Hello, everyone!

Well, I've been holding off on uploading this chapter for a few days, because... It's been exactly one year since I released the first chapter! Over 150,000 words later, I'd say we've made a lot of progress! But don't worry - we're still only just getting started! Special thanks go out to those of you who have been here since the very beginning, and for those of you who are new, welcome! I hope you enjoy the chapters to come. Once again, thank you all for reading this fic, and be sure to follow and leave a review! It really means a lot!

I don't own How to Train Your Dragon.

"Gods, it's just so… Frustrating!" Hiccup frowned at Astrid and Toothless, neither of which seemed to be as concerned about the situation as he was.

IT'S OKAY, HICCUP.

IT'S JUST A FEW DAYS,

AND YOU DON'T EVEN KNOW

WHAT HE'S GOING TO SAY YET

"It's gonna be more than a few days…" He sighed. "Dad's hosting meetings every night for the next few days - private meetings - and he's sailed out with Gobber for something he didn't even tell me about. Probably something else I'm 'not ready for,' yet."

Astrid cooed and glanced over at Toothless, who was tugging on a dead fish slightly with his gums. He knew all too well that the dragon could rip its head and spine free from the rest of its body with no more than a flick of his head - he had seen and paled at the sight more times than he could remember, much to Toothless's confusion and worry - but it seemed to entertain the dragon, for whatever reason. It relieved Hiccup, at the very least, though he knew the fish would end up in the dragon's stomach sooner or later, or, gods forbid, be offered to him as a snack.

ON THE SUBJECT OF SECRETS

YOU SAID THAT YOU AGREED TO SOMETHING

TO GET HIM TO GIVE YOU THE BOOK

"Oh…" Hiccup's words seemed to fail him. "That was… Nothing. Just a favor he asked me for a little while ago," his shoulders slumped, "And that's probably never gonna happen, anyway. You know what he's going to say - he made it very clear in our last conversation. He's just doing this to stall."

YOU DON'T KNOW THAT HICCUP

HE COULD STILL GIVE YOU THE BOOK

WHICH YOU HAVEN'T TOLD ME MUCH ABOUT, EITHER

"Because I know about as much as you do," he groaned. "Everyone's acting so… Mysterious about it. First Gothi's cryptic quest to go get it and bring it back to her, for gods know what reason. Then Gobber had to ask my Dad first - he never does that! He doesn't care what I do most of the time, anyway. Why this? But then, of course, my Dad tells me I'm never going to touch the book without giving it a second thought. That surprises me least of all."

Without thinking about it, he slumped down between Astrid's front and hind legs, leaning back against her side and hugging his knees. The boy was small enough normally, but curled up he was so tiny that he seemed almost infant-like. She suddenly felt the instinct to wrap herself around him, to drape her wings over him and shield him from the rest of the world, and never let anybody hurt him again. She wondered if that was how Toothless felt when he saw the small, fragile boy all bundled up like that.

"It's not just about this," he whispered, "My Dad's too afraid I'll screw everything up to ever let me do anything. With the way he's making this book sound, I could destroy the whole village with it, or worse. He'll never let me have it..."

Hiccup sighed as Astrid felt the muscles in his back relax, and the ravine fell back into its normal, tranquil state. Not sure what else to say, she laid her head down, and entertained herself for a minute or two by flicking her point of focus between the different, discrete noises flitting about around her; the rustle of leaves in the trees, the quiet swish of a fish surfacing in the lake, the burbling of the waterfall. Even Hiccup's steady, rhythmic breathing helped ease some of the tension still taut and ripe in the air around them. It made her glad he hadn't brought Syl with him. Although she missed Stormfly, and didn't want her to be left unattended for very long, the girl frayed her nerves as it usually was - she knew she would probably be arguing with her that very moment if she was there.

Eventually, though, the small bits of sound weren't enough - she wasn't used to that much calmness at once, even having stayed in the ridiculously peaceful ravine for almost a week, by that point. If nothing else, that would drive her to the brink of insanity - nothingness. But Hiccup beat her to it just as she raised her claw.

"S-so," he asked, obviously quite unprepared. "How're… Things?"

She jumped up a bit too eagerly, forgetting that Hiccup was there for a moment. She whipped around, but he was already up on his feet - apparently he was used to dragons suddenly getting up from behind him.

I'VE BEEN PRACTICING

IMPROVING MY AGILITY

I'M ALMOST PAST TOOTHLESS'S LEVEL, NOW

IN FACT, I PROBABLY AM ALREADY

"Wow," he smiled, turning to the Night Fury in question, "Is she really that good, bud?"

