Tripp was dead.

"Mom isn't going to be happy about this," said Meredith when she brought them the news. "But it was out of my control. He taunted Enzo and even without really knowing Enzo, I can understand once he gets an idea, no one is talking him out of it."

"Well, did they at least get the names of his helpers?" asked Maribel hopefully.

"They did. Matt and Jeremy are going to round them up. Some already came looking, Stefan and Enzo had to do away with them, too." She flicked up a piece of paper, depositing it in her sister's hand.

Maribel simply stared at it. "What's this?"

"An invitation," said Meredith. "Unfold it."

She did, and saw Jo and Alaric were hosting a dinner in Alaric's apartment. "To meet new friends and greet old ones," she read off the top. "Uh... is it rude if I say I don't want to go?"

"Yes, it is rude."

"But I don't like random surprise gatherings of any kind."

"They are just trying to do something special. You're going, Damon's going, Bonnie's going."

Damon made a face. "I have to go?"

Meredith heaved a sigh. "Do none of you want to go?"

"I sure as hell don't," said Damon. "And I bet Bonnie doesn't, either."

"There is going to be a lot of bourbon. Alaric said he picked a special bottle to share with you."

Maribel groaned when she realized Damon had been convinced to attend. "Fine," she said. "I guess we can go. But if I don't feel comfortable, I reserve the right to leave. We may not have been run raw and bloody in that prison world but being there was its own torture. It didn't make me more comfortable with social situations. I'm just as wary of them as I've always been."

Damon made them late. Maribel at least wanted to show up early, pretend she wanted to be there so there would be no problems if she asked to depart well before dessert. But Damon, who knew very well how she really felt, made sure to take as long as possible to get ready so that they'd arrive just as the food was being served, and not a moment before.

"Hey, at least we don't have to make small talk," Damon whispered when Maribel yanked him aggressively out of the car. "Woah! Are we about to have car sex right here, right now? You could be marked as a sex offender, there are people nearby."

"I'm not in the mood to have sex with anybody, I don't want to be here," she said under her breath. "It's nice, I get it, but I don't feel comfortable with this. Let's just get it over with."

Dinner proved to be awkward right from the get-go.

Caroline, as per usual, was in charge. They walked in and found her barking orders, having set out name tags to force people to sit in a certain formation. "I think," urged Caroline, "since we're celebrating new friends and old ones, we should share something about this friend group we're thankful for. Oh, Maribel!"

Maribel wanted to perish as soon as she was bombarded with hugs. She awkwardly waved at Tyler, Jeremy, and Matt, allowed Elena and Caroline to hug her, but made no move to greet Liv or Luke, wondering why they'd been invited in the first place. She learned soon enough that Liv and Tyler were now dating.

Liv was being moody, which didn't exactly invite anyone to be warm with her. Maribel didn't like holding grudges, but she and Damon heavily blamed Liv and Luke for the fate they'd suffered these last few months.

"Uh," said Luke, trying to diffuse the tension, "anyone want to see some embarrassing baby videos of Liv?"

"Oh," said Caroline distastefully, "you know what? Now would actually be an excellent time just to shut down anything with an on-off button."

No one listened to her. Luke clicked 'play' on the video and several of the attendees gathered around to watch.

"No," said Caroline sarcastically, "please let the food get cold. Whatever that is is far more important."

Maribel lowered herself into her assigned seat, listening to a woman's voice in the video, speaking to young Luke and Liv. "'Happy Birthday! Wave to me!''

"'Hi, Josie,'' the young children responded.

"'How old are you?'"

"'Four.'"

"How do you add that? You guys want to do some numbers? Okay, what's one plus one?'"

"'Two!'"

"'Two plus two?'"

"'Four!'"

"'Nice!'"

Jo entered the room with a platter of food. "What are you watching?" she asked nervously.

Elena seemed to make an observation. "That kind of sounds like your voice."

"That is my voice," said Jo, leaning over Luke to take a peek at the video. "I... I took that video eighteen years ago at a birthday party for the twins."

Liv sat up. "Oh, my god..."

Jo blinked away tears. "Lukas and Olivia?"

"Jo as in Josette?" asked Luke.

Elena waved her hands to get their attention. "Hang on, you guys know each other?"

Jo nodded. "I'm their sister."

"This dinner just got interesting," said Damon, happily serving himself some food while he watched the drama unfold.

"Wait," asked Caroline, "if you don't know each other, how did you all just happen to end up at the same tiny liberal arts school?"

Jo carefully set down the platter and wiped her eyes. "We had a family friend here... Sheila Bennett."

