The Red Pendant

Chapter 8

Aaron and Catheryn helped Maryanne to stumble through the old rickety door of Marcus's cottage. Marcus glanced from his well-worn study books to see what the problem was, and was up in an instant. Worry lines creased over his face when he saw the state Maryanne was in.

"Bring her here. What happened?" Marcus asked as he ushered them over to the table to allow Maryanne to sit down.

"We were on a little hike," Catheryn began with a glance over to Maryanne.

"Go on," Marcus urged.

"When we got to the top of the Hill, Maryanne wanted to grow a tiny sprout into a tree," Catherine continued. "But when she tried it shriveled into powder, and she turned pale and fell to the ground."

"Oh my goodness," Marcus worried as he eased Maryanne into the chair. "How could this have happened? She must be sick."

"Yeah, that's what I thought," Aaron contributed, leaning on the table. "But when I checked her, she seemed to be in perfect physical condition."

"How peculiar," Marcus scratched his chin. "Was there anything strange going on before or at the time that this happened?"

"Not that I can think of," Aaron replied, thinking hard. "Wait! There is something! There was a woman Maryanne said she kept on seeing when she was alone. She has seen her in the forest and saw her in our house when it was destroyed. We are pretty sure she was the one to do it."

"Did you say she destroyed the cottage?" Marcus asked, a serious look on his face.

"Absolutely trashed it," Aaron paused, confused. "And by how it looked, she was obviously looking for something, but she didn't find it."

Marcus's eyes focused on Maryanne's pendant, draped carelessly around her neck. He took a deep breath, shook his head, then pulled a thin papery book from the shelf. "There is something that I have been needing to tell the two of you for a very long time now, but I have never found the right time to be able to say it."

"What?" Aaron asked, looking at Marcus with a strange look while searching his tired face for what he could possibly mean.

"It's... about your parents," Marcus revealed while his tired, wrinkled hands lightly brushed over the small book. "It's about who you really are, and... who your parents are. And... It's about The Red Pendant."

Aaron's eyes opened wide with shock and he gave a quick glance over to Maryanne who seemed barely able to move but extremely interested in what was happening. He looked back at Marcus. "So, you're finally going to tell us about them? We've got thousands of questions! We know absolutely nothing about them! We don't even know their names! We..."

"Vespin, and Vargo," Marcus said, a distant, melancholy look in his eye.

"What?" asked Aaron.

"Your parents' names," Marcus explained. "Your mom, a beautiful, talented woman, was Vespin. And your dad..." he paused as a pained expression momentarily breached his tired features before disappearing without a trace, "his name was Vargo."

"That's strange," Catheryn interrupted. "Both of their names started with the letter V."

"Why, yes," Marcus released a slight chuckle. "I guess V names are quite uncommon."

"Anyways," Aaron studied Marcus with a steady eye, "Will you please continue? Also, why did you look upset when mentioning Vargo?"

Marcus sighed, and his shoulders drooped as he took in a deep, tired breath. "Well, if I'm going to tell you, I might as well start at the beginning. The very beginning."