Mark of the Seer (9 page)

Unless, I was seeing things that really weren't there. If that was the case, then I would have to go home and pack, because they'd be sending me to the funny farm.

“CLARE-BEAR!”

I almost jumped out of my skin at the sound of an overly excited Kora. She bounced up to her locker next to mine, so chipper I wanted to puke.

“Hey, Kora,” I responded softly, unsmiling.

Her almost always contagious smile faded when she saw my face, her eyes growing wide. “Whoa dude, did you have a rough night? You look like crap.”

I looked at her, slack-jawed. “Gee. Thanks, friend.”

“Sorry.”

I glanced at her sullenly. “So, there's been rumors going on about you and Kevin—what gives?”

She pierced her lips together. “Haven't I told ya before not to listen to rumors.” Her eyes found my gloved hands. I braced myself. “Yeah, okay. Um, what up with the gloves, Clare? It's September and it's like a hundred degrees outside, so you can't be cold. Or are you starting some kind of fashion trend here in Hicksville?
You
tell
me
what gives?”

Great. Not only was Kora going to sidestep my question about Kevin, but she had also drunk a pot of coffee this morning, setting her off on one of her caffeine-driven rants. Just what I needed on top of all the other crappy crud I was being forced to deal with.

“My hands are cold,” I stated, telling a complete lie. One look at Kora's doubtful expression made it clear that she knew I was totally fudging.

“Yeah,
riiight,
” she exclaimed robustly, “and I'm a virgin who never gets drunk.”

I laughed at her snarky, so untrue comment, shaking my head.

“C'mon, let me in on your secret!” she hedged. “I mean, holy snot, I'm your friggin' best friend!” She paused, cocking an eyebrow. “Is it a kinky secret?”

I glared at her. “No!”

“Then tell me—pleeeeeease!” She went on like that for a few seconds, leaving me no choice but to give in to her irksome pleading.

“Fine,” I told her reluctantly. “Follow me.” I pulled her to the girls’ restroom.

“So it is kinky! Lots of kinky things happen in bathrooms.”

I sighed stridently. “Trust me, it's not kinky—it's a little on the weird side, but definitely not kinky.”

“Oooh, weird,” she purred musically. “Wait, does this have something to do with Sparks?”

Exasperated I responded, “I've already told ya—it's not kinky!”

Pushing the door open to the girls’ room, I bent over, checking all the stalls to be sure we were all alone.

“Yeah, but you said weird...”

Losing my cool I snapped, “Just shut-up!” Then feeling like a jerk I said, “Sorry, Kora. I'm just a little edgy.”

She shrugged her delicate shoulders. “No worries. I've screamed and hollered at you plenty of times. And I'll probably do it again, too.” She winked, flicking me a sarcastic grin. She looked at her reflection in the mirror, running her fingers through her short burgundy-red hair. “So, what's up, doc?”

I took a breath and let it out slowly. Was I really going to show her?

“Okay. Without freakin' out or assuming I got plowed last night...” I paused, taking my gloves off, my expression humorless. “Take at look at these.” I presented to her the palms of my hands. I flinched at the sight of them, embarrassed.

Kora took my hands, looking them over. “Right. OK. I give up. What am I looking for?” She eyed me questionably, stunning me with her admission. “I mean, I've seen a pair of hands before, ya know.”

“What?” Confusion began consuming me. “Y-You mean you don't see what's on my hands? In the middle of my palms?” My heart pounded in my throat as I waited for her answer.

Letting a breath rip from her mouth, she studied my hands, closer this time. “Alright, I'll take another look. Let's see...Oh! Yeah, yeah, I see somethin' now.” The pace of my heart quickened even more as I watched her surveying my hands. “I see your life line and boy, are you gonna be an old hag when you finally kick the bucket! And I also see your love line but something's not right, because you and Brenton have been an item for three months now, and it's still in the shape of a “V”.”

