Seventh Mark (Part 1 +2) (3 page)

The place
screamed rich. I bet old money since everything looked antique.
Grace said Caleb built it, but the house seemed from before this
century. Maybe the guy dug reproductive stuff and had it all done
to look ancient – like the stuff belonged in a palace somewhere.
The cool windows probably made rainbows on the walls. They ran all
the way to the second floor with an open concept view.
A great
room
. I remembered studying it in an architecture class at my
old high school.

Grace led the
way up the winding staircase to the first door on the left.
Why
am I so comfortable around her? Like I’ve known her forever and yet
we’ve barely just met.

Grace chattered
at the top of the stairs, “I know what it’s like to be the new kid.
If I’d had someone to show me around, it would’ve made things a lot
easier.”

Her massive
room had a king-size bed and four matching dressers, everything
painted with bright and fresh colors. Stepping into her closet, I
barely made it two feet. It was easily three times the size of my
bedroom. Hundreds of clothes dangled on hangers, organized by color
and type. Dresses hung on one side, skirts, pants, tops and blouses
on the other. Massive shelves, with more shoes than I dared count,
climbed to the ceiling. “Maybe you need to seek professional help.”
I laughed, setting my bag on one of the shelves. “Too bad you’re so
tiny, or I’d borrow a third of your clothes. You wouldn’t even
notice them missing!”

Grace bounced
up and down, like an elegant ballet dancer. “Tiny? That’s your
polite way of saying I’m short? Ha!” She grinned. “You’re just
tall. Everything’ll fit but my pants.” She twirled around the
closet. “Sleep over on Saturday. We can get to know each other.
It’ll be fun.”

Her face looked
so hopeful. Even with the weird nagging feeling still pulling at my
gut, I couldn’t say no. “Twist my ar—” I stopped mid-sentence when
her door flew open.

“Gracey. You
smell something? I smelled it all the way down--”

My heart
stuttered a few beats before racing out of control. There, in the
closet door frame, stood Michael.

His head
whipped from Grace to me. Heat rose on my face. I dropped my gaze
to my hands. Grace’s brother. It suddenly felt like I’d
unconsciously used her to find him. They looked exactly alike. Why
didn’t I put it together sooner?

Grace ran over
to him. “Michael, knock before coming in.
I tell you that all
the time.
”

“No you don’t.
It’s nev—”

“This is
Rouge.” She rubbed her neck. “She’s new. A senior at Port Q.”

“Hello.” His
voice made me melt and freeze all over—like fire and ice.

“Ha-hello.” I
cleared my throat. “It’s, uh, nice to see you again.”

“You know each
other?” Grace’s head swung back and forth between the two of
us.

“We ran into
each other the other night – that’s all.” Michael's eyes never left
my face. He inhaled, stepped out of the room and disappeared down
the hall. A door slammed shut and, seconds later, loud music hit
the air.

I wanted to
disappear. Could his disgust be any more obvious? “I went running
in the cemetery. I didn’t know he’s your brother. We just met one
time…he helped me find my iPod.”

Grace came over
and waved her hand. “Michael’s, like, kind of abrupt. He’s lousy
with socializing. What were you doing running in a cemetery at
night?” She paused then held up a finger. “On second thought, don’t
answer.”

A burning
between my shoulder blades reminded me I needed to relax. I took a
deep breath.
Screw it. Not worth the time.
I’d be out of
here after graduation so it wasn’t like I had to hang out with him
or try to be friends.
Nice try, Rouge. You still think he’s
cute.

“Don’t you dare
change our plans for Saturday.” Grace must have thought my silence
meant I didn’t want to be here. She picked out some clothes, led me
out of the closet, then flipped the light off. “I’ll tell Michael
to get lost for the night. He could do with getting a life.”

“No. Don’t
worry. I’m still coming.” I swallowed, glancing down the long hall
as we headed for the stairs. “How old is Michael?”

“Just slightly
older and trust me, he never lets me forget. I hate to admit it
sometimes, but he’s actually my real brother. Sarah and Caleb
adopted both of us.”

