Carrier of the Mark Read online

  The sea around us began to get quite choppy, and dark clouds started rolling in above our heads. “We need to get back,” he said, turning away abruptly. He got to work and busied himself the whole way in, leaving me to nurse my insecurity and bruises.

  Adam had just seen everything I was fighting to hide. How much longer could I keep it from everyone else? How soon would it be before my eyes started changing color and the element overtook me? We needed time to unlock the code of the Druid Scribes; we had to find the answers.

  But my time was running out fast.

  Nineteen

  FEELINGS

  Everything changed after that day at sea. Adam was still loving and attentive, but I felt him pulling away from me. I knew he was freaked out by my sudden growth in power, but every time I broached the subject, he told me not to worry about it. Instead, he buried himself in translations, and spent all his free time researching and becoming more and more obsessed with finding some answer in the writings of the unnamed pair. He’d exhausted every avenue with the translations he had at home, and had decided to go to Dublin for a week to work with the Order on the encryption keys—determined to uncover the secrets of the unnamed pair, believing their story to hold the answers we were looking for.

  On the Sunday before he left, Adam came over to say good-bye. Dad was out on a date with Petra, and we were lying on my bed together. He had been quiet all evening.

  “So what’s your excuse this time for missing school?” I asked, smirking.

  “Work experience.”

  “And what about the yacht club? Aren’t they going to miss you?”

  “There’s nothing going on at the club this time of year. They’ll survive without me. How has your Mark been?” he asked. “Any more flare-ups?”

  “Nothing major.” I said, pulling his arm around me. “Do you have to go to Trinity? Couldn’t you just bring the Druid Scribes down here?”

  “Trust me, the last thing I want to do is leave you and go to Dublin. But the Order won’t let the relics leave the crypt.” He rubbed his hair in frustration. “I still can’t believe I’m pinning my hopes on a fictitious book written by a bunch of delirious druids.”

  “You don’t believe that. I know you don’t. You believe there’s wisdom in the Scribes.”

  He shook his head. “I don’t know what I believe anymore. I don’t want any of this to be true, but if it is, and there’s a solution, I need to find it. I wish the Order would help a bit more, but it seems like they’re determined to keep the answers hidden—to keep us apart. They’re always harping on about something. If it’s not the Druid Scribes, it’s the Fifth Prophecy.” He gazed into space.

  “What is the Fifth Prophecy, anyway?”

  “Hmm?” He snapped out of his thoughts. “Oh, don’t mind me; I’m just thinking out loud.”

  “No. They mentioned that when we were in Dublin too. What is it?”

  He shrugged a little. “It’s a book. Like the Scribes, it was written in an ancient language, but it was transcribed while the Order still held the knowledge of the encryption key. It tells of the coming of a fifth element.”

  “There’s a fifth? Why hasn’t anyone ever mentioned it to me?”

  “No, there’s no fifth—at least, not yet. See … the fifth isn’t a Marked One. The fifth is created, using the four Marked. The fifth combines all four powers with its own to create an all-encompassing power—one that is supposedly too powerful for this world. The Order governs itself based on the Fifth Prophecy; that’s why they’re always harping on about keeping the bloodlines pure.”

  “Pure?”

  Adam sighed. “Yeah, the fifth is said to come from royal blood. Hence, the carefully selected partners for Carriers of the Mark.”

  “So they’re not just looking for the neutral gene?”

  “The neutral gene is just part of the selection process, but knowing that the genetic line is clear of royal blood is more important, and there’s no test for that. The Order has no idea who and where the royal bloods are. As they see it, pairing a Carrier with royal blood could bring about the fifth.”

  “I’m of royal blood…”

  He smiled. “Yet another reason why you are an enigma. Carriers were always of direct descent. But you are a Carrier and a royal blood.”

  “Is that a problem?”

  Adam shrugged. “It’s just not something the Order ever prepared for.”

  “So I take it the coming of the fifth is not a good thing?”

