The Immortal Mark

by Amy Sparling

  “It’s my fault,” Theo says. “I, um…requested that she take a walk with me.”

  “I see,” Riley coos, giving me flirty eyes. If this were any other time and any other moment, I’d give them right back to her. I’d be eager to rehash the entire night with her once it was over. Now, I can’t think of a single thing to say.

  “Hey man,” Theo says, nodding toward Kyle who’s been hanging out with Riley this whole time.

  “I see you met Cara,” Kyle says, seeming genuinely kind about my obvious attraction to Theo and not crass like Russel had been. “Did you take a tour of the gardens?”

  “Something like that,” Theo says. His smile is a little crooked. We are losing this battle of pretending like nothing is wrong.

  Every few seconds my brain screams you are going to die in my head. I no longer have the energy to tell it to shut up.

  “We’re thinking of going to get some ice cream,” Theo says. “Will you let the guys know we’ll be back in an hour?”

  “Sure thing.” Kyle doesn’t suspect a thing. Riley winks at me as we walk by and I do my best to smile back at her like this is all fine. This stupid smile is the biggest lie I’ve ever told.

  In the garage, Theo heads toward a dark gray Jeep Wrangler. It’s the only vehicle in here that’s not some expensive sports car. He holds open my door for me and I climb inside.

  “I know it’s not the time to say this, but you look unbelievably sexy tonight.”

  I stare at the dash. “Yeah it’s not the right time for that.”

  Once we’re a few miles from the house, Theo’s thumb taps the steering wheel. “Listen, Cara.” He sighs and then takes a deep breath.

  I look over at him. Normally when someone says something like that, they say more than just that. He pulls to a stop at a red light and looks over at me.

  “Okay so, don’t get your hopes up but…most of today’s immortals don’t really know much about how the lapis stone came to be. We join a clan, we learn how to stay alive, and that’s all we do.”

  “What does this have to do with me?” I say, leaning back in my seat.

  “It means I’m going to the ancient archives and I’m going to find a way to save you.”

  Chills prickle over my whole body. It’s as if I fell off a skyscraper and suddenly someone caught me before I hit the ground. “I can be saved?” I say, my voice cracking.

  “I said don’t get your hopes up,” he says, focusing on the road. “It might be possible. I remember a long time ago, I’d met this man from Greece who was five hundred years old. He’d had a wife who died during childbirth. It was such a long time ago, but I seem to remember him telling me the story of how they first met, and if I’m remembering correctly, she was his life blood for a time. Like…” he squints like he’s trying to remember. “I’m pretty sure that’s how the story went. So that would mean he had a way to cut off the stone’s powers and save her from dying as a life blood.”

  Hope surges through my veins. “Do you still talk to him?”

  Theo shakes his head. “He killed himself.”

  “I thought you were immortal?”

  “Immortal is not the same as invincible, I’m afraid. We die almost as easily as you do.” Theo exits onto a darkened back road with a rickety wooden fence lining each side. “But if there’s a way, what I’m telling you Cara, is that I’m going to find it.”

  Tears spring to my eyes and I reach over and grab his hand. “Thank you.”

  He flashes me a smile. “We have about two years. That’s enough time to scour the planet for the information I need.”

  I breathe a sigh of relief that takes the last hour of pain right out of me. “I sure hope so.”

  “Do you want ice cream?” he asks. “We might as well do something while we’re out here.”

  I shake my head. “Let’s just drive. I’m not done asking questions.”

  He steers with one hand and holds onto my hand with the other. “Anything.”

  A million questions come to me at once. “Where do you get your power from?”

  He hesitates a second. “Terminally ill people. Drug addicts. People on death row.”

  “So you’re like a mercy-killing-killer?”

  He frowns. “I suppose.”

  “Do the people know you’re killing them when you do it?”