Toothless snorted.

"That good at what? Tripping over herself and whining about it?"

Astrid growled. "That's a lot of big talk from a Night Fury who can't even fly on his own,"

"Ha!" He growled, snapping around to face her, "You think you can? Try it, I dare you - that way I can say 'I told you so,' when I have to drag you out of the water, sputtering and half-dead, AGAIN."

"Well at the very least I could learn how. You're not ever going to get off the ground by yourself again."

"I doubt your pebble-sized brain could even hope to understand the basics of how flight works, you space-wasting, volatile little freak of -"

"Stop it!" Hiccup yelled, stepping between the two. Astrid quickly realized the reason why - both of them already had their claws dug into the dirt, snarling and snapping at each other, each ready to pounce, in Astrid's case, without even realizing it. She recoiled, frowning, and Toothless raised his head up.

He rolled his eyes. "You guys had such a good thing going. I guess I should've known it wasn't gonna last."

HE STARTED IT

"It doesn't matter who started it," he groaned. "Guys, we can't afford to have all this hate for each other, okay? We need everyone to be committed in order to… Fix, this problem. All of these problems. Astrid, it's bad enough between you and Syl, alright? Please don't go picking fights with everybody you possibly can. I know you're bored down here, but I promise I - we - are doing everything we can."

He turned to the darker of the two. "And Toothless, I expect better of you! First you… Didn't help Astrid up after she had been lying on her back for hours, and now this? What's gotten into you lately, bud?"

She expected the dragon to look ashamed, cowardly - he wasn't scolded by Hiccup often, and that was usually his reaction. But instead, he only sneered, and turned around, marching as far away from them as he could, before sitting down with a huff.

Hiccup sighed, shaking his head. "Listen… I'm sure both of you are great runners, jumpers, whatever you were arguing about… But try not to get into so many fights, alright?"

TELL THAT TO YOUR DRAGON

"Fine, fine," he said. "I guess he's just kinda… Worn out. We all are."

He sat down, and most of the tension seemed to die once again. She would never understand how he did it - sucked the anger and bitterness out of a situation, before replacing it with a breath of fresh air. It must've been more taxing on him than she could imagine.

Hiccup sat down, laying his head in his palms.

"Is it really too much to ask?" He wheezed, putting on a weak smile. "All I want is a little peace and qu-"

"WHAT'S UP, FREAKS?"

The voice rebounded off of the walls of the ravine from somewhere up above, accompanied by a Nadder's screech a few moments later.

Hiccup groaned but didn't look up. Neither did Astrid - to give the girl any attention at all would be exactly the response she wanted, and she refused to let her have that.

Nonetheless, Syl slid down off the Nadder in an almost cheerful mood once they landed - too cheerful, Astrid decided.

"Gods in Asgard," she grinned, and Hiccup finally looked up, surprised to see she was beaming at him. "I didn't think you had it in you. I really didn't! Hiccup, the mild-mannered Chief's son who changed his island forever. I gotta say, though, you did seem nice. A little too nice. I suppose it was only a matter of time before the ways of your beloved dragons rubbed off on you."

He stood up, and Astrid unconsciously moved to stand next to him. She didn't like where this was going.

"W-What are you talking about, Syl?" He stuttered.

Syl seemed to falter for a moment, but then smiled again. "Oh, I see. Too honor-bound to admit it to your girlfriend? Or were you just waiting to tell her as a big reveal? Eh, doesn't matter too much now, does it? The big secret's out - you may as well confess. So where is it? Have you looked through it yet? Is it hidden somewhere safe?"

Hiccup's brows furrowed, but Astrid couldn't help but feel a little apprehensive. Was there something he wasn't telling her? Because she almost made it sound as though he had… No, not Hiccup. He wouldn't have. Never.

"Syl, I-" he seemed at a loss for words, and so settled for raised hands in innocence. "I really don't know what you're talking about. I wish I did, to be honest. Do you think you could you enlighten me, or us?"

Syl seemed a bit more perplexed now, but still continued with a smirk, "Fine, if you're not going to tell her, I will."

She walked over a nearby boulder and sat down on it, like an old elder about to impart their wisdom on the young, ignorant Viking children of Berk. It was more than obvious she didn't get many opportunities as the center of attention, and she planned on picking this one dry like a dragon with a fishbone.

