Vivi was a bad teacher.

Kai wasn't the problem. He couldn't be. That was impossible. He knew about cars, and driving stick should not have been so hard.

But the girl went on and on and on about different things he needed to keep in mind. He could care so much less. He just ignored her and started trying, which made her only grow more frustrated.

"That's not how you do it!" she said irritably.

"Shut up and let me focus," he said, trying again. This time, it seemed he'd done it slightly right, but she still let out a growl.

"Why do I even bother?" she said, rubbing her forehead. "You're not gonna listen to a word I say. Here," she said, tossing him the manual she'd found in the side door. "Teach yourself. We've been at this for half an hour and you're not paying attention to me."

"What, so you're just gonna leave?" he asked. "I stayed by your bedside for ten days straight!"

"And I was very kind to you those ten days! I'm trying to help you and you're just being a brat."

He felt like doing one of two things. First option— wrap his hand around her throat and pull her closer, and asking her to say it again. After that, he would lean in as if to kiss her, maybe see if she reciprocated. If she did, then that car was about to see it's first bit of action ever.

Second option— he wanted to bash her head into the dashboard and knock her out. Maybe remove part of her liver to teach her a lesson.

He ended up doing neither, not because he wanted to be nicer, but because she'd already gotten out of the car by the time he'd decided that he was going to go for option one.

"Vivi, don't be like that," he yelled out the window as she walked back to the hotel. "You're being dramatic."

"At least I can drive stick!" she yelled back.

"Just for that, I'm gonna run you over."

"No you won't, you can't drive that damn car."

She'd ended up taking over most of the driving on the way back to Mystic Falls. He'd been in charge of telling her where to go, whenever he wasn't snoring in the passenger's seat. They'd switched cars once they got back to Salt Lake City, because Kai wanted to drive, and apparently, his father's car just wasn't gonna cut it anymore.

He'd lit it on fire, and it had exploded behind them as he started driving away in an automatic sports car that barely fit all their supplies. Some of Vivianna's clothes had had to be rolled up into balls because they didn't have enough space. Kai didn't care about his clothes being wrinkly, but she did.

"We are not switching cars again," he said when they got to Kansas City.

"Why not?" she demanded. "I don't like that one, it's too small!"

"That's what she said."

"Can you be serious for just a single moment please?"

He smirked at her, and shrugged. "Okay, moment's passed. So, did you ever come up with a guess on how big you think I am?"

She rolled her eyes. "You're ridiculous. That car doesn't have enough space for our stuff. I want another SUV."

"Then go get it yourself."

"What, so you can abandon me here?"

"You said you'd iron my clothes. I can't abandon you."

"You can iron your clothes yourself, you know, since you leave them all over the place anyway."

"I don't know how to iron."

"You don't know how to iron? You can fly a plane and drive a train— both things you learned without anyone to teach you— but you can't use an iron? Then again, you can't drive stick, either—"

"Oh, would you give it a rest?" he groaned. "I thought we were bonding here."

"No we weren't. Come with me to get the car."

"Don't trust me?"

"I don't believe your excuse about me ironing your clothes."

"It's true."

"Why would you keep me around just because of that?"

"No one's ever ironed my clothes for me before."

She faltered. "Haven't you ever had to wear a suit?"

"Well, yeah, but I stole it from my dad's closet. They were already iron and pressed and all that. I just needed it for one night. Senior prom. I went for the booze."

"You've never had to wear formal clothes anywhere else?"

"No. I never got invited to weddings or birthdays. While everyone else was out having fun, I had to 'keep the house safe.' Safe, from intruders, which isn't even possible, because we're a literal fucking Coven with spells over every house. It was bullshit, really, having to keep the house 'safe' when no one felt safe there to begin with, all because I was sleeping in the next room. Guess they had a reason, of course."

Vivianna just looked down. "I guess I'll get the car myself."

He'd watched her like a toddler learning a new skill, once she finally had the iron in her hand and was gliding it gently over his shirts. He held each one to his cheek, feeling the warmth, though she ignored him, not wanting to burn herself. It had already happened one too many times.

