Athena Lockwood: Part 1

Mason's Disappearance

Athena's POV

We're setting up for the masquerade party. Mum and I are supervising. With Jenna's help, she wrangle the volunteers. "Jenna, thanks for helping wrangle the volunteers" mum tells her.

"Of course, it's for a good cause. Plus, I have always been a sucker for the Masquerade Ball" Jenna tells her.

"Same, I already have my outfit" I tell them smiling.

"This was always Richard's favorite party of the year" mum tells us. I smile, it was the only thing dad and I had in common aside from the wolf gene. Matt and Tyler carry a table into the room and almost drop it.

"Wait! Wait Tyler!" Matt tells him. We look over at them.

"Boys! Be careful with that!" I tell them.

"It's from the 1800s" mum adds. "Excuse us" she tells Jenna. "Tyler!" she and I say as we approach the boys.

"Relax, we got it" Tyler assures us. Tyler and Matt continue to carefully move the table. We join them and mum examines the table. "Told you, we had it" he says smugly when she sees there are no scratches.

"Bring out the other two and try not to drop them, their antiques" mum tells them. "Athena supervise them please" she pleads. I nod my head and follow them back to the store room. They grab another table. They transport it and the last table safely to their destinations.

"Great, go ask mum for another job. I'm gonna check on Elena and Bonnie" I tell them. They nod their head and leave. I find Elena with Damon. "Damon, what are you doing here?" I ask him.

"Looking for my baby bro" he answers and turns to Elena. "Speaking of, would you tell yours to stop following me around?" he asks her.

"What's going on?" we ask him confused.

"Ask eager beaver" Damon tells us and leaves. Just then Jeremy joins us.

"Jeremy, what is he making you do?" Elena asks her brother.

"Good to see you again Jer" I say smiling.

"Hey Athena" he says smiling and turns back to Elena. "He's not making me do anything, Damon and I..." he starts to explain. But Elena cuts him off.

"Uh, no. No way. No, no, no, no. There is no 'Damon and you'. There's Damon and whoever Damon is using, and those people, they end up dead. Whatever is going on Jeremy, I want you to stay out of it" Elena tells him.

"I don't really care what you want, Elena. It's because of you that I'm in this mess in the first place, so I'm sorry, but you really don't get to tell me what I'm gonna do" Jeremy tells her. "See you later Athena" he adds and leaves.

"I'm going to go check the lanterns are being hung" I tell Elena. "Why does my family have to host events?" I ask her.

"Because you have the mansion" she tells me.

"So what? Damon and Stefan can host the next one as their house is big enough" I tell her. She smiles and I leave her with her boxes. I spot Matt and Tyler hanging lanterns and join them.

"Look, you know what I think of Caroline Forbes. She's an insecure, neurotic, bitchy little twit" Tyler says. I whack him in the head as Matt says 'hey!'. "Ow, let me finish Athena" he grumbles rubbing his head. "But the girl's got heart. She means well. You just gotta take the good with the bad sometimes" he tells Matt.

"He's right" I tell him.

"Yeah. I'm gonna go get an extension cord. I'll be right back" Matt tells us and leaves. I look at Tyler.

"Does he even know where the extension cords are?" I ask him and he shakes his head. "I'll go help him, keep hanging lantern. Jeremy you help" I say as he joins us and I leave them to it. I find Matt and take him to the extension cords and he grabs one. Before going back outside. Caroline appears beside me. "How can I help you Care?" I ask her.

"I'm gonna leave and check on my mum. Damon says the vervain is almost out of her system and she may come home tonight. I just want to make sure she has lunch" she tells me.

"Of course, go and see her. I'll cover for you" I tell her. She smiles and gives me hug before leaving. I go help Matt and Elena sort out the masks for the party.

"So, where's Caroline? This is like her thing. I can't believe she's not here" Matt says.

"She was here earlier" I tell him.

"Then she had something else to do" Elena tells him.

"Is she seeing someone?" he asks us.

"Matt come on,  she's not seeing anyone else" I tell him. Stefan enters the room with another box of masks. Closely followed by Tyler.

"Have you seen Uncle Mason?" he asks me.

"Nope, sorry Tyler" I tell him.

"He, uh, he took off. He said he wasn't sure when he'd be back" Stefan tells him. Guess Damon is getting his revenge.

"So weird" Tyler says and leaves. Stefan's phone goes off, and he looks at a text. Stefan looks at Elena. She walks towards him, but Stefan shakes his head and walks away. She sighs and goes back to sorting the costumes with a bit more furiousity. Matt looks at her.

"I'm not even gonna ask" Matt tells her.

"We got this Elena" I tell her.

"I'll be right back" she says and runs out of the house. I open the box Stefan had brought and start to sort it. With Matt's help. Soon all the prep work is done and the volunteers leave. Mum, Tyler and I have a family dinner.

"The place looks good" Tyler tells her.

"Thanks. It was nice to see Matt today. He hasn't been around for a while" she tells him.

"We've both been busy, I guess. Have you seen Mason? The guy's been AWOL all day" Tyler states.

"Actually Tyler, Mason headed back to Florida" mum tells him.

"What?" he asks her surprised.

"I'm sorry, honey. I know how much you two hit it off" mum says.

"So he just left?" I ask her.

"I was hoping he'd stick around...I thought that with your dad gone...anyway, he's gone. So, I guess it's just the three of us now" mum tells us. We continue to eat dinner in silence.