Thicker Than Water (The Briar Creek Vampires Book #2) by Jayme Morse & Jody Morse (6 page)

Before any of them could say anything else, she
headed upstairs.

When Lexi was in her room, she noticed that her
window was wide open. The breeze was swiftly blowing the purple
satin curtains. She was positive that the window had been closed
that morning when she had left for school.

Lexi groaned. Violet had probably been snooping
around in her room. Pulling up the mattress, Lexi felt for Austin’s
journal that she had put there before the accident. She breathed a
sigh of relief. Violet hadn’t found the journal (at least, Lexi
didn’t think she had). When she put the mattress back in its place,
Lexi spotted the small white envelope that was lying on her purple
satin comforter.

The envelope had her name scrolled across it in
neat, red cursive handwriting that she didn’t recognize.

Lexi picked up the envelope and pulled out the
piece of paper that was folded up inside. It read:
Be
careful
.

She examined the handwriting, which was still
written in the same cursive style. Usually, she could tell if
handwriting belonged to a girl or a guy. This handwriting gave her
no indication, though. The letters weren’t dotted with hearts like
a girl would do and they didn’t have the girlish bubbly roundness,
and the handwriting wasn’t as sloppy as most guys would write
either. In fact, it was very neat and looked professional – almost
as if someone had copied it out of a calligraphy book.

What Lexi wondered was how the person had put
the note in her bedroom. There was no way Violet had put the
envelope there. She would have read it, and there was no way she
would want Lexi to know that she could be in danger.

Someone could have climbed up the lattice
outside her bedroom and crawled in through the open window, but how
would they have gotten into the window? Lexi always left it
locked.

Lexi sighed. She had no idea who had sent her
the note, but they were obviously right. She knew that at the three
people she had heard talking about her at Julie’s house were all
obviously out to get her. Mrs. Lawrence also seemed to have it in
for her, but Lexi had a feeling that she wasn’t the one who had put
the letter here. It didn’t seem like her style.

There was only one thing that would work to
Lexi’s benefit. They had no idea that she was aware of their plan
and that, when the time would come, she would be prepared for
them.

*

Lexi overslept the next morning. When she woke
up, Mary-Kate was already downstairs waiting for her, drinking
coffee with Violet. They were both laughing with bright smiles on
their faces. Lexi remembered that Mary-Kate had told her that
although she didn’t like Violet, she tried to be nice to her while
Austin was alive because his mom had to approve of all of his
girlfriends. Now that Austin was gone, why was she being so nice to
her now, though?

That’s when Lexi realized something strange.
This was the first time she had seen Mary-Kate and Violet together.
Before the accident Violet seemed to really dislike Mary-Kate also.
Maybe she had decided to give her a chance, since she had saved
Lexi’s life.

“Ready to go?” Mary-Kate asked brightly when
she saw her.

“Yeah,” Lexi muttered, grabbing her
backpack.

“Have a fantabulous day at school, girls!”
Violet said cheerfully. Lexi held back the groan that she wanted to
let out. She couldn’t believe that Violet really thought that Lexi
was falling for her fake act. Even if she hadn’t gotten advice in
her dream, Lexi was positive that she wouldn’t have fallen for
it.

Once they were in the car, Lexi turned to
Mary-Kate and asked her the question that had came to her mind when
she realized she had never seen Mary-Kate and Violet together. “Why
weren’t you at Austin’s funeral?”

Mary-Kate glanced over at Lexi. She saw
Mary-Kate’s eyes glaze over with tears for a second, but she
blinked them away. “It was just too painful for me. I didn’t want
to go there and deal with all of the stares and questions. I went
to visit Austin’s grave after he was buried. I know that, wherever
he is right now, he will understand my decision to not attend the
funeral.”

“Where is Austin’s grave?” Lexi asked, shocked.
She had been planning to find his gravestone, but she had no idea
where to start looking for it. Lexi really didn’t want to ask
Violet and even if she had, she wasn’t one hundred percent sure
that Violet would have even told her. Why didn’t she think of
asking Mary-Kate before now? Of course she would know where Austin
was buried.

