Darkly Devoted (Book 1, 2, 3)

DD Chapter 10 - The Necklace

Chapter 10

VIVIENNE RAN all the way home after her encounter with Zissa at the fair. That was the only place she had wanted to be, at home with her head under the covers.

As Vivienne walked up to her front door, she began to panic. Her mind was suddenly preoccupied with what she would tell her parents about where she had been, coming home so late. Vivienne decided they would never believe the truth. At best, they would think she was doing drugs. In fact, she didn't really believe what she had seen that night. Maybe, if she got some sleep, this would all turn out to be a dream.

As Vivienne made a fist to knock on the front door, she found it ajar. She felt her heart suddenly skip a beat. What if the monsters had found her parents? She rushed in through the door, ready to be greeted with the gory remains of her family. However, her concern was quickly dismissed when she tripped over a pair of fancy patent-leather heels.

"Can you watch where you are going, you little klutz?" Janun yelled from the living room couch. "I don't need this right now!"

"Viv!" Her mom yelled from the kitchen. "Are you finally home? Your mashed potatoes are about to get cold."

"Yeah, mom." Vivienne stuttered. She didn't know whether to be relieved or angry that her parents hadn't even realized she had been missing. "I was out doing homework. I'm going to take a shower."

"Coming in at this hour? Please, Viv, don't tell us you have a secret boyfriend too," her father added as he calmly continued to read the newspaper. "No, Janun, you can pout until your lips fall off. The answer is NO. You are not going to that party with this college boy."

"I love him! If you gave him a chance, you would know!" Janun retorted. "I hate you! I hate you all!"

"I'm not hungry, Mom," Vivienne said, sheepishly. She started to sneak up the stairs, out of the hurricane of screaming in the living room.

"You won't let me see him because of Vivienne," Janun screamed and threw a remote control into the stairwell banister. "You think just because a boy takes any interest in me, he has to be bad news. All I know is that if I got kidnapped by Manna City, I would never come back!"

"Janun," Vivienne said. "Please."

"Vivienne," her father said, and continued to hide his face in the newspaper. "Just ignore her. She's hysterical. You can take a twenty out of my wallet and grab a burger at the diner with your secret boyfriend if you want. Janun put down that lamp!" Her father's tone was playfully sarcastic, which only set Janun off even more.

Vivienne chuckled a little as she continued up the stairs. Janun continued to wail from downstairs. Her parents thought handsome, dorky Julian was a monster. Ff they knew about the monsters in their other daughter's life.

Vivienne went to her room and took out the cameo necklace from under her shirt. She sat by her bedroom window and held the chain in her closed fist.

"Blake, if you can hear me now, I found a clue. Satan's Hollow. That's what they call the source of the demons here. I hope you can find the Black Waters you need there. If I could only convince Zissa to lead me there, maybe I could be of more help."

Vivienne sighed and put the cameo back under her clothes. She didn't feel any different. Her words were only greeted with silence. Even so, she doubted her discovery would do Blake any good.

She still needed to befriend Zissa.

That task seemed impossibly hard. If only Vivienne had found something she had in common with these girls. Vivienne sneaked into the hallway closet where she found a stash of Janun's cast-off clothing. Janun's closet was always overflowing. Vivienne doubted she would miss a dress or two.

In the back, Vivienne found something that didn't belong to Janun at all. It belonged to Allison. It was light pink, and although it was too small now, Vivienne couldn't believe her parents brought it all the way from Lewisville.

As Vivienne took the cardigan out of the closet, the memories came flooding back to her. The cardigan had been a perfect fit. She and Allison had always been the same size. Allison had given it to her after she had been caught in the rain walking to school. Her father was supposed to drive her, but he stayed out all night at the casinos and forgot again. Vivienne hadn't even asked for it, but Allison had insisted. The cardigan seemed beautiful because it had been on Allison. She had that kind of magical effect on everything she touched. Vivienne remembered it smelled vaguely of jasmine and rose.

"Keep it. You can bring it to my house the next time you come over," Allison had said. "We can have a sleepover."

Vivienne had been relieved that Allison had invited her over instead of coming over. Vivienne's house was always a wreck. Her father always had all his ancient texts scattered across the dining room table. He and her mom were always fighting about the bills. Vivienne remembered Allison's house had been small but warm. Allison's mom showed up at the door with a tray full of finger sandwiches and milk. Vivienne had never experienced anything like that in her life. Her mom usually just threw something into a microwave.

Allison's room was covered in Tiffany-blue wallpaper with gold butterflies. She had a leopard print couch. Vivienne felt glamorous just sitting on it, as though she should be holding a cigarette holder and wearing a long string of pearls. On the wall, there was a pin-up board full of pages ripped from fashion magazines. In the closet, there was a dress with pink ribbons over the shoulders, made entirely of dainty flowers.

"That dress is magical," Vivienne said, as Allison was digging through her closet for her makeup bag so they could do each other's nails.

"That is what I want to wear to the prom, one day," Allison had said. "I don't know how, but one day I'm going to wear that dress."

"It must be expensive," Vivienne had said, then immediately regretted being a downer. Allison had just laughed and thrown her crimson curls over her shoulder.

"It's just a dream, silly. What do you want to wear to prom?"

Vivienne had paused. "Never thought about it."

"Everyone has thought about what they want to wear to prom," Allison said. "Think you're going with Daniel?"

"No. Ew," Vivienne replied, making a face.

"Here," Allison said, peeling the pink cardigan off the hanger with the prom dress. "You can wear this home."

"But it's part of your dress!"

"Nah, you wear it." Allison teased as she sat down beside Vivienne and stroked her long black hair. "Let's make a promise that if you can't find someone, then you'll be my date."

Vivienne took the cardigan out of the closet and hung it in her bedroom. It seemed wrong to leave that article of clothing in the forgotten corner of a closet. Allison, how was she now? Were her Princes keeping her company?

"I stole one of your Princes," Vivienne whispered as she wrapped the empty sleeve of the cardigan around her shoulders. "But you still have nine more. Surely that's enough for the prom, my dear friend."

Staring into the darkness, Vivienne could almost hear Allison whisper back.

"But, Vivienne, you silly, silly goose. You took the only one I wanted."