Redamancy | Elena Gilbert

Chapter 58

"Yeah. But I don't hold it against him anymore because when my dad came back as a ghost, he talked to him as if they were friends. Wanted me not to hold that grudge."

Ruby hummed. "And where are we going to leave Kai?"

They all turned to look at him, and found he was chewing an entire packet of gum he'd found in the seat pouch.

"Maybe a hospital," said Bonnie thoughtfully. "Or a fire station."

"I'm right here," said Kai, not finding this amusing.

Rosalind sighed. "Well, where do you have planned to go?"

"Whitmore," he said.

"You're not going to live in my apartment, FYI."

"Don't want to. I'll just stick around Whitmore 'til I figure it out."

Rosalind rubbed her forehead. "Are you going to be okay if we leave you in like, a campus restaurant or something while we meet up with the others?"

"Only if you compel me unlimited food."

"Only if you promise not to kill anyone."

Kai mulled it over. "I could make an effort to spare them if they do everything I want them to."

"Done," said Rosalind. "But as an extra little threat, don't kill anyone or I'll kill you."

Kai shrugged. "I want food."

"You're going to need a new ID," noted Ruby. "You still carry the one you had before we were trapped. You should get one with a 1990 birth year so it makes sense that you look twenty-two."

"Look at you, being all smart, Ru-Ru," said Kai, nudging her side.

She simply rolled her eyes and leaned her head on the window.

Kai was happy to be left at the dining hall while Rosalind, Ruby, and Bonnie walked to her apartment. Ruby kept pinching her arms, as if to convince herself that this was real. The other people she was watching pass by were real. The buildings, the cars, the sounds, all of it was real. She nearly cried when a stray cat passed by them. She hadn't seen a cat since 1994.

"Why are we all here?" she heard Caroline asking as they neared the door of the apartment. "Way to be all vague and say it was an emergency just to reveal you have nothing to say."

"Just wait," said Damon. "Door's open."

Rosalind took the doorknob in hand, swinging it open. Everyone in the apartment froze at the sight of her.

"Bonnie," whispered Caroline, covering her mouth. "Rosalind."

The hybrid made to greet them, but was stopped when a figure crashed into her. She put her arms around them when she smelled Elena's perfume.

"You're alive," whimpered Elena in her ear, nuzzling her face into Rosalind's neck. "You're here..."

"I'm here," replied Rosalind, caressing the back of her head. "Oh..." she felt Elena shaking, as if she'd begun to cry. She drew back to cup her face. "Don't cry... this is real."

"I know it is," said Elena, drying her eyes. "They're happy tears, I promise. For once, I'm crying for something goodthat's happened..." taking Rosalind's face in her hands, she kissed her.

Rosalind could hear the others swarming forward to hug her and Bonnie, wherever they could reach. Ruby remained in the doorway, not entirely sure where to go. Tyler and Carol weren't there yet, and though she vaguely recognized all of them, they didn't know her.