  He nods slowly, his eyes still on the road. “I make a deal with them. I offer them something they want more than life and in exchange they wear the band.” He lifts his shoulders. “Most of my donors are men, so I had the lapis stone set into a leather men’s bracelet instead of the silver ones you have.”

  “What do you offer them?” I ask. It’s hard not to blurt out all my questions at once.

  “The man wearing my stone right now has stage four colon cancer. I offered to fund his two daughter’s college savings accounts. He didn’t even hesitate to take the deal.”

  “Does it make him die faster?” I say.

  “Yes.”

  I look out the window, watching the fields roll by. There’s mostly nothing out here, but occasionally the scenery will be dotted with a cow or a house. “That seems like you’d have to get new donors more frequently.”

  “I do,” he says, frowning. “Usually once a month. But unlike the others in the Rosewood clan, I can’t justify the death of a healthy innocent person, even if it means going two years without finding a new donor.”

  “You’re a good man,” I say.

  He smiles sadly, his eyes meeting mine. “Not good enough.”

  I tilt my head and watch his thumb as it slides across my palm. “You mentioned other clans… what’s the deal with that?”

  “It would take longer than a car ride to tell you the history of the three clans. I was made immortal in 1920, during the great depression. I was a member of the Embrook clan for all of that time, up until a month ago when I joined Rosewater.”

  “So…what do these clans do?”

  “Mostly they stick together. You can’t develop long lasting relationships when you never age. There’s no getting married and having kids and living in suburbia until you retire. Clans stick together and travel around the world, never staying one place for very long. As with any group of people, there are disagreements between the clans. Some are more reasonable people than others.”

  “And what is Rosewater?” I ask. “Are we good or bad?”

  He looks at me, his face covered in shadows. “I’m not sure yet.”

  * * *

  After driving for an hour, I decide to stop the inquisition. There’s clearly a lot to learn about this new type of person, and I won’t learn it all over night.

  Theo and I switch to other topics, like music and food and travelling, and for a little while, it almost feels like we’re on a real date. A normal date.

  Ever since Theo revealed that there’s a way to change me from a human battery to a normal persona again, my anxiety has lowered tremendously. I no longer feel like I’m choking, and I can enjoy this alone time with the guy who’s occupied so much of my thoughts lately. Now the only weird thing is that I’m sitting here with someone who should be a wrinkly old man. It’s a little unusual.

  When we arrive home, a few of the sports cars are gone from the garage and the party outside is over. Theo parks back in his spot and leaves the engine running. He cranks the radio until it’s so loud it’s annoying, and then he leans over to me.

  “I might be in love with you,” he whispers against my ear, the warmth of his breath sending a shiver of delight down my neck.

  I can’t help the goofy smile I get. “You should be thinking about other things than that.”

  He takes my hands and then presses his forehead to the side of my face. He exhales slowly, then whispers into my ear again. “I will find a way to save you.”

  “Save me first,” I whisper back. “And then you can fall in love with me.”

  Chapter 28

  When I wake up the next morning, I know something is off
before I even open my eyes. My bed sheets are as soft as a rose petal. This is not the ratty comforter I slept on in Uncle Will’s house. The room doesn’t smell like old furniture and dirty carpet either. It smells like a five star hotel. Like clean linens and soft vanilla.

  I stretch and breathe in deeply, finally remembering where I am. And then I remember the bracelet, light as a feather on my arm, and sparkling as if the sun is shining on it at all times.

  How can something so beautiful be so evil?

  Laying on my side, I shove my arm under my pillow so I don’t have to look at it. And then I hear it; the distinct sound of someone softly breathing next to me.

  Someone is in my bed.

  I freeze. Memories of last night come back to me. After Theo had revealed his horrifying secret and we drove around and talked, we came back home. He walked me to my room and we said our goodbyes. His kiss was soft and affectionate, and part of me had wanted to bring him inside and spend hours sitting on my bed with him, asking more questions and just enjoying being around him.

