Stefan
''Give me your hand.'' She said, holding out hers. Stefan frowned but immediately obeyed. ''I don't mind holding hands with you.'' He said and squeezed it a little. Willow closed her eyes and Stefan got a weird feeling that they weren't alone. Scanning their surroundings, there was no one even close, besides his siblings in the house. He then realised, it was in his head, a feeling he couldn't describe but his thoughts felt exposed. Willow didn't say a thing for a couple of seconds but then she smiled and opened her eyes. Stefan couldn't help but think her eyes were very beautiful, they were bright and blue. ''Enjoyed that, didn't you?'' A cocky smile crept across his face. ''Yeah, I did. '' The girl actually sounded sincere and let go of his hand. The creepy feeling was gone, he was all alone again. ''Wait , what? No come back? '' Stefan was surprised. Willow shook her head in what looked like pity and walked to the nearest tree in their garden. ''My grandma learned me this new trick, '' She started, ''I didn't enjoy holding your hand, I enjoyed looking in your head. ''
''You looked into my head? And'', he stressed the word, ''you liked it?'' Stefan wondered what she'd seen. Did she have access to all his thoughts? Or just the ones he had been having at that exact moment? Was she able to see every memory of his?
Willow gave him a small smile and nodded.
''Why didn't you tell Damon the truth?'' She asked. The wind blew her scent in his direction, her hair floating through the air while she was trying to keep it in place.
Stefan shrugged, she wouldn't understand if he tried to explain. None of his siblings really listened to anything he had to say, let along they even believed him. Klaus was the only one who noticed he was still a part of the family, but Stefan was used to it. Ever since Elena was born, she was all everyone couldn't stop thinking about and they shoved Stefan and Klaus away, them being just the middle kids, not at all important. They didn't hate their little human sister, they just hated how everyone acted around her, like she was the centre of their world and nothing else mattered anymore.
Willow started walking away from him, until she turned around.
''I'm going to do some more exploring, getting to know the borders. Care to join me?''
After giving the house a quick glance, knowing nobody really enjoyed his company over there, he took the offer.
''If we run we're faster.'' Stefan offered.
''Imagine how fast we'd be if we flew, but that's not going to happen either.''
Willow took out her car keys and got in behind the wheel, starting the engine. She waited a little, to see if he'd come with her but he was already on the run.
They met at end of the road, the woods starting and houses ending. She parked her car and sighed. This wasn't going to be easy. A knock on her window made her heart skip a beat and she cursed the Salvatore brother already.
''What? Couldn't wait 'till I got out?'' Willow slammed her door shut and locked the car with one click.
''You were just staring at your wheel. It creeped me out.''
Stefan looked around, the woods were dark but his vampire vision gave him a clear view of everything. His ears told him there were only a couple of night animals awake but his nose did tell him something weird.
''And you standing sniffing around in the air is not creepy?'' Willow shivered, the wind was colder at night and she didn't have a jacket on.
Stefan chuckled. ''Getting cold feet already?''
''Very funny.'' The girl started moving, placing her feet carefully because tripping in front of Stefan would be too embarrassing.
''Can't we go faster?'' He asked.
Already, Willow regretted inviting him. ''It's human versus vampire, Stefan.''
''Well, guess who wins.'' He swooped her up and held her in his arms.
''How far?'' He asked.
''About a mile.'' She answered, hoping to feel the ground soon again.
Stefan nodded and in a second of dark blur and cold wind rushing past, he stopped but he didn't let her go yet.
''You'll feel dizzy at first, stand carefully.'' He put her on the ground, his hands still holding her up. It took her not longer than two seconds to gain her balance back.
''Why is it like this?'' Willow asked, for the first time actually seeing a vampire in action, more like feeling it.
''Human's heads sucks. There's this balance organy thing that gets upset when you move too fast, I mean, for human speed. If that baby is upside down, so are you.''
''Go humans. So'', she said, ''the border is a little further but be careful, you cannot get over it.''
After looking for a while, Willow found the tree she had put a ribbon on to mark her previous steps. If she tried hard enough, she could see it, with a little bit of magic. But it didn't always last long, it was like a broken lightbulb, flickering on and off. On the outside of the line, she placed a rock every three feet so Stefan knew where to put his feet.
''What does happen? If I cross it?'' The vampire asked. Willow saw he was tempted to test that theory and she was tempted to say he should try and see what happened. But that would probably give away their position to Willow's mom and alarm the wolves. Not a great idea.
''You'll burn.'' She lied.
''Auwtch.''
Elena
I'd stayed the night over at Keenai's, my first sleepover with a wolf. His mom had actually made him sleep on the matrass on the ground so I could sleep in his bed. If it weren't for Keenai, I'd let him sleep in his bed, the poor thing, but it was way too funny so I accepted and got into his bed.
