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“You can’t hide in there forever.” Caroline frowned at the pile of blankets on her daughter’s bed. It didn’t budge when she spoke to it. If she couldn’t hear the heartbeat under there, she’d question whether her daughter was in there at all. She adjusted her grip on the breakfast tray and stepped closer. “I bring breakfast.”
“Dirty trick,” Lizzie mumbled, peeking out to look at her mother.
“Well, you’re gonna have to face the world at some point, but you don’t have to do it on an empty stomach.”
Lizzie grumbled again, and Caroline smiled, tilting her head to the side.
“What was that?”
“I said I’m a vampire and empty stomachs don’t mean anything,” Lizzie repeated, louder, sitting up. “And you’re a vampire which means you heard me the first time.”
“But now you’re out from under the blankets.” Pride glowed on Caroline’s face. “Half the battle is over.”
Lizzie pressed her mouth into a flat line. Her mother was too cheerful for the current circumstances. Lizzie stuck her arm out—her bare arm. “My brand is gone, which means either Aurora found a way to undo the spell, or the purpose of our covenant has been completed.”
Caroline’s glow faded a few degrees. “Meaning someone raised a sleeping god.”
“See? It’s all bad, and talking isn’t gonna help.” Lizzie buried her cold arm back under her warm blanket. She pursed her lips, dangerously close to tears. She’d spent most of last night crying. She didn’t want to do it again. “No matter what I say, no one is gonna understand how everything just started snowballing and got out of control.”
Caroline smiled sympathetically. “We’ll work on the god stuff. You just need to try to find someone to talk to, Elizabeth. You are far from the first person in Mystic Falls to deal with the fallout of a sire bond. I doubt you’ll be the last.”
“No offense, Mom, but it doesn’t matter if you and Aunt Elena get it. You’ve been through it before. My friends haven’t. They won’t get it. The other students won’t.” Lizzie looked at her door fearfully, as if the horde of unsympathetic students was waiting on the other side. “They hated me enough before. Now …”
“Now you’re focusing on yourself.” Caroline squeezed her daughter’s hand. “Who cares what they think about something they don’t understand?”
Lizzie squared her shoulders. “You’re right.”
Her mother had a way of always putting things into perspective for her. It didn’t matter what the others thought of her and Hope. She was a cloud, rising above it all. And clouds didn’t worry about grass. They only cared about sunshine.