Book of the Hidden (17 page)

     
How long they were there, Vivian didn't know, nor cared. All she could feel was him, his hands on her hips, his lips on hers, the delicate skin of his neck underneath her fingers, and his heartbeat, as though it was her own. And she knew that he and Akia had been right all along. They (Vivian and Seth) were meant to be together.

     
When Seth broke the kiss, he was breathless like he had taken a long run. He still looked into her eyes, slowly brushing the stray hairs away from her face. "I -"

     
"Seth, don't," Vivian interrupted hastily. Everything that had been running through her mind since he broke the spell-binding kiss came flooding from her lips. "I'm sorry, but I'm going to get the book back, and you will be human again. You deserve better than this, so does Jake, and I can't keep you here any longer. I'm going to start in the morning." Without looking at him, (but knowing he had the hurt expression of his heart being ripped out) she pushed him away, slithering out from under him, closing the door behind her.

     
Deeply asleep, Vivian had a vision of Seth sitting on Akia's bed. A window above the nightstand opened, wind blowing aside some bottles full of lavender smelling liquid. A skinny girl with black hair and oddly yellow eyes stepped in. A menacing smile grew on her face when she looked at Seth.

     
Vivian bolted to a sitting position, fully awake, clutching something warm on her chest. Dropping her hand, she saw that it was the glowing rock tied with the leather around her neck that Seth had given to her. There was always something weird about this necklace, even in the Underground.

     
These thoughts did not last long however, as Akia had burst in the room, the door banging against the wall. Vivian stared at her psychic friend in wide-eyed-shock.

     
Akia's braided white hair was falling loose, a few strands covering her frantic face. Her robe that she had obviously just threw on quickly, as one side hung off her shoulder, while the other hung roughly on her neck. She hadn't bothered to tie it, and kept it closed with her hand. Her blue eyes were sad, and scared, something Vivian had never witnessed in her before, and knew it had to be serious.

     
"Akia, what's the matter?" Vivian pushed her hair out of her face, tucking it away behind her ears.

     
"Vivian dear...." Akia sucked in a breath. "Astrid has taken Seth."

     
First Vivian thought it might have been some cruel joke, but Akia never joked, constantly remaining serious. "What?" She forced the word out of her mouth, the only word her reeling mind could come up with to understand things.

     
"I knew Seth kissed you last night dear. So I waited for you to go to bed. I knew Astrid was waiting outside the window, and I rushed there. Vivian dear, I tried to stop it from happening, but I was too late. It was fate."

     
Vivian swung her feet onto the warm carpeted floor, her hands clutching the sheet covering her bed. "So it wasn't some dream... It was real...."

     
"Dear what are you trying to say?" Akia asked anxiously.

     
"I had this.... Vision, I guess you would call it. I saw Astrid with Seth in your room."

     
"Vivian dear, I did not think you were psychic."

     
Vivian shook her head. "I'm not. This is why it's so odd. I woke up with my hand around the necklace he had given me." Her fingertips lightly touched the still-warm rock.

     
Akia walked over, bending low to inspect her necklace. She furrowed her eyebrows, and looked up at her. Vivian didn't expect to see her smile when just a minute ago she had been so serious and hectic.

     
"Sometimes dear, when a person loves someone else, and they hold such a treasure received by them against their heart, they know when the other is in danger, or when they are needed. It is a bit of old magic, and a lot of true love." Akia stood straight and proud.

     
"Makes sense..." Vivian said slowly, pondering over the word "love". That was a word that Seth had tried to tell her last night. Now she wished she would have let him say it. It would be beautiful to hear those words by someone who meant it.

     
Vivian directed her thoughts elsewhere, somewhere more important now. "What does Astrid want with him?"

     
"She does not want Seth dear.... She wants you."

     
"She's using him as bait." It wasn't a question, but Akia answered.

     
"No dear.... She was after you. You were not there, so she took the second best thing. The person that means everything to you."

     
Vivian looked up at those words, and knowing that there was no denying them to a psychic. "Akia, you know where they are, right?"

     
"Yes dear...." Akia nodded sadly. "It is where it all started."

     
Frustrated by riddles, and needing a straight answer, she went to say that she didn't know where such a place was, but with a blink of her eyes, Akia was no longer there. Vivian stared at an empty doorway, hoping she would reappear again. No matter how many blinks, Akia did not show.

     
Where it all started.... Where did what all start? If Akia is meaning when Astrid truly lost it, it would have been back at the shack. That's it! It's at the shack!

     
Vivian smiled, proud of her brilliant mind, until that is, that she remembered the shack was no longer there. But that is where it all began, and what does it matter if the building is there or not? Akia could do whatever it is she wanted to do right there in the spot where it was. It was not like a lot of people drove by. In fact, you could sit on the side of that road for days, and not see another person.

