Apparently, Markos wanted to be found.

They'd been working on trying to find him, on top of attempting to locate Caroline and Tyler, who were still M.I.A. Every spell the twins and Bonnie tried seemed to be experiencing the equivalent of a call going straight to voicemail. The blood they tried never moved. Liz and Carol had each given a donation, and yet the crimson blobs refused to go anywhere on the map, as if the Travelers had become strong enough to block Locator Spells.

Then, at last, they had their lead.

It started with visions. Elena had come up to Maddy, awkwardly informing her that she'd been having very uncharacteristic blackouts where she faded into a sort of dream reality showing her what it would have been like for her if she'd gone on to marry Stefan.

"It's really starting to unsettle me," said Elena nervously. "Like, in this fantasy, we have kids and we're... human and happy together."

"Elijah's gonna be jealous," said Maddy teasingly, though she was pretty concerned to hear this. "Were you looking at old journal entries from when you were with Stefan, or something?" She figured this could be attributed to her bringing up old memories.

"No," replied Elena. "It just started happening, I don't know why."

As it turned out, the same thing was happening to Stefan, which let them know that this wasn't normal.

"Maybe," mused Bonnie while they waited for the Parker twins to get to the Boarding House, "it's because Stefan and Elena are now the last pair of doppelgängers. Now that Tom is dead..."

"And you're certain they're not sex dreams?" asked Enzo innocently from the couch.

Stefan made a face. "For once, can I have a brother that doesn't make every situation unbelievably uncomfortable?"

Enzo smirked, holding up his hand as Damon high-fived him.

"They're not sex dreams," said Elena firmly. "They're more like... romance dreams."

"I can't imagine Elijah will be too chuffed to hear about that," mentioned Damon.

Elena made a face. "For your information, I already told him. It's abnormal, I know that for a fact. He says that he's going to do some research about doppelgängers to see what he can find. Maybe there's a reason for this."

"I can guess the reason," said Enzo, batting his eyelashes. "Stefan and Elena wish to mesh their bodies together—"

"Shut up," said Elena, though she laughed it off to ease the tension when she saw the face that Stefan was making.

"The Travelers might be who we need to ask," said Bonnie dejectedly. "But I'm not sure how that's going to work, considering we haven't been able to find them no matter how many spells we do."

"Well, they're our only lead," said Maddy. "This could be connected to their freaky mass suicide. What else could have caused Stefan and Elena— who haven't been romantically involved in ages— to have these intense visions of each other?"

There was a knock on the door. Elena went to open it, smiling when she saw the twins. "Great, you got our text."

"Yeah, and we can't do shit about this," said Liv, rolling her eyes as if Luke had been the one to force her to come here.

Damon scoffed. "Do you mean you can't stop their visions?"

Luke cast him an exasperated look. "Our magic doesn't work like that. We're not bigger than the universe. You guys said that the visions seem to be drawing Elena and Stefan together for something, right?"

"Something like that," said Stefan. "Could it be the doppelgänger blood again? They seem to need it for some spell... or prophecy. Could it be a prophecy?"

"Wait a minute," said Liv. "Maybe they're using it to find them."

Luke hummed. "Right... if they're the ones that need your blood, it makes sense that you're not only being drawn together but also..."

"Being drawn to them," finished Elena. "Which means that if we keep having the visions, we might catch glimpses of where they might be."

"Unfortunately," said Luke worriedly, "we're going to find the ones that are awake and alert. What we're trying to do is find the ones that are Passengered already so we can kill them. On top of that we still need the Traveler knife."

"This just keeps getting better and better," Enzo muttered.

"If you don't want to be a part of it, you don't have to be," said Liv sharply.

Everyone seemed to have the same idea of looking between them with great interest. Their eyes met, but neither said anything. Enzo just smirked. Liv continued with her deadpan expression, despite a blush forcing its way onto her cheeks.

They suddenly noticed that both Elena and Stefan were completely zoned out, staring at the floor.

Damon snapped his fingers. "Hey. Earth to Stefan and Elena. Hello."

"Are they having another vision?" asked Bonnie, approaching Elena and tapping her shoulder.

The doppelgänger flinched, looking around wildly. Seconds later, Stefan gave a light gasp.

