The Marked One (The Marked Series Book 1)

by Chevoque

“I’m okay. Can you just maybe explain to me how you understand this is going to work?”

  “Of course. You see, you have done all the modules that are needed, right?” She gave a prompt nod. “But it needs to be verified and many of the researchers here will help to confirm that you are worthy of the degree. Once that happens, you’ll get your degree and be a full-time researcher here, and later, when you want to, you can even continue your studies.”

  “And Mr. Gerardo has made this happen how? I don’t think this can be very—”

  “He said you would likely protest, so let me take you on the tour and show you that we do currently have students from the University of Pittsburgh with us to do their practicals and help you get a feel for the place. See the study-degree thing as a bursary.” The desire to protest hadn’t left her yet, but it was a little exciting and she gave in for the moment to follow the man.

  After Stephen entered a code, they stepped through the first glass door, waited for a green light above the second door, and then stepped in. Past the second door, a long hallway laid a path of several labs on both sides with glass walls, which showed numerous people moving within. They were busy with things ranging from water or agar plates being studied beneath microscopes, tadpoles being counted, insects being sorted and scored for environmental water health, and even plant material being mounted for microscopic research.

  This was what she wanted most, to be a water ecologist, and right before her eyes this dream was turning into a reality. She couldn’t believe what was happening.

  “Are the studies mostly based on the rivers of the city?” she found herself asking. She watched a girl drawing a vial of blood from a euthanized frog in a container marked Sharpsburg Islands Marina.

  “Yes, that’s mostly the focus, but Dr. Ramadan’s main focus is the health and wellbeing of the animals at the zoo, which also allows the study of smaller niches within the specific enclosures. He has a team of eleven students who are on the second floor. But Professor Li, from the University of Pittsburgh, is doing a study on the air pollution and the effects on the surrounding marina environments, so basically, there are many aspects and focus points to chose from. You’ll need to decide on one eventually.”

  “This is amazing,” she said, still in awe as they passed a lab with terrariums filled with critters that gave her the heebie-jeebies. They passed all the labs and took the elevator at the end up to the third floor, which were mostly offices, apart from the last door, where they entered a cafeteria.

  It was mostly void of people, other than the older man sitting in the far back with a laptop on the table next to his odd-looking meal. As they approached, Aaliyah saw his silver-gray hair showed a few black strands. He peeked from behind his glasses to reveal bright brown eyes.

  “You must be Ms. Labuschagne. I’m Dr. Ramadan.” The man stuck out a wrinkled hand, which looked like dark brown leather. She took hold of his hand and gave it a shake.

  “While you two get acquainted, I’m off to help Maiha with the feedings,” Stephen said and left before she could say thank you for his help.

  “Take a seat, miss,” Dr. Ramadan said, and she remembered to finally let go of his hand.

  With an awkward grin, she found her seat. “Thank you so much for meeting me, but I am a little lost over what is happening. I was under the impression I’d be someone’s lab assistant, or something in the line of a fish tank cleaner.”

  He laughed full-heartedly. “That is what I am here for. Not the cleaning, the help with clearing up the confusion.” He took a bite of his food, chewed while tapping away on his laptop, and looked at her once more. “I am aware that you have all that you need to have a degree, but what we want to do for you is actually help you gain it, because once you have decided what you want to make your main study, it’ll be easier for journals to accept your work, and ultimately it would give you a name as a scientist. I’m sure you can understand that?”

  She nodded, but it didn’t answer what was causing her the most confusion.

  “Good, well, I’ll be working with you from next week to get your practical work ready, and then we’ll have Prof. Li evaluate everything the week after. Once she passes you, we’ll have an actual degree in your hands within the month. That would be followed by you deciding what you would like to study further, but that, of course, would be discussed as it does need to benefit the labs and so on.”

