Caleb pushed his shaggy dark blond hair back out of his face, rubbed his nose, and took a breath. "Whatever was going on, I knew you and Elena were at the center of it. The differences between the memories told me that. And I figured that you must be connected to Tyler's disappearance, too. Either you'd done something to him, or you knew something about what had happened to him. I figured if I could pul you and your friends apart, something would come out. Once you were set against one another, I'd be able to work my way in and find out what was going on. Maybe I could get Elena to fal for me with a glamour, or one of the other girls. I just had to know." He looked from one to another of them. "The rose spel was supposed to make you irrational, turn you against one another."
Alaric frowned. "You mean you didn't summon anything?"
Caleb shook his head. "Look," he said, pul ing a thick leather-bound volume from under his bed. "The spel I used is in here. That's al I did, honest."
Alaric took the book and flipped through the pages until he found the right spel . He studied it, his forehead crinkling, and said, "He's tel ing the truth. There isn't anything about summoning a phantom in this book. And the spel here fits what we saw in Caleb's workshop and what I've been reading in his notebooks. This rose spel is a fairly low-level discord spel ; it would make whatever negative emotions we were feeling - hate, anger, jealousy, fear, sorrow - just a little bit stronger, make us a little more likely to blame one another for anything that went wrong."
"But when combined with the powers of whatever phantom might be hanging around here, the spel would become a feedback loop, just as Mrs. Flowers said could happen, strengthening our emotions and making the phantom more powerful," Stefan said slowly.
"Jealousy," said Meredith thoughtful y. "You know, I hate to admit it, but I was horribly jealous of Celia when she was here." She glanced apologetical y at Alaric, who reached out and gently touched her hand.
"She was jealous of you, too," Stefan said matter-offactly. "I could sense it." He sighed. "And I've been feeling jealous as wel ."
"So perhaps a jealousy phantom?" Alaric said. "Good, that'l give us more of a basis for researching banishing spel s. Although I haven't been feeling jealous at al ."
"Of course not," Meredith said pointedly. "You're the one who's had two girls fighting over you."
Suddenly Stefan felt so exhausted that his legs shook. He needed to feed, immediately. He nodded awkwardly to Caleb. "I'm sorry... for what happened."
Caleb looked up at him. "Please tel me what happened to Tyler," he implored. "I have to know. I'l leave you alone if you just tel me the truth, I promise."
Meredith and Stefan glanced at each other, and Stefan raised his eyebrows slightly. "Tyler was alive when he left town this past winter," Meredith said slowly. "That's al we know about him, I swear."
Caleb stared up at her for a long moment, then nodded.
"Thank you," he said simply.
She nodded back at him crisply, like a general acknowledging the troops, and led the way out of his room. Just then a muffled, cutoff shout came from downstairs, fol owed by a thud. Stefan and Alaric raced after Meredith down the stairs, almost bumping into her as she pul ed to a sudden halt.
"What is it?" Stefan asked. Meredith drew aside. Matt was lying facedown at the foot of the stairs, his arms flung out as though to catch himself. Meredith stepped quickly the rest of the way down the stairs to him and turned him over gently.
His eyes were closed, his face pale. He was breathing, slowly but steadily. Meredith felt his pulse, then shook him gently by the shoulder. "Matt," she cal ed. "Matt!" She looked up at Stefan and Alaric. "Just like the others," she said grimly. "The phantom's got him."
Chapter 29
I will not die - not again, Elena thought furiously as she writhed in pain, the invisible vise clamping down even harder on her.
Bonnie fel to the grass, even paler than before, clutching her stomach in a mirror image of Elena.
It cannot take me!
And then, just as suddenly as it had started, the deafening roar ceased and the crushing pain lifted. Elena col apsed to the ground, air whooshing back into her lungs. It's finished grinding bones to make its bread, Elena thought semihysterical y, and almost giggled. Bonnie gasped loudly, letting out a smal sob.
"What was that?" Elena asked her.
Bonnie shook her head. "It felt like something was getting pul ed out of us," she said, panting. "I felt it before, too, right before you showed up."
"That pul ing feeling." Elena grimaced, her mind whirling.
"I think it's the phantom. Damon says that it wants to drain our power. That must be how it does it."
Bonnie was staring at her, her mouth just a tiny bit open. Her pink tongue darted out and licked her lips. "Damon says?" she said. She frowned anxiously. "Damon's dead, Elena."
"No, he's alive. The star bal brought him back after we'd already left the Dark Moon. I found out after the phantom took you."
Bonnie made a little noise, a sort of eep! that reminded Elena of a bunny, of something soft and smal and surprised. Al the blood drained out of her face, leaving her usual y faint freckles vivid spots against the white of her cheeks. She pressed shaking hands to her mouth, staring at Elena with huge dark eyes.
"Listen, Bonnie," Elena said fiercely. "Nobody else knows this yet. Nobody but you and me, Bonnie. Damon wanted to keep it a secret until he could figure out the right way to come back. So we need to keep quiet about it."
Bonnie nodded, stil gaping. The color was rushing back into her cheeks, and she looked like she was caught between joy and total confusion.
Glancing over her shoulder, Elena noticed that there was something in the grass at the foot of a rosebush beyond Bonnie, something motionless and white. A chil went through her as she was reminded of Caleb's body at the foot of the monument in the graveyard.
"What's that?" she asked sharply. Bonnie's expression tipped over into confusion. Elena brushed past her and walked toward it, squinting in the sunlight. When she got close enough, Elena saw with amazement that it was Matt, lying stil and silent beneath the rosebush. A sprinkle of black petals was scattered across his chest. As she came close to him, Matt's eyes twitched - she could see them moving rapidly back and forth under the lids, as if he was having an intense dream - and then flew open as he took in a long, rattling gulp of air. His pale blue eyes met hers.