"Did you see it?" he asked Elena. "The house."

"Yeah," she said. "The address... 4620 Walnut Drive."

"Sounds like a place we need to check," said Maddy. "Who's coming with me?"

"Me," said Enzo, raising his hand. "I'd like to see the place where Stefan and Elena are having crazy vision-sex."

Everyone groaned, but Enzo thought it was really funny, and just smirked.

"I'll go, too," said Damon. "Everyone else is on doppelgänger duty."

Stefan raised a brow. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"I think," said Maddy, glancing at Damon to see if she got it right, "that it means everyone else has to keep an eye on you two so no one tries to hurt you. Also, take another shot at finding Caroline and Tyler. Maybe this time we'll get lucky, if Markos is distracted. We'll be back soon."

Maddy drove, since Damon insisted that this 'might be a trap' and he didn't want his car to get ruined. Enzo had ridden shotgun, and the eldest Salvatore had been unhappily forced into the back seat.

"Ah, this brings me such comfort," said Maddy, recalling the time that she'd been in the back seat while Damon and Stefan rode up front. "Finally, Damon's in the back by himself."

"There are four of us now," said Damon irritably. "If Stefan had come, I wouldn't be alone."

"But he isn't here, is he?"

Damon was silent.

"Exactly."

Maddy and Enzo high-fived, which made Damon roll his eyes at them through the rearview mirror.

When they got to the house, they were able to walk right in, which let them know that there was no human owner. Perhaps there used to be one. Perhaps that person was now dead.

"Do you reckon Stefan and Elena did it on the couch here?" asked Enzo as they walked past the living room. "Eh... probably the bedroom. Stefan's pretty vanilla, but apparently that's Elena's favorite flavor."

"Enzo," said Maddy, "you do realize you're talking about our brother's sex dream? Which isn't actually a sex dream according to Elena. I trust that she's telling the truth. Don't make this weirder than it has to be. Zip it."

"It's fun to tease. How often do people just start dreaming about each other? I haven't had a smutty dream in decades. These are repeated visions of pure, dirty—"

"Enzo," said Damon more impatiently, "if you don't stop talking, I'm gonna staple your tongue to your chin."

"Not in my house, please."

They froze when they heard a man speaking from a second living room with a lit fireplace. As they entered, they saw he was in an armchair, his legs crossed.

"Markos, I take it," said Damon suspiciously.

He assented. "Why are you here?"

"Because the doppelgängers have visions of each other," said Maddy. "We want to know why those visions led us here."

Markos's lips twitched. "I'm the reason Stefan and Elena are having visions of each other."

Damon scrunched up his nose. "You?"

"Well, would you look at that," said Enzo brightly. "I think we just met the universe."

"Why would you do that?" asked Maddy. "Why make them have visions of each other? Is this part of your spell or prophecy or whatever?"

"I'm afraid the doppelgänger lore's been misinterpreted over the ages," said Markos. "The prophecy is that the doppelgänger blood can help the Travelers, but they're being drawn together because of a spell I cast fifteen hundred years ago. I had no idea where they were, and it turns out the best way to get people to go searching for each other is the promise of true love." He got to his feet. "Is it stuffy in here? Why don't we take a walk?"

All three made to follow him out, but Markos shook his head at Enzo. "You, stay here."

Enzo snorted. "Not bloody likely."

"You want to find Maggie?" asked Markos, making Enzo frown. "You stay here. Shall we?"

Enzo remained rooted to the spot as Markos led the two Salvatores out.

"Mystic Falls is a beautiful town," he said, clasping his hands together.

"Oh, yeah," said Damon sarcastically. "Picket fences, block parties, uncannily high death rate."

"You take your homes for granted. Two thousand years ago, Silas and Qetsiyah cast a spell for immortality. It created a schism in the Traveler community, giving rise to the witches. They tried to keep us scattered to make us forget how powerful we can be. For centuries we've experienced war, due to the witches cursing us. We could not settle down as a tribe. Whenever we've tried to gather, disaster struck— plagues, earthquakes, fire. Something inevitably wiped us out."

"Is that why you need the doppelgänger blood?" asked Maddy, feeling some slight pity. "Can their blood help you break that curse?"

Markos assented.

