Marks of the Past - 25

Chapter 25

My mother once told me that if a boy ever brought me roses, he wasn’t good enough. Roses were red like blood. Their stems were covered in thorns that drew blood. Sinister. Dark. Threatening. Roses weren’t the flowers of love, they were the flowers of pain. 

I’d wondered if that had something to do with my father. 

Now I knew it was because of the way blood seemed to blossom across fabric, across skin, across the ground. 

A tiny bloom appeared on Simon’s shirt where the very tip of Chelsea’s stolen knife found its spot right above his heart. The blade had barely nicked him, but he was breathing heavily. 

“Chelsea…” I began, but she cut me off without even looking up. 

Her voice was sharper than the knife and she wasn’t even talking to me. “Death isn’t good enough for you. I should let you slowly bleed out on the docks where the gulls will slowly peck you apart and the algae makes you see your entire family die in front of you, over and over again.” 

With that, she twisted her knife just enough to deepen the wound before backing away slowly. 

“Maybe we should go inside,” Kyle suggested quietly. “Y’know, just so the neighbors don't suspect anything.” He gestured to me on the blanket and Chelsea’s still seething form. Once again, I was glad it was the middle of the night. 

My mother took the lead at that and began to herd us inside. She didn’t know any of the others, but that didn’t stop her from taking control of the situation. 

The house seemed a lot more cramped with an extra seven bodies, but it was almost cozy in a way. We all filtered into the living room where my mother helped me onto the couch so I could curl up and hide. Simon eyed Chelsea warily, obviously still shaken. He obviously wanted to talk to her and she wasn’t having any of it. The Shadows had all gathered around Kyle to catch up with him. My mother put Lexi and Liam to bed - despite their complaints. She used it as an excuse to leave, giving me a motherly look. James simply sat beside me, his expression blank. I could tell he wanted to return home but… 

“Are you alright? You look tired,” James commented, sounding worried but also as exhausted as I felt. 

“I’m fine,” I lied. “You should probably head back…”

He shook his head. “I won’t leave until morning. If, y’know, that’s okay with you guys.” He sent a purposeful look at the others, who were paying him no mind. 

Kyle had just said something that made Rave giggle - something I was pretty sure I’d never seen before. Chelsea was glaring daggers at Simon, but she was also distracted with a card game that Nik was teaching both her and Jonah. 

I knew that they were all waiting for my explanation of their rescue, but I selfishly didn’t want to give it to them. 

“Wanna join us?” Nik called when he caught me watching. 

“I can’t,” I answered, pointing to my leg. The numbness had begun to wear off now, leaving a dull ache that seemed to throb with every beat of my heart. 

“Ridiculous,” Jonah sighed before scooting over so he was directly next to the couch. “We’ll deal you in from here. Rave, are you and Kyle going to play too?” They shook their heads and Kyle whispered something to the other girl that made her laugh even harder. “What about you, rich boy?”

“I’d really prefer if you didn’t call me that,” mumbled James, crossing his arms. “On second thought, maybe I should head out…” 

“No,” I interrupted, blushing when I realized that Nik, Jonah, and Chelsea were all watching me. “C’mon, can’t you play just one game with us?” It was a flimsy excuse, but James gave a small nod. 

“We should be discussing what happens next,” Nik grumbled as he began to hand out the cards. “Actually, better yet, Leila can tell us how she convinced James to let us out?”

“I had a change of heart,” James responded simply. 

“And you can relax for five minutes,” Chelsea added, shuffling the deck adeptly and placing it in the center of our circle. 

“I asked Leila,” Nik said, giving me what was probably supposed to be a meaningful look. 

I thought for a moment. “James had a change of heart.”

Jonah chuckled to himself. “Sure, sure. That’s perfectly reasonable. Are you sure there wasn’t anything else involved?” He raised a suggestive eyebrow and I felt a blush creep to my cheeks. 

“There was nothing of that sort,” James answered for me. “I realized that what I was chasing was something that could never truly occur and my priorities were in the wrong place.” 

The words were forced, I could tell by the way his fists clenched when he spoke. James would never get over his parents’ deaths which meant that he could never forgive me for that. Yet another reason why we shouldn’t get close. 

“Questionable choices aside, it’s Nik’s turn,” Chelsea interjected. Nik obliged and played a set of cards, starting the game. 

“As for what’s next,” I continued. “Long story short, I may or may not have raised the legendary King Mark from the dead.” 

Surprisingly, the reaction that statement garnered was less than interesting. I explained quickly while the gameplay carried on. Rave, Kyle, and Simon came to rest at the outside of the circle so they could hear what I said. I left nothing about because at this point I deserved to be ashamed for what I’d done. 

“Fun as that sounds, fighting Mark isn’t going to be easy,” Jonah remarked, rubbing his temples. “Honestly, wouldn’t it be better to flee for Miryir.”