Amusement danced in her eyes. “What's goin' on there, huh?”

The pace of my heart seemed to stop. Feeling disheartened, I slowly took my hands away.

“You...you really don't see them. I mean, really?” I stared down at my hands, resigned. The etchings, tattoos, whatever, were there. Plain. As. Day. Still Kora could not see them—they were not plain as day to her. I knew she was telling the truth—sincerity had surfaced all over her face.

“Clarity, what's wrong?” she inquired, concerned. “You're as pale as a baby butt.”

Without thinking I blurted, “I need to find Sam.”

“Sam? Who's Sam? Ah, oh!” Kora's hand flew to her mouth as if shocked. “Oh, Clarity! You've met someone else. That's why you've been actin' so strange.”

Hating what she was implying I hollered, “NO!”

She jumped, stunned at my reaction.

Collecting myself I told her quietly, “No. It's not that at all.” I leaned against the nearest sink, fatigue starting to claim my body.

Kora reached out, clutching me softly by the arm.

“Clarity...I've never seen ya like this—you've always been the strong one in this friendship. I'm worried about you. Tell me. What's goin' on?”

Massaging my temples, my head suddenly aching, I stayed silent, contemplating. I was so unsure if I should say anything...at all.

She gave my arm a slight squeeze. “You know you can tell me anything, no matter how freaky and weird it is.” A smile captivated her red lips.

My body tensed involuntarily. “It's more than weird; it's insane.”

“Clarity, I can handle it,” she said reassuringly. “As you know, I am the Queen of weird and insane.”

I laughed, releasing some tension. “Okay,” I sighed. “Here goes.”

Starting at the beginning, which was only the day before, I told her about seeing Sam for the first time. I told her about how he showed up at work, leaving out the part about Nick entirely (didn't want her to freak).

I also told her about how the temperature changed, how I had changed whenever he was near me. About how everything went back to normal when he had vanished into thin air. I told her that when I looked into his eyes I felt safe and calm, like nothing could harm me.

She listened intently with not one ounce of skepticism in her expression.

“What do you think so far?” I asked, wanting a breather. “Am I crazy or what?”

“From what I've heard there's a new boy in town, who sounds extremely
hawt
, and he's gotten you under his spell. Which, let me remind you that you have a boyfriend who worships the ground ya walk on—!”

“Stop right there,” I interjected fiercely. “I never said I wanted to be involved romantically with him.”

She nodded. “Okay, fine. Brenton is still your number one guy. But nothing of what you just told me explains why you have those dorky gloves on today, and why I was looking at something that wasn't there on your hands.”

“I was getting to that,” I pointed out aggravatingly. “You see, last night I had this crazy dream...”

Before I could explain and tell her about the dream, the late bell rang, springing Kora into a frenzied action.

“Holy crap!” Kora screamed, grabbing my hand. “C'mon, we're gonna totally be late. You can tell me your wild, kinky sex dream involving Brenton and new-guy Sam later.”

“Did you even hear a word I said?” I asked as she pulled me out of the restroom. “This has absolutely nothing to do with sex.”

“Yeah,
riiight!
” she teased, dragging me down the already emptied hall.

“You didn't listen to me at all, did ya?”

“Yes, I so did,” she declared in a hushed whisper. “And I wanna meet this Sam guy who makes ya feel all calm and secure.” She wiggled her brows at me.

As she opened the door I said, “You're a hopeless gutter head, ya know that?” Really, it was me feeling like a hopeless gutter head, since I had realized Kora could not see what was so “in her face” on my hands.

She stuck her tongue out at me as we walked into the classroom, where all the students were quietly seated with the teacher loudly speaking.

Of course, in front of all the students, we were reprimanded by the sourest of all teachers. We received a warning, and then were allowed to take our seats.

