CHAPTER SIXTY FIVE
[65]
song: yes i'm changing by tame impala

"AND I HATE PANCAKES." Bonnie shouts, stabbing the newly prepared pancakes in front of her with the pencil she had in hand.

"Woah, don't take it out on the pancakes." Damon said, with crossed arms. "Those pancakes, like myself, are waiting for you to go all witchy and get us the hell out of here."

Daisy sat on the kitchen counter of the large mansion she had come to realize was in fact, Damon's. She leaned her elbows on her knees, plopping her chin in her hands as she listened in on their conversation.

Bonnie abruptly stood up from the kitchen table she sat at, turning to face Damon but she stared directly into Daisy's eyes. Daisy held her breath for a split second, a part of her thinking that the cloaking spell had worn off and Bonnie really was staring right at her.

"You know I've been trying." Bonnie responds angrily.

Daisy follows Bonnie's gaze, turning around to find Damon doing the dishes behind her.

"And failing." Damon responds. Daisy rolls her eyes. "Further evidence, we're in hell. Not only am I stuck with you, I'm stuck with the useless version of you."

The sound of something hitting the floor from the living room caught Daisy's attention, she glanced up to the archway. Kai quickly picked up a book he just dropped, he looked up at Daisy and they exchanged wide eyed glances.

"Did you hear that?" Bonnie spoke, her gaze slowly turning to where Kai stood in the other room.

Daisy and Kai both turned to Bonnie, not daring to make another sound or any sudden movements.

"What would I have heard, Bonnie? We're the only people here." Damon says, swinging a dish towel over his shoulder. "We were the only people here two months ago and we're the only two people here now." He raises his voice.

"Well I swear I heard something!" Bonnie snaps back, once again looking right through Daisy to speak to Damon who stood behind her.

Kai slowly started to walk back into the kitchen. "Oops." He whispered, Daisy sends him a less than enthusiastic thumbs up.

"Maybe it's the sound of existential despair. Hear that's what Hell sounds like." Damon says sarcastically.

"Any updates?" Kai says, leaning against the archway.

"Lots of bickering." Daisy sighs, eyeing both Damon and Bonnie. "They're very dramatic."

"At least they haven't set anything on fire yet." Kai shrugs, Daisy sticks her tongue out at him.

"I have to spend every day on repeat with the person I like least on this earth." Bonnie shouts, then takes a much needed deep breath. She turns back around and grabs the newspaper off the table she was just sat at. "And I can't figure out this stupid crossword puzzle!" She raises her voice again, waving it in the air before throwing it back on the table, and stomping out of the room.

Damon tosses the last dirty plate in the sink before leaning against the opposite counter and letting out a huff. He lingered there for a few moments before eventually grabbing a bottle of bourbon and heading outside.

"I think I have a plan." Kai says.

Daisy raises her eyebrows in response, hopping off the counter and walking over to where Bonnie had previously been sitting. She dips her finger in the whipped cream that topped the pancakes she didn't eat, before licking it off. "Does it involve food?" Daisy says.

"Later." Kai responds, Daisy let's her head fall back as she groans.

"We've been listening to them for a few days. They clearly can't stand each other but they also care about each other a little. Enough to say... save the other from being killed, right?"

"Sure." Daisy says, sitting down at the table and grabbing the newspaper Bonnie just threw.

"So we put Damon's life on the line. And scare Bonnie into saving him." Kai says.

Daisy lifts her eyes up from the newspaper and back to Kai, confused. "Okay, and that gets us where?"

"Scare Bonnie into saving him, through magic." He corrects. "We'll scare her magic back into her." He looked proud of his plan.

"You really think that'll work?" She lifts an eyebrow, before refocusing on the crossword puzzle she held in her hand, which was completely filled out except for 27 across. "American pop duo saw a star fall at a concert inspiring this song." She read the prompt aloud.

"Waiting for a Star to Fall by Boy Meets Girl." Kai answers almost immediately, like the answer was obvious.

Daisy looks at him with a gapped open mouth. "I knew you liked Boy Meets Girl!" She pointed at him and smiled.

He shook his head defensively and shrugged it off. "I do not."

"Oh man," Daisy began to laugh. "You're a dork."

Kai looked at her with an offended expression. "A dork?" He raised his eyebrows.

"A dork." She reinstated, nodding with a frown. She picked up the pencil and filled in the answer.

"What are you doing?" Kai asks as she wrote it in.

"If we're gonna scare her we gotta warm up to it." She shrugged. "This'll build suspense."

