The Marks

The Mark

My eyes flashed open as the annoying, repeated ringing of the alarm clock screamed beside me. My hand swung over towards my nightstand and slammed down on top of the clock to silence it. Normally, I would be still rubbing the sleep out of my eyes, but I felt like I had more energy than ever. I haven't been this awake in years.
I was puzzled as I walked towards the bathroom, intent on taking a shower. I paused mid-step as I felt the almost familiar sticky feeling on my lower arm.
I pulled at my long sleeve and let my other hand drop as I stared dumbly at the black mark on my arm. As anyone would think, the image was much sharper than it was in the dream. It definitely wasn't a Bateman's Purpura, but it looked more like a tattoo with the skin around it being slightly swollen.
This was the mark of a Fire Bender. It clicked in my head that my new powers might have gone off while I was asleep.
My head whipped towards my bed and I cringed. The sheets looked like a disaster: parts of the sheets had little singed holes in them; other parts were the color of a burnt marshmallow.
"Jesus Christ." I muttered.
How will I be able to explain this to anyone? Who's going to believe me? Oh, so I'm a bender. You know, the type of people that was suppose to have died off? Yup, that's me, I thought bitterly.
I quickly collected the sheets and pushed them in the corner before returning to my previous goal: I need to take a shower.
No matter what's going on right now, I just need one normal thing.
Thirty minutes later, I am completely clean and dressed. My stomach growled, protesting for food. I threw another worried glance at my bed before I shut my door.
As I collected the essentials for my usual breakfast I couldn't help but think about my new predicament. How am I going to cover the Mark up? It's the end of the school year and I live in Hawaii, an already hot collection of islands. I poured a bowl of cereal and milk and sat on one of the high chairs at the island.
"Good morning, Leilani."
I turned towards the voice, instantly recognizing it as my Grandmother, Noni. I smiled at her. I had nearly forgotten that Noni lived with us.
"Good morning, Noni." I greeted back.
"Quite the night last night. Very hot, don't you think?" Noni asked slowly, cocking her head to the side ever so slightly.
I nearly dropped my spoon in shock. I stared at her and I immediately knew that she knew as well.
"Noni.... Are you?" The words got stuck in my mouth rather pitifully.
To my great surprise, she nodded and walked closer toward me. I moved around on the chair to face her. She glanced to both sides before she moved one of her hands in front of me. The hand she had poking towards me stilled before a burst of a small flame lit just above her palm. It was the most beautiful flame I had ever seen in my life.
"Everyone has the ability to be magical, it just takes the right kind of mindsets to summon the magic of a lifetime. Your mother, your sister, your brother, everyone that we know; they all could have powers, but none of them have unlocked their powers." Noni said, her cupped hand still holding the majestic, yellow flame.
Suddenly, she intentionally shook her hand and let the flame sizzle out of existence with a tiny swish.
"How do I cover it up?" I asked.
There were a lot more questions on my mind, but I didn't want to overwhelm Noni.
"I have a thick leather bracelet I used to use before I started wearing my wrist brace. You can you use my bracelet." She said, turning on her heel.
She walked a lot faster than I thought she could. We made it into her room and she began shuffling through one of her old jewelry boxes. A few seconds later, she pulled out a leather bracelet.
It was beautiful. It was thick, thick enough to cover the Mark. It had a nice touch of femininity with three tight braids woven together. I could tell it wouldn't fall off because how small it was.
She handed it to me, and I slipped it on. It took a few seconds to wiggle it to the needed place, but I'd rather it take forever to put on then for it to slip off easily.
"Thank you, Noni."