"MAN, THOSE FISH ARE LIVING BETTER THAN ME," Tyler commented when he walked into the kitchen after his run with Mason. He reached into a cabinet to get a cup, and as he was going to fill it up, he asked her, "What are you going to name them?"
She sat up from where she was resting her head on the counter and watching the fish in the tank. She had gone to the pet store the day before with JJ, and they bought almost everything in the store that was meant for fish along with some things that were not meant for fish and just looked cool. She answered, "Well, there's Swim Shady, James Pond, Tank Sinatra, Fishtian Bale, Johnny Depth, Meryl Stream, Tuna Turner, Marlin Monroe, Leonardo DeCarpio, and I can't think of a name for the last one."
"Fin Diesel," the boy suggested after a moment of thinking, and he had a proud smile on his face for thinking of it.
Her eyes widened, and a smiled crossed her face as she grabbed a pen and wrote the name down on the name tag that she was building to put in front of the tank. "That is genius. I always had this feeling that one day you'd be useful."
"Thanks, sis," he muttered sarcastically before making his way to their father's study where their mother was working on paperwork for the death and everything. Charlie followed him curiously since she was done with naming her fish. He asked the woman at the desk, "Have you ever been down to those old ruins in the woods?"
"The old Lockwood estate?" she questioned with raised eyebrows, taking her reading glasses off and looking her son in the eye.
He nodded in response, and his sister who was watching from the doorway tilted her head in question. Why did he need to know about that? He had never shown much interest in their family history before them. "Yeah. What do you know about it?"
"It was the original plantation house," she informed him, and she looked happy to be talking about it with her children that were actually paying attention to what she was saying for once. "Beautiful antebellum architecture, and if it hadn't burnt to the ground we'd probably be living in it."
"What's the deal with the freaky underground cellar?" he quizzed, and Charlie froze. He was asking about the same exact cellar that she used to chain herself down during the full moons, the cellar that she would be in that night for that very purpose.
The Lockwood woman paused, looking down at her paper for a second in shame. "We don't talk about those kind of rooms."
"Why not?" he questioned.
She explained to him with a small sigh, "Well, this is the South, honey, but no one likes to reminisce about the old slave days."
"Hey. What are you guys talking about?" Mason questioned as he pushed past Charlie and into the room. She glared at his back for being so rude even though he could not see her. As much as she appreciated how much he helped her when she was new at being a werewolf, he had always been a dick while he did it.
"We were just talking about the old Lockwood property," the boy informed him before looking between all of his family members in the room. "Thinking of having some friends over to the swim hole."
That was when the two werewolves' heads whipped around to look at each other. They needed that spot that night so that they could chain up during the full moon. They at least needed the cellar and for no one to wander down there. Carol was worried about something else, oblivious to the two's interaction. "Well, be careful. If anything happens on the property the family is liable."
"Of course," her son assured her before walking out of the room. Charlie sighed as he went. They really needed to come up with a solution for their predicament.
She went over to Caroline's house afterward because Bonnie was supposed to be doing some spell to make the Forbes girl a daylight ring so that she could wak around in the sun without burning to death. Stefan had somehow convinced the witch to do, but she did not seem happy as she stood by the bed with the grimoire in her hands. Caroline examined the ring that had been picked for her, curled up in a corner where the rays of sunshine could not reach her. "So, I don't get to choose the ring I have to wear the rest of my life?"
"Hey, if you don't want it..." the Bennett girl trailed off, and they all knew that she was fully prepared to just get up and leave them without the enchanted ring.
Both Stefan and Charlie stopped her quickly. "No, no. She wants it."
"Now what?" the blonde girl asked, giving in with a sigh. She was still really upset that her friend hated her for something that she had no control over. She did not choose to be a vampire. Katherine just came in a suffocated her when she had Damon's blood in her system.
"Now is the part where I explain the rules," Bonnie answered before informing all of them with a warning voice, "The witch who spells the ring has the power to de-spell it so if you ever do anything to hurt anyone—"
Caroline cut her off quickly with a determined voice. "I'm not gonna hurt anyone."
"You are a vampire that mean the urge to kill is a part of who you are. The minute you let it take over, I will stop you," the girl informed the new vampire, and her tone was almost threatening. It was shocking to the Lockwoo girl because she had never seen that side of her.
The Forbes girl looked hurt as she glanced between the two supportive friends that her nodding at her comfortingly and the one that was basically threatening to kill her. "Bonnie, you're supposed to be my friend."
"I can't ignore what happened, okay?" Bonnie exclaimed, throwing one of her hands up in the air so that she could still hold the grimoire. "If you want to be friends, you have to prove that the Caroline I remember isn't gone. Now put the ring on the bed."
"Do you really think I meant to kill that guy at the carnival?" the blonde girl asked after she did as she was told.
"He's still dead," the Bennett girl pointed out, even though they all already knew that. "Now, do you want me to cast the spell or not?" Caroline fell silent, and the witch opened the curtains a little bit so that the sun shined on the ring. She looked at the ring before closing her eyes for a moment. She finally opened them, and even though it looked like nothing had changed, Charlie could practically feel the magic in the air. "All done."