I blinked at him. “What do you mean?” 

Jonah shrugged. “I dunno about you, but I’m not exactly keen on dying at the hands of a bloodthirsty king. Mark wants the Republic, right? So we give it to him, and we save as many people as possible and head to Miryir.”

I scoffed. “You think he wouldn’t follow us? Even an entire village couldn’t support his life.”

“Then he’ll die after a while,” Nik pointed out. “Problem solved.”

“He could still follow,” I repeated. “Nowhere is safe as long as he’s around and-” 

“Leila, you’ve done a lot for us,” Chelsea began. “You helped us save Kyle - that’s more than we could have ever asked for. We only tried it because we knew that it was possible to find the Cursebreaker. Fighting Mark, we have no guarantee that we’d win. The Shadows don’t take risks, so trust us when we say sometimes the best course is to run.”

My heart sank and I must’ve scowled because Nik laid a gentle hand on my arm. “We’re not saying we’re giving up yet. I … We’ll discuss it later.”

He sent a look towards James, but I couldn’t help but think that maybe I was part of the reason they weren’t having this argument right now. James seemed to get the message too, but he didn’t make a move.

“I think everyone is a little emotionally riled up right now,” Rave whispered in her soft voice. “Maybe we should get some rest…”

“There are rooms upstairs,” I offered. “Maybe not enough for all of you, but-”

“Oh, so you aren’t planning on sleeping?” Chelsea asked, crossing her arms. “Leila, you need the sleep out of all of us. I can brew you something if you’re afraid of nightmares.”

“I’m not afraid,” I said, maybe a little too quickly. Not of nightmares, of the visions. Which were essentially the same thing but to me the visions seemed so much more real, like they could happen at any moment. “And I’m not tired.”

“That’s not true,” Jonah said, and there was a certain note to his voice that made my eyelids droop. 

“Hey,” I slurred. “Not … fair.”

“Sometimes you have to play dirty,” he said with a small laugh. “Don’t worry, I’ll keep you safe from the dreams.”

He gave a small snap of his fingers and the world dissolved around me. I barely had the consciousness left to hear James mutter something about how it was unfair he was included in this sleep witchcraft, but I was too far gone to laugh. 

The trees on the island reminded me of skeletons. Their leaves were gone, their branches white like bones. The sand had taken on a black hue as if the night had been imbued into their grains. Standing across the considerably smaller beach was Mark, his arms crossed as he glared at the ocean. 

“I didn’t think I’d see you again,” he remarked, sounding a bit surprised. 

I mimicked his pose. “I like to be unpredictable.” 

He turned to face me so I could see his smirk. I couldn’t put my finger on it, but he looked different in a way. Less … ghostlike, if that was a thing. His face was tan, not the pale white that I’d begun to associate with him. 

“You were rescued, I assume,” he guessed. 

“Obviously. Did you really think you could kill me that easily?” I’d meant it as a sarcastic comment, but apparently Mark thought I was serious. 

He moved closer so I could feel his breath on my cheek. “I could kill you with a snap of my fingers.” 

I took a step back, trying to keep my composure so he wouldn’t see how scared I was. 

“I see you’ve done some remodelling,” I commented, gesturing to the skeleton trees and darkened sand. 

“Do you like the look?”

“Honestly, it’s a bit dramatic. Seems kinda overkill to me - screams villain vibes.” 

Mark chuckled to himself. “You really want to go down that road, do you? You really hate me that much?”

I clenched my fists and tried to not react otherwise. “Well, you did try to use my lifeforce to resurrect your century old body after lying to me for months - years even. I’d say my reasons for despising you are reasonably sound.”

“And you’re the one who allowed me to fester inside of you. Every single day you lied to your ‘friends’ and to yourself. This whole situation is as much your fault as it is mine.”

“Why did you bring me here?” I grumbled. “Why didn’t you just kill me when you had the chance?”
Mark stared at me as if pondering an answer. “I feared it would be rude to kill the very person who’d brought me to life. Would you rather I’d killed you?” I opened my mouth to answer but he cut me off. “Think long and hard before you say anything because once I control the gates to death, you will be at my mercy.”

I could picture it, too. I could see his throne, his smile dripping off his face as everyone who ever wronged him perished at his hand. 

So I opted for the safe option of asking again, “Why am I here?”

Mark shrugged, scooping up a rock from the sand. He cradled it in his hands for a second before tossing it out to sea where it skipped over the waves. “That depends on where here really is.”

I glared at him. 

“Because I wanted to warn you, Leila. Ghosts, if I’d had any idea you were so demanding I would’ve left you to your nightmares.” He rolled his eyes, pretending to be bothered. “This is your last chance to leave the Republic. I’m giving you a choice between living in Miyir and dying in the Republic.”

Why, I wanted to say. So you can say you’re not as bad as you truly are. You gave us a choice. 