  “The fifth element is spirit. In order to release the element a door to the spirit world must be opened.”

  “And that’s bad?”

  Adam nodded.

  “There’s more…” I insisted, watching his eyes. “You’re not telling me something.”

  “I can’t believe we’re talking about this now.” He scratched the back of his head in irritation. “You don’t need to know all this; it’s totally irrelevant.”

  “Adam, it’s obviously not! You believe in the Fifth Prophecy.”

  Adam remained silent and turned toward the window, squinting at the evening sun.

  “You can’t keep me in the dark. If this affects me, I deserve to know.”

  He sighed. “The Fifth Prophecy foretells the end of the Marked line.”

  “The end? What does that mean? That we die?”

  Adam’s eyes glazed over as he began to recite softly.

  Taken of the four, and born of royal blood, the fifth will die before it can live.

  A mother’s sacrifice, a father’s anguish, an evil descends to consume all.

  The air fills with voices of those past.

  Elements, darkness, and worlds will collide.

  The lion’s heart returns to its place, knight turns on knight, and loyalties divide.

  The strength lies in the unknown.

  All ends here.

  He looked back at me and shrugged.

  “That’s a bit cryptic,” I said.

  “Well, that’s how it translates. It’s all we have to go on.”

  “Am I the royal blood?” I asked quietly.

  “No! Of course not … Oh, I don’t know—don’t you see; that’s the point! We don’t quite know what you are.” He took my hands and lifted my chin up to make me face him. “There are many components required to bring about the fifth. So far there is no sign of the others. Unless you’ve seen a lion and some knights strolling around nearby,” he said sarcastically.

  “Don’t make a joke of this; it’s serious.”

  “We can’t bet our lives away on something that might be. We can cross that bridge if we come to it.”

  “You should have mentioned this to me before.”

  “Before what, and for what purpose? Nobody knows what the fifth is or how it comes about.”

  “But how else could an element be born if not from a Carrier of the Mark?”

  “But that’s my point exactly. We don’t even know if it’s a person. The prophecy states the fifth is created using the four Marked and combining them to create the fifth—a fifth that must die before it can live. That doesn’t sound like a living, breathing being to me. There is nothing linking you to this prophecy other than the fact that you happen to be the first Marked of royal blood. The Order is just looking for reasons to keep us apart.”

  “I don’t know, Adam. Maybe I shouldn’t evoke at all,” I protested. “If I am a link to the fifth, I could stop it from coming by not performing the evocation ritual. It would be the answer to a lot of problems.”

  He smiled sadly. “The Order would never allow that. Besides, you’re too far gone. You’re not going to be able to stop this. That’s why I’m going to Dublin.” He pulled me up and held me tight. “I’m going to find the answer.”

  “If there’s an answer.” I burrowed my face into his neck.

  He pulled away and dropped his head to mine and gazed into my eyes. “There’s an answer. I need you to believe that.”

  I dropped my eyes. “I’m trying
hard to Adam, I am. I…”

  “Well, I believe enough for the both of us.” He sighed. “I’m sorry, but I have to go,” he said, giving me one last hug. “I’ll be back at the end of the week.”

  “Sure.” I managed a smile for him.

  “Trust me, this is all going to work out.”

  I nodded and waved him off.

  The Dublin Order was pushing for some trial evocation rituals, but Adam insisted we wait until he had covered all the options. Fionn was still supporting Adam and me for now, but I knew my hand would be forced soon, and I was a mess at the prospect.

  With Adam in Dublin during the week, school had lost its shine. He’d only been back from his previous break a week and now he was gone again. Jennifer and Caitlin were always hanging out with Darren and Killian, and despite their gallant efforts to involve me in everything, I felt like a fifth wheel most of the time.

  On the other hand, Áine had become a little clingy and was getting really friendly with Caitlin and Jennifer too. It was actually a little irritating having her shadow my every movement, and I finally confronted her one day after school.

