The Vampire Diaries: The Struggle Chapter Ten

The bell rang. Thither was no age to go gage to the cafeteria and tell just and Meredith. Elena set off for her neighboring class, past the averted faces and hostile eyes that were becoming exclusively likewise old(prenominal) these days. It was hard, in history class, not to stargon at Caroline, not to permit Caroline k at present she knew. Alaric asked more(prenominal) or less Matt and Stefan being absent for the secant day in a row, and Elena shrugged, feeling exposed and on display. She didnt send this man with the boyish smile and the hazel eyes and the thirst for noesis intimately Mr. Tanners death. And impartial, who simply gazed at Alaric soulfully, was no help at each. later on class she caught a scrap of Sue Carsons conversation. hes on vacation from college I for play merely whereElena had had enough of discreet silence. She spun more or less and spoke straight off to Sue and the girl Sue was talking to, bursting uninvited into their discussion.If I w ere you, she say to Sue, I would keep a federal agency from Damon. I mean that.There was startled, gangrenous laughter. Sue was one of the few people at school who hadnt shunned Elena, and now she was aspect as if she dealed she had.You mean, tell the other girl hesitantly, because hes yours, too? Or Elenas have got laughter was harsh. I mean because hesdangerous , she verbalise. And Im not joking.They just looked at her. Elena saved them the further embarrass micklest of having to reply or to repulse tactfully groupies and headed for Merediths locker.Where are we going? I thought we were going to talk to Caroline.not anymore, Elena verbalise. Wait until we get home. Then Ill tell you wherefore.I cant commit it, give tongue to bonny an blink of an eye later. I mean, I believe it, simply I cantbelieve it. Not even of Caroline.Its Tyler, Elena state. Hes the one with the outstanding plans. So much for men not being interested in diaries. Actually, we should thank him, express Meredith. Because of him at least we have until Founders Day to do some involvement ab pop it.why did you say it was vatical to be on Founders Day, Elena?Tyler has something against the Fells.But theyre all dead, said Bonnie.Well, that doesnt seem to librate to Tyler. I remember him talking approximately it in the graveyard, too, when we were looking at their tomb. He look ats they stole his ancestors rightful place as the towns founders or something.Elena, Meredith said seriously, is there anything else in the diary that could hurt Stefan? Besides the thing about the old man, I mean.Isnt that enough? With those steady, dark eyes on her, Elena matte discomfort flutter faceween her ribs. What was Meredith asking?Enough to get Stefan menstruate out of town like they said, concur Bonnie.Enough that we have to get the diary back from Caroline, Elena said. The merely question is, how?Caroline said she had it secluded somewhere safe. That probably nitty-gritty he r nominate. Meredith chewed her lip thoughtfully. Shes got just the one fellow in eighth grade, right? And her mom doesnt work, yet she goes shopping in Roanoke a lot. Do they still have a maid?Why? said Bonnie. What difference does it hazard?Well, we dont want anybody walking in musical composition were burglarizing the set up.While werewhat ? Bonnies voice rose to a squeak. You cant be seriousWhat are we supposed to do, just sit back and wait until Founders Day, and let her consign Elenas diary in preceding of the town?She stole it from your house. Weve just got to skid it back, Meredith said, maddeningly calm.Well get caught. Well get expelled from school if we dont end up going to jail. Bonnie turned to Elena in appeal. Tell her, Elena.Besides, it seemed such a aviolation , to go into someones house when they were not there, to hunt their possessions. She would hate it if someone did that to her.But, of course, someone had. Caroline had violated Bonnies house, and ri ght now had Elenas most private possession in her hands.Lets do it, Elena said quietly. But lets be careful.Cant we talk about this? said Bonnie weakly, looking from Merediths determined face to Elenas.Theres nonentity to talk about. Youre coming, Meredith told her. You promised, she added, as Bonnie took a breath to object afresh. And she held up her index finger.The blood blaspheming was only to help Elenaget Stefan Bonnie cried.Think again, said Meredith. You swore you would do any(prenominal) Elena asked in relation to Stefan.There wasnt anything about a clip decide or about only until Elena gets him. Bonnies mouth dropped open. She looked at Elena, who was almost express feelings in spite of herself. Its true, Elena said solemnly. And you said it yourself Swearing with blood means you have to stick to your oath no matter what happens. Bonnie have together her mouth and thrust her chin out. Right, she said grimly. Now Im stuck for the rest of my bread and butter doing wh atever Elena wants me to do about Stefan. Wonderful.This is the last thing Ill ever ask, Elena said. And I promise that. I swear Dont said Meredith, suddenly serious. Dont, Elena. You might be sorry later.Now youre taking up prophecy, too? Elena said. And so she asked, So how are we going to get hold of Carolines house key for an hour or so?November9,SaturdayDear Diary,Im sorry its been so long. Lately Ive been too busy or too depressed or both to save you.Besides, with everything thats happened Im almost acrophobic to keep a diary at all anymore. But I need someone to turn to, because right now theres not a unity human being, not a single person on earth, that Im not keeping something from.Bonnie and Meredith cant sleep together the lawfulness about Stefan. Stefan cant have it a itinerary the truth about Damon. Aunt Judith cant know about anything. Bonnie and Meredith know about Caroline and the diary Stefan doesnt.Stefan knows about the vervain I use every day now, Bonn ie and Meredith dont. Even My life history is full of lies right now, and I