Lunchtime found them back at their usual table. Stephanie was the first to note their state of exhaustion.

“What happened to you,” she asked, in a very unsympathetic way.

“Well, that really makes me want to tell you,” Vicki told her sarcastically.

“I just know that something really bad must have happened for you two to be like this,” Steph said. C. J. sighed, but told her the story, hopefully for the last time.

“Hey, where’s Chris,” Catlin asked as she approached them and sat down. She looked quickly around the room.

“Maybe he found some other guys to sit with today,” Vicki shrugged, then smiled, “Why, did you want to flirt with him so obviously again?”

“Probably,” Sarah muttered as she sat down, having arrived shortly after Catlin, “Wouldn’t be surprised.” Catlin sent Sarah a glare, but turned to C. J. after a moment.

“Do you have those notes from Chemistry this morning,” she asked. Though a year younger, Catlin had decided to take Chemistry her junior year, since they had a choice.

“Yeah, just a second,” C. J. told her. She reached down and opened her backpack. She pulled out her Chemistry book and flipped through a few pages, “I keep my notes in here.” She located the pages, between which the notes were stored.

C.J. handed them to Catlin, but paused, noticing a white piece of paper sticking out of the top of the book a few pages back. Curiously, she pulled it out, and had a folded note in her hand. With a quick glance at Vicki, she opened it and the two words boldly proclaimed at her were more disturbing than anything she had read.

Vicki’s hand was immediately stretched out to accept the note when she saw the worried look cross her best friend’s face. C. J. silently handed it to her, meeting her gaze and dropping it quickly.

Vicki was more worried now than before. Looking down at the page, her eyes widened in alarm at the words...‘YOU’RE NEXT’.

“When could someone have done this,” Vicki asked.

“After second period,” C. J. replied, “Chemistry is second, so they wouldn’t have done it then. I would have noticed it otherwise.”

“This is no prank,” Vicki said with certainty.

“Not with what’s going on,” C. J. agreed, “but that’s what worries me. If it got into my backpack during school…whoever this person is, they’re here.”

“Or it could be an accomplice,” Vicki suggested, “Did you ever leave your backpack out in the open?”

“Once, during History third period,” C. J. replied, “but nobody would have seen anything. We had to get supplies for a project. It would have taken a second to put that note in my textbook.”

“Excuse me, but what are you talking about,” Steph interrupted their conversation.

“Remember the case,” C. J. asked her and Steph nodded, “Well, it seems that they’ve taken the next step.” Vicki showed them the note.

“They were only after me before,” Vicki explained, “Now, they’re after C. J. too.” She handed the note to C. J. who stashed it in her backpack again.

“And with Prom three days away,” C. J. said, “He’s going to be acting fast.”

 

Joe picked them up after school and instead of turning on Vicki and C. J.’s street, he passed by and a few minutes later, pulled up to his own house.

“Joe, what are you doing,” Vicki asked, “Why are we at your house?” He motioned for them to follow him inside and the two reluctantly exited the van and headed after him.

He went directly back to the kitchen and picked something off of the table, “This was left in the mailbox,” he told them. The large manila envelope had his name written on it with permanent marker.

He dumped the contents on the table, photos and paper scattered on the wood surface. A closer look revealed most of the photos to be of Vicki and Joe. And on every one, her face was marked out.

“Justin got one just like it,” Joe said, referring to C. J.’s boyfriend, “Except of course the pictures were of C. J. and Justin.”

“How did they get these,” Vicki questioned, “These pictures are ones that C. J. and friends have taken. They were in my…room.” She shot a glance at C. J. who had the same look on her own face.

“What’s on the papers,” Vicki asked hesitantly. He turned one of the pages over, so Vicki could read the writing on it…’Your queen shall cease to be’. The others were written with similar phrases. 

“I figured that it was safer to bring you here,” Joe finally spoke after a minute, “Let’s hope he doesn’t know where I live.”

“Well, we have to go back tonight,” C. J. told him, “We need to draw him out to take more risks. It’s our only hope of catching him, even if we don’t like it.”

“She’s right,” Vicki reluctantly agreed, “If we don’t go back, they’ll know something is up. And then they might get away with it.”

“But how can we catch them,” C. J. asked, “They know everything about us. We know nothing about who these people are, except that one is a guy, because of last night.”

“He’s bound to make a mistake sometime,” Joe said, “And when he does, you’ll get him.”

“But they have someone on the inside,” C. J. said, “They have an accomplice in the school.” There was silence as they wondered how to deal with the situation.

“There’s one lead we haven’t checked out yet,” Vicki pointed out, “How did they get a hold of the uniform?”

“We’re going to find out,” C. J. said with certainty, “Joe, can you drive us to Ultimate Pizza?” He nodded, “Good, cause there’s three days left to Prom.”

“We’re running out of time,” Vicki finished her best friend’s thoughts. C. J. nodded, “We have to move now.”  

 

 

The Hardy Boys belong to Simon and Schuster and the Stratemeyer Foundation. The Hardy Boys Fan Fiction authors of the Hardy Detective Agency have just borrowed them for an adventure or two. The authors promise to put the boys back when they are done with them. The authors do claim copyright to the original characters in this story. Please do not borrow original characters without express permission of the authors.