“No… Not you, too.” His voice is but a pained whisper.
Margo looks away hoping he will disappear back into the Real World. He cannot, cannot, cannot be locked away here, too.
“You know her?” Janie gasps, backing away.
It isn’t real. It isn’t real. He can’t be...
“Another mystery with this one…” Nick mumbles.
Margo looks down at her dusty feet. She doesn’t dare take her eyes off the ground, even when she notices his feet approaching. But when Cameron grabs her outstretched hand and pulls her toward him, Margo steals a second glance at the boy she admittedly might love, and she is certain he is indeed real. He is much older than the boy she had last seen two summers ago, tanner, with more wisdom in his eyes. Still strong and still perfect. His face wrinkles in pain as he takes her in his embrace, and then she can no longer see anything as she crumples into his chest. A pair of heavy arms encircle her, locking her within their grasp. It takes all of her effort not to weep.
He touches his forehead to hers and breathes in the scent of her hair. “I just can’t believe it’s you…here.”
Perhaps it isn’t a bad thing that he’s here. Perhaps she deserved a moment of selfishness.
Margo isn’t sure how long he has held her, but it is not long enough. Eventually, Cameron pulls away and kisses her on the cheek. Her skin darkens beneath his lips. “I’m happy to see you. I just wish it were under different circumstances.”
Margo nods in agreement. The moment is bittersweet.
Nick clears his throat rather loudly, interrupting their reunion. “We should probably take this inside.” He points to his inner arm to remind her of the need to remain inconspicuous. The crowds shuffling around have yet to take notice of them, but Margo would rather not take any chances. The four make their way inside, Cameron with his arm tightly around Margo’s shoulder as if the reassure she is truly there.
The animal — or shika as Nick had called it — bounces playfully as they pass by, startling Margo. Nick grabs the reins around its neck and ties them to the column of his porch, which Margo finds foolish since an animal of such mass could easily tear trough such flimsy wood. She keeps her mouth shut, though.
“So you two know each other?” Janie asks once they are in the safety of the house and sitting side by side on the living room bench. Janie and Nick settle into a pair of chairs opposite them.
The moment is surreal and Margo struggles to find words. From waking in fear of never seeing his face again to sitting with his arm around her is quite the turn of events.
“It’s a long story, but yes. Pretty well, actually.” Cameron smiles down at her, the butterflies erupting from within.
“You see,” Margo tries explaining. “My family lives in a cottage on his grandparents’ farm, and every summer he comes to visit…” She loses her train of thought when everything seems to come into perspective. Margo looks up at him at this realization. The look on his face shows that he must be thinking the same thing. Margo cannot believe how selfish she was to think that he hadn’t visited because he didn’t want to. She made up so many reasons as to why he didn’t show up last summer, and all of them seemed to revolve around her in some way.
Was he really stuck here this whole time?
It’s been over a year since she’s seen him last. And every time she asked his grandparents about him, they acted upset. Now it all makes sense. They probably were upset because he was missing, and it was too much for them to talk about. Or maybe they thought he’d simply run away and were ashamed of him. Or of his parents for not looking after him. Margo can never be sure, but she is happy to have him there with her now — even if not for long. She knows she must soon leave him again, but just seeing his face gives her more confidence and possibly even hope.
“Margo and I hung out in the summertime. And it was always perfect,” he says still looking at her as he speaks. She takes in the new details of his face. He must be seventeen by now. Gorgeous is no longer a strong enough word for the boy sitting next to her.
His eyes fall to her arms, and his face loses color. “You told me the shika was for the New Mark, but you didn’t tell me it was Margo.”
Nick answers quickly. “We were getting to that. I felt no need to tell you, as I would have never guessed you knew her. It’s very rare to find two people that knew each other in the Real World to cross paths in Jamyria.”
Cameron assesses his words, but the look on his face says that he’s still troubled. He pulls Margo’s elbows outward to view her marks. She watches as his eyes follow the lines of them, searching out every detail.
“This is a lot of power, Margo.” He sounds impressed.
“That’s what I’ve heard,” she responds lightly, a little surprised that he knows more of this than she does. She follows his busy eyes a little longer and then asks, “Cameron, how long have you been here?”
“Since November of last year,” he says conversationally.
Margo quickly does the math. “Ten months?”
“Yeah,” he says chuckling a little. “I guess so… How about you?”
“Since yesterday.”
His eyes meet hers again, full of anger now. “Yesterday?” he barks. He turns to Nick. “And you already got a shika for her? She’s been in here for one day, and you’re ready to ship her off? You can’t do that! She doesn’t even know what she’s up against!”
Nick raises his hands defensively, but it is Janie who speaks up. “She’s too young,” she says softly. “And she’s so…small.” Her eyes meet Margo’s apologetically.
“That Mark seems to think otherwise,” Nick answers sharply, stabbing a finger in Margo’s direction.
“The Mark can’t think, Nick! It doesn’t decide when to come out. It just does!”
“It wouldn’t have revealed itself had she not been strong enough,” says Nick. “It knows she is capable of handling its power.”
“I can do this,” says Margo confidently. “I’m sure of it.”
