„Beauty is power. A smile is its sword."-John Ray
Vivien and Sylas went back to the present. He walked with her until they arrived at her house, where they parted ways.
Luis didn't ask where she had been the whole day, he got used to
her coming back home quite late.
The girl stepped into her room, did her night routine, then went
to sleep instantly. She was exhausted.
When morning came, Vivien went to eat her breakfast, then opened
her journal which gained more written pages. Her ability stemmed from her
hands, whatever she touched went two years into the future. Since the journal
had more written pages because she had used her magic and touched it, she
decided to read through it.
They were words she did not remember writing before, making it
peculiar to see them dancing on the pages. She skimmed through, noticing a lot more
information about the they contracted and about Leonard. She thought it was important
to look through it, but she did not have time to read it all yet. She had a different plan set in mind for the day.
When Sylas came for their project a bit longer ago, the magic showed her to the poster on her wall. It pointed to the picture of a famous rock band she had always loved which performed in Seattle. Vivien had went to that town for the sole reason to see the rock performance, together with Grace and
Rachel. She fell asleep on the desk after having written and done her research
for their school project, but she did not get to understand more about why the magic had showed her to the poster. Perhaps it was her cue to visit Seattle in the year 2028.
Vivien did not want to let a few difficult days consume her whole existence. Whatever obstacles she would have to face throughout this year and the next, she will solve the mystery of this curse they were given, but for
that, she would need to listen to the purple magic which guided her to leave for Seattle.
When the weekend came, the girl called Sylas, excited to speak to him. All her worries would be swept away the moment she heard the sound of his soft and low voice over the phone. She knew laughter would always follow each time she talked to him, and it was a wonderful feeling to finally have
somebody to hold close after so many years of perturbation. She had always wondered if life would, at some point, stop feeling the way it used to when problems started to appear: lonely and like she didn't belong in this world.
She had always thought she was in plus, while every soul found their calling
and their people to keep close. Now, life brought color wherever she would
look, every small detail which seemed insignificant before started to mean so
much more. Now, she had finally found her meaning to cling onto, as well. A simple
conversation with him could was more than she could ever ask for.
Now, her soul could finally be at rest from the constant search of grasping the feeling of belonging in this world and of making the loneliness disappear. She was like all the other beautiful and unique souls roaming the
Earth. She had finally found her place, and life left like a breath of fresh air, not like constantly suffocating from constant panic attacks and self loathing.
Now, it would be described as a warm morning you looked forward to experiencing every day, like excitment before meeting your loved ones after not having seen them for a while. It finally didn't feel heavy, plain and lonely as when her problems started. It felt peaceful and enjoyable.
It never occured to her how they would be able to reach Seattle,
given that Tallis was about an hour away and she did not know anybody who had
taken their driver's license.
The two established a meeting point in front of the infamous library in Tallis. The girl got ready, putting on a yellow shirt with a delicate white flowers embroidery. Vivien looked at herself in the mirror and was happy with
the way it fitted.
She drank her chamomile tea Luis had left on the table for her, gulping it all in a few sips. Then, exactly before she could leave, Luis stopped her.
„Vivien, wait a second! Where are you going? Don't you want to tell your big brother what you keep doing outside for so long? You come home late, you don't answer texts for hours..."
„I'll let you know when I get back! Sorry, this is an emergency!"
„Make sure to take care of yourself, whatever you're up to, please!", he called after her while she was closing the door behind her. Luis smiled and shook his head disapprovingly like a 50 year old mom.
As Vivien stepped outside, she couldn't help but admire the last rays of sunshine. Days were shortening and winter was coming, her favorite season.
She decided to walk all the way to the library, since the weather outside was pleasant. The wind wasn't blowing, and the soft blue color
of the sky was comforting, almost perfectly clear from clouds.
Vivien waited for Sylas to arrive. It was mandatory to leave during the morning because they didn't want to get lost in a town they didn't know at night.
After a bit more waiting, she heard footsteps behind her, but she didn't turn around to check who it was. She felt two warm hands covering her eyes.