“He’s buried at the cemetery on Deer Path
Road,” Mary-Kate replied, keeping her eyes on the road. “I can take
you sometime if you want.”

“Thanks, but I think I need to go alone,” Lexi
replied.

Mary-Kate pulled into the student parking lot.
She got out of the car and grabbed her tote bag from the back seat.
Lexi climbed out of the car, too, but she waited until Mary-Kate
went into the building. Once she was no longer in sight, Lexi
walked across the street and began walking away from Briar Creek
High.

Lexi walked down a side road. She didn’t want
anyone to see that she wasn’t on her way to school. As much as she
hated skipping, she knew that she had to go to Austin’s grave. She
had been dreading gym class with Craig, anyway. Lexi hated when
people watched her play sports, but it was going to be even more
awkward to have Craig blowing his whistle at her and, well, doing
everything that gym teachers usually did. Lexi never lied (at
least, she hadn’t until she came to Briar Creek), so it was no
surprise that she had gotten caught telling one of the first lies
she had ever told.

Lexi hoped that she would be able to find out
something by going to Austin’s gravestone. Something about going
just felt right. It seemed like she was meant to go.

Lexi remembered seeing Deer Path Road before.
It was only a few blocks away, right near the town’s only hair
salon.

Walking down the street, Lexi noticed for the
first time how quiet it was in Briar Creek during the daytime. The
fall foliage was beginning to fall to the ground, and the
temperature was comfortable. If she were at home in New Jersey,
there would be senior citizens out taking their morning strolls
with their walkers and young moms lugging in their groceries from
the car. In Briar Creek, though, no one was outside. It was eerily
quiet.

When Lexi got to the cemetery, she glanced
around to make sure that no one was looking. No one was, so she
entered the cemetery gate.

Lexi pulled her hoodie over her head and walked
down the rows of tombstones. There were tombstones that appeared
really old, as well as a lot of graves that looked like they must
be relatively new because they were covered in flowers. The name on
the stones seemed to be categorized by last name. Lexi had never
been to a cemetery before, but she assumed that’s the way it always
was. Family members wanted to be buried together.

Austin’s gravestone was located high on a
grassy hill, which had dandelions growing on it. Lexi took a step
closer to it and examined what it said.
Austin Theodore Hunter
Beloved son and star quarterback July 5, 1994 to May 19,
2011

Lexi rolled her eyes. She knew that the whole
town had been obsessed with Austin because he was one of the best
quarterbacks that Briar Creek High had ever seen, but did it really
belong on his tombstone? Then again, Austin had died at such a
young age that there probably wasn’t much else that they could
write on the stone.

Lexi noticed that the gravestone to the right
of Austin’s belonged to Tommy’s mother, Emily Graham. Next to her
stone was her husband, Theodore Graham.

A bouquet of soft yellow flowers behind
Austin’s gravestone caught her eye. On closer inspection, Lexi
noticed the words which had been engraved into the stone.
Eileen
Susan Hunter Beloved mother and sister February 2, 1973 to July 12,
2011

Lexi groaned. Beloved sister? Sure, her mom had
probably would have been a good sister to Violet, but Violet hadn’t
even wanted a funeral for her. Lexi had a feeling that Violet had
probably chosen the wording for show. Everything that Violet did
seemed to be nothing more than just an act.

Lexi glanced over at the next stone, which
rested behind an open grave. The stone read:
Alexandria Leigh
Hunter Beautiful daughter and niece August 22, 1994 to October 31,
2011

Lexi gasped. Alexandria Leigh Hunter was her
name and August 22, 1994 was her birthday. October 31, 2011 was in
one month from today.

****

Chapter 8

When Lexi got back to school, she was already
late for her second period class. It was art class with Ms. Bixby.
Lexi had never been good at art, so she wasn’t in a rush to get to
class.

