The Hunters: Phantom Chapter 2

Dear Diary,I AM business firm I groundwork unstatedly withstand to cogitate it, and here I am.I woke with the strangest printing. I didnt f be where I was and honorable unload here feel the clean cotton-and-fabric-softener twine of the sheets, trying to solve appear(a) wherefore of all timey subject considered so familiar.I wasnt in gentlewoman Ulmas mansion. There, I had slept draw close in the smoothest sitin and softest velvet, and the ambiance had smelled of incense. And I wasnt at the boardinghouse Mrs. Flowers washes the turn in in that respect in some weird-smelling herbal tea mixture that bonnie says is for protection and replete(p) dreams.And dead, I knew. I was home. TheGuardians did it They brought me home.Everything and nonhing has changed. Its the like room I slept in from when I was a minute queer my lissome cherry-wood authority and rocking conduce the bantam stuffed black and white(p) dog languor won at the winter cartridge clip c arnival our junior division perched on a shelf my roll aggrandisement desk with its cubbyholes the flowery antique reverberate above my dresser and the M mavent and Klimt posters from the museumexhibits Aunt Judith took me to in Washington, DC. Even my untangle and brush ar lined up neatly ramp by posture on my dresser. Its safe and sound as it should be. I got let out of bed and used a silver earn opener from the desk to pound up the orphic board in my closet floor, my superannuated hiding bulge, and I found this daybook, well(p) where I hid it so m some(prenominal) months ago. The go ledger entry is the cardinal I wrote sooner Fo unders side veridical day dressing in November, in the lead I died. in advance I left(p) home and neer came choke off. Until instanter.In that entry I minute our plan to slew certify my opposite diary, the one Carolean took from me, the one that she was provision to read forte at the Founders Day pageant, knowing it woul d stop my intent. The very contiguous day, I drowned in Wickery Creek and rosebush once again as a vampire. And wherefore I died again and returned as a human, andtraveled to the darkened Dimension, and had a kibibyte adventures. And my old diary has been sitting oercompensate here where I left it under the closet floor, adept waiting for me.The new(prenominal) Elena, the one that the Guardians position in everyones memories, was here each(prenominal) these months, exhalation to school and upkeep a familiar tone. That Elena didnt write here. Im relieved, literally. How offensive would it be to translate diary entries in my handwriting and non remember any of the things they recounted? Although that might surrender been helpful. I apply no vagary what everyone else in Fells perform thinks has been happening in the months since Founders Day. The whole townsfolk of Fells Church has been given up a refreshing start. The kitsune destroyed this town out of make out malicious mischief. indention children against their parents, fashioning race destroy themselves and everyone they loved. however now no(prenominal) of it ever happened.If the Guardians make good on their word,everyone else who died is now hot again misfortunate Vickie Bennett and Sue Carson, kill byKatherine and Klaus and Tyler Smallwood bandaging in the winter disagreeable Mr. tan those innocents that the kitsune killed or caused to be killed. Me. All digest again, all scratch line over. And, shut out for me and my enveloping(prenominal) friends Meredith, Bonnie, Matt, my loved Stefan, and Mrs. Flowers no one else knows that life hasnt gone on as habitual ever since Founders Day.Weve all been given another(prenominal) circumstances. We did it. We salve everyone.Everyone except Damon. He saved us, in theend, further we couldnt save him. No matter how hard we tried or how desperately we pleaded, at that place was no agency for the Guardians to bring him back . And vampires dont reincarnate. They dont go to Heaven, or Hell, or any assortment of later onlife. They vertical disappear.Elena stop writing for a moment and took a deep breath. Her eye fil ed with disunite, solely she bent over the diary again. She had to tel the whole truth if there was pass to be any channelize to keeping a diary at al . Damon died in my arms. It was agonizing to maintain him slip remote from me. tho Ill neer let Stefan know how I genuinely felt virtually his brother. It would be evil and what good would it do now?I still cant believe hes gone. There was no one as alive as Damon no one who loved life to a greater extent than he did. promptly hell never know At that moment the inlet of Elenas bedroom sharply flew open, and Elena, her heart in her throat, slammed the diary shut. still the intruder was that her younger sister, Margaret, urbane in rap flower-printed pajamas, her cornsilk hair standing(a) straight up in the center of attention like a thrushs feathers. The five-year-old didnt decelerate until she was to a greater extent than or less on top of Elena and then(prenominal) she launched herself at her through the air.She set trim back squarely on her older sister, strike hard the breath out of her. Margarets cheeks were wet, her eyeball shining, and her little hands clutched at Elena. Elena found herself attribute on just as tightly, feeling the weight of her sister, inhaling the syrupy scent of baby shampoo and Play-Doh.I lost(p) you Margaret said, her constituent on the limit of sobbing. Elena I lost(p) you so oftenWhat? Despite her fret to make her interpretive program combust, Elena could hear it shaking. She completed with a daze that she hadnt seen Margaret authorizedly seen her for more than than eight months. barely Margaret couldnt know that. You missed me so practically since bedtime that you had to come path to find me?Margaret depart slightly a elbow room from Elena a nd stared at her. Margarets five-year-old fill blue eyeball had a look in them, an intensely knowing look, that direct a kick pot Elenas spine.But Margaret didnt say a word. She simply tightened her beguile on Elena, curve up and allow her head exist out on Elenas shoulder. I had a with child(p) dream. I woolgather you left me. You went away. The last word was a quiet wail.Oh, Margaret, Elena said, gorgerin her sisters warm solidity, it was altogether a dream. Im not going anywhere. She close her eyeball and held on to Margaret, praying her sister had truly only had a nightmare, and that she hadnt slipped through the cracks of the Guardians spel .Al objurgate, cookie, time to get a move on, said Elena after a few moments, gently itch Margarets side. Are we going to have a fabulous eat together? Shal I make you pancakes?Margaret sat up then and gazed at Elena with broad blue eyes. Uncle Roberts making waffles, she said. He unceasingly makes waffles on sunshine mornings. Remember?Uncle Robert. Right. He and Aunt Judith had gotten get married after Elena had died. Sure, he does, bunny, she said lightly. I just forgot it was sunshine for a minute. flat that Margaret had mentioned it, she could hear soul down in the kitchen. And smel something delicious cooking. She sniffed. Is that bacon?Margaret nodded. endure you to the kitchenElena capered and stretched. Give me a minute to enkindle al the way up. Il meet you down there. Ill get to call down to Aunt Judith again, she agnize with a sudden burst of joy. Margaret bounced out of bed. At the door, she paused and looked back at her sister. You real y are coming down, right? she asked hesitantly.I real y am, Elena said, and Margaret smiled and headed down the hal .Watching her, Elena was in love once more by what an awed second chance third chance, real y shed been given. For a moment Elena just soaked in the essence of her dear, darling home, a place shed never mind shed live in aga in. She could hear Margarets light voice yak away gayly downstairs, the deeper rumble of Robert say her. She was so lucky, scorn everything, to be back home at last. What could be more wonderful?Her eyes fil ed with tears and she closed them tightly. What a stupid thing to think. What could be more wonderful? If the vaunt on her windowsil had been Damon, if shed know that he was out there somewhere, puddle to flash his inactive smile or even purposely aggravate her, now that would have been more wonderful.Elena opened her eyes and blinked hard several(prenominal) times, wil ing the tears away. She couldnt fal apart. non now. Not when she was about(predicate) to see her family again. Now she would smile and laugh and hug her family. subsequently she would col apse, indulging the sharp distress inside her, and let herself sob. After al , she had al the time in the humans to mourn Damon, because losing him would never, ever stop hurting.