Seventh Mark (Part 1 +2) (11 page)

“Check this
page.” I pointed to the paragraph about Grollics’ knowledge on the
woman in the white cape. “The book’s old, but the author wrote what
they thought was a race from an original. He knew they could
destroy you. See the list?” I flipped to the next page. “Here’s the
diagram of the Grollic and where its heart is located. The caption
says that instead of being on the left side of the body, the
Grollic’s heart is on the right, located higher than most animals.
The bit beneath the drawing, says when the Grollic changes from
human to Grollic-form, the heart shifts. I guess if a human wanted
to stab a Grollic to kill it, you’d need to aim for the right, not
the left side.”

No one said a
word. Not even Caleb. His mouth actually hung open now.

What the
–?
“Listen. I can’t read the beginning or the end of the book,
but the middle section’s in plain English…” Why only to me? I
tossed the book on the desk, and rubbed my eyes, frustration giving
way to confusion. “I don’t understand. None of you can read it?”
Grace came around, sat on the top of the desk and began flipping
through the pages. The look on Michael’s face confirmed the answer
to my question.

He walked over
and took my hand in both of his. He turned to Caleb. “What do you
think?”

“I’m at a loss,
but I intend to find out. This girl is no Grollic, and for
everything we know, I’ve never had knowledge of the marking. This
could be radical, for all of us.” Caleb looked at me but avoided
making eye contact. “The Coven meets tonight. With your permission,
I’d like to take the journal along. If there is anyone else who is
able to decipher the writings, it could be of key importance in
bringing the mongrels into extinction.” Caleb tapped his perfectly
manicured fingernails on the desk.

The book
belongs to me now
.
I shook my head.
What a weird
thought.
“You don’t need my permission. Take it. Keep it.”

“No. It’s
yours.” Caleb shot a glare at Grace who looked like she was about
to say something, but closed her mouth. “I think you should take
Rouge into my office and show her some of our history. See if
there’s anything else she’s able to understand.” He clicked his
tongue and stood. Walking over to me, he pulled at my hood and
touched my collar bone with ice cold hands that instantly turned
warm. “No marking, ‘eh? Just checking.” A hoarse laugh came from
deep in his throat, like he didn’t do it often. “I’m interested in
this little talent she’s acquired.”

A muffled growl
filled the room. Everyone flinched and turned to me. I held my
hands in the air. “That was my stomach.”

Grace burst out
laughing. She jumped off the desk. “Let’s get you something to eat.
We’ll stop by your place after and grab some clothes.” She glanced
at Caleb. “We’ll be working late tonight, so Rouge’s going to need
to sleep over.”

“She needs to
stay here. It’s not safe for her to be on her own,” Michael said.
“I’ll take her.”

Grace put her
arm around my shoulders and poked Michael. “You have to go with
Caleb; you’re expected to be there. The elders will be upset if
you're not.”

Michael
,
about to argue, must have changed his mind. “Fine.”

Was there some
hierarchy line
?
Where did Michael stand? If Caleb was
royalty, would that make Michael some kind of prince?

“If you’re able
to find anything out,” Michael said, “contact me and I’ll come
back. Now I’m going to talk to Rouge. Alone.” He stared at Grace,
and tapped the side of his temple.

Without waiting
for an answer, he took my hand and led me out to the backyard. The
feel of his hand in mine brought little electrical currents
throughout my entire arm. He could have led me into a pit of
Grollics and I’d have followed in a heartbeat.

Every piece of
greenery in the back looked immaculately cut, set around a pool and
a cute pool house. Barely had Michael shut the door when he pulled
me into his arms. He held me tight against him. “I’m so sorry.
Please forgive me.”

I kissed him.
Whatever disappointment, anger or heartbreak I felt had disappeared
the moment he’d grabbed my hand.

He groaned, and
one of his hands came up to my neck. His fingers drummed along my
neckline to the pendant of his Siorghra. I could feel him smile
through our kiss, and suddenly his kissing became more intense. I
went right along with him, my hands running through his hair, on
his neck, his face, on his chest. I couldn’t get enough. I wanted
more. Being apart had been harder than I realized.

