now? Both were filled with horror and danger.
“Anyway,” she said with a grim smile, “I have the key.”
“Now you know how it’s done?” Elena asked Meredith. “You put the key in the keyhole and say where you want to go. Then open the door and go through. That’s it.”
“You three go first,” Stefan added. “And quick.”
“I’ll turn the key,” Meredith told Matt. “You take care of Mrs. Flowers.”
Just then Elena thought of something that she didn’t want to say aloud, only to Stefan. But she and he were physically so close, she knew he would pick it up.
Saber! she thought to Stefan. We can’t leave him to these malach!
We won’t, she heard Stefan’s voice in her head say. I showed him the way to Matt’s house, and told him to go there and take Talon and protect the people who will be coming.
At the same time Matt was saying, “Oh, my God! Saber! He saved my life — I can’t just leave him.”
“Already taken care of,” Stefan reassured him and Elena patted him on the back.
“He’ll be at your house in a little while, and if you go somewhere else he’ll track you.”
Elena turned her pats into gentle pushes. “Be good!”
“Matt Honeycutt’s bedroom in Fell’s Church,” Meredith said, thrusting the key at the door handle, and opening the door. She and Mrs. Flowers and Matt all stepped forward. The door shut.
Stefan turned to Elena. “I’m going first,” he said flatly. “But I’m holding on to you.
I’m not going to let you go.”
“Never let me go, never let me go,” Elena whispered in an imitation of Misao’s
“Have nightmares.” Then she had a thought.
“Slave bracelets!”
“What?” Stefan said. Then, “Oh, I remember, you told me. But what are they supposed to look like?”
“Like any two bracelets, matching if possible.” Elena was scrambling around the back of the room, where furniture was piled up, opening drawers, closing them.
“Come on, bracelets! Come on! This house is supposed to have everything!”
“What about these things you wear in your hair?” Stefan asked. Elena looked back and he tossed her a bag of soft cotton ponytail holders.
“You’re a genius! They won’t even hurt my wrists. And here are two white ones so they’ll match!” Elena said happily.
They arranged themselves in front of the door, with Stefan to Elena’s left so he could see what was out there before they stepped in. He also had a firm grip on Elena’s left arm.
“Wherever our friend Bonnie McCullough is,” Stefan said, and thrust the key into the lockless door handle, turning it. Then, after giving Elena the key, he gingerly opened the door.
Elena wasn’t sure what she was expecting. A blaze of light maybe, as they traveled through dimensions. Some kind of spiraling tunnel, or shooting stars. At least a feeling of motion.
What she got was steam. It soaked through her T-shirt and dampened her hair.
And then she got noise.
“Elena! Eleeeeeeeeeeeeeeena! You’re here!”
Elena recognized the voice but couldn’t locate the screamer in the steam.
Then she saw an immense bathtub made of tiles of malachite, and a frightenedlooking girl tending a charcoal fire at the bath’s foot, while two other young attendants holding scrubbing brushes and pumice stones cowered against the other wall.
And in the bath was Bonnie! It was obvious that the tub was very deep, because Bonnie wasn’t able to touch bottom in the middle but she was half-leaping out of the water like a foam-covered dolphin over and over to attract attention.
“There you are,” gasped Elena. She dropped to her knees on a thick, soft blue rug. Bonnie made a spectacular leap and just for a moment Elena could feel a small soapy, sudsy body in her arms.
Then Bonnie went down again and came up laughing.
“And is that Stefan? It’s Stefan! Stefan, hello! Helloooo!”
Stefan glanced back, as if trying to assess the suds situation. He seemed satisfied with it, turned slightly, and waved.
“Hey, Bonnie?” he asked, voice muffled by the sounds of continual splashing.
“Where are we?”
“It’s Lady Ulma’s house! You’re safe — you’re all safe!” She turned a small hopeful face to Elena. “Where’s Meredith?”
Elena shook her head, thinking of all the things about Meredith that Bonnie didn’t know yet. Well, she decided, this wasn’t the time to mention them. “She had to stay behind, to protect Fell’s Church.”
“Oh,” Bonnie looked down, troubled. “Still bad, is it?”
“You wouldn’t believe it. Really; it’s — indescribable. That’s where Matt and Mrs.
Flowers and Meredith are. I’m sorry.”
“No, I’m just so glad to see you! Oh my God, but you’re hurt.” She was looking at the small tooth wounds on Elena’s arm, and the blood on her torn T-shirt. “I’ll get out and — hey, no, you get in! There’s plenty of room; plenty of hot water, and…plenty of clothes! Lady Ulma even designed some for us, for ‘when we came back’!”
Elena, smiling reassuringly at the bath girls, was already stripping as fast as she could. The tub, which was big enough for six to swim in, looked too luxurious to miss and, she reasoned, it made sense to be clean when you greeted your hostess.
“Go have fun,” she shouted to Stefan. “Is Damon here?” she added in a whispered aside to Bonnie, who nodded. “Damon’s here, too,” Elena caroled. “If you find Lady Ulma, tell her Elena’s coming, but she’s getting washed up first.” She didn’t actually dive into the pearl pink steaming water, but she got onto the second step down and let herself slide from there.
Instantly, she was immersed in delicious heat that seeped straight into her body, pulling some magic string that relaxed all her muscles at once. Perfumes suffused the air. She flung her wet hair back and saw Bonnie laughing at her.
“So you got out of your hole and you’ve been here wallowing in luxury while we’ve been worried sick?” Elena couldn’t help but hear the way her voice went up at the end, making it a question.
“No, I got picked up by some people, and—” Bonnie broke off. “Well…the first few days were tough, but never mind. Thank God we got to Lady Ulma’s in the end.
Want a bath brush? Some soap that smells just like roses?”
Elena was looking at Bonnie with slightly narrowed eyes. She knew that Bonnie would do just about anything for Damon. That included covering up for him.
Delicately, all the while enjoying the brushes and unguents and many kinds of soaps laid out on a shelf for easy reach, she began an inquisition.
Stefan got out of the steamy room before he was soaking wet. Bonnie was safe and Elena was happy. He found he had stepped into another room, in which were a number of couches made of some soft spongy material. For drying? Massage?
Who knew?
The next room he entered had gas lanterns that were turned high enough to rival electrical light. Here were three more couches — he had no idea what for — a fulllength silvered-glass mirror, and smaller mirrors in front of chairs. Obviously a place for makeup and beautifying.
This last room opened onto a hallway. Stefan stepped out and hesitated, spreading delicate tendrils of Power in different directions, hoping to find Damon before Damon noticed his presence in the estate. The Master Key had proved that it could overcome the fact that he hadn’t been invited here. That meant that maybe he could…
At that moment he got a hit, and withdrew his probe immediately, startled. He stared down the long corridor. He could actually see Damon, pacing in the room at the end, talking to someone Stefan couldn’t see behind the door.
Stefan crept very quietly down the hallway, stalking. He made it to the door without his brother even noticing,
