Marks of the Past - 20

Chapter 20

Mark had told me that the Hidden Arts played with the line between life and death. As I plunged into nightmarish dreams that I couldn’t tell from realities, I wondered if the same thing would happen to me. The only thing that kept me tethered to the real world was a firm pressure on my wrist. Otherwise I probably would’ve been lost to the land of the dead. 

When I’d caught the pox six months ago, the night that James’s mother had knocked me out had been filled with fever dreams. 

Now I was reliving it but worse. 

The river of blood rushed towards me, picking up speed and pedestrians who paid it no mind. I was rooted to the spot as the air filled with the sick metallic scent that blood always had. The torrent struck me, flooding me with warmth and- 

Falling falling falling. 

I struck the ground, my chest burning from the knife protruding from it. A girl dropped to a crouch a few feet away, her arms over her head as she sobbed. 

“You killed me! Murderer! Killer! Monster!”

I watched in shock and grief and horror as a kind looking woman dropped to the ground, clutching her stomach behind her desk. She screamed, a loud noise that pierced my ears as I ran towards her to catch her. She was dead before she hit the ground. Then, in front of me, her face morphed to a man’s and his eyes were opened and he was staring into the depths of my soul. 

Silvery forms took their places around me, shimmering and translucent. Behind them was a bright light and the noises of soft music with a lilting lullaby that promised peace. 

Monster. Monster. Monster. 

The world withered away around me, crumbling to dust and ashes under the dark maroon of the sky. There was screaming. There was a smell of death. There was my pleasure to top it all. A boy stood beside me, and he didn’t look older than eighteen. A wide grin was spread across his face as he took in the carnage- 

A woman held my hand as we approached a wooden booth at the end of the road near the school. I couldn’t read the sign but my mom pointed me to the other children who were whispering excitedly about a show. One little girl patted the ground beside her, oblivious to who I was. The curtains were drawn open to the booth and the children giggled in delight as the wooden dolls danced around the stage with a seemingly mind of their own. At the end of the show, a man appeared from behind the booth. “Go thank the Puppet Master,” my mother said to me. 

In front of me on the table was a book filled with text, the pages thick and boring. “What is the purpose of this?” I asked, my voice sounding masculine. There was a man in front of me, his graying hair flat across his head in a way that resembled a limp mop as he turned to face me. “You must learn about the past if you mean to prevent the future.” 

Wake up. Wake up. Wake up. 

Oh, ghosts, we’re losing her. Someone grab a medic and alert the Republic that we need a doctor as soon as possible. 

Let me help. 

No. 

Stop. 

Please. 

Some people aren’t meant to have magic. 

Screams. 

There was a stabbing pain in my side and ice rushed through me, cooling the fire I hadn’t even realized was burning. Then back to darkness. 

As much as I was afraid to wake up, I was even more afraid that I wouldn't be able to. 

My world felt like I had been submerged in water so I kicked upwards, pushing towards the surface. 

I woke with a start, heart pounding a mile minute and chest heaving. 

Out of the corner of my eye I spotted a girl not much older than I was, her mouth open in a silent scream and a cloth in her hand that dripped onto the floor. 

Was she a maid? I recognized her uniform, a tiny golden star embroidered onto the navy fabric at her shoulder. This was James’s house. And this girl was James’s maid because Anton was dead. Because I killed him. 

“Should I get Master James?” the girl asked, her voice uncharacteristically soft and high. 

I shook my head, still trying to catch my breath. My whole body felt slick with sweat and my stomach panged with hunger. There was no way I was letting anyone see me like … like this. 

“Master James told me to get him as soon as you were awake,” the girl said as though she was reciting something. “Are you sure you don’t want me to send for him-”

“No,” I interrupted. “Give me a minute, please?” 

I must have sounded desperate because the girl nodded, leaving the room with her little cloth in hand. 

The second she was gone I threw off my blankets, stumbling out of bed and towards the windows. It was the same room I’d stayed in before and I don’t know what exactly I was hoping for. Just as I expected, the windows were locked shut and I assumed that the door probably was too. 

