Chapter 9- Saturday
Over the next two months Elijah came over once and a while to explain to me what my curse was. I learned a bunch of historical stuff that no one would ever believe. If only we could learn about stuff like that in history class I might not hate school so much. I met the mysterious Caroline too. My mom really seemed to like her.
But for the entire time, I didn't see Klaus once. Caroline told me that she had been trying to get him to give up trying to figure out why I was a doppleganger but he wouldn't. Elijah had been trying to curb his path of search so that it would be harder for him to find out and therefore he wouldn't want to kill me.
It was the day before Easter things started to change.
"OH MY GOD! You have no clothes!" I heard a perky voice say way too early in the morning.
I was way too lazy to open my eyes so I settled for screaming, "Who is that?" at the girl who was obviously Caroline. She had a way too recognizable voice for me to not know who she was.
I heard my closet door close and felt my bed go down a little when I guessed Caroline sat on it. Then I felt my covers pulled off and I got seriously pissed off.
"Why are you here?" I growled at annoying girl. I turned over and opened my eyes. Ugh, she had opened my blinds. The light burned.
She was looking at me too and I hoped I looked unattractive so I could be an eyesore. "To keep Klaus away from you. Remember?" She said playing with a strand of her hair.
"No Caroline I completely forgot about that. Thank you for reminding me." I said to her very sarcastically. "I mean right now."
"Umm…" She was obviously hiding something. She had to actually think about her answer. Then she said a little too fast, "Just wanted to say hi to you, ya know." I could tell that was a lie.
Klaus had obviously found out. Why else would she be here to protect me? She hadn't come over for like 3 days. I didn't want to freak out again so I started to think more about breathing slowly than Klaus.
I sat up in bed and turned my legs over the side so I was sitting next to Caroline. "He knows doesn't he?" My voice sounded small.
She looked over at me with an expression of sympathy on her face. She rubbed my back, which would usually creep me out, but it actually comforted me. "Yea." She replied.
Still remembering to control my fears I stood up breathing evenly. I walked to my closet and dug out a bathrobe. When I had it in my hands I turned back to Caroline.
"Why isn't he here then? If he found out?" I asked her not freaking out yet. He wasn't there; I had nothing to worry about at the moment.
"Um, Elijah um… preoccupied him. He probably won't be conscious for an hour or two. Even then, Elijah will, um… distract him for a while. He won't let him get to you." She curled a piece of hair around her finger, "Where are you going?" She pointed to the bathrobe I held in my hands.
"I have to shower and then go to work." I said turning to my door.
"You can't go to work. Klaus will find you!" Caroline exclaimed.
"He can already find me! He's been in my house, wouldn't it be better for me to leave?" I asked her. "Anyway, isn't Elijah 'preoccupying' him?"
"We can protect you better here just in case. You are not leaving." She said very stubbornly which pissed me off.
"Fine." I said. "I'm just going to shower then."
I walked out of my room and down the hall still controlling my fears and breathing.
O
I walked back into my room with blow-dried hair a half hour later. Caroline wasn't there which I found odd. Then I heard her voice coming from the living room.
When I head my mom's voice I figured Caroline wasn't crazy and talking to herself.
Caroline was right, I didn't have that many clothes. Trying to pick out an outfit took my mind off the whole Klaus thing. I finally picked out jeans and a shirt. I really needed to go shopping.
I walked out of my room and Caroline was still talking to my mom. "Oh good morning Maddy!" My mom perkily said when she saw me walk in. Caroline turned around with a smile plastered to her face. I bet her and my mom got along just fine because my mom loves waking me up perkily just like Caroline does.
"Hi." I said and then collapsed on the couch. I was insanely tired.
"Maddy, Kelly needs your help today at the store." My mom said to me.
I knew this already.
"But mom, uh." I said looking to Caroline. She was grinning politely pretending not to hear our conversation. "I need to work on a project today for school."
"First off, Maddy you need to go. I'm sorry Caroline but she can't miss work her boss never asks her to help. Anyway, you have the whole vacation to work on the project." Mom said really politely even though it was a lie.
"But Maddy! We need to do our project today! You. Can't. Leave." She said the last three words gritting her teeth. After she turned away from me she smiled politely at my mom.
"No. Caroline," mom said, "She needs to work she made a commitment."
I was incredulous. I didn't want to go to work! I couldn't anyway because Klaus was out to kill me.
"Mom I, um, I can't work. I have to stay home today." I said hoping she wouldn't ask questions.
"Madeline I'm sorry but you have to. Kate is here and she's going to stop into the store."