The Forbes girl furrowed her eyebrows, looking around as if she was waiting for something to happen. "So that's it? I mean nothing witchy happened. You know, no flickering lights, no gust of wind. Have you even done this before?"
"Caroline," Stefan warned, no wanting her to upset the girl that could take away the power of the ring at any time.
"What?" she questioned and looked at him with a confused expression. "I just want to make sure that it worked."
Bonnie, who was clearly annoyed, just grabbed the curtained that were blocking the sun and yanked them open. The light fell on the blonde girl, and nothing happened. The witch shrugged and said the obvious. "It worked."
"What if it hadn't, Bonnie?" Caroline exclaimed, feeling her skin to make sure that nothing was happening. If the ring did not work, then she would be a pile of ashes at that moment.
Bonnie just rolled her eyes and looked over to Stefan, whispering, "She's all yours." Then, she took the grimoire and left.
☾❄☽
THAT NIGHT, CHARLIE AND MASON WERE IN the Lockwood cellar, working on getting chained up for the full moon. The man had told his nephew to get everyone cleared out before the sun went down, telling him some lie about how bad things happen when it's dark and people are drunk.
However, they were forced to change their plans when they heard voices coming from above them. Just enhancing her hearing a little bit, it only took a couple of words for the Lockwood girl to figure out that it was her brother and some girl, and they were walking toward the cellar. She looked over to her Uncle who also noticed for what to do. He just muttered, "Damn it."
"Mason, they're coming down," she informed him, and she could tell that the two teenagers above them were only a little bit away from starting to walk down the stairs. "What are we gonna do?"
"Here, follow me," he told her, and then opened the door, his chains still strapped onto his wrists and ankles. She did the same as him, and he turned around and brought his finger to his mouth, telling her to be quiet. They slowly walked up the stairs, wincing every time one of their chains clinked.
They lunged behind a tree as soon as they reached a top because they could see Tyler and his girl, and that meant that if he looked close enough, he would be able to see them too. They waited impatiently for them to go down into the cellar, carefully watching the moon above them.
It was almost to its peak.
Once the coast was clear, they raced through the forest, not caring how loud they were because they needed to get secure before the transformation started. The girl was ahead of the man until he called after her, "Charlie, get over here!"
"What?" she questioned as she stopped running to see that he had paused by a tree. For a second, she thought it was because he was tired and needed a break, but then he grabbed her by the chains and pulled her toward him.
She furrowed her eyebrows, but he explained as soon as he saw her confused expression, already starting to wrap her chains around the tree. "I'm gonna secure you to this tree. It doesn't look like we'll find anything much better out here."
"What about you?" she questioned worriedly. In the cellar, it was easy to hook the chains to the walls, but it required someone else to chain you to a tree. He would not be able to do it himself unless he had help.
"I'll figure something out," he assured her with a small shrug, as he looked up at the bright glowing orb nervously. It was getting dangerously close to the time. "You just worry about you and your transformation."
She did not get a chance to respond because they both cried out in pain as cracks rang throughout the space. She screamed as he finished tying her up. She groaned out, even though he was already aware of the fact, "It's starting."
"No, really?" he grunted sarcastically, and then he bounded off into the woods without another word. His cries of pain were drowned out by her own as every bone in her body began to break.
It was always worse being restrained during the transition because it made it more difficult for the structures in her body to rearrange, so it was more painful. She would just have to push through, though, because it was the only chance she had at not brutally ripping someone to shreds, especially when she knew that there were vampires in the woods. She could smell them, and her body couldn't help but tug at the chains as she tried to break free. After a few moments, the worst part was over, and she blacked out.
She woke up, and that was when she remembered one of the reasons that she hated being in the woods during the transformation. There were leaves everywhere, and she was completely naked. She was also freezing cold, and she would have to find her clothes and somewhere to change without running into anyone. Mason had the clothes that she brought, but there was no way that she was going out to look for him.
As if someone out there heard her thoughts, there was crunching around her. She tensed up, using her arms to cover herself as much as she could because she heard breathing that definitely belonged to a human. Someone was about to find her naked, hair a mess and chained to a tree, and they would probably think that something really weird happened there. She breathed out a sigh of relief when she saw who it was.
JJ.
She was carrying a bundle of a bunch of different things, and as she walked over, she breathed out, "Thank God, you're human. I was a little nervous for a second."
"I love you," the Lockwood told her, her teeth chattering, and she watched as her girlfriend pulled some keys out of her pocket and began unlocking all of the shackles on each of her limbs. She was a little confused as to how to girl found her and had all of the supplies, but she figured that she ran into Mason somewhere along the way.
The blonde girl chuckled lightly at that, and then she helped the werewolf change into her clothes. Once she was done, she wrapped a blanket around her and informed her, "I have two things to tell you. One — I met your uncle. You were right. He is a dick."
"I told you," the brunette sighed, a little scared as to what Mason said to her.
"I know. I know," the Martin girl responded as the other girl pulled her shoes on, careful not to let the blanket slip off her shoulders. JJ tried to brush through her mess of a hair with her fingers before continuing hesitantly. "The other thing is a little bit worse. Um, your brother kind of knows everything."
"What?"