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Chapter 11 - Something Wicked This Way Comes

~X~

"So.. vampires?" Tyler sighed, and gave Harper a sad look. She had been locked up in her room for days now. Even her MRI appointment had passed, which showed that nothing was wrong with her. She was dressed in her pajamas, not changed for days. Even if she took a shower, she went back into pajamas mode again.

"Yep" Harper said and looked up from her hands to stare at him.

"And.. a tomb? a tomb of vampires?"

"Yep" Harper closed her eyes and massaged her scalp. She kept dreaming of that place, over and over again. A dark and damp place, with bodies scattered in pathways. Gray skin, dark veins, all of them mummified. Some had their eyes open, staring ahead with a blank stare. She kept seeing Stefan and Damon Salvatore, who she now knew were brothers thanks to Tyler filling in on school gossip. She had come to the conclusion that they were involved in all of this, vampire or not she didn't know.

"Great! Just great, let's have vampires.. what's next.. Witches?" Tyler exclaimed and paced around her room.

"Probably"

"Mermaids? Fairies? Werewolves? I mean come on?!" Tyler said as he walked around. Harper sighed and looked at him.

"I don't know what is wrong with me, but I know what I saw Tyler. It was as clear as the dream when Tann-"

"Don't bring him up okay? I believe you.. I just need to process this" He sighed and stopped for a second to look out the window. He really couldn't believe it, vampires, supernatural beings living amongst them. And his foster sister was probably one of them. Harper had told him about the conversation she had been listening in on with his parents and the sheriff, which just made him more sick to his stomach. His parents knew about this, and would probably not tell him about this.

"I'm sorry" Harper whispered and slumped more into her bed.

"No, don't be. It's not your fault that you are what you are. Any news from your grandmother?" Tyler asked and sat down on the foot of her bed.

"She said that she knew this would happen, and said she would send some important things in the mail. Apparently it was so important that not even your parents should see that package" Harper said and looked at the digital alarm clock on her nightstand. She had talked to her grandmother two days ago, so things should be on their way.

"Okay, and until then.. we will just act normal" Tyler stated and stood up and went over to Harper's closet.

"What do you mean by normal?" Harper asked as Tyler totally invaded her privacy once more and tore through shelves of clothes to finally pull out a midnight blue two piece swimsuit that Carol had bought her during the summer.

"Caroline organized that the football team, the cheerleaders and even some of the band members are having a sexy carwash event this afternoon, and we are going" Tyler threw the pieces onto a gaping Harper, who looked at him like he had grown a second head.

"O-okay, two points.. One, I'm neither a jock nor a cheerleader nor a band member! and two, I'm NOT being a part of a sexy carwash!" She shouted and stood up from her bed.

"Oh yes you are, you need to get out of this pajama phase you got going these past few days. You gotta live a little!" Tyler smirked as Harper looked appalled at his words.

"I might have stayed inside a little long-"

"Might have?! Darlin', you are as pale as a sheet of paper right now, you look sick from lack of sun. It's the last week of warm autumn before it turns cold. Please come with me" Tyler said, but Harper was still not convinced to go.

"You know, Matt is going to be there, probably shirtless too" Tyler stated and raised his eyebrow at her. To which Harper blushed and looked away from him.

"F-fine, we can go" Harper said, but kept her eyes firmly on anything in her room other than Tyler. Who was now laughing.

"You sucker" He said and walked out of her room, leaving her to stare at the two pieces in her hands. The top was flowy in design and the bottoms were high waisted, all in the same shade of midnight blue. She blushed at the thought of Matt seeing her in this, and as she put the bikini on she also put on a normal white t-shirt and a pair of jeans shorts. She felt so weird in it, her flat chest was nothing to be proud of and her boring butt made her look more like a plank than a bikini model.

"It will be fine, it will be fine.. nothing weird is gonna happen, no headaches, nothing. Just a normal sunny day" But Harper didn't believe her mantra one bit.

~X~

As they arrived at the carwash, both Tyler and Harper quickly got Caroline's attention and she hurried over to them.

"Oh my god! You are here!" Caroline said and side-hugged Tyler. She quickly looked at Harper and smiled.

"Thanks for coming Harper, we need all the help we can get" She said and looked down at the board in her hand.