"So you found them," said Damon loudly. "Now what?"

"We simply need their blood," said Markos. "We're not your enemy, Damon. To prove that to you, I'm going to stop their visions."

He looked around at the townspeople who were near them. Maddy wasn't sure what he was doing until suddenly, they all stopped what they were doing, setting down their groceries and briefcases to stand, arms spread, in the familiar position that the Travelers cast their spells in. They started to chant, staring at each other and Markos.

"The curse might prevent us from gathering in our own bodies," said Markos as Damon and Maddy started to count the dozens upon dozens of people who were all suddenly casting this spell. "But we've found ways around that."

"Passengers," murmured Maddy. "You have basically the entire town..."

He didn't reply. Instead, he began to join them in their chant. Maddy and Damon exchanged a worried look.

Suddenly, they stopped. Markos nodded to everyone, then to the two vampires, before walking away, at a pace that suggested they shouldn't follow.

"Let's get back to the house," said Maddy.

They went to get Enzo and Maddy's car before driving to the Boarding House, where Stefan and Elena had confirmed that their visions stopped.

"They have the whole town possessed at this point," Maddy told the twins, who seemed very worried to hear this. "Did you find the Traveler knife?"

"We're not picking up any magical signature for it," said Luke. "We tried to use Liz Forbes's blood, since she was recently stabbed with it. But... there's nothing. Absolutely nothing."

"Shit," whispered Bonnie, who was suddenly looking at the far wall. "I'm sorry... someone needs to pass through."

They were confused as she held out her hand. Moments later, she held her side, letting out a sharp cry and whimpering.

"Bonnie," said Maddy worriedly. "What the—?"

"It just hurts a bit," Bonnie squeaked, ehr eyes watering as she looked up. "It's fine... I'll get used to it."

"Hold on," said Luke worriedly. "You shouldn't be feeling that much pain. If you're channeling the Bennett line, you should be a stable enough anchor for them to pass through without it hurting you."

"It's probably just taking time to adjust," said Bonnie. "Maybe there's a certain spell I need to do to solidify the connection. It's fine, I'll figure it out. I should go and get some sleep."

They knew that was just her way of shouldering every bit of the burden to lessen how much they had to carry.

"We're gonna take another shot at this Locator Spell," said Luke, motioning for his sister to follow him. "We'll reconvene tomorrow depending on what we find."

The entire group parted ways, all pretty disillusioned. Jeremy and Elena had gone home to have a difficult conversation with Jenna about how bad the situation was getting, just so that she would be informed. Considering how crappy Jenna felt every day, this wasn't going to do her morale any wonders.

Damon had gone to see Meredith, while Stefan decided that he wanted to take some time to write in his journals about what he was experiencing. Maddy was left with Enzo, who was holding a glass of bourbon and staring at the far wall.

"I didn't know you were trying to find Maggie," she said, sitting beside him. "You hadn't mentioned her recently."

Enzo hummed. "Seventy years of captivity, and she was the face that I clung on to— the notion that one day I'd get out and see her again. I knew I'd likely see you if I got out. You and Damon. But Maggie... I'd like just one opportunity to be able to thank her."

"If it helps, Dr. Maxfield's papers still haven't been completely sorted through. Maybe I could go with you to see if there's records of Maggie that might help you track her."

He patted her shoulder. "I'll go. I'd rather do this part alone. How about lunch tomorrow? We'll discuss my findings."

"Alright," said Maddy, smiling. "Sounds good to me."

She'd tried to call Klaus, but he hadn't picked up. A brief text let her know that he was busy, and from the tone, she had a feeling something wasn't going well. He promised he'd call her soon to update her.

She'd gone to bed that night worried and alone. She had a wild hope that the next day might yield some answers.

But instead it brought only more misery.

Enzo arrived to their lunch date at the Grill looking pissed about something. He yanked out the chair harshly before sitting across from her, making her frown as she stopped midway before a chip could reach her mouth.

"You're not in a good mood," she observed. "Should I assume you found something you didn't like?"

He slapped a photograph on the table, depicting a woman's corpse, her head detached from her body. "This is Maggie," he said bitterly. "You know, when she left in 1950, I imagined that one day, she'd teach at a fancy university, maybe have a family of her own. But now, it turns out she died in 1960. Right here in Mystic Falls."