“Everyone keeps telling me to run,” I said, choosing my words carefully. “But you can’t run forever, eventually you’re going to have to slow down. And that’s when you lose.”

Mark sighed. “I was really hoping it wouldn’t come to this.” He brought his arms above his head and I could hear the roar of the darkness as it rushed at me from behind. I could feel it whipping my hair like a bitter, winter wind. Dark veins stretched across Mark’s neck towards his face. 

My fingers tingled as they began to fade, becoming translucent. I felt myself falling, dying as the breath was pulled from my lungs. “This is what you’ve brought upon yourself, Leila. The next time we meet, you will be bowing at my feet.”

The tingling turned to burning and the island broke from under me. Instead of water there was only a hole that seemed to stretch for eternity. The further I fell the louder the roar in my ears became until it was screams that recognized. Lexi and Liam in their harmonic cries for mercy. My mother weeping as her husband disappeared around the corner, leaving her alone with three children and no job. The Shadows when they found out Kyle was gone for good, each cry more heartbreaking than the last. You’ll bow to me.

Someone’s fingers were entwined with mine. I could feel the pulse of a heartbeat, solid to anchor me to the real world. Sweat dripped down my back and I had to force myself not to cry.

“You’re shaking,” the person whispered and warmth pressed in around me, hugging me tightly. I let myself fall to the warmth, simply glad that it was real and that I wasn’t dying. “Leila.”

James. The voice belonged to James. 

I peeled my eyes open, not even caring that I was so closed to James at this point. His arms were wrapped around me, holding me to his side. 

“It’s not real,” he whispered, stroking my hair with one hand. 

I nodded, not trusting my voice. The room around us was dark, the crackling fire finally died down to a few glowing embers. Someone had cared enough to drape a blanket over me, but not James. 

“It’s alright,” he said. “Nightmares, right? I get them too, sometimes. Focus on breathing. In and out. In and out. Try to match your breaths with mine, okay?”

Of course he got nightmares - everyone did, didn’t they? I found myself wondering what scared him. He’d already lost both parents, his reputation most likely. Did he have nightmares about me? You would burn down the world for me, I’d asked him. And he’d never denied it. So maybe … maybe he feared losing me? It was a stupid thought. 

Focus. I inhaled when he did, exhaled when his chest fell. The simple task slowed my shaking. Our breathing fell into sync, chests moving in equal rhythm. 

“Do you want to talk about it?” James whispered into my hair. “It’s alright if you don’t-” 

I really didn’t want to, but whenever I’d had nightmares as a child my mother would encourage me to write them down. She told me they’d be less scary in the morning and then I wouldn’t be scared anymore. I guessed the same thing would apply here. 

“It was Mark,” I managed to say without my voice wavering. “Sometimes he … visits me. He told me to leave before he killed everyone, gave me a chance to escape. When I refused he threatened to kill all of you, and I heard the screams.” It truly did sound slightly less terrifying when I said it out loud, but I was still wary.

James nodded to himself again. “We’re here, okay? All of us are right here. Mark didn’t take us. He won’t.”

“How do you know?”

“I can’t know for sure,” he murmured. “But I want to believe it. You’ll find a way to stop him, Leila. You’ve injured him before, right? You can do it again.”

That wasn’t what I was afraid of - I already knew that I had enough pent up hatred that I would probably be able to tear Mark apart limb for limb with little hesitance. The problem was that he knew me well enough to know how to manipulate me. 

“Thanks,” I said softly. “For everything, James.” 

“Of course,” he responded, but his words sounded empty and distracted. “I guess I … I should probably leave. Before the others wake up.” 

“Don’t go, please.” 

He heaved a tiny sigh. “They don’t like me, Leila, and they never will. I don’t belong here and if they come downstairs and see us like this, they’re going to be angry at both of us. You need them to cooperate.”

I hated that he was right. 

He gently moved me aside, careful not to reopen the stitches in my leg. At the sight of my small shivers, he draped another blanket over top of me. 

“We’ll see each other again, right?” I asked him as he pulled on his coat. 

His eyes were filled with remorse as they met mine. “I hope so, Leila. I really do. And if you need me … just … just reach out, okay? Promise?”

“I promise,” I whispered. 

There were so many unspoken words between us that I was too afraid to say. You can deal with all of that later, when Mark is dead and you’re safe, I told myself. 

Then he was gone, the door open and shut with nothing but silence. I could hear my own breathing, ragged and shallow. Try to get some more sleep, I thought. It’ll help your recovery be faster. Which meant closer to being back on my feet. Closer to defeating Mark. Closer to seeing James again. 

Stop, I chastised. You can’t dwell on that, not yet. You’ll see him again. 

But then why did those words sound so much like lies?

Author's Note

The end is coming soon, so stay tuned and enjoy!