„Guess who."
„It's Sylas!"
„Correeeect!"
He removed his hands from blocking her vision, and the boy was met with
the biggest smile he'd ever seen on Vivien's face. He was almost surprised. She
wanted to hug him, but held back because of the fear for what his reaction would be.
„Looking good, sweetheart."
„You're not aesthetically displeasing, yourself."
„Oh, trust me, I never look bad."
Vivien walked forward, having done her research on what type of transport vehicles to use and where exactly to take them from. She needed to make
Sylas understand they could not waste any time.
„Running away from me, huh? That's rude."
„I have a quote for the day. It goes like this...", she cleared her throat before continuing. „There is nothing worse than trying to explain to
someone your own visions, only to discover they never understood you to begin
with. Quote written by me."
„That's rather philosophical. Have you been reading self-help
books?"
„Hm... yes. What type of books do YOU usually read?"
„Detective novels, and maybe some crime reports when I'm feeling particularly masochistic. Are you offering to read me poetry?"
„Oh, shucks, we do not have time for that, so no."
„No? And here I was, expecting to hear Shakespeare from you."
„My disposition does not align with that for now, a fortunate circumstance for you, indeed."
„I thought you were going to shower me with flowery, sappy romance words! Or talk about romantic litetary works during the 1800's when the love between characters was usually unoptainable, the two characters didn't match and the story always ended tragically. That, or the relationship was destructive. Thank you, Nathaniel Hawthorne."
„To assume I, Vivien Torres, would ever do such a thing as to recite poems, is an absurdity beyond measure nobody could comprehend!"
Sylas laughed at the way she was behaving.
„You're pretty theatrical."
„My bad, I wanted to become an actress when I was a child."
„I should've known you'd be pretty good at lying and putting up pretty little acts."
„Oh, no, I'm undoubtedly terrible at lying because I get scared people will notice. But when I have to act for a certain play, it's a
completely different story."
„That's kind of adorable, actually. You must be the first person who gets scared of their own lies."
The two walk around Tallis for a while, getting lost in their conversation. Vivien had already told the boy, over the phone, why she wanted to leave for Seattle and was, now, speaking to him about the route they would take to arrive there.
They walked towards Elton High, where the portal to the futuristic world was located. It seemed like, now, there were two portals that lead to the future. One went straight through the wall and lead to Leonard's business office, the other opened when they touched the doorknob of the school library.
They chose to go through the library, since their task was not to defeat the Huldra, yet.
Though it was weekend and nobody was at school, the doors were still open. Elton is an art school, and many kids still enter school even during weekend to practice their instruments with the guidance of their teacher or to paint. Still, it was recommended that they wouldn't be seen by the cameras, because they could be asked about where they were headed to. They tried avoiding any unwanted attention.
They walked towards the library and stepped inside the room filled with books. The two headed straight for the bus station. It was going to be a long ride, but Vivien was excited to find out whatever the future had in store for them.
The two waited in the bus station for the way of transportation to arrive. While doing so, she thought about memories from her life she had experienced and could never forget. Everything shaped her into who she was, now.
„Me and my brother used to make competitions all the time.", she said, suddenly, to break the silence.
„I bet they were all as ridiculous as you are."
„Excuse you?"
„Relax, I was joking."
„I've got my eye on you, Sylas."
A few minutes later, the bus arrived and the two found their seats. Vivien took the one next to the window. As she looked outside, her gaze went to Sylas, noticing that he was not wearing his usual bolo tie as he used to. He was also much more quiet than usually, he didn't seem to have any energy.
„Might I buy a bolo tie so that we could have matching accessories?"
„Why would you want that?"
„It posed as an interesting idea to me."
„It doesn't sound too bad. Having matching bolo ties with you would be great."
Vivien wanted to ask if there was something troubling him, but she made up her mind and didn't. It felt like she would perturbate him even further if she had.
The pair waited for a long time until arriving to Seattle. Once Vivien noticed they got to their destination by looking out the window, she announced Sylas, and the two got up from their seats.