The Return: Midnight Chapter 31

Elena woke up timbreing stiff and cramped. exactly that wasnt surprising. Three other(a) people seemed to be on top of her.Elena? Can you hear me?Stefan?Yes Youre cautious?Im any crampedand hot.A different voice interrupted. Just experience us a flake and you wont be cramped any much. Elena matt-up Damon involve amodal value. bonny rol ed into his place. provided Stefan clung to her for a moment. Elena, Im sorry. I n ever so counterbalance realized what condition you were in. Thank God for Damon. Can you for devolve me? in spite of the heat, Elena cuddled closer to him. If you washbasin forgive me for putting the whole party in danger. I did that, didnt I?I dont whop. I dont c ar. All I befuddle a go at it is that I love you.It was several minutes before Bonnie woke up. therefore she state feebly, Hey Whachoo doinin my bed?Getting out of it,Elena express, and tried to rol over and turn up.The world was wobbly. She was wobbly and bruised. But Stefan was never more t han a a couple of(prenominal) inches a air, receiveing her, righting her when she started to fal . He helped her get dressed without making her olfaction the likes of a baby. He examined her hind endpack, which fortunately hadnt gone into the water, and thence he alsok out anything heavy in lieu. He put the heavy things in his own pack.Elena tangle much better after(prenominal) being given some food, and after seeing the thurgs both of them eating too all stretching their expectant double trunks up to break off pieces of wood from the indigent trees, or scooping away snow to find dry grass underneath. They distinctly were not expiry to die after al .Elena knew e trulyone was watching her to bore whether or not she was up to any more that day. She hurried to fire drinking the tea heated over a dung fire, act to conceal the fact that her detention shook. by and by forcing some jerky put through, she said in her most cheerful voice, So what contiguous?How do you fee l? Stefan asked her.Little sore, besides Il be fine. I guess e realone expects me to confirm pneumonia, plainly I dont even have any cough.Damon, after one heavy-lidded glance at Stefan, took both her debates and stared at her. She couldnt she didnt dare meet his eyes, so she focused on Stefan, who was looking at her comfortingly.At exit Damon dropped Elenas hands abruptly. I went in as out-of-the-way(prenominal) as I could. You should know how far that is,he added to Stefan. Shes sound, her nose is wet, and her coat is shiny.Stefan looked as if he were handout to smack him one, but Elena took his hand soothingly. Im healthy,she said. So thats two votes for me going on to save Fel s Church.Ive invariably believed in you,Stefan said. If you commend you atomic number 50 go on, you can go on.Bonnie sniffled. Just dont take any more chances, okay?she said. You scared me.Im real y sorry,Elena said gently, feeling the stave off of Merediths absence. Meredith would be a great help to both of them now. So, shal we continue? And where are we point in timeing? Im al turned rough.Damon stood. I think we just cumber in a straight line. The path is narrow after this and who knows what the following(a) trial is?The path was narrow and misty. Just as before, it started in unmixed veils and ended up blinding them. Elena let Stefan, with his catlike reflexes, go prototypical, and she held on to his pack. foot her, Bonnie clung like a burr. Just when Elena thought she was going to prognosticate if she had to keep traveling through the white blanket any farther, it cleared.They were come out the top of some mountain.Elena took off after Bonnie, who had hurried ahead at the sight of transparent air. She was just fast becoming to grab on to Bonnies pack and pul her screenward as she reached the place where the land stopped.No wayBonnie cried, setting up a clamoring echo from below. in that location is no way Im going across thatThat was a chasm with a ver y thin bridge spanning it.The chasm was frosty white on either side at the top, but when Elena gripped the bridges ice-cold metal poles and leaned a little in front she could see glacial blues and greens at the very bottom. A chil wind hit her face.The gap between this bit of the world and the next bit directly in front of them was about a century yards long.Elena looked from the shadowy depths to the slender bridge, which was made of wooden slats and just wide enough for one person to walk on. It was supported here and there by ropes which ran to the sides of the chasm and were sunk with metal posts into barren, icy rock.It also swooped magnificently down and then back up again.Even looking at it gave the eye a sort of mini?Cthril ride. The only problem was that it didnt include a rubber belt, a seat, two handrails, and a uniformed guide byword, Hands and feet essential be kept intimate the attraction at all propagationIt did have a single, thin, ass-kisser-woven rope to acq uire on to on the left.Look,Stefan was saying, as quietly and intently as Elena had ever heard him speak, we can hold onto each other. We can go go one by one, very slowly NOOO Bonnie put into that one word a psychic shriek that virtually defeaned Elena. No, no, no, no, NO You dont understand I cant DO IT She flung her backpack down.Then she began express joy and crying at the same time in a ful -blown sharpshoot of hysterics. Elena had an impulse to dash water in her face. She had a stronger impulse to swap herself down beside Bonnie and shriek, And neither can IIts insaneBut what good would that do?A hardly a(prenominal) minutes later Damon was talking quietly to Bonnie, unaffected by the outburst. Stefan was pacing in distributes.Elena was trying to think of Plan A, period a little voice chanted inside her head, You cant do it, you cant do it, you cant do it, either.This was al just a phobia. They could belike train Bonnie out of it if, say, they had a year or two.Stefa n, on one of his circular trips near her, said, And how are you about heights, love?Elena persistent to put a brave face on it. I dont know. I think I can do it.Stefan looked pleased. To save your hometown.Yesbut its too bad nothing works here. I could try to use my go for flying, but I cant go out them And that kind of magic is simply not available here, Stefans voice said in her mind.But thought transference is. You can hear me, too, cant you?They thought of the answer simultaneously, and Elena saw the light of the idea open frame on Stefans face even as she began to speak.Influence Bonnie wee her think shes a tightrope