"Oh my god," said Maddy, covering her mouth. "Holy—"

"Was it Stefan?"

She stared at him, bewildered. "No! This couldn't have been Stefan."

"Are you certain?" snapped Enzo impatiently. "Isn't this his modus operandi? Slicing heads off? Putting the bodies back together? Isn't it exactly what he does when he's a Ripper?"

"But Stefan wasn't a Ripper during the sixties, I know that for a fact."

"And you're certain he wouldn't have done it for fun?"

"Enzo, seriously, this can't have been him, I would know... what day did this happen?"

"Election night. November 8th, 1960, when John F. Kennedy was running for president."

Her heart sank. Maggie's face suddenly looked familiar.

She remembered Stefan mentioning to her that he'd been in Mystic Falls that night. A woman had asked him questions about Damon. Around the same time, Maddy had been at the Boarding House, drinking and spending a night away from Damon, who was growing insufferable now that his humanity was off. He'd come back home to inform her that he sliced a woman's head off. She'd seen the picture in the papers the following morning.

Maddy knew that Enzo would go ballistic if he knew the truth. And because of the way her face paled, there was no way of pretending that she had no idea who was involved.

So she lied. Because she knew that it was easier for Enzo to forgive her for this, than for him to forgive Damon if he knew he'd done it.

"I'm so sorry," she whispered. "She didn't tell me her name, I didn't know..."

Enzo frowned. "Lanie... did you...?"

"I-I'm sorry," she repeated, trying to convince him that her words were the truth. "I was angry with Damon, I was stressed, and I just snapped... she came up to me and was asking me all these questions about my brothers and I just... swiped my hand out. Her head came off and I left her there. I hadn't thought about it since."

Enzo's mouth felt dry. "You killed Maggie..."

"I did," she lied. "God, Enzo, I'm so sorry...

He looked away from her. "You know, for a moment, I wondered what it might be like to turn it all off. So that the betrayal I feel now would be nonexistent."

"Enzo," she said sternly, "don't you dare."

"Oh, don't worry, I can't," he said lowly. "You'll just have that boyfriend of yours compel me to turn it back on. And if I hurt you, the entire group would rat me out to Klaus. He's not someone I fancy being killed by." He got back to his feet. "Lunch date's over."

She made the mistake of trying to follow him. "Enzo, talk to—"

"Piss off!" he snarled, whirling around to sneer in her face. "For once, stop talking! You are nothing to me, Madeleine! I never asked for a sister— I never wanted you. Leave me the bloody hell alone."

She had to force herself not to be hurt. She watched him walk away, and tried to contain any tears that threatened to slip out. She brought out her phone to call Damon, just so that he'd be in on the lie.

"You what?" he snapped when she told him what he'd done. "Lils— why would you lie about that?"

"This family has enough problems," she said sourly. "You and Stefan are always having problems every other decade. Now that we have another brother, I don't want a repeat of that. Enzo just forgave you for what happened when we escaped Augustine. If he were to learn the truth, he'd never stop hating you. Just go along with it. Enzo will eventually forgive me, I know he will. But if he were to learn it was you... it'll just be too much."

"Maddy, no! I can't be selfish and take this out that you've given me, it isn't fair! It's not right for him to hate you for something I did."

"Let me be the selfish one, then! If he were to know it was you, then I'd be in the middle of yet another Salvatore brother conflict. Stefan wouldn't get involved— he doesn't know Enzo well enough."

"You wouldn't have to be in the middle unless you put yourself there. You can't complain about how you're always in the middle when you just inserted yourself in it right now, by lying! Even if he does find out the truth you're still gonna be a liar. Mads... I've hurt you enough. You don't deserve his hatred. Let me tell him the truth."

"No. Please, Damon, don't. Don't tell him anything, I'm begging you. I have to go—" she felt her phone buzzing, "I'm getting a call from Bonnie."

She switched calls when she heard Damon acknowledge what she'd told him. "Hey, Bonnie."

"I-I messed up," the Bennett witch whispered.

"Why?" asked Maddy. "What happened?"

"I should never have accepted to being the anchor. The Bennett line... it's useless. Grams came to me in a dream again. The Other Side is still falling apart. And I... I didn't realize until now that if it goes down, so do I."