Passing Daria's crew on the front row we were bombarded with sneers, cruel laughter, and eye rolls. I think I heard the words “losers” and “hos”, but I couldn't be sure. I was too caught up in my problems, not for sure that I was living in reality. I mean, really! How many teenagers wake up to find out they have tattoos on their hands that no one else can see?

Before I sat down, Brenton threw me one of his famous dimpled smiles, the ones that make my body tingle all over. Not wanting to make him feel bad I forced myself to smile back, though it was tough for me. My face had been set in a tight frown for the past few hours, and the muscles in my face fought the smile all the way.

All through class my mind wandered. History was not the best subject first thing in the morning, especially for those who don't do mornings.

Eventually I got tired of my chin slipping off my hand, wanting so badly to crash and fall on the desk, so I settled for tuning out the teachers rambling altogether. Instead of listening about the Aztecs, my gaze flickered to the window.

The sun lit up the brown and green speckled grass, the leaves on the trees already showing sign that fall was on its way. Birds of every color were flying and pecking the ground. Some seemed to be dancing with each other—or maybe they were just fighting over crumbs. I was totally not a bird watcher, but that was more entertaining than listening to the monotonous voice of the teacher.

Squirrels were in the middle of the birds, most likely gathering nuts for the winter time. I watched the squirrels grab some nuts in their little mouths, crawl up to their little homes to store them, and then crawl back down to do the same thing over and over again. I'd always found it funny the way animals instinctively knew that a change was coming, where humans had no idea about a change until it was too late. Your life could be perfectly right one day, and then totally undone the next. It wasn't exactly what I would call fair, but that was how life was—a big puddle of unfairness.

Sort of like waking up to a burning feeling in your hands, seeing weird tattoos on your palms, and then finding out that your best friend, and possibly everyone else, couldn't see them, making you feel like you were insane. Like it was time to reserve your room at the local nuthouse.

Sort of like meeting a stranger who makes you feel more secure than you've ever felt in your whole life, and that stranger harboring some weird powers that you can't explain, and also that stranger being there one second, then vanishing the next.

One straightjacket for Clarity Miller, please!

I was so interlaced in my repugnant thoughts that I almost didn't see Sam. It wasn't a situation to where I was able to see him coming, since he'd appeared out of nowhere. I shifted in my seat, wanting to get up and leave the room. But I'd already been late, and it being the second day of school, I didn't want to push my luck. Besides, the teacher was a big dill weed.

My heart was pounding in my chest, so hard it hurt; so hard I was afraid others around me could hear it.

There was Sam, sitting on the highest branch of the only oak tree on school property. Sitting exactly where I had been watching squirrels just a few minutes before. His eyes were staring right at me, his legs dangling under the branch. He smiled and even from where I was sitting, it took my breath away it was so beautiful—
he
was so beautiful.

How had he gotten so high up in that tree? No one could reach the limbs, the tree being massively huge! And how did he know I would be sitting here looking out the window?

There I went again, letting my thoughts get blended together in a bowl of confused pity.

I wanted to get Kora's attention, motion for her to look, but I couldn't make myself do it. I was afraid if I looked away he'd be gone again. Warmth covered my tired flesh. A smile crossed my face, knowing full well that what I was feeling was coming from him. How was he able to do it? Don't know, don't care, because however he was able to warm me all the way to my bones, I didn't want it to stop.

The rage I'd felt earlier had melted along with my heart, and for the briefest of moments, I forgot about the tattoos on my hands.

Then he started talking to me, but not with his mouth—his smile never wavered or moved.

Be patient and don't be afraid
, his voice purred inside my head, causing little shivers to dance down my spine.
You will understand soon. Always remember...I am where you are.
Then, in one blink, he was gone, taking his loving warmth with him. I sank down low in my seat, sleep wanting to take control over my drowsy body, but my thoughts kept me awake.

In my head he had told me to be patient and to not to be afraid. In my
head
! Anyway, that was easier said than done. Also the whole “understand soon” thing would test my patience big time.