I had gotten Kol's body out of the Gilbert House and went to bury him in a grave, probably with too much careful-ness.
Caroline had been cleaning the house.
When I got back, Stefan and Caroline had told me the horrible news.
Jeremy was dead.
Katherine had killed him.
Elena was upstairs, sitting alone with his body.
"How long has she been like that?" I asked.
"Ever since we found his body," Stefan answered. "She hasn't said anything except that she's waiting for him to wake up."
"But he's not going to wake up," I told him. "She knows that, right?"
Stefan held a finger up to his lips to silence me, walking over to the sink, turning on the tap, using the noise to cover our conversation. "Look. Deep down, I think she has to, but we're talking about Elena here. She feels grief more powerfully than anyone else. I think her denial is the one thing protecting her from letting it all in."
"But she can't stay like that forever," Caroline told him, sounding five times more sympathetic than I did.
"I know, but I don't want to be the one to break her out of it, not until we know that Bonnie is safe, not until we get Damon over here to, you know," Stefan told us.
"Use the sire bond to convince her that everything is okay," I said, nodding in understanding.
Stefan nodded.
Elena appeared. "I'm not in denial." Stefan turned off the tap. "I know that he was supernatural, but did you see? His tattoo is gone. The tattoo had the spell that opened Silas' chamber. Maybe it being gone means that he's fulfilled his supernatural destiny. Maybe he's back to normal. It's possible, right?"
"Elena . . ." Caroline trailed off.
"It's possible, Caroline," Elena told her. "There's a chance. It may be miniscule, but it's hope, and I'm gonna hold on to that hope with everything that I've got because there's no way that m . . ." She hesitated. "There's absolutely no way that my brother is dead." She nodded, shaking her head. "I'm not in denial."
Elena turned, walking out of the kitchen.
Caroline, Stefan and I exchanged a look.
****
On the porch, Caroline was on her phone, leaving a message. "Hey. I know that I'm not supposed to be calling, but something happened, and I need to talk to you, Tyler. So please call me."
Caroline hung up.
I walked out on to the porch. "Do you know where he is?"
"As far away from Klaaus as he can get," Caroline told me. "I mean, you said that Klaus said he wouldn't stop until he found him. I've been meaning to thank you about that." I raised my eyebrows at her questioningly. "You got Klaus to let Tyler leave town and never look back until it's safe again."
"Well, Katherine's been running from Klaus for 500 years," I told her. "It's not easy, but it's possible. It's probably why she stole the Cure. She wants to bargain for her freedom."
"I just can't believe after all that, the Cure is just gone," Caroline told me.
"Well, we can't think about that right now," I told her. "We need to make plans, lists. We need a funeral or a cover story, or a funeral and a cover story."