"Before I go on," she began, gesturing at him with more than a bit of flare, "I must say, Hiccup, I'm very proud of you. You saw an opportunity and you took it. I can respect that."

JUST GET ON WITH IT

"Fine!" She grumbled. "And you think I'm impatient."

She cleared her throat.

"A few days ago, after Hiccup got rejected by his father, he came to me and told me about the book, and what happened. After consoling him in the kindest way I could, we went to eat dinner at the Great Hall, and ended up talking about a few things - y'know, what I've been doing around Berk, what he's been doing, that weird thing that's been happening to your Night Fury and what might be wrong with him - the norm. You know how it is, Astrid. Or should I say, dragon-Astrid?"

A minute into her story and I already want to strangle her, Astrid thought, narrowing her eyes. That has to be some kind of record.

At the lack of a response, Syl continued, "Anyway, the conversation eventually circled back around to the book, see? This 'Compendium,' that everyone seems to be mad about lately. He told me a bit more about going to your Elder's place on the Mountain and her kicking him out, then you yelling at him - nothing really new. But then he told me something else…"

She paused, as if signifying that this was somehow important. Met with a bored silence once again, she carried on, "He told me he knew where it was, or thought he knew where it was, anyway. See, there's a locked shelf in the back room of the Great Hall that he saw once when he was younger, and his father was showing him around the place on his Birthday. He said it was one of the only things he remembered ever having a lock in the Great Hall - it had to be there."

Astrid frowned. She had her suspicions, but still…

HICCUP

IS THIS TRUE?

"Well… So far, yeah," he replied.

WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME THIS?

"Well, it just kinda… Came up in conversation. It's not like it was important, anyway - I didn't do anything!"

Syl smiled at him. "Still playing it out, huh? Fair enough. Anyway, Last night, after I got done all of my chores, I decided to go… Check it out. See if he was telling the truth."

"Syl…" Hiccup replied, getting a very bad feeling in the pit of his stomach. "What did you do?"

"I didn't do anything," she said. "Like I said, I just wanted to see. So I headed up to the Great Hall, found the door to the back room - it was pretty easy to find, and the lock on that was a joke - and looked around. It didn't take long to find the little shelf either. The place was pretty dusty, too, lots of old relics lying around, shields, armor, weapons that looked pretty dull. Nobody had been there in years. No one, except-"

"Syl," he interrupted, his voice cracking with fear. "Please don't tell me you stole The Book from the Great Hall-"

"I couldn't," she replied, "The lock was bent right off the shelf, and the case was already wide open and completely emptied. Someone had already stolen it."

"You're not gonna make any progress like this," Syl droned.

Hiccup, sitting in one of the darker corners of the Great Hall with his head in his hands, refused to acknowledge her.

"What are you even doing back here?" She asked, sitting down across from him. "Shouldn't you be reading a book, or… Riding a dragon, or something?"

"I'm thinking," came a muffled reply. He lifted his head up, and Syl couldn't help but notice there were heavy bags under his eyes. "And there isn't anything in any of the other books here that can help Astrid. Believe me, I know. And as far as Toothless goes… Well, I want to give him as much rest as possible right now, especially since…" He sighed.

"Well, moping around here thinking isn't going to help at all. Assuming that you didn't actually steal the book, the thief you're looking for isn't going to just pop up here at any time and say, 'Hey, heard you were looking for this, I was just borrowing it. Sorry if it caused you any trouble, hardy har.'" She said, in a burly Viking accent that could rival Hiccup's own impersonations.

"Well…" He shrugged. "Maybe. I mean, we don't even know who this person is, or… Anything. It could have been my father, for all I know. It'd make sense if he took it with him while he left - he probably knows that I know where it is."

"The lock was snapped off-"

"Then maybe he lost the key," he retorted. "Brute force is a pretty common way of solving problems around here, if you hadn't noticed. Besides, what else do you want me to do? Go around asking who took it?"

Syl frowned, and glanced over to the door that led to the small back room, as if half-expecting someone to suddenly stride out of it, mystical book-in-hand.

"If you're so intent on sitting here thinking, you should at least be doing it right. You're going about this the wrong way," she said suddenly, turning back to him. "You're too focused on the what and not the why."

He groaned. "What are you talking about?"

"Things like this don't just happen," she said, lowering her voice. "Somebody steals the book the same day you ask for it from your Dad? It can't be a coincidence. Someone must have overheard you talking, and gotten scared. Scared of what? I don't know. But for one reason or another, someone doesn't want you to have that book."

