The Hidden

doubt yourself?”

Katy folded her hands on the table. “My situation was different, Abbey. I was sick. I knew that I had a limited amount of time left. It was not a difficult choice for me.” She looked me directly in the eye. “You are having a difficult time, though, yes?”

“Yes. But I know it’s going to be soon for me, too. Caspian has been … Well, he’s been losing his ability to touch things. And he falls into this deep sleep. A dark place that he goes to. Where he can’t wake up. Sometimes it’s hours, even days, before he comes back to me.”

“And you are worried about your future together?” Katy guessed.

I leaned forward. “What if I complete him and eventually we become unhappy?” I told her about Abbey’s Hollow and how Mom had paid the rent for my first year. “What if I start to resent the fact that I’ll never have the opportunity to own my own business? Or make perfumes again? What if I start to hold it against him that I’m stuck here? Wherever here will be.”

The teakettle whistled, and she got up to prepare the tea. She returned with two cups, then she went back for the milk and honey. I doctored mine up while I waited for her to sit down again. Eventually she said, “Who has told you that you will never get the chance to make perfumes again?”

“I’ll be dead. How am I going to get supplies and stuff?”

She gestured around the cottage, to the bundles of dried flowers decorating the walls. “Supplies are all around you. Oils come from plants, do they not?”

“Well, yeah, but …” I took a sip of my tea and thought about it. I did have my plant distiller. As long as I had access to that, and fresh flowers or herbs, I could make my own essential oils. “Actually, I guess I could still make my perfumes. If everything works out right.”

She nodded, a wise smile on her face. “You do not have to give up everything you love for the one you love.”

“And how can I be sure of that?” I said desperately.

“You must find that within your own heart,” she replied.

I leaned back in my chair, playing with the handle of the delicate teacup. “I know that I love Caspian,” I said. “I know that without a doubt. But I also love my friends. My family. My future plans for my shop. Why am I going to be forced to choose between them? Why me?”

“Why are children taken before their parents? Why does disease and poverty fill the world?” she said. “It’s just the way it is. Some things we must accept.”

“Yes, but diseases can be cured. Poverty ended. Those things can be changed with enough man power and enough money.”

“But you cannot cure death,” she said quietly.

“You’re right,” I agreed. “That’s the one thing there’s no getting out of.”

As I finished my tea, I didn’t want the conversation with Katy to end on such a heavy note, so we switched to talking about knitting and patterns and string. When I realized how long I’d been sitting there, I told her I needed to go. I needed to get back to Caspian.

Saying my good-byes was bittersweet. I didn’t know when I’d have a chance to see her again, so I just hugged her and promised that we’d get together soon.

I said good-bye to Nikolas when I got outside, but he offered to walk me to the edge of the woods.

“Have you had any more run-ins with Vincent?” he asked as we walked.

I was partially turned away from him, and I turned to face him fully. “No. I don’t know what happened to him. I don’t know if he’s gone, or what. I like to think he is, but I’m not really sure. Why?”

“Have you talked with the other Revenants?” He asked the question casually, but it felt like there was more behind it.

“Yeah. But why? About what? Uri told me more about their background, and what they really are, but I get the sense that they aren’t telling me everything.”

“You know that the Revenants are needed to help a Shade and his other half be completed,” he said slowly. “Have you ever thought about which ones will help you cross over?”

“Is Vincent …” Horror filled me, and I felt sick. “Is Vincent one of my Revenants?” I asked. “Is he supposed to be the one who helps take me?”

“I cannot be sure, but I have my suspicions,” Nikolas said.

I turned blindly from him, waving my hand in some semblance of a good-bye. I couldn’t speak. Couldn’t think. Could barely breathe. Vincent was one of my Revenants? I had to get back to Caspian. I had to tell to him about this.

All this time? All this time, he was supposed to be one of the ones to cross me over? To see me in my final moment and help me get to Caspian? And the other Revenants knew? Was this what they didn’t want to tell me? That I wasn’t going to be able to complete Caspian because my Revenant didn’t want to do his job?

The trees rushed past me, their dark colors blurring into one another. I couldn’t move my legs fast enough. My mind was screaming, NO, NO, NO. It couldn’t be him. He couldn’t be the one …

My head was down, trying to watch my feet so I didn’t stumble on another rock, when a shadow filled my vision.

I looked up.

“Hello, dear,” Vincent said. “Long time, no see.”

And then he punched me in the face.

When I woke up, immediately I became aware that my jaw was hurting like hell, and I was lying on the seat of a strange car. The backseat. My legs were stretched out, and I could feel leather beneath my hands.

An engine roared as we picked up speed, and the sick feeling in my gut matched the feeling of pain in my jaw. I couldn’t see the driver, but I knew who it was.

I was in Vincent’s car. And I had no idea where he was taking me.

Panic started shooting off in my brain, and I lay there for a good ten minutes just letting the fear take over. Finally I told myself that all I had to do was stay calm. If I could get out of the car, I could run. Wherever we were, I had to be able to run to a phone or a house or something.

That calmed me down a bit, and I focused on visualizing myself running down the road, away from him. My fingers slowly groped for my pocket. My phone.

But it was gone. Of course.

The car drove on for what felt like hours, and I had absolutely no clue in which direction we were headed. All I could do was lie still and preserve my strength. And try not to think about the fact that the back molar on the left side of my jaw wiggled a little bit now.

Asshole.

Eventually we came to a stop. The car shut off. “Are you awake back there yet?” Vincent asked.

I ignored him.

“Aaaaaaaaabbeeeey. I said, are you awake?”

My toe started itching. I pictured myself scratching it, but it didn’t help and it was driving me crazy. I shifted subtly, trying to relieve the tension.

“You big faker,” Vincent said. “I knew it!”

My eyes opened just in time to see Vincent leaning over the seat, and then there was an excruciating pain in my jaw as he pressed down right on the spot he’d hit.

“Aaaaaaaaaammmmmmmmppppppphhhh!” I screamed, and he took advantage of the moment to shove a bandanna into my mouth. Before I could do anything, he was tying it around my head. I lifted my hands to rip at him, tear at him, do anything to him, and he zip-tied my wrists together.

Tears of humiliation ran down my cheeks. I’m so stupid!

I’d been so busy thinking about how I was going to run away from him that I’d never even taken inventory of my own body. If I had, I would have realized that my legs were tied together.

“I got you a new bandanna,” he said courteously. “It should taste nice and fresh. You can thank me later.”