Book of the Hidden (21 page)

     
"YOU STUPID TRUCK!"
 
The man cursed, shooting the tires out with each loud fire cracking sound. Vivian's hands flew up to cover her ears.

     
After six loud shots at the tires, he turned around to see the two girls ahead of him. A wicked smile showed his cracked yellow-stained teeth. "Oh... Y-you want to run... Tell the c-coppers," the man advanced with stumbling steps.

     
"Leave us alone..." Vivian really didn't want to resort to magic. Perhaps if she engaged him in conversation, he would simply leave them alone, even though she knew that wasn't the case.

     
"Can't do that p-pretty." The drunken man slurred.

     
"Please don't hurt us..." The hitchhiker girl said, a short ways behind Vivian. She could feel her presence shivering, scared, and completely helpless.

     
"You’re drunk, you don't know what you're doing, so put down the gun!"

     
The man laughed, pulling his gun up as though he spotted some easy animal he captured in a corner. Vivian ran back, grabbing the girl around her waist, throwing her to the ground, forgetting her magic, when something hit her left side.

     
"NOOOO!"

     
Vivian’s ears seemed to be muffled by something, everything was blurry. Where was the girl? Where was the mad-man? Vivian closed her eyes, and felt warm sticky goo pasted to her side. There was no pain though, her side was numb, but the rest of her was cold, very cold, as if someone covered her in ice.

     
No, not again. Please, Maeve, someone.....

     
This had to be a dream. She had to be somewhere else. Seth was standing above her, brushing her hair away from her face. His hands were cold too, it chilled her. She looked down, Seth's hand lifted her blood-soaked shirt, uncovering her wound, he put his hand over it, letting the blood run through his fingers. Vivian cried out in pain, but through it, she could hear Seth's whispered words in her ear, "let me heal your wounds...."

     
Vivian's eyes shot open, sitting upright in bed. She looked wildly around, but Seth wasn't there, no one was. She was in her bed. Her hand went under her shirt, feeling her side, but instead of feeling flesh, she felt raw material, looking down she saw a clean white bandage that had been wrapped around her. Seth was just her imagination.

     
"Lay back down, you need to rest." A calm soothing voice came from the corner of the room. Looking over, she saw Leo. That wasn't his name, but a nickname most of them gave him, for other creatures, it was hard to pronounce the elfish name.

     
"Leo... What happened to the girl?"

     
"You take your job very seriously."

     
"Of course I do, it's what we do here. Now, please Leo, tell me what happened!"

     
"The girl is safe. She is home. She says she is indebted to you."

     
Vivian smiled. "No, she isn't, but it's good to know she's alright."

     
"Lay back. I have specific orders from Akia and Jean." Leo said.

     
Elves, they didn't carry much humor, and when they made a joke, they still didn’t smile. It was instinct to know when Leo made a joke, which was rare. Akia and Jean may have given him orders, but Elves don't take orders, not even Leo, not even from Vivian.

     
"You take your job seriously too." Viviain said.

     
"I treat serious wounds." Leo replied.

     
"My wounds are just fine. If you remember I've been shot before."

     
"Yes, I healed that wound too. Alas, your luck has been quite poor."

     
"Where is my sister," Vivian changed the subject.

     
"She stayed by your side all night. This morning Flint called her to the circular room."

     
"Can I go see her?"

     
"Finish the concoction."

     
On her bedside table, was a tall glass. Lined at the bottom was a thick puckish green color. Vivian downed it quickly, but the taste of ale resting on her tongue, and the thickness of the potion going slowly down her throat, she coughed, and sputtered, but kept swallowing, until that thin line that seemed to never end, was gone. Putting the glass down, she wiped her mouth on the back of her hand, feeling as though she was going to be sick, her side was on fire.

     
Clutching her bandaged wound, she got out of bed. Her door had been left slightly ajar, a thin stream of light creeping inside. She could hear happy voices outside. It seemed to come from the circular room.

     
Vivian squinted her eyes against the sudden light, as she stepped out, tiny bumps rising on her legs and arms as the cold stone floor touched her bare feet. When she reached the archway to the circular room, gasps and squeals erupted. Akia also standing by the archway, smiled to her, and nodded towards the middle of the room. She watched as the human-sized Flint kneeled on the ground before her sister, taking her hand with his.

     
"Jean, I could never be more happy with anyone than I am with you. What we are, our love is blind to. For you, I would give up my wings, my place in life. All I ask is for your hand in marriage, will you accept?"

     
Vivian saw tears shining in Jean's eyes, and Flint desperately holding his back.

