Mark My Words

Chapter Eight

"Why do I get the feeling that we're gonna get mugged as soon as we get there?" Ethan said as the group walked down the sidewalk, heading towards their destination.

"Because we're probably going to be mugged," Mark replied, the theme of his answer not at all matching the joking smile on his face.

"There's five of us. I think we could take them down," Kathryn stated, partaking in the ridiculous discussion.

"Yeah, but what if they use their witchy powers on us and turn us into toads!? We can't fight crime if we're toads!" Ethan joked, his voice laced with sarcasm.

Amy smiled at the stupid conversation they were having. Ethan and Mark were right, there was a chance this could go bad, but the most likely scenario would be that the psychic would be crazy and weird them out to the point of egress. And there was no way they'd be turned into toads.

"Shouldn't we be hoping that this person will actually help us, not debating over how exactly they're going to rob us?" She chimed in.

"But debating over how they're going to rob us is more fun!" Mark objected, the grin never leaving his face.

Amy laughed. "How?!"

"Because if you had to be robbed, wouldn't you want to be able to say that you were robbed by a psychic who turned you into a toad? That would make for such a great story at parties," Kathryn justified.

"Toads can't talk," Amy said in return.

"True..."

"But what if they only temporarily turned us into toads!" Ethan argued, refusing to drop the subject. "Like, if after half an hour, we turned back into humans."

"Fair point, but what about our clothes? Would we grow too small to fit in them, and then return to normal naked?" Amy replied.

"Maybe they'd fuse with our skin, and then when we go back to being humans they un-fuse and go back to being normal clothes?" Mark suggested.

"Sorry, but I think that's pushing it."

"Fiiiinne, you win." Mark said, drawing out the first word.

Silence fell upon the group, but for the first time in a long time it wasn't heavy or awkward. It was just an absence of noise, nothing more nothing less. Nothing tense or threatening like it had been in the past. Just a calm gap in the conversation, almost like a breath, before more talking would definitely ensue.

However, the brief silence gave Amy time to realize how quiet one member of the group had been throughout their whole journey. Tyler had yet to say anything on their walk, not participating in any of the conversations they'd had.

That fact in itself was troubling, but a quick glance at the man took it up another level. He didn't look well in the slightest. Of course, none of them were feeling the greatest right now, but Tyler looked far worse than any of them currently felt.

His skin had lost a lot of colour, not to the point it had been at last night, but it was rapidly approaching that shade. His hands were trembling slightly, twitching involuntarily every couple of seconds or so, and he seemed to be swaying with each step he took, like he'd fall over any second. Amy knew that they could normally deduce that this was due to low blood sugar, but Tyler had eaten breakfast and lunch before they left. He literally ate just half an hour ago, so there was no way that was the cause of this. And last time she checked, low blood sugar doesn't cause erratic twitchy movements like the ones Tyler's hands were making. Tyler's current condition was most definitely due to something else, and she had a few ideas about what that something else could be.