He pulled back,
his stunning blue eyes flitting back and forth to mine.

I gently leaned
toward him, letting my forehead touch his.

“I’m so sorry,”
His voice cracked. “I blamed myself and thought I’d put you in
danger and messed your world up. You were meant to find us. I
should have known. I really missed you and I’m sorry.”

I took a small
step back and brushed a fallen hair from his forehead. “Don’t be.
Things happened for a reason. I’d have never looked through the
book if I wasn’t on my own.”

He shrugged,
not looking completely convinced.

My arms wrapped
around his waist and I pulled him into a hug. I ran my palms along
his back and froze when I came across his bony shoulder blades. I
thought back to the journal.

“What’s wrong?”
he said, leaning back.

“Do you have
wings?”

He chuckled.
“No. There are a lot of things I can do, but flying is not one of
them.”

I reached for
his shoulder blades again, remembering before the Halloween party
when I’d first noticed their boniness. “But…”

“We all have
those protruding little bits, maybe a leftover part that never
evolved with time.” He scratched his head. “I could have had them
before…everything changed. I just don’t remember.”

“Oh,” I
blinked. “Wait a sec.” What else had he just said? “What other
things can you do?”

“Loads of cool
stuff.” He smiled. “I’ve been trained to fight. And when one
doesn’t have the fear of dying, it lets you push your limits a lot
further. You learn a lot about the body’s ability. ”

“Can you teach
me?”

Michael stepped
back, apparently mortified. “No! It’d kill you.”

Shaking my
head, I playfully punched him in the arm. “I meant to fight. If I’m
going to be hanging out with a bunch of people who hate Grollics, I
should know how to defend or at least protect myself.”

“Now that might
be a good idea.” Squatting, he reached for my arm and pulled me
over his shoulder. “I think you’re lighter than a sack of
potatoes.”

“Put me down.”
I pounded his back lightly. “I don’t mean now. You need to go with
Caleb, and I don’t want to start any problems when I might have
just scored some points with my crazy Grollic reading ability.”

Michael set me
down and smiled. “I love you.” He tapped his Siorghra pendant.
“You’ve already got my heart.”

I blinked and
straightened. No one had ever said those three words to me. Not the
mother who’d abandoned me as a baby, the father I had no idea of,
the foster parents I’d had through the years, or any guy I’d gone
on a few dates with. Not even a best friend.
Is
it
possible to be terrified and ecstatic at the same time?
I ran
my teeth across my lower lip. If I said the words back would
something inside me change…forever?

“Probably
should have kept that too myself.” He chuckled and kissed my nose.
“I think it’s a good idea we go back in, you need to eat. You look
a bit faint.” He led me to the back door, through the kitchen, and
into the living room. “Grace, can you take Rouge to get some
food?”

I realized that
while we were outside, I’d never bothered to pay much attention to
what the backyard looked like, I’d been too busy concentrating on
the hot body smothered against me. My skin grew warm at the
thought.

Michael
squeezed my hand and then darted into Caleb’s office. I stared
hungrily at him for a moment and then turned to Grace.

She burst out
laughing. “You might want to put your ponytail back in, your hair’s
a mess.”

Face burning, I
reached for my hair and tried to tuck the escaped wisps behind my
ears.

Grace didn’t
say another word, but her giggling didn’t stop the entire drive to
Jim and Sally’s.

We walked
through the front door of the house.

“It’s so quiet.
Are the foster-folks out?” Grace held her arm out to stop me. She
cocked her head to the side. “This normal?” she whispered.

I sucked in a
quick breathe, instantly paranoid. “Maybe. I ran out earlier today
without talking to them.” I glanced around. “Nothing seems out of
the ordinary.”

“You wait here
by the door. I’m just going to have a quick look around to be
sure.” Grace darted away before I could argue.

I leaned back
against the doorframe and checked up and down the street. Nothing
was different. Hopefully Jim and Sally were out. Besides being
freaked out by Grace tiptoeing through the house, Jim had been
freaky-weird the last time she came inside. I didn’t want to have
to deal with that again. When she walked back from the kitchen I
said, “Let’s go upstairs so I can have a quick shower, and grab
clothes for tomorrow.”

