A Perfect World

Chapter 14

“We’ve got nothing!” I say, kicking my chair away from the desk and tossing my stack of papers onto the floor next to me. We had been researching for hours, trying to find anything on people coming back to life when they weren’t supposed to or a boy with gold eyes and white hair. We hadn’t found anything yet, but I did have almost 15 pages on the way The Marks of Fate, or The Marks of Destiny and the Fates, worked and what they represent, including one I didn’t even know existed. The Marks of Fate are things like the grayscale veins on everyone’s arms, caused by what is known as Moral Blood, Turning-Point Marks, the rainbow or black patches, Love’s Lines, the lines of dialogue on your wrists after your Turning-Point Mark has been activated, and Love, and Soul Marks, the tattoos that show who you’ve fallen in love with.

I almost hit myself in the face as I go to run my fingers through my hair when Matt appears next to me, collecting the papers off the ground.

“It’s more than the rest of us have. At least you’ve found things related to our subject, even if not directly.” He says, leafing through the pages and occasionally stopping to scan a section.

“All I found is stuff we already know. I found two new items of interest, but they’re basically just common sense.” I reply, exasperated. Jack appears new to Matt, and I almost fall off my chair again.

“I didn’t know any of this, Ayda. You’re doing better than me. I haven’t found anything worth my time yet.” Jack says, studying one of the last pages of my research, one of the ones on The Balance of Haiwa, most likely. The Balance is a legendary mark that many believed to be a myth. It only appears if the person has unbalanced some part of Destiny, or the Fates plans, 4 legendary deities that I personally don’t believe in. It usually appears as a black flame mark on the victim’s lower leg, neck, back, chest or arms made up of three pieces. From what I found, it’s believed to be extremely painful until whatever the person unbalanced is righted. If it isn’t rebalanced soon enough, the mark will take control of the person, rendering them immortal, and helpless to change that.

“The Balance of Haiwa is awful, isn’t it?” Claire says, almost making me fall and hit myself, both for the second time.

“Ohmagosh you guys can’t do that. I’ve almost fallen out of my chair twice in the last two minutes.” I say quickly, pulling myself back into the desk and scrolling through the internet some more, taking note of anything about The Marks, or Haiwa’s Balance and adding it to my research document. I add a few more pages and find two or three facts I didn’t know before, but nothing really helpful.

My phone vibrates loudly against the desk, so I pick it up and see that Emma is calling me.

“I’ll be right back. Emma is calling me.” I say before walking outside and taking the call.

“Hey, Emma. What’s up?”

<Hey, Aydin.> She says somberly.

“Emma? Is everything okay?”

<No… It’s not. Emory- Emory got shot, and she’s in the hospital now.>

“Do the doctors think she’ll be okay? Do you want us to meet you?”

<Yeah- Please. I- I don’t know what’s going to happen. She- she was unconscious when we got here.>

“Listen, Emma,” I say calmly and firmly, “Emory will be okay. She always is.” I hear Emma sniffling over the phone, before responding quietly, <Yes, I know.>

“Good. We’ll be there soon. Bye.”

<Bye.>

The soft buzzing of the call ending follows our exchange. I tuck my phone into my jacket pocket, feeling the added weight of my phone to my knife, which was in my pants pocket. I open the front door and quickly go back inside, stacking my papers into a neat stack and hurriedly saying, “We need to go.” As I walk to the garage and get into the driver’s seat.