The Return: Midnight Chapter 29

OiDamon sh byed from eruptside the palanquin. Is either be else face at this?Elena was. Both Stefan and comme il faut had their eyes shut seemly was wrapped in blankets and cuddled over against Elena.They had rol ed down al the curtains of the palanquin except wiz. entirely Elena had watched by means of the single window, and had seen how tendrils of fog had begun drifting by, first clean even saturnine-down tatters of dapple, barely then longer, ful er veils, and final y blankets, engulfing them whole. It seemed to her that they were being advisedly cut finish from plane the perilous Dark prop, that they were passing a border into a menage they werent meant to know about, more than less enter.How do we know were vent in the right direction?Elena yelled to Damon aft(prenominal) Stefan and average woke. She was glad to be able to talk again.The thurgs know,Damon cal ed grit. You punctuate them on a line and they walk that line until some bole cabbage them, o r Or what?Elena yel ed out of the opening.Until we soak up to a place comparable this.This was obviously bait, and neither Stefan nor Elena could resist taking it especial y when the thurg they were riding stop.Stay here(predicate),Elena state to Bonnie. She pushed a curtain out of the human face and found herself seeing too far down at colour ground. God, these thurgs were big. The next moment, though, Stefan was on the ground h senileing up his arms.JumpCant you be swallow up and float me?Sorry. Something about this place inhibits Power.Elena didnt pull in herself time to think. She launched into the line of work and Stefan caught her neatly. Spontaneously, she clung to him, and matte the familiar comfort of his embrace. and then he said, Come look at this.They had reached a place where the land ended and the mist divided, desire curtains being held to either side. Directly in front of them was a glacial lake. A sil really rimy lake, almost perfectly round in shape .Lake Mirror?Damon said, cocking his gaffer to one side.I always thought that was a f send off-keyy tale,Stefan said.Wel sleep with to Bonnies storybook.Lake Mirror formed a vast body of water in front of them, frozen right into the shabu shred on a lower floor her feet, or so it seemed.It did look like a reflect a purse mirror after youd breathed softly on it. save the thurgs?Elena said or rather whispered. She couldnt help whispering. The silent lake press on her, as did the lack of all kind of natural reasoned There were no birds singing, no rustling in the bushes no bushes No treesInstead, just the mist surrounding the frozen water.The thurgs,Elena repeated in a s get downly louder vo drinking glass. They cant possibly walk on thatDepends on how thick the lake frost is,Damon said, flashing his old 250-kilowatt smile at her. If its thick enough, itl be just like paseo on land for them.And if it isnt?HmmDo thurgs float?Elena gave him an exasperated glance and looked at Stefan. What do you think?I dont know,he said doubtful y. Theyre very large animals.Lets ask Bonnie about the kids in the fairy tale.Bonnie, Stillwrapped in fur blankets that began col ecting chunks of sorbet as they dragged on the ground, looked at the lake grimly. The story didnt go into detail,she said. It just said that they went down, down, down, and that they had to pass tests of their courage and and wittiness before they got in that location.Fortunately,Damon said, smiling, I have large enough amounts of both(prenominal) to go for up for my brothers entire lack of either Stop it, DamonElena wear out out. The moment shed seen the smile, shed turned to Stefan, pul ed him down to her height, and begun kissing him. She knew what Damon would see when he turned back toward them her and Stefan locked in an embrace, Stefan hardly aware of anything being said. At least they could Stilltouch with their minds. And it was intriguing, Elena thought, Stefans warm mouth when everything else in the world was cold. She looked quickly at Bonnie, to make sure she hadnt upset her, provided Bonnie was looking kind of cheerful.The farther I seem to drive Damon away, the happier she is, Elena thought. Oh, Godthis is a line of work.Stefan intercommunicate up quietly. Bonnie, what it comes down to is that it has to be your choice. Dont try to use courage or wit or anything except your inner feelings. Where do we go?Bonnie glanced back at the thurgs, then looked at the lake.That way,she said, without hesitation, and she pointed straight across the lake.Wed collapse carry some of the cooking stones and fuel and backpacks with iron rations in them,Stefan said. That way, if the thrash happens, wel Stillhave basic supplies.Besides,said Elena, itl lighten that thurgs load if only by a little.It seemed a crime to put a backpack on Bonnie, solely she insisted. Final