˖*°࿐chapter eleven.
xi. TIME IS ON MY SIDE
———
"I don't understand. It's been over an hour. Why hasn't she woken up yet?" Damon said to Cassandra as he carried Janelle's unconscious body into the Boarding House.
He laid her down onto the couch, Bonnie following in after him. Damon bit into his wrist, holding it over Janelle's mouth. "You already tried that, Damon. It's not going to work." Bonnie gently pulled his arm away.
Damon groaned in frustration. "There has to be some other way. We can't just leave her like this." His eyes cut to Cassandra, who was standing in the doorway. "You." He angrily stomped towards her. "You did this to her; you fix it."
"I didn't do anything to her. Janelle was aware of what would happen if she didn't make it back in time. My magic can't heal her, and neither can your blood. It's up to her now to pull herself out of this."
This made Damon furious. He couldn't just wait for Janelle to wake up on her own. He refused to let her stay like this.
But what if she doesn't pull through? He thought to himself.
What if she never wakes up?
Just thinking about it made Damon scared. He's already lost his sister once. He doesn't want to lose her again.
Bonnie saw the distress on Damon's face."She'll be okay, Damon. Janelle's strong — she'll make it through this," she told him.
"And what if she doesn't?" he asked, looking back at Janelle. It seemed as if she was sleeping. "Somebody has to do something. I'm not just going to sit here and watch my sister possibly die."
The front opened, revealing a frantic Stefan. He first noticed that Bonnie was here, but he was too distracted by seeing the state Janelle was in to acknowledge her. He rushed to Janelle, sitting on the floor from where she laid on the couch. He grabbed her hand, squeezing it once, hoping for her to do the same.
Just to let him know she was okay — alive.
"What happened?" Stefan asked.
"She knocked out after returning from the prison world where she saved Bonnie," Damon replied, joining his brother on the couch after lifting Janelle's feet and laying them on his lap. "We don't know what's wrong with her, and none of us have been able to heal her either."
Stefan turned to Cassandra. "Will she be okay?"
"I'm not sure yet," she answered truthfully.
That wasn't what he wanted to hear, and it made Damon even more pissed off than he already was.
"What the hell is that supposed to mean?"
"It means exactly that," she retorted. "Janelle barely made it back in time. Not to mention, her blood was linked to the spell. The magic must've been too much for her." She didn't want to have to tell Janelle's family like this, but they deserved to know. "You'll need to let Klaus know about Janelle's condition. This matter concerns him as well."
"I'll pass," Damon scoffed.
"Damon," Cassandra warned, "Klaus sent her here for a reason. It wasn't safe for her to stay with him, so he wanted to ensure that the two of you would protect her under any circumstances. He has a right to know what is going on with her."
Bonnie didn't understand what she meant. She had been gone for so long; she never got the chance to catch up with what's been happening. "Why isn't it safe for Janelle?" Bonnie asked.
Cassandra thought over her words carefully — she didn't want to say too much. "It's not my place to say. Janelle will need to tell you all herself. That's if she gets the chance."
Damon narrowed his eyes at her, standing up from his previous position on the couch. He was becoming suspicious of Cassandra. "What are you hiding?"
"As I said," she repeated, "it's not my place. But if you were to call Klaus, I'm sure he'll be able to explain it to you."
Cassandra didn't like keeping secrets, but she also didn't enjoy confrontation. She had an idea as to why Janelle hasn't woken up yet, but it wouldn't be right for her to say without sharing too much information.
Damon's jaw clenched, ready to kill the stubborn witch who stood before him. He never trusted Klaus, but he trusted the intentions he had for his sister. That's the only reason he let Janelle be with him in the first place. For her happiness.
Damon gritted his teeth before leaving to a separate room to call the hybrid. Bonnie went with him while Stefan decided to stay back.
All he could do was hope and pray for Janelle to wake up. There's no one Stefan loved more than his big sister. Besides his brother, of course. But she was always there for him. He could talk to her about anything. They kept a close bond with each other. The thought of losing her was heartbreaking to him.
"Nelle, please." Stefan didn't notice it, but he had tears streaming down his face. He leaned his head against her shoulder with a sob. "You have to wake up."
