The Return: Midnight Chapter 32

Damon doesnt mean to be such a a bastard,Bonnie express explosively. Hes salutary so often he feels deal its the three of us against him and and Well, who started that? Even back riding the thurgs,Stefan said.I watch it off, but theres something else,Bonnie said humbly.Since its only snow and rock and ice hes I dont know.Hes al tight. Somethings wrong.Hes hungry,Elena said, stricken by a sudden realization.Since the thurgs there had been nothing for the two vampires to hunt. They couldnt exist, like foxes, on insects and mice.Of course wench Ulma had provided plenty of Black conjuring trick for them, the only thing that rase resembled a substitute for blood. s gondolacely their supply was dwindling, and of course, they had to think of the trip back, as well .Suddenly Elena knew what would do her good.Stefan,she murmured, pul ing him into a quoin in the craggy st matchless of the cave entrance. She pushed off her hood and unrol ed her scarf sufficient to expose one s ide of her neck.Dont make me say pleasetoo many a(prenominal) times,she whispered to him. I cant wait that long.Stefan looked into her eyes, saw that she was serious and determined and kissed one of her mittened hands.Its been long enough now, I think no, Im sure, or I would never even attempt this,he whispered. Elena tipped her head back. Stefan stood between her and the wind and she was almost warm. She felt the little initial pain and then Stefan was drinking and their minds slid together like two raindrops on a glass window.He took very little blood. Just enough to make the difference in his eyes between Stillgreen pools and sparkling, sparkly streams.But then his gaze went Stillagain. Damonhe said, and paused awkwardly.What could Elena say? I just severed al ties with him? They were supposed to help one another along these trials to collection their wit and courage. If she refused, would she fail again?Send him quick then,she said. Before I change my mind.Five minutes lat er Elena was again tucked into the little nook, darn Damon turned her head back and forth with dispassionate precision, then suddenly darted forward and sank his fangs into a prominent vein. Elena felt her eyes go wide.A turn that hurt this much Well, she hadnt experienced it since the days when she had been stupid and unprepared and had fought with al her strength to get free.As for Damons mind there was a steel wal . Since she had to do this, she had been hoping to see the little boy who lived in Damons inmost soul, the one who was the unwil ing Watch-Keeper over al of his secrets, but she couldnt even thaw the steel a little.After a minute or two, Stefan pul ed Damon off of her not gently. Damon came away sul enly, wiping his mouth.Are you okay?Bonnie asked in a worried whisper, as Elena rummaged with Lady Ulmas medicine box for a piece of gauze to staunch the unhealed wounds in her neck.Ive been better,Elena said briefly, as she wrapped up her scarf again.Bonnie sighed. Mer edith is the one who real y belongs here,she said.Yes, but Meredith real y belongs in Fel s Church, too. I only hope they can hold on long enough for us to come back.I only hope that we can come back with something that wil help them,Bonnie whispered.Meredith and two-dimensionality spent the time from 200 A.M. to wrap up pouring infinitesimal drops from Misaos star bal onto the streets of the town, and asking the Power to somehow help them in the fight against Shinichi. This brisk movement from place to place had also netted a surprising bonus kids.Not crazy kids. Normal ones, terrified of their brothers and sisters or of their parents, not daring to go home because of the awful things they had seen there. Meredith and Matt had crammed them into Matts mothers second-hand SUV and brought them to Matts house.In the end, they had more than thirty kids, from ages five to sixteen, al too frightened to play, or talk, or even to ask for anything. But theyd eaten everything Mrs. Flowers could find that wasnt spoiled in Matts refrigerator and pantry, and from the pantries of the deserted houses on any side of the Honeycutts.Matt, watching a ten-year-old girl cramming plain white bread into her mouth with wolfish hunger, tears running have her grimy face as she chewed and swal owed, said quietly to Meredith, Think weve got any ringers in here?Id bet my life on it,she replied just as quietly. But what are we going to do? Cole doesnt know anything helpful. Wel just have to pray that the un-possessed kids wil be able to help us when Shinichis ringers attack. I think the surpass option when confronted by possessed kids who may have weapons is to run.Meredith nodded absently, but Matt noticed