Maddy cursed internally. "You're linked to it because you're the anchor now. Damn it. Isn't there a spell—?"

"There is no spell. I'd have to make someone else the anchor and I worry that if I even try to do that, the Other Side will implode immediately. We can't afford another switch. Everyone in it, including me, is going away for good in a matter of days. Maybe less than that. We might have forty-eight hours or just twenty-four."

"Bonnie, listen to me. I'm gonna text Klaus to see if he can look through Kol's old things. Maybe there's some more Traveler papers he hasn't found. Just hang on, please. I'm gonna fix this. I'm gonna find a way... somehow."

Klaus hadn't been able to call her again. But he let her know that he had someone already looking through Kol's boxes to find anything related to Travelers. When she'd asked what was wrong, he'd only mentioned Rebekah's name, but not what she'd done. Maddy figured it might have something to do with Rebekah and Marcel having tried to take down Klaus the other day. Siblings never seemed to have any peace with each other.

She'd trudged back to her house, feeling disappointed. When she entered, she found a surprise waiting for her. Tyler and Caroline, on the couch, sitting with Damon, Stefan, and the Parker twins.

"What the hell?" she whispered. "How are you—?"

"We escaped," said Tyler, whose bloody shirt proved that they'd made quite a getaway.

"Just one slight problem," said Caroline meekly. "Tyler has a Traveler passengered inside him."

"That's not even the worst of it," said Tyler. "We know what the Travelers are really up to. Why they need the blood. And why... they destroyed the Traveler knife."

"Markos used Tyler's blood to turn Sloan into a vampire," explained Caroline to those present. "After she transitioned, she drank the doppelgänger blood, and after some chanting ritual thing, she turned human again."

Damon's eyes widened. "He cured her?"

"He cured her to death," Tyler corrected. "The blood took away her vampirism but left her in the state that she was in just before she turned."

"That state being dead," muttered Stefan. "Got it."

"So it kills vampires," said Luke worriedly. "What does that spell mean for witches?"

"Probably death too," muttered Liv.

"The point," Tyler pressed on, "is that they feel if they can get rid of all magic they'll break some lame-ass witch curse."

Damon looked over at his sister. "Markos said they can't settle anywhere without evoking earthquakes or hell-fire, but they break that curse, and they just move right on into Mystic Falls."

"And come after Elena and me today," said Stefan. "As in... now."

Maddy put her hands on her hips. "Okay, well, that's not happening, so—" she looked at the twins, "think you can do a Cloaking Spell? Stefan and Elena can't be anywhere near here."

"We can try," said Luke. "Not sure how much it'll hold, but... it's the only thing we can really do."

"Markos had his good week in the land of the living," said Damon. "Now, where is he, so I can kill him?"

"We don't know," said Caroline. "They were on their way out of a warehouse when we escaped. They're probably in some other camp now."

Damon looked expectantly at the twins. "Not happening," said Liv, knowing what he was wanting them to do. "We've discussed this already. The Travelers are always moving. They're impossible to track. They'll find Stefan and Elena long before we can find them. Our best bet is the Cloaking Spell."

"Perfect," said Damon sarcastically. He pointed at Tyler. "You avoid the entire Czech language, figure out how to find Markos."

Tyler blinked. "How am I supposed to do that?"

"Well, you have a Traveler inside of you. I mean, I have probably-misplaced faith that you'll figure it out." He then snapped his fingers at Stefan. "Get Elena. Blonde's coming with the three of us on a secret little trip."

"I'm not going anywhere," said Caroline sharply. "I'm staying right here with Tyler."

"No, Damon's probably right," said Tyler, making a face as if bile threatened to rise in his throat just from having to say that. "With you, Damon, and the twins helping to protect Elena and Stefan, there's a lower chance the Travelers can get to them. I'll call Jeremy and Matt to help me. Maybe Maddy and Bonnie can help, too."

Caroline sighed. "Fine. I'll go and get Elena. We can go to... a place I have in mind."

Once the others were gone, Maddy and Tyler shared a look, then grimaced.

"Great," said Tyler. "We're probably gonna fail miserably at this, but let's see if the Traveler wants to come out and play."