  “Can I just stop you there, Dr. Ramadan?” He eyed her over the frame of his glasses. “I appreciate this more than anything, but people don’t just…get these things. I don’t want to sound accusatory, but it feels like Mr. Gerardo’s liking toward me might—”

  The doctor belted out a laugh and it made Aaliyah feel her cheeks burn with confused embarrassment. He found his wits when he said, “No, don’t worry that he has any more control here than paying us. His company name just gets to be on all the papers we write.”

  “But I am getting a huge opportunity I would’ve never gotten if it weren’t for his help.”

  The doctor thought for a moment. “True, but we also wouldn’t have taken you in if we couldn’t benefit from you.” Her brows popped up, making him smile as he continued. “What I mean is that, regardless of Mr. Gerardo’s and your relationship…” she wanted to protest, but the doctor pressed on, “…we evaluated your achievements, and if it weren’t for him seeing your potential and informing us about you, a great mind would’ve been lost. You are exactly what we were looking for and it made me wonder. Why hadn’t you applied for the open lab technician position?”

  “I…I don’t have a proper degree. I never thought I’d stand a chance at such a huge research facility. After being turned away from smaller labs in the city right after I had finished university, I just thought it would be pointless.”

  “Well, I’m glad that you and Mr. Gerardo’s paths crossed, because I believe you’ll bring great things for our groups here. What are you leaning toward?” He looked excited and maybe even a little hopeful, which Aaliyah thought meant he was hoping she would want to work in his field.

  She let out a small, overwhelmed chuckle. “I am still just trying to realise this is all real, but I like water ecology very much.”

  He gave her an endearing smile. “Very well, but there is still plenty of time to get you on my side,” he joked and continued explaining more of the mystery. “This week you should explore the labs a bit, get acquainted with others, and just try out some equipment. Next week we’ll ready you for the evaluations. Then you can still decide, but I really want to have you on my team instead of Prof. Li’s. She is going to be hard on you, but secretly she wants you just as badly as the rest of us study leaders.”

  She still couldn’t comprehend how and why she could be so helpful to these people, but fully embraced it and knew she was going to give her all to make it work. “I am looking forward to this opportunity so much. I just want to start doing something.”

  “Ohhh, you should be careful with those words around here. I’ll throw you in my lab and force you to identify the ants I found in the bear enclosure of the zoo.” They both laughed, because ant identification was not for sissies. Aaliyah was ecstatically happy, so even the thought of doing that wasn’t getting her down.

  ***

  Madeline

  Madeline moved to the door after buzzing Aaliyah in. A few minutes later, a beaming Aaliyah stepped in and hugged her before moving toward the living room and falling onto a sofa with a sigh. Madeline could see her day went well, but before she wanted to hear more of it, she felt the need to confess of overstepping and breaking a promise.

  In her spare time—that time she had when she wanted to figure out what her last portraits should be and watching the paint dry on a free sketch she felt needed some colour—she went and Googled Tristano Gerardo. She was furious over what she found, and though it wasn’t as bad as she initially thought, she was sure that it would only break the confidence and joy which now illuminated Aaliyah’s sparkling demantoid eyes.
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  “Maddy?” Aaliyah said with a frown. “Did you hear a word I even said?”

  “Yeah, your day was awesome. It is basically like you’d be studying and then you’ll get a degree and work full-time,” she said, quickly recovering, taking a seat next to Aaliyah on the sofa and tugging her legs beneath her.

  “Yes, and the best thing is, Tristan couldn’t just give it to me. I still had to be approved so it makes it so much better.” Aaliyah’s smile was heart-warming and devastating at the same time. Devastating to Madeline, because there was no way she could tell her friend the truth about the man, and the heart-warming part was due to Aaliyah looking in love for the first time since they’d known each other.

  Instinct made her grab her camera off the coffee table and snap a photo of Aaliyah’s eyes. “I’ll work your special mark in.”

  Aaliyah’s wondrous eyes met hers, “Huh?” She looked at the camera. “Oh, you’re going to use a photo of me that you took now?” It bothered Aaliyah less than usual, and Madeline was inwardly smirking.

