CHAPTER SIXTY SEVEN
[67]
song: rag doll by aerosmith

PACING DOWN AND BACK EACH AISLE of the hardware store, Daisy and Bonnie walk side by side, gathering each and every obscure object Kai had requested and piling it in a backpack.

"Michael Jackson died?" Daisy asks, coming to a quick halt as the sorrow washed over her for a moment.

Bonnie frowned. "And Whitney Houston. Only a few months ago." She grabbed a can opener off a shelf and gently tucked it inside the backpack Daisy carried.

Daisy felt a sudden urge to cry. Partly because she loved both of those musicians, but also because she realized that life was truly continuing on in the real world. Time was passing, and she was missing it all.

"What about Corey Haim?" Daisy asks, continuing to walk alongside Bonnie. "The guy from Silver Bullet? The Lost Boys?"

Bonnie shook her head, giving Daisy a look that insinuated she didn't know who she was talking about. "I think those movies probably came out before I was born." Bonnie laughed a little.

"When were you born?" Daisy asked curious.

"1993." Bonnie responds.

Daisy's mouth gapped open. "Shit." She said in disbelief, she knew it'd be around that time beforehand, but hearing stuff like that out loud would never not be weird.

"You?" Bonnie asks.

Daisy let's out a little sigh. "1972." She responds with an awkward expression, knowing that it'd earn a reaction.

Bonnie looked more sorrowful than anything, understanding how long this girl had been here. "Well," she shrugs. "You look great for your age."

Daisy laughed, giving Bonnie a sarcastic smirk. "Thank you so much." She returns, in a dramatic manner.

As their laughter died down, Daisy watched as Bonnie returned her focus to the list Kai had made, then trying to figure out what aisle the next item would be in. If these were normal circumstances, Bonnie would be someone that Daisy would've instantly clicked with. She was kind, and smart. You could tell she saw the deeper sides of people that most wouldn't pick up on, and once she saw that side she truly cared for that person.

It was in the subtle things she did, like making Daisy a coffee, or asking her little questions about her life. Nothing extreme, nothing that would make Daisy sad or upset, but things that would bring back good memories and earn a little laughter.

A small part of her wished that this plan had been thought through a little bit better, or at least changed, once her and Kai realized that Bonnie and Damon were not here under the same circumstances of most of the people they'd run into. She didn't expect to grow to not absolutely despise these people, Damon, maybe, but Bonnie not so much.

But she also didn't care. As soon as they were out of here she'd probably never have to see Bonnie or Damon ever again, and this prison world, and all it's memories, would simply be a blip on her timeline of life.

They were pawns, not friends.

Daisy must've let her gaze on Bonnie linger much too long, as Bonnie gave her a few awkward glances before Daisy snapped out of it. She shook her head, letting out a slight laugh. "Sorry, I zoned out." She says, following Bonnie down the next aisle.

Bonnie gives her a faint smile, but Daisy saw right through it. There was no trust here, and rightfully so. They'd known each other for less than twenty four hours and still knew little to nothing about one another. Bonnie was nice, sure, but she wasn't an idiot.

Bonnie holds up the list she held in her hand and examined it. "I think that's it, should we head back?" She asked. Daisy nods as she zipped up the backpack and swung it around her shoulder, before following Bonnie back out to the parking lot.

—

As they walked back inside Damon's house, Daisy shut the front door behind her as Bonnie entered the living room. "We got everything you asked for." She says.

Kai was still bound to the chair he had been bound to since last night. Damon sat across from him on the couch, a glass of bourbon in his hand.

Daisy enters after her, Kai's eyes on her in an annoyingly intense stare. She gives him a knowing look and he redirected his attention to Bonnie, raising his eyebrows.

"Can opener, shower drain, grinding wheel, pocket knife, Encyclopedia, a nail, and a black marker." Bonnie says, as Daisy takes the backpack off her shoulders and dumps all the supplies on the coffee table that stood in between her and Kai.
"Now what?" Bonnie sighs, Damon stands up beside her.

Kai glances down at his wrists. "Can't show you with my hands tied." He shrugs.

Bonnie rolls her eyes before grabbing the pocket knife off the table, she began to walk towards Kai but Damon put a hand out, stopping her.

She looked up at him confusedly as his eyes stayed on Kai. "Not until he tells us why he's here." Damon says, before looking up at Bonnie, then to Daisy. "You too. You said this is a prison world, so why are you locked up?" He says, in a confrontational manner.