"It's May twenty-eight tomorrow," said Vivianna once she was done, marking the calendar. "We have fourteen hours of driving before we get to Charlottesville. We should arrive in Mystic Falls by evening, once we get the Bennett blood."

"So, I have a question. You made it seem like your companions were werewolves. Which clearly isn't true because you said one's a vampire. So what's the other one?"

She sighed. "She's a witch. But she went through some stuff just before we all ended up here and I just didn't want to make it worse by dragging her across the country. The two of them... it was just too much. Not to mention our magic isn't exactly compatible. We'd kinda be fending for ourselves. It was better they stay back, hold down the fort of the place they picked to live in."

"Are they like you? In the sense that they're obnoxious and self-absorbed."

She glared at him. "Yeah, you're welcome for ironing your clothes." She got to her feet, choosing to walk away from him.

They were on their way in the morning. They had seven hours from Kansas City to Louisville, before going another seven hours from Louisville to Charlottesville.

Vivianna had a plan. She'd knock Kai out magically once they got to Charlottesville, and keep him down long enough to get them to Mystic Falls so she'd have time to explain things to Damon and Bonnie. That ensured that they got their first impression through her. Otherwise, he'd just be making comments and it would end in chaos.

They'd been just an hour away from Charlottesville when there was a popping sound. Kai, who'd been driving, immediately let go of the accelerator, allowing the car to glide until it stopped.

"Shit," he said, getting out. "Tire's blown."

"The one thing we didn't pack was supplies if this happened," she said, groaning slightly. She went to check the back of the car. "Stupid! Damn it... there isn't a spare... I didn't check."

Kai tried his best not to be angry. Honestly, he hadn't checked for that, either, in the cars he'd selected before. "We don't have anything to fix this," he said. "No pump, no jack to lift the car and give it our best shot at patching." He looked up at the sky, seeing it had long since started to dark. "Guess we're staying here for the night."

"We can't stay here!" she said, bewildered. "What if we have to use the bathroom—?"

He gestured at the open field. "Take your pick of makeshift toilets. You brought tissues, that'll have to do."

"What the hell do we do after that? We're near Lexington— that's an hour away from Charlottesville, driving. The nearest town isn't for about fifty minutes, walking. Why don't we just use magic—?"

"I don't know how to fix that magically," said Kai. "And unless you do, we're at a loss."

Vivianna groaned in frustration. "Damn it..."

She'd ended up setting up their 'bathroom' station in the trunk of the car. She laid out toothbrushes, floss, toothpaste, tissues, wipes, some water, and a few of the facial cleansers she'd picked up. Kai had done his business first, and then she afterward, far in the field, to the point where she'd almost gotten lost. She was glad there weren't animals here, otherwise, she'd have a lot more to worry about.

"Guess that's it," Kai said, leaning the driver's seat back as far as it went, and holding up the blanket he'd brought for himself. "Time to sleep."

She was curled up as best as she could across from him, hands tucked under her face. "Alright. Goodnight."

Neither of them could sleep.

"Was your brother cool, or was he as lame as you?"

She bit back a retort, and just shrugged. "Julian was good. He was knowledgeable and kind. A good husband to Maria. An even better brother. He always protected me. Taught me how to do a lot of things. Unfortunately, he was the one that had to teach me to kill. He started working as a mercenary right after my parents died. He'd done it for a year more than I had, and just kinda walked me through it."

"This Maria lady. Sister-in-law. She was nice?"

"She was awesome. She's the one that taught me to cook, and she was really good at it. She made Julian really happy, and when they got married, it just felt even better. She was like the big sister I'd never had. They both tried their best to keep me happy because they knew that everything I'd experienced had taken a major toll on me. Maria's parents were still alive, they'd just gone their separate ways for safety. Julian was old enough to feel pretty normal after my parents died. But I was still in the process of learning so much from them, and it got cut short. Maria and Julian had to take up the task of teaching me what they hadn't been able to."