''So, how are we going to tell Willow our plan?'' I asked Keenai, while turning circles on his wheelchair. He sighed and stopped it with his foot.
''Hey!'' I protested.
''You're giving me a headache.'' He said, ''I don't work well with headaches. ''
I aped him while moving over to his bed so his had his space back.
''Do I really need to figure it all out on my own? I already gave you a plan, now it's up to you.'' He put his game back on and played further, like I wasn't even there. Boys.
''Addict.'' I rolled my eyes, took my stuff and told him I was leaving.
He mumbled a quick goodbye without even looking up.
On my way out, Jake passed, carrying wood. His upper body was naked, he was sweating and he looked so god damn sexy that I wanted to run over and touch his muscles, kiss him everywhere... but I couldn't. So I walked further, ignored him and my urge to jump on the half-naked guy right on the spot.
''Elena!''
I heard a loud thud behind me, followed by running footsteps. Damn it.
''Hey, I need to-'' I wanted to say I needed to be somewhere, that I was in a hurry, when he interrupted me.
''What were you doing at Keenai's?''
''What?'' Of all the things I'd thought he'd say, this wasn't one of them. No 'why-are-you-ignoring-me' or 'is-there-something-wrong'.
Jake's jaw tightened, he took my arm and led to me to the back of the house, where no one could see us.
''Did you,'' His eyes closed for a second and his breathing became heavier, ''sleep there?''
"Yes, I did. Not that it is any of your business.'' As soon as I said it, I regretted it. The wolf pushed me against the wall, a nail stung in my back and I screamed but he kept his firm grip.
''Let go.'' I wanted to scream it but it was more like a whisper. He frightened me, his muscles tense, his eyes filled with anger.
''I can't..'' Jake hissed and kissed me, hard and rough, where after he pulled me against his body. I tried to pull away, punched at his arms and every other part of him I could hit. But he was stronger, way stronger and didn't seem to notice I didn't want this, not now and not when he was angry. When he gasped for breath, and broke the kiss, I took the opportunity to speak my mind. ''Jake! Stop-'' but before I could say one more word, he kissed me again, not waiting for my permission. His hands were fumbling with my t-shirt, getting underneath it. And then, a grunt and he was gone. Jake now lay on the ground, someone else on top of him who was pinning him down. A closer look gave away the familiar features of Rob. I didn't get what was happening. Where they fighting? It looked like a fight, except Rob was not punching Jake or the other way around, he just seemed to try and calm him down. I had no idea what to do, I felt powerless. All of a sudden, Jake stopped wrestling, he just laid on his back, panting from the effort , Rob breathing heavily as well.
''You okay now?'' Rob asked. Jake nodded but his face was still tight, it seemed like he could explode any time soon again.
''I'm going to stand up now, you with me?''
Again, Jake just nodded and let Rob help him up. I'd never seen this side of him, he used to seem under control of everything he did, loving and peaceful. Like usual, I just wanted to run from problems and deal with it later but this couldn't wait. Before I was able to say something, Keenai came from around the corner, a garbage bag in his hand. When he saw us, he frowned and walked over, not his best move because Jake seemed to transform into that wild animal again, pointing at Keenai, screaming he was going to kill him. Rob sighed deeply and gave me a disappointed look where after he pushed Jake away, into the woods.
''What happened?'' Keenai asked, the garbage's smell hanging around him.
I coughed and pointed at the bag, a subtle hint he immediately got. After the bag was put away, out of smell-distance, I told him exactly what had happened from the minute I walked out his door.
The guy smiled cockily and gave me a bump on my shoulder.
''At least one of us feels good.'' I told him with a hint of sarcasm.
''We had sex, of course I feel good.''
I rolled my eyes and told him to get back to his computer so I could figure out a plan to contact Willow, until it suddenly hit me.
''Keenai!'' I almost shouted in joy, the boy just looked weirdly at me.
''It's very simple, so simple, we didn't see it.''
''What is?'' He asked.
''You can go see Willow. Jake also came out of the woods, so why wouldn't you?''
''Jake has a reason, he is a ranger. Why would I go out?'' Keenai shook his head, I could tell he wasn't very happy with my thinking. But I wasn't going to give up so soon.
''We'll find you a reason.''
Stefan
''...like a regenerator. '' Stefan only heard those last words when Willow turned around to see if he had been listening to her. He shrugged, he didn't get much of what she had said.
Willow sighed. ''You're a great listener.''
A crack somewhere near them took his attention and as he listened closer, he heard footsteps.
''Willow, come here.'' Stefan commanded.
''Why? What's wrong?' She asked, but carefully walked back until she stood next to him.
''We're not alone.'' He saw the silhouette of a male coming towards them, but there were twoo pairs of hearts beating and as he focused, he could hear the soft footsteps of a girl. Stefan sniffed again, which made Willow chuckle, and took in the familiar scent.
