Alaric and Meredith.
When Alaric shifted away, Meredith caught Elena's eye. Her face was white with pain, but she managed to give her an apologetic smile.
"I didn't mean to hit you," she said. "And Stefan, I should have listened to you, or just had more sense and stayed on shore." She grimaced. "I think I might have sprained my ankle. Alaric's going to drive me to the hospital so they can tape it up."
"What I want to know," Bonnie said, "is whether this means it's al over. I mean, Celia's name appeared, and she was almost strangled in the train doors. And Meredith's name appeared, and she almost drowned. They both got saved - by Stefan, good job, Stefan - so does that mean they're safe now? We haven't seen any more names."
Elena's heart lightened with hope. But Matt was shaking his head.
"It's not that easy," he said darkly. "It's never that easy. Just because Meredith and Celia could be saved one time, it doesn't mean whatever it is isn't stil after them. And even though her name wasn't cal ed, Elena was in danger, too."
Stefan's arms were stil around Elena, but they felt hard and unyielding. When she glanced up at his face, his jaw was set and his green eyes ful of pain.
"I'm afraid it's not the end. Another name has appeared,"
he told them. "Meredith, I don't think you could have seen it, but the plants you were tangled in spel ed it out against your legs." Everyone gasped. Elena clutched his arm, her stomach dropping. She looked at Matt, at Bonnie, at Stefan himself. They'd never seemed more precious to her. Which one of the people who she loved was in danger?
"Wel , don't keep us in suspense," Meredith said wryly. Her color was better, Elena noted, and her voice sounded crisp and competent again, although she winced as Alaric touched her ankle gently. "Whose name was it?"
Stefan hesitated. His eyes darted to Elena and then quickly away. He licked his lips in a nervous gesture she'd never seen from him before. Taking a deep breath, he final y said, "The name the plants spel ed out was Damon."
Bonnie sat down with a thump, as though her legs had given way. "But Damon's dead," she said, her brown eyes wide.
But for some reason the news didn't shock Elena to the core. Instead, a hard, bright feeling of hope flooded her. It would make sense. She had never believed someone like Damon could just be gone.
"Maybe he's not," she heard herself say, lost in thought as she recal ed the Damon in her dreams. When she had passed out under the water, she had seen him again, and he had told her to wake up. Was that dreamlike behavior? It could have been her subconscious warning her, she supposed doubtful y, but his name had appeared underwater.
Could he be alive? He had died - she had no doubt about that. But he was a vampire; he had died before, and lived again. The Guardians had tried, they said, and they had said there was no way to bring Damon back. Was it a pointless hope? Was the eager beating of her heart at the thought that Damon might be alive just Elena fooling herself?
Elena snapped back to the present to find her friends staring at her. There was a moment of complete silence, as if even the birds had stopped singing.
"Elena," Stefan said gently. "We saw him die."
Elena gazed into Stefan's green eyes. Surely, if there was any reason to hope, he would feel it the same way she did. But his gaze was steady and sad. Stefan, she saw, had no doubt that Damon was dead. Her heart squeezed painful y.
"Who's Damon?" Celia asked, but no one answered. Alaric was frowning. "If Damon's definitely dead," he said, "if you're sure about that, then whatever is causing these accidents might be playing on your grief, trying to hit you where it hurts. Perhaps there's an emotional danger here that it's trying to create as wel as a physical one."
"If spel ing out Damon's name is meant to upset us, then it's aiming at Stefan and Elena," Matt said. "I mean, it's no secret that Meredith and I didn't like him much." He crossed his arms defensively. "I'm sorry, Stefan, but it's true."
"I respected Damon," said Meredith, "especial y after he worked so hard with us in the Dark Dimension, but it's true that his death didn't... affect me the