The Return: Nightfall Chapter 20

Ohhhh. bonnie melt down back into the bucket seat. It was likekapow Zap Zowie Likefireworks.Youre smirking.I am not smirking, Bonnie said with dignity. I am smiling in fond remembrance. Besides Besides, if you hadnt C all(a) tolded him, wed gloss everyplace be stuck in that horror of a room. thank you, Bonnie. You saved us. Abruptly Meredith was at her most serious and sincere.I affect Elena was possibly right when she said he didnt hate all humans, Bonnie said slowly. scarcely, you know, I unless realize. I couldnt aver his breeze at all. All I could see was foul smoo wherefore sternly black, like a shell rough him.Maybe thats how he protects himself. He makes a shell so no virtuoso can see inside.Maybe, Bonnie said, that there was worried note in her voice. And what to the highest degree that message from Elena?It says that Tami Bryce is definitely performing strangely and that she and monotonous ar dismission out to check out the Old Wood.Maybe thats who t heyre sack to appropriate wind Damon, I mean. At 444, like he said. Too knotty we cant squall her.I know, Meredith said grimly. Everyone in Fells Church knew that there was no reception in the Old Wood or the cemetery area. still go ahead and try some(prenominal)way.Bonnie did, and as usual got a no-service message. She move her head. No good. They must already be in the woods.Well, what she wants is for us to go ahead and set forth a wait on at Isobel Saitou you know, because shes Jim Bryces girlfriend. Meredith do a turn. That reminds me, Bonnie did you get a purport atCarolines line? Do you think she has one of those things inside her?I guess so. I truism her aura, and yuck, I never want to see it again. She used to be a large-minded of full-bodied bronzy-green, scarcely now shes muddy brown with black lightning zigzagging all through. I dont know if that means one of those things was inside her, exactly she sure didnt mind cuddling up to them Bonnie shudder ed.Okay, Meredith said soothingly. I know what I would say if I had to make a guess and if youre going to be sick, Ill s light up.Bonnie gulped. Im all right. save were seriously going to Isobel Saitous sign of the zodiac?Were very seriously going there. As a subject of fact, were nigh there. Lets vindicatory brush our hair, take a few deep breaths, and get it over with. How well do you know her?Well, shes smart. We didnt relieve oneself any classes together. But we both got out of athletics at the same beat she had a jumpy h spindlet or something, and I used to get that terrible asthma.From any exertion except jump, which you could keep up all night, Meredith said dryly. I dont know her very well at all. Whats she like?Well, nice. Looks a bit like you, except Asian. Shorter than you Elenas height, but skinnier. conformation of pretty. A little shy the quiet type, you know. Sort of hard to get to know. Andnice.Shy and quiet and nice sounds good to me.Me, as well, Bonnie said, pressing her sweaty custody together between her knees. What sounded even better, she thought, was for Isobel to be not at home.However, there were several cars parked in front of the Saitou house. Bonnie and Meredith knocked on the gate hesitantly, mindful of what had happened the last time they had done this.It was Jim Bryce who answered, a tall, lanky boy who hadnt filled out yet and stooped a bit. What Bonnie open amazing was the change in his face as he recognise Meredith.When hed answered hed looked awful his face white under a medium tan, his embody somehow crumpled. When he saw Meredith, some of the color came to his cheeks and he seemed towell, to smooth out like a piece of paper. He stood taller.Meredith didnt say a word. She however stepped forward and put her arms around him. He clutched at her as if he was afraid shed run outside(a), and buried his face in her dark hair.Meredith.Just breathe, Jim. Breathe.You dont know what its been like. My parents left because my great-grandpas real sick I think hes dying. And then Tami Tami Tell me slowly. And keep breathing.She threw knives, Meredith. Butcher knives. She got me in the outgrowth here. Jim plucked at his jeans to show a small slit of a hole in the fabric over the lower part of one thigh.Have you had a tetanus shot recently? Meredith was at her most efficient.No, but its not really a big cut. Its a pierce wound, mainly.Those are exactly the pleasant that are most dangerous. You need to mobilize Dr. Alpert right away. Old Dr. Alpert was an institution in Fells Church a restitute who even made