07 The Return_ Midnight - L. J. Smith

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The next morning Elena noticed that Meredith still looked pale and languid, and that her eyes slid
away if Stefan happened to glance at her. But this was a time of crisis, and as soon as the breakfast
dishes were washed, Elena called a meeting in the parlor. There she and Stefan explained what
Meredith had missed during the visit from the sheriffs. Meredith smiled wanly when Elena told how
Stefan had banished them like stray dogs.
Then Elena told the story of her out-of-body experience. It proved one thing, at least, that
Bonnie was alive and relatively well. Meredith bit her lip when Mrs. Flowers said this, for it only
made her want to go and get Bonnie out of the Dark Dimension personally.
But on the other hand, Meredith wanted to stay and wait for Alaric’s photographs. If that
would save Fell’s Church…
No one at the boardinghouse could question what had happened on the Island of Doom. It
was happening here, on the other side of the world. Already a couple of parents in Fell’s Church had
had their children taken away by the Virginia Department of Child Protective Services. Punishments
and retaliations had begun. How much longer would it be before Shinichi and Misao turned all the
children into lethal weapons—or let loose those already turned? How long before some hysterical
parent killed a kid?
The group sitting in the parlor discussed plans and methods. In the end, they decided to
make jars identical to those Elena and Bonnie had seen, and prayed that they could reproduce the
writing. These jars, they were sure, were the means by which Shinichi and Misao were originally
sealed off from the rest of the Earth.
Therefore Shinichi and Misao had once fit into the rather cramped accommodations of
the jars. But what did Elena’s group have now that could lure them back inside?
Power, they decided. Only an amount of Power so great that it was irresistible to the
kitsune twins. That was why the priestess had tried to lure them back with her own blood. Now…it
meant either the liquid in a full star ball…or blood from an extraordinarily powerful vampire. Or two
vampires. Or three.
Everyone was sober, thinking of this. They didn’t know how much blood would be
needed—but Elena feared that it would be more than they can afford to lose. It had certainly been
more than the priestess could afford.
And then there was a silence that only Meredith could fill. “I’m sure you’ve all been
wondering about this,” she said, producing the staff thing from thin air, as far as Elena could see.
How did she do that? Elena wondered. She didn’t have it with her and then she did.