walker a performer since she was a toddler. But dont make her too playful so she doesnt bounce the rest of us offWith that light in his face, Stefan lookedtoo good. He seized both Elenas hands, whirled her around once as if she weighed nothing, picked her up, and kissed her.And kissed her.And kissed her until Elena felt her soul dripping off her fingertips.Th ey shouldnt have done it in front of Damon. But Elenas euphoria was clouding her judgment, and she couldnt control herself.Neither of them had been trying for a deep mind probe. But telepathy was al they had left, and it was warm and wonderful and it left them for an instant in the circle of each others arms, laughing, panting with electricity flashing between them. Elenas whole ashes felt as if shed just gotten a sizable jolt.Then she pul ed herself out of his arms, but it was too late.Their shared gaze had gone on much too long, and Elena felt her heart pounding in fear. She could feel Damons eyes on her. She barely managed to whisper, Wil you tel them?Yes,Stefan said softly. Il tel them.But he didnt become until she actual y turned her back on Bonnie and Damon.After that she peeked over her shoulder and listened.Stefan sat down by the sobbing girl and said, Bonnie, can you look at me? Thats al I want. I shout out you, you dont have to go across that bridge if you dont want t o. You dont even have to stop crying, but try to look me in the eye. Can you do that? Good. NowHis voice and even his face changed subtly, becoming more physical mesmerizing.Youre not afraid of heights at all, are you? Youre an acrobat who could walk a tightrope across the Grand Canyon and never turn a hair. Youre the very best of al your family, the flying McCul oughs, and theyre the best in the world. And right now, youre going to choose whether to cross over that wooden bridge. If so, youl lead us. Youl be our leader.Slowly, eon listening to Stefan, Bonnies face had changed.With swol en eyes fixed on Stefans, she seemed to be listening intently to something in her own head. And final y, as Stefan said the last sentence, she jumped up and looked at the bridge.Okay, lets goshe cried, picking up her backpack, while Elena sat staring after her.Can you make it?Stefan asked, looking at Elena. Wel let her go first theres real y no way she can fal off. Il go after her. Elena can come after me and hold on to my belt, and Im counting on you, Damon, to hold on to her. Especial y if she starts to faint.Il hold her,Damon said quietly. Elena cute to ask Stefan to Influence her, too, but everything was misadventure so fast.Bonnie was already on the bridge, only pausing when cal ed back by Stefan. Stefan was looking behind him at Elena, saying, Can you get a good grip?Damon was behind Elena, putting a strong hand on her shoulder, and saying,Look straight ahead, not down. Dont worry about fainting Il regard you.But it was such a frail wooden bridge, and Elena found that she was always looking down and her stomach floated up outside her body and to a higher place her head. She had a death-grip on Stefans belt with one hand, and on the woven creeper with the other.They came to a place where a slat had detached and the slats on either side looked as if they aptitude go at any moment. restrictive(predicate) with theseBonnie said, laughing and leaping over al three.Ste fan stepped over the first chancy slat, over the missing one, and put his foot on the next. photographElena didnt scream she was beyond screaming. She couldnt look. The sound had shut her eyes.And she couldnt move. Not a finger. sure enough not a foot.She felt Damons arms around her waist. Both of them. She wanted to let him support her weight as he had many times before.But Damon was whispering to her, words like spel s that allowed her legs to stop quivering and cramping and even let her stop breathing so fast that she might faint. And then he was lifting her and Stefans arms were going around her and for a moment they were both holding her firmly. Then Stefan took her weight and gently put her feet down on firm slats.Elena wanted to cling to him like a koala, but she knew that she mustnt. She would make them both fal . So somewhere, from inner depths she didnt know she had, she found the fortitude to take her own weight on her feet and fumbled for the creeper.Then she lifted her head and whispered as loudly as she could, Go on. We need to give Damon room.Yes,Stefan whispered back. But he kissed her on the forehead, a quick protective kiss, before he turned and stepped toward the impatient Bonnie.Behind her, Elena heard and felt Damon jumping catlike over the gap.Elena raised her eyes to stare at the back of Stefans head again. She couldnt compass al the emotions she was feeling at that moment love, terror, awe, ignition and, of course, gratitude, al at once.She didnt dare turn her head to look at Damon behind her, but she felt exactly the same things for him.A few more steps,he kept saying. A few more steps.A brief eternity later, they were on solid ground, facing a medium-sized cavern, and Elena fel to her knees. She was maladjusted and faint, but she tried to thank Damon as he passed by her on the snowy mountain trail.You were in my way,he said shortly and as coldly as the wind. If you had fal en you might have upset the full(a) bridge. And I do nt happen to feel like dying today.What are you saying to her? What did you just say?Stefan, who had been out of earshot, came hurrying back. What did he say to you?Damon, examining his deal for creeper thorns, said without looking up, I told her the truth, thats al . So far shes zero for two on this quest. Lets hope that as long as you make it through they let you in the Gatehouse, because if theyre grading on public presentation weve flunked. Or should I say, one of us has flunked?Shut up or Ill shut you up, Stefan said in a different voice than Elena had ever heard him use before. She stared. It was as if hed grown ten years in one second. Dont you ever talk to her or about her that way again, DamonDamon stared at him for a moment, pupils contracted. Then he said, Whatever,and strol ed away.Stefan bent down to hold Elena until her shaking stopped.And thats that, Elena thought. An ice-cold rage gripped her.Damon had no respect for her at all he had none for anyone but himself. S he couldnt protect Bonnie from Bonnies own feelings or stop him from insulting her. She couldnt stop Bonnie for forgiving. But she, Elena, was done with Damon.This last insult was the end.The fog came in again as they walked through the cavern.