"No problem, I'm happy to be here," Harper said and looked around. Everyone was partially undressed, and Harper spotted a very, very goofy and handsome Matt looking right at her.

"So Harper, please sit by the booth, Tyler, shirts off" Caroline really glowed as she directed them around the place. Harper quickly realized that some were staring at her, which made see that it was okay to go out of her comfort zone. She realized that she needed to be more sure of herself in front of others. They could stare all they wanted.

"No friend discounts, no freebies, we are not running a charity here" Caroline explained. Harper giggled and looked around the booth, ready to take on the task. Elena and Stefan were now also on the scene, flirting. Harper saw Matt was staring at them, and frowned.

Suddenly, Tiki's hose acted out, spaying everyone close to them. Matt acted fast and helped her close off the water, by then everyone was more wet, including Harper, who had been drenched.

"Woah, wet'n wild T" Matt exclaimed, suddenly turning his gaze to Harper and blushed. Her white shirt see-through, and fitted to her body.

"I-I will go and change" She said with a stuttering tone. Tyler's eyes widened and rushed after her. Harper felt so embarrassed, her previous confidence gone with the autumn wind. To her right was a news crew, filming right at her. The anchor, a man in his early trithes, was staring straight at her with hooded eyes. Now Harper felt like she wanted to run. While Tyler was furious.

"Hey! Stop staring at my sister, you creep!" He roared at the anchor. Harper looked surprised at him, but then smiled gratefully.

She knew the adoption by the Lockwoods was coming, the papers were in mail, it was a feeling in her gut. Her mother was a no-show and the investigation into her disappearance had stopped. Her phone was active and had dinged in Texas last time the police had checked. But she just didn't answer the call back home. She also knew that the bond between the Lockwoods, formed by Richard's mistakes, Carol's craziness and everything that had happened around them lately had made them inseparable in a way.

"Let's go Harper" Tyler took her arm and led her away and into the school. They bumped into Caroline, who looked dazed and far away. As if she was in a trance.

"Care?"

"Caroline?"

Both Harper and Tyler were surprised by her demeanor. The blonde suddenly roused out of it and looked around, like she was hearing something they couldn't. Or seeing someone behind her in the dark corridor

"Hey, are you okay?" Harper asked, and gently touched her shoulder. Which finally seemed to wake her up.

"W-Wha… Where am I?" Caroline asked and touched her forehead, as to search for a fever or dizziness.

"At school, for the car wash.. Remember?" Tyler said and looked at Harper for help.

"Oh! Yes of course.. Hah, silly me. It must be the sun or something" Caroline cleverly hid her discomfort of the situation.

"Are you sure? Maybe you should go home if you are not feeling well" Tyler stated.

"Yeah, yeah maybe I should.. I need to hurry, see you guys later" Caroline almost knocked down the still wet Harper as she walked away from them. She now seemed frantic and worse than before bumping into them. Even if they wanted to stop her again, she was already gone.

~X~

"Hey Harper!" The girl turned around to see Matt Donovan hurry to catch up with her. The carwash had now closed and everyone was starting to head home. The had been crazy with a car catching on fire randomly as Bonnie had just cleaned it. Luckily the girl was safe, no one got hurt.

"Hi Matt" Harper said and looked around for Tyler, he was getting in their car, but she hoped he wasn't in too much of a hurry to show up.

"So, I just wanted to give you this" He said and gave her a small piece of paper. Opening it, she saw a phone number.

"It's my number, just give me a call.. Or text me sometime?" He said, a little nervous of her reaction.

"Sure thing! I mean, yeah, I just might" Harper blushed and folded the paper carefully into her pocket.

"Get home safely" The cute guy said, as he saw Tyler pull up to the parking lot.

"You too, a-and please look out for Vicki" Harper said and she walked towards the car.

"What do you mean?" Matt asked, looking at her with suspicious eyes.

"I just have a feeling.. A bad feeling about Matt" She said.

"I can take care of my own sister, thanks though" He grunted out and turned to walk away from her.

"Yeah, but you shouldn't have to," Harper sighed and got into the car. Tyler looked at her with a raised eyebrow, as to ask what that whole thing was about. But Harper just looked away from him. Their whole world had just been turned upside down, and Harper couldn't shake the feeling that it was just the beginning of a very dark story.