Marked by Time (The Mark Series Book 1)

by Victoria Basnuevo

  “Very mature.”

  “Whatever.” I rolled to the side and stared up at the white ceiling, waiting for something to happen.

  We didn’t talk, we didn’t move, for the longest time. Then I heard a door slam and felt a rush of air slice into my lungs. Heavy footsteps pounded on the floor and their echo sounded in my skull. I closed my eyes tightly. I recognized those heavy footsteps. They were heavier than my mother’s, and I tensed as I remembered the dizzy pattern that used to follow them, the same one I would hear when he came home late at night. I hadn’t heard the pattern in years, and it wasn’t there this time. The steps were straight, controlled, sober, familiar, and headed in the direction of my room.

  Daris sat up and I opened my eyes. I saw brown eyes that were nearly red. I saw a dangerously confident smirk. I saw messy black hair lined with gray and pale skin. I saw the man who left years ago.

  “Happy Birthday.” He said, his gruff voice masking the harsh demeanor I knew he possessed with false happiness and expectation. I stared at him, my anger brewing silently. “Come on, sweetheart. I haven’t seen you in years and this is the welcome I get?” I stayed silent despite the desire I had to answer Daris’s inquisitive gaze and to attack this man. My control was astounding, if I do say so myself.

  “Get out.” I fingered the dagger that sat between Daris and myself. “Walk out the door like you did thirteen years ago, and crawl back into the hole you’ve been in since.” My voice, a low and deadly growl, was slowly rising. I stood up, the dagger clutched against my side. “Ever since you walked out of that door drunk off your ass, our lives have been relaxed. I am not letting you mess that up!” The room started to shake and Daris held me down. My shoulders slumped, still tense, and his grip on my shoulders loosened but his hands never left. I looked to my father whose smirk was menacing. I took a step back and stumbled, suddenly feeling dizzy, and felt Daris stiffen.

  “What’s wrong?” His voice was barely a whisper. His gaze was directed at my father and it could have killed the strongest of men, but the question he asked me was laced with nothing other than care.

  “I can answer that for you, young man,” my father said arrogantly. “My little girl just lost her temper and judging by the strength of that little tremor, I can assume you have an idea of what comes next.” My body was shaking, but it wasn’t in fear. I felt heat travel throughout by body and hone in on my upper right arm. The heat went from minor discomfort and making me sweat to a searing pain that had me screaming and clutching my arm. The dagger dropped to the ground.

  Daris knelt next to me and looked at me with more concern than I had ever seen from him. I heard the man I was forced to call a father chuckle. Daris’s arms wrapped around me and held me to his chest. Salty tears leaked from my eyes, dripped down my cheeks, and fell on his shirt. With each shriek that burst from my lips, I felt Daris wince and hold me just a bit tighter. The pain was unbearable, worse than anything I had ever felt. Daris was trying to soothe and shush me with soft whispers, but my shouts overpowered them. I only heard my screams and my father’s cruel laughter.

  Daris’s warmth vanished and I was left to huddle on the floor while I watched him yell at my father. I fought to stifle my cries to listen, but they came unwillingly and at higher volumes than ever. I had settled for watching as Daris clenched his fists and narrowed his eyes whenever my father spoke. However, he hadn’t said anything. Daris had kept his words to himself while my father said who knows what; and with every word, his blue eyes became darker to the point where there were two black voids where sapphires should be. Eventually, as everyone does, Daris snapped. He unleashed a barrage upon my father, taking away the disgusting smile that graced the man’s features. I wanted to smile, but the pain was too much. I closed my eyes as the heat slightly subsided and separated into what felt like three bands.

  Suddenly, I felt Daris grab me and start moving. I had no idea where we were going; I was just focused on the pain that was finally leaving my arm. Glancing down, I could make out a black band around my arm and the tip of another above it peeking out from my sleeve.

  “Hey! Bring back my daughter!” My father yelled and cursed as I was hauled out the window. We landed with a small thud before Daris took off running. I peeked over his shoulder and saw my father running after us, but he wouldn’t catch us. He couldn’t. At least I thought he couldn’t until a beam of green light came straight at us and hit Daris square in the back, sending both us to the ground.