I slumped to the floor, head in my shaking hands. This couldn’t be happening. 

My skin felt clammy to the touch and I realized that the golden bracelets for Miryir were still on my wrists, though the rubies had been replaced with what I was pretty sure were diamonds. 

“Miss?” 

The maid was back, and beside her was James and another man in healer red. I silently cursed myself for not assuming the girl hadn’t gone to find James. 

James approached slowly as though I was a rabid beast. The past couple of times we’d met he had admittedly tried to kill me and I him, but still. 

“Stay back,” I growled at him, pulling my legs closer to my chest. Someone had changed me to a flimsy nightgown and I didn’t like how unprotected I felt. Why did it suddenly feel so weird not to have a knife at my side? 

James gave a small chuckle, crouching so his head was at my level though he was still several feet away. “I understand why you don’t want to see me, but will you at least let Doctor Turner look at you?”

“Why do I feel like I’ve been to the afterlife and back again?” I countered, eyeing the doctor warily. He looked nice enough with his dark skin covered in wrinkles and his eyes filled with kindness. 

“Well, I suppose it’s because you pretty much have been, Leila,” James laughed, but there was no humor in his voice. “You had a reaction to the sedative I used, and I will confess that it wasn’t supposed to have that effect.” 

He sounded sincere, but I still kept my legs curled in front of me. 

“Fine,” I whispered at last. “The doctor can look at me but only if you answer my questions after.”

“Why not during?”

I gave James a look I hoped told him that I wanted him nowhere near me. Doctor Turner cleared his throat and said, “The check won’t take long, sir. Besides, I work better with willing patients.”

James nodded but I could tell he wasn’t happy around the arrangement. He left the room, fists clenched at his side. 

Turner was right - the check didn’t take long. It wasn’t nearly as much time as I’d been hoping for. I’d been praying that Turner would help me stall for as long as possible but he seemed content on hurrying through everything. 

When he was done inspecting my face and the mark where James had injected the serum into me, he scribbled down a list of medicines he wanted James to purchase for me. 

The little maid offered to help me into better clothing but I protested and she left me alone too. I took the time to shower and prepare myself mentally for meeting James again. I knew what would come next. 

Sure enough, a little over an hour later I was being dragged down the hallways of the mansion by a rough looking cross between a butler and a patrolman. 

I didn’t even try to protest as he kept his hand in the center of my back and forced me forward. Nor was I surprised when he shoved me down the stairs and into a room I’d never been in before. 

The layout reminded me of a bit of an office with a singular wooden desk in the middle. On the other side of the desk was a large armchair, empty at the moment. As for the chair closer to me… 

“Are the chains necessary?” I grumbled as the man forced me into the chair and looped shackles around my arms and ankles. 

“Are you going to try and run?”

“Would I make it anywhere?” 

The man didn’t answer and the door creaked open in the silence. 

With the way James walked, you would’ve thought that he was the head of the Council. He held an air of dignity that made it seem like he’d forgotten that he was ever my friend. It was though everything that had happened between us - every conversation, every action, every shared experience - it was all gone. 

As he took his seat across from me I noticed he pretended to straighten his tie, though his fingers were shaking slightly. 

When James finally sat, he clasped his fingers like a busy merchant. 

“I truly am sorry about the sedative,” James said, eyeing me carefully like he was afraid I was going to attack. 

I didn’t speak, just glared at him but it was becoming increasingly harder. 

More silence. Then, “Do you really like making things difficult? I’m trying to be nice, Leila.”

I didn’t answer him and tried my best to avoid his gaze. 

“You don’t have to like me for this.”

I stared at my hands, trying to ignore the fact that I wanted to tell him I forgave him. Don’t forgive him, Leila. What has he ever done to help you? 

Gave you shelter and helped you at least have a chance at life out of prison, the voice in my head argued.

He had an ulterior motive of using you as a human experiment. 

I pushed the thought away. 

James slammed his hands down on the desk, startling me. When I finally looked up, his eyes were burning with rage. “I’ve tried to be nice, Leila, but you’re really not leaving me much choice.”