  But the other part of me was sick to my stomach over my impending demise. The whole idea that immortal people exist is really hard to wrap my head around. So, I’d said goodbye to Theo and went alone into my room, even though the very act of leaving him made my chest ache. But thanks to that ache, I remember, very clearly, that he didn’t come inside with me.

  So why is someone sleeping next to me?

  Carefully, I turn over, hoping that I won’t wake up…Riley?

  I sigh and sit up in bed. My best friend is sleeping next to me, the covers pulled up to her chin. Her makeup from last night is washed off, her hair hanging wildly around her pillow.

  My eyes drift to her bracelet that’s halfway peeking out of the comforter. My stomach hurts. Riley’s life is slowly being siphoned away too. We are both in the same sinking ship and I can’t tell her about it.

  I’d promised Theo I’d keep the secret no matter what, but as I sit here and stare at my best friend, the girl who’s always been there for me and has never lied to me, I don’t know if I can do this. Keeping it a secret would be the biggest betrayal ever.

  Maybe I can wait until Theo finds a cure for us and then I’ll tell her. It’s not like I’m lying to hurt her, I’ll be lying to protect her so she never has to feel the sheer terror I felt last night when Theo told me about the clan and what they’re doing to us. I shiver just thinking about it. Then my mind wanders into worse territory.

  What if I hadn’t met Theo and totally fallen for him? What if Riley and I had accepted this job and then been doomed to a death we didn’t see coming? My heart aches as I watch my best friend sleeping.

  If Theo can’t fix us, we would have been better on the streets.

  It’s still early morning, so I lie awake for another hour, watching the rising sun through my wall of windows. In the distance, the lake shimmers a deep blue color and speedboats zoom around on the water. Those people are living their normal lives, enjoying a warm summer day on the lake. Their biggest worry right now is probably what they’ll have for lunch, or if they have enough gas in the boat to go for one more loop around the water.

  Riley’s soft breathing hitches, and then she yawns and stretches. I roll over, propping my head on my palm.

  “Good morning,” I say sarcastically. “Did you sleep well?”

  She grins at me, then yawns again and stretches her arms over her head. “I certainly did.”

  “You do know we’re in a mansion, right?” I say, lifting an eyebrow.

  “Yep.”

  “And you do know you have your own bedroom?”

  “Yes, I do know that.”

  I give her a look. “And you have your own bed in that bedroom?”

  She rolls her eyes. “I couldn’t sleep all by myself. The bed was too big and too comfortable and everything was too quiet. There’s no sounds of people snoring or girls bitching at each other here. The group home was so noisy all the time.” She sits up on her elbows and pouts at me.

  I throw a pillow at her. “Just let me know if you’re going to sneak into my room next time, okay? You almost gave me a heart attack when I realized someone was in my bed.”

  Riley’s lips curl into a smirk. “If I let you know beforehand, then it’s not really sneaking, Cara.”

  I throw my other pillow at her.

  * * *

  After a video call to Bethany to inquire about breakfast, she tells us that we can eat in the main kitchen or just have food brought up. Riley wants to order food to our room because it’s fancy and chic, and I agree with her but only because I don’t feel like seeing anyone right now. I may not be friends with the other girls in the house, but I can’t look them in the eyes now that I know what I know.

  I’m starving, but I have to eat slowly because of all the crap I’m dealing with right now. Riley and I eat breakfast and then spend some time playing on the laptop in my room, looking for clothes and accessories to order since the other girls have already ordered a ton of stuff to be paid for out of the clan’s massive pockets.

  Riley has a blast. She’s excited and smiling and doing little happy dances when she finds some cute new clothes and combat boots to order online. She has a long list of things to buy and her enthusiasm grows stronger with each new website she visits.

  I’m doing my best to pretend like I’m also excited. I’d promised Theo and myself that I’d keep this secret from everyone, including Riley. I toy with this secret for hours, going on into the day. After we eat lunch—also delivered to our room—I still can’t shake these thoughts.

