Book of the Hidden (22 page)

     
With her hands free, she was able to slip the necklace off. Holding it in her palm, she closed her fingers around it, and leaned back, trying to concentrate her power to make the burning stop. It felt as though it was going to melt her hand, but she had to make the burning stop. Suddenly she was lurched forward, as the jeep slammed on the brakes. Opening her eyes, she saw that she was nowhere near the dirt road, nowhere near anything that she knew of.

     
Apartments were lined up in a parking lot, and a boy with blonde spiked hair and strong broad shoulders stood outside by them. He stood there, a paper bag in one arm, the other extended outward in peace towards a man dressed darkly, with a black hood over his face. But the jeep and headlights had caught his attention, and no longer was he pointing the gun at Seth, but at Vivian.

     
She ducked under the steering wheel, stuffing the stone in her pocket. Loud shots erupted like the roll of thunder, and she clutched her side as the memory of her being shot came back. Suddenly, there were no more shots, only a grunt and rustling. Vivian took in a shaky breath and crawled out beneath the steering wheel holding onto the door with her fingers as she peered over.

     
Seth was on top of the man, trying desperately to hold the gun in his hand down. He banged his wrist against the concrete several times, his skin becoming raw and bloody, but to no avail. He wasn't letting go of the gun. It was then the gunman took one of his arms away from him, and hit him in the side. Seth's arm weakened with the blow, and the man was able to point his gun directly at his stomach.

     
Vivian directed her hand at the gunman. It was an exact moment, the spell hit him, and the gun went off. The gunman laid there, still and silent, but he would live. Seth's hand went over his stomach, and he fell sideways onto the ground.

     
Vivian fumbled with the handle, pushing the door open, running to his side. The closer she got the more the scene became clear. Blood soaked through his white shirt, showing so clearly by the moon. She placed a hand on his. He was freezing.

     
"Seth!" He tried to open his eyes when his brother came running out of the door, sitting next to Vivian. Tears formed in his wide eyes, he shook Seth as if trying to wake him.

     
"Jake, listen to me," Vivian clutched his arm hard, her fingernails digging in. "Go inside, call the police, but stay inside, don't go outside. You understand?"

     
Jake didn't give a response, he didn't even bother to look over at her, his eyes were locked on his bloody brother. Any rosy color that once was on Jake's cheeks was no longer there.

     
"Do as I say, and go! Now Jake!" She screamed, her throat straining. She was sure that someone else in their apartment had woken up from the noise.

     
Jake didn't say anything else, but ran inside, and Vivian, feeling it was too unsafe to carry him, used magic to hover him over to the backseat of the jeep. Despite herself, it brought back memories, placing him in the backseat. What hurt more is thinking that it might be the last time she would lay him there, attempting to save him, because this time, she might fail.

     
Again, she used magic on the jeep to drive them back to the Underground. There was no way that human doctors could help him, their medicines may be powerful, but Leo's was more so, and if anyone could save Seth, it would be him. Just like he saved her.

     
With the jeep driving the way to the Underground, Vivian climbed over the front seats, but one foot over, she saw her jacket lying in the passenger seat. Grabbing it, she kneeled on the floor, by Seth's head. His face was drained, his hairline wet with sweat.

     
She placed the jacket over his wound, pressing down, hoping to slow the bleeding, to buy time. But it wasn't long before the jacket was soaked. Warm, and gooey, it seeped through her fingers, and she began to cry.

     
"Seth? Seth, please stay with me, open your eyes. Please," she choked on her words.

     
Seth opened his eyes a fraction of the way. "Vivian...." He mumbled his words, barely moving his lips.

     
Her heart soared. "Yes, I'm here."

     
"Please, take care of Jake."

     
"Shhhh...." She didn't want to hear this.

     
"I wouldn't have left," he proclaimed hoarsely.

     
Vivian started sobbing then. "I know. I saw you. I saw you in the Silver Reflections. You were never going to leave. I'm so sorry Seth."

     
Seth gave a small nod of the head, and his eyes closed slowly, and softly. Vivian's tears were trickling down her neck. She wasn't going to let him go, not that easily. She wasn't Maeve, or Leo, but there was no time. Flattening her hand on his stomach, she put all the energy she could into making the bullet disappear, to heal the wounds. Her magic flooded into him slowly, the bullet dissolving gradually, but it wasn't fast enough, the bullet was still there. She pushed her mind and energy a little more, her energy flailing. She was starting to feel tired, beads of sweat spotting on her forehead. Not much farther, the bullet was starting to melt away bit by bit. With one more push of her magic, the bullet disappeared, and she let go falling back on her heels, leaning against the back of the seat.

     
Vivian's breath had become ragged. The back of her throat felt raw, so raw that she feared one swallow would make it bleed. She clutched a stitch at her side, and when everything seemed to slow down she pushed against the seat toward Seth.