  “Yes…uhm…hope is what you have in your eyes and it is perfect.”

  Lover’s Hope, Madeline already named the look and the portrait to come from it.

  “Okay, well, I am excited and tomorrow night is still on the way.” Madeline knew that the hope Aaliyah was showing, the hope that Tristan was pure, was real, was honest, was what made her look so beautiful. She was already in love and it convinced Madeline to keep the secret that Tristan couldn’t be hers.

  She decided that it honestly wasn’t so bad. He might still be married, but according to the articles she read, the wife doesn’t want to sign the divorce papers and they had been separated for nearly a year. Madeline comforted herself in the fact that she knew Aaliyah well enough to know that she’d take time before giving herself to him completely.

  “I feel like Thai green curry and loads of bow ties!” Aaliyah cheered, breaking Madeline’s train of thought, as she found her feet and went to the bathroom.

  “Mhmm, and sweet and sour prawns.” Madeline also found her feet to grab her cell phone to call the takeaway place.

  Aaliyah peeked around the bedroom door’s corner with a washing cloth in her hands to remove her makeup. “Get some papadums as well, please!”

  “I almost forgot those.” She made the call and soon they were having an Asian feast. “I really want to go to Japan some day.”

  Aaliyah licked some of the bow tie syrup from her finger and then looked at Madeline. “Random.”

  “What? Isn’t there a place you’d really like to go?” She snapped off a piece of papadum and ate the crackly thing.

  “I wanted to come to the US, but I’m here now,” she said, thoughtful.

  “No, I mean adventure. Culture shock. New place.” Aaliyah made a face at her. “Fine, this must have been just that, but nothing or nowhere else?”

  “Not really. I’ve been here for a few years and I still haven’t been to Point State Park. I don’t care really about travelling.”

  “That hurts!” Aaliyah just shrugged, so Madeline continued. “If I ever have the money, I’m so going to Japan. I might even drag your ass with me.”

  Aaliyah weakly protested as she chomped down another bow tie, fighting the sticky treat.

  Soon, they had watched their fill of Empire and Aaliyah was yawning with sleepy eyes. “Wanna sleep over?” Madeline asked through a yawn of her own.

  Aaliyah finally finished her yawn. “I have a place. I—”

  “A place I’d rather you not go to alone so late at night. You can leave early tomorrow morning, do the walk of shame to get ready, or you can find something of mine to wear.” Aaliyah attempted to say something, but Madeline interrupted. “Please? Come on, I won’t see you until after your date, so do me the honour of sharing my bed.”

  She laughed at her. “Fine, but only because I am dead tired. You’d just have to borrow me a shirt.”

  “You can sleep naked. It is—”

  “It is not happening. You do weird things when you sleep. I don’t trust sleepy you.”

  Madeline pretended to check her out, and they both began to chuckle. She checked her watch. “So one more episode before bed?”

  Aaliyah grabbed the TV remote and eagerly got the next episode ready.

  Madeline smiled. “I’m glad you decided to stay in the US.” Aaliyah hugged her friend’s side, wordlessly agreeing, but the dead giveaway that she thought of Tristan showed in her eyes. It only caused Madeline one concern…which one of them was going to get hurt the most?

  Chapter Five

  Tristan

  Tristan couldn’t believe how long the last few days felt, as his thoughts were constantly set on the idea of seeing Aaliyah again. He would hopefully get to know her better and see if the mythical connection he felt toward her was in fact really there and not just his loneliness teasing him. He was blessed by some unexplainable force to have gotten the opportunity to actually meet The Marked One—not that the portrait was the only reason he wanted to get to know her. He knew that it meant something greater was in store for him. Since he had gotten the chance to speak to her, he was certain that he wanted to be with her, as the sweetness in her eyes drew him in like a drug.

  He walked into Gerardo Labs with a prominent smile on his face.

  “Mr. Gerardo, we weren’t expecting you.” Stephen’s tone was shrill, as he all but jumped up behind the reception desk.