"Wait," he said, lowering his voice to her own level without realizing it. "You're saying that… That this was on purpose? Because of me? Why?"

She glanced around the Great Hall again, before snapping back to him, and leaning in close - very close. He might've blushed if her tone wasn't so serious. "Think about it, Hiccup. It has to be somebody here on Berk. Somebody who doesn't like you, who doesn't like your dragon, and who doesn't want you to succeed. Somebody who has the motivation to do this and the means to follow through with it."

For a moment he seemed to think deeply about it, before he gasped, clutching the table.

"Gods, Syl, you're right," he snapped his head around to face her.

"I know who it is."

The sun was setting over Berk as the two teens whispered back and forth to one another from a small rise on a hill. The hill lead up to a small, rickety old house with a few cabbage plants on the side facing them. A sheep grazed boredly on the other, letting loose the occasional Baa whenever it felt the urge.

"This is him?" She asked, nodding up the hill toward the house. Though the two were lying as flat on their stomachs as they could, and both were already quite skinny, to begin with, Hiccup was still nervous they might be seen.

"Yeah, just… Keep your voice down. He doesn't seem to be home, but… Well, we don't know when he'll be back. Mildew's pretty predictable most of the time, but..."

Syl rolled her eyes, but whispered, "Fine. He wouldn't be able to hear us from here anyway, trust me. What do you expect to accomplish doing this, anyway? You said you already ruled out talking to him, so…?"

It was true - of the few options he had considered in this scenario, trying to reason with Mildew directly was one of the first he had ruled out. If the putrid sack of bones had stolen the book to sabotage his plans, as well as his dragon's health, he would deny ever taking it, and there was no way he could explain to him how badly they needed it - he wasn't about to tell Mildew about Astrid, of all people. And the facts did seem to add up - Mildew had probably either overheard him asking for the book from his Dad, or had an informant of some kind who did, and stolen it. When his father came back, he would at least look at the safe - no doubt about it - and that would be that.

He shrugged. "I don't really know. I thought it might be good to, y'know, scout out the place. See if we spot anything... Off. We don't actually know if he has the book yet - if he does, we might be able to tell if he looks suspicious. Well, more suspicious than usual, anyway.

"After that, we can go back to town and talk about where we want to go from here. I figured we'd go back to Astrid later and talk about it with her, too. We obviously can't just walk up to his door and ask for it back. That is, if he even did take it. We still don't really know, after all, so even if we were able to, I don't know, try to prove that we weren't the ones that stole it to my Dad, then we'd still need evidence of some kind. Which makes me think, how did Mildew act so quickly? I mean, Dad left hours after I asked him for it-"

"Hiccup," Syl cut in, squinting up the hill at the house with a frown. "Have you told Astrid about any of this yet? The book being here, us coming up to spy on this 'Mildew,' guy, leaving the beasts back in town?"

He noticed her shift her position ever so slightly, bringing her right leg up under her chest, raising her torso off of the ground and lowering her head. He might've given it another second of thought if he hadn't been distracted by her question.

"First, they're not 'beasts,' they're dragons. They have as much of a heart and mind as you and I do," he frowned. "But to answer your question... No, I haven't had the time yet. She doesn't even know we think he's the one who took it, actually. I thought we'd come here first, then go back to the ravine and tell her then-"

She nodded.

"Good."

With a start, Hiccup realized why her slight shift had seemed so odd to him. But before he could stop her, she was dancing across the field, quiet as a mouse, jumping between each shadow cast by the trees, before running out of them and sprinting the rest of the way to the house.

Panicky, Hiccup whirled around, searching madly for something or someone to help that he knew he would never find. Gods, how could he have been so blinded? The way she had tied her hair up differently before they left, the shoulder plates and armored skirt she had left back in the Village…

Of course.

She had been planning to do this all along. And he hadn't even realized. In fact, Syl probably knew he wouldn't realize - not until it was too late, at least. Otherwise, she might've changed more of her outfit, put on something besides the awkward boots that she obviously had trouble running in, and… His eyes widened. Astrid is going to be livid if she finds out I let her run in without telling her…

Blinking, he glanced back up at the house. Syl was inching around the corner, and Hiccup drew in a breath. Was she just going to barge in through the back door? They didn't know he wasn't in there - he could've been standing right behind the door, for Odin's sake!