     
His face was blurred by her tears, and her hand tightened in her jacket, her fingers deepening in the blood. "I love you Seth, I love you so much." She kissed his lips when she noticed the stone that had been burning in her pocket, was no longer hot. In fact, it was cold as ice.

     
"You look terrible," Jean exclaimed, as Vivian walked through the archway into the circular room with hair and clothes in disarray. Her eyes were dark, and her body bruised, she did not care to make any appearance.

     
"Thanks a lot," Vivian mumbled, falling into a chair by the fire, the cushions comforting.

     
Flint and Jean thought that Vivian may have not seen the worried look Jean passed to her fiancé, while her sister stared into the fire. Vivian saw it though, and did not care. For the sake of saving their breath, she didn't say anything about it.

     
Jean gave an exasperated sigh, and with a thump, laid down her book on the table. Kneeling beside the chair that Vivian sat in, she gave a few coughs. Again, Vivian ignored them, losing herself into the bright dancing flames.

     
"Viv?"

     
They weren’t going to give up. "Is Jake okay?" Jean asked.

     
"Yes, I picked him up at the apartment after you got in last night. Speaking of that - "

     
"Is he up?"

     
Jean looked up at her now, and with another annoyed sigh, she said, "Yes, he's playing with Julian. Now about what happened - "

     
"If you can't tell, I keep changing the subject." Vivian shouted.

     
"We have to talk about last night!"

     
"No, we don't." Vivian shook her head.

     
"Why not?"

     
Vivian felt herself crack a little, all the worries, and all the messed up ideas her family had put into her head finally got to her. She rapidly stood up, towering over her sister. Without meaning to, she felt her voice rise, and she was yelling, "because it's my fault Seth was shot. It's all my fault! I kept turning him away, because I'm afraid of the blood that runs through my veins, that I would leave him, or he would leave me. I was an idiot for being so scared. So stupidly scared. For the first time, I was frightened of something, and I was out of control because of it."

     
It surprised her to see Jean smile. She stood up, looking slightly down into her eyes. "You love him. I know how hard it is to try to trust someone. But haven't you noticed how Seth always turns up not long after he has been gone? He isn't going anywhere. He's meant to be here."

     
Vivian let those words, she has always know to be so true, finally sink in. She really had been thick all along. Throwing her arms around Jean's neck, she said "thanks sis."

     
"Anytime, I don't mind telling you when you're being stupid," Jean happily sat back down in her chair, picking up her book.

     
Vivian walked outside, the sun painfully hitting her eyes, when she emerged from the stone walls and lighted torches. The field stretched out in front of her, a wave of green grass and yellow wildflowers, all the same looking, but Vivian knew exactly where in the field of green and yellow she was going.

     
Far to the left of the Underground, she dropped to her knees. The patch of grass was clean, but six years ago, it was red, as were the yellow flowers. Images of a thirteen-year-old girl, and her fourteen-year-old sister, played in her mind. They were both wearing sky blue dresses, and ribbons in their hair to match. They played tag around the field, as the sky became darker and darker. Aunt Karen was stuck in traffic, and for the first time in her life, she was late.

     
The once-bright sky now turned to night, but the two girls paid no mind. They stood picking up the beautiful yellow flowers. Some, they broke the stem off, and stuck in their hair right above their ears. It was then yelling erupted from the quiet of the forest behind them. There were screams about drugs, and betrayal. Figures dressed in black, with their hands buried in each others shirts, tumbled around on the ground. All the girls could do was stare, wide eyed, paralyzed with fear. They both saw the gun. The guy beneath his foe pulled it out of his pocket, but with a sweep of the other man's arm, it was pointed at them. Before they could run, before they could blink, the gun fired, and the bullet sailed through the air straight into the thirteen-year-old's stomach. She had looked down to her stomach and saw something warm seeping through, and then she fell. She couldn't see, she didn't want to. She kept her eyes shut as the pain controlled her body. Everything was becoming dark and cold, but she heard another shot. A shot so close to her. A gasp, and a thud next to her. Her sister.

     
When Vivian awoke, a pair of silver eyes stared down at her. Maeve healed her, and her sister, and she was safe. She was to learn the ways of the Underground, she was to become leader.

     
Now, Vivian knelt there, her hands on the grass where she and Jean almost died. "Thank you Maeve," she whispered.

     
She walked away from the sight, and returned to the circular room. Jean sat there with a piercing stare. Vivian nodded in agreement, and walked the length of the hallway. She went further than she had in a long time, the light from the room she left behind was getting smaller, and the torches that lined the wall began to become brighter.

     
She turned and opened the door with the glowing green 'w' on it. Inside it was as dark as the hallway, but with comforting candles that burned blue. Empty beds lined the wall, each with a chair, and a small bedside table. However, one bed was not empty. Beneath the covers of the middle bed, lied Seth.

     
Vivian took a seat beside him, and as she did, Seth's eyes fluttered open. He scanned the ceiling, and then, her face, recognition came over, and he smiled.

     
"Hi," she greeted.

     
"Hi."

     
"Feel weird?" Vivian asked.