Midnight

"I’l hold you,"Elena promised again. "Forever and ever."

Just then his smal body went into another spasm, and she saw tears on his dark eyelashes, and blood on his lip. But before she could say a word, he added, "I have more messages. I know them by heart. But" – his eyes begged her forgiveness – "I have to give them to the others."

What others? Elena thought at first, bewildered. Then she remembered. Stefan and Bonnie. There were other loved ones.

"I can…tel them for you,"she said hesitantly, and he gave a tiny smile, his first, just the corner of one lip up.

"He left me a little telepathy, too,"he said. "I kept it in case I had to cal to you."

Stillfiercely independent, Elena thought. Al she said was,

"You go ahead, then."

"The first one is for my brother, Stefan."

"You can tel him in just a moment,"Elena said. She held on to the smal boy in Damon’s soul, knowing that this was the last thing she had left to give him. She could sacrifice a few priceless seconds, so that Stefan and Bonnie could say their own good-byes. She made some sort of enormous adjustment to her real body – her body outside Damon’s mind, and found herself opening her eyes, blinking and trying to focus.

She saw Stefan’s face, white and stricken. "Is he – ?"

"No. But soon. He can hear telepathy, if you think clearly, as if you were speaking. He asked to talk to you."

"To me?"Stefan bent down slowly and put his cheek against his brother’s. Elena shut her eyes again, guiding him down through the darkness to where one smal light was Stillshining. She felt Stefan’s wonder as he saw her there, Stillholding the little dark-haired boy in her arms.

Elena hadn’t realized that through her link to the child, she would be able to hear every word spoken. Or that Damon’s messages would come in the words of a child.

The little boy said, "I guess you think I’m pretty stupid."

Stefan started. He’d never seen or heard the child-Damon before. "I could never think that,"he said slowly, marveling.

"But it wasn’t much like… him, you know. Like… me."

"I think,"Stefan said unsteadily, "that it’s terribly sad – that I never real y knew either of you very well ."

"Please don’t be sad. That’s what he told me to say. That you shouldn’t be sad…or afraid. He said it’s a little bit like going to sleep, and a little bit like flying."

"I’l …remember that. And – thank you – big brother."

"I think that’s al . You know to watch over our girls…."There was another of the terrible spasms that left the child breathless. Stefan spoke quickly.

"Of course. I’l take care of everything. You fly."

Elena could feel the grief slash at Stefan’s heart, but his voice was calm. "Fly away now, my brother. Fly away."

Elena felt something through the link – Bonnie touching Stefan’s shoulder. He quickly got up so that she could lie down. Bonnie was almost hysterical with sobbing, but she had done a good thing, Elena saw. While Elena had been in her own little world with Damon, Bonnie had taken a dagger and cut off a long lock of Elena’s hair. Then she had cut one of her own strawberry curls, and placed the locks – one wavy and golden, one curling and red-blond – on Damon’s chest. It was al they could do on this flowerless world to honor him, to be with him forever.

Elena could hear Bonnie, too, through her link with Damon, but at first al Bonnie could do was sob, "Damon, please! Oh, please! I didn’t know – I never thought – that anyone would get hurt! You saved my life! And now – oh, please! I can’t say good-bye!"

She didn’t understand, Elena thought, that she was talking to a very young child. But Damon had sent the child a message to repeat.

"I’m supposed to tel you good-bye, though."For the first time the child looked uneasy. "And – and I’m supposed to tel you

‘I’m sorry,’too. He thought you’d know what that meant and you’d forgive me. But…if you don’t…I don’t know what wil happen – oh!"

Another of the hateful spasms went through the child. Elena held on to him hard, biting her own lip until the blood came; at the same time trying to shield the little boy completely from her own feelings. And deep in Damon’s mind, she saw Bonnie’s expression change, from tearful penance to astonished fear to careful control. As if Bonnie had grown up al in an instant.

"Of course – of course I understand! And I forgive you – but you haven’t done anything wrong. I’m such a sil y girl – I…"

"We don’t think you’re a sil y girl,"the child said, looking vastly relieved. "But thank you for forgiving me. There’s a special name I’m supposed to cal you, too – but I…"He sank back against Elena. "I guess – I’m…getting sleepy…"

"Was it ‘redbird’?"Bonnie asked careful y, and the little boy’s pale face lit up.

"That was it. You knew already. You’re al …so nice and so smart. Thank you…for making it easy…But can I say one more thing?"

Elena was about to answer, when abruptly she was jarred completely out of Damon’s mind and back into reality. The Tree had slammed down another spider’s leg set of branches, trapping them and Damon’s body between two circles of wooden bars.

Elena had no plans. No idea how to get to the star bal that Damon had died for. Either the Tree was intel igent, or it was wired to have such efficient defenses that it might as well have been. They were lying on the evidence that many, many people had tried for that star bal  – and left behind their bones ground to sand.

Come to that, she thought, I wonder why it hasn’t gone for us, too – especial y for Bonnie. She’s been in, and then out, and back in again, which I should never have let her do except that we were al thinking about Damon. Why didn’t it go for her again?