"Wait, my dears," Mrs. Flowers said, sounding as if she were about to cry. The boys shut up immediately, and Matt felt ashamed of himself.
"I know a way that you both can help me, but it's very dangerous. Dangerous for the two of you. But perhaps if we only have to do it once, we can cut the risk of danger and increase our chance of finding something."
"What is it?" Tyrone and Matt said almost simultaneously.
A few minutes later, they were prepped for it. They were lying side by side, facing the wall formed by the tall trees and tangled underbrush of the thicket. They were not only roped together, but they had Mrs. Saitou's Post-it notes placed all over their arms.
"Now when I say 'three' I want you both to reach in and grab at the ground with your hands. If you feel something, keep hold of it and pull your arm out. If you don't feel anything, move your hand a little and then pull it out as fast as you can. And by the way," she added calmly, "if you feel anything trying to pull you in or immobilize your arm, yell and fight and kick and scream, and we'll help you to get out."
There was a long, long minute of silence.
"So basically, you think there are things all around on the ground in the thicket, and that we might get hold of them just by reaching in blindly," Matt said.
"Yes," Mrs. Flowers said.
"All right," said Tyrone, and once again Matt glanced at him approvingly. He hadn't even asked "What kind of things could pull us into the Wood?"
Now they were in position and Mrs. Flowers was counting "One, two, three," and then Matt had thrust his right arm in as far as it would go and was sweeping his arm while groping.
He heard a shout from beside him. "Got it!" And then instantly: "Something's pulling me in!"
Matt pulled his own arm out of the thicket before trying to help Tyrone. Something dropped down on it, but it hit a Post-it note and it felt as if he'd been whacked by a piece of a Styrofoam.
Tyrone was thrashing wildly and had already been dragged in to his shoulders. Matt grabbed him by the waist and used all his strength to haul backward. There was a moment of resistance - and then Tyrone came popping out as if suddenly released like a cork. There were scratches on his face and neck, but none where the overcoats had covered him or where the Post-it notes were.
Matt felt a desire to say "Thank you," but the two women who had made him amulets were far away, and he felt stupid saying it to Tyrone's coat. In any case, Mrs. Flowers was fluttering and thanking people enough for three.
"Oh, my, Matt, when that big branch came down I thought your arm would be broken - at least. Thank the dear Lord that the Saitou women make such excellent amulets. And, Tyrone dear, please take a swig out of this canteen - "
"Uh, I don't really drink much - "
"It's just hot lemonade, my own recipe, dear. If it weren't for both you boys, we wouldn't have succeeded. Tyrone, you found something, yes? And then you were caught and would never have been released if Matt hadn't been here to save you."
"Oh, I'm sure he'd've got out," Matt said hurriedly, because it must be embarrassing for anybody like The Tyreminator to admit they needed help.
Tyrone, however, just said soberly, "I know. Thanks, Matt."
Matt felt himself blush.
"But I didn't get anything after all," Tyrone said disgustedly. "It felt like a piece of old pipe or something - "
"Well, let's have a look," Mrs. Flowers said very seriously.
She turned the strongest flashlight on the object Tyrone had risked so much to bring out of the thicket.
At first Matt thought it was a gigantic rawhide dog bone. But then an all-too-familiar shape made him look closer.
It was a femur, a human femur. The biggest bone in the body, the one from the leg. And it was still white. Fresh.
"It doesn't seem to be plastic," Mrs. Flowers said in a voice that seemed very far away.
It wasn't plastic. Matt could see where little tiny bits had curled up and away from the exterior. It wasn't rawhide, either. It was...well, real. A real human leg bone.
But that wasn't the most horrifying thing; the thing that sent Matt spiraling out into darkness.
The bone was polished clean and marked with the imprints of dozens of tiny little teeth.
Chapter 32
Elena was radiantly happy. She had gone to sleep happy, only to wake up again happy, serene in the knowledge that soon - soon she would visit Stefan, and that after that - surely very soon - she would be able to take Stefan away.
Bonnie and Meredith weren't surprised when she wanted to see Damon about two things: one being who should go and two being what she was going to wear. What did surprise them were her choices.
"If it's all right," she said slowly at the beginning, tracing a finger round and round on the large table in one of the parlors as everyone gathered the next morning, "I would like for just a few people to go with me. Stefan's been badly treated," she went on, "and he hates to look bad in front of other people. I don't want to humiliate him."
There was sort of a group blush at this. Or maybe it was a group flush of resentment - and then a group blush of culpability. With the western windows slightly open, so that an early-morning red light fell over everything, it was hard to tell. Only one thing was certain: everyone wanted to go.
"So I hope," Elena said, turning to look Meredith and Bonnie in the eye, "that none of you are hurt if I don't choose you to come with me."
That tells both of them they're out, Elena thought as she saw understanding blossom in both faces. Most of her plans depended on how her two best friends reacted to this.