     
"Yes, oh yes," Jean cried out, throwing her arms around Flint before he could stand. With her laying on top of him, he slipped a sparkling ring onto her left ring finger.

     
When the newly engaged couple stood, everyone embraced them, yelling their congratulations. The room was bursting with happiness, and love, and it never looked so lively. Vivian thought the place would outshine any light on earth at that moment.

     
After hugging the last person, Jean spotted Vivian. She ran up, and grabbed her sister into a tight hug.

     
"Ouch!" Vivian felt a sharp stabbing in her side where the bullet once was.

     
"Oh, I'm sorry Viv...." Jean stepped back.

     
"I'm so happy for you sis."

     
"You deserve this too, you know," she wiped away tears on Vivian's cheeks that she didn't know she had.

     
"Don't lecture me, not now."

     
Jean straightened up, glancing over her shoulder at her fiancé. She looked back at Vivian and grinned. "I have to lecture you, you're my sister. You need to learn how to follow your heart. I did."

     
"I'm not you. I can't forgive our family. I can't drag people into danger."

     
"You just don't want to get close to him. Because our family left us, you’re afraid he'll leave too."

     
Vivian looked over her shoulder at the awaiting crowd. "Come on," she pulled Jean back into the room. "It's your day, we should be celebrating."

     
"You should - "

     
"Be resting," Vivian finished the sentence for her, with a half smile. "Not today." In a louder tone she addressed the rest around them, "Today, we raise our glasses."

     
And everyone in the room raised their glasses.

     
"To my dear sister Jean and my soon-to-be brother in-law. May they always be happy together and never be separated. Cheers!"

     
"CHEERS!"

     
"So when do you want the wedding to be?" Vivian was bent over Jean's hand, taking a close look at the diamond embedded in a gold band, on her finger.

     
"Hmm, not sure." Jean replied.

     
Vivian gave a small smile, sitting back in the chair, propping her sock covered feet on the coffee table. Her side no longer hurt, it never hurt as much as seeing Jean and Flint so happily together. It only reminded her that she threw away her only chance at love. But she put on a smile, which wasn't entirely fake, she really was happy for her sister and her beau, and the fact that she was to be the maid of honor.

     
"How about beige?" Jean suggested.

     
Vivian cringed. "Beige?"

     
"Yes! It's a good color for a fall wedding!"

     
"It's your wedding...."

     
"Okay, how about this
sister
. You wear whatever I put you in for my wedding, and I will wear whatever you put me in for yours?" Jean shook her head quickly, seeing the grin on Vivian's face. "Never mind, you can have your input. No beige." Jean put a great red slash of an 'x' over the many colors that splashed onto the wedding catalog.

     
Flint appeared behind Jean at that moment, leaning down to kiss her cheek. It left the slightest sting in Vivian, and she hated the way she felt. She was living, without really breathing, her heart no longer beating.

     
"I have some things to do, excuse me," standing up, Vivian turned her back towards them to go to her room, shutting the door, resting her back against it. The few places Vivian could find refuge and peace anymore.

     
Peace came hard now-a-days though. Ever since Seth left, the stone that rested against her heart burned like fire. She pulled it out from her shirt, seeing it literally turn from its beautiful gray and black to a garnet red. She racked her brain to think of what Akia said. Then it came to her, "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." Vivian dropped it back into her shirt, and the moment it hit her chest, something weird happened. It was like she was in a dream, a screen playing in her mind, but the screen was pitch black, she could only hear, and what she heard made her thankful that she couldn't see. "HELP!" Next was a gunshot, and that was it, she was back in her room, facing her door.

     
When Vivian opened the door, Akia was standing there, she went to say something, but Vivian didn't give her a chance. "I know, I know, I'm on it," she spat out, running to the circular room.

     
"Vivian?" Jean looked at her curiously.

     
Vivian didn't offer explanation, she hoped Akia would do that, and continued running out the front door, out to the field, to her jeep. Maybe it was her imagination, but her stone seemed to burn more fierce against her chest, and by the time she jumped into the drivers side, she had to pull it out from her shirt. Pulling down the neckline, a small burn the size of the stone was shining brightly. Vivian, pulled away from the side of the road, keeping one hand on the wheel, the other on her chest, the burn disappeared.

     
Both hands on the wheel now, she closed her eyes, feeling energy flow through her hands. No matter the situation, the feeling of magic in her veins, and feeling it move, was the most wonderful experience. It was something that couldn't be explained. When she opened her eyes, and let go, the jeep was steering itself towards wherever Seth was.