"You knew my Grams?" asked Bonnie. "But... wait. You guys are witches. Jo... young twins Luke and Liv... and you knew the Bennetts... you're Kai's family."

It seemed Jo had already known this. Maribel figured she'd still been processing everything when Alaric relayed their prison world story.

"Yes," said Jo. "Sheila took me under her wing. She helped my family put Kai away. He is our brother... my twin."

Caroline cringed. "There are two sets of twins in your family?"

Luke nodded. "There were, until my coven put Kai in a prison world."

"Now there's just Luke and me," added Liv.

Jo continued, "Kai killed four of our brothers and sisters to make a point, but he was really targeting Lukas and Olivia."

"Why them?" asked Tyler.

"Because in our coven," explained Jo, "twins are in line to be leaders."

"Hence our lame-ass name... Gemini," Luke interjected.

"Kai wanted to be the leader, but that wasn't possible if Lukas and Olivia were alive."

"He was a psychopath," said Liv. "So they sent him away. Kai went to his prison, Jo dodged a bullet, and now the leadership falls on us."

"You don't seem happy about that," said Maribel weakly, looking between Damon and Bonnie, and realizing they all wore the same expression she had on.

We haven't told them Kai got out.

Liv definitely wasn't happy. "I don't want to talk about this anymore." She marched out of the room without explanation.

"Okay, I think I may have missed something," said Elena. "If you and Liv can both be the leaders of your coven, why did she just get so upset?"

"Because there aren't two leaders, are there, Jo?" mumbled Luke.

Jo sighed. "In our coven's tradition, after their twenty-second birthday, the twins merge their strength. The stronger one wins, absorbing their twin's power, and the weaker of the two..."

Tyler's eyes widened. "The weaker of the two... what?"

"The weaker one dies," said Luke, setting down his napkin and following his sister.

"Oh, god," said Maribel once they were gone. "Jo, we have something to tell you..."

"I had a feeling," she said softly. "I started to prepare myself for it the minute I knew you were back and the phrase 'prison world' was thrown around. He got out, didn't he?"

"Not just that," said Maribel guiltily. "I'm a siphoner, like him. We didn't find out until I was in the prison world, he helped us discover it. And I-I used my theory for genetic manipulation to fix us. I made us normal witches while allowing us to retain the ability to siphon."

"It's okay," said Bonnie quickly. "We'll find Kai and kill him. He can't be far. He wants to give the Gemini Coven an 'excruciating death.' We'll get him before he can do that and we'll kill him."

"How do you propose to do that?" asked Jo, more coldly than she may have intended. "Eighteen years ago, Kai had no powers and still managed to destroy my family. Now he has magic. Any hopes of beating him went down the drain the minute he got those powers."

"Excuse me," said Maribel hastily, the chair scraping loudly on the floor as she stood from her seat. "Thanks for inviting us. I need to go see my mom."

Meredith had just parked outside, fashionably late (but with a crumb cake in her hands). Without explanation, Maribel pulled her back into the car, having her drive to Mystic Falls.

"Mar, that's not your fault," she said when they were nearing their mother's neighborhood. "You gave him back those powers to help yourself, because you knew you couldn't risk screwing him over."

"It'll be my fault if he kills Jo, Luke, and Liv," she argued. "I made him stronger. I should have waited until we got out, I should have been more patient, learned more before I even made such an offer. But I was thinking out loud and opened my big mouth and just showed all my cards."

"You couldn't have predicted that would happen. You need to stop sulking and move on. What's done is done. Concentrate on your projects and on finding him and getting rid of him before he can hurt anyone else."

Her mother didn't bring her the comfort she sought. Meredith was much nicer, making her some tea and offering to talk some more about what she was feeling. All Marina could do was scold her about Tripp's death, as if Maribel or Meredith had been the ones to cut his head off.

"Mom, it was out of my hands," said Maribel, irritated. "I wasn't even there!"

"Trust me, we couldn't have stopped it," said Meredith. "We advocated all we could but–"

"But nothing!" snapped Marina. "Your cousin is dead! Everyone in this family is always dying. There used to be five fell brothers, now there's only two and Trevor and Broderick don't have the same sense your father did, or that Lawrence did. There used to be eight beautiful Fell grandbabies and now there's just six of you, all girls. And we know your cousins don't have the same drive you did, they won't make anything of themselves. We'll be lucky if all those girls make it to twenty-five. This family was something to be proud of. We were bigger than all the other Founding Families, we were all doing great things. Then little by little everyone went into their grave and now look at us. We were more successful than the Forbes, more clever than the Lockwoods, more resourceful than the Gilberts, more out-there than the Salvatores. We were the family to envy, the family to look up to. And now look at us. Gone, gone, everyone is gone, vampires have had their way with us and soon there won't be anybody left."

