Marked

by T. L. McDonald

  “I’m all in. I won’t leave her,” Jared says with conviction.

  “It’s your choice. But don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

  Jared is the very definition of a best friend because he would do anything for me, even if it means risking his life, which he’ll definitely be doing, but as his best friend, I can’t let him without at least attempting to convince him not to, even if my efforts are pointless. Will and I have an advantage with our abilities, but Jared, he has nothing. “Jared, I know you want to be here for me and I love you for it, but Will’s right. It’s too dangerous. I don’t think I could live with myself if something happened to you.”

  “There’s no way I’m leaving you.” His green eyes lock onto mine. “Do you think I could live if something happened to you?” He shakes his head side to side. “I’m not leaving you. So don’t bother trying to convince me otherwise.”

  “But…”

  “No.”

  “Jared…”

  “No.”

  “Fine.”

  Jared smiles getting his way while I fill up with worry and dread. He can be so stubborn sometimes, which is not something I want to deal with right now. I have enough to worry about. I don’t want to have to worry about him too.

  And why on earth is he so willing to jump right in, fully believing in all this so easily when I’m having such a hard time with it. I’m fighting tooth and nail to deny everything and he just accepts it without question. Why is that?

  A pillow hits me in the face then falls to the floor at my feet. “What the hell?”

  A smile spreads across Will’s face; the corners of his deep blue eyes crinkling with laugh lines.

  I pick up the pillow feeling its weight in my hands. “Did you just hit me with a pillow?”

  “It had to be done. I called your name like five times, but you were all zoned out.” Will watches me, bracing himself should I retaliate. And I do. I toss the pillow, but Will, (not surprisingly), is fast and he deflects it easily causing it to hit Jared in the side of the head where the corner of it catches under the brim of his hat at just the right angle to knock it off. Sailing through the air, Jared’s hat lands perfectly on Mr. Cuddles’ head, a teddy bear I’ve had since I was three.

  “Well, you don’t see that everyday,” Will laughs.

  I laugh too because, well, that was pretty funny and because half a second later Jared grabs another pillow to smack Will in the back of the head with when he’s not looking. Will stumbles forward and for a second I’m afraid that things may turn ugly between them like it did downstairs, but then Will laughs. A moment later all three of us are in a pillow fight laughing and having fun, all the heavy stuff of our conversations forgotten. In this moment we’re free. No worries. No life and death situations. No apocalyptic end of the world stuff. We’re just us and it feels great.

  “Oh, shit.” The pillow Jared is wielding rips sending feathers flying everywhere. I start to laugh harder. Who cares about some pillow? This is the most fun I’ve had in a week. We whack each other a few more times all while laughing until there’s no feathers left in Jared’s pillow.

  Out of breath we call it quits.

  I plop back down in the chair exhausted. Happy. “I can’t believe we just had a pillow fight.”

  Jared retrieves his hat from Mr. Cuddles. Putting it on backwards he grins then winks at me before sitting back down on the bed. “Sorry about your pillow.” He brushes some feathers off the comforter. “And for all the feathers everywhere.”

  I wave a hand dismissing it. “Don’t worry about it. It was fun.”

  Covering his mouth with the back of his hand, Jared smiles and yawns at the same time.

  Will fluffs up the remaining two pillows putting them back on the bed before taking a seat. Reaching over he grabs a photo of Adam and I off the nightstand. Suddenly he stands back up, his face a mix of seriousness and horror. “It can’t be. He couldn’t have…” Dropping the photo onto the bed he looks at me with such despair in his eyes it scares me. “I think I know what Sam wants you to find.”

  My stomach drops to the floor. “What?”

  “Not a what, a who.”

  “A who? So we’re looking for a person?”

  “Something like that.” He makes a beeline for my door. “I have to go. I…” He pauses at the threshold. “I’ll find you tomorrow.”

  “Okay, but…” I don’t get to finish because Will bolts down the stairs. I follow after him, but by the time I reach the bottom landing he’s gone. Great. He could’ve at least clued me in on who it is I’m supposed to find. Now I’m going to wonder about it all night.