"It's a pretty dramatic story, that would be greatly increased in  terms of cinematic value if I could use my hands as I spoke." Kai says, waving his duct taped hands around as much as he could, which wasn't much at all.

"Talk." Damon says, nodding at Kai sternly, then to Daisy, before plopping right back down on the couch he previously sat on.

Kai glances at Daisy quickly, then turns back to Damon as he lets out a sigh. He opens his mouth to speak but Daisy cuts him off before he let anything else out, not sure she trusted what story he was about to tell.

"His dad sent me here." Daisy says, earning glances from everyone in the room. She swallowed. "His dad was horrible, and dangerous, and..." she thought of the story quickly. "He was trying to send Kai away but accidentally put me here instead."

Damon slowly lifts his gaze off Daisy and then back to Kai. "And why was your dad trying to send you here?" He questions.

"Because he was power hungry." Kai says, almost taking no time to think of an answer. "I was getting stronger and he was threatened. He'd hated me my whole life and this was just an easy way to get me out of the picture, no questions asked."

Daisy swallowed, cautiously watching their reactions to the story. Damon scoffed. "So, your dad accidentally sent her here in 1990 when he was trying to send you— and then miraculously waited four years to try again?" Damon questions. He was smarter than he looked, she'd give him that.

"As soon as I found out what he did to her I ran." Kai says, once again taking no time to think like he'd planned out each answer to every question they might possibly ask. "I hid around the country for four years, before I eventually gave up and he found me." The soft look in his eyes was so painful, Daisy almost believed him.

Bonnie turned to Daisy, who matched Kai's sorrowful expression. She narrowed her eyes, "And you two were... together?"

Daisy started to nod. "We were dating, yeah." She swallowed.

Damon nodded suspiciously, eyeing both Kai and Daisy. "And now?" He raised an eyebrow.

Daisy thought of her response for a few seconds, "Business partners?" Daisy says in a question tone as she also wasn't really sure how to respond to that.

"I don't believe it." Damon shakes his head.

Bonnie looks at him. "Would you lay off, a little?"

"You weren't almost impaled by an umbrella by him yesterday." Damon turns to her with wide, annoyed eyes. "Stop trying to impress the new guys."

She sends him a glare, before opening the pocket knife and walking over to Kai. For a split second, he didn't know where this was going, until the pressure of duct tape around his wrists released, as Bonnie cut them off. He let out a sigh. "Thank you." He says. Damon rubbed his temples in frustration.

Bonnie points the pocket knife at Kai. "Don't think this means I trust you." She says sternly.

Kai puts his hands up in defense. "Copy." He nods. As he got to his feet, Bonnie took a step back, and everyone watched with cautious eyes as he walked towards the coffee table where all of his objects remained.

"Can you play music... or something? It's painfully quiet in here." Kai says, picking up the shower drain and examining it.

"This is hell." Damon mutters, rubbing his eyes as he walked over to the stereo.

Bonnie continued to watch Kai, pocket knife still in hand, hesitation still showing in her stature. Daisy didn't know what to do or say, but it was best that she probably only spoke when spoken to.

The room filled with rock music that Daisy didn't recognize as Damon put a tape on. Kai sat down in front of the table, beginning to fidget with all of the pieces of junk he'd asked for. Daisy wasn't sure what he was doing, but also didn't really care enough to ask.

Bonnie walks over to where Damon stood. "Let's talk in private." Bonnie says, a stern look on her face. The two of them glancing at Kai, who happily worked in silence, then back to each other, before walking out of the living room into the kitchen, out of sight.

While Daisy was curious as to what was so secret that they had to discuss in a different room, she was also glad to have a moment alone with Kai, as she'd been with Bonnie and Damon holding up a fake front all day.

He glanced up to the kitchen where they disappeared to before turning to Daisy. "Business partners?" Kai raised his eyebrows.

Daisy shrugged awkwardly. "What'd you want me to tell them?"

Kai scoffed. "I saw the look on your face. You didn't know the real answer to that question either." He says, a hint of annoyance in his voice.

"Well, do you?" She narrowed her eyebrows at him, confused by his bitterness.

"Guess not." He responded, before turning back to his things.

"What are you even doing?" She asks, changing the subject.

"Building a replica of the Ascendant so they know what we're looking for." Kai says.

The Ascendant hadn't really been discussed very often. While she knew what it was and what it did, they'd never thought too long and hard about obtaining it because it was never a possibility that they'd need it.

That wasn't the case anymore, however. She had yet to process it, how their chances of going back to the real world had multiplied by thousands. She didn't think she would ever process it, it still felt like some big joke.

