The moment Tegan’s dad dropped me, Katie, and Anna off I knew I was in trouble. Tegan’s dad had picked us up ‘cause my mom was working and Dave was paying taxes. When we walked in, Dave shouted “Annabelle Mariana Wilkins and Kieyra Mary Lynn Gordon, you two are SO grounded!” He sounded stern. Like, really stern. “For how long?” Anna asked.
“Eternity!”
“Okay...now what’d I do?”
“Come. Here.” We found Dave in the living room. Charlie the guinea pig lay covered in blood and dead in his cage. Dave was gripping angrily onto a piece of paper.
“This...” he started, “This is why you’re grounded.” He handed us the paper to read.
Dear Little Davey,
Did you like my little artwork with the guinea pig? Betcha thought I was locked up, didn’t you? I hear you got yourself a little girlfriend. Over Izzy yet? I doubt it. Well, anyways, you can thank your precious little Annabelle and my pretty little doppelganger for my release. Silly little girl, that Anna is... Speaking of, I’d like to speak to Kieyra sometime soon. You could give her that message, couldn’t you?
Love,
Katerina Petrova
“It wasn’t my fault! Kieyra made me do it!” Anna pointed to me accusingly.
“Okay, that is NOT true.” Anna looked at me, as if to say “what the hell are you talking about!”
“Okay, maybe it is a little bit true.”
“She negotiated with me.” Anna explained.
“You can’t ground me.” I said in a smart-aleckey tone.
“Oh? And why not?”
“Because,” I chuckled, “What’re you gonna tell my mom when she asks WHY I’m grounded? Yes, Janette, I grounded your daughter because she let the woman responsible for my wife’s death out of a tomb and dragged my daughter into it? Oh, and by the way, we’re all vampires.”I smirked. Dave looked at me, then the floor, then the ceiling, then back to me again and sighed.
“Fine. You’re officially un-grounded.” he grumbled. I happily skipped off to my room.
Later that night, at dinner, I was playing video games with Nathen and Katie. Anna would have been playing too, except she was still mad at me for “freaking using” her. Her words, not mine. It was all silent until the phone rang. My mom ran to get the phone.
“Hello? Who? Yes, she’s here. Why? Okay, I’ll give her the phone. Kieyra, it’s for you!”
“Who is it?” I asked. My mom put the phone back to her ear.
“Who is this?” there was a female voice on the phone, and then “Kat, from school,” she said, “She says you two are working on a project together.”
“Oh. Right.” I said, as if I knew what the heck she was talking about. I took the phone from her.
“Hello?”
“Did you get my little message?” One word. Katherine.
“Yeah, um, I did do some of the work on the project. I’m actually gonna go upstairs and read it to you.” I said, loud enough so Dave and Mom could hear. I ran upstairs into my bedroom and turned on the water in the bathroom.
“Nice cover.”
“What do you want, Katherine?”
“I need you to sneak out tonight, meet me at the park across town from your house with the tire swing at midnight. Don’t tell anybody where you’re going or who you’re meeting.”
“And if I don’t come?”
“Then you’ll suffer the consequences. Goodbye, Kieyra.” There was a click and then a dial tone.
It was exactly 11:47 PM and I was ready to go. The only problem was, Dave was pacing outside me and Anna’s doors, and the only window that I could get through and climb out of without landing on something hard and making noise was Nathen’s. The only problem was that Nathen’s room was on the other side of the house, which means I would have to get past Mom and Dave first. Then it hit me. I walked out of my room and started walking to Nathen’s room. “Where are you going?” Dave stopped me.
“Nathen’s room. It’s hot in mine and he has the best air conditioning in the house. Is there any other reason to go into Nate’s room? Dave, come on. If I was gonna escape I would have done so already. My room does have windows, you know.”
“Fine.” He let me past. Once I was in Nathen’s room, I changed into my skinny jeans and long sleeved shirt, put on my high-tops and started silently opening the window. Nathen started to wake up. “Kieyra?” he asked sleepily.
“Shh! It’s a dream, you’re dreaming.” I reassured. Nathen nodded and went back to sleep. Then I made my escape.
“You’re late.” Katherine said. I checked my phone. 12:03 PM.
“My brother almost caught me.”
“I was starting to think you wouldn’t show.” I smiled.
“I’m not scared of you, Katherine.”
“You should be. Anyways, I need you to keep this safe for me.” She handed me a smooth blue rock. I turned it around in my hand a few times.
“What is this?”
“Lapis lazuli, the one Damien needs to break the curse.” I put it in my pocket.
“And you’re giving this to me why?”
“Cause Damien thinks I have it and it’ll throw him off guard.” she said. It was hard to notice in the dark, but Katherine had changed from her filthy dress into a black leather jacket and tight skinny jeans. She had showered for the first time in a VERY long time, and her hair was now even MORE perfectly curly, if that was possible. She was only about an inch and a half taller than me (I'm 5 foot 5). We could pass for sisters. Hell, we could pass for twins. She noticed my constant stare and smiled. “This whole doppelganger thing fascinates you, doesn’t it?”
“Just a little.” I admitted.
“You better go. Besides, I have somewhere to be.” then she disappeared. I went back home and crawled up to Nathen’s room. And then, it all went downhill.
“Well, well, well, look what we have here.” My mom stood with Dave and Nathen in front of the window.
“Um...hi mom. Hi Dave. Hi Nate.” Mom rolled her eyes.
“Where were you? Out “chillin with your peeps”?” I sighed.
“No, mom. I went to go help my friend, the one who called me, with the project. She texted me, and it was late, so I left. I’m sorry mom.” I lied.
“Well, it was for school purposes...you’re not grounded. Yet.” My mom left the room. I left to go to my room, but Dave followed me. “Cut the crap, where were you really?” he asked.
“What in hell makes you think I’m gonna tell you?” he pinned me up against the wall by my neck.
“I. Can’t. Tell. You.” I said, struggling to break free of his grasp.
“And why not?”
“Because I’m a good friend.” He let me go and I went to bed.
The next morning, my mom knocked on my door at seven AM, even though it was a Saturday. “Go away.” I groaned, pulling my pillow over my head. “I just talked to Grandma. I’ve arranged for you to go to her house for a couple of weeks. Maybe it’ll help you to get away from all the stress that this new life is causing you.” Mom’s been going on about this stress thing ever since we moved in with Dave. It’s quite frankly very annoying.
“Moooooooooom!” I whined.
“Don’t you mom me. You’re going and that’s final.”
It’s not that I have anything against my grandparents. Really, I love them. It’s just that for a few years now my Great Aunt Harriet has been living there, and she, like, hates me. Every time I come over she says something mean to me and then goes on about some prophecy/devil nonsense that no one understands. It’s getting worse with age.
Worst. Punishment. Ever.
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