Kate was here? She's been away at boarding school for the last couple of months. Why was I just finding all this out now?
"Why did you just spring it on me today then? I didn't even know Kate was here!" I said angry. I couldn't go why couldn't she just accept that!
"Maddy." Caroline said to me. I looked over at her glaring but she had turned to my mom.
"You're going to let Maddy stay home today, tell her boss to ask someone else for help." She said. Ah, I understood, she was going to use mind control. Wait she was a vampire?
I looked at Caroline dumbfounded. She hadn't told me she was a vampire in the two months I had known her! Neither had Elijah! Maybe that's why it was better for her to protect me.
"Caroline you've been lovely but I can't let Maddy stay home. I think you need to go home'' Said my mother, shocking both Caroline and me. I thought she had used her compulsion!?
Caroline looked shocked too. She was looking at my mom with her eyes wide she had a sharp intake of breath and her jaw dropped.
"Can you please leave? I need to take Maddy to work." My mom said.
I was completely confused by what was going on. 'Is there a way to prevent mind control? Cause if there is I want to know.' I thought to myself.
Caroline stood up still looking very confused. She walked over to me and said, "I'll be across the street. Text me where you're going.'' Then she left.
After she was gone my mom turned to me looking really angry.
"Nice friend to pick Madeline. She wasn't rude at all." She said sarcastically.
"You don't understand!" I said. "Mommy I can't leave!"
She looked at me shocked that I had called her mommy. Then she shook her head and stood up. "We have to go now Maddy." She walked out of the living room and I heard the front door close.
I stood up with a shaky breath and followed her out of the house.
O
An hour later I was working, it as bad as I thought it would have been and it was a plus that I could see Kate again after not seeing her for months. She hung out next to my cash register all day.
Before I had started to work I had texted Caroline the directions to the store. I saw her a couple of times walking around the store but she did her best to stay blended in.
There was no sign of Klaus so I guessed that Elijah was keeping him 'occupied'. Caroline left after a while and said she was going to go look at the garden center my parents owned. Strange, she was supposed to be protecting me, but whatever. I guess animals are more important than me.
After I was working for like an hour I saw some of my cousins walking past my store. They didn't see me but they were heading towards my parent's shop.
I wanted to go over and say hi but alas, Kelly needed my help so I could not leave.
Three hours after my shift had started I was done. I sat in the back of my parent's shop until my mom was ready to leave.
I was pulling out my hair from a ponytail when Caroline walked into the back of the store where I was. As I turned and looked at her she held up a flower in between her fingers, which had gloves on.
"Do you know what this is?" She asked me. I took the flower out of her hand and studied it. It looked like lavender but the flowers were a little different.
"I don't know. You can ask my mom, she runs the show around here." I said handing it back to her.
"How much do you know about vampires?" She asked completely changing the subject while taking back the flower.
I pondered her question for a moment. How much did I really know about vampires after my two month experience with them? Not much. I knew that they had mind control, which they called compulsion and I knew about Klaus' curse. I knew about the sire thing and how I played a role in that but not much else.
I relayed that information to Caroline and she listened nodding her head. When I was done her eyes widened.
"That's it? That's all you know about vampires?" She looked really surprised, which surprised me.
"Yeah, why should I know more?" I asked concerned. I didn't want to be missing anything.
"Yes you should. Elijah should have told you everything, not just little tid-bits." She said.
"Well so should have you. We've known each other two months and you didn't even tell me you were a vampire! You had the same amount of time as him to tell me everything!"
She was about to say something else when my mom barged into the room, screaming like it was my fault she was late. Apparently all my cousins and siblings had left and were there. I had to be there before they started to decorate Easter eggs.
"Maddy are you ready yet? The kids are all ready to start eggs and they've already popped Grandma's four square ball." She said before she turned and saw Caroline. "Caroline. What are you doing here? She asked politely.
"Mom, she's my friend we were just talking." I said.
"Well, you can talk later. You need to get to Grandma's." She said and then turned to Caroline. "I'm sorry Caroline." She said.
"It's fine. I just need to tell Madeline something really quick." My mom nodded and left the room.
"Meet me in the car Maddy!" She shouted back and I turned around to see Caroline facing me.
"First off, when you get to your grandma's house, don't go outside again. Vampires can't get into a house unless the owner has invited them in. Second, that plant I just showed you is called vervain. It hurts vampires and makes it so we can't compel people. Here take some." She said all that in one breath and handed me the flower. Wow, I thought I could talk fast.
"Really?" I asked her happy that there was something that could keep those creeps out of my head.