''It's Elena.''
This information made Willow almost scream her name, until Stefan covered her mouth.
''There's someone else.''
He grabbed her by the waist and jumped in the nearest tree, high enough to not be seen between the leaves. Willow gasped as she was suddenly so high and held on to Stefan, him standing between her and the trunk so she had nothing else to hold. Something in her mind thought he had positioned himself like that on purpose, another piece told her he was only thinking about his sister right now.
''So what now?'' The guy asked, a couple of feet away.
''Just run over there and we'll see.'' Elena said.
''We'll see? Are you crazy? Imagine they've put some immediate burn to hell alarm on it! I'm not going to hell, Elena.'' The guy smelled like wolf, probably one of them.
They heard Elena sigh and Willow imagined how she must be biting her lip while thinking.
''Keenai, I don't know any other way. Please, do it for me. '' She begged.
Willow looked up in Stefan's dark eyes, the only thing she could tell apart in the dark. What was he waiting for? It was obviously a friend of Elena's , no one dangerous. She elbowed him in his stomach but was caught by surprise at how hard it was, her elbow even started throbbing and she cursed herself. Stefan just gave her a small smile, and she felt humiliated at the way he looked at her. He pressed his finger to his lips and jumped down. The boy and Elena both jumped back a little, startled by the sudden appearance of a vampire in front of them. Willow stayed where she was and didn't make a sound, not sure what Stefan was up to.
''He a friend of yours?'' Stefan nodded his head at the wolf.
Elena chuckled. ''Hello, little brother.'' She smiled. She always called him that way because it made her feel older, like she wasn't the youngest, she had said once. ''This is Keenai. Keenai, Stefan.''
''Is he friend or foe?'' Stefan asked, just in case.
''Friend. Why?'' Elena watched her brother, her face unsure.
He jumped up and got Willow down. The second her feet hit the ground, she ran closer to where Elena was but stopped at a certain point. The border, he thought.
''How are you?'' She asked, a question Stefan had forgotten to ask.
''A little homesick. And I think I even gained weight even though that's physically impossible but Jake's mom makes a hell of a pancake.'' Elena came a little closer but looked questionably at the ground.
''It's right here, if you stop at that branch, you shouldn't touch it.'' Willow said.
Both the guy and Elena stepped forward, looking underneath them as if the border would suddenly appear.
"What are you doing here?" Elena asked, thinking about when these two became friends.
''Studying the border. '' Willow took a couple of steps to the left, then back to the right.
''I found out it stops for two minutes, at 2.15 AM. Like it needs to reload or something, like a generator. At 2.17 AM it starts again. I think the person who put this spell here needs to do it every night again, or maybe it was only this night, I don't know yet. I need to have more time to know for sure.''
''So, in theory, she could get out for two minutes ?'' Stefan asked.
''You know I was being sarcastic when I told you you were a great listener? As I said to you before, she indeed has two minutes if she doesn't want anyone noticing she's gone.'' Willow looked a little sad as she said that last sentence.
''We'll meet here tomorrow night again, see what happens. '' Stefan thought it was simple, it didn't take more than a second to step over the line, so why not escape as soon as possible?
''I don't know if we can pull that off. I escaped this night without anyone noticing but it's risky. Keenai thought of way to communicate though.'' Elena touched his shoulder, like a proud mother.
Willow didn't like it, if she got too close to someone in there, she might not want to leave.
''Yeah? Does he have a tongue to speak? '' She crossed her arms and tapped her foot.
''I'm out.'' The wolf turned around and shook his head. He seemed mad all of a sudden. Must be a trait of being a wolf, Stefan thought.
Elena didn't seem to get it either but stayed with them and didn't run after him.
''Could you create a virtual world based on a computer game?'' She asked her friend.
''Like Sims only with us in it?'' Willow thought about it but couldn't remember ever knowing such a spell. ''I guess I could look into how prison worlds are made and change the spell a bit...''
"Thank you, you're the best. I've got to go, before anyone catches us.'' His sister said.
It was weird seeing her so happy and doing well while she was supposed to be a prisoner, and the rest of their siblings were worried sick. Stefan didn't know very good how to feel about all this. On one hand, he was glad she was okay but on the other, he hated her for doing this to Elijah.
After they said goodbye, something seemed to bother Willow.
''She seems all right.'' Stefan said. The wind was blowing harder and the leaves were bumping into their faces.
''That's the problem.'' Willow answered and shivered. The vampire picked her back up but as he ran, he tucked her away in his arms to block the wind. He put her in the passenger seat as she yawned, she didn't complain so he drove her home. The petite girl had fallen asleep and he couldn't help but smile at how innocent and young she looked with her eyes closed. The window to her room was open so he climbed up and put her to bed.