Midnight

He didn’t even consider asking Damon to forgive anyone.

After the girls had whispered raptures over the baby again, they were conducted to opulent bed chambers, each furnished in excel ent taste, down to the smal est decoration.

As usual, though, they al congregated in one room, which happened to be Stefan’s.

There was more than enough space on the bed for the three of them to sit or flop. Damon wasn’t present but Stefan would bet his undead life that he was listening in.

"All right,"Elena said briskly, and went into storytel ing mode.

She explained to Bonnie everything that had happened through their taking the Master Keys from Shinichi and Misao, to their flight to Lady Ulma’s bathing chamber.

"To have so much Power suddenly torn away from you in an instant…"Bonnie had her head down, and it wasn’t hard to guess who she was thinking about. She looked up. "Please, Elena. Don’t be so angry at Damon. I know he’s done some bad things – but he’s been so unhappy…"

"That’s no excuse,"Elena began. "And, frankly, I’m – "

Don’t, Elena! Don’t tell her that you’re ashamed of her for putting up with it! She’s already ashamed of herself!

"I’m surprised at him,"Elena said with only the smal est hesitation. "I know for a fact that he cares for you. He even has a pet name for you: his little redbird."

Bonnie sniffed. "You always say that pet names are stupid."

"Well, but I meant names like – oh – if he cal ed you ‘Bonbon’or something."

Bonnie’s head came up. "Even that would be okay for the baby,"she said, with a sudden smile, like a rainbow after a storm.

"Oh, yes, isn’t she adorable? I never saw such a happy baby.

Margaret used to just look at you with big eyes. Adara – if she is Adara – should have such a happy life…"

Stefan settled back against the headboard. Elena had the situation in hand.

Now he could worry about where Damon was going. After a moment he tuned back in, to find Bonnie talking about treasure.

"And they kept asking me and asking me and I couldn’t figure out why since the star bal with the story on it was right there.

Only the story is gone now – Damon checked. Shinichi was going to throw me out the window, and that was when Damon rescued me, and the Guardians asked me about the story too."

"Strange,"Stefan said, sitting up alertly. "Bonnie, tel me how you first felt this story; where you were and al ."

Bonnie said, "Well, first I saw a story about a little girl named Marit going to buy a sugarplum – that was why I tried to do the same thing the next day. And then I went to bed, but I couldn’t sleep. So then I picked up the star bal again and it showed me the story about the kitsune treasures. The stories are shown in order, so it had to be the one right after the sweetshop story. And then suddenly I was out of my body, and I was flying with Elena right over Alaric’s car."

"Did you do anything in between experiencing the story and going to bed?"Stefan asked.

Bonnie thought; her rosebud mouth pursed. "I suppose I turned down the gas lamp. Every night I would turn the lamp way down so that it was only a flicker."

"And did you turn it back up again when you couldn’t sleep and reached for the star bal again?"

"Um…no. But they’re not books! You don’t have to see to experience a story."

"That wasn’t what I meant. How did you find the star bal in that dim room? Was it the only star bal on the floor near you?"

Bonnie’s brows came together. "Well …no. There were twenty-six. Two others were hideous; I’d kicked those into a corner. Twenty-five were soap operas – so boring. It’s not as if I had shelves or anywhere else to put them – "

"Bonnie, do you want to know what I think happened?"

Bonnie blinked and nodded.

"I think that you read a children’s story and then you went to bed. And you actual y fel asleep very quickly, even though you dreamed you were awake. Then you dreamed a premonition – "

Bonnie groaned. "Another one of those? But there wasn’t even anyone to tel it to then!"

"Exactly. But you wanted to tel it to someone, and that longing brought you – your spirit – to where Elena was. But Elena was so worried about getting word across to Alaric that she was having an out-of-body experience. She’d been asleep too, I’m sure of it."Stefan looked at Elena. "What do you think of that?"

Chapter 28

Elena was nodding slowly. "It would work with what happened to me. At first I was alone out of my body, but then I saw Bonnie beside me."

Bonnie bit her lip. "Well …the first thing I saw was Elena and we were both flying. I was a little behind her. But Stefan, why do you think I fel asleep and dreamed a whole story? Why can’t my version just be true?"

"Because I think the first thing you’d have done would be to turn the light on – if you real y were lying there awake.

Otherwise, you might well have picked up a soap opera – so boring!"

Bonnie’s forehead smoothed at last. "That would explain why nobody believed me even when I told them exactly where the story was! But why didn’t I tel Elena about the treasure?"

"I don’t know. But sometimes when you wake up – and I think you did wake up to have the out-of-body experience – you forget the dream if something interesting is going on. But then you might remember it later if something reminds you of it."

Bonnie stared into a middle distance, thinking. Stefan was silent, knowing that only she could unravel the riddle for herself.

At last Bonnie nodded. "It could be that way! I woke up and the first thing I thought of was the sweetshop. And after that I never gave another thought to the treasure dream until somebody asked for stories. And it just popped into my head."