  When I opened my eyes, Daris was sprawled out a few feet away, his eyes closed and his expression soft. My father was approaching me slowly, knowing I wasn’t moving anytime soon. He stopped by Daris and prodded the boy’s still body with his toe. When he didn’t move, my father reared his foot back and drove it straight into Daris’s side. Daris didn’t move and my fear spiked.

  “What a pity.” He shook his head, his arrogant smirk portraying his true emotions. He looked to me. “As for you, young lady, you are coming with me.” He reached for me and I shrunk back slightly. “Now Skyler, it isn’t polite to disobey your father.”

  “Go to hell, Dad!” I screeched, my throat sore.

  His glory fled, replaced by a look of such anger, such raw fury, that part of me wanted to listen to him out of fear. I almost considered getting up and just going with him to wherever he wanted to take me, but one look at Daris convinced me otherwise.

  “Skyler! You are coming with me right now whether you like it or not!” He reached for me again and his cold fingers wrapped around my upper right arm

  The heat came back tenfold, worse than it was before, worse than any burn I had ever gotten.

  I screamed.

  My father ignored me as I struggled to get out of his hold. He smiled and took a deep breath. “Ah. Still warm.” Something about the way he said that, the way he seemed to gain from just touching me, set me off. I yanked my arm out of his icy grip and stood. He raised an eyebrow and I raised my fists. He just laughed.

  “What?” My voice was as cold and hard as his heart.

  “You- you…” He couldn’t stop laughing and my anger increased. He took a breath. “You think you can fight me, girl?” Suddenly, he was inches from my face. He slapped me hard and I fell to the ground. “You couldn’t hurt me if your life depended on it, which it does by the way.”

  “I never said I was going to fight you to hurt you,” I said through the gasps.

  “Then what are you going to do? You’re nothing but a weak little sapling. You can’t protect anyone. Look at the situation, Skyler. You couldn’t protect yourself when I showed up. You couldn’t protect him,” he motioned to Daris, “You couldn’t protect your mother.”

  My chest felt too tight for me to still be breathing as panic quickly set in. “Where is she?”

  He smiled.

  I stepped forward and grabbed him by his collar, suddenly brave. “Where is she?” The venom dripped from my voice like it was dripping from a snake’s fangs. His dark eyes lit up and he shrugged, obviously not caring.

  “I don’t really know. I left before she stopped screaming. For someone so stubborn, she didn’t put up much of a fight.”

  That was like a knife to the chest, swift with lasting pain. I felt dizzy, like everything in life just went wrong. The discomfort in my arm was nothing compared to the shattering I felt. I looked down as I felt my eyes start to water. I felt something snap when he grinned with satisfaction at the tears in my eyes. The sudden swell of anger made me stiff and I started shaking.

  “Don’t worry, sweetheart.” He placed his hand on my shoulder, but I looked to the side. I didn’t want to look at the man. I just wanted to take the dagger strapped to Daris’s side and—

  “Now that she’s out of the way, it’ll just be the two of us,” he continued.

  I saw Daris shift slightly and my father noticed my focus shift. He moved towards Daris. “Once I take care of this, I can train you to be the most powerful of our kind.”

  My eyes snapped up
, terror blazing in them as he got closer. “No!” I lunged for the dagger and held it up between us. Daris was behind me and I heard his soft breaths. I saw my father stare at the metal that stood between us.

  “You think you know how to use that?” He chuckled.

  “I know I do. I won’t let you hurt him.” I focused and the dagger grew into a sword. I felt its power flow through my body and tangle with my anger. “You have three seconds to get out of my life forever.”

  He just smiled and I felt something tighten in my stomach. I wanted to get rid of that putrid smile and send it back to whatever hole he crawled out of.

