Marked

Chapter 21

The skyline was a pallet of rising colors; the sun had barely begun to rise. It felt as if the earth were being born again. I pressed my knees to my chest, it wasn't close to cold, but somehow pulling myself together felt like a way of not falling so easily apart. Life seemed so far away from the comfort of Jen's window seat, it didn't seem real enough.

"Morning Sky" Jen said, her voice groggy with sleep. She pushed her mint blue sleep mask to the top of her head and her mess of red hair.

"Hey" I said with a smile.

"What time is it?"

"It's early, schools not for another couple hours, go back to sleep. I'll wake you" Jen shrugged as she pushed her sleep mask back on top of her eyelids, she rested her head back on her pillow. Minutes later her breathing calmed, she was asleep once again. I kept looking out the window. There wasn't anything different out there, same sky-high pine trees, another day with a clear blue sky. Nothing had changed; everything was still the same.

Nothing had changed.

-

I was standing in the middle of the woods; I wasn't hiding. My marks were on full display, but I couldn't get myself to wear them proudly like Terrence did, but then again, he always did everything with an overinflated ego.

"The reason why I told you not to bring Marcus was because I didn't want you to feel too observed, I need you to let loose." Terrence began to walk to me, my arms were crossed over my chest, he unbounded then and put them at my sides. "If you tense up, you wont be capable of moving as easily, that can put you in danger, you also need to keep you mind clear or else you'll put others in danger"

Images of when I set Marcus's house on fire made their way into my brain, creating a sequence of fire and smoke. I didn't want that to happen ever again.

"Ok" I breathed out. "Keep calm, don't tense. Got it."

Terrence smiled. "Since you are pretty much a morpher bonus package, were are going to ease into each one of your dimensions, one by one. But first I think I should tell a little bit about your first dimension or your home dimension.

"Retinentia is Latin for memory retention, Skylar memories make us who we are, they are everything we have ever gone through, they are the happy and sad moments that we live through in life. The marks on your skin, they represent the moments that you've live through and have changed who you are. Generally only the person with marks can interpret their meaning, but there are rare links between people like us that can allow them to read into each other. It's rare but it can happen. Another way is a love link."

"A love link?" I asked with a chuckle, love seemed so alien in the new reality I found myself immersed in. But Terrence was all business, his tone completely serious.

"It's more of a promise, a pact." He let out a huff of air and took my left hand, signaling my ring finger. "Human biology teaches you that your heart vein goes through your ring finger, well the link is mostly bestowed at unions between two morphers, a promise is said and a new mark appears around each others fingers, it's the heart beat of the significant other. It symbolizes that at the end of the day you don't only belong to yourself, but to each other." In a sudden move he let go of my hand and stepped away. "My point is, that to control your other dimensions you need to be in the know when it comes to who you are, be aware of what sets you of, being at peace with your retinentia form is very important."

I found myself glancing at my hand once again, they were covered by a swirl of lines; life lines both my past and my present. I had a tree on my right palm, its roots going up through my inner arm all the way to shoulder. On my left inner arm I had all of the moon's faces. That was all that my red tank top would allow me to see.