Marks of the Past - 14

Chapter 14

Mark looked like a dog whose owner had just died. 

Once again, he was perched on his little rock, staring out at the ocean with a longing stare and a frown displayed on his face. 

“How’s it going?” I asked quietly, taking my seat next to him. For some reason, these weird dreams almost felt natural. In a way, I found myself looking forward to these mini visits, though I wasn’t sure why. 

“Pretty well,” Mark replied, a hint of bitterness seeping into his voice. 

“This is about the fortune teller thing, isn’t it,” I guessed. Honestly, I wasn’t sure why I was so concerned with why Mark seemed grumpy. Maybe it was because I was so taken aback by his attitude. “Relax, you did fine. The captain totally bought it.”

“I’m not worried about whether the captain thought your acting was top notch,” Mark shot back. “Leila, I’m not a tool, I’m a person. Next time, at least have the decency to acknowledge me after I help you.”

“What do you mean?”

The sinking feeling in my stomach gave way to a small spark of anger, but I pushed it away. 

“You didn’t even look at me when I told you the captain’s secrets,” Mark pouted. 

“If I looked at you, I would’ve given the whole thing away. Sorry, next time I’ll make sure I specifically give you the credit.” Now the frustration was seeping into my voice, but I forced it down. I couldn’t afford to lose Mark’s help. “Besides, the second I was in real danger, you ditched me.”

“You mean when the captain tried to kill you? I knew those kids would handle it.”

“Those kids? Do you mean Nik, Chelsea, Jonah, and Rave?” Mark gave a small shrug, his arms crossed and his lips pressed together in a tight line. “Mark, they’re my friends but what if they hadn’t tried to help me. Would you have showed up then?”

“Of course-”

“To save me or to save yourself?” I instantly regretted saying that. Mark had done nothing but help me and here I was, questioning whether or not he was doing it for me. Obviously, he had his own reasons for helping me - it was the only way to see his family again. 

But I didn’t miss the way he froze either, like I’d struck a nerve. 

“Sorry,” I muttered quickly. “I didn’t mean it-”

“Yes, you did.” His voice was cold, distant. As if he’d decided that I wasn’t to be trusted anymore. “And you’re right, jenya. You are my only hope of ever redeeming everything I’ve done. I’m sorry if my motives seem ulterior, but I need you alive.”

“I know,” I whispered back. “Y’know, I owe you one now.”

“Good. Then the second we reach Miryir, we need to leave the boat and this group of … thieves.” He couldn’t meet my eyes, his gaze elsewhere. I wondered if it was because he already knew what my reaction would be.

I opened my mouth to complain but he pressed a finger to my lips. “You need to trust me on this one, jenya. These ‘friends’ of yours are just going to drag you down. They’re using you to find the Cursebreaker, and you can’t let them do that.” 

Had he seen the conversation with Nik and Jonah? Was he jealous? I couldn’t tell what was bothering Mark, but … 

“I can’t just abandon my friends,” I argued. “Besides … it’s kind of like you said. This is my only chance to redeem myself. I need to help them save Kyle or I’ll be just as bad as …” My voice died out. 

As you, I’d wanted to say, but it felt wrong. 

Mark was nodding absentmindedly to himself. “I know you think that you owe Kyle something, but if you don’t want to leave because of me, do it for them. Every moment you spend near that Jonah boy and his sister is another moment that one of them could accidentally touch you.” 

“I’m being careful-”

“Yes, but what happens when there’s an emergency, Leila? What happens when something happens and you have to be healed and they’re the only ones left? Will you die before you let them hurt themselves?” There was a sharp edge to his voice now, but I couldn’t tell what was fueling this anger. 

“You’re right. James was right.” Maybe I could play the guilt card and he wouldn’t make me leave. Because as much as it worried me, I was beginning to enjoy this company. “I’m a monster.”

“Don’t say that about yourself,” Mark said immediately, as if he’d been practicing for this very moment. There was a moment of hesitation before, “the Hidden Arts are just misunderstood. Once we find the Cursebreaker, I can help you learn to control your magic and then you won’t kill people by accident.”

Magic isn’t meant for people like you. That’s what James had said to me. And now, with Mark telling me I didn’t have to kill people by accident, I just wanted to get rid of the magic. 

I was just about to ask if magic could be removed when Mark turned back to me, his eyes pleading. “Do we have a deal, jenya? Will you leave the others when we reach Miryir?” He looked so desperate… 

“I’m so sorry, Mark, but I can’t leave them. Not when Kyle is still dying.” 

“This isn’t about them, Leila! This is about you! You have nothing to redeem, you’ve done nothing wrong-”

“Are you saying that when I murdered James’s parents, it was okay?”

“It was an accident-”

“That doesn’t mean that I don’t think about it everyday!” I was shouting now, voice rolling over the hills of this imaginary island. Anger was pooling in my stomach, writhing like a snake. “I can’t keep going like this, Mark. Right now, everyone who calls me a monster is right. The Shadows will help me.”

“No one can help you, jenya,” Mark spat. “No one except for me. So you can run to your pathetic friends, or you can listen to me and we’ll fix everything-”

“Fix it? Or cover it up?”