"Tripp was hurting people I care about!" snapped Maribel. "I didn't want him dead but I am not gonna miss him, either!"

Marina glared at her. "Maribel Tabetha Fell, take that back this instant."

"No, I'm not taking it back! I don't care that he's dead! I hardly knew him and I sure as hell didn't give a damn about him. It's always been just us, Mom, we've never been as close with the other Fells and you know that. They're my family, I won't deny that. When the time comes, I'll visit again just as I used to. But I am not going to bend over backwards for any of these people. You and Meredith are it. You two, and then the family I chose. My friends."

"Then I've already lost you, too," said Marina. "You're just like them. Both of you have sided with the vampires, the same ones that have destroyed this family. Damon and Alaric, don't think I've forgotten, they killed Logan. Your father would be so ashamed."

"Logan got himself killed, butting in where he shouldn't have," said Maribel coldly. "There's no bringing him back, there's no bringing Tripp back. You haven't given Damon a single chance, you think because he's a vampire that all there is to him is rot and mold and blood. I can't claim that he's a saint but at least he's actually taken the time to get to know me and value me for who I am. Meredith and I have always had to be different to get your approval. We've never actually gotten to act fully like ourselves lest it make you mad. I just spent three months being tormented and I just found out that guy that tried to make my life a living hell is going to be a pretty big problem because of me so if you're just going to whine to me about how Tripp died, then I'd rather not be here."

"She's overwhelmed," Meredith squeaked when Maribel prepared herself to leave the house. "She doesn't mean that."

"Yes I do!" Maribel called back as she left through the back door, heading into the forest and away from them.

She'd just crossed the border out of Mystic Falls when her foot caught on something and she toppled down. She was so angry, she just smacked the dirt, not even bothering to try and stand up.

"Why am I even still here?" she muttered to herself, turning over and brushing off her knees. "Maybe I should just leave, start fresh somewhere that nobody knows my name. Why stay? If my mom is just gonna be bitching the whole time about stuff I literally can't control and stuff she doesn't even fully understand then–"

"Mommy issues, too?"

She sensed him behind her before she got to her feet. "Oh, you have got to be kidding me."

She stood, holding her hand out threateningly, though she knew she had no upper hand when it came to him. "Why are you still here, Kai?"

"Watching, waiting," he said sweetly. "And look what I learned today. You think you can help kill me. That's hilarious. You, Maribel Fell, killing someone? That wasn't on my BINGO card for the year."

"Stay away from me," she urged, slowly backing away. "Or–"

"Or, or what?" he taunted, moving closer. "Don't kid yourself, Mabel, you can't do enough magic to save your ass. You don't know it. You don't really mean it enough to hurt me. But, I think you will be useful in other ways. You can come quietly or... well, who am I kidding, it wouldn't be any fun if you came quietly."

She dropped to the floor as a branch hurled at her, nearly crashing into her skull. Kai seemed to have expected this, stomping his foot on the back of her head and keeping her on the ground long enough to get a good grip on a rock, which he slammed into her head.

She woke up to Kai typing away on her phone.

"What are you doing?" she asked, becoming aware of a painful throb in her head.

"Why do you have like, zero games on your phone?" he asked, annoyed.

"Why are you sounding like my younger, obnoxious cousins?"

His eyes glinted mischievously, tossing the phone back. "Don't need it anymore. I already set my terms. Jo, in exchange for you."

"Just Jo?" she asked darkly, unable to grab her phone with the way he'd restrained her hands. "What about the twins?"

"As long as I can Merge with Jo, the twins don't have to die. To that end, I already secured Tyler Lockwood's help. He's an idiot. Actual dog-brain. But he wants to save Livvie-poo more than anything. So, if Jo isn't brought to me by Damon... she'll be brought by Tyler."

She tried to tilt her head to look around her, but found it brought her too much pain. The room was dark and smelly, that was all she knew. "And where are we, exactly?"

"I love games," said Kai like a small child. "Guess."

"I'm not guessing. Tell me where we are."

"Hm... I'd rather your friends take guesses, actually. Cloaking Spell and all that. Let's set a timer. How long will it take them to find you? How long before they realize they can't and hand over Jo, who, frankly, they don't care enough about, to get you back?"

She snorted. "They know I'd rather die than give you what you want. I'm not afraid of death anymore, Malachai. In fact, dying again might just be more exciting than continuing this shitty life I currently can't live because... you're right. I don't know anything about magic. And I'll probably never be able to make people forget I died."

