Darkly Devoted (Book 1)

Chapter 2 - A Very Unhappy Birthday

Chapter 2

VIVIENNE STILL couldn't believe the elderly woman was an Auguard and had chosen her to be an Orlin.

Her parents were in the midst of a loud explosive argument when she arrived home. Somehow, she couldn't recall what they were fighting about. The events of earlier in the day, the dress disaster at Aunt Sully's, the threat of kidnapping due to her father's gambling — all that seemed far away.

Vivienne ignored them and ran up to her room. Vivienne ripped off the awful dress, which the evil Auguard had complimented her on, and slithered back into a pair of jeans and a t-shirt. She threw the cursed dress into the hall and locked the door. She fell, face-down, into her bed. What was she going to do now? No one refused an invitation to be an Orlin. Her parents desperately needed the money. Vivienne had about two minutes of peace before her cellphone went off.

It was Sallen.

"Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh! Vivienne!" Sallen squealed. "You'll never guess what happened after you got off the bus today!"

"What?" Vivienne asked, wearily.

"I got picked to be an ORLIN!

"What?" Vivienne repeated. "You too?"

"What do you mean you too? Vivienne? You got an invitation too?" Sallen was screaming in glee now. "I had a feeling the other one was you. They called me about an hour ago. They said that the meeting date had been moved to tomorrow morning. Apparently one of the inductees is turning eighteen tomorrow!"

"They moved the date just for me?" Vivienne asked in shock. Her mind was racing. This had to have something to do with Blake Thorne. The Auguards simply knew things. Whoever killed Blake was after her too. Maybe they thought Blake had told her a secret. Vivienne's mind scrambled for fragments of incriminating memories. The necklace!

Vivienne dropped the cellphone and ripped open her meager jewelry box. At the very bottom, in a hidden compartment, was a cameo locket. Blake had hidden a strange rock in the shape of a fang inside the removable back of the locket when he first found it. He was afraid his mother would disown him if she found it. Rumor had it that his father died under mysterious, possibly vampiric, circumstances. Lady Thorne didn't want to hear anything about the vampires.

Right before he left that last day, for the deserted Arena, Blake caught her hand and pressed the locket into her palm. "Keep this safe for me," he had instructed. "It is proof that they are real."

Vivienne held that locket in her hand now. The locket dangled back and forth, as innocent as could be. The gold chain glittered beautifully in the darkness.

"Vivienne? Vivienne!" Sallen yelled from the phone. "Are you still there?"

"Yeah," Vivienne whispered hoarsely. "I'm here."

"What are you wearing tomorrow? My mom is packing my bags. I don't have anything expensive enough to wear to Manna City. Do you?"

"Nah," Vivienne replied and shoved the necklace deep into her pocket. She couldn't just flush that down the toilet or toss it into the bushes. If it were found, it would incriminate her parents. Maybe she'll toss it into a fountain in Manna City. No one would find such an exquisite abandoned piece of jewelry suspicious inside that city. "I'm going to wear something...with pockets."

"Stop joking around Vivienne!" Sallen exclaimed. "How can you be so indifferent? Our entire lives are going to change!"

"Don't you think it's odd that out of the thousands of eligible teens in Ignias they went and picked the two of us?" Vivienne asked. It was still dawning on her that at school she was going to be a legend. She'll never know exactly how they reacted to the news because she wouldn't be going to school anymore. She supposed that Janun or her parents would tell them. It has never been heard of that someone could be summoned the day before their eighteenth birthday. Was that even allowed? She was picked less than two days before turning eighteen.