  “That’s not going to happen, darling.” He pulled his fist back and I drove the blade forward before I realized what I was doing. He didn’t scream. He didn’t fight. He just looked at me like he knew something I didn’t, but underneath the smugness, I saw the glimmer of disappointment before it quickly disappeared with him in a puff of black smoke, like he disintegrated. However, the smile lingered, a taunting flash of white before it was swallowed by the darkness, and I knew this was only the beginning. The smoke curled in on itself and disappeared without a trace. I sighed, allowing the metal to shrink back to its normal size before returning it to its sheath and turning my attention to Daris.

  His hair was disheveled and speckled with small clumps of dirt. His clothes were stained with grass and the back of his shirt was burned through, a bright red mark forming on his back. I tried to wake him but had no luck; he was still out cold, the only sign he was alive was the rise and fall of his back as he breathed.

  “Crap,” I muttered under my breath as I wiped my eyes. I was going to have to lug Daris back up the stairs and through the apartment. I hooked my arms around his wide chest and started the trek back, my legs threatening to buckle with every step I took. The grass crunched under my feet and gave way under Daris’s weight. “This boy better teach me levitation next,” I grumbled to myself.

  I reached the bottom of the stairs and stared at them maliciously. I sighed heavily before wiping the sweat from my brow and beginning the climb. With each step upward, it felt like I was carrying an elephant instead of an unconscious Daris. The setting sun prompted a cool breeze, but that was hardly soothing the burning sensation that flared beneath my skin. I was exhausted and drained, but I managed to drag Daris up the stairs, through the doorway, and into my room where I unceremoniously dumped him onto the bed, eliciting a small groan of discomfort. I sat on the edge, taking deep breaths to calm my body.

  The adrenaline faded, but my body was still shaking. My hands weren’t still and, no matter how hard I tried to control myself, my breaths just came faster and shorter. I didn’t even notice my tears until they dripped from my chin onto my clenched fingers. My sniffs quickly escalated to soft sobs that were soon screams of anguish. I gripped my dagger and felt my breathing slow to a more regular but still unsteady rate. The blade glowed red and I felt the anger course through me. The adrenaline returned and I wanted to fight someone, hit something, anything to get rid of the swirling emotions in my head.

  I looked at the mark on my arm, needing a distraction, and was mesmerized. The heat had imprinted itself onto my upper right arm as three individual bands of dark black fire. The edges of the curling flames were still red and slightly stung to the touch. It was because of this that my father came back, that he hurt Daris, that he killed Mom. It was because of a stupid magic tattoo I didn’t even want. And it was because of this stupid mark that my father was going to wish he just left me alone because if I ever saw him again, I would make sure he regretted everything he ever did in life down to drinking a glass of water.

  Come morning, Daris was going to train me. I was going to get started and he wasn’t going to distract me or give me anything less than proper training. I needed whatever he could teach me to make my father pay for what he did to my family. But first, Daris had to wake up. I was nervous my screams didn’t wake him, that he was so injured he didn’t stir while I was breaking down inches away.

  Now, I wanted to rest. I wanted to sleep. I wanted to eat some of my mom’s cooking. I wanted to forget that this day ever happened, that my father didn’t come back. Unfortunately, most of that wasn’t possible, so I got up and grabbed a washcloth and some water to start healing Daris. The water caused him to moan in discomfort, but the wound got cleansed. I left him on his stomach and grabbed a nearby blanket. I made a small nest-like structure in the corner nearest to the bed and fell asleep. I was sore. I was hungry. I was in desperate need of a shower. I was still crying. For now, though, I was content with curling up on the floor and letting my mind and body try to catch up from the day’s events.

  When I woke up the next morning, I first thought yesterday had just been a nightmare. I was in my bed and could smell breakfast being made. I threw the covers to the side and immediately felt the stiffness in my shoulders. Looking down, I saw my stained pants and the dirt that caked my body. My arm bore the mark that had engraved itself into my skin only hours earlier, and if I took a deep breath, I smelled the sweat that had accumulated when I was dragging Daris—Daris!

