Jo was missing.
Alaric, Damon, Elena and I were meeting up in Alaric's office.
"So I asked around the hospital," Elena told us. "No one's seen Jo since last night at the ER. A bunch of stab victims came in, and one of them's missing as well."
"It was Kai," Alaric told us. "Jo knew he'd come after her, and he did."
"Not to give you boyfriend lessons or anything, but if you knew Jo's whackjob brother was out on the loose and after her, don't you think that keeping an eye on her would have been a smart move?" Damon asked.
"And what would you have had me do, Damon, ask you to compel Jo to stay put?" Alaric asked.
Damon nodded.
"Guys, if Kai has Jo, we need a plan," Elena told us.
"Plan's easy," I told them. "Find Kai, kill Kai. Mm-hmm."
Damon looked at me, shaking his head. "Uh, yeah, no. You're not going near him."
"Why not?" I asked. "Guy tried to kill me and Liv."
"Yeah, and he almost killed me and Elena," Damon told me. "You're not going near him."
I looked at him suspiciously, confused.
There was something he wasn't telling me.
I just didn't know what.
~~~~~~
I was on the phone with Tyler. "Just think sociopathic Ryan Reynolds."
"Haven't seen him."
"Grunge vibe, annoying as hell."
"Still no idea."
"Well, if he has half a brain, he will be hiding where vampires can't find him. So, in between levels of Mario Kart, can you, bus boy, and little, baby Gilbert maybe keep an eye out? Please?"
"Yeah, got it. If we see him, we'll let you know."
"Thank you."
I hung up.
~~~~~~
"Well, the shield is on the lookout," Damon told us. "Anyone else brimming with confidence?"
"I mean, this just doesn't make sense," Alaric told us.
"What could possibly not make sense about magical twins absorbing into one another?" I asked.
"Listen," Alaric told us. "Jo needs her magic for the merge to work, okay? And she got rid of that back in 1992."
~~~~~~
"Jo doesn't have magic because it's stuffed in a knife that was stolen and hidden by yours truly," Damon told us. "Kai won't find it."
"Yeah, unless Kai does a locator spell," I told them.
"It's impossible," Damon told us.
"Why?" Alaric asked.
"Kai was born without the ability to do magic," Elena explained.
~~~~~~
"If the only way to restore Jo's magic is to reunite her with that knife, Kai's gonna come for it," Alaric told us.
"Ric's right," I told them. "Even if Kai can't do the locator spell, he's gonna make it his mission to find it."
"Kai finds it," Damon said. "Great. Love it."
"Why aren't you more concerned?" Elena asked.
"Because if Kai goes for the knife, I will kill him, because the knife is right here where I hid it," Damon answered, taking own a picture frame from the wall. "Tada!"
Damon opened the back of the picture, revealing nothing to be there.
~~~~~~
At the Whitmore dorm buildings, I was looking for Liv and Luke, because, obviously, they had been the ones to do the locator spell to find the knife, so they wouldn't have to do the merge. I was looking around while I called Liv. "Bet you think you're pretty clever, don't you?"
"Is this Nicola? Why don't I have your number saved?"
"Well, you weren't in your dorm room."
"It's creepy you know where my dorm room is."
"Let me guess. You two figured Kai merging with Jo saves you from doing the merge."
"It does. If they merge, and Jo wins, that means Luke and I are off the hook, and we can live out nice, normal human lives. You were the one that said to fight back."
"I didn't mean to take the chance of a super psycho have all the power in the world to go and kill us all! Here's an idea, how about none of you merge?"
"Goodbye, Nicola."
Liv hung up.
I sighed, seeing Luke walking toward me down the hall.
Luke saw me.
I smiled.
Luke turned around, walking the other way.
I appeared in front of him. "We both knew that wasn't gonna work. Where's Jo?"
"I'm not telling you, and before you threaten to rip my head off, remember, all that does is guarantee Kai having to merge with Jo," Luke told me.
"Is that what you people think of all three of the Salvatores?" I asked. "That we just instantly resort to violence? I just have a question. I mean, look. I get why you don't want to merge with Liv, okay, because no one wants to see that face with her hair. I get it, but what makes you think Kai merging with Jo is any smarter? I mean, I heard he killed four of your siblings, and that was without magic." Luke didn't answer. I sighed, pretending to give up. "Eh, it'll be fine. I'm sure Kai gets all that power, he's just gonna mellow right on out."
I turned around, starting to walk away.
"Stop," Luke told me.
I smirked, knowing that would have worked.
They were in the cemetery.
Damon and Alaric went to go get them.
~~~~~~
Kai was still alive, and he had sucked the anti-magic spell right out of Mystic Falls, so we could all go home now.
I walked up to the Salvatore Boarding House, smiling at the sight of it, seeing Stefan and Damon outside, talking next to Damon's car.
"What?" Damon asked. "This was gone. I blew this up."
"Yeah?" Stefan asked. "Well, you weren't around to annoy me for the last four months, so I had a bit of extra time on my hands." Damon laughed. "Think of it as a early merry Christmas/late welcome back to life present."
Damon took the keys, wrapping his arms around Stefan, laughing. "Thank you."
I smiled as I stood next to them. "Aw, you two, just so cute."
Stefan pulled out of the hug, looking at Damon. "Hey. Just, uh, do me a favor. Don't die again. Those fenders were a real bitch to find."
"Deal," Damon told him. "Deal. Ha. Yeah." They turned to look at the house. "Well, we're home."
"Yep," I agreed.
Damon looked at Stefan. "You sticking around?"
"Well, that depends," Stefan told us. "Might have to kill Jeremy if I find out that he slept in my bed."
Stefan opened the door.
"Hey," I told them. "You guys wanna tell me what the hell you're hiding from me? Why is no one telling me what happened with Stefan and Matt, and, Damon, why didn't you want me going anywhere near Kai?" Stefan and Damon walked into the house without answering, closing the door behind them. "What?" I walked toward the door in confusion. "What the hell is happening?"
I heard Kai's behind me. "I may have put a cloaking spell on us." I turned to face him. "How genius is that? Oh, and if you want to know what they're hiding from you, I can be the one to tell you that."
I looked at him in confused suspicion. "What do you know about me?"
"I know a lot more that you know," Kai told me.
Kai hit me across the face with something I didn't see, making me fall to the ground, unconscious.