Lucky and the Killer ✔

Sarah

As the sun returned to normal, the third moon vanished—along with its portals and dead shadows. Earth and The Kingdom lay in ruin. Dead bodies still stared up blankly at the sky. As much as they wished it was all a dream, reality lay before them like acid. The sights around them simply burned.

Their birthmarks burned, too. They winced as the marks came to life again. Pale gold rounded the edges of the markings on their hips the way they'd done in years past. It was obvious to the people that a new ruler had been chosen.

Sarah fell to the ground. She finally let it hold her. The world around her blurred in and out as she laid beside Lucky. They were all alright, but for some reason, everything just felt heavier.

Voices entered into her head like a gentle whispering wind. She thought of the shadows, and she could see thousands of faces she'd never known—all in her mind's eye. A touch to her side made her cry out in pain.

"Stop!" Sarah choked. "Don't touch it."

Bella's fingers froze with Sarah's shirt in hand. She bit her lip and gingerly rolled the fabric back. It was as she feared. She looked up to the others who were scattered about picking up the fallen or laying on their backs like Sarah.

"King...," Lucky groaned as she twisted around onto her side. "Help."

"The poison," King huffed. "Zee!"

"I've got the antidote," Zee said. "I haven't stopped carrying it since he got Lilly. Don't worry. She's going to be alright."

Zee rushed to Lucky's side and poured the remedy into her mouth—only he doubled the amount. The poison was stronger than Lilly's, and it was obvious that even with a cure, Lucky would need time to recover.

"King," Bella whispered. "Can I...ask you something?"

King groaned. He'd fallen beside Gray's dead body and had been laying there talking to Gray as if he were still alive. When he heard Bella's voice, he shifted his eyes over towards her.

"I don't care," he said, "but I ain't moving. You're gonna have to come over here. Damn, I'm sore."

He tried to sit up as Bella came closer to him, but everything burned. He gave up. He was flat on his back and staring up at the sky he'd seen for most, but not all, of his life. "Please don't tell me you want me to take her place, because I ain't doin' it."

"Huh?" Bella asked. She wanted to see his birthmark to compare it to Sarah's, but it was like King already knew Sarah's had changed. Bella let out a sigh and lifted his shirt anyway. She pulled on his pants so that they would let her see just enough. There wasn't a birthmark there at all. King didn't have a birthmark at all. He wasn't from there. He couldn't have been from The Kingdom.

"Yours is gone," Bella whispered as she rolled his shirt back down. "King?"

"It's not gone," King said. "It never was."

"Never was?"

"Drop it," King mumbled. "I need a drink...or three."

Bella tugged on Lucky's shirt as she lay in the dirt. Lucky's birthmark was the same royal shape as it'd always been. It shone with a golden shimmer that laced around like swans on her skin. It wasn't like Sarah's.

"Sarah...," Bella said. Her voice echoed over the dead and into the wind. "Can you move?"

She didn't hear. Her voice fluttered in between her ears and mixed with the wind and whispers that flooded her mind. She was too exhausted. It was draining her. It was all just draining her.

"Sarah," Bella said. "C'mon, kiddo, get up."

"I think something's wrong," Lilly said. She walked over to Sarah, but her eyes weren't blinking or moving very much. "What's wrong with her?"