Book One: Panacea (A. Saltzman)

Prologue

Diana Gilbert is a vibrant eighteen-year-old young woman and radiates an innocent beauty, her eyes pained slightly as she looks around her bedroom, her old but new bedroom. She sets a packed box of her belongings on the bed next to another. The last of her stuff. Then lets out a breath. She's currently stood in the middle of a half-furnished bedroom. The door of her closet is ajar. She sees her reflection in the long mirror which hangs on the back of the door. With a ballet-dancer frame, dark brown hair, and red lips, she's pretty. She peers out of her bedroom window at the street below. Mystic Falls. Dreary compared to her last home. She's not been back here long. Back in Mystic Falls after a year away. A year of living with family members she never knew she had. Learning about herself. About what she is. What she can do. And she's only back now because she has to be. She felt like it was time. After her parents died, going back to Greece didn't feel the same. But she had to go back, anyway, to pick up her things. To pack up that chapter of her life and come home for good. She lets out a breath and closes her eyes. It feels different being here again. It's never going to be the same. Her parents are in the room down the hall. Instead, her Aunt Jenna is. Just then, Jenna herself knocks then enters the room. Jenna is a lot younger than Diana's mother. A lot. Old enough that there is literally only 11 years between Jenna and Diana, that's sibling territory. Jenna was literally 11 years old when Diana was born. Jenna whistles a little and looks around. It already looks so much better in here. She then notices Diana stood there staring out the window.

"You okay, Di?" Jenna asks her, Diana shrugs back a little. She's not sure how she feels about it all. Well, kind of. She hated leaving Athens. It was a big part of her life, a beautiful part of her life, but she wanted to come home. She wanted to make amends for abandoning her family when they needed her. She will probably never forgive herself for being away from her siblings. Diana turns to Jenna.

"It's like starting all over again," Diana admits, Jenna nods a little, understands. Diana spent the last year living abroad, surrounded by sun and beauty and culture, and then she ends up back in Mystic Falls. It's not exactly a fair trade. No one would think it a fair trade. Jenna sits on the built-in window seat.

"You still have friends here," Jenna assures her, Diana nods and sits next to her aunt. She had friends before she went to Greece, people she went to school with, but it's been a year, and she has to go back and redo Junior year, her last boyfriend is now in college, her friends are in their senior year and haven't contacted her at all in the year she was gone.

"I've been gone for a year. That's a long time. I've changed" Diana counters, Jenna gives her a sad smile. "They've changed. Moved on...even Derek" she adds. At the time she left Mystic Falls they agreed it was best to break up, she was going to be gone, across the world, she didn't think it was fair to keep something there. She didn't know when she would be back, if she would ever be back. They talked when she returned for her parent's funeral but it's not like that was a good time to talk about things.

"You two were inseparable. Those feelings don't just go away." Jenna assures her, Diana gives her a small smile.

"I still think about him." She whispers, and she really did miss him, Derek and Diana spent the better part of ten years as friends and eventually lovers. Even without the lover aspect, she was bound to think about her best friend. Jenna picks up Diana's cell phone and hands it to her.

"Call him. I'm sure he's missed you, too." Jenna tells her, Diana looks at the phone and nods a little. She takes the phone and looks down at the screen. The last photo she took of her and Derek is her wallpaper, she didn't have the heart to change it, so it's been the same for the last year. A reminder of what she was made to leave behind. Diana lets out a breath and tucks her cell phone away, she won't call him now, not just yet. Later. She lets out a breath and looks around at the mess that is currently her bedroom. All of her stuff is in boxes and scattered around her room. Jenna stands and moves to the pile on the bed. "Need any help unpacking?" Jenna asks as she reaches for one of the bags, a large black one. But quick as a flash, Diana grabs her wrist. It's quick. Startling.