The thought of it was terrifying, more than anything. She hadn't even let herself begin to try and understand how things would be like there. That unwarranted hope was all she needed to completely crush her, more than she was already crushed. She couldn't take it, so she ignored it, and she would ignore it as best she could until she was really really out of here.

Bonnie and Damon come back out from the kitchen, Damon looking a little annoyed, and Bonnie looking pleased. "Are you gonna tell us how the hell we're getting home, or are you just gonna keep building with your makeshift Legos?" Damon gives Kai a forced smile.

Kai looks up at Damon with a bored expression before he began. "We'll harness the power of a celestial event. That being the meteor shower that happens here, in Mystic Falls, every night at 9:17 PM." He starts. "We'll do that by using a mystical relic. It's called an ascendant, and it looks like this." Kai says, holding up the now built together piece of junk he'd been working on for the past few minutes. "The last time we had it, was in the Pacific Northwest." Kai nods, then grabs the encyclopedia and opens it to a map displayed on the page. "Oregon."

"We, as in you two?" Damon questions.

Kai shakes his head. "It belonged to my family." He says, he then grabs the pocket knife, slicing the tip of his finger open and holding it over the map. "So, here's a little blood to get you started. Now, all we need is a locator spell to pinpoint it's whereabouts." Kai sighs happily.

Damon scoffed. "You have magic, do it yourself."

Kai shook his head. "If I had magic, I would've gotten myself out of that duct tape trap sixteen hours ago." He smiled sarcastically. Daisy wasn't sure where he was going with this, but she let him continue on. "I haven't had magic since I got here." He shrugs, they looked confused so Kai spoke again with a shrug. "I know just as much as you do."

Bonnie clenched her jaw, grabbing the map that now had a few little droplets of blood on the page off of the coffee table. "I need candles." She says, taking it over to the dining table that sat near a window.

Kai looked pleased as he happily scoured around the room for candles, grabbing them off bookshelves and cabinets, before following Bonnie over to the table.

Daisy watched as Damon watched Kai, not letting that smug, suspicious look off his face. He then poured himself another glass of bourbon, and Daisy took note at how he didn't offer any of it to anyone else.

"Are you and Bonnie close?" Daisy says, trying to make conversation so the overwhelming awkward silence didn't worse.

Damon leaned against the couch, watching as Bonnie and Kai began work on the locator spell at the table across the room. He took a sip from his drink. "Not by choice." He says, dissatisfaction in his tone.

Daisy nodded slightly, trying to think of another question that might get a conversation flowing. "I didn't even know vampires were real until I met you." She let out a small chuckle.

Damon hadn't taken his eyes of Bonnie or Kai once to look at Daisy as she spoke to him. "Yup." He sighs.

She clenched her jaw, frustrated by his complete disinterest to converse with her. She thought for a moment before speaking again. "So that makes you pretty old, huh?" Daisy asks awkwardly, trying to joke with him.

Damon turns to her, bringing his face up towards hers and staring intensely into her eyes. She suddenly felt latched to him in an invisible bond that she couldn't draw away from.

Her eyes stayed glued on his as he spoke, her head empty with thoughts and only hearing his voice. "Why don't you go help out Bonnie and Kai?" He says.

Daisy's attention was soon redirected to the two as Bonnie muttered a spell. She wandered over to the table they stood at, examining the lit candles that surrounded the map.

Kai looked at Damon with narrowed eyes. "What'd you just do?" He asks him.

Damon shrugs innocently. "What?"

Bonnie opens her eyes from trying the spell, looking at Kai frustratedly, then to Damon. "As of right now, there is a no talking rule." She sighs. "Doing magic is hard enough as it is."

Kai nods towards Damon. "Then there's a no compulsion rule, too."

Bonnie looks to Daisy, then to Damon, with disappointed eyes. "You compelled her?" She says.

Daisy looked around confusedly, not sure what anyone was talking about. "I'm the only human in this room right now and I'm feeling a little left out." She states.

"I just told her to go help you out so I could have this drink in peace." Damon shrugs, holding up the glass in his hands.

Bonnie huffs, then turns to Daisy. "Just ignore him." She says, before returning her attention to the map.

Daisy nods awkwardly, just as confused, if not more, as before. Kai's eyes slowly lift off Damon with a sigh as he refocuses on Bonnie as she begins a spell.