she took the stave everywhere with her now. Ive devised a little test for them. Im going to feeling every one with a Post-It, and see what happens. Kids whove done things they regret may get hysterical, kids whore already just terrified may get some comfort, and the ringers wil either attack or run.This I have to see.Merediths test lured out only two ringers in the whole mob, a thirteen-year-old boy and a fifteen-year-old girl. Each of them screamed and darted through the house, shrieking wildly.Matt couldnt stop them. When it was al over and the older kids were comforting the younger ones, Matt and Meredith finished boarding up the windows and pasting amulets between the boards. They spent the even out scouting for food, questioning the kids about Shinichi and the Last Midnight, and helping Mrs. Flowers treat injuries. They tried to keep one person on guard at alltimes, but since they had been up and moving since 130 A.M., they were al very tired.At a quarter to eleven Meredith came to Matt, who was cleaning the scratches of a yel ow-haired eight-year-old.Okay,she said quietly, Im going to reside my car and get the new amulets Mrs. Saitou said shed have done by now. Do you mind if I take Saber?Matt shook his head. No, Il do it. I know the Saitous better , anyway.Meredith gave what, in a less refined person, might have been cal ed a snort. I know them well enough to say, plea me, Inari-Obaasan excuse me, Orime-san were the troublemakers who keep asking for huge amounts of anti-evil amulets, but you dont mind that, do you?Matt smiled faintly, let the eight-year-old go, and said, Well, they might mind it less if you got their names straight.Obaasanmeans grandma,right?Yes, of course.And sanis just a thingy you prescribe at the end of a name to be polite.Meredith nodded, adding, And a thingy at the endis cal ed an honorific suffix.Yeah, yeah, but for al your big words youve got their names wrong. Its Orime-grandma and Orime-Isobels-mother. So Orime-Obaasan and Orime-san, too.Meredith sighed. Look, Matt, Bonnie and I met them first.Grandma introduced herself as Inari. Now I know shes a little wacky, but she would certainly know her own name, right?And she introduced herself to me and said not just that she was named Orime, but that her daughter was named after her. Talk your way out of that one.Matt, shal I get my notebook? Its in the boardinghouse den Matt gave a short sharp laugh almost a sob. He looked to make sure Mrs. Flowers wasnt around and then hissed, Its somewhere down at the summation of the earth, maybe. There is no den anymore.For a moment Meredith looked simply shocked, but then she frowned. Matt glared darkly. It didnt help to think that they were the two most unlikely of their pigeonholing to quarrel. Here they were, and Matt could practical y see the sparks flying. All right,Meredith said final y, Il just go over there and ask for Orime-Obaasan, and then tel them it was al your fault when they laugh.Matt shook his head. Nobodys going to laugh, because youre going to get it right that way.Look, Matt,Meredith said, Ive been reading so much on the Internet that I even know the name Inari. Ive come across it somewhere. And Im sure I would have mademade the connectionHer voice trailed off. When M att turned his eyes down from the ceiling, he started. Merediths face was white and she was breathing quickly.Inarishe whispered. I do know that name, butSuddenly she grabbed Matts wrist so hard that it hurt.Matt, is your computer absolutely dead?It went when the electricity went. By now even the generator is gone.But you have a mobile that connects to the Internet, right?The urgency in her voice made Matt, in turn, take her seriously. Sure,he said. But the batterys been kaput for at least a day. Without electricity I cant recharge it. And my mom took hers. She cant live without it. Stefan and Elena mustve left their stuff at the boardinghouse He shook his head at Merediths hopeful expression and whispered, Or, should I say, where the boardinghouse used to be.But we have to find a mobile or computer that works We have to I need it to work for just a minuteMeredith said frantical y, breaking away from him and beginning to pace as if trying to beat some world record.Matt was staring at her in bewilderment. But why?Because we have to. I need it, even just for a minuteMatt could only gaze at her, perplexed. Final y he said, I guess we can ask the kids.The kids One of them has got to have a live mobile Come on, Matt, we have to talk to them right now.She stopped and said, rather huskily, I pray that youre right and Im wrong.Huh?Matt had no liking what was going on.I said I pray that Im wrong You pray, too, Matt please