly human but maybe not chewed by humans Human children,"Meredith said

"And Shinichi yel ed to theback our bones"Elena said and sed Then she looked at the grub again "Meredith, get rid of that thing so e room blankly

"Okay - just drop it and I’l step on it,"Elena said, holding her breath to hold in her nausea

Meredith dropped the fat, translucent, black thing, which exploded on impact Elena stamped on it, but the malach inside didn’t crush Instead, when she lifted her foot, it tried to skitter under the bed The stave cut it cleanly in two

"Guys,"Elena said sharply to Matt and Stefan, "we have to go now Outside are a bunch of flying malach!"

Matt turned toward her "Like the one that - "

"Smal er, but just like the one that attacked you, I think"

"Okay, here’s e figured out,"Stefan said in a way that io to the Dark Diuess I’m the only one to do that, since I’et in - "

"Yes, we could,"Meredith said "With these keys, we could just say ’Take us to Lady Ulma’s house in the Dark Dimension’Or ’Take me to wherever Bonnie is’Why shouldn’t it work?"

Elena said, "Okay Meredith, Matt, and Mrs Flowers can stay here and try to figure out what ’Midnight’is From the way Shinichi said it, it sounded bad Meanwhile, Stefan and I go to the Dark Dimension and find Bonnie"

"No!"Stefan said "I won’t take you to that horrible place again"

Elena looked hiht in the eye "You promised,"she said, indifferent to the other people in the rooain on a quest without me No matter how short the time, no matter what the cause You promised"

Stefan looked at her desperately Elena kneanted to keep her safe - but which world was truly safe now? Both were fil ed with horror and danger

"Anyway,"she said with a grim smile, "I have the key"