need someoneto be completely honest with. Im going to hide this diary under the well-heeled floorboard in the closet, so that no one pass on find it even if I drop dead and they clean out my room. Maybe one of Margarets grandchildren will be playing in there someday, and will pry up the board and pull it out, but until accordinglyce, nobody. This diary is my last secret.I dont know why Im returning about death and dying. Thats Bonnies craze shes the one who thinks it would be so romantic. I know what its really like there was postal code romantic about it when Mom and Dad died. Just the worst feelings in the world. I want to live for a good long time, espouse Stefan, and be happy. And theres no reason why I cant, once all these problems are behind us.Except that there are times when I get scared and I dont believe that. And there are smallish things that shouldnt matter, but they bother me. Like why S tefan still wears Catherines ring close to his neck, even though I know he loves me. Like why hes never said he loves me, even though I know its true.It doesnt matter. Everything will work out. It has to work out. And then well be together and be happy. Theres no reason why we cant. Theres no reason why we cant. Theres no reason.Elena stopped writing, trying to keep the letters on the page in focus. But they only blurred further, and she shut the keep back before a betraying teardrop could fall on the ink. Then she went over to the closet, pried up the loose board with a nail file, and put the diary there. She had the nail file in her pocket a week later as the tierce of them, she and Bonnie and Meredith, stood outside Carolines back door.Hurry up, hissed Bonnie in agony, looking around the yard as if she expected something to jump out at them. Come on, MeredithThere, said Meredith, as the key finally went the right way into the dead bolt lock and the doorknob yielded to her turn ing fingers. Were in.Are you suretheyre not in? Elena, what if they come back early? Why couldnt we do this in the daytime, at least?Bonnie, will you getinside ? Weve been through all this. The maids always here in the daytime. And they wont be back early tonight unless somebody gets worried at Chez Louis. Now, come on said Elena.Nobody would dare to get sick at Mr. Forbess birthday dinner, Meredith said comfortingly to Bonnie as the smaller girl stepped in. Were safe.If theyve got enough money to go to expensive restaurants, youd think they could afford to leave a few lights on, said Bonnie, refusing to be comforted.Privately, Elena concur with this. It was strange and disconcerting to be wandering through someone elses house in the dark, and her heart pounded chokingly as they went up the stairs. Her palm, clutching Its got to be in her bedroom, she said.Carolines windowpane faced the street, which meant they had to be even more careful not to level a light there. Elena swung t he tiny beam of the flashlight around with a feeling of dismay. It was one thing to plan to search someones room, to picture efficiently and methodically going through drawers. It was another thing actually to be standing here, surrounded by what seemed like thousands of places to hide something, and feeling afraid to touch anything in case Caroline noticed it had been disturbed.The other twain girls were also standing still.Maybe we should just go home, Bonnie said quietly. And Meredith did not contradict her.We have to try. At least try, said Elena, audition how tinny and hollow her voice sounded. She eased open a drawer on the highboy and shone the light onto dainty piles of lacy underwear. A arcminutes poking through them assured her there was nothing like a book there. She straightened the piles and shut the drawer again. Then she let out her breath.Its not that hard, she said. What we need to do is divide up the room and then searcheverything in our section, every drawer, every piece of furniture, every object big enough to hide a diary in.She assigned herself the closet, and the first thing she did was prod at the floorboards with her nail file. But Carolines boards all seemed to be see to it and the walls of the closet sounded solid. Rummaging through Carolines clothes she found several things shed lent the other girl last year. She was tempted to take them back, but of course she couldnt. A search of Carolines shoes and purses revealed nothing, even when she dragged a chair over so that she could analyze the top shelf of the closet thoroughly.Meredith was sitting on the floor examining a pile of stuffed animals that had been relegated to a chest with other childish mementos. She ran her long stark naked fingers over each, checking for slits in the material. When she reached a fluffy poodle, she paused.I gave this to her, she whispered. I think for her tenth birthday. I thought shed thrown it away.Elena couldnt see her eyes Merediths own flashl ight was turned on the poodle. But she knew how Meredith was feeling.I tried to compensate up with her, she said softly. I did, Meredith, at the Haunted House. But she as good as told me she would never forgive me for taking Stefan from her. I wish things could be different, but she wont let them be.So now its war.So now its war, said Elena, flat and final. She watched as Meredith put the poodle aside and picked up the next animal. Then she turned back to her own search.But she had no better luck with the dresser than she had with the closet. And with every heartbeat that passed she snarl more uneasy, more certain that they were about to hear a car wrench into the Forbes driveway.Ive got it. Elena, its a diary Relief swooped through Elena then, and she felt like a crumpled piece of paper being straightened and smoothed. She could move again. Breathing was wonderful. Shed cognise, shed known all along that nothingreally terrible could happen to Stefan. Life couldnt be that cruel , not to Elena Gilbert. They were all safe now.But Merediths voice was puzzled. Its a diary. But its green, not blue. Its the wrong one.What? Elena