The Marked

Starr paced back and forth in front of the scratched, wooden door which was the entryway to her house. Her dad was supposed to be home any minute, and she stood there counting down the minutes, and seconds. He had been gone for a month, but promised to be home for Starr's birthday. Where is he? she thought and rubbed her sweaty palms against the smooth material of her soft, lilac colored shirt. She glanced up at the rain drop spotted window to see the black, rusted, Chevrolet truck her dad owned. She still couldn't understand how it always managed to work, despite it's ancient reputation. Her dad held a tight grip on the steering wheel that began to loosen as he neared the place where he always parked. He was glad to be home for his daughters birthday, but worried of what he knew she would discover.
Starr raced outside to greet him, not bothering to grab a raincoat. She threw her arms around him in a tight embrace. Her head on his shoulder, she sighed and said,"I'm glad you're home."
They pulled away and smiled, Starr yawned for which she knew it was because she had stayed up half the night from her horrible nightmares which started to occur more often than usual. Her dad looked up at her.
"Not as glad as I am," he said and pulled a medium-sized rectangular box out of the front seat of the truck. Starr, curious, peered over her dad's shoulder to examine the box. She pointed at it.
"What's that?"
"A suprise," her dad replied.
"Ugh," she groaned. "You know I hate suprises." She expected him to say something back, but he just smiled and slowly jogged inside, the rain now just a faint mist. "Terra is home. She's inside cooking dinner. You know I don't like her," she said. Terra was Starr's stepmother and she didn't hate Terra, she just strongly disliked her. Terra was always complaining about Starr and gave her a ridiculous curfew of 8:30.
"She's just trying to protect you," her dad argued. Starr rolled her eyes.
"You mean overprotect me?"
They were in the house by now and her dad, Barnett, slipped out of his shoes and headed toward the kitchen.
"Terra," said Barnett as he kissed her cheek, then washed his hands. "How's your day been?" Terra, stirring the gravy said,"Okay I guess, Starr has been doing much of nothing to help me out around the house." Starr always listened to everyone's conversation, so she knew what was going on. She stomped into the kitchen, unsatisfied with the not very good review of her helping out. "You seemed like you didn't want my help. And, I took the trash out. Does that not count?"
Terra didn't look up but mumbled something under her breath.
"What did you say?" asked Starr.
Terra rolled her eyes slightly and said,"Nothing."
"I'm going to the park," said Starr as she grabbed her blue, leather jacket.
"With who?" questioned Terra.
"Sean," replied Starr quickly while walking out the door before her stepmom could say anything else.
Sean was already waiting outside in his kind of new convertible. Starr cautiously opened the passenger side door and sat down. The rough leather of the seat was uncomfortable against her back, which resulted in a lot of moving around.
"Nice car,huh?" asked Sean, certainly overestimating the "niceness" of the car. But, Starr decided it would be easier to just agree with him than to try to convince him otherwise.
"Uh, yeah. I love the.." Starr paused. "Windows," she finally said. Sean looked at her, his eyebrows crooked and said,"You don't like it, do you?"
Starr smiled and shrugged.
"It doesn't matter, as long as you like it I'm fine with it. It suits you, I think."
He gave her a puzzled look.
"So an uncomfortable, scratched up, and horrible paint jobbed car suits me?" Starr just nodded and replied,"Yep."

"So does your dad know where we're going?" Sean asked.
"I told them we were going to the park, why?" Sean sighed and looked at Starr.
"Do you ever tell the truth?" The sweat beads on his forehead gleamed in the sun.
"There he is," said Starr, now whispering, and pointed toward a tall, dark, man dressed in a wine colored satin cloak. His hair was as black as a moonless night. Starr turned the crystal Star Pendant over in her hands and brushed her thumb over it's smooth surface. She walked, slow and unsure. She turned around.
"Sean com on," she called out, and he quickened his pace. He caught up with her, and realizing they were now only a few yards away from the man, who hadn't said a word, he pulled the collar of his shirt away from his we neck and whispered," Are you sure this is a good idea?" Starr tried to answer calmly but inside she was just as scared about this as Sean was. "Look, we're getting $400 for this thing. It's totally worth it," she replied, but to herself she whispered,"I hope." The man looked up, his gaze locked on Starr. He tilted his hat up, revealing his dark, shadowed eyes.
"You've brought the pendant?" he asked and glanced at the object in her hand. She breathed slowly, in and out. Why did she feel so intimidated by this man? "Uh yes, I did. You can just give me the money, I'll give you the pendant and we can leave." She stretched out her arm, and dropped the pendant in his open hand.
"What's your name?" The cloaked man asked. She wondered if she should tell him or not. "Starr." Was all she said.
He questioned further. "Starr who?"
She rolled her eyes, a bit annoyed, but finally said," Starr Fitz."
The man's expression darkened. He snapped his fingers. Sean, who hadn't said a word the whole time, looked at Starr and widened his eyes. Suddenly Starr was lurched up and carried off into the sky. She screamed and clawed at the razor sharp talons digging into her bloody arms. "Starr!" she could hear Sean calling out to her. The cloaked man's attention turned to Sean. "I have no interest in your being," he snarled and grabbed Seans shirt and clenched his fist around it. He swiftly pulled out a knife and held it about a millimeter away from Sean's neck. "You'll go home, you won't remember what you saw, and you'll never come back here," he said. With the man's power of persuasion, Sean did as told. Starr couldn't see where she was going.
Her hair blew in tousles over her face and the strong winds forced her eyes shut. The drop from the air to the cold, concrete floor felt like forever. The giant vultures talons loosened and let go of Starr's arm. She cried out in suprise and relief before she caught a glimpse of her bloody, clawed arm. She hit the floor hard and right on her shoulder. She groaned out in pain as her shoulder felt like it was getting ripped off, but it wasn't. Her eyes wouldn't open, and she realized her face was wet with tears. Her arms were dirty and raw and crusted with blood. "What do we do with her, Xander?" asked one of his henchman. Xander, also known as the cloaked man, stepped forward to look at Starr. Though the sight of her to many people would cause them to cringe, and try to help her, Xander slightly kicked her left side to see if she was still conscious, and said," Bring her to one of the bedrooms. If the mark appears, tell me." They grabbed her limp arms and hauled her off to the room in the left wind of the huge mansion.

Starr opened her eyes and looked around the room. "Where am I?" she said to herself. "At Xander Colff's mansions," answered a tall man, dressed nicely in a suit and tie. Starr scooted back in her bed some.
"Who are you," she asked. He walked toward her and sat down on the side of her bed. "I'm Kent. I work for Xander," he answered. She didn't even know who this Xander person was. It was strange how Kent seemed to know that since he further explained,"Xander is the leader of the revolution. You saw him before he brought you here, right? Black hair, cloak?" She remembered him and suddenly remembered also, how she had gotten here. "Yes, I remember that man. He had a huge bird bring me here. My arms still hurt."
Kent replied,"Ah, yes. Sorry about that. Our ways of transportation are limited." Starr nodded but thought this man owns a mansion. And his ways of transportation are limited? Starr didn't say anything for a while, so Kent broke the silence. "Man, nobody told me the girl who was brought here was so hot." Starr blushed, but then remembered she wasn't on this man's side. "Well, when can I leave? Today's my sixteenth birthday and-" A searing pain burst through her wrist and she clenched her fist tightly, which helped a little. The pain faded, and slowly she turned over her wrist to reveal a mark. A white, bright star which seemed to almost glow, no it was glowing. It looked oddly familiar, and suddenly Starr knew exactly what it looked like. The Star Pendant.