CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

"I always had this fascination with chefs and fine dining. My dad actually loves to cook. He's old-school, of course. He taught me to measure by eye, season by taste, all that stuff. But it's different now in the restaurant world. I mean, everything's on timers. It's, like... Fries go in, you push a button, ding, you take them out. Literally no guess work." Kai looks between the twins as Elena starts to wake up.

"Why am I here?" She asks as she pulls on the vervain ropes around her wrists.

"Uh, well, I spent eighteen years in abandoned restaurants, and now I'm showing off the fruits of my labor."

"She doesn't mean Mystic Grill." Nyx says, annoyed. "Why did you kidnap us?"

"Sorry, I'm nervous. I'm— You're both really pretty." He smiles as he looks at them.

"Why are we here, Kai?" Elena questions.

"Well, I took the spell that was keeping supernaturals out of Mystic Falls, and I... I, like, absorbed it. Like, ate it, I guess." He says as he takes another bite of his food. "It's cool, huh? First I eat magic, and then eventually I lose it, but... I mean, a huge spell like that? I mean, come on. Magic's oozing out of me. It's all over the place. You know, I didn't quite realize I was out of control until I met the manager a few hours ago. And he was all like, You can't come in here. We're closed. And you have an unconscious girl over your shoulder. And I was like, Don't judge me. So, then I gave him a heart attack, or tried to. All I did was make him vomit uncomfortably, which was, like..." He makes a disgusted noise. "Alright, let's stop that. So, I tried again. And I think I broke his spine. I mean, I'm not— I'm not really sure. Because the third time I tried the spell, he kind of exploded in blood. Whoops." He mutters as he takes a drink from his mug.

"What the hell is wrong with you?"

"I just told you, I have too much magic."

"He's a sociopath, Elena." Nyx mutters, and her sister looks at her.

"You know, it wasn't until my test run with the manager that I realized...if I start to merge with Jo, and my gushing fountains of magic turn her into that guy...then I'm not gonna have a twin for the merge." Kai says.

"Stay away from Jo!" She snaps as she struggles against her restraints.

"Would you rather I pay a little visit to your kids?" He asks, and she clenches her teeth. "I haven't forgotten what we talked about that day. You were supposed to get me out, and you didn't. And I have magic. All I need to do is get a handle on my magic, take some of your blood, and do a little locator spell. Then I'll be headed straight for them."

"Say you get to them, you'll have to kill me before I kill you. And even if I do end up dead, you'll never survive their father." She tells him, her teeth clenched.

"I thought Daddy was dead."

"He was. Not anymore." She says. "He's out of the fire and back into the frying pan, you psychotic son of a bitch!"

"Well, I look forward to meeting him." He smirks. "But in the meantime, onto why cute little sister Elena is here. I need to get my magic under control by practicing with you." He says as he looks at her. "Or, rather, by practicing on you. Oh, hey, PS, silver lining. After the manager finally stopped thrashing around... I finally managed a cloaking spell. Thank you. It's easy to do and...undo. Phasmatos Oculucs."

Elena gasps, and Nyx screams when a body suddenly appears in front of them. It's the dead manager, and his eyes are open. The body was already cloaked by the time that he got back to the grill with Nyx. She only knew that Elena was there at the table.

"Table for four." Kai laughs as the twins look away from the burned body. "Neither of you had any idea."

—

"Damon!" Stefan yells as he runs into their house. "We have a problem."

"I'm a little busy with my own problem right now, brother." Damon says as he looks at him.

"Kai showed up last night. He threw me across the room, and I blacked out. When I came to, he and Nyx were gone. I've been looking everywhere, I can't find them."

"And you're just telling me this now?" He questions.

"You haven't exactly been talking to either of us lately." Stefan reminds him. "That doesn't matter now. We have to find her, Damon."

"Hey, Goldie Locks." He looks at Liv. "You think you can do a locator spell?"

"You have something of hers?" The witch asks. "Or a relative?"

"Me." Jeremy says as he walks into the living room.

—

"Just let us go." Nyx continues to struggle as she looks at Elena's unconscious body.

Elena managed to break her chains and grab her sister before running off. But they couldn't get out of the high school that they're now at because Kai accidentally melted Elena's daylight ring, not to mention he found them pretty quickly after that. And after a few failed attempts, he managed to snap Elena's neck.

"Mm..." He glances between the twins and then Elena starts to wake up. "Oh, hello."

"Nice shirt." Elena says when she sees that he took one from the school. It has their mascot — a timberwolf — on it.

"Thanks. Yeah, somebody burned my other one." He motions between the twins, seeing as Elena did it, but it was Nyx's idea. "Which was awesome, by the way. I am starting to see why Damon digs you." He looks​ down at Nyx. "I mean, you are crazy-pants. Oh, it sucks about that shirt though."

"So, you can care about an inanimate object, but not the people that you kill?"

He laughs as he takes a drink from his soda and then kneels down in front of them. "Is this gonna be like an episode of Ricki Lake where I come face to face with my demons and change for the better?"

"Have you really not cared about anyone?"

He thinks for a second. "I guess I liked my brother Joey. We played Dr. Mario together, and he'd always win." Elena's expression softens when he smiles, but Nyx clenches her teeth. "Actually, one of my favorite memories is when I finally beat him."

"And is he one of the ones that you hung, or the one that you drowned in the pool?" Nyx asks, and Elena looks at her wide-eyed.

Kai chuckles as he looks at her. "I do like you, Nyx. You're good at reading people, you can see them for what they are. I respect that." He nods.