But just as he was about to get up and run after her, she stopped. Ever-so-nimbly, she climbed up onto a pile of rotten firewood stacked against the back of the house. For a moment, Hiccup was terrified - the pile looked prone to collapse on its own, surely putting any pressure on it would cause the whole thing to crumble, no doubt creating quite a bit of noise as well - but somehow, it held, and before he knew it, she was leaping off that to hold onto a loose board jutting out from the arch of the house. Here she paused for only a second, before making yet another massive leap to the dragon head spouting out of the back, gripping on with her hands, and swinging herself up on top of it.

Confused and bewildered, Hiccup tried to figure out what she was trying to do, until it dawned on him. There was a small hole at the apex of the roof and the back wall used to let the smoke out from the fires inside. It was tiny, but if he thought about it, he could just imagine Syl slipping through it. From there, she would be in the rafters of the building, able to see everything below her. But that didn't make it any less dangerous.

Slowly, he rose up to one knee. He raised his hands up to his face and cupped his fingers around his lips, trembling. He was just about to call out to her when a small, curious warble came from behind him.

He whipped around to see a large, black face with bright green eyes peering at him from the darkness of the forest, foot frozen in midair as if asking for permission to step out.

"Toothless!" He exclaimed. "You're supposed to be back at the Village!"

The Night Fury cooed in concern. "I need you to get some rest for the next few days. You've been working hard lately."

He cocked his head sideways like he didn't understand.

"Oh, don't give me that face," Hiccup whispered snappily, rolling his eyes. "You know what I said. Come on, we need to get back, soon. I don't want to risk anyone seeing you out here, or me, for that matter. And Syl…"

He glanced back again at the house just in time to see her swing herself into the tiny gap, and disappear from the rest of the world.

He sighed, shaking his head in disbelief. "Well... I guess we'll find her later. I hope so, anyway. Who knows? Maybe she'll even have the book."

As they started back down into the forest together, Hiccup thought of something.

"Hey, bud?" The Night Fury turned to him, wide eyes eager and intrigued.

"Don't tell Astrid about all this yet, okay? You… Well, you know how she is."

The dragon purred in agreement, and Hiccup smiled.

Syl grinned to herself as she swung into the top of the house, the struts holding the roof together creaking slightly under her weight. But it didn't alarm her in the slightest - this was something she was more than used to. It wasn't the warm air in the rafters, nor the bird's-eye view of the entire that made her so relaxed, she knew - there, she was in her element, her home. It had taken her years to practice entering people's houses like that. It started as a mere curiosity of how far she could push and challenge herself, around the same time she started stealing food when her mother couldn't provide enough to keep her fed, or be bothered to care, anyway.

Indeed, she was more at home perched on those beams than she had been anywhere else on Berk - or in her own far-away house, for that matter.

She tiptoed along the central beam, staring down over each side at the dimly-lit room below. Part of the house was obscured from view, due to a back room with a proper ceiling that served as a small loft above it. On the walls above and around the door were several round paintings on shields of some sort of creatures she couldn't make out until she moved closer and realized they were women. But for all the strange details she observed in the house, there was one thing she couldn't see - the book.

She wasn't sure what she was looking for, anyway. For all she knew, it could just be a plain, bland old book like the rest of them were - she hadn't seen it herself, though in her head she had imagined it as having some sort of obvious significance - maybe it would glow, or twinkle, smoke would come out of it every few seconds. She didn't know, but given the way everyone else seemed to be treating it, she figured it was at least somewhat recognizable.

For a moment, she considered leaving - she wasn't really willing to risk getting caught down there, not when she didn't even know where the book was, or had a plan of escape.

Maybe Hiccup had been right in trying to stop me… She frowned. Maybe he was right. I've never been here. I don't know any of these people. Hell, I don't even know what I'm looking for!

She turned, starting for the hatch she had come through, until…

No.

No, she wouldn't just leave. She wasn't being truthful to herself - Hiccup hadn't wanted her to go in there, that was obvious enough, but he hadn't tried to stop her, either. That could only be for one reason - he believed in her. For some reason that even she couldn't understand, the stupid boy trusted her, enough to let her sneak into the house of one of his worst enemies on the island to steal a book they weren't even sure was there. Because he thought she could do it. Because she could do it.

Because she would do it.

Determined, she inhaled as deeply as she could, then slowly let out her breath. She would not come back empty-handed. It would be a blow to her reputation and ego, and she owed it to Hiccup for letting her do as much as she had, reluctant as she was to admit it. On top of that… Giving up was what her mother always expected her to do. What the Village she had grown up in had always expected from her - to give up, if not never give an effort on anything in the first place. Her brother was the only one before Hiccup to ever believe in her, to encourage her. It was time to prove the rest of them wrong. For Hiccup... And her brother.