“You know, what? I can’t do this right now. Go flee to your new ‘friends’. And when the entire world comes collapsing around you, you can come crying back to me. See if I help you then.”

And he was on his feet, walking towards the jungle, his feet not making prints on the sand. 

I followed after him, the fury still boiling inside of me. 

Mark thought that this was all about him. He didn’t like the idea of me having friends other than him, of me making my own choices. It took away his sense of control. 

Though I knew it was petty, the spitting beast of rage inside of me wanted to prove that I wasn’t Mark’s puppet. I don’t know how I did it, or why for that matter. But I raised my arms in front of me - purely on instinct. 

The jungle reacted to my movements, the trees bending as if under an immense wind. Their leaves withered to dust, the specks floating away on the gentle breeze. 

Mark turned to look at me, his dark eyes wide with … was that fear? 

I tried to cut off whatever was happening, but the anger poured out of me like water through a breached dam. The tree trunks cracked and turned gray, the long grass at the edge of the jungle shrivelling. 

Someone was screaming and I realized with a start that it was me. 

Then it was like someone had flipped a switch inside of me and all that raw emotion was gone, leaving me hollow inside. My throat was raw and my head pounded. 

“Leila…” Mark began, his voice sounding distant. I noticed that he sounded afraid. 

When I looked up, I saw why. It was just his fingertips, the very edges of them. But it was enough for me to start crying. 

Mark was turning to ash. The process was slow, and I had no idea how I’d done it. 

He was at my side a moment later, pulling me close to him and running his hands up and down my spine the same way my mother had when I was a kid. “Shh, shh. It’s okay. At least I know you can protect yourself.”

I didn’t laugh, I was too busy trying to process what had happened. 

Somehow, I’d nearly killed my ancestor without even touching him. And he was reassuring me?

“I’ll find the Cursebreaker,” I promised, voice husky. “I’ll find the Cursebreaker, and I’m going to save you.”

The hatch to the bottom of the ship flew open and Basti poked his head inside. “We’re arriving at the shores of Miryir, and the captain says all of y’all best be gone by the time he buys his supplies.”

“Thanks, Basti,” Chelsea muttered, relief evident in her voice. 

I could feel her pain. We’d been stuck in the bottom of the boat for several days without end, Nik repeating his plan over and over again as if it was his only lifeline to the real world. Jonah just talked for hours, and Chelsea and Rave sat trying to drown him out with their own conversations. 

That’s right. Rave spoke. 

It was only ever a few words at a time, and my best guess was that she was finally warming up to me and decided it was safe to speak in my presence. 

“So,” Jonah began, rising to his feet and stretching. “How far is the safehouse from here? And who’s carrying Kyle - cause I call ‘not it’”. 

“The safehouse is too far to walk, so I’ve arranged a ride,” Nik said, though there was a hint of reluctance in his voice. “As for who’s carrying Kyle, I will. It’s a short walk from the docks to the road-”

Chelsea snorted, interrupting Nik. “Trying to be all heroic? Y’know, one of the girls can handle it.”

Nik shook his head. “I do know that, Chels, but you need to trust me on this one.” 

He sounded worried, so I gently placed my hand on Chelsea’s shoulder. “We can argue about Kyle’s damsel-in-distress situation later. Do we need disguises?”

“Not this time,” Nik said, gathering his stuff. “Just grab your junk and get ready to go. I don’t know how well hidden our ride is going to be so we need to get off the boat and into the carriage as fast as possible.”

“Carriage?” Jonah began, his eyes wide, but Nik cut him off. 

We didn’t have much stuff to gather in the first place, so we were on deck only a few minutes later. Kyle was slung over Nik’s shoulder like a limp towel. 

Once on deck, it was only a matter of minutes before we would reach the shore. 

Ahead, I could see Miryir’s coastal village, the houses so much smaller than the towering apartments back in the Republic. Mountains stood side by side in the distance, surrounding the vast expanse of the Miryir Empire. The wind smelled of the saltwater but also of … summer? 

Back in the Republic, the air always got this smell right before it started raining - which was generally the flood season of the summer months. 

It struck me as odd that some place so distant - like Miryir - could be so similar to the Oaysian Republic. 

Yet there were also a good deal of differences. 

Where in the Republic, smoke could always be seen wafting out of factories in the distance; Miryir’s air was clean and the tallest building in the tiny coastal village appeared to be a chapel. 

“Home sweet home,” Nik mumbled under his breath before exhaling deeply as the ship drifted closer to the shore. 

There was another difference between the Oaysian Republic and Miryir - Miryir had no docks. The water extended through tiny river-like canals into the depths of the village. The captain steered the ship closer to the edge of one of the larger canals before the boat slowed to a stop. 

“Off,” he called, voice gruff. 

“Yes, sir,” Nik answered back before gesturing for us to make our way to the side of the boat. The captain descended from his platform and laid a wooden plank from the boat to the side of the canal. 