"Sounds like you had it good," he said, shifting so his arms were clasped behind his head. "It's different, I guess, with you being the youngest kid. Everyone gives more shits about you. I was the oldest. The others were supposed to look up to me, but I was a failure. An abomination. There wasn't anything they could learn from that. I was a monster before I started killing. Solely because of my siphoning. I wasn't abusive with them. I lost my temper easily, but I never hit them. Never made them feel inadequate. I was so used to it, I didn't want to just repeat it to the younger ones. I thought they might treat me better if they could see me as a cool older bro. It never happened. So I didn't feel remorse when I killed them. They didn't appreciate me. I tried to be nice to them and it was all for nothing."

She winced. "It's hard for kids to process what's right and wrong when their parents are setting a bad example for them. That's why it's so important to teach them about being accepting and kind with everyone. Just... I'm sorry. Again. It sounds awful. I'll never be able to understand it. I just know I would have hated it if it were me. It's wrong on so many levels. Your dad... is he still alive?"

"I don't know. Must be, or the prison world would have collapsed. Aren't you supposed to know who the leader of the Gemini Coven is?"

"I don't really keep up with it. I just stay hidden. The name Joshua Parker doesn't ring a bell to me."

"I'm glad my parents didn't end up naming me after him," said Kai scathingly. "My mom wanted my name to be 'Malachai Joshua Parker.' My dad said no, because they were already using a 'J' name for Jo. So we just ended up not getting middle names. The others did. All stupid. Do you have a middle name?"

"No. Just the two last names. The 'V' for Vivianna is from my mom, 'Valerie.' And, I forget if I mentioned, but my dad's name was Julian, too. That was more traditional... naming the sons after their fathers, especially when there was only one."

"Did your parents want to have more kids?"

"No. Just one boy and one girl. They did magic to make sure they had one of each. Having too many kids isn't ideal as a Traveler. It's so much more dangerous. You have to deal with so many more people that need to be passengers, not to mention that many Travelers in one place is more disastrous. Four is probably the max a group can have without it being catastrophic."

He'd stretched out his hand to get in a more comfortable position, and it had brushed up against her forehead. She figured it was an accident, and had thought nothing of it, until his hand moved again, this time grazing her arm.

"Stop touching me," she said. "I want to sleep."

"Sleep with me."

"No."

"I'm touch-starved."

"You may be touch-starved, but that doesn't mean I'm gonna fuck you."

"Would you? If we weren't in here?"

"I don't know you well enough. So no."

"But if you knew me better?"

She blushed, and was glad he couldn't see it. "I don't know."

"I'd sleep with you. I want to."

"But I don't want to. Please respect that."

He was silent after that.

She woke up feeling incredibly sore. She wasn't used to sleeping in cars anymore, since she'd had the luxury of a bed literally everywhere in this empty world. She groaned when she got up, stretching her arms before getting up and going to brush her teeth, peeing where he couldn't see her, and then going to wake him up.

"Five more minutes," he pleaded.

"It's morning, Malachai. We have to gather just the essentials and get going."

He'd complained the entire time they'd walked. Vivianna was exhausted, and the last thing she wanted to do was move along the same highway for nearly an hour. But they needed to find a car, because this wasn't a trip they could do without one.

"I'm hungry," said Kai. "When the hell are we getting to this town?"

"I don't know, okay? We already finished all the granola bars, we're gonna have to wait."

"Maybe we should have taken a plane."

"You may know how to fly one, but I was not going to go willingly into a plane."

"Coward."

"I don't trust planes. Any other vehicle is fine. Being up in the sky is terrifying. I have enough problems on land."

"Then maybe we should have taken a damn train then. Probably would have worked a hell of a lot better than a car."

"It's in the past, okay, we didn't do it, we can't do it now, so just keep walking and please, for the love of god, shut up. If you're just gonna have a verbal existential crisis, I don't want to hear it."