"You do know some things though," he said with a smile. "And I know other things, from watching you. One, I know Jo wants to save Liv and Luke's lives now that she knows they're siblings. She's got a bit of a saving-people complex. So, whether your friends know what you want or not, she'll offer herself up to keep you safe. One way or another, Jo will Merge with me. Two, I know about Damon's little idea for your source of magic for that spell you can't figure out. Siphoning that Traveler spell... clever. But you won't need that magic, Maribel. You won't need to make everyone forget you died, because, soon enough, you, Bonnie, and Damon will be dead again. I'll make sure of it. And three... I know that despite your little tantrum in the woods bashing your mom, you love her and you love your sister. And I know that you'll do anything to keep those vulnerable little humans safe. Did that get your attention?"

He came closer, noticing how tense she was. "Yeah... it did, didn't it? Well, remember that 'science thing' you did that helped me have powers? I wonder, can you make witches permanently lose their magic?"

"I-I tried that with the Travelers," she said honestly. "It was only temporary, I couldn't get it to work permanently. Any supernatural creature can have a healing factor, even witches. Their magic can be applied to heal and I think, inherently, there are protective factors that repair that sort of genetic damage so they can survive stuff like that. Notice how you never meet a witch or a werewolf with some debilitating condition of any kind? Anything they have is inflicted on them, an acquired trait. And even those that are injured are able to be healed."

"Well, that was the wrong answer," said Kai. "You're going to make it work. I want to leave the Gemini Coven without magic so they're powerless to stop me when I come for them. And then, get this, I can tell them... 'who's the one without magic now?' right before I kill them. Isn't that great?"

She glared at him. "We have very different definitions of what is and isn't great."

"You know what would be really great? Watching the hope fade from your eyes when I suck up that Traveler spell and make sure you can't have the magic for yourself."

"Good luck getting my reaction when you have me in some musty basement or wherever we are."

He grinned, swiping his hand through the air. There was a ripple of light, and slowly, the dark 'walls' she thought she saw began to peel away, until they revealed she was in the middle of the forest, bound to a tree trunk, not a chair.

"I am really getting the hang of illusions now that you gave me the magic to practice with," said Kai, walking right up to the edge of the border and placing his hands on the barrier. "So, this whole antimagic thing, I want to hear your theories, is it like... a dome or a bubble? Like, say you and Damon were in a 747 flying over Mystic Falls, would he die? You know, that could be dangerous, like if you're headed to New York and your pilot reroutes for weather. Though, I guess you don't have to worry about that anymore. Damon will be dead soon enough and you and him won't be flying anywhere."

Her throat tightened as his hands began to glow, allowing him to begin siphoning the spell. "You can't siphon the way you could before!" she bluffed. "I altered your genes, any limits you had before have changed. You have magic of your own, there's only so much magic you can take before it makes you burn from the inside out!"

He smirked. "That was cute. But remember what I taught you? When you take in, you push out, too. As I take in the magic, I use the same power to actually undo the spell. So... I'll still get a lot of magic... and you'll get none. And also no satisfaction in watching me die. Magia tollox de terras. Utera aso utox. Magia tollox de terras. Utera aso utox..."

The wind started to howl around her, trees trembling at first, then shaking, then nearly being ripped from their roots as the power surged around Kai. Maribel desperately wanted to cover her face, mostly to shield it, and partially because the scene unfolding before her reminded her of when the Other Side had fallen apart. When she had died.

I almost dare to wish he'd just kill me.

Kai let out a loud 'woop' when the last of the magic flowed into him. "Now that, that was a rush. I think your theory is wrong, Maribel. I think you made my ability to siphon limitless by allowing me to keep the trait while also giving me my own magic. Wow. Wow, wow, wow this is... amazing... you know, I thought it'd felt good when you gave me back the ability to make my own magic but this is... a lot more magic than I was expecting."

"Good," she said coldly. "I hope it fries you."

"Actually, now that you mention it, I could probably use some practice to make sure it lasts me a good while. Congratulations! You just volunteered as my test subject."

Her phone rang before he could knock her unconscious. "Now, who might that be?" he asked curiously, reaching for it and answering. He made his voice more femenine, "Maribel's phone."

"Where is she?" demanded Damon on the other line.

"I don't really like your tone," said Kai very seriously. "Do you have Jo?"

"Jo will Merge with you in a month at the next celestial event. Give us Maribel back, now."

"Oh... oh, I get it. Does sissy think a month is enough to get back in touch with her magic and beat me? That's cute. No deal."

He held his hand out, bringing forth a thundering, piercing pain in Maribel that made her yelp in surprise. He crushed the phone before Damon could threaten him.

"Come on, Mari-belly," he said, hoisting her to her feet. "Time's wasting."