Kai nodded, agreeing. "Smart." He says, sitting down beside Daisy and watching as she filled in each letter. "It's Waiting for a Star to Fall not waiting for stars to fall." He corrected, gesturing at her paper.

"Oh, my bad, I was never a big Boy Meets Girl fan in high school I was too busy having friends." She says sarcastically.

Kai ran a tongue over his bottom row of teeth, hiding his smile. "You're mean." He tried to hold in a chuckle. She frowned at him again and he finally let out a small laugh, which she returned.

He shook his head, as the laughter died down. "Anyways." He began. "I'm thinking we separate them first. You deal with Bonnie and bring her to wherever I have Damon, I egg her on by threatening his life and then boom— magic." He explains.

"So she gets her magic back, and then they leave without us because we tried to kill them." Daisy explains. "Good idea."

Kai sighs, leaning on his hand as he glances around the room and thinks. He sits up and looks at Daisy with a confident look as thought of a new idea. "You pretend to be on their side." He says.

"What about you?" Daisy asks.

"I gotta scare the magic out of her somehow. I'll stick with the kill-Damon-plan but you act all buddy buddy with them." Kai says. "They'll take you with them because you're not actively trying to murder them, and they'll take me with them because I'm the only one that knows the spell out."

"You know the spell?" Daisy narrows her eyebrows.

"No." He shakes his head. "But they don't know that I don't."

Daisy leans back in the chair, mulling it over. "Seems risky."

"Come on, we'll make up a believable sappy backstory for you and they'll feel so bad they'll have to let you come." Kai says.

Daisy shakes her head. "Oh no, I'm not worried about that. They're getting me out of here. No question." She scoffs, "I don't know if you remember but I put on a pretty believable 'I'm-innocent-and-not-suspicious-at-all-please-find-my-boyfriend's-murderer facade' a few years ago" She shrugs cockily.

Kai scoffs. "I remember."

"It's you I'm worried about." Daisy says.

"Once we're in, I'll just explain to them that I had to do what I did to Damon to get Bonnie's magic back." Kai nods.

"I think you're putting a lot of faith in Bonnie's relationship with him." Daisy scoffs.

"They remind me of us." Kai says. "They annoy each other and drive each other crazy but they still care for each other."

Daisy lifts her chin and looks at him with narrow eyes. "That was cheesy."

"I know I thought it would make me feel better about it but it didn't." Kai squirmed as he spoke. "But it'll work. Okay? And if it doesn't then... we get rid of Damon and figure something else out with Bonnie."

Daisy thinks it over a few times, they really didn't have much to lose except for the literal key out of here, but she wasn't even convinced that was obtainable right now. She's seen Bonnie try to do magic a few times, and there was nothing. At all. She wasn't going to get her hopes up until she sees her actually do some magic, until then it was business as usual.

"So what's the plan?" Daisy asks.

Kai smiles. "They're going to the grocery store tomorrow. We'll get there before them and set up."

"Set up what?" Daisy questions.

Kai leans forward, grabbing Daisy's hands on the table and looking into her eyes. "Just trust me, okay?"

She sighs. "Okay. But if you get eaten by a vampire then that's on you." She says sternly.

Kai makes an awkward face. "They don't technically eat people..." Daisy gives him a bored look and he stops himself from continuing further.

—

As the next day rolled around, Daisy and Kai spent the early morning making sure everything was in place. Rerunning their plan and making sure they had back up plans for each possible outcome. They even went as far as to taking one of Damon's cars and parking out in front of the grocery store, just to had a little extra flare.

They had they key out of here, now. It was the screwing up and losing it they were worried about. They had to play their cards right or else their ticket home was gone.

"What if this girl's not even a real Bennett witch?" Daisy says, leaning against the tiny merry-go-round machine that sat outside the grocery store. "What if she is, and she can't do the spell?"

Kai turns to her, a bag of pork rinds in his hands. "You're doing that thing." He says with a full mouth.

"What thing?" She asks.

"That thing you do when your nervous." Kai answers. "Thinking of each and every worst outcome."

Daisy sighs. "Someone has to."

"Just trust me." Kai responds.

"You always say that like it'll mean something to me." Daisy rolls her eyes. "Every time I trust you, something goes wrong." She turns fo him with an aggravated expression.

"Wellll," Kai thinks for a moment. "Trust me for real this time." He smiles proudly, before glancing at his watch.

"They're coming." Daisy says, catching glance of the two walking around the corner and towards the grocery store they sat at.