She took me
through the living room, which had a huge flat screen TV and an
awesome sound system. One of those wireless ones. The furniture
looked antique and expensive, but very comfortable, like it was
meant to be sat in. The beige and bright white accents of the room
made the abstract artwork on the walls seem like they were painted
right where they hung.

A woman, as
stunning as Grace, sat at a desk near the window. They could almost
pass as sisters. Both had similar features -- the same perfectly
tanned skin and beautiful ocean blue eyes. She also had the same
extremely feminine physique, but more muscular. She probably did
Yoga or Pilates ten times a day.

She had to be
Sarah, Grace’s adoptive mom. Sarah’s blonde hair skimmed her
shoulders. She grinned and leaned against the desk, her chin
fitting perfectly into her little hand. “Hello.”

“Sarah, this is
Rouge.”

“Nice to meet
you.” I was jealous of her perfect-sounding voice. Bold, sensual
and like she feared nothing.

Grace pointed
to a burnt red colored door on the other side of the living room.
“That’s Caleb’s office.”

The room fell
silent at the mention of his name. The butterflies in my tummy
started dancing again. I’d never met the guy, so why should I be
nervous about his office?

“He’s out this
evening.” Sarah stared at Grace. “A meeting out of town.”

The butterflies
settled a little, or maybe one managed to escape. I clenched my
teeth together. Urrgghh…I hated being nervous.

“Is it okay if
we watch a movie in here? If you’ve got work to do…” Grace spoke
oblivious to my inner battle.

“Go ahead. I’m
going to clean the kitchen then run some errands.” As she stood, a
beautiful silver pendant caught my eye. I leaned slightly closer to
see the detail but never got the chance. Sarah tucked it inside her
blouse.

We settled in
to watch the movie. I didn’t remember half of it; my mind kept
wandering back to the boy upstairs.

When it
finished we both stretched and headed to the hall. “I’d better get
you home. Heaven forbid I get you in trouble.”

I laughed. “You
won’t. Jim and Sally aren’t much bothered when I come or go.” I
sighed when I realized I didn’t have my key. “Shoot! I left my
purse upstairs.” I pictured it where I’d dropped it in her closest
on one of the shelves. “Just let me run up and grab it.”

“I’m gonna grab
a bottle of water. Want one too?” Grace turned back towards the
living room and the kitchen beyond.

“Sure.” I
darted up the stairs two at a time, counting my steps. I sneaked a
quick peek down the empty, door-closed hall.

My purse lay
right where I’d left it. Head down I checked for my keys as I ran
out of Grace’s room. I glanced up in time to bump straight into
someone’s chest.
Michael’s.
His hands reached for my elbows.
I froze. He smelled so good – husky, masculine and something that
made me want to close my eyes and inhale so deeply the scent
saturated my lungs.

It took all my
willpower to step back. Why he didn’t move away first skittered
across my mind.

“Sorry,” I
whispered. “Didn’t see you.”

“It’s fine.”
His voice came out husky.

“Did you find
it?” Grace called out from the bottom of the stairs.

Michael
flinched and dropped his hands. He stepped aside to let me by.
“Sorry.”

For bumping
into me? Or for earlier?
I had no idea.

“Good night,
Rouge,” he spoke quietly. The way he said my name, I would have
done anything he wanted. No one had ever put that much meaning into
one little word.

“Folklore.”
Something about the cover made me stop working. The leather was
warm in my hands, even when all the other books were cool from
being in storage.

It was Saturday
morning. I’d gotten a job at The Eclectic Bookstore. Liza, my new
boss, asked me to sort through inventory which needed filing. Liza
had a natural Goth appearance and couldn’t be older than
thirty.

The store sold
new and old stuff. She handed me a cardboard box of books and asked
me to enter the bar codes into the computer or create titles in her
system if they didn’t have an ISBN number. Not as confusing as it
sounded. Once I typed in the number, the title would show up and if
it didn’t I just entered the title and author, her computer did the
rest. It wasn’t the most exciting job, but at least I’d have
spending money and hopefully be able to put a bit away for after
graduation.

Halfway
through, I’d found the leather book.