  Should I tell Riley?

  Should I keep my promise to Theo?

  Girl Code says I should tell Riley anything I know that she doesn’t, regardless of what I’ve promised to a guy. But Girl Code was invented for juicy gossip and embarrassing secrets. I am pretty sure that when humanity decided that girls should treat their best friend with total and complete honesty, they had no idea that immortality existed.

  Plus, even if I were to tell her, I couldn’t do it here where the walls are listening.

  “Oh my God,” Riley says, her eyes lighting up with the glow of the computer screen. “You would look so hot in this outfit. Look how cute it is!”

  She spins the laptop around, showing me a fashion model dressed in some designer cut off jean shorts and a black button up shirt with a golden elephant printed across the front.

  I nod absentmindedly because I’m having a really hard time focusing.

  “Should I order it for you?” Riley asks.

  “Sure.”

  “Cool.” She taps on the keyboard, copy and pasting the link into a document she’s going to send to Malina later.

  I’m sitting next to her on a purple ottoman by the desk and computer that came in my room, and I’m gazing out at the beautiful view, watching sailboats and jet skis out on the lake. I get so caught up in my own thoughts that I don’t realize Riley’s been talking to me until she shoves me in the arm.

  “Sorry,” I say, giving her a half smile. “That lake is just so beautiful, I can’t stop looking.”

  Riley’s smile softens. “Cara, you’re my best friend. I’m not stupid, okay? I know when you’re keeping a secret from me.”

  My blood turns cold. “You what?—I’m… I’m not.”

  She laughs. “You so are!”

  Fear grabs onto me, and I’m wondering how she knows. Did I talk in my sleep? Can she read it on my face?

  And then Riley just rolls her eyes like I’m a dork. “You’re totally obsessed with Theo now,” she says, patting me on the shoulder while she makes this little pout to embarrass me. “You’re head over heels for this guy and now it’s taking over your every thought.”

  Relief washes over me. Riley has no idea about the real secret. I try to smile. “Yeah, he’s pretty great.” But even memories of that good night kiss, of the way he said he was falling for me—none of that helps quell the fear in my stomach right now.

  There is
a very real possibility that Riley and I will die soon, and it is a secret I have to keep to myself until the very end.

  My eyes tear up and my stomach lodges itself in my throat. And then a tidal wave of fear slams into me, knocking me to my feet. I pace across the room as the horrifying reality of my situation falls over me again. Just like last night on the grass, I am consumed with panic. I can’t control it and I sure as hell can’t stop it.

  We are going to die.

  Riley calls my name, grabs my arm, but I don’t really notice it. My vision has gone blurry, my hearing is dull over the roar of a high-pitched ring in my ears. I can’t breathe. I can’t focus. I can’t think.

  The only words in my mind are playing on repeat.

  We are going to die.

  We are going to die.

  We are going to die.

  Chapter 29

  Theo calls it a panic attack. And I guess he’s right, even though I don’t want to admit it. There wasn’t anything wrong with me, not medically at least. I just freaked out so bad that I panicked until I couldn’t control it. My body couldn’t handle it, and neither could my subconscious.

  After I blacked out from hyperventilating, Riley called Theo on the tablet. It was smart thinking on her part, even though she couldn’t have possibly known it. He’s the best person to deal with me now because any other guy in the house wouldn’t have known why I was freaking out. It could have caused a lot of unnecessary attention if she’d called someone else.

  I woke up in Theo’s arms with a wet towel on my forehead. Now it’s been about an hour, and Theo hasn’t left my side.

  We’re on my bed. He sits with his back against the headboard and I’m laying diagonally across the mattress, my head in his lap while he brushes his fingers through my hair. It feels heavenly and I keep closing my eyes and focusing on breathing steady to keep my heartbeat normal. Theo’s presence keeps me grounded. The thought of him leaving right now sends another shock of panic through me.