“What do you want from me, James?” I asked him, my own voice sounding weak. 

He fell back in his chair, arms across his chest and a scowl displayed on his face. “Oh, so now she speaks. What do I want from you? Lots of things, Leila, lots of things. Justice. Revenge. To make things right.”

The answer I’d expected. “Killing me isn’t going to make up for your dead parents.” 

James gave a sharp laugh. “Oh? Well I suppose it’s good that I don’t plan on killing you then.” 

He chuckled to himself again and I was beginning to wonder if he’d lost his mind. 

“The Hidden Arts have always interested me,” he said. “My parents were magical - I assume you knew that already. When it turned out that I didn’t have magic they began to wonder if I had the Hidden Arts, but there was no way to test it. It piqued my interest as I grew older and I wanted to study it.”

He grinned at me, smile so creepy and so broken. “You’re going to wake my parents, Leila, and then we are going to explore the depths of your magic.”

“I can’t reawaken the dead,” I argued - which may have been a lie but it wasn’t really something I wanted to test. “And even if I could, would your parents want this James? Would they be proud of who you are and what you’re doing?”

“Shut it,” he said, voice a low growl. “I could have you tried for murder right now, and this time they wouldn’t even let you live until the Redemption. Assassination is treason.”

I laughed nervously. “Do it. You have no proof.”

James laughed too and we fell into an awkward silence before he patted the top of his desk. “I have medical records from the night before my mother died. She helped a lot of people - one of them was a little girl named Leila. The patient in the same room as Leila disappeared too. The maids also witnessed our troubled prisoner poison my father.”

“James,” I warned. “We both know that isn’t what happened. It was an accident.”

He continued as if he hadn’t heard me. “But that wasn’t enough for Leila, was it? She hired two assassins for me during the gala before the Redemption. She flooded the arena and nearly killed hundreds of innocents. Then she fled to Miryir - but not before attacking the men working at the docks. Once in Miryir she murdered Prince Aron.”

There’s something wrong with him, I thought to myself. Something inside him was broken and I wasn’t sure that it could be fixed. 

“James,” I whispered again. 

His eyes met mine, their pale color reminding me a bit of storm clouds on the horizon - the kind that threatened flooding in the poor districts of the town and left women scurrying home to protect their children. 

“You will bring back my parents,” he hissed. “Or else.”

He still has Liam, Lexi, and Mother. And knowing James, he probably had ordered the capture of the other Shadows. 

“Please, James, they’re not a part of this. I’ll work with you to discover the Hidden Arts. I’ll let you do experiments on me. If you want to kill me, then by all means, kill me. Just don’t hurt them.”

His expression was cold and hard, frozen as ice. 

He leaned forward again until he was only a few inches from my face. “You took everything from me, and now I’m going to take it from you. I’m going to tear you apart piece by piece until you’re left as broken as I am. And just when you think you can’t handle anymore, I’ll shatter you into a million pieces.”

Then he was gone, leaving me shackled in the chair with my pulse racing and my thoughts running a mile a minute. 

The same guard came to escort me back to my room and right before he turned to lock the door, he turned to me. I couldn’t tell if that was pity or disgust in his face - it was hard to tell. “Tomorrow,” he said before locking the door with a click. 

I didn’t even try to protest, I simply found my bed and sank into it, letting the world crumble to bits around me. 

As much as I tried to think of a way out of this - a way to spare my family and friends from my mistakes - the more I realized how futile my efforts were. I could barely control my magic and I certainly didn’t want to trifle with the dead anymore than necessary. 

James would punish the others for any misbehavior on my part. Escape was darn near impossible. 

A thought jumped into my head but I immediately pushed it back. No way. 

Not even I would sink that low. But the more I thought about it, the more I realized I didn’t have a choice. 

There was a knock on my door, signaling for dinner. 

I took a breath. It was now or never if I wanted to live through this. In my head, I sent out a single thought. 

Mark.

Author's Note

Is this too cliche?