"Right on time." Kai mutters, he glances up at Daisy and gives her a firm nod. "I'll lift the cloaking spell when it's time, okay? Until then, just..." He looks around and thinks of something for her to do. "Turn on the carousel."

She glances at the dully painted horses that she leaned up against, before turning back to Kai and letting out a little laugh. He smiled at her before heading inside, leaving her to watch as Damon and Bonnie bicker the entire journey here.

Daisy leaned against a pillar under the awning the store was attached to. Watching through the windows as the two took their sweet time going down and back each aisle, going through their list and grabbing everything they needed.

As Daisy yawned, falling bored at the lack of action, she walked over to the carousel and leaned down a bit to see how to turn it on. A small slot for a quarter sat near the play button and she rolled her eyes before leaning back up and kicking the machine.

A bit surprised, the terrifyingly unsettling music of the carousel filled the air and the horses started spinning in slow circles.

She glanced up through the windows, Damon and Bonnie already heading outside towards the sound. Daisy felt the unfamiliarity of nerves creep up as she'd alerted the first sign of her and Kai's presence, and the plan was falling into action.

The two rush out the front doors, turning to face the carousel. Bonnie looked pleased with herself, whilst Damon looked utterly confused. "See, Damon. That's what hope sounds like."

Daisy made a disgusted face as she felt her entire body cringe at the comment. She couldn't express her distaste for much longer as Damon had stepped forward and bent down, opening up the power box of the machine.

"It's probably a faulty wire or something." He says, examining the mechanics.

"Or, someone put a quarter in it and turned it on." Bonnie says smugly. Daisy makes an awkward face.

"You know, I'm a little confused with all this misplaced hope." Damon begins. "Let's just say there's someone here. How do you know we're gonna get out?" He raised his eyebrows.

Bonnie thinks for a moment and Daisy glances at her, awaiting her response. "If someone else is here that means it's not our hell. And that means grams put us here for a reason. And if grams put us here, that means there's a way out." She says.

Daisy narrowed her eyebrows confusedly, she hadn't heard about this 'Grams' person yet. She assumed it was whoever had sent the two to the prison world.

"That's a hell of a logic knot you've tied for yourself." Damon says, shutting the door of the power box.

"Thank you." Bonnie smiles. "Now that's we've properly placed our hope, let's play a game. When we get out... what's the first thing you're gonna tell Elena?"

Daisy had already felt herself falling bored, as the conversation had once again turned to the topic of this 'Elena' person.

Damon thinks for a few moments, and for a second Daisy thought he was going to actually give a sincere answer. "Sorry I killed Bonnie. But she was the most annoying person in the world. She wouldn't shut up. She just kept talking." He started, walking back out into the parking lot. Bonnie turned to him with a disappointed look, before eventually following him as he continued. "I mean, it's a wonder I made it this long but here's the thing— I think it's better this way. Cause she didn't have magic. She was useless." He spoke sarcastically.

Bonnie stopped halfway through the parking lot, and Daisy had followed her gaze right to the camera her and Kai had strategically parked there previously. Daisy smiled proudly as she leaned back up against the wall, watching the next phase of the plan pan out.

"Damon." Bonnie interrupts.

"What?" He says annoyedly, turning around to face her.

Bonnie shrugs. "I don't know, still think I'm useless?" She gestures to his car.

Damon widens his eyes, stepping towards the car and examining it in disbelief. "That's my car." He let's out, he glances up to Bonnie and back to it. "That's my car!"

"How did it even get here, Damon? Did you leave it here in 1990?" Bonnie asks, crossing her arms.

"I don't know Bonnie. It was 22 years ago. Had a lot going on that day." He says, admiring his car. Daisy felt her heart drop at the words. She leaned up off the wall a bit, wanting to make sure he heard him right.

Twenty Two years ago.

There was no way that much time had passed. Sure she'd lost track but she didn't think she'd been here any longer than fifteen years. She glanced at the two frantically, waiting for one of them to confirm or deny his statement.

"Okay, so you admit that it's pretty unlikely that you did." Bonnie says.

"Very unlikely." Damon says.

Daisy stood up off the wall, walking towards them and deeper into the parking lot. She didn't know why she felt herself begin to panic. Twenty two years.

"So that might stand to reason that..." Bonnie egged him on.

"That someone might've put it here, Bonnie. Yes. I admit that." Damon sighed, looking at the car with sorrowful eyes. "I'm gonna tell Elena how much I love her."

