free.
Meredith was feeling dizzy now, but she needed to see the entire room. She took two strides in, and - there!
Sitting up on the bed in the smoky, hot, but otherwise scrupulously tidy little room was Isobel. As Meredith neared the bed she saw - to her fury - that the girl was tied to the brass headboard with duct tape. Two slashes of the stave took care of that. Then, amazingly, Isobel moved, raising a blackened face up to Meredith's.
That was when Meredith's fury peaked. The girl had duct tape across her mouth, to prevent her from making any cry for help. Wincing herself to show that she knew this was going to be painful, Meredith grasped the duct tape and stripped it off. Isobel didn't cry out; instead she took in lungful after lungful of smoky air.
Meredith stumbled toward the closet, snatched two identical-looking white shirts, and swerved back to Isobel. There was a ful tumbler of water right beside her, on the nightstand.
Meredith wondered if it had been put there deliberately to increase Isobel's agony, but she didn't hesitate to use it. She gave Isobel a quick sip, took one herself, and then soaked each shirt. She held one over her own mouth and Isobel mimicked her, holding the wet shirt over her nose and mouth.
Then Meredith grabbed her and guided her back to the door.
After that it simply became a nightmare journey of crawling and kneeling and choking, pul ing Isobel with her al the time.
Meredith thought it would never end, as each inch forward became harder and harder. The stave was an unbearable weight to heave along with her, but she refused to let go of it.
It's precious, her mind said, but is it worth your life?
No, Meredith thought. Not my life, but who knows what else wil be out there if I get Isobel into the cool darkness?
You'l never get her there if you die because of - an object.
It's not an object! Painful y Meredith used the stave to clear some smoldering debris from her path. It belonged to Grandpa in the time when he was sane. It fits my hand. It's not just a thing!
Have it your own way, the voice said, and disappeared.
Meredith was beginning to run into more debris now.
Despite the cramping in her lungs, she was sure that she could make it out of the back door. She knew there should be a laundry room on her right. They should be able to feel a space there.
And then suddenly in the dark something reared up and struck her a blow on the head. It took her dimming mind a long time to come up with a name for the thing that had hurt her. Armchair.
Somehow they'd crawled too far. This was the living room.
Meredith was flooded with horror. They'd gone too far - and they couldn't go out the front door into the midst of magical battle. They would have to backtrack, and this time make sure to find the laundry room, their gate to freedom.
Meredith turned around, pul ing Isobel with her, hoping the younger girl would understand what they had to do.
She left the stave on the burning living room floor.
Elena sobbed to get her breath, even though she was al owing Stefan to help her now. He ran, holding Bonnie by one hand and Elena by the other. Damon was somewhere in front - scouting.
It can't be far now, she kept thinking. Bonnie and I both saw the brightness - we both did. Just then, like a lantern put into a window, Elena saw it again.
It's big, that's the problem. I keep thinking we should reach it because I have the wrong idea of what size it is in my mind.
The closer we get, the bigger it gets.
And that's good for us. We'l need a lot of Power. But we need to get there soon, or it could be al the Power in the universe and it won't matter. We'l be too late.
Shinichi had indicated that they would be too late - but Shinichi had been born a liar. Still, surely just beyond that low branch was...
Oh, dear God, she thought. It's a star ball.
Chapter 37
Then Meredith saw something that was not smoke or fire.
Just a glimpse of a door frame - and a tiny breath of cool air.
With this hope to sustain her, she scuttled straight for the door to the backyard, dragging Isobel behind her.
As she passed the threshold, she felt blessedly cold