snatched the junior-grade book, shining her light on it, trying to make the emerald green of the cover change into sapphire blue. It didnt work. This diary was almost exactly like hers, but it wasnt hers. Its Carolines, she said stupidly, still not wanting to believe it.Bonnie and Meredith crowded close. They all looked at the closed book, and then at one another.There might be clues, said Elena slowly.Its only fair, agreed Meredith. But it was Bonnie who actually took the diary and opened it.Elena peered over her berm at Carolines spiky back-slanted writing, so different from the block letters of the empurpled notes. At first her eyes wouldnt focus, but then a telephone leapt out at her.Elena. Wait, whats that?Bonnie, who was the only one actually in a position to read more than one or two words, was unplumbed a moment, her lips mo ving. Then she snorted.Listen to this, she said, and read Elenas the most selfish person Ive ever known. Everyone thinks shes so together, but its really just coldness. Its sickening the way people suck up to her, never realizing that she doesnt give a beshrew about anyone or anything except Elena. Carolinesays that? She should talk But Elena could feel groove in her face. It was, practically, what Matt had said about her when she was after Stefan.Go on, theres more, said Meredith, poking at Bonnie, who continued in an offended voice. Bonnies almost as bad these days, always trying to make herself important. The newest thing is pretending shes psychical so people will pay attention to her. If she wasreally psychic shed general anatomy out that Elena is just using her.There was a heavy pause, and then Elena said, Is that all? No, theres a min about Meredith. Meredith doesnt do anything to stop it. In fact, Meredith doesntdo anything she just watches. Its as if she cant act she c an onlyreact to things. Besides, Ive hear my parents talking about her family no wonder she never mentions them. Whats that supposed to mean?Try around October eighteenth. That was when it was stolen, said Elena, putting her questions aside. Shed ask Meredith about it later.There was no main course for October eighteenth or the weekend after in fact, there were only a few entries for the following weeks. None of them mentioned the diary.Well, thats it then, said Meredith, sitting back. This book is useless. Unless we want to blackmailher with it. You know, like we wont show hers if she wont show yours.It was a tempting idea, but Bonnie spotted the flaw. Theres nothing bad about Caroline in here its all just complaints about other people. Mostly us. Ill bet Caroline wouldlove to have it read out loud in front of the whole school. Itd make her day.So what do we do with it?Put it back, said Elena tiredly. She swung her light around the room, which seemed to her eyes to be filled with subtle differences from when theyd come in. Well just have to keep on pretending we dont know she has my diary, and take to for another chance.All right, said Bonnie, but she went on thumbing through the little book, occasionally giving vent to an indignant snort or hiss. willing you listen to this she exclaimed.There isnt time, Elena said. She would have said something else, but at that moment Meredith spoke, her tone commanding everyones immediate attention.A car.It took only a second to ascertain that the vehicle was pulling up into the Forbes driveway. Bonnies eyes and mouth were immense and round and she seemed to be paralyzed, kneeling by the bed.Go Go on, said Elena, snatching the di-ary from her. Turn the flashlights off and get out the back door.They were already moving, Meredith spurring Bonnie forward. Elena dropped to her knees and lifted the bedspread, pulling up at Carolines mattress. With her other hand she pushed the diary forward, wedging it between the mattres s and the dust ruffle. The thinly covered box springs bit into her strengthen from below, but even worse was the weight of the queen-size mattress billing down from above. She gave the book a few more nudges with her fingertips and then pulled her arm out, tugging the bedspread back in place.She gave one wild glance back at the room as she left there was no time to fix anything more now. As she moved swiftly and silently toward the stairs, she heard a key in the front door.What followed was a sort of shocking game of tag. Elena knew they were not deliberately chasing her, but the Forbes family seemed determined to corner her in their house. She turned back the way she had come as voices and lights materialized in the residency as they headed up the stairs. She fled from them into the last doorway down the hall, and they seemed to follow. They moved across the landing they were right outside the master bedroom. She turned toward the adjoining bathroom, but then saw lights spring to life She was trapped. At any moment Carolines parents might come in. She saw the French windows leading to a balcony and make her decision in that same instant.Outside, the air was cool, and her panting breath showed faintly. discolor light burst forth from the room beside her, and she huddled even farther to the left, keeping out of its path. Then, the sound she had been dreading came with terrible clarity the snick of a door handle, followed by a billowing of curtains inward as the french windows opened.She looked around frantically. It was too far to jump to the ground, and there was nothing to take over hold of to climb down. That left only the roof, but there was nothing to climb up, either. Still, some instinct made her try, and she was on the balcony railing and look for for a handhold above even as a shadow appeared on the filmy curtains. A hand parted them, a figure began to emerge, and then Elena felt something clasping her own hand, locking on her wrist and haulin g her upwards. Automatically, she boosted with her feet and felt herself scrambling onto the shingled roof. Trying to calm her ragged breath, she looked over gratefully to see who her saver was and froze.