house calls, in a country where carrying around a little black bag and stethoscope was pretty lots un comprehend-of behavior.Icant . I cant leave. Jim jerked his head backward toward the interior of the house as if he couldnt bring himself to say a name.Bonnie tugged at Merediths sleeve. I ca-ca a very bad feeling about this, she hissed.Meredith off-key back to Jim. You mean Isobel? Where areher parents?Isa-chan, I mean Isobel, I just call her Isa-chan, you knowIts all right, said Meredith. Just say what comes naturally. Go on.Well, Isa-chan all has her grandma, and Grandma Saitou doesnt even come downstairs much. I made her dejeuner a while ago and she thought I was Isobels father. She getsconfused.Meredith glanced at Bonnie, and said, And Isobel? Is she confused, too?Jim shut his eyes, looking utterly miserable. I wish youd go in and, well, just talk to her.Bonnies bad feeling was exactly getting worse. She really couldnt stand another scare like the one at Carolines house and she certainly didnt have the strength to Call again, even if Damon werent in a hurry to get someplace.But Meredith knew all this, and Meredith was giving her the sort of look that couldnt be denied. It also promised that Meredith would protect Bonnie, no matter what.Is she hurting anybody? Isobel? Bonnie heard herself ask as they crossed through the kitchen and toward a chamber a t the end of the hallway.She could hardly hear Jims whispered, Yeah.And then, as Bonnie groaned internally, he added, Herself.Isobels room was just what youd expect from a quiet and studious girl. At least one side was. The other side looked as if a tidal wave had picked everything up and thrown it down again randomly. Isobel was session in the middle of this mess like a spider on a web.But that wasnt what made Bonnies gut churn. It was what Isobel was doing. She had laid out beside her what looked a lot like Mrs. Flowers kit for cleaning out wounds, but she wasnt meliorate anything.She was piercing herself.She had already done her lip, her nose, one eyebrow, and her ears, many times. Blood was drip mould from all these places, dripping and falling onto the unmade sheets of her bed. Bonnie saw all that as Isobel looked up at them with a frown, except that the frown was only half there. On the pierced side, the eyebrow didnt move at all.Her aura was shattered orange with black las hings through it.Bonnie knew, all at once, that she was going to be sick. She knew it with the deep knowledge that overcame all distraction and which sent her flying to a wastebasket she didnt even remember seeing. Thank God, it had a white plastic bag lining it, she thought, and then she was only occupied for a few minutes.Her ears recorded a voice, even as she was thinking she was glad she hadnt had lunch.My God,are you crazy ? Isobel, what have you done to yourself? Dont you know the kind of infections you can getthe veins you can hitthe muscles you can paralyze? I think youve already pierced the muscle in your eyebrow and you shouldnt still be bleeding unless youve hit veins or arteries.Bonnie retched dryly into the wastebasket, and spat.And just then she heard a meaty thud.She looked up, half knowing what she would see. But it still was a shock. Meredith was doubled over from what must have been a punch in the stomach.The next thing Bonnie knew, she was beside Meredith. Oh, my God, did she stroke you? A stab wounddeep enough into the abdomenMeredith clearly couldnt get her breath. From somewhere a bit of advice from her sister Mary, the nurse, floated into Bonnies mind.Bonnie pounded with both fists on Merediths back, and perfectly Meredith took a huge gulp of air.Thanks, she was saying weakly, but Bonnie was already dragging her away, away from the laughing Isobel and a collection of the worlds longest nails and the clash alcohol and other things that she had on a breakfast tray beside her.Bonnie got to the admittance and almost collided with Jim, who had a wet washcloth in his hand. For her, she supposed. Or maybe for Isobel. All Bonnie was interested in was making Meredith pull up her top to make absolutely, positively sure that there were no holes in her.I got it out of her hand before she punched me, Meredith said, still breathing sorely as Bonnie anxiously scanned the area above her low-rise jeans. Ill have a bruise, thats all.She hit you, too? Jim said in dismay. Except that he didnt say it. He whispered it.You poor guy, Bonnie thought, finally commodious that Meredith wasnt perforated. What with Caroline and your sister Tami and your