  I lock the door then head back upstairs to find Jared sound asleep at the foot of my bed. Both his feet are still on the floor and he has one arm tucked under his head acting as pillow while the other is draped across his belly. Dark lashes rest against his cheekbones, his eyes moving back and forth. He’s dreaming.

  “Sweet dreams Jared.” I kiss him softly on the cheek before carefully climbing onto the upper part of the bed. Curling myself into a ball I run my fingers over the symbol Will carved into my headboard before closing my eyes. Here’s to hoping it works.

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  When I wake, it’s after four in the afternoon and I’m alone. Jared’s gone and everything that happened yesterday seems like some far off dream. Telekinetic powers, a quest to unlock the secrets Sam hid in my head, tales of fallen angels who possess the weak, and a weirdly timed pillow fight. That last bit brings a smile to my lips and I roll over to scoop up a handful of feathers from the floor.

  For those few minutes when the feathers were flying last night I felt like the old me: the carefree, not a worry in the world me. I want that back. It’s ironic to think that I used to wish for my life to have more excitement and adventure and now that I have it, I’d give anything for my life to go back to the simple and uneventful. But that’s not going to happen anytime soon because whether I want it to be true or not the Fallen are real, Blondie is one of them, and he wants whatever it is that Sam has hidden in his memories.

  I blow the feathers from my hands, watching as they swirl back to the floor. The symbol on my wrist shimmers in the sunlight shining through the curtains. It’s amazing how such a tiny little symbol has the power to change my whole life.

  “What do you want from me Sam? And what does it have to do with the Fallen?”

  The mark stares back taunting me. Somewhere in Sam’s memories are all the answers. I just need to figure out how to find them. I sit up letting the blankets fall to my waist. “Okay Sam, show me something.” My heart starts to pound. Blue light flares up from the symbol under my touch. The world around me melts away in a haze of colors until I’m no longer in my room. Until I’m no longer me.

  “Are you sure your dad was talking about your mom?” Her big blue eyes look up at me, doubt written on her face. She’s lying on the floor with her feet propped on the wall, one arm tucked under her head, and the other across her stomach. Her fingers tap against the exposed skin of her abdomen to the beat of the music playing on my iPod. “I like this song. You have such good taste in music Sam.”

  I blush at her compliment, my eyes drifting to her full lips. What I wouldn’t give to kiss them just once. She catches me staring and those full lips hint at a smile. I divert my eyes away pretending to be engrossed with whatever’s outside the window. I clear my head of thoughts of her reminding myself to stay focused. “Will didn’t believe me either, but I know that it was my mom my dad was talking about.”

  She rolls over onto her stomach propping herself up on her elbows. “Did he say her name?”

  “Yes.”

  “Oh.” She gets up off the floor and stands beside me. “Okay, but if what you’re saying is true then…”

  “I know,” I say. It’s one thing to think it; it’s another to hear someone say it out loud. Because when it’s said out loud it makes it real, and if it’s real, then it means everything I thought was true about my m
om isn’t.

  Sam’s world fades away as my world comes crashing back at full speed. A rush of breath forces itself from my lungs leaving them feeling useless and deflated. Gasping for air, I lean over the edge of the bed which turns out to be a mistake because it only leads to dry heaves. Thinking that water will help, I ease my feet to the floor. The room spins out of control turning my knees to Jell-O. Darkness edges around my vision spreading inward until I can’t see anymore. My arms flail outward searching for something to grab onto as I fall.

  Pain throbs through my head as I come to. Tenderly I touch the corner of my forehead, my fingers come back sticky and wet. Using the nightstand for support I climb to my feet. Too wobbly to stand unaided I lean against the wall for balance as I go into the bathroom to survey the damage.

  The light is too bright causing little spots to blossom before my eyes so I turn it off in favor of opening up the curtains covering the window above the toilet instead. Afternoon sun floods the small space of my bathroom. It’s bright too, but not as blinding as light bulbs in my face.