“First let me
make sure everything’s clear upstairs.” She took the stairs two at
a time.

I followed once
she hit the landing. By the time I reached the top, she’d checked
the rooms and turned back to my room. “How about you stay the
weekend? You shower and I’ll have a look through…” She paused, as
if searching for the right word. “I’ll check what’s in your closet
and see if there’s anything I can do something with.” A hand flew
to her mouth. “I don’t mean that in a bad way. I just meant…”

I laughed. I’d
miss her being around. “I’ve got a duffel bag on the closet floor.
You can throw what I’ll need in there.”

Opening the
bedroom door, I saw why Grace had paused. My room had shoes and
piles still on the floor from my lame attempt at sorting it last
night. “It’s not always this bad.” The argument sounded really lame
and Grace’s raised eyebrows stopped me from bothering to say more.
Instead, I grabbed a pair of jeans and the pretty, silver top Grace
had bought before heading into the bathroom. The water needed to
run for like an hour before it would heat up enough to step in.
Stripping down, I stepped into the shower. I reached into my
toiletry bag and grabbed a razor and shaving cream. Always better
to be safe than sorry.

My shower
lasted longer than my usual ten minute one. A twinge of guilt
reminded me I’d made Grace wait. I dabbed a little perfume on, then
grabbed my hair dryer and headed back to the bedroom. I didn’t see
her right away, but I did see clothes flying out of my closet with
lots of muttering going on inside of it.

She came in and
out of the closet, throwing assorted bits of clothing into the
suitcase. The closet was one of those old ones, kind of square
shaped with hangers set on the side, perpendicular to the door. As
I towel dried my hair, she continued to come in and out with more
clothes. Even my dresser drawers had been opened. She rolled three
pairs of my jeans and then stuffed them into the near overflowing
duffel.

“Whoa. I’m only
staying the weekend. That’s a lot of stuff.”

Grace shot me a
sympathetic smile. “I think I got everything that can be salvaged
from your closet and dresser. While you were showering, Jim came
back. He was on the phone and now he’s downstairs in the living
room. It sounds like he wants to talk to you.”

“How’d you…” I
didn’t finish the sentence. She obviously had some super-sonic
hearing or something. “You’re joking? Of all nights.” I stuffed my
hair into a bun.

“He seems
pretty fired up.”

“What did he
say on the phone?”
What am I? An eavesdropping ten year
old?

“He was talking
to Sally. They were fighting.”

“On the phone?
That’s weird. Guess I’d better go see.” I was reluctant. Dealing
with Sally had always been a two way street, with Jim it felt more
like a one-way with bad construction.

I walked down
the stairs and found Jim pacing in the living room.

“Hey. What’s
up?”

Jim muttered
something under his breath.

All I caught
was the word, “disrespectful.” The sharp intake of Grace’s breath
told me she’d followed me down the stairs and had heard than I did.
Jim’s head shot up when he heard Grace. He gave her a weird smile,
then he turned to me.

“Where’s
Sally?” I asked before he had a chance to speak.

“Gone. Flew
back to Ontario.” He took a swig from the liquor bottle I hadn’t
noticed before.

“What?” The
word was out before I could stop myself.
She left, and didn’t
say good-bye? Surely not.
“Everything okay in Niagara Falls?”
Maybe something had happened to hear family.

Jim snorted.
“Figures you’d take her side.” He pointed an accusing finger at me.
“You think it’s all a joke. You and her have probably been laughing
at me not finding a job.”

Huh? “I—”

“Don’t bother.
I can see it in your eyes.” He began pacing the room. “You know
what? You’re out. I want you out. Sally was the one who wanted to
help your hopeless ass, I only agreed for the crap money. You’re
eighteen next month and I’d have booted you out then. Why
wait?”

Who would
throw a girl with no family out on the street?
“I’ve got no
where to go!” Sally must have left him. Left us. We weren’t super
close, but still. What would make her just up and leave? Unless
something
had scared her.

Grace stepped
in front of Jim, inches from his face.

I blinked.
Did she somehow make herself look taller?