I woke up to the sun in my eyes. I groaned and rolled over to see that Amelia had already made her bed and, judging by the smell, had made breakfast. I stretched in my bed and swung my feet to the cold floor. I moved my toes and rolled my ankles, watching the blue pattern move with them. I had only heard of two other people that had the markings and both had been killed a long time ago. I wasn't sure what it meant that I had the markings, but my mother and father had always told me to hide them. Amelia was the only one that knew I had it, not even Lucas knew. I got dressed for the day - my usual tank top, shorts, and knee high boots that completely covered the markings - and walked to the kitchen..
"Well there's sleeping beauty." Amelia said as she handed me a plate full of food and then made her own plate and sat beside me. "We thought maybe you wouldn't ever wake up."
I rubbed my eyes and ate a forkful of eggs. "I didn't sleep that late, did I?" I looked at the clock to see that it was already eleven. I nearly choked on my eggs. "Why didn't you wake me? We have to get to the fields."
"Relax, Del." Lucas laughed at me and then continued. "No one's working today. Rumor has it someone new is coming to the compound."
"Really?" My eyebrows pulled down. "Who?"
Amelia waved her hand in the air. "Some guy from Sector 15. I heard he's a complete dick, but sexy as hell." She winked at me and then laughed.
I rolled my eyes and continued eating my breakfast. When I was finished I helped Amelia clear the table and all three of us left to go to the front gates, where a large crowd was already gathered. We pushed our way through the crowd and stood beside my dad.
"Hey, sweetie." My dad put his arm around me and then dropped it as Toro walked to the platform in front of us. Toro was the first person to settle Sector 71 - where we lived - and was what I imagined when I thought of the Phantoms. He was six foot five inches, well over 250 pounds, and covered in tattoos from head to toe. He had a wife and three kids that I babysat on the weekends when there was no work to be done.
Toro cleared his throat and waited for everyone to fall silent. "I'm sure most of you have already heard the rumors of our newcomer." His voice boomed over the entire compound. It was easy to see why he was the head honcho. "He is a good friend of mine and so I expect each and every one of you to treat him with the up most respect. Please welcome, Mr. Adam Henderson." I could see everyone smiling and clapping as Adam Henderson walked up on the platform with Toro. Adam Henderson was tall, muscular, and definitely sexy as hell. He had a straight nose, hard jaw, dark brown hair, and every part of him was covered in toned muscle.
He smiled and waved and I noticed the light hit a silver watch on his left hand. "I'm happy to be here," he began, "But I don't want to interrupt any work, so please continue doing whatever it was you were doing before I was here." A groan went through the crowd.
"Relax." Toro laughed. "Everyone has the day off. Enjoy yourselves." Everyone started to shuffle off one by one. I stood with Lucas, Amelia, and my dad while they talked, but eventually got bored and walked off toward the fruit trees. I knew no one would be anywhere near them with the day off, so I laid down in the middle and closed my eyes.
Sometimes I wished that I knew what my markings meant, but then again the only other people that I knew of that had them were dead. Maybe it wasn't such a good thing to know. I sighed and opened my eyes to look at the trees above me. The fruit was almost ripe, just a few more days and I would be up there picking them one by one. I stood and dusted off my back, turned, and let out a small squeal. Behind me was Adam Henderson.
I took a deep breath and said, "I know you're new here, but you really shouldn't sneak up on people. You'll give someone a heart attack." I went to walk around him, but instead of letting me he stepped in front of me. "Excuse me." I stepped to my right and once again he followed. I raised a brow and crossed my arms. Amelia was right, he was definitely a dick.
"We need to talk." Before I could say anything he grabbed my upper arm and dragged me deeper into the fruit trees. He turned and looked at me. His stare stopped me from saying anything. "I saw you in Sector 72 yesterday. I haven't seen anyone shoot like that since Maria Fredrickson." I recognized the name as one of the two other people with markings. I held my breath and waited for him to continue. When he didn't I cleared my throat.
"If you don't mind, I need to get back home." I tried to turn, but his hand stopped me.
He looked down at my footwear and then back at my face. "You're marked, aren't you?" I opened my mouth and then closed it again. There was no use denying it if he knew. "Listen Boots, I don't have time to argue with you. And we certainly can't talk about it here. Meet me in 72 at four." He let me go and walked away.
"That's almost dark and I don't even know you. What makes you think that I'd meet you in a shut down sector an hour from dark?"
He turned and looked over me for a moment. "Because if you really are marked, you have nothing to fear from the dark." I let him walk away because, I was too confused to ask him what he was talking about. Adam Henderson was turning out to be a very confusing man, but if he truly did know about the markings then I had to meet him. And for some reason I thought that he did know things that I needed to know.
I stood there for five minutes and let my mind clear itself and then walked home. I would give my father a chance to tell me what I wanted to know and if he didn't I would meet Adam Henderson at four o'clock. When I walked in, my father was the only one home, just as I had hoped. He was in the living room reading a book, Gone With The Wind, even though I was pretty sure he had already read it about a hundred times.
"Dad." He looked up at me. "Can I talk to you?"
"Of course, Delia." He closed his book and sat it next to him. I walked over and sat down slowly next to him. I tried to make the words come out, but they wouldn't. I stared at my left foot where the markings were. "Sweetie, what is it?" He turned towards me.
I took a deep breath. "Dad, I..." I paused and looked up at him. "I need to know about the markings." I could see on his face that he was about to protest. "Before you say anything, Dad, please just listen to me. I have to live with this and I know I'm not going to be able to change that, but can't I at least understand what I'm living with? I can't ask anyone else about this but you. Please. Please tell me."
He took a breath and looked at the floor. I could see the wheels turning in his head, I could see him debating whether to tell me or not. He sighed and laid his hand on mine. "Your mother was marked also." I couldn't hide the shock on my face. "She hid the markings well, from everyone. I didn't even know until after Lucas was born. The markings used to be wide spread, many people had them. They were seen as a kind of protection, at first, from the Phantoms. Anyone who was marked... the Phantoms just never touched them. But then people got scared. They thought the marked were working with the Phantoms and so they killed most of the marked. I myself don't fully understand what the markings represent or what they may or may not do to you. All I know is that you have to hide them, from everyone. No matter what they tell you, you have to hide them. Do you understand me?"
The urgent look in his eyes and the way he gripped my hands scared me. "Yes. I understand."
"Good." He leaned back on the couch and picked his book back up. "Now go on. I know Amelia is waiting for you somewhere." I squeezed his shoulder and then left the house. I couldn't see Amelia right now because, I would want to tell her everything and I didn't know what to tell her right now. I was still confused about everything that had happened today. I was still a normal girl though. Or so I told myself. But the truth of it was, I had never been normal and I never would be. I would always have to hide what I was and that was the worst damnation there was.
