Phantom

"Let’s jump!" he said, and headed toward the waterfal .

"Not Meredith," said Stefan flatly. "Not Meredith, and not Celia. You two stay here."

There was a little silence, and he glanced up from the gril to see his friends staring at him. He kept his face neutral as he returned their gazes. This was a life-or-death situation. It was Stefan’s responsibility now to keep them safe, whether they liked it or not. He looked at them each in turn, holding their eyes. He was not going to back down.

Meredith had risen to her feet to fol ow Matt to the fal s’

edge, and she hesitated for a moment, clearly unsure how to react. Then her face hardened, and Stefan saw that she had chosen to take a stand.

She stepped toward him. "I’m sorry, Stefan," she said, her voice level. "I know you’re worried, but I’m going to do what I decide I want to do. I can look after myself."

She moved to join Matt, who was standing at the edge of the cliff, but Stefan’s hand whipped out to grab her wrist, his fingers as strong as steel. "No, Meredith," he said firmly. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Bonnie’s mouth drop open. Everyone was looking at him with puzzled, anxious faces, and Stefan tried to soften his tone. "I’m just trying to do what’s best for you."

Meredith sighed, a long, gusty sound, and seemed to be making an effort to let go of some of her anger. "I know that, Stefan," she said reasonably, "and I appreciate it. But I can’t go through the world not doing the things I usual y do, just waiting for whatever this is to come get me."

She tried to move around him, but he sidestepped to block her way again.

Meredith glanced at Celia, who threw up her hands and shook her head. "Don’t look at me," Celia said. "I have no urge to jump off a cliff. I’m just going to lie in the sunshine and let you al work this out yourselves." She leaned back on her hands and turned her face toward the sun. Meredith’s eyes narrowed and she whirled back to Stefan. As she was opening her mouth, Elena broke in.

"What if the rest of us go first?" she suggested placatingly to Stefan. "We can make sure there’s nothing clearly dangerous down there. And we’l be near her at the bottom. Nobody’s ever been hurt jumping here, not that I’ve heard of. Right, guys?" Matt and Bonnie nodded in agreement.

Stefan felt himself softening. Whenever Elena used her logical voice and her wide, appealing eyes, he found himself agreeing to plans that, in his heart of hearts, he thought were foolhardy.

Elena pressed her advantage. "You could stand right by the water below, too," she said. "Then, if there’s any problem, you could dive in right away. You’re so fast, you’d get there before anything bad could happen."

Stefan knew this was wrong. He hadn’t forgotten that sick swoop of despair, of realizing he was too slow to save someone. Once again, he saw Damon’s long, graceful leap toward Bonnie that had ended with Damon fal ing to earth, a wooden branch driven through his heart. Damon had died because Stefan was too slow to save him, too slow to realize the danger and save Bonnie himself.

He’d also been too late to save Elena when she had driven off the bridge and drowned. The fact that she now lived again didn’t mean he hadn’t failed her then. He remembered her pale hair floating like seaweed in the chil y water of Wickery Creek, her hands stil resting on the steering wheel, her eyes closed, and shuddered. He had dived repeatedly before he found her. She had been so cold and white when he carried her to shore. Stil , he found himself nodding. What Elena wanted, Elena got. He would stand by and protect Meredith as best as he could, and he prayed, as far as a vampire could pray, that it would be enough.

The rest of the friends stayed at the top while, down at the bottom of the fal s, Stefan surveyed the pool at his feet. The water sprayed up exuberantly from where the fal s hit the surface. Warm, pale sand encircled the pool’s edges, making a tiny beach, and the center of the pool seemed dark and deep.

Matt jumped first, with a long, wavering whoop as he plummeted. The splash as he hit the water was huge, and he seemed to stay submerged for a long time. Stefan leaned forward to watch the water. He couldn’t see through the foam thrown up by the fal s, and an anxious quiver shot through his stomach.

He was just thinking of diving in after him when Matt’s sleek wet head broke the surface. "I touched the bottom!"

he announced, grinning, and shook his head like a dog, throwing glittering drops of water everywhere. He swam toward Stefan, strong tan limbs moving powerful y, and Stefan thought how easy everything seemed for Matt. He was a creature of sunlight and simplicity, while Stefan was stuck in the shadows, living a long half-life of secrets and loneliness. Sure, his sapphire ring let him walk in the sun, but being exposed to the sunlight for a long time, like today, was uncomfortable, as if there were some kind of itch deep inside him. It was worse now that he was readjusting to a diet of animal blood again. His unease was yet another reminder that he didn’t real y belong here. Not the way Matt did.

He shrugged off his sour feelings, surprised at their emergence in the first place. Matt was a good friend. He always had been. The daylight must be getting to him. Bonnie jumped next, and surfaced more quickly, coughing and snorting. "Oof!" she said. "I got water up my nose! Ugh!" She pul ed herself out of the water and perched on a rock near Stefan’s feet. "You don’t swim?" she asked him.

Stefan was struck with a flash of memory. Damon, tanned and strong, splashing him and laughing in one of his rare fits of good humor. It was hundreds of years ago now. Back when the Salvatore brothers had lived in the sunlight, back before even the great-grandparents of his friends had been born. "Not for a long time," he answered. Elena jumped with the same casual grace as she did everything else, straight as an arrow toward the bottom of the fal s, her gold bathing suit and her golden hair gleaming in the sunshine. She was underwater for longer than Bonnie had been, and again Stefan tensed, watching the pool. When she broke the surface, she gave them a rueful grin. "I couldn’t quite reach the bottom," she said. "I was stretching and stretching down. I could see the sand, but the water pushed me back up."