07 The Return_ Midnight - L. J. Smith

She left the stave on the burning living room floor.
Elena sobbed to get her breath, even though she was allowing Stefan to help her now. He ran, holding
Bonnie by one hand and Elena by the other. Damon was somewhere in front—scouting.
It can’t be far now, she kept thinking. Bonnie and I both saw the brightness—we both
did. Just then, like a lantern put into a window, Elena saw it again.
It’s big, that’s the problem. I keep thinking we should reach it because I have the wrong
idea of what size it is in my mind. The closer we get, the bigger it gets.
And that’s good for us. We’ll need a lot of Power. But we need to get there soon, or it
could be all the Power in the universe and it won’t matter. We’ll be too late.
Shinichi had indicated that they would be too late—but Shinichi had been born a liar.
Still, surely just beyond that low branch was…
Oh, dear God, she thought. It’s a star ball.