  I lean against the sink staring into the mirror. Blood runs down my face dripping off my jaw into the sink with little red splotches. I wet some toilet paper under the faucet then bring it to my forehead to clean off the mess. A small but deep gash is already healing at the edge of my hairline.

  “Hanna? You in there?” Kat calls from the other side of the door. “I knocked but no one answered.”

  “Yeah. I’ll be out in a minute.” I wipe the blood from my face as best as I can in a hurry. Satisfied that my face is presentable, though there’s not much I can do for my hair without washing it, I throw the soiled toilet paper away.

  Kat is bent over examining the floor near the nightstand, her long hair covering her face when I come out. “Is this blood?” She stands up, her eyes going wide. “Oh my God, what happened to your head? There’s blood all in your hair.” She takes my face in her hands turning my head side to side. Her face scrunches in confusion. “I don’t see a wound.”

  “Um, it’s probably just covered up by my hair.” I step back before she gets a better look and sees that I’m lying. Kat doesn’t know about the rapid healing, or anything else for that matter, and I want to keep it that way.

  “What happened?”

  I search my room hoping to find a hidden excuse tucked away somewhere. My eyes land on the tangled mess of my blankets. “My foot got caught in the sheets when I was getting out of bed and I hit my head on the nightstand.”

  “My aunt broke her ankle once when she got it caught in the sheets. Who knew beds could be so dangerous.” She hands me a large Styrofoam cup from Lola’s café. “Brought you a latte.”

  The cup is hot, warming my hands. “Thanks.”

  Kat pushes my blankets aside on the bed making a spot to sit down. She crosses one leather-covered leg over the other.

  “What’s with all the black leather?” I ask, taking in her outfit. Leather jacket over a fitted blue t-shirt, leather pants, leather stiletto boots that zip up to her knees.

  She waves her hand over herself like she’s on display. “Oh this? I’m hoping to run into a hot guy on a motorcycle.”

  “Let me guess, Will?” Leave it to Kat to dress the part. She’s never afraid to put herself out there and go for what she wants. I wish I could do that. My M.O. is to deny myself what I want and then be tortured by it.

  “Yeah. He’s so hot.” She looks me up and down. “Why don’t you go get cleaned up so you can come boy hunting with me without frightening people off with all that blood in your hair.”

  ***

  With the top down on Benzie, the wind whips Kat’s brown curls back perfectly. My hair on the other hand only slaps me in the face repeatedly until I have no choice but to confine it in a hair tie. “So, do you have any ideas where to find Will so you can accidentally on purpose run into him?”

  “Nope. I’m hoping that if we drive around town long enough we’ll spot him somewhere.”

  I need to find Will myself to see if he’s come up with a name or anything useful that’s going to help me find whatever it is, or whoever it is, that Sam’s wanting me to find. And I need to figure out a way to ask him about it without arousing suspicion from Kat. I don’t want her to get involved in any of this. It’s bad enough that I have to worry about Jared’s involvement; I don’t think I can handle hers too.

  “Earth to Hanna. Did you hear anything I just said?” Kat’s hand waves in front of my face.

  “What? Sorry I must have spaced there for a minute. What were you saying?”

  “I said, after you left last night, and Will disappeared on me saying that he had something he forgot he had to do, I ran into Jared outside of Lola’s. He was hanging out with Amber Bradford. Can you believe that? Anyway, I gave him a snotty look as usual, went inside to get a latte, and when I came back out, Amber was all over him.” Kat crinkles her nose in disgust. “It was so gross. How Jared could kiss her is beyond me.”

  Sharp claws dig into my chest ripping my heart out.

  He kissed her? So much for his I wasn’t flirting with her statement last night. He lied to me. Of course, it’s my own fault because I pushed him away. I’m the one who’s insisting that we remain just friends. So I guess technically he’s free to kiss whoever he wants. I just didn’t expect it to be so soon, or with Amber of all people. And I definitely didn’t expect it to hurt so much.