One by one, we climbed onto shore. Just as I stepped up onto the board, the captain caught my arm. He bent closer to me - close enough that I could hear him whisper directly in my ear. “This isn’t the last you’ll see of me, little miss. Let your pale-headed friend know he’s made an enemy of me.”

Then he was gone and I was climbing towards the Shadows, who were sending me impatient looks. 

Nik glanced down at his wristwatch as the captain removed the board and the boat began to drift again. 

“Gah, he should be here by now,” Nik huffed, checking his watch again. 

“Relax, Nik, maybe we’re early. You couldn’t have given an exact time for the person to pick us up-”

Nik shook his head. “He knew to watch for our ship. No, he’s probably being a pain like always. He always was…” His voice trailed off into a string of swears that I wondered if he’d learned from the other sailors. 

“Maybe we should get out of sight,” Chelsea suggested, tugging self consciously at her sleeves. 

Not that there was anyone out and about anyway. The streets all seemed derelict for reasons I didn’t know. It probably had something to do with those rebellions that Nik had mentioned. 

“No,” Nik protested. “He’ll be here soon, and if he isn’t, I’ll kill him.”

I didn’t doubt that. Nik seemed like the kind of person to hold a grudge. 

A few moments later - though it felt like decades - the telltale sounds of horses echoed down through the maze of houses. 

Nik breathed a sigh of relief, but he immediately tensed as the sounds grew louder and a large carriage appeared, barreling down one of the roads without showing signs of stopping. I barely had time to jump aside as the carriage rattled to a stop and the door flew open. 

Out popped the head of an older boy, a mischievous grin plastered on his face. Jet black curls of hair framed his eerily perfect face and I had to elbow Chelsea to get her to stop staring. 

The boy’s eyes glanced over all of us, hovering on Kyle still strewn across Nik’s shoulder. A flash of recognition appeared on his face, but the emotion was quickly shoved down and he opened the door to the carriage. 

A small part of me wanted to know how a boy not much older than me had gotten ahold of a carriage like this - even James wouldn’t have been able to afford something this nice. 

But then I realized that the carriage was starting to draw attention and I saw my first sign of people as they opened their shutters just enough to see what in the world was happening. I gave Nik a small kick in the back of the leg and he coughed once before smiling falsely at the boy. 

“It’s been a long time,” Nik said slowly, choosing every word with the utmost care. 

“Indeed it has,” the boy responded, making a show of studying his nails though I could tell he was interested. “I thought I was picking up an old friend. That’s what the letter said.”

“We were friends once, were we not?” responded Nik without hesitation. “In your answers, you never asked me to clarify who exactly I was. You should really be more careful - I could’ve been anybody.”

“What do you want, Nik?” the boy asked, rolling his eyes. “Why are you back here?”

“You recognize Kyle, don’t you?” 

“Of course I do. I’d know those freckles anywhere.” 

The two seemed to share a silent argument, and Chelsea sent me a confused look to which I returned a shrug. Why did she expect me to know what was happening? 

“Fine,” the boy said at last. “But I’m only doing this for Kaleb - I hope you know that.”

“Thank you,” whispered Nik in response. “You’re making the right choice.” He turned to us next. “Load your bags in the back but keep yourselves armed.”

“Where to?” the boy continued as Jonah took our bags and threw them in the small luggage compartment on the back of the carriage. The boy opened the door wider for us, and Nik went first. 

“The apothecary. You know, the one near the temple in Araliri?”

I nearly slipped on the steps, and the boy reached out and caught my arm before I could stop him. My heart leapt into my throat. If he had magic… 

But my mind was already on the next thing. “What? Why a temple?”

At the same time, the boy was spitting, “are you sure you want to go there?” 

The boy gave me a look, releasing my arm. I blushed furiously, taking my seat next to Chelsea and hoping I didn’t look like a fool. 

Nik didn’t seem to care, though. He’d spaced himself as far away from the boy as possible, Kyle slumped on the seat beside him. Though the carriage wasn’t big, it wasn’t cramped on the inside. Under my feet, it began to move again as the boy repeated the directions to the carriage driver. 

“You never answered my question,” the boy said at last, turning his attention back to Nik. 

“It’s none of your business.”

Why a temple, though? I wanted to ask. All I could see now was the bloodshed of the rivers rushing through the villages, sweeping innocent people off their feet, the liquid pouring down their throats and drowning them as they screamed. 

I pushed the thought away, hoping no one had noticed me grimace. 

“It’s all of my business,” retorted the boy, running his hands through his hair and blowing out a frustrated breath. “You show up in my kingdom and just ask for a ride? The least you can do is tell me why we’re here.”

Nik didn’t answer, but Jonah did. 

“Your kingdom? Who do you think you are?”

“Jonah,” hissed Nik under his breath. He sent a worried glance at the boy before glaring at Jonah. 

The boy simply chuckled to himself. “Who do I think I am? I’m Prince Aron of Miryir.”

Author's Note

I'm just going to be honest and say that none of this chapter had been originally in my outline, so it's a bit of a surprise for me too. For this chapter specifically, I really struggled with the emotional aspect of the first scene so let me know if there's anything I could improve on there (really making the anger seem tangible or tips on stuff like that). Thanks and enjoy!