“Run in, come out. Run in, come out...” Elena kept whispering it to herself. That was the most basic way of laying out the complex plan that Bonnie had devised. For as devious as Damon was, he didn’t have a good head for detailed forethought. Someone that Elena could easily beat at chess. That’s why they called Bonnie in.
    Problem 1: Katherine wanted everything that Elena had.
    Problem 2: Elena had Damon and still a piece of Stefan’s heart.
    Problem 3: Katherine had many Friends in high AND low places.
    Problem 4: Elena had exactly 6 friends. 4 humans (Jenna, Jeremy, Rick and Caroline), 1 witch (Bonnie) and 1 vampire (Damon).
    And even with the skill at which Elena could check mate an opponent in a strategic board game, she didn’t know how to make 6 pons turn into a fighting strength great enough to defeat a Queen like Katherine. da the time Elena o anyone else on the white team made one move, black Katherine could skitter across the board and kill any piece she wanted without much effort at all.
    Enter plan A. Bonnie would respell the tomb in way that was almost too beautifully woven. The entrance was just one step. Once Elena lured them in, she still had to get out so Bonnie had set up a maze. Even Damon had to thump back in his chair when looking at the picture Bonnie had drawn to explain it.
    There were a series of grids in the maze o sections in the tomb rather. Bonnie could spell them to “displace” a human but do nothing to a vampire. This meant that while Katherine and Stefan had speed, Elena had what could only be called teleportation. So, if Elena entered grid one, she would come out in grid 4. 4 connected to 7, 7 to 2 and so on. It was a series of shifts that even a vampire couldn’t figure out o catch up with in time to get Elena before she came back out of the tomb door.
    Thinking about it made her feel like a frog that took a zig zag pattern, hopping from one lily pad to the successivo while the other little tad poles had to swim in a straight line, never being one with the frog. Like a game of wack-a-mole that Bonnie had devised to a science.
    To simplify: All Elena had to do was run and keep running o “Run in, come out. Run in, come out.” as she kept whispering to herself. No one but Bonnie need know how the maze worked. As long as Elena just ran her culo off till she was out the tomb door, all would be fine.
    While impressed, Damon was very worried.
    “Are te sure this is the only way? Couldn’t we lure them in with something else?” He asked, brow creasing in a concerned frown that would never come age his face.
    “Look, Elena’s what they’ll go for most at this point. Nothing else is as important. Everything other than is secondary and we can’t get their attention on something of lesser value while the pot of oro is sitting right here.”
    The female Gilbert, hearing the on going conversations just resorted to a faux fascination with her cuticles and the simple phrase whispered to herself. She had tried to keep up with Bonnie’s explanation of the plan but when the witch started using phrases like “lining up the grids to make linear plane jumps in a non-linear physical layout” the lines blurred and Elena took from it only what she needed to know. Not like her but most of her actions lately weren’t.
    *Will I ever be the same as I was?*
    As if Leggere her concern, Damon turned to her and grasped her hand, “I promise you’ll be alright. Just do this one thing and we’ll take care of the rest.”
    Bonnie’s eyes where on the couple’s joined digits. She still hadn’t gotten use to them being together. Stefan being evil was a lot to ingoiare, inghiottire as well, not to mention a super calm Caroline dato what she was assigned to do.
    Jenna on the other hand was pacing in the cucina freaking out as jeremy stood leaning against the fridge, eyes fixed on an invisible point in a replicated pose from another in the room. Alaric, the brooding trendsetter had made sure to close all windows and turn on any device that would white noise out all the conversation before taking up his staring position at the sink. All had a lot of their mind.

TWO DAYS LATER...
    “You’ll never get Elena now. She’s probably already-”
    “Shut up Caroline!” Jenna yelled then had to struggle for the successivo gasp of breath.     Katherine had Caroline da the throat and Stefan was trained on Jenna.
    “Your bravery won’t get te anywhere, Jenna.” Katherine detto in an unwarranted tone of familiarity.
    Jenna then looked at Stefan. “What are te doing this for? I thought te loved her? No matter what happens with two people in Amore they never get back that piece of their heart. There’s something still in there for her and te know it.” For a diviso, spalato secondo Stefan’s eyes began to soften but Katherine’s evil giggle fortified the wall.
    “A cold body always spreads the warmth to other places. Elena’s death will fix everything.” Katherine’s smirk turned into a glare at Caroline. “Now, where is she?”
    Caroline’s lips pressed tightly together.
    “Fine. Stefan, kill her.” Stefan was half way to Jenna’s throat when Caroline caved.
    “Wait! Wait! I’ll tell you...”

    Jenna and Caroline were drug along through the woods until they came upon a hidden vantage point along side the two vampires. “Keep your mouth shut” Katherine whispered to Caroline.” There were voices that carried through the trees. Familiar voices that Katherine was now honed in on.
    “Okay, Elena, Bonnie spelled it so that once te go in, you’ll be in there for 2 days while we take care of Katherine and Stefan. It’s only good for 48 hours and there is about 10 minuti till it goes up.” Alaric explained. “Any questions?”
    “Yeah, Damon can’t get to me once it’s sealed right?”
    “Right.”
    “And after the 2 days we can’t even trap Vampiri#From Dracula to Buffy... and all creatures of the night in between. in there?” Elena asked.
    “I only have enough power for this one thing. trapping Vampiri#From Dracula to Buffy... and all creatures of the night in between. in there again is out of the question. Keeping te in there until the everything is done is the only way to keep te safe.” Bonnie answered.
    buried in the trees Katherine looked to Stefan. They were keeping their captives quiet with clamped hands and had been listening intently themselves.
    “I say we skip ahead a few steps, go in after her and take a nice long 2 days to torture and kill that little wanna-be. What do te think, dear Stefan?”
    “Sounds good.” His now common evil grin graced his features and his hand accidentally loosed just enough. “ELENA! GET INSIDE!” Jenna yelled.
    Katherine rolled her eyes and tossed Caroline aside. There wasn’t much point in hiding now. Stefan did the same and they both ran into the fray.
    Jeremy took his stance with Alaric, Damon and Bonnie while Elena ran into the opening. “Guard it till the spell takes hold!” Alaric shouted.
    The humans shot out as many air compressed stakes as they could while Bonnie lowered her head in an effort to throw the attackers off mentally. Damon went full on fangs and all. Katherine dogged a stake shot out from Jeremy and just missed him as she flung it back. Stefan, now on human blood was beating his brother to a pulp and Alaric’s assaults were being flicked away as if coming from an ant.
    It ended almost faster than it began with Bonnie on the ground with a bloody noise yet faring much better than the others.
    Katherine and Stefan strolled right into the tomb and the others looked at one another in the accomplishment of their little skit. The first part of the plan complete.
    *Come on, Elena, get outta there, girl* Bonnie prayed.





*****confused? That’s okay. It will be cleared up in part 10... a little*****