Janelle was pale and looked, unlike her usual self. Her skin was cold, and the only type of body heat she was getting was from Stefan being so close to her.
"Do you think she'll make it?" Stefan's voice cracked.
"I can't speak on that, Stefan. I'm sorry," she apologized. "But I have seen other witches in similar situations. It's all has to do with a matter of time. And, unfortunately, Janelle's clock is definitely ticking."
He gulped, "How long?"
"48 hours," she replied, "maybe less."
Stefan tightened his grip on Janelle's hand. "So if she doesn't pull through by then..."
Cassandra was afraid he would ask that. He didn't need this on him right now. He's already been through enough for one day. But Stefan already knew what she was going to say. He just didn't want it to be true.
"She'll die."
———
It was now morning time.
Damon had moved Janelle up to her bedroom, so she'd be more comfortable when she woke up. Yes, he still believed that she would make it out of this, despite what Cassandra says.
He and Stefan took turns staying by her side, so if anything were to happen, one of them would be there. Bonnie had gone back to Whitmore to see the rest of her friends and Cassandra slept in one of the many guestrooms.
Damon paced around the room, not knowing what to do with himself. He still hadn't gotten answers from Klaus nor Cassandra yet. It was killing him on the inside, not having any knowledge of what was wrong with his sister and that these two people did.
He didn't understand how bad it could have been for Janelle not to say anything to him that it had to wait for something like this to happen first.
"God, why isn't Klaus here yet?" Damon mumbled, chugging back the rest of his bourbon.
"It's a long way from New Orleans. He'll be here," Stefan told him, but it was meant more for himself than it was for Damon. He just needed some reassurance Klaus would show up, especially for the sake of Janelle's life.
A small knock came from the door as Cassandra entered the room, her Grimoire held under her arm. Damon already knew what was coming, and he was quick to disagree.
"Oh, no," he told her. "No."
"Damon —"
He cut her off, "Absolutely not. Look what happened the last time you used that thing. We're not using magic on my sister."
Cassandra let out a deep sigh, "You're not the only one who cares about her, Damon. You could at least let me try."
"And watch you make matters worse? No, thanks," He replied in a monotone, filling up his glass for the fourth time this morning.
Drinking seemed to be the only way to get him to stay calm in this situation. As for Stefan, he was a bit eager to Cassandra's idea. He was willing to try anything if it meant getting Janelle back.
"What did you have in mind?" Stefan asked.
Damon looked at him like he was crazy. He couldn't believe that Stefan actually wanted her to help.
Cassandra smiled thankfully and sat on the foot of the bed. "There may be a spell in here to save Janelle. Now, it's a bit of a long shot, but it's the only thing that I was able to come across that would work best." She opened up her Grimoire and showed it to Stefan.
"An awakening spell?" His eyes wandered over the page, reading it over a few times. "It says you need a poppet. What is that?"
"Think of it as an object that would trade places with Janelle. Remove her from her sleeping state and put the poppet to rest instead."
"So, like what? A teddy bear?" Damon suggested, remembering how Bonnie used Ms. Cuddles to send away her magic.
"Precisely," Cassandra agreed with a nod of her head.
Damon was very hesitant about using magic again, but they were running out of ideas. This may be their only choice. "Fine. I'll look for something." With that, he walked out, leaving Stefan and Cassandra there.
As Damon went down the staircase, he contemplated whether he was making the right decision. Putting his sister's life in the hands of the woman who made her like this.
Maybe if I had tried harder to stop her... He thought.
As much as Damon wanted to blame Cassandra for this whole thing, he could help, but wonder if this was his fault. He wanted Bonnie to be brought home, but not at the risk of losing a sibling.
Just as if Damon couldn't get any more irritated, he sensed the presence of another person in the room.
"Klaus." He turned around to face him, surprised to see that he wasn't alone. "And Elijah? Really?"
When Klaus received the call last night, he felt the need to bring some support with him along the way, when really, he just wanted a distraction. He knew Elijah would keep him company. As for the rest of his siblings, they stayed in New Orleans to take care of things while the two of them were gone.