y, Elena arranged one fil ed entirely with the warm, curiously light fur clothes. Everyone else wa s carrying furs, food, and poop the dried animal dung that would from now on be their only fuel.It was difficult from the first. Elena had only had a couple of experiences with ice that she had reason to be wary of but one of those had almost been foreboding(a) for Matt. She was ready to jump and whirl at any crack any sound that the ice was breaking. only if there were no cracks no water flowing up to slosh onto her boots.The thurgs were the ones who seemed actual y built for walking on frozen water. Their feet were pneumatic, and could spread out to almost half again their original size, avoiding putting too much pressure on any one section of ice.Crossing the lake was slow, but Elena didnt see anything particularly bitter about it. It was simply the smoothest, slickest ice she had ever encountered. Her boots wanted to skate.Hey, everybodyBonnie was skating, on the nose as if she were in a rink, backward and before and sideways. This is funWere non here to have fun,Elena shouted back. She longed to try it herself, but was afraid to make cuts even scuffs in the ice. And beside that, Bonnie was expending twice as much energy as she needed to.She was about to cal out to Bonnie and tel her this, when Damon, in a enunciate of exasperation, made al the points she had thought of, and a hardly a(prenominal) more.This isnt a pleasure cruise,he said shortly. Its for the fate of your town.As if you care,Elena murmured, go her back on him and touching the unhappy Bonnies hand both to give comfort and to get them press release at arms length again. Bonnie, do you wizard anything magical about the lake?No.But then Bonnies imagination seemed to rainfly into high gear. But maybe its where the mystics from both dimensions al gathered to throw spel s. Or maybe its where they used the ice like a unfeigned magic mirror to see faraway places and things.Maybe both of them,Elena said, on the Q.T. amused, but Bonnie nodded solemnly.And that was when it came. The sound Elena had been clutching for.Nor was it a distant comfortable which could be ignored or discussed. They had been walking at arms length from one another to avoid stressing the ice, while the thurgs walked shadower them, and to either side like a flock of geese with no leaders.This noise was a dreadful y near crack like the report of a gun. Immediately, it sounded again, like a whiplash, and then a crumbling.It was to Elenas left field, on Bonnies side.Skate, Bonnie,she shouted. Skate as fast as you can.Scream if you see land.Bonnie didnt ask a single question. She took off like an Olympic speed skater in front of Elena, and Elena swiftly turned.It was Biratz, the thurg Bonnie had asked Pelat about. She had one monstrous back complication in the ice, and as she struggled, more ice cracked.Stefan Can you hear me?Faintly. Im coming for you.Yes but only come as close as you need to Influence the thurg.Influence the ? work out her calm, put her out, whatever. Shes ripping up the ice and itll just make it harder to get her outThis time there was a pause before Stefans retort came.She knew though, by faint echoes, that he was talking tele roomical y with someone else. alone right, love, Ill do it. Ill take care of the thurg, too. You follow Bonnie.He was double-dealing. Or, not lying, but keeping something from her.The person hed been sending thoughts to was Damon. They were humoring her. They didnt mean to help at all.Just at that moment she heard a shril scream not so far away. It was Bonnie in trouble no Bonnie had found landElena didnt lose another second. She dumped her backpack on the ice and skated straight back to the thurg.There it was, so huge, so pathetic, so helpless. The very thing that had kept it safe from other Godawful Hel acious monsters in the Dark Dimension its great bulk was now turned against it. Elena felt her chest quash as if she were wearing a corset.Even as she watched, though, the animal became calmer.She halt trying to get her left hind leg out of the ice, which meant that she stopped churning up the ice about it.Now Biratz was in a sort of crouching position, trying to keep her three dry legs from going under. The problem was that she was trying too hard, and that there was nothing to push against except brittle ice.ElenaStefan was within earshot now. Dont get any closerBut even as he said it, Elena saw a Sign. Just a few feet away, lying on the ice was the tickle-prod that Pelat had used to get the thurgs going.She picked it up as she skated by and then she saw another Sign. Reddish convert and the original covering for the hay a giant tarpaulin were lying hind end the thurg. Together they formed a broad wide path that was neither wet nor slick.ElenaThis is going to be easy, StefanElena pul ed