"Neither do I, exactly," Elena admitted. "But I don't have any better ideas. Do you?"
"What, you mean about other ways to spend the time? Yes, I do. Do you want me to tell you about them?" Elena waved him to silence and he subsided.
"I mean about useful things we can do at this point. Robert's out of town, Mrs. Flowers is down—"
"In the basement," chorused several voices.
"And we're all just sitting here. Does anybody have a better idea?"
Meredith broke the silence. "If you're worried about its being dangerous for me and Bonnie, why don't you all come? I don't mean you have to show yourselves. You could come and hide in the attic. Then if anything happened, we could scream for help and you would hear us."
"I don't see why anybody's going to be screaming," said Bonnie. "Nothing's going to happen there."
"Well, maybe not, but it doesn't hurt to be safe," Meredith said. "What do you think?"
Elena nodded slowly. "It makes sense." She looked around for objections, but Stefan just shrugged, and Damon murmured something that made Bonnie laugh.
"All right, then, it's decided. Let's go."
The inevitable snow greeted them as they stepped outside the barn.
"Bonnie and I can go in my car," Meredith said. "And you three—"
"Oh, we'll find our own way," Damon said with his wolfish smile. Meredith nodded, not impressed. Funny, Elena thought as the other girls walked away; Meredith never was impressed with Damon. His charm seemed to have no effect on her.
She was about to mention that she was hungry when Stefan turned to Damon.
"Are you willing to stay with Elena the entire time you're over there? Every minute?" he said.
"Try and stop me," Damon said cheerfully. He dropped the smile. "Why?"
"Because if you are, the two of you can go over alone, and I'll meet you later. I've got something to do, but it won't take long."
Elena felt a wave of warmth. He was trying to trust his brother. She smiled at Stefan in approval as he drew her aside.
"What is it?"
"I got a note from Caroline today. She asked if I would meet her at the school before Alaric's party. She said she wanted to apologize.
Elena opened her mouth to make a sharp remark, and then shut it again. From what she'd heard, Caroline was a sorry sight these days. And maybe it would make Stefan feel better to talk to her.
"Well, you don't have anything to apologize for," she told him. "Everything that happened to her was her own fault. You don't think she's dangerous at all?"
"No; I've got that much of my Powers left anyway. She's all right. I'll meet her, and she and I can go to Alaric's together."
"Be careful," Elena said as he started off into the snow.
The attic was as she remembered it, dark and dusty and full of mysterious oilcloth-covered shapes. Damon, who had come in more conventionally through the front door, had had to take the shutters off to let her in through the window. After that they sat side by side on the old mattress and listened to the voices that came up through the ducts.
"I could think of more romantic settings," Damon murmured, fastidiously pulling a cobweb off his sleeve. "Are you sure you wouldn't rather—"
"Yes," said Elena. "Now hush."
It was like a game, listening to the bits and pieces of conversations and trying to put them together, trying to match each voice to a face.
"And then I said, I don't care how long you've had the parakeet; get rid of it or I'm going to the Snow Dance with Mike Feldman. And he said—"
"—rumor going around that Mr. Tanner's grave was dug up last night—"
"—you hear that everybody but Caroline has dropped out of the snow queen competition? Don't you think—"
"—dead, but I'm telling you I saw her. And no, I wasn't dreaming; she was wearing a sort of silvery dress and her hair was all golden and blowing—"
Elena raised her eyebrows at Damon, then looked meaningfully down at her sensible black attire. He grinned.
"Romanticism," he said. "Myself, I like you in black."
"Well, you would, wouldn't you?" she murmured. It was strange how much more comfortable she felt with Damon these days. She sat quietly, letting the conversations drift around her, almost losing track of time. Then she caught a familiar voice, cross, and closer than the rest.
"Okay, okay, I'm going. Okay."
Elena and Damon exchanged a glance and rose to their feet as the handle on the attic door turned. Bonnie peered around the edge.
"Meredith told me to come up here. I don't know why. She's hogging Alaric and it's a rotten party. Achoo!"
She sat down on the mattress, and after a few minutes Elena sat back down beside her. She was beginning to wish that Stefan would get here. By the time the door opened again and Meredith came in, she was sure of it.
"Meredith, what's going on?"
"Nothing, or at least nothing to worry about. Where's Stefan?" Meredith's cheeks were unusually flushed, and there was an odd look about her eyes, as if she were holding something tightly under control.
"He's coming later—" Elena began, but Damon interrupted.
"Never mind where he is. Who's coming up the stairs?"
"What do you mean, 'who's coming up the stairs?' " said Bonnie, rising.
"Everybody just stay calm," Meredith said, taking up a position in front of the window as if guarding it. She didn't look overly calm herself, Elena thought. "All right," she called, and the door opened and Alaric Saltzman came in.
Damon's motion was so smooth that even Elena's eyes couldn't follow it; in one movement he caught Elena's wrist and pulled her behind him, at the same time moving to face Alaric directly. He ended in a predator's crouch, every muscle drawn taut and ready for the attack.
"Oh, don't," cried Bonnie wildly. She flung herself at Alaric, who had already begun to recoil a step from Damon. Alaric nearly lost his balance and groped behind himself for the door. His other hand was groping at his belt.
"Stop it! Stop it!" Meredith said. Elena saw the shape beneath Alaric's jacket and realized it was a gun.
Again, she couldn't quite follow what happened next. Damon let go of her wrist and took hold of Alaric's. And then Alaric was sitting on the floor, wearing a dazed expression, and Damon was emptying the gun of cartridges, one by one.