Klaus chose to ignore Damon's antics — he was more concerned about Janelle. "Where is she?" he demanded.
Damon rolled his eyes, sighing. "In her bedroom." He watched as Klaus hurried up the staircase, Elijah staying behind.
"You and I need to discuss a few things," he told Damon.
Another thing that Damon was unaware of is Janelle has been talking to Rebekah about what's happened in this past week. Including her conversation with Jo.
Let's just say, Klaus and Cassandra weren't the only ones keeping secrets.
When Klaus got up to Janelle's bedroom, he almost wanted to break down right there. It hurt him to see her just laying there. What made it worse was you couldn't even hear her heartbeat, giving off the illusion that she wasn't breathing. But she was, it was just very faint.
Although, what confused him was seeing Cassandra drawing blood from Janelle's palm into a small vial. He fully stepped into the room, grabbing Stefan's attention.
"What's going on?" Klaus questioned.
"Klaus," Cassandra turned to him, smiling. "Good. We were just about to get started."
He sat in front of Janelle on the bed, tucking a loose strand of hair behind her ear. "Started with what exactly?"
"Saving my sister," Stefan answered, showing the spell Cassandra was going to use to Klaus. "Hopefully."
"You say that with such confidence."
Stefan crossed his arms over his chest. "Well, unless you have a better idea, then I'm all ears."
Klaus forced himself to restrain from any anger to be shown. He knew that Janelle didn't like it when he fought with her family. She would want them to be working together, not against each other.
"Okay. We're all set to go. I just need the — oh, there it is." Cassandra took the bear that Damon had finally brought up as he came in with Elijah behind him. "I'll need some room."
Klaus followed her orders and set the Grimoire down before standing next to his brother. Cassandra placed the bear onto Janelle's stomach and poured a drop of her blood from the vial onto it, making the connection. She put one of her hands on Janelle's shoulder and the other on the bear.
Troubled blood with sleep's unease
Remove the cause of this disease
Sleep eternal, nevermore
And shift the source of illness borne
To this poppet whom none shall mourn
Everyone stared at his Janelle's body, seeing that nothing happened. "She isn't waking up." Cassandra moved back, not understanding what went wrong.
"You said this would work," Damon growled at her.
"No, I said I would try," she emphasized. "This spell was written centuries ago for someone else. Someone who was medically sick, which Janelle clearly is not."
Klaus frowned, walking closer to her. "So, what does this mean?"
"There's not much I can do anymore. Whatever is keeping Janelle from waking up is clearly out of my magical abilities."
———
Several hours passed, and no one was able to come up with a reasonable solution. At least not one that wouldn't have consequences. But that always seemed to be the result when it came to the use of magic.
Others have stopped by the house earlier after hearing about what happened to Janelle. Many of them were in shock to see that Klaus and Elijah were here.
Elena had stayed the longest, trying to comfort Damon, but he thought it would be best if she had gone back to handling her own predicaments with her sibling instead. He didn't want anyone else's sympathy at the moment.
Caroline had done the same for Stefan, but she did feel a bit uncomfortable seeing Klaus again. It was no secret that they had shared a few moments in the past. But Klaus would always have eyes for Janelle.
Bonnie was thinking of coming as well because she had some things to tell Damon, but she didn't want to drop it on him under this current situation. He already had enough to deal with. She figured she'd just come back later.
Klaus and Cassandra were currently talking about their plans as well in another room. Well, it was more of Cassandra's plan. What she had thought of wasn't something that Klaus didn't initially agree to at first, considering the knowledge she had given him of what had happened in the past when this was brought up.
After a few minutes of speaking with one another, they decided to return to the living room where the others sat.
"We may have a solution," Cassandra said with a smile.
Damon chuckled, dryly, "You seem to have a lot of those. All of which that have failed, miserably."
Klaus sighed, "Hear her out, Damon."
"There's a witch who lives in town who would be willing to help Janelle. They might be able to wake her up before it's too late," Cassandra explained as everyone gave her questioning stares.
"And this person's name?" Stefan asked, now standing up from where he sat on the couch.
Cassandra looked up at Klaus as if asking for permission on whether she should say, or not. He nodded, letting her know to continue.
"Kai Parker."