  I jumped out of the bed, ignoring the protests from my joints, and ran into the kitchen to see something that made my stomach growl. Laid out on the table was one of the biggest breakfast buffets I had ever seen. There were hash browns, eggs, waffles, muffins, toast, and several of my other breakfast favorites. It must have taken hours to make. The chef was pouring orange juice and wearing the pink apron my mom gave me when I started to take an interest in cooking.

  I leaned against the doorframe, my laughter threatening to burst from my smiling lips. Daris turned around and, instead of a giggle, a gasp made my appearance known. His shirt still had the huge hole in the back, but the burn was gone. In fact, it looked like he never even got hurt in the first place, not a bruise, scratch, or scar anywhere on his back.

  “Good morning, Blossom,” he said with a smile. How was he doing it? How was he acting like yesterday never happened, like he wasn’t dangerously injured when I went to bed last night, like everything that did happen was completely normal?

  “G-good morning,” I stammered, my thoughts bouncing between shock at his miraculous healing and my growing hunger. “What’s all this?” I asked, gesturing to the food before me.

  “Breakfast.” He handed me an empty plate and I immediately piled food on it. “Consider it a ‘thank you’ for somehow managing to drag me back here.” He smiled again, though this time, it was soft and sincere with a hint of shyness. I returned it and took a bite from my breakfast mountain. Immediately, I had to brush away the tears that were forming at the corner of my eyes. He had used Mom’s recipes.

  Daris stared at me, the confusion and helplessness swirling in his blue eyes. As much as he wanted to ask what was wrong, I was grateful when he opted for eating his own food instead of interrogating me. I finished first and just stared at my clenched fists as I tried to put my thoughts in some logical, less scattered order.

  “How are you doing after yesterday?” he asked it so calmly, and I realized random attacks must be pretty normal for him. I had to remind myself that they would now be normal for me, too.

  “I feel like I should be asking you that since you’re the one who was out cold last night,” I muttered. His shy smile came back and I looked at my fingers again, watching as they tangled and untangled themselves anxiously. I sobered and felt the tension in the room rise as I worried about how he would react to the only thought that was racing through my—.

  “What are you thinking?”

  I glanced up to meet his darkened gaze from across the small table. He was leaning forward on his elbow, his own hands tightened into fists. I took a deep breath to slow my thoughts down until only one was in front.

  “Will you train me?” I almost shouted.

  Daris blinked. “I thought I was already training you.”

  “No. Will you really train me? Will you teach me something other than how to catch myself at five
in the morning? Will you spar with me and not go easy on me? Will you seriously train me?” I sounded desperate, frantic, but all I could feel was the helplessness I had felt when Daris wouldn’t wake up last night when I was left alone to fight my father without a clue as to what I was doing when my father told me what he did to my mom.

  “I was going to work up to that.” He leaned back in his chair and watched me as he spoke. “You aren’t ready for all of that, not yet.” I heard the caution in his voice and my fists tightened again. I stood up and hit the table, the glasses almost falling over when the bang echoed in the room and my chair almost falling backward.

  “I don’t care! I need you to train me!”

  “What’s the rush? You can’t just jump into this head first. It takes time to get to that level.”

  “I’m out of time!” My voice cracked like my resolve. I’m sure my eyes were glassy and my cheeks were flushed. Daris looked panicked that I was starting to cry and could only watch as I sank back into my chair, feeling defeated. I buried my head in my arms as my shoulders began to shake. “I-I’m already out of t-time.”

  Daris moved his chair next to mine and put his hand on my back as I continued to sob. He shushed me whenever I tried to speak but didn’t do anything else aside from rubbing hesitant yet soothing circles on my back like he didn’t know how to deal with me while I was clearly shattering after yesterday’s events.

  When I was finally able to get myself under control, my tears had stopped but my shoulders still shook and my breathing was ragged and uneven. I sat up and Daris tipped my chin back so I was looking at him.

  “What happened, Sky? What happened last night?”

  “She’s gone,” I choked out. “He-he k-killed her.” Fresh tears rolled down my cheeks and Daris brushed them away with his thumbs.

  “Take a deep breath, Skyler. Who’s gone? What happened?”

  My deep breath was short and shaky.