Splitting Our Odds Into Evens

Stale Crackers

Bonnie barely made it to the bathroom.

She dropped to her knees in front of the toilet, one hand gripping the edge as her stomach emptied itself.

Kol appeared in the doorway a few seconds later, hair a mess from sleep. "Morning sickness?"

Bonnie managed a glare over her shoulder. "No. I thought this would be a fun way to start my day."

"Good morning to you too."

He disappeared briefly and returned with a glass of water. By then, Bonnie had pushed herself off the floor and was rinsing her mouth at the sink.

Kol watched her carefully. "You alright?"

"I'm fine. Nauseous, but fine."

He nodded, although the concern didn't entirely leave his face. After everything that had happened over the last few days, Bonnie couldn't exactly blame him for watching her a little more closely than usual.

She took the water from him. "Stop staring at me."

"I'm admiring the mother of my children."

"You looked less concerned when I was possessed."

"That's because possession is familiar territory. This is new."

Bonnie laughed despite herself and nudged past him.

Twenty minutes later, she was back in bed with crackers on the nightstand and her grimoire spread across her lap.

Kol glanced over from where he was getting dressed. "You know, when I suggested you get back into bed, this wasn't quite what I meant."

"I am resting."

"You're researching."

"While sitting down."

"Remarkable loophole."

Bonnie ignored him and reread the passage she'd marked the night before.

Something had been bothering her about the ritual ever since she woke up. She'd been searching for evidence that the spell had gone wrong, but every sign suggested the opposite.

Kol was an Original again.

Completely.

Bonnie sat straighter.

"Oh my God."

Kol turned. "What?"

"It didn't fail. The ritual." Bonnie flipped back several pages, following her own notes. "I've been looking at this backwards. We restored your vampirism exactly like we were supposed to. The problem happened afterward."

Kol came closer.

"When Freya got knocked out of the circle, I took the connection. Davina redirected the magic through me, Freya came back in, and we finished the spell with way more power moving through it than we planned." Bonnie tapped the page. "Your vampirism stabilized. The magic controlling how much power your body pulls from the spell didn't."

Kol was quiet for a moment. "So I'm overloaded."

"Basically."

"The hunger?"

"Could be part of it. Your senses, your strength, how fast your emotions are escalating—all of it could be coming from the same problem."

Kol sat on the edge of the bed. "Can you fix it?"

Bonnie hesitated.

Yesterday, she wouldn't have known where to begin.

Now she did.