Daisy was barely listening at this point, her brain too busy trying to comprehend how much time had passed. She wanted to grab onto one of them and shake them, and ask them if it was really true.

"Did you just see that?" Bonnie says, looking up and thought a car window, right at Daisy.

She quickly ducked down behind the car, her heart once again dropping. "Shit." Daisy muttered. Kai must've lifted the cloaking spell, but she wasn't ready.

She glanced around quickly, before crawling in the back behind another car. She could see their footsteps underneath the cars as she scrambled for a hiding spot.

Daisy lifted her hand up and latched onto one of the car door handles, yanking back as quietly as she could. When the car opened, she quickly got inside, shutting it behind her and hunkering beneath the window, right as the two came around the corner.

She exhaled a breath she didn't realize she was holding as she stayed low, listening in on their muffled conversation. "It was behind the pickup." Bonnie says frantically, walking around the car Daisy hid herself in.

"No, it was in the front." Damon replies.

"Are you sure?" Bonnie questions.

"Absolutely I'm sure it was right there..." The end of Damon sentence came to a quiet close as they both met around at the end of the pick up truck. Daisy slowly rose her head, peaking up out through the back window, which was covered by a brown tarp blowing in the wind. "It was a tarp. We saw a tarp." Damon says disappointedly, letting his arms fall to his sides.

Suddenly, the carousel music filled the air and Daisy almost jumped at the sudden sound. She lifted her head up out the window, to see Kai standing right beside it.

She widened her eyes, confused as to why he was standing right out in the open— completely ruining the plan. She turned to see Damon and Bonnie, who've also redirected their attention to the now operating carousel.

"And that, is on a timer." Damon says. "That turned on by itself."

Daisy let out a deep sigh of relief, realizing that Kai hadn't lifted the cloaking spell at all, and that they really just saw a tarp.

Daisy sent Kai a tiny wave through the window and he looked at her confusedly as he sent one back, heading back inside.

"But your car?" Bonnie questioned.

"I left in here in 1990." Damon breathed heavily.

"And the crossword?" She raised her eyebrow.

"You filled it out, Bonnie." Damon says angrily, slamming the door of the truck's trunk closed. "Which means we're alone. With no Grams escape hatch. And we're never getting out of here."

Bonnie looks at him with disappointed eyes. "Give me your ring." Bonnie says.

"What?" He looks at her confusedly.

"Give me your ring." She grabs onto his wrists and tries to take it herself. "All I've heard you say is you have no hope, so why don't you just end it?!" She says, struggling against his grip as he tried to yank her off him.

"Ooh." Daisy let out, watching the drama unfold.

"Hope is the only thing keeping me going, Damon." Bonnie yelled. "So if you're really done, then be done! Cause this isn't helping." She pushes his arm frustratedly.

The two linger in the parking lot for a few moments, before Bonnie turns on her heal and begins to leave, heading back home. While Damon, turns back towards the entry of the grocery store.

Daisy didn't know how they did it, but they got them separated, and the first half of the plan was complete.

When she knew Damon was completely out of sight, she quickly scrambled out of the car. She quietly shut the door behind her before she made her way out of the parking lot, catching eye of Bonnie who trailed down the sidewalk.

Bonnie turned around, clearly hearing Daisy's not so quiet attempt at trying to catch up to her. Daisy inhaled sharply, ducking behind a bush before Bonnie could see her.

She held her breath, quickly trying to remember the story Kai told her to go with, as she knew the plan was coming down to it's most vital part.

"Hello?" Bonnie spoke, slowly stepping towards where Daisy hid. "Damon?"

Daisy let out the breath she was holding as she stepped back out behind the bush, right into Bonnie's line of sight. 

It was unsettling the way Bonnie no longer looked through her. You could tell by the way she looked scared and nervous, but also relieved and hopeful. For a second Daisy shared those same emotions, but only for a second.

"Who are you?" Bonnie swallowed, keeping her distance.

Daisy breathed heavily, keeping herself in check. "Your friend is in trouble." She nodded.

Bonnie narrowed her eyebrows, looking at Daisy concernedly. "What?" She questioned.

Daisy shook her head quickly. "I don't have time to explain— but we're not the only people here." She stepped forward toward Bonnie, who took a step back. "There's someone else."

Bonnie tried to understand, understand who this girl was and what she was saying. "What?!" She spoke.

Daisy swallowed harshly. "And he's crazy."

a/n
hope u enjoyed this chapter!! <3

8/2/21