  “What’s up with the chaperoning?”

  “Nothing,” she said, avoiding my eye.

  “Áine?”

  She sighed. “Adam asked me to keep an eye on you.”

  “Why? Isn’t Randel enough?”

  Áine looked behind her surreptitiously. “We need to talk.”

  “We do? What’s going on?”

  She took my arm and dragged me through a gap in the hedge at the side of the road. We emerged onto a little shingle beach that was deserted except for an upturned boat and some discarded crab pots.

  “Listen,” she began quietly. “I told Adam to tell you, but he said you had enough on your plate.”

  “Tell me what? What’s wrong?”

  “We’re not sure, but Randel’s been agitated for a few weeks now. I’m not reading him well at the moment.”

  “Is there something wrong with him?”

  “No, I don’t think so. I think there might be something wrong with me, though. I’m not seeing with my usual clarity.”

  “Seeing what?”

  “My earth sight—what I see through the animals and their senses. It’s a bit … blurry. I’m missing things.”

  “Are you all right?”

  “I’m fine … I think. I’m not sure. Adam told us that you’ve been experiencing some flares in your Mark.”

  “Yeah, I have. But I thought they were just growth spurts.”

  “We don’t think so, Meg. Flare-ups are usually a sign of some sort of danger. If there’s a threat to you, your Mark reacts.”

  “But … if we’re in danger, wouldn’t your Marks have flared up too?”

  “I know. It doesn’t make sense. We’re trying to figure it out, but in the meantime, we have to stick close to each other. Just in case.”

  I felt the blood drain from my face. “You really think we’re in danger? From who? The Knox?”

  “Please don’t panic,” she pleaded. “Adam made me swear not to tell you, because he was worried you would freak out. Anyway, it’s probably nothing. The Knox have never found us here. We’re just being cautious.” I must have still looked as concerned as I felt, because she immediately started fretting. “Oh, I shouldn’t have told you. I’m so sorry. Damn.”

  “No! You did the right thing. I need to know what’s going on.”

  “Don’t tell Adam I told you. Please?”

  “I promise. Now come on and walk me home.”

  When I set off to school the next morning, I was exhausted. I hadn’t slept much, between imagining phantom pains in my Mark and keeping my ears on high alert for noises that didn’t come. Adam was probably right: Áine shouldn’t have told me. Maybe I was better off being blissfully unaware of the potential threat.

  Caitlin was waiting for me at the school gates, as always, only this time there was no sign of Killian, which was unusual.

  “Hey, Meg.”

  “Hi, Caitlin. Where’s Killian?”

  “He’s already in school,” she said. Suddenly her eyes welled up. I pulled her away from the gates and around the corner.

  “What’s wrong? What happened?”

  Her face crumbled. “Oh, Meg, I don’t know where to start.” She put her arms around me and started sobbing.

  “Caitlin, I’m sure everything will be okay.” I rubbed her back and cast a subtle glance at my watch. We were already late for school. If we went in now we’d be in more trouble than if we didn’t go in at all. “Come on,” I told her, tugging on her arm. “My dad’s not home. Let’s ditch.”

  She pulled back and looked at me through reddened eyes. “You’d do that for me?”

  “Of course! Now let’s go, before someone sees us.”

  Once we got to my house we went to my room, armed with sweetened tea and plates of cookies. We had just settled onto the bed when she finally started telling me what happened.

  “Killian broke up with me.”

  “He broke up with you? But he’s so into you!”

  “I thought he was, but apparently he snogged a girl a couple of weeks back at some show-jumping event.”

  “Did he tell you that?”

  “No. He was feeling really guilty and told Darren, who told Jennifer, who told me.” She picked up the cookies and started shoving them into her mouth in between sobs. “Why would he do that to me?”

  “I’m sure he didn’t do it on purpose.”

  “Yeah, he accidently fell openmouthed into another girl’s arms. I’m sure he had no option but to slip her the tongue.”