That was when she heard muffled voices from outside the door. Rather than freeze up, she simply receded a bit further into the shadows - though it was unlikely they were going to look up, the light from below still put her at more risk than she would have liked. Aside from that, there was still no way she was leaving - she was perfectly well hidden as it was, and whoever was out there could help her to identify where the book was. Most people tended to be quite relaxed and open when in the comfort of their own homes, something she had learned when she was much younger.

After a minute of listening, she was able to identify two distinct voices from just beyond the door, neither of which she could make out any words from. One was as Hiccup and Astrid had described - craggy and gnarled, like an old tree that should have died off in a storm years ago. The other, however, was much deeper, yet somehow almost familiar. She wondered who it was.

It seemed odd that there were two, to begin with, as well. This "Mildew" character seemed to be pretty solitary, and given his openly unpopular opinion on the island, it didn't seem like he was the kind of person to entertain a lot of visitors. But that wasn't what she was there to worry about, and so she dropped it.

All of a sudden, the voices stopped, and the silence that followed was interrupted by the sound of a lock turning, before the door swung open, letting the last of the sun's light for that day seep in around two silhouettes standing in the doorway. She couldn't make out either of them - the middle board was blocking most of her view, and she didn't dare step any farther forward than she already was.

The conversation seemed to continue, then, as Mildew said, "You're sure your boat was hidden?"

This was followed by silence, but Syl assumed the other must have nodded, as he continued, "And you're here alone? Nobody else? You weren't followed?"

This was preceded by yet another silence, but Mildew continued, "Very well. I suppose you'll be wanting what we agreed upon?"

A grunt came in reply.

"Well, then. The gold?" There was the soft clinking of metal, and Syl realized an exchange of some kind was taking place. A boat? An agreement? Gold? It didn't make any sense. Mildew had stolen the book to frame Hiccup, hadn't he? Was he trying to get rid of the evidence? If so, it made sense to get a little gold from it while he was at it, but why did the person he was selling it to need to a boat to get there?

A shadow danced on the wall, and wood squealed under crooked footsteps as Mildew disappeared into the back room. She heard a few more, much heavier footfalls in the front room, as the second party moved around, no doubt observing the strange pictures on the shields that had surprised her earlier.

After what seemed to be quite a bit of rummaging around in the back room, accompanied by a fair share of clatters and objects hitting the floor, Mildew walked back out into the main room, mumbling something or other to himself.

"... A handful of gold. Don't care if he had to paddle halfway across the sea for this." He raised his voice, talking directly to the other person then. "You hear me? I had to go through a lot of trouble to get this too, y'know! Funniest thing - the damned boy's dragon's sick, and he went askin' his father for this book the night you sent word of wanting it! Now, when his father get's back, he'll probably think he's the one that stole it! Isn't that a story to tell? Ha!"

This was met with silence.

"Very well, then. Here it is - The Compendium. Handed down to Berk's Chieftains since they settled here. Nasty old bugger, this. Dangerous things are written in here, dangerous things I'd rather not be involved with. But if you really think it'll help your cause… Just remember, when the day comes, I'm the one that got this for you. Don't forget that."

It was at this point that Syl's curiosity was nearly overwhelming. She had to know who this was. Something was just there, in her mind, trying to tell her, to warn her that she should be very concerned about who this was, about whatever was happening in that house. And getting the book now involved whoever this was, too.

Ever so slowly, she crept forward, just a little bit further, further, further. If she just peaked around the beam, they wouldn't see her. She would only need a glimpse - for some reason, she got the feeling that she knew this person, and the feeling to see who they were was even more overwhelming.

Just a little bit further… And I'll be able to see…

"'Here you go. 'Bout time we get rid of those blasted dragons. I only wish this wasn't what it took, but Stoick isn't willing to listen to reason, and probably never will be again. He was a good man once - a good Chief. Spare him after they lose, will you? I have some words for 'im, and his bloody, dragon-obsessed son, as well."

Syl didn't hear any of what he said. Because she had seen who it was. She had seen who it was, and she wished she hadn't.

It was him.

The man who had ruined her life.

The one whose name she cursed with every breath she took.

The man who had betrayed her,

The old, fat drunk who didn't give a damn about anyone's life but his own,

who had left her on that godforsaken island to rot and die, by her own mother's orders.

It was Bjarke.