Stephen Salvatore's Arc

Chapter 6 of 8

Stephen spread the torn page on Elena's kitchen table. Damon was gone for the day. The paper named the plant that could break his hunger. But the page showed no drawing. Just a word he did not know. He had never seen the thing grow. To him, one weed looked like every other weed. "I can't find it if I can't picture it," Stephen said. "I'll dig up the wrong root and waste the only lead I have." Elena chewed her lip. "Caroline. She grew up here. Her mom kept a garden behind their house for years. If anyone knows the plants in these woods, it's her." Stephen tensed. "She's a vampire." "She's my friend," Elena said. "And she's better at control than anyone I've met. Trust me." Caroline arrived within the hour. She came through the door already talking, blonde hair swept back, a canvas bag over her shoulder. She set it on the counter without asking and started pulling out field guides. "Okay, so Elena texted me the word and I already looked it up," she said. "Half the online pictures are wrong, by the way. People label anything green." She looked at Stephen, quick and sharp. "You're the cure guy. The one Damon's trying to stop." "Yes," Stephen said. "Good. I hate him." She flipped a guide open and pointed. "Here. See the leaf? Three points, not five. The fake one you'd grab has five. And it smells like copper when you crush it. The real one smells like nothing." Stephen leaned close. The drawing was clear. Three points. Pale underside. A red stem near the base. "It grows in wet shade," Caroline said. "Near running water. It won't be in the sun." They drove to the woods past the edge of town. Caroline walked ahead, parting brush with both hands, naming plants as she passed. Stephen followed with the torn page. Near a stream she stopped and knelt. "There," she said. Stephen crouched beside her. The plant sat low in the mud. Three-pointed leaves. Red stem. He crushed one between his fingers. No smell. He had walked past this a thousand times in a thousand years and never known. "That's it," Caroline said. "That's your plant." Stephen pulled several by the root and wrapped them in cloth. The obstacle was gone. He could now tell the cure from a weed. But he opened the torn page again and felt the win shrink. The plant was only the first part. The ritual and the place had burned with Elena's journal. He held the leaves and had no idea what to do with them. Caroline saw his face. "That's not enough, is it." "No," Stephen said. "I know what to pick now. I don't know how to use it." Elena went quiet. Then she said, "My aunt might remember. She read that journal for years." Stephen closed his fist around the leaves. He had the plant. Now he needed someone whose memory Damon had not burned.