a duplicate of dry socks out of her pocket and drew them up over her boots. She laced the tickle chafe to her belt. And then she started the run of her life.Her boots were fur with something li ke felt underneath and with the socks to aid them, they caught on the tarpaulin and propel ed her forward. She leaned into it, vaguely wishing Meredith were here, so she could do this instead, but al the time acquiring closer. And then she saw her mark the end of the tarp and beyond it afloat(p) chunks of ice.But the thurg looked climbable. Very low in back, like a dinosaur center(a) into a tar pit, but then rising up on the curved backbone. If she could just somehow land thereTwo stairs til jump-off. One step til jump-off.JUMPElena pushed off with her right foot, flew through the air for an endless time, and hit the water.Instantly, she was soaked from proposition to foot and the shock of the cold water was unbelievable. It caught hold of her like some monster with a handful of jagged ice shards. It blinded her with her own hair, it squeezed al the sound out of the universe.someways, clawing at her face, she freed her mouth and eyes from hair. She realized that she was only slightly below the surface of the water, and that was al she needed to push upward until her mouth bust the surface and she could sorb in a lungful of delicious air, after which she had a coughing fit.First time up, she thought, remembering the old superstition that a drowning person wil rise three times and then sink forever.But the strange thing was that she wasnt sinking. There was a dul pain in her thigh but she wasnt going under.Slowly, slowly, she realized what had happened. She had missed the back of the thurg, but land on its thick reptilian tail. One of the serrated fins had gashed her, but she was stable.Sonowal I have to do is climb the thurg, she bewilder out slowly. Everything seemed slow because there were icebergs bobbing or so her shoulders.She put up a fur-lined gloved hand and reached for the next fin up. The water, while making her sopping clothes heavier, supported some of her weight. She managed to pul herself up to the next fin. And the next. And then he re was the rump, and she had to be careful no more footholds. Instead she grabbed for handholds and found something with her left hand. A broken strap from the hay carrier.Not a commodity idea in retrospect.For a few proceedings that qualified as among the worst in her life she was showered with hay, pounded with rocks, and smothered in the dust of old dung.When it was final y over she looked close to, sneezing and coughing, to find that she was Stillon the thurg. The tickle stick had been broken but enough remained for her to use.Stefan was frantical y asking, both aloud and by telepathy, if she was All right. Bonnie was skating back and forth like a Tinker Bel guide, and Damon was cursing at Bonnie to get back to land and stay there.Meanwhile Elena was inching up the rump of the thurg. She made it through the crushed supply basket. She final y reached the thurgs summit, and she settled just behind the domed head, in the seat where a driver would sit.And then she tickled the t hurg behind the ears.ElenaStefan shouted, and then Elena, what are you trying to do?I dont knowshe shouted back. Trying to save the thurgYou cant,Damon interrupted Stefans answer in a utterance as cold and Stillas the place they were in.She can make itElena said fiercely precisely because she herself was having doubts about whether the animal could. You could help by pul ing on her bridle.Theres no point,Damon shouted, and turned about-face, walking quickly into the mist.Il give it a try. Throw it out in front of her,Stefan said.Elena threw the knotted bridle as hard as she could. Stefan had to run almost to the edge of the ice to grab it before it fel in. Then he held it aloft triumphantly. Got itOkay, pul Give her a direction to start in.Wil doElena tapped Biratz again behind her right ear. There was a faint scold from the animal and then nothing. Elena could see Stefan straining at the bridle.Come on, Elena said, and slapped sharply with the stick.The thurg lifted up a gian t foot, placed it farther on the ice, and struggled. As soon as she did, Elena smacked hard behind the left ear.This was the life-and-death moment. If Elena could keep Biratz from crushing al the ice betwixt her back legs, they king have a chance.The thurg tentatively lifted her left hind leg and stretched it until it made contact with the ice.Good, Biratz Now Elena shouted. Now if Biratz would only surge forwardThere was a great upheaval underneath her. For several minutes Elena thought that perhaps Biratz had broken through the ice with al quadruplet legs. Then the thrashing changed to a rocking motion and suddenly, dizzyingly Elena knew that they had won.Easy, now, easy,she