All three faces turn toward her. She tries keeping her face as cool as possible, no matter how numb her legs grow.
“Margo, I know you,” says Cameron. “Headstrong, confident when there’s a challenge. But this… This is completely different.”
“What choice do I have? It’s either me or no one for the next fifty years. So I have to at least try.”
He can only stare at Margo for a moment with his mouth hung. “What choice do you have? You can say ‘no.’ It’s that simple. That’s what choice you have,” he spits. “But…I already know that’s not going to happen.”
He is quiet for a minute, pinching the bridge of his nose, as he thinks it over. Margo says nothing. She’s already made up her mind and refuses to hear any negatives now. It wouldn’t be fair for him to try to talk her out of it at this point, and she can see on his face that he knows that.
Suddenly Cameron laughs darkly to himself. “This world sure is fickle, eh, Nick?”
“Indeed…” he replies.
Margo looks between the two of them unsure of what to make of their remarks. Janie seems indifferent. It is like, once again, they are part of an inside joke that she is unaware of.
Cameron drops his hand. “At least I am now certain… This is what I’m meant to do.”
“It is as if fate arranged this.” Nick smiles oddly in Margo’s direction.
“What are you two talking about?” she finally blurts.
“I’m going with you,” Cameron says matter-of-factly. “That’s why I came here to begin with.”
Margo’s heart stops. She shakes her head at him. “If they catch you with me, they’ll —”
“Kill me. Margo, I know the consequences. I’ve been here much longer than you,” he says grabbing her shoulders. He looks deep into her eyes and says, “I’m not going to let you go out there alone. I can be stubborn, too, you know?”
Margo warms.
Janie’s face is just as bright as ever. “He’ll take good care of
you, Margo. I feel better about this already.”
“So do I,” says Nick, his lips pulling into a crinkly smile. “We trust you, son. Guide her.”
Suddenly, relief warms Margo as she realizes that she won’t be alone. She would never have guessed that something good could come from this place, but something has. And now she has motivation knowing that she will not only free the people of this world, but she will free Cameron, too.
But there is a part of her that is now much more afraid of what will happen if she fails. And failure now will be much worse since there is more to lose.
Chapter Eight: The Penny Challenge
So much had happened within the past twenty-four hours that Margo hadn’t realize how badly she needed a break from the chaos. Losing her life back home was tragic but finding a missing piece of that life in Jamyria seems to level the scale some. She and Cameron trade stories of their past summers together, laughing at the fun memories and blushing over the embarrassing ones, almost as if they never lost their time together this last year. As if, for the first time in a long time, her life is normal. Although Margo thinks it unusual to find ‘normal’ in a different world.
When their conversation eventually fades into quiet laughter, Nick rises to stand at the head of the room. With a sudden clearing of his throat, he demands their attention. Margo leans in, understanding the importance of his next words; they’ve yet to discuss the task at hand.
“Margo, before we get into the details of your job here in Jamyria, we must go over the basic use of your power.”
The abrupt change in the conversation’s direction catches her off guard. Since her arrival she’s been told of the power she possesses dozens of times, though she hadn’t thought about using it. She assumed it was more for show or a status symbol.
She nods slowly in acceptance.
“Now,” he continues, “I want you to pay close attention to what I’m doing. And do not be alarmed.”
No other introduction is necessary. Nick holds out his marked hand palm side up and closes his eyes. Face strained and wrinkles tightening around his eyes, he channels his every thought and action into whatever it is he’s doing. Suddenly slivers of light flare up along the edges of the marks on his hand. Beams of white burst from every detail, filling the room with soft rays. The light separates itself from his hand, collecting midair and taking the form of tiny illuminated orbs above the center of his palm. It only lasts a few blinding seconds, and then the light disappears. In its place is a shiny penny, which he pinches between his fingers and hands to Margo.
“How did you do that?” she breathes, turning it over in her hands. There are no flaws. A perfect replica.
“Pretty cool, huh?” Cameron asks as he elbows her.
She nods still looking the coin over. Now that she sees what this power can do, it is a much greater gift than she had imagined. She wonders what its limits are….
“Once you’ve gotten the feel of your power, you shouldn’t have any problem with this,” says Nick. “It’s quite simple, actually. And after you’ve learned the basics, you can move onto more difficult things.”
“It’s like a magic trick,” she muses. “Like pulling a coin out of thin air, only it uses actual magic.” Margo smiles and looks away from the penny for the first time. “Can you show me more?”
There is a slight drop in Nick’s face when he replies. “I lost a lot of my power a while back. It takes a lot out of me to do even the little things now.”
“Oh, right…” Margo feels ashamed for even asking. Janie shuffles her feet uncomfortably.
“Do you think you’re ready to try?” asks Nick.
“I just don’t know if I understand what you did,” she admits. Though he showed her firsthand, he hadn’t explained much.
“Well, it may look simple,” which it didn’t, “and it is once you’ve got it down, but it takes a lot of concentration in the beginning. Now hold your hand out like this.”
He flattens Margo’s palm like his was a moment ago.
“It’ll work even though my power isn’t in my palm?”