  “Good day, Stephen, no problem. I’m here to see Ms. Labuschagne,” he told the man in the reception area, who looked a little distraught at the unexpected visit.

  He punched in the master code to enter the lab area, and Stephen just waved at him. Tristan walked down the long hallway and nodded a greeting in the direction of the few scientists and lab techs who looked up from what they were doing. The glass walls facing the hallway allowed him to peek into each lab as he passed by.

  In the second lab at the end, he saw Aaliyah in a white lab coat, looking like a fantasy he never knew he had, while a big, fat white rat was on the table in front of her. As he entered the first door, a soft mist slightly sterilised him, and he took a lab coat off one of the hooks to put on, while leaving his suit jacket behind. The small area was truly just to prevent the animals from escaping and if gas leaks occurred, to isolate it.

  He stepped in, and Aaliyah still hadn’t noticed him. She spoke to the very rat in front of her, “Don’t worry, buddy. I just wanted to know what condition you were in, and I’m going to take you back home with me.” She leaned closer. “I won’t let these mean people kill you or use you again.”

  “So you think we are mean?” Tristan asked. She jumped around, startled.

  “Tristan? I mean, Mr. Gerardo?” The awe on her face came with a flustered look and she sucked her full bottom lip into her mouth, as if she was fighting a fit of laughter.

  He was a little sad to find she had her face covered, but she was still beautiful. “Call me Tristan, please. And explain to me why you think we are mean.” He kept his tone all business-like and it made her visibly calm, as she realised he was teasing her. Stepping closer to her, he folded his arms across his chest in an attempt to sell that he was being serious.

  She smiled at him. “I just don’t think lab animals are always necessary…”

  “Who is that guy?” He looked at the rat, which looked like it was slowly gaining back life, as he surmised he had been under anaesthesia a while earlier.

  “First.” She placed the rat in a tiny cage, closed it up, and took off her gloves. “He is from my house.” She scrunched up her face. “Well, area. I am apparently able to do whatever I want to, because Mr. Gerar—”

  “Tristan.”

  “No,” she sternly insisted, “Because Mr. Gerardo had given me one hell of an opportunity without my knowledge.” She folded her arms over her chest, just as he had. “Isn’t that true?” Her challenging green eyes were sweet as she kept her smile playful.

  “I might have helped.” Her brows r
ose in challenge. “But that is just so you would stay on and work for Gerardo Corporations before we decide to overuse your skills.” He rounded the table to where she stood and saw her tense up for a second. She let out a stifled breath. “So he comes from your area?” he asked to keep it light, and she merely nodded. “What did you do to him?”

  “Well, rats are an issue everywhere, and this dude broke into my place, before and after it had been covered up…there was a hole in the wall.”

  Does she live in a shack? She looked worried over her words.

  “It was covered back up for a day, but then he broke in again. So since I had this ‘free to do what I pleased’ this week, I thought that maybe a check-up on him would be informative.” She became more animated as she spoke. “Turns out, he was a lab rat, escaped somehow or got lost I initially assumed, as I found a tag on him. He had to be some serious company’s, because the chip was implanted like those they put in dogs and cats at the back of the neck.” She gestured the last without realising it and when he smiled at her, her arm dropped and she held her tongue.

  “That is this here?” He looked at the thing in the petri dish, trying to help her feel more at ease.

  “Oh, and his testicles were huge.” She smiled at his immediate shock. “That’s normal, but that’s when I searched for this.” She did a twirl to where a computer stood on a table and handed him the papers. “Turns out he was a Gerardo rat. Genetically modified to help decrease the wild population, but the project failed in 2011 because some unsterilized rats accidently got released with the others, and with the enhancements, it obviously countered the goal.”

  He looked at her in wonder as he became an instantaneous sapiosexual.

  “That chip belongs to you, but I’m taking this guy out of here…even if he previously belonged to the company.” Realisation crossed her eyes. “Oh my, I forgot it was Friday. That is why you are here. We have a date. What is the time?” She made a few aimless turns.