Chapter 33-Secrets, Secrets, and...Guess What? More Secrets!

"Are you guys sure you want to leave?" Annalyn asked, as we were loading our things back into the van.


"Yeah, Annie, we are." Katherine said.


"Why the sudden change?" Katherine shrugged.


"I don't know. Something changed my mind, I guess." I was guessing that she felt my uneasiness around Annalyn. Katherine shot me a "you owe me" look. I mouthed "thank you" and kept loading the truck. Annalyn had supplied us with a few days worth of blood bags, and about fifty dollars cash, just in case we needed it.


"Thanks, Annalyn. It was nice meeting you." I lied, forcing a smile.


"It was nice to meet you too, kid. Bye guys!" Annalyn gave Katherine one last hug before she headed back in the house and Katherine hopped into the front seat of the van.





Once we were far enough away from Annalyn's house, Katherine pulled off to the side of the road.





"Okay, what is it with you and Annalyn?" she asked.


"It's just...I'm getting a bad vibe from her. I feel like she shouldn't be trusted." I said. Katherine nodded.


"Yeah, me too. I felt like she'd...changed...since I'd last seen her."


"How so?"


"She was...different. On edge. Like she was trying to hide something. That's pretty much the main reason I agreed to leave so easily."


"I noticed it too." I said. After that was a six hour long awkward silence. We passed through several different states before finally stopping in a small town in Virginia.





"Why are we stopping here?" I asked.


"I have a friend here." I rolled my eyes.


"Yeah, and you had a friend in New York. And she gave me the creeps."


"This one's different. She's...not like Annalyn. She's never worked for Damien. She has no reason to betray me. Now stay in the car." I stayed in the car while Katherine got out and went into a small white house. Soon after, she returned with a small read-headed girl who looked about Sarah's age.


"Kieyra, this is my friend Maia. She's a vamp-witch, like the Wilkins'." Her blue eyes seemed lost. I smiled and waved at Maia.


"It's nice to meet you." I said. Maia smiled.


"So you're the doppelganger I've been hearing about. Katherine was right, you two do look almost exactly alike."


"Yeah, but don't be fooled. I'm nothing like her."


"I wouldn't be so sure about that. How you fooled Alec was...classic Katherine." Maia laughed. I smiled.


"So, I took a page out of the Katerina Petrova playbook. It had to be done." I shrugged.


"I like you." Maia said, still laughing her silent laugh. Katherine rolled her eyes.


"Come on, we can get to know each other later. Let's just go inside." Katherine pulled my arm and dragged me towards the house. She seemed jealous of the fact that Maia and I were getting along so well.





This house was nice, in better shape than Annalyn's. The walls had flowery wallpaper, and everything in the house was bright and colorful, filled with greens, yellows, whites and blues. In the kitchen, there was a little blonde girl sitting at the table, messily coloring a flower in a coloring book.


"Who's this?" I asked. The little girl looked at me and smiled.


"This is my niece, Ellie. I'm taking care of her for the week." Maia said.


"I'm coloring a flower!" Ellie exclaimed. Maia laughed.


"You sure are, kiddo."


"Hey, Maia, can I talk to you for a second?" Katherine asked.


"Yeah, sure...um...If it's not too much to ask, Kieyra, could you watch Ellie for me? I don't want her to get into anything while I'm gone, and my brother would kill me if anything happened to his little angel."


"Of course." I said. Maia left with Katherine. As I watched Ellie quietly coloring her pictures, I tuned into Katherine and Maia's conversation.


"How long 'till Caroline gets back?" Katherine asked.


"Tomorrow morning, at the latest."


"Then we'll leave shortly." Maia sighed.


"Kat, she's your sister. You'll have to talk to her eventually. Sooner or later, she'll find out you're not still in the tomb."


"I choose later."


"Katherine-"


"This conversation is over." Katherine walked back into the kitchen.


"Come on Kieyra, we're leaving." Without questioning anything, I followed Katherine out to the van.


"You never told me you had a sister." I said.


"Ah, five points to the eavesdropper." Said Katherine.


"Why didn't you ever say anything?"


"Because, my sister and I haven't talked since before I was banished from Bulgaria, and she hates me. She was turned into a vampire by the same guy that turned me, and she works for him now." I simply nodded, and we both somehow mentally agreed never to talk of Katherine's sister again.