"Yes. Do you understand about going outside Maddy?" She asked again.
"Yea I do.'' I started to turn to leave the store but turned back and asked her, "Are you going to follow me there?"
She smiled and then followed behind me as I started walking out of the store. I turned around to ask her another question but I saw that she was gone.
"Damn these vampires." I said while I was walking out the door to my mom's car.
We drove the three minutes to my grandma's house, my mom talking about Caroline the entire time. Even though she had been rude, my mom still really liked Caroline.
When we drove up my grandma's street I saw that there was a long line of words meandering it's way down the street in chalk. When I started to read it I saw that one of my cousins had wrote the entire first two verses of Goodbye Earl by the Dixie Chicks. When we made it in front of my grandma's house there was an abandoned box of chalk and a popped foursquare ball. There were also a bunch of foursquare courts in the street.
By looking at all the stuff a stranger would probably guess I had like 20 cousins. In reality I had three siblings and five cousins on my dad's side.
I got out of the car and ran to my grandma's front porch. I knocked at the door and I heard a bunch of shouting inside before it opened. My brother Charlie was standing there smiling at me.
"Charlie!" I said as I threw myself at him in a hug. I was really excited to see him. He went away to some college in North Carolina so I never get to see him anymore.
"Hello Maddy Alice." He said. Of course he was going to call me by my face book name which was after a Twilight character. Why on Earth would he want to call me just Maddy?
I walked into the house and said hi to all my other cousins. Our cousin Samantha was here from college also and our cousins from Massachusetts were visiting.
Everyone was sitting around the kitchen table; which was covered in cups filled with Easter egg dye, crayons and of course eggs.
For the next couple of hours I just hung out with my family and completely forgot about Klaus and him trying to kill me. There wasn't any reason for us to go outside because when I got to my grandma's house it was already almost dark and the Lion King was on. I mean, what's more important than watching the Lion King?
My family left my grandma's house right after the Lion King was over. I decided that because I was the only one who hadn't gotten to hang out with Charlie much that I got to drive home with him.
After we had driven five minutes Charlie pointed to the flower I had stuck behind my ear. "Where did you get that?"
"Oh," I said and then pulled it out, "My friend gave it to me."
Charlie turned back to facing the road. "Nice choice. Vervain." He said and I looked over at him shocked.
"How do you know what it is?'' I asked twiddling it around in my fingers.
"It's supposed to ward off vampires. Speaking of which, do you still love Twilight?" He asked me. I swear my family is never going to let go the obsession I had with it in fifth grade.
"No. Back to the subject, how do you know that?" I asked again thoroughly puzzled.
"You don't even know what I go to college for Madeline do you?" He asked. It was a perfectly reasonable question. I'm not very observant and if someone does tell me something I usually forget.
"Well then don't tell me." I said crossing my arms pouting. When Charlie doesn't want to tell you something, he will never tell you. There was no point in fighting him for an answer.
"We're here anyway." He said as he pulled onto our street. As he pulled into our driveway I saw that there weren't any lights on at the house across the street where I guessed Elijah was still 'preoccupying' Klaus.
As we climbed out of the car he asked, "Where am I sleeping?" Since he had left we had turned his room into Rose's room.
"I guess Rose and I will have to share a room just like the good old days." I said. Sometimes not having a guest room in our house was irritating.
"That sucks for you." He said and opened the front door. He immediately walked in. I was about to cross the front step when I felt a burst of wind behind me. After having a small heart attack, I turned and saw it was just Caroline.
"Seriously Caroline! You nearly scared me to death!" I said putting a hand over my heart.
"Who is that?" She asked me pointing inside. I guessed she was talking about Charlie.
"My brother Charlie." I said, "Why?"
"Would he agree to have your house in his name?" She said. I was so confused. What was with these questions?
"I guess... Why?"
"Because if the house is in his name Klaus won't be able to get inside!" She said really excited. That made more sense to me.
"I'm going to go compel a lawyer. I'll be in your room in two hours." She turned to leave but I shouted at her, "Wait!''
"What?" She asked turning around.
"First of all: Where are you going to find a lawyer? It's the day before Easter and it's almost midnight. Secondly: Don't you need the deed to the house to sigh it over?"
"You get the deed and I'll get the lawyer." She said trying to turn away again.
"Wait, how will you get in my room?" I asked.
"You're going to leave your window unlocked." She said and rolled her eyes at me.
"Fine. Goodnight." I said as I turned into the house.
"Night Maddy! See you soon!" I heard Caroline's perky voice say from behind me. I rolled my eyes shut my front door and locked it behind me.