  I sideways glance at Kat under the cover of my lashes wondering if she has some ulterior motive for telling me this. When I told her about the kiss between Jared and I, I suspected that maybe she still had feelings for him so maybe this is her way of trying to hurt me. Of course, I could just be reading too much into it and she really doesn’t still have feelings for him at all and she’s just telling me this because she’s trying to be my friend and warn me that he’s kissing other girls. Or maybe she’s telling me because she lives for gossip. I don’t know.

  I look at her now slightly dancing in her seat singing along to some song on the radio. Nothing about her seems menacing. She probably has no idea that what she said about Jared hurt because I did tell her that my kissing him was a mistake.

  “Oh look. I think that’s Will’s bike.” Kat slams on the brakes making me glad I wore my seatbelt and twice as glad there was no one behind us. Backing up a few feet she maneuvers Benzie into a parking space beside a black Kawasaki Ninja motorcycle outside of Frank’s Pizzeria. A black helmet hangs from the handle bar, another balancing on the seat. If it is Will’s bike, he isn’t alone.

  Kat pulls out a tube of lipstick from her bra. Adjusting the rearview mirror she covers her lips in a dark red that’s reminiscent of dried blood. Once her lips are satisfactory she blows herself a kiss then conceals the tube back in her bra. “Ready?”

  Back in the day, Frank’s used to be a bar/pool hall/game room before the owner had his liquor license removed for serving to underage kids. Now it’s a pizza place/pool hall/ game room. The inside hasn’t changed much from its former life except for a few more added booths. An unused stage still sits empty in the corner, band fliers are still plastered over the windows, the far wall is still lined with arcade games, and the pool tables are still located in the back room.

  Kat stands on her toes stretching out her neck. “Do you see him?”

  “Nope.” Not with the dim lighting and the constant fog of cigarette smoke seeping out from the back room, I think to myself. Plus, the backs of the booths are so high it’s too hard to see if anyone is in them without actually getting close enough to look inside.

  Kat links arms with me as we search the booths up front. We find the majority of them empty. “Maybe he’s in one of the booths in the back. Or in the game room,” she says.

  Kat takes the lead and because our arms are linked she pulls me along with her. She sweeps aside the red hanging beads that adorn the backroom entrance causing a cloud of cigarette smoke to puff out and sting my eyes. I cough as someone calls my name from somewhere behin
d me. Kat gives me a dirty look as she lets the beads fall away at the sound of his voice. I turn around to see Will and some girl with short black hair sitting in a booth along the wall.

  Kat shoves my arm away leaving me there to wonder what the dirty look she just gave me was for. As far as I know I haven’t done anything to deserve it, unless of course she’s angry because Will called my name and not hers.

  Kat does her best sexy walk over to Will’s table. I imagine she’s also giving him her best steamy eyes and seductive smile too. She flips her hair over her shoulder with perfect finesse and in a lusty voice says, “Hi Will. I was hoping that I’d run into you today.”

  Will smiles. “Really?” Unfazed by her flirting he flicks his eyes in my direction. A move that Kat doesn’t miss because the next second she’s glaring at me. She flips her hair some more trying to regain his attention. He grins, but whether it’s for me or for her, I’m not sure.

  “Don’t just stand over there Hanna, there’s room for you too. In fact, you can sit by me.” Will slides over patting the seat beside him. I can’t see Kat’s face, but I can tell by her ridged stance that she’s beyond mad he asked me to sit beside him and not her. She sits down on the opposite side of the table by the girl with black hair. Put on the spot, I hesitantly sit down beside Will knowing full well Kat and I will fight about this later.

  Playfully nudging me with his shoulder, Will smiles and says, “Hanna, this is my twin sister Zoe.”

  She looks so familiar. I know I’ve seen her somewhere before, but where? Suddenly Sam’s memory from this morning pops into my head. Zoe was the girl Sam was talking to. Her hair is different now, but it’s definitely her. She looks at me strangely with deep blue eyes similar to Will’s, probably because I’m looking at her strangely. Feeling like an idiot for staring I say, “Hey,” with a small wave.