The Dead Girl Next Door

Chapter 13

Liv, Stefan, and I all walk into the hotel room next to mine and Caroline's. We wanted to be close to Caroline while Liv brought her back, but we didn't want to do it in front of her since I'm not prepared to tell her the truth. I figured instead of trying to confuse her that I'll just allow all her memories to come back.

"What's that for?" Stefan asks, pointing to the hairbrush in Liv's hand.

"This was Caroline's. Since we don't have any of her blood to link the two of you, we can use her hair."

"Do you need any of my blood?" Stefan asks nervously.

"Yes," I answer. "Plenty. Most of it, actually."

Stefan's eyes go wide in fear, and Liv shakes her head while rolling her eyes.

"He's kidding. I only need a drop."

I laugh when Stefan punches me in the arm.

"You're a dick," he grumbles.

"I know."

"Do you two idiots want to start this, or not?"

"Let's do it," Stefan sighs.

Liv sits the hairbrush on the table and pulls a small needle out of her purse. She holds out her hand and Stefan places his in her's with his palm up. Liv swiftly stabs the needle onto Stefan's hand not once, but three times as he winces.

"Thought you only needed a drop," he growls.

Liv only smirks, and smears Stefan's blood so that his entire palm is covered in a thin red coat.

"Okay," Liv sighs. "This should be pretty easy. I'm going to hold your hand on the hairbrush, your palm to the hair, and I'm going to say a few words, and then we're going to repeat them together until it's finished."

"That's it?" I ask. "How will we know when it's done?"

Liv shrugs. "I don't know. I've never done it before."

"How do you even know what you're doing?" I challenge.

Liv narrows her eyes. "Klaus, I've known of my abilities since I was a little girl. I've studied about all of them my entire life, and I've studied over Casters bringing back the dead. Just trust me on this."

I slowly nod, and Liv looks back at Stefan before taking a deep breath.

"This is the Caster's prayer," she says. "Listen closely. I'm going to say it once and then that's when we repeat it together."

Stefan nods and places his bloody palm onto the hairbrush. Liv takes in a deep breath before closing her eyes and she holds her hand over Stefan's.

"By blood to blood, or chattel to chattel, we ask you, souls on the other side, to help bring this dead back to life," spoke Liv quietly. She nods to Stefan with her eyes still closed, so he repeats the words with her.

They repeat the chant over and over again, and I begin to feel nervous. What if this doesn't work? What if Liv is completely mental and she all created this in her head? What if Caroline is surely meant to stay dead?

And suddenly, I hear an ear piercing scream echo from the room beside us.

Caroline.

I burst out of the room and into the hallway, and nearly bust down the door to mine and Caroline's hotel room. She's laying and rolling on the floor, clenching her chest, and screaming in pain. Her screams sound nearly muffled, as if she's finding it hard to breathe. I rush to her side, and crouch to the floor beside her, placing a hand on her cheek.