He then sits in front of them with his legs crossed and starts staring. Nyx sighs as she looks up at the ceiling, and they stay like that for far longer than the twins are comfortable with.

"If the spell you're going for is to creep us out...it's working." Elena tells him.

He raises his hand, pointing his index finger at Nyx, and then he moves it down. She groans as she looks back at him, and Elena turns to her. She sees the scratch that's being magically carved into her sister's cheek. Nyx squirms as a result of the pain.

"What are you doing?" She kicks at him, but he's too far away for her to reach.

"Oh, nothing." Kai starts to move toward her, and she pushes herself back, so he stops. "Just working on my self-control."

"He carved a K into your cheek." Elena tells her sister, and she sighs.

"Oh, goody." She says sarcastically, and then he gets up and leaves the room.

"Are you okay?"

"Me? I have a scratch." Nyx says. "He's turned your blood into acid and snapped your neck. Are you okay?"

"I'm fine." She tells her. "I just don't know how we're gonna get out of here without my daylight ring."

"There's the tunnels under the school." She reminds her.

"Good call." Damon's voice suddenly catches their attention, and they both look at him as their restraints disappear. "Boiler room, stat. Come on." He helps them up.

"How are you here?" Elena asks as she looks at him.

"Jo's invisibility spell. If you two can see us, it means you joined the party."

"Come on, we need to get out of here." Jo says, and they all look at her.

"You don't have to tell me twice." Nyx grabs her sister's hand, and they move past Jo.

"You good?" Damon asks the witch when she doesn't follow them.

"I'm good." Jo lies, and they head out of the cafeteria to leave the school.

They don't make it very far before Jo starts coughing. They all turn to look at her. "You okay?" Elena asks.

"Yeah. Four people's​ just a lot more to cloak than two." She says, and they see blood coming from her nose. She suddenly starts to collapse, and Damon catches her.

"Why's your nose bleeding?" He asks her.

"I have a guess." Kai says, and Elena immediately grabs Nyx and pushes her behind her, shielding her from him. "Magic's hard. Isn't it, Jo?"

"I'm so sorry." Jo says, tears running down her face as she wipes more of the blood away.

"Don't sweat it." Damon says, still holding her up. "I want him to see me while I kick his ass. Now get out of here, okay?"

Jo uses the wall as support to move away from him. When Damon turns, he can no longer see the twins, but the girls haven't moved.

"Where are Nyx and Elena?" He questions as he looks back at Kai.

"Oh?" He looks around. "Are we not cloaking people anymore? Because I thought that's what this was." He chuckles, and then disappears when Damon runs at him.

A whistle catches Damon's attention, and he turns to see Kai waving at him on the end of the hallway, where Nyx and Elena had been before they disappeared. Damon quickly breaks a mop handle and chucks it at Kai.

"No!" He hears Nyx scream as she becomes visible beside Kai.

"Oh, that's gotta hurt." The real Kai says as he suddenly reappears a couple feet away from her. And then Damon sees that it's actually Elena that he threw the handle at. "I am definitely getting the hang of this. Cloaking spells, illusions. You know, it's all the same wheelhouse."

Nyx catches Elena, and they collapse to the floor as Damon groans in pain. Kai's doing that mind thing where his head feels like it's about to explode.

"No, no, no, no." Nyx quickly pulls the mop handle out of Elena's chest, and it clatters on the tile floor after she throws it. "Elena. Elena!" She sobs as she puts her hand over the bleeding wound, watching her sister's skin turn gray.

"Nyx." Stefan kneels down beside her as Ric and Jeremy go after Kai, who's now trying to find Jo. "You can bring her back. This is exactly like when you saved me."

"I don't know how to control it." She says through her tears. "I wasn't trying to save you, it just happened."

"I think it comes from your emotions. You were scared of losing Vicki, and of leaving the twins again. You were afraid of losing me. You can save her, Nyx. You've already saved me, and Vicki, and Caroline." He rests his hands on her shoulders. "Imagine the way it felt when you saved us before. Do you remember what you told me? The energy and the warmth? If you could save us, you can save your sister."

Nyx closes her eyes as she hugs Elena tightly to her. She rests her forehead on Elena's and focuses on the memory of that feeling. And then suddenly it's there — faint, like an echo of what it was before. The harder she focuses, the more prominent the feeling becomes.

"Come on." Nyx mutters. "Come on. I need you to wake up, Elena... I need you."

She feels the warmth start to travel through her body, taking over every inch. Stefan can feel it, and he has to let go because suddenly her skin burns to the touch.

Elena suddenly gasps, and Nyx sighs as she looks down at her. Her breathing is labored, but they're both okay. The twins manage to get to their feet — with a little help — as Ric and Jeremy rush back over with Jo.

"Elena, are you okay?" Jeremy asks, and she nods.

"Yeah." She looks at her brother. "I think I—"

Both of the twins suddenly grab their heads as they double over in pain. The girls start screaming, and Jeremy grabs Elena before she can collapse again. Ric catches Nyx and keeps her standing.

"What's happening?" Stefan asks as he looks between the two pain-stricken girls.

The pain ends as quickly as it started, and they stop screaming. They try to calm down, catch their breath, as they lean into the men holding them upright.

"What was that?" Jeremy asks as he looks between his older sisters.

"It was like my head was on fire." Elena tells them.

"This searing, white-hot pain." Nyx continues, and her sister nods.

"And then it was just gone." She mutters, and the twins look at each other, both completely terrified and confused.