girlfriend, you dont have the first idea of whats going on. How could you?And if we told you, youd just think we were two more crazy girls.Jimmy, youhave to call Dr. Alpert right away, and then I think theyre going to have to go to the hospital in Ridgemont. Isobels already done permanent damage to herself God knows how much.All those piercings are almost certainly going to be infected. When did she start this?Um, wellshe first started acting weird after Caroline came to see her.Caroline Bonnie blurted, confused. Was she spook?Jim gave her a look. Huh?Never mind Bonnie she was joking, Meredith said easily. Jimmy, you dont have to tell us about Caroline if you dont want to. We well, we know she was over at your house.Doeseverybody know? Jim asked miserably.No. Just Matt, and he only told us so that somebody could go check on your little sister.Jim looked guilty and sick at once. The words poured out of him as if theyd been bottled up and now the pinch up was out of the bottle.I dont know whats going on anymore. All I can tell you is what happened. It was a couple days ago new-fashioned evening, Jim said. Caroline came over, and I mean, I never even had a pressing on her. Its like, sure, shes good-looking, and my parents were away and all, but I never thought I was the kind of guyNever mind that now. Just tell us about Caroline and Isobel.Well, Caroline came over wearing this outfit that was well, the top was practically transparent. And she just she said, did I want to dance and it was, like, slow dancing and she she, like,seduced me. Thats the truth. And the next morning she left just about the time Matt came. That was the day before yesterday. And then I noticed Tami acting crazy. nil I could do would stop her. And then I got a telephone call fr om Isa-chan and Ive never heard her so hysterical. Caroline must have gone straight from my house to her house. Isa-chan said she was going to kill herself. And so I ran over here. I had to get away from Tami anyway because me existence there at home just seemed to make it worse.Bonnie looked at Meredith and knew that they were both thinking the same thingand somewhere in there, both Caroline and Tami propositioned Matt, too.Caroline must have told her everything. Jim gulped. Isa-chan and I havent we were waiting, you know? But all Isa-chan would say to me was that I was going to be poor. Youll be sorry just wait and see, over and over and over. And, God, Iam sorry.Well, now you can stop being sorry and start calling the doctor. Rightnow , Jimmy. Meredith gave him a swat on the behind. And then you need to call your parents. Dont give me those big brown puppy-dog eyes. Youre over eighteen I dont know what they can do to you for leaving Tami alone all this time.But But me no but s. Imean it, Jimmy.Then she did what Bonnie knew she would, but was dreading. She approached Isobel again. Isobels head was down she was pinching her navel with one hand. In the other, she held a long, shining nail.Before Meredith could even speak, Isobel said, So youre in on it, too. I heard the way you called him Jimmy. Youre all trying to take him away from me. All you bitches are trying to hurt me.Yurusenai Zettai yurusenai Isobel Dont Cant you see that youre hurtingyourself ?Im only hurting myself to take away the pain. Youre the one whos really doing it, you know. Youre pricking me with needles inside.Bonnie jumped inside her own skin, but not just because Isobel suddenly gave a vicious thrust of the nail. She snarl heat sweep up into her cheeks. Her heart began to pound even hurried than it was already going.Trying to keep one eye on Meredith, she pulled her liquid phone out of her back pocket where shed stashed it after the visit to Carolines house. smooth with half her attention on Meredith, she went on the Internet and rapidly entered just two pursuit words. Then, as she made a couple of selections from her hits, she realized that she could never absorb all the information in a week, much less a few minutes. But at least she had a start.Just now, Meredith was backing away from Isobel. She put her mouth close to Bonnies ear and whispered, I think were just antagonizing her. Did you get a good look at her aura?Bonnie nodded.Then we probably should leave the room, at least.Bonnie nodded again.Were you trying to call Matt and Elena? Meredith was eyeing the mobile phone.Bonnie shook her head and turned the phone so Meredith could see her two search words. Meredith stared, then lifted dark eyes to Bonnies in a kind of horrified recognition.Salem witches.