After lunch, I told Cammie that I wasn't ready to pick up Karate yet, and she believed me without a doubt. And that was because I had unfolded Octavia's note and read what she said in the finest penmanship I've ever seen.

Meet me at the library,

—O

 I cringed. What makes the girl think I would answer her call whenever she wants? She also drew a smiley face with fangs popping out. I was going to rip the note, but then I remember she had saved me with a tube of sunblock. I sighed in defeat. Besides I also wanted to go to the library in the first place. Maybe I should just go and get it over with.

 A moment later, I found myself wrapped in the crispy smell of gazillions books and dried wooden shelves and furniture in the library. The air was thick with paper scents for my sensitive nose, but I personally loved the smell. I walked to the section where Octavia scribbled on the back of her note. It didn't take me long to find the spot.

 The Ultara library is like a maze of thousands of bookshelves zigzagging everywhere. And if you don't have good clearance, the whole place might as well trap you in (I know that because we actually have had students getting lost once in a while).

 But as I stood in the darkest corner, gazing at a giant bookcase from floor to ceiling, I didn't see anyone. Suddenly I got the same chill I'd always get whenever Octavia was around. I quickly turned and she was right in front of me.

 "What the hell! Why can't you just stop doing that?" I hissed, hearing my own heart pounded. Octavia just smiled her trademark smile. She was so close, I could feel her breath on my cheeks.

 "I knew you would come for me," she said and got closer. I didn't know whether or not it was because I stayed with Cammie too long that my brain automatically translated everything in perverted meaning, and that made my face turn hot. I stepped back until my body was against the bookshelf. Octavia put one hand on the shelf above my head as we stood toe to toe. Her perfect golden hair twirled around her shoulders like a Disney Princess's. I tried to keep my composure when our bodies were faintly touched. And I could feel the heat between my legs stirring. The only thing that lighted up the darkness here was the golden glow of our meeting eyes.

 Octavia is a few inches taller than me. If I wore heels, we would be at the same height. But at that moment, I felt so small and vulnerable around her. She seemed to have this strange effect on me. This should be a crime.

 "How's everything?" She turned to ask, still breathing against my crawling skin. "Last time I checked on you, you looked like you were fighting invisible monsters in your head."

 The truth is, I felt just like what she said, but I was holding up just fine.

 "I'm not gonna lose that easily," I said with all my remaining confidence. "Now tell me why did you ask me to come here?"

 Octavia's florescent eyes flickered as if she just snapped out of herself. Then she smiled sheepishly.

 "Sorry, I guess that's not how people ask their girlfriends for help," she said and stepped back at last, and I was somewhat able to breathe again.

 "For the last time, Octavia, I'm not your..."

 "I just want you to help me finding something," she cut me off.

 "Find what?" I said.

 "My mother's last diary," she said.

 "Your mom's diary?"

 She nodded. "My mother wrote twelve volumes of her journal when she was alive, but all of which got taken away and burned, except the one that my father had saved. That was the last volume. Before we left the country, he decided to hide the book in this school library years ago. It's been ten years now that the book stays hidden here. I need to find it. I just don't know where it is yet."

 "Is it registered in the catalog?" I asked, but she shook her head no.

 I looked around the enormous place and calculated how many years it would take us to find the vampire diary here.

 "Don't worry, I have singled out this part of the section," she said. "If you give me a hand to find it, it would take faster."

 "And why do you want to get it?" I said. "I meant, I know it's your mom's memories treasured in there, but why did it have to be hidden away?"

 "Vivienne, doesn't your mom tell you anything?" Octavia asked.

 "Tell me what?"

 "Our parents were murdered," Octavia said straightforward. A wave of shock engulfed me, making my knees buckle. I leaned back to grip the shelf for support. It felt as if my heart was being squeezed. I gasped for air.

 "Viv, are you okay?" Octavia came to hold me. "I'm so sorry. I shouldn't have told you this so soon."

I quickly grabbed her arms and looked into her sparkling eyes.

 "Octavia, tell me everything you know," I said as tears lingered in the back of my eyes. "What happened?"

 "Vivienne, maybe you should wait..."

 "NO!" I cried, not caring we were in the library. "I have the right to know."

 Octavia looked at me for a moment and then she sighed. "My mom was captured by a troop of vampires when I was eight. She was convicted of having a relationship with a human, my dad. I think the same thing happened to your father. They were both executed by some law of the Underworld."

 "Oh my god," I gasped in complete bewilderment. "Why didn't my mom tell me anything?"

 "I guess human mothers are different from vampire mothers," Octavia said. "She must be worried about you."

 "My dad was murdered," I said, more to myself. "for falling in love with a human?"

 "That's why I want to find the diary," Octavia said. "I believe there are some clues."

 "Clues about what?"

 "Vivienne," Octavia said. "The other vampires also want us dead."