     
Jumping from the bed, she pulled on clean, worn jeans, and shirt. Slipping into her boots, she ran from her room, stopping abruptly at the entry to the circular room, thinking of Jean, if she should come along. But it occurred to her, that it wasn't Jean's fight. She may be the leader of the Underground too, but when it came to Astrid, and Seth, it was Vivian's fight. She found Seth, she had taken care of him, took him in, and now that he was in danger again, it was Vivian's responsibility to save him, like the hero she became.

     
It wasn't long before she reached her jeep. Her strides were long, and her feet hit hard on the ground. By the time the engine started, and the seat vibrated below her, she was of course, out of breath. It did not stop her, she immediately stepped on the gas, turning the steering wheel right around in a half circle, and followed the dirt road.

     
It was about twenty minutes before Vivian looked down at her gas tank. The pin pointed to the red 'e'. She cursed under her breath, holding the wheel tightly with one hand. She sat up, leaning out of the door, reaching her hand back as far as she could, while still touching the jeep. Taking a deep breath, she focused all of her energy, and magic into her left hand. Glancing down at the red pin, she saw it lift upwards to full. Sighing with satisfaction, and relief, she sat back down in her seat, massaging her sore ribs where the door had cut into them.

     
It may have only been five more minutes until she reached the grave of the shack. She didn't know why, but she expected the ancient, falling-apart shack to be standing there, like a ghost, threatening to collapse at any moment. But all that was there in its place was burnt wood, and grass.

     
It felt like an old friend had been lost. Vivian loved the shack for its mystery, and strange beauty. The place she had met Seth, now it was gone.

     
Parking the jeep on the side of the dirt road, Vivian looked through the clutter, moving ashes, and shoving the darkened wood aside with the toe of her boot. Everything had been destroyed, and nothing like it would return. The chance of the city building a shack just like the one she loved was right there with the chance that her family would speak to her again.

     
"The place where it began...." Vivian thought out-loud to herself, pacing the shack grave. "That's here.... So where's Seth? Or Astrid?"

     
"Right here human lover."

     
Astrid's voice sent chills down Vivian's spine, but it was nothing of what she felt when she turned around.

     
There she stood, with the pale, pointed faced, with those creepy yellow eyes that reminded her so much of a bird. What punched Vivian in the stomach though, wasn't Astrid's usual look. It was the crimson blood trickling from her blood covered lips, to her chin, and down her throat.

     
Astrid saw the look of horror on Vivian's face, and a wicked smile crossed her lips. "Do you think it's your human boy's blood?"

     
Vivian took in a shuddering breath. Her blood ran cold. "I'll kill you if you bit him."

     
"Awww.... No trust in me!" Astrid clapped a hand on her chest acting shocked.

     
"Where's Seth?"

     
"It really is cute Vivian, how you stand up for the pathetic, weak humans. I didn't think you would. You know, since your family is human, and you know their pigs."

     
"Leave my family out of this - "

     
"See? Sticking up for the humans. Even when they hate you, despise you even. Damn Vivian, they hated you so much they kicked you out."

     
"Where's Seth?!" Vivian shouted.

     
"Sweet, and absolutely sickening. You want your precious human? Here he is." Astrid looked back into the woods, into the shadows, but a figure of a dog chained up by a collar and a steel chain, tied to a thick tree. The dog did not appear to move though.

     
"What did you do to him?" Vivian hated turning her back to Astrid, it was dangerous, especially in this situation, but she had to know he was okay. Her knees sunk into the earth, as she fell beside him.

     
"He's just knocked out. Don't worry, no blood was shed. He makes a beautiful wolf, but he was no match."

     
Vivian laid her hands on Seth's ribs.
Please let him breathe.
Then through the thick blonde fur, she could feel his chest rise and fall. It was the most reassuring thing in the world to her now.

     
"Curious why I did this Vivian?" Astrid's voice broke her shot happiness.

     
"Revenge," she said through gritted teeth.

     
"Partially, revenge
is
sweet. But this is a perfect opportunity to strike a deal."

     
This caught Vivian's attention. "Deal?"

     
"Oh I have something of yours."

     
"Seth? I think I have him right here. I don't care if I have to murder you to get him out of here. You know I'll do it Astrid."

     
"Seth is part of it. You want him to be human right? For his little brother to have a normal life?"

     
"Yes," Vivian said shortly. She stood then, facing her enemy, ready to go into battle.

     
"Then you'll need the Book of the Hidden."

     
"Get to the point Astrid."

     
"I have it. See, when your sister stupidly left it in the car while visiting the family, I took it. That was to be my revenge, my bribe back into the Underground. To make you take me seriously, I killed your two aunts. And yet, darling Seth here made it much more interesting. Wasn't part of the plan for you to take him in, and fall in love, but it worked well for me. But I must admit, the Thirteen Snakes was for fun."