And the air has a funny feeling to it. Not just snow. It's as if something even colder than that is waiting. It's pulled back the way the ocean pulls back before a tidal wave. When it lets go...
I thought about my other diary today, the one under the floorboards of my bedroom closet. If I own anything anymore, I own that diary. I thought about getting it out, but I don't want to go home again. I don't think I could cope, and I know Aunt Judith couldn't if she saw me.
I'm surprised anybody's been able to cope. Meredith, Bonnie-especially Bonnie. Well, Meredith, too, considering what her family has been through. Matt.
They're good and loyal friends. It's funny, I used to think that without a whole galaxy of friends and admirers I wouldn't survive. Now I'm perfectly happy with three, thank you. Because they're real friends.
I didn't know how much I cared about them before. Or about Margaret, or Aunt Judith even. And everybody at school... I know a few weeks ago I was saying that I didn't care if the entire population of Robert E. Lee dropped dead, but that isn't true. Tonight I'm going to do my best to protect them.
I know I'm jumping from subject to subject, but I'm just talking about things that are important to me. Kind of gathering them together in my mind. Just in case.
Well, it's time. Stefan is waiting. I'm going to finish this last line and then go. I think we're going to win. I hope so.
We're going to try.
The history room was warm and brightly lit. On the other side of the school building, the cafeteria was even brighter, shining with Christmas lights and decorations. Upon arriving, Elena had scrutinized it from a cautious distance, watching the couples arrive for the dance and pass by the sheriff's officers at the door. Feeling Damon's silent presence behind her, she had pointed out a girl with long, light brown hair.
"I'll take your word for it," he replied.
Now, she looked around their makeshift headquarters for the night. Alaric's desk had been cleared, and he was bent over a rough map of the school. Meredith leaned in beside him, her dark hair sweeping his sleeve. Matt and Bonnie were out mingling with the dancegoers in the parking lot, and Stefan and Damon were prowling the perimeter of the school grounds. They were going to take turns.
"You'd better stay inside," Alaric had told Elena. "All we need is for somebody to see you and start chasing you with a stake."
"I've been walking around town all week," Elena said, amused. "If I don't want to be seen, you don't see me." But she agreed to stay in the history room and coordinate.
It's like a castle, she thought as she watched Alaric plot out the positions of sheriff's officers and other men on the map. And we're defending it. Me and my loyal knights.
The round, flat-faced clock on the wall ticked the minutes by. Elena watched it as she let people in the door and let them out again. She poured hot coffee out of a Thermos for those who wanted it. She listened to the reports come in.
"Everything's quiet on the north side of the school."
"Caroline just got crowned snow queen. Big surprise."
"Some rowdy kids in the parking lot-the sheriff just rounded them up..."
Midnight came and went.
"Maybe we were wrong," Stefan said an hour or so later. It was the first time they'd all been inside together since the beginning of the evening.
"Maybe it's happening somewhere else," said Bonnie, emptying out a boot and peering into it.
"There's no way to know where it's going to happen," Elena said firmly. "But we weren't wrong about it happening."
"Maybe," said Alaric thoughtfully, "there is a way. To find out where it's going to happen, I mean." As heads raised questioningly, he said, "We need a precognition."
All eyes turned to Bonnie.
"Oh, no," Bonnie said. "I'm through with all that. I hate it."
"It's a great gift-" began Alaric.
"It's a great big pain. Look, you don't understand. The ordinary predictions are bad enough. It seems like most of the time I'm finding out things I don't want to know. But getting taken over-that's awful. And afterward I don't even remember what I've said. It's horrible."
know. But getting taken over-that's awful. And afterward I don't even remember what I've said. It's horrible."
Bonnie sighed. "It's what happened to me in the church," she said patiently. "I can do other kinds of predictions, like divining with water or reading palms"-she glanced at Elena, and then away-"and stuff like that. But then there are times when -someone-takes me over and just uses me to talk for them. It's like having somebody else in my body."
"Like in the graveyard, when you said there was something there waiting for me," said Elena. "Or when you warned me not to go near the bridge. Or when you came to dinner and said that Death, my death, was in the house." She looked automatically around at Damon, who returned her gaze impassively. Still, that had been wrong, she thought. Damon hadn't been her death. So what had the prophecy meant? For just an instant something glimmered in her mind, but before she could get a grasp on it, Meredith interrupted.