She felt bad about skipping first period and
not going to second period on time. Her mom would be really
disappointed in her. Lexi had always been a straight A student.
There were more important things for her to worry about right now,
though, like why someone had crafted a tombstone for her, and why
her grave was already dug. School seemed insignificant when she
considered the fact that she might not even be alive in one month
from now.

The date on the tombstone indicated that she
needed to be careful from now until Halloween. Her life depended on
it. Who could have put the tombstone there? Didn’t the people who
took care of the cemetery think it was weird that someone had a
tombstone made with a
future
date of death? It seemed like
something that would raise red flags. Whoever created the stone had
to have realized that someone was planning to kill her.

Just as she was about to turn the corner to go
to the art classroom, she felt like someone was watching her. She
wasn’t sure where they were or why they were watching, but she had
a gut feeling that someone was. It was that weird feeling that
gives you Goosebumps when you feel as though someone’s eyes are on
you.

Lexi turned around. Craig stared back at her.
He stepped into the open janitor’s closet and motioned for her to
follow him. Going against her better judgment, Lexi stepped into
the closet.

“What are we doing?” Lexi asked in a low
voice.

“This is the only way I could talk to you
without drawing attention to us,” Craig said. “I wanted to be alone
with you. I really like you, Lexi.”

“I like you, too,” Lexi replied. She felt
guilty for saying it. She liked Craig, but he was her teacher. This
wasn’t right. But did it matter? They couldn’t be too far from each
other in age. Plus, they had met before he was her teacher. That
had to count for something.

Lexi also felt bad because of Gabe. It felt
like she was cheating on him, even though they had never been an
official couple and she had no idea where he was. Why did she care?
Gabe obviously didn’t care enough about her to stick around. Yet,
she still couldn’t help putting his feelings before her
own.

Craig smiled at her, his hazel eyes shimmering
in the dim lights. “Do you want to go out sometime? We’ll have to
go somewhere out of town or someone will find out and I could lose
my job…but I was thinking that we could go to the city for the
weekend some time.”

Lexi perked up. “Sure, I’d love to,” she
replied. Going away with Craig for the weekend would mean that she
could get out of Briar Creek. Maybe she could just stay there and
never come back.

“Great,” Craig said, leaning in towards her. He
closed his eyes, and gently kissed her lips. Lexi felt her heart
flutter.

“I’ll see you in class tomorrow,” Craig
whispered in her ear before pulling away and walking out of the
closet.

Lexi straightened her shirt and peeked out the
door. When she was sure that no one was coming, she stepped out of
the closet and headed to the art room.

When she got there, the entire class was
working on a still life of a coffee mug, pears, and grapes.
Everyone was chatting loudly, and Ms. Bixby was playing a Taylor
Swift song on the radio. As Lexi was about to take her seat next to
Gerard, the weird kid who she had sat next to yesterday who had
slit his wrists with the box cutters they used in class, a girl
tapped her on the shoulder.

“Lexi, why don’t you sit with me and my
friends? We’d love to have you at our table!” the girl said
enthusiastically, twirling her auburn hair around her
finger.

Hesitantly, Lexi followed her. She was afraid
that the girl or one of her friends was going to bring up the car
accident. It was the last thing that she wanted to talk about right
now.

The girl led her to the table and Lexi sat at
the only empty seat.

“I’m Jen,” the girl with auburn hair said. She
pointed to the blonde girl sitting next to her. “This is
Michelle.”

“And I’m Claire,” the girl with jet-black hair
and chestnut-shaped eyes volunteered. “It’s really exciting to meet
you, Lexi!”

Lexi smiled, unsure of what else to say.
“Exciting” seemed like a really weird choice of words. She wasn’t
sure why anyone would be excited to meet her, unless if maybe
Austin had talked about her before his death. She didn’t think that
was likely, though, since she never talked about him to her friends
back home in New Jersey.