The Elemental Trials

Nineteen

Skye

Marcus and I sat in comfortable silence for the majority of the taxi journey. Right at the start, after parting ways with Aurora and Luke, he had asked me if I was excited to see Lilian and we had chatted about that for a while. Eventually though, our conversation had died off - and since both of us knew we still had a pretty decent journey to go, I decided to get some quick shut eye. 

I hadn't realised how tired I was but I slept basically the entire journey, waking up to the sound of the taxi driver announcing we had arrived at our 'first stop'. I was still a tiny bit groggy, so I responded without much thought and assumed he'd made a mistake. 

"First? This is our only stop." I half-murmured while rubbing the sleep out of my eyes. I peered out the window into the dark night, recognising the house outside as Lilian's. My heart fluttered to life and any grogginess left me in a second, as I quickly moved to unlock my door without wasting another second. 

I was stopped, however, by Marcus placing a hand on my shoulder. I glanced at him in confusion, spotting his timid expression right away, and then glanced at the wingmirror to see the taxi driver hurriedly avert his gaze from the two of us. "Marcus?" I said questioningly, suddenly filled with the distinct feeling that something was going on between the two of them - and that I was being left out of it. 

Instead of responding to me, Marcus turned his attention to the driver. "Just keep the meter running, please. I won't be too long." He said, before glancing back at me and catching the obvious look of apprehensive 'what-the-fuck-are-you-doing' on my face. "C'mon Skye, let's talk outside for a sec."

Marcus didn't even wait for my response as he opened the door on his side and stepped out of the taxi. I didn't even offer the driver any thanks as I exited through my door, feeling somewhat betrayed by his silence in regards to whatever Marcus was planning. 

The second I was outside the taxi, the chilly Welsh air attacked my exposed flesh as though silently saying 'Welcome home'. I instinctively wrapped my jacket tighter around me, almost having forgotten how cold the night's air could be on the mainland. Even though it was in the same region as Wales, the island was usually not even half as cold as this; though maybe Alex had something to do with that. Something to think about another day - there were matters more pressing to attend to. 

"What the fuck is he talking about?" I asked immediately as Marcus made his way around to my side of the car, already shivering as he wrapped his arms around himself. 

"I'm not staying Skye. I'm sorry, I just can't." He looked at me apologetically, but frankly I was sick to death of his cryptic shite. He'd been acting strange for the past three months, but Luke and I had been too preoccupied with our escape to properly interrogate him about it. Any and all attempts had been met with a dismissal so casual it bordered on gaslighting, so eventually we'd given up and hoped he would snap out of it of his own accord. 

He hadn't, and I was seriously regretting not pushing to speak to him about it when I had the chance. 

"Cut the shit Marcus and tell me what the hell you're playing at or I will drag you into that house by your hair. Where are you planning on going?" 

"To see my parents." He said without a second's hesitation, and the conviction with which he said it stunned me into silence for a moment. His parents? Marcus had hardly even mentioned his Mum and Dad the entire time we'd been on the island - let alone expressed the desire to go and see them. I knew their relationship obviously hadn't been a good one, so why the hell was he planning to see them now of all times?

"Wh-...what? Your parents? Why, Marky? Why now?" I asked, genuinely perplexed as to why he'd kept this so close to his chest. Sure, Luke and I hadn't been the most available for the past few months, but couldn't he have talked to Aurora about this?