Sincerely Yours [Stefan Salvatore]

[30. Deal or No Deal]

[2x11; By the Light of the Moon]

"Are you ready?"

Lucy gave Bonnie a nervous look at her question. Was she ready to siphon this curse from the moonstone and potentially have this vicious Klaus guy hunt them all down? No. Was she ready to siphon the curse from the moonstone and save her sister's life? Yes.

"I'm ready," she sighed, grabbing the moonstone from Bonnie's hand.

"Just be careful," Bonnie advised her. "Take breaks. Too much magic will—"

"—overwhelm me," Lucy finished, having heard it before. "Got it."

Lucy wrapped her hands around the moonstone—which eerily matched the stone in her locket—and concentrated. Nothing happened; her hands didn't glow and she didn't feel that small rush of adrenaline she felt every time she siphoned magic from something.

She closed her eyes and tried again with the same result.

It was like the moonstone had no magic in it at all.

"Uh, Lucy, are you going to siphon the curse?" Bonnie asked impatiently.

"I can't, Bonnie!" Lucy exclaimed, slightly hysterical. "Nothing's coming out. It's like there isn't anything in there."

"No, no, that's impossible," Bonnie shook her head, grabbing the moonstone back from her. She concentrated and felt magic pulsing through the stone. "I can feel the magic."

"I couldn't," Lucy insisted. "Which means..."

"It's spelled against siphoners," Bonnie said flatly."

"Great."

Bonnie slipped the moonstone into her bag and gave Lucy a small smile, seeing how guilty the younger girl looked. "It's not your fault, Luce. I'll just have to find a way to de-spell it myself."

Lucy frowned. "I'm so sorry, Bon."

"Don't be," Bonnie grabbed Lucy's hand and squeezed it. "Seriously. Come on, we should go tell Elena what's going on."

"Are we still testing her?" Lucy wondered.

When Bonnie nodded, Lucy followed Bonnie out of her room and into Elena's, both of them not bothering to knock. Elena was sitting at her window seat, diary in her lap, with a severely grouchy look on her face.

"Hey," she grumped, standing up and walking over to them. "What's up?"

"I can't siphon the curse from the moonstone," Lucy told her straight away. There was no point in beating around the bush. She had failed, plain and simple.

Elena's face was blank, no sign of surprise, relief, or anger. "So, what now?"

Bonnie sighed and pulled the moonstone out of her bag, handing it to Elena. It was all part of the test she, Lucy, and Jeremy had planned to see if Elena would leave to try to get herself killed again.