Everything
around me melted away, except the raised contours of some kind of
beasty animal on the cover. So lifelike I wondered if it’d been
hand drawn from a photo instead of being some made-up creature.
Gingerly, afraid I might crack the leather, I opened the front
cover and checked for a date. Apparently it had been written
pre-copyright days. I flipped through, my fingers running across
thick parchment and ink blotted pages. A noise inside the shop
snapped me out of my reverie. I set it aside, figuring I’d ask Liza
how much it cost.

The rest of the
morning I spent sorting and stocking books. They all seemed to
cover stories about witches, warlocks and other immortal legends.
Liza had mentioned she loved old fairy tales and their history. She
dressed the part and seemed to have that eerie, far-away thought
and conversation process. She had the personality to suit it as
well. I loved it.

When we
finished mid-afternoon, she picked up the leather book I’d set
aside. “Interested?”

I shrugged. “It
looks old.”

She tossed it
at me. “Keep it. A bonus for your first day.”

Catching it
like a football, I hugged it to my chest. “You sure? I can pay for
it.”

Shaking her
head, she laughed. “It’s okay to accept a freebie once and a while.
Trust me, it always feels better to give than to receive.”

“Except if you
give everything away, you’ll go broke.” I tried to stop a grin but
it managed to escape. “Thanks. See you later.” I stuffed the book
into my backpack and headed out the front door.

After the
dimness of the shop, the bright sun blinded me. I squinted against
its glare. Slipping my other arm through the backpack strap I froze
momentarily when a car sped behind me. I jumped to the other side
of the sidewalk when it screeched against the curb.

“What the
–”

Grace’s little
Smartcar stopped within inches of my feet.

“Need a lift?”
The fuzzy dice still swung from her crazy driving.

“You’re nuts!”
I pounded my chest, trying to restart my heart.

She chuckled
and grinned. “You’re fine. I stopped in plenty of time.” She revved
the sewing machine engine. “You heading somewhere or all
finished?”

I opened the
passenger door and got in. “I started a part-time job today.”

“At The
Eclectic Bookstore?”

“Yeah, how’d
you know?”

“I saw you
leave the store and swung the car around. Ready for tonight?”

“Sure. Just
need to grab my stuff.”

We drove to my
place. Once there, she played with the car keys and glanced towards
the house.

“I’ll just run
in and grab my stuff.” I opened the passenger door and tossed my
backpack in the back. I dashed inside, thankful Jim and Sally
weren’t home to question me. I left a note on the fridge: “Sleeping
at a new classmate’s. Text my cell if you need me.” Throwing my
already packed bag over my shoulder, I was out again in less than
three minutes.

Grace leaned
across the seat and swung the car door open for me. I tossed my bag
with my backpack and then jumped in. “Ready.”

“Awesome. Let’s
get outta here.”

At her house we
went straight to her room. Grace ran down and grabbed a fruit tray
so we could snack, chill on her bed and listen to music.

“I wonder what
the weather’s supposed to be like tonight.” I glanced out the
window toward the clear blue sky.

Grace jumped
off the bed and strolled to the closet. “Cloudy by the lake. It’ll
be cool, but I’ve got the perfect scarf for you.”

“Do you know
the forecast after the weekend?” I joked.

“It’ll be nice,
not too sunny, typical weather for the beginning of September.”

“Thanks,
weather woman.” I laughed. “Didn’t know you were such of fan.”

She smiled. “I
like to be able to coordinate my outfits to match the temperature
outside.” Making a face, she tossed a scarf at me.

“Fair enough.
Where’s the rest of your family?” I tried not to sound like I cared
if her brother was home.

“Caleb and
Michael are probably working, and Sarah’s getting some groceries.
She’s very excited you’re sleeping over.”

“What does
Caleb do?” Rob banks? The house was freakin’ huge.

“He’s…uh…He’s
head of a big, important company…uh…dealing with medical stuff.”
She disappeared back into the closet.

At least the
guy had a job. I had no intention of prying as I knew the feeling
too well. “What’re you wearing tonight?” The perfect question to
entertain Grace.

“I went
shopping today. Got an amethyst colored top and black skinny
jeans.” She came out dressed in new clothes. Her pants enveloped
her toned legs and the top was glued to her skin in all the right
places. Even the color of the fabric made her skin glow. I wished I
could look like that. An outfit hung neatly over her arm. “Here’s
yours.”