“Yes, it makes no difference where your mark is. The power runs through your nervous system, if you want to get technical. Basically, it pulls from your marks but can be sent anywhere in your body. Your hand is just a…comfortable place to create from.”
“Nervous system? So, if I’m following you, it’s connected to my brain?”
He smiles. “Everything your body does is signaled by your brain, my dear. But, yes, the power is controlled directly from your brain and runs through your entire nervous system where it then escapes your body through your pores. With that, you can do or create anything imaginable. And much more…”
Margo looks nervously at her markings knowing that if she pulls this off they would be lit up as his were.
“Now stand up, close your eyes,” Nick says. Margo obeys reluctantly. He speaks in a slow, soothing voice to coax her through the training. “First, concentrate on every detail of the penny — every curve, line, shape, color, every word on that penny.” He pauses to let her focus. “Have you got it?”
She nods doing as he said.
“Good. Here comes the tricky part. Begin to search within yourself for something…different. Feel out the different senses in your body until you find something new.”
Even though it sounds bizarre, Margo attempts to do as she’s told. Straining nearly everything inside of her, she searches for this mysterious ‘sense.’ She sorts through different actions connected to her brain — lungs with breath, skin with touch, tongue with taste — until she surprisingly does come upon something strange.
There is a definite churning motion inside her that she has never recognized before — a faint sensation much like the static when folding freshly dried laundry. It is coming from somewhere within her. She searches out the prime location of this charge and its function. It forms at the back of her neck.
Margo smiles.
“Ah,” says Nick. “You’ve located it.” He doesn’t have to ask to know. “Now, focus on this new ‘muscle’ and work on stretching it toward your hand.”
These instructions to Cameron and Janie must seem foreign, but they remain silent all the same. Margo wishes to see Cameron’s face, but she doesn’t dare peek.
She feels this energy out and works on growing it inside her, pulling it downward, downward… Stretching it down toward her awaiting palm and feeling it overcome all ordinary senses. It floods every inch of her arm like a warm, electric liquid until it reaches her fingertips.
A sudden surge of energy pumps down Margo’s arm causing her to jolt backwards.
“Whoa…” She opens her eyes. Her head is spinning as she regains focus on the room around her. Her arm is filled with sharp prickles. “I definitely felt something…”
Margo looks down at her hand only to find it empty.
“You felt it?” asks Nick.
“Yeah, but I must’ve —”
“You lost your focus,” he snaps. The harshness of his voice takes Margo aback.
“I didn’t mean to, but when the —”
“Again,” he barks.
“Nick Thomas!” Janie fusses. “Let her take her time if —”
“I said ‘again!’”
She immediately shuts her eyes and holds her hand out, afraid to disobey. Margo focuses on the energy in her neck again guiding it down her arms much quicker this time, perhaps out of fear of making another mistake. The stream of liquid static runs to her fingers until, this time, it began to seep through the layers of her skin. It flows out of her body completely and disappears into the air. She could hear Cameron gasp.
She’s certain it worked this time since she can no longer feel it in her arm. But when she looks down, she is disappointed.
“I felt it, I swear!”
But before she can explain further, Nick barks, “Again!”
“But I —”
“Again!”
Margo turns to Camero
n who is sitting still with his face hard and arms crossed while Janie says, “Nick, you’re being too hard on her. You can’t expect her to be able to get it on her first try.”
Nick opens his mouth, but Margo cuts him off. “I really am trying, Nick.”
“Trying isn’t good enough!”
“But you said it would be hard!”
“You are the one sent to us to do great things!” he shouts. “You should be able to do a simple coin creation.”
“How do you expect me to learn from my mistakes if you don’t tell me what I’m doing wrong?”
“YOU’RE NOT FOCUSING ON YOUR TARGET!” he belts. “The penny.” His breathing is heavy as he paces the floor. His expression darkens.
“Nick…” Cameron warns.
Margo is on the verge of tears now. Had they not been telling her it would be difficult to learn this? Is she really failing so?
Her embarrassment turns into anger as she shuts her eyes, tears nearly spilling over. She holds out her hand pulling everything from her mark into the center of her palm while focusing on the penny she is to create. This time Margo pictures the round piece of copper resting in her hand. The electricity intensifies until it disappears through the pores of her palm. As soon as the liquid feeling dissolve, Margo feels a small amount of weight drop into her hand.
She holds her breath as she opens her eyes but finds a round ball of raw copper resting in her hand.
“Dang it,” she mutters, even more embarrassed now.
“Bravo, Margo!” Nick praises. His face is lit up now.
Margo looks up at him dumbfounded by his change in attitude. Cameron stands up and pats her on the back.
“He was just trying to stir up some anger,” he tells her.
“What?” Margo gasps.
Nick and Janie laugh, and now she understands. Everyone played their part in the act.
“Don’t take offense, now,” says Nick, holding his hands up defensively. “The power is not always driven by will but by emotion.”
“So you decided it’d be alright to stir up some emotion?” Margo asks, a little irritated.
The three of them stand there with sheepish expressions.
Jamyria: The Entering (The Jamyria Series Book 1) Page 9