  I grimaced and patted her back, waiting for her to continue.

  “So anyway, I confronted him last night, and do you know what he did? That total prick.”

  “What?”

  “He … he said … ‘sorry.’”

  “And that’s a bad thing?”

  “Of course it’s a bad thing! I wanted an argument. I wanted to tell him exactly what I thought of him and where to stick it. But no … he goes and apologizes and gets all teary eyed on me. He tells me he’s a twat. Then he broke up with me because he thought he wasn’t good enough for me!” She shoved another cookie into her mouth.

  I was lost for words.

  “Actually, now that I hear myself telling the story, it doesn’t sound too bad, really. In fact, it sounds like a whole load of crap.” She started laughing. “He’s right—he is a twat.”

  “Did he really cry?” I asked, feeling my straight face start to give way.

  She nodded and kept laughing, even though there were tears still in her eyes. I laughed along with her. I couldn’t believe how good it felt to talk about normal girl stuff again.

  “Oh, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t let it get to me like that. I suppose at the very least he has given me enough fodder for lots of teen angst to torment my mum with.” She pasted a smile on her face, covering up a hurt I knew she felt deeply. “So enough about me. What’s the story with you and Adam these days? He’s been acting kinda strange. And why does he keep missing school? Is everything okay with you two?”

  “He just has a lot on his mind.” I looked down at my feet. “He’s been in Dublin this week, so I haven’t really seen much of him.”

  “It sounds like you could do with a few of these biscuits too,” she said, holding out the plate. “What is he doing up there, anyway?”

  “Work experience.” I sighed, taking a cookie.

  “Wait, work experience? I thought work experience was done in fourth year…”

  “Um, yeah, it is, but this is some sailing thing, and the timing wasn’t right last year or something. I’m not sure.” I couldn’t meet her eyes.

  She shrugged. “What we need is a girls’ night out.”

  “Yes! That would be amazing.”

  “And maybe if we leave the boys to fester on their own for a while, they might start to realize just what they’re missing.” I was glad to see some of the spa
rkle return to Caitlin’s eyes. “So let’s hit the cinema Friday after school.”

  “You’re on! I’ll ask Áine to see if she can borrow Adam’s car, and you let Jennifer know.”

  “Adam didn’t take his car to Dublin with him?”

  “No, the, uh, people he’s working with are springing for his flights.” And the lies just keep on coming.

  “Nice. If we have the car we might be able to squeeze dinner in too.”

  With our plans decided, we closed the curtains and turned off our phones so that no one would be able to track us down and catch us ditching. We then proceeded to watch hours of daytime TV. It was the most relaxed I had felt in a long time. We heard knocking at one point and peered out the window to try to see who it was, but no one was there. It looked like we were home free. Finally, at three forty-five, we cleaned up and crept back toward the school so we could look like we were walking home when the last bell rang. We stood hidden in the bushes until we saw the uniformed masses start streaming toward us; then we stepped out and blended in with the crowd.

  “Thanks a million for today. It was just what I needed,” Caitlin said, giving me a hug.

  “Me too. I’ll talk to you later.”

  “Will do.” She waved good-bye as she turned off down her road.

  I started puffing my way up the steep hill back to my house and turned my phone back on. It rang immediately. Adam. “Why weren’t you in school today?” were his first words.

  “Well, hello to you too.”

  “This is serious, Megan. Why weren’t you in school?”

  “I just ditched with Caitlin. She’s having guy trouble.”

  “Jesus, Megan. You should have let us know. We’ve all been on high alert looking for you.”

  “What?”

  “You don’t show up at school. Your phone is off. Fionn called your house, but there was nobody home. Your dad says you’re in school. We’ve all been at our wits’ end.”

  “Adam, people ditch. I don’t like you checking up on me.” I couldn’t believe my absent boyfriend was berating me. I felt like I was being lectured by my dad. “If you’re so worried about me, stop wasting your time in Dublin.”