"You're forgetting how eager I am to get the hell out of here. You haven't been trapped here for eighteen years. You don't know how badly I want to get this all done and over with."

"I may not know, but I can feel at least a fraction of the desperation. I want this done and over with, too. We'll be there soon. Shouldn't take that much longer."

At long last, they arrived in a small town, where the first thing they saw was a Chinese food place. Thankfully, they'd arrived at a good time, because the food was freshly made and waiting for them. Kai had eaten six egg rolls and a gigantic plate of teriyaki chicken with chow mein. Vivianna hadn't felt the best, and had hardly been able to down her orange chicken and rice bowl.

"You look sick," said Kai.

"I'm dehydrated," she said as they walked to find a car. "I'm not used to doing this much physical activity in this body. I need to start exercising again... holy fuck."

He'd been nice enough to offer to drive once they got an automatic he liked. She'd fallen asleep in the passenger's seat, which had almost foiled her plan.

"Yoohoo," he said, when they reached the 'Welcome to Charlottesville' sign that rested between that city and Mystic Falls. "We're here. Bennett blood. Now."

She was still groggy as she sat up. "What? What's going on?"

"Bennett blood," he said, snapping his fingers in her face. "Hurry up."

"I'm sorry about this," she said, gripping her necklace and mumbling, "Uspat."

He slumped back immediately, starting to snore lightly.

She'd managed to get him into the back seat, then had started her drive to Mystic Falls. It was right at ten-thirty when she pulled up to the driveway of the Salvatore Boarding House.

Bonnie and Damon rushed out to meet her immediately.

"Holy shit, I thought you were dead," said Bonnie. "I tried to contact you magically to get updates, but..."

"But I'm not the same kind of witch as you," said Vivianna. "It wouldn't have worked. I'm guessing that means you got your magic back?"

"No thanks to Damon," said Bonnie, glaring at him. "He doubted me the entire time, but you know what, I managed it. I practiced that same spell every day until I felt a spark."

"Liar," said Damon. "You were able to use magic cause I threw a pancake at you and you managed to catch it with your mind."

Bonnie smirked slightly. "It was a spark." She peered into the car. "Is that the siphoner?"

"Yep," said Vivianna. "There's a lot to discuss. But first—" she looked at Damon. "Vampire blood, please?"

He tilted his head. "You look fine. Why do you need vampire blood?"

She held up her shirt to reveal the scar left behind by Kai. "That, and one on my leg, and a concussion I got around fourteen days ago. I don't think it'll remove my past scars, which is a bummer, but at least these. Please."

Damon sighed, before biting into his wrist, and holding it out to her. She brought it to her mouth, and drank a bit, feeling her wounds healing completely.

It took about an hour for her to talk them through everything that had happened. She didn't tell them the truth about Kai (in regards to why he was there in the first place), but she did relay their discovery of the last piece of the Ascendant, and the fact that they just needed that and Bennett blood to get out.

"He said Mystic Falls is the best place to channel the full power of the eclipse. I don't think he knows where, exactly, since I don't know if he's been here, but it shouldn't be too hard to figure it out. Damon can you carry—?"

The vampire sped outside, and returned with Kai, depositing him on the couch. "This dude weighs a ton. How the hell did you manage to move him from the driver's seat to the back seat?"

"Magic," she said. "I told you about that Connective Spell. It's been helping a lot. I feel stronger. Since only a month has passed, I'm hoping your friends saved those ashes for me. Otherwise, the only way I won't lose my magic permanently is to remain linked to him. And I obviously can't do that."

She looked over at Kai, waving her hand to wake him back up. He sat up with a start, looking around wildly, before realizing what'd happened.

"Not cool, Vivi," he said, rubbing the back of his neck. "You lied about the Bennett blood. Again."

"Had to make sure I made a decent impression for you," she said. "This is Damon, the vampire, and this is Bonnie, the witch."

"Mmm, of course," said Kai, looking over Bonnie's face. "You're the Bennett blood. You look just like her."

Bonnie frowned. "Just like who."