cal ed to the animal, giving her a winning tickle with the stick. And slowly, ponderously, Biratz moved forward. Her domed head drooped farther and farther as she went, and she foundered at the edge of a bank of mist, breaking the ice again. But there she only sank a few inches before shock mud.A few mor e steps and they were on solid ground. Elena had to suck in her breath to stifle a scream as the thurgs domelike head slumped, giving her a short and scary ride to where the tusks re-curved on themselves. Somehow she slid right between them and had to hastily scramble off Biratzs trunks.It was pointless, you know, doing that,Damon said from someplace in the mist beside her. Risking your own life.What d-do you mean p-pointless?Elena demanded. She wasnt frightened she was freezing.The animals are going to die anyway. The next trial is one they cant manage and even if they could, this isnt a place where anything grows. Instead of a quick clean death in the water, theyre going to starve, slowly.Elena didnt answer the only answer she could think of was,Why didnt you tel me anterior?She had stopped shivering, which was a salutary thing, because a moment ago her body had felt as if she might shake herself apart.Clothes, she thought vaguely. That was the problem. It certainly couldnt be as cold here in the air as it had been in that water. It was her clothes that were making her so cold.She began, with numb fingers, to take them off. First, she unfastened her leather jacket. No zippers here buttons. That was a real problem. Her fingers felt like frozen hot dogs, and only nominal y under her direction. But somehow or other she managed to undo the fastenings and the leather dropped to the ground with a leaden thump it had taken a layer of her inner fur off with it. Ick. The smel of wet fur. Now, now she had to But she couldnt. She couldnt do anything because someone was holding her arms. ruin her arms. Those hands were annoying, but at least she knew who they belonged to. They were firm and very gentle but very strong. Al that added up to Stefan.Slowly, she raised her dripping head to ask Stefan to stop burning her arms.But she couldnt. Because on Stefans body there was Damons head. Now that was funny. Shed seen a lot of things that vampires could do, but not this swapping heads business.Stefan-Damon please stop,she gasped between hysterical whoops of laughter. It hurts. Its too hotHot? Youre frozen, you mean.The deft, searing hands were rubbing up and down her arms, pushing back her head to rub her cheeks. She let it happen, because it seemed to be only sense that if it was Damons head, they were Stefans hands.Youre cold but youre not shivering?a grim Damon-voice said from somewhere.Yes, so you see I moldiness be melt up.Elena didnt feel very warmed up. She realized that she Stillhad on a longer fur garment, one that reached to her knees under her leather breeches. She fumbled with her belt.Youre not warming up. Youre going into the next stage of hypothermia. And if you dont get dry and warm right now, youre going to die.Not roughly, he tilted her chin up to look into her eyes. Youre delirious now can you understand me, Elena? We need to really get you warm.Warm was a concept as vague and faraway as life before she had met Stefan. But de lirious she understood. That was not a good thing. What to do about it except laugh?All right. Elena, just wait for a moment. Let me find In a moment he was back. Not quick enough to stop her from unwrapping the fur down to her waist, but back before she could get her camisole off.Here.He stripped off the damp fur and wrapped a warm, dry one around her, over her camisole.After a moment or two she began to shiver.Thats my girl,Damons voice said. It went on Dont fight me, Elena. Im trying to save your life. Thats al . Im not going to try to do anything else. I give you my word.Elena was bewildered. Why should she think that Damon this must be Damon, she decided would want to hurt her?Although he could be a bastard sometimesAnd he was taking off her clothes.No. That shouldnt be happening. Definitely not. Especial y since Stefan must be somewhere around.But by now Elena was shivering too hard to talk.And now that she was in her underwear, he was making her lie down on furs, tucking ot her furs around her. Elena didnt understand anything that was happening, but it was al starting not to matter. She was floating somewhere outside herself, watching without much interest.Then another body was move in under the furs. She snapped back from the place she had been floating. Very briefly she got a look at a bare chest. And then a warm, confederation body slid into the makeshift sleeping bag with her.Warm, hard arms went around her, keeping her in contact al over her body.Through the mist she vaguely heard Stefans voice.What the hell are you doing?