Daisy watches with a hint of nerves. Sure, she had her magic back but that didn't mean she was any good at it. As Bonnie spoke in the unfamiliar language, she awaited for something spontaneous to happen. Like the flames of the candles to rise, or the wind to pick up, or the ground to shake, but nothing happened.

Bonnie opens her eyes, letting out another sigh as she shook her head. "It doesn't feel right." She says. "Maybe I need a bigger map?"

"Maybe you're just out of practice and you suck at magic now." Damon says, crossing his arms.

"Ignore him, Bonnie. Pretend he's a white noise machine." Kai says, walking closer over to Bonnie. "That's what I used to do with my siblings. I grew up with a ton of little sisters and brothers. All of them... constantly yammering." He began, stepping unnecessarily close to Bonnie as he continued. He leaned his hand on the table where Bonnie stood, slightly turning his back to both Damon and Daisy, so he faced only Bonnie as he continued. She looked up at him, chin tilted to meet his gaze. "It uh- taught me how to focus." He says, in a quieter tone than before.

Damon and Daisy both subconsciously turned to each other and exchanged a mix of confused, and disgusted glances.

Was he really flirting with her right now? Daisy thought.

"Easy there, big brother." Damon says, interrupting their moment. Bonnie and Kai both redirected their gazes to Damon at the same time. "She doesn't know you. At least buy her a drink first." He smirked, but Daisy could see the distaste that lingered within.

Kai looked at Daisy for only a quick moment before turning back to Bonnie, but it was long enough to say a lot. He knew what he was doing, and he knew that she knew.

A pit of rage grew in Daisy's stomach. It must've been noticeable on her face, as Damon handed her a glass of bourbon he had just poured. She accepted it with no hesitation, and they both took a quick drink in unison.

When she finished the glass, she set it down on the table nearest her with a thud loud enough to get Kai's attention for another quick second, before she walked out of the room and into the kitchen.

Damon entered behind her. "Business partners, huh?" He says, walking straight to a cabinet, and opening it up to reveal another unopened bottle of bourbon.

Daisy scoffed. "Strictly." She says, spite in her voice as she tried not to let it bother her.

Damon gave her a knowing look, but didn't pry further as he knew that all the questions he had about her and Kai, could be redirected towards him and Bonnie— and he didn't want to get into that.

"Guys, it's working." Bonnie yells from the other room.

Daisy and Damon both leave the kitchen, the bottle of bourbon still in his hand as they all gather around the table. The candles that were previously unlit were now bursting with tall, powerful flames.

The blood on the map was slowly making a trail across the country. All the way towards... "Virginia?" Kai says, narrowing his eyebrows at the map. "That can't be right."

"Mhm." Bonnie nodded a bit. "Spell's working, it's showing us Mystic Falls." She made a face at the map, letting her sentence fall in a hushed tone as she turned towards to face Kai. "It feels so..." she slowly brought her hand up, "Close." She said, placing her hand on Kai's chest. The flames rose taller as she touched him. Daisy clenched her jaw. "It's right here." Bonnie says, adding pressure to Kai's chest.

Kai confusedly looked down to where Bonnie's hand lingered. He then opened his jacket and reached to the inside pocket, pulling out the Ascendant. Daisy looked at it confusedly, not sure when or where he got it, why he had it now, and why a locator spell was needed for all this to happen.

Kai holds it up, nodding with a proud look on his face. "Very good." He says, with a happy sigh.

"That's the Ascendant?" Bonnie asks, annoyed.

"The one and only." Kai nodded.

"Thanks for the mind games, jackass." Damon buffs.

"It was just another little test, just to make sure Bonnie's magic precise enough for the spell." Kai shrugs, then turns to Bonnie. "And I do believe your ready." He lifts his head up to face everyone, a pleased look on his face. "Pack your bags. We're going home."

a/n
i made a playlist of songs for every song included in this book, and custom playlists for the characters !! 

my spotify @ is -inslaytiable ,, or you can go to
my message board and click the links i included there :-))

(link is also in my bio !)

also YEAH. i 100% accidentally published this chapter when i was gonna make y'all wait at least a WEEK for me to post it. i would unpublish it but last time i accidentally posted, i unpublished it and republished it when i was ready and NO ONE got the notification for it and missed an entire chapter.

so in conclusion i am an idiot

but also lucky for u ig!
NOW I GOTTA SPEED WRITE MORE CHAPTERS BEFORE NEXT WEEK bc i'm gonna be so busy😮‍💨😮‍💨 thats y i had this chapter saved the publish ohhmygod i'm so stupid anyways bye

- jane 🕊