"Sheila Bennett. Ring a bell?"

Bonnie looked flustered. "She was my Grams. How did you—?"

"Sheila helped my dad every now and then. She's actually the one that gave the blood to put me in here."

"Let's not punish Bonnie for something her grandmother did," said Vivianna quickly, seeing Kai looked angry. "We have what we need. What time does the eclipse happen here?"

"Twelve twenty-eight," said Damon, checking the time. "It's eleven forty-five right now."

"Perfect," said Kai. "We have enough time to prepare. Let's go. Unless Miss Bennett has a problem."

"No problem," said Damon, not letting Bonnie answer. "She's fine. Let's hurry this up. I want to get back to my girl tonight."

"That's a shame, it smells like pancakes in here," said Kai, sniffing as the others got to their feet. He got out the Ascendant. "Follow me, chipmunks."

He led them out to the front yard, holding up the Ascendant and starting to walk around aimlessly, looking through the center hole framed by the missing gear they'd only just located.

"You're wandering around like a crazy man," observed Damon. "Why?"

"Looking for the exact right spot," said Kai. "We need to find where the power of the eclipse is focused."

"Something's not right about him," muttered Bonnie as he skipped ahead, like a child.

"He knows his shit, he's just insufferable," said Vivianna.

"Remind me again why he's still alive?" asked Damon. "You're powerful enough to kill him."

"I just think we should all get out at the same time," said Vivianna. "No one should be trapped here by themselves for so long. It's cruel. Plus, after nearly killing me, he saved my life a good several times. He could have let me die and he didn't. I think he's learned at least one thing in his captivity."

"Be honest," said Damon quietly. "You wanna sleep with him."

"What the hell is wrong with you?" said Bonnie, seeing Vivianna had turned red. "I've had it with you making comments like that this entire month. I can't wait to get out of here and talk to somebody else. Anybody else."

Damon feigned offense. "Ouch. Can we just have a few lasting seconds of peace while this idiot uses that thing to get the stars to align?" He looked up at Kai, who seemed to be heading into the forest . "Hey, what's up with the nature walk?"

"I used the Ascendant to figure out where we need to be standing during the eclipse," said Kai.

"Great," said Damon. "Let's do some magic and get the hell out of here."

"Oregon," whispered Bonnie suddenly.

Vivianna raised a brow. "What about it?"

She held up a newspaper that'd been on the floor. "I read this paper like a thousand times, and there's something in it about Oregon." She pointed at a specific article. "Family massacred in Portland. The only one missing was the oldest boy, a twenty-two-year-old named Malachai."

Vivianna gulped as Bonnie stared at her incredulously. "Did you know?" the Bennett witch asked.

"It wasn't my place to say anything," said Vivianna uncomfortably.

"Who names a kid Malachai?" asked Kai from up ahead, clearly privy to their conversation. "It's like they expected me to be evil."

"All these kids were murdered!" exclaimed Bonnie.

"Hello! Not everyone died," said Kai, walking over to her. "I had a soft spot for one of my sisters. 'Cause otherwise, I would've cut her lungs out, and not just her spleen."

Bonnie's eyes looked like they might pop out of her sockets. "What?"

"You can survive without a spleen," said Kai, as if to imply this should be obvious.

"Something tells me you're not speaking hypothetically," muttered Damon.

Kai looked over the paper, pointing at different pictures. "Look, well, these two, I, uh, hung off a stairwell railing. Then I put a hunting knife in her abdomen, and him, I drowned in the pool. But, he kept fighting me. I was like, 'I saved you for last, you ungrateful little...' Anyway, that was that. Vivi saw past it. You guys should, too."

"You just killed your whole family?" asked Bonnie.

"Coven, to be precise. Oh, you know, family of witches. I have no powers, obviously, Vivi already mentioned that. And of course, the Gemini Coven did not take it too well when they heard what I did in Portland. It's why they banished me here."

Bonnie tossed the newspaper to the floor. "Screw this," she said. "We're not going anywhere."