I opened my eyes slowly, vaguely aware that I was sitting in what felt like a normal chair. Kinko was directly in my line of vision, and as my eyes adjusted, I saw her smirk.

“Whew, I was getting nervous!” she said.

“Did I actually run into a wall?” I asked, remembering now what had happened before I blacked out.

Kinko laughed. “You could say that, I suppose. It was probably like running into a wall. But, really, you just got introduced to Sue.”

“Could have fooled me; it sure felt like a wall,” I said.

Kinko giggled again. “Man, you’re funny, Mac! Well, let me know when you feel good enough to walk again, and I’ll have the Aussie lead you out of here.”

“You’re not going to mark me or whatever anymore?”

“Oh, we already did. While you were out cold.”

I looked down at myself, checking for missing limbs, and then felt my torso for any holes or cuts. I seemed to be okay. Maybe she was kidding? Meanwhile, Kinko watched me panic and was giggling. Michi Oba stood behind her and grinned at me. She was missing one of her front teeth.

“What did you do to me? What is getting marked, anyway?”

Michi and Kinko looked at each other and then burst out laughing. I didn’t like being toyed with. I felt my face and hair and ears, but they all felt normal, too. I decided that this just must be some sort of demented psychological mind game that they were playing.

“So I can really go? Just like that?” I asked.

“Yeah, the Aussie is outside waiting for you. He’ll make sure you get off school property okay again.”

“Why would you make sure I make it safely? You basically have declared open war on me and my school.”

“That may be true, but I’m not going to exact revenge on my home turf. I didn’t get this far by baiting the Suits like that.”

I nodded. Well, she may have been an insane and ruthless genius just like her brother, but at least she ran her business the right way. I had to respect her for that.

 

“What happened to you?” Hannah asked as soon as I got in her car.

“What do you mean? I’m pretty much right on time,” I said.

“No, what happened to your face?” The expression of horror and shock that she had worn was wiped away by a smile. Then she started snickering.

I flipped down the visor in her car, looking for a mirror. It didn’t have one. I reached out for the rearview mirror, and then Hannah smacked my hand away.

“Don’t touch,” she snapped.

“What did they do to my face?” I asked.

She just grinned again and shook her head.

I sighed and tried desperately to lean down in a way where I could see my face in the sideview mirror. I could see only part of it, but I could see enough to know that getting marked meant having Michi Oba draw or write stuff in thick black ink all over your face. I couldn’t tell what it was exactly, but it was on my cheek, forehead, chin, everywhere.

I leaned back in my seat and let out a sigh, which Hannah answered with another laugh. But at least this one was tinged with a little sympathy, too, if that was possible.

 

“I can’t believe you didn’t tell me that the money was— Holy, what happened to your face?!” Vince said when I walked into his room that day around four o’clock.

“I got marked,” I said, and sat down on his bed.

I looked in the mirror behind his bedroom door, even though I’d already had a good look when I’d gotten home earlier that afternoon. Michi was good, I’d give her that. She wrote thick black letters in a unique and eye-catching font. And they were big block letters, couldn’t be missed even from a hundred miles away, probably. She had covered almost 90 percent of my face with one word written several times: Narc.

I’d come to find out later that that was the true art of the mark. Michi Oba had a talent. She could look at you just once and know immediately what single word you would most hate to have plastered all over your face. The one word that would probably humiliate you the most. She didn’t even have to know you.

For me she’d nailed it. Especially after I’d narced myself out last year in order stop Dr. George.

“Wow. Have you tried washing it off?” Vince asked.

“No. I thought I’d leave it for a while. I kind of like it, you know?” I said.

Vince rolled his eyes. “Sorry I asked.”

“No, I’m sorry, Vince. I’m just annoyed. I spent all afternoon scrubbing my face until I was pretty sure I’d turn myself into Skeletor. I don’t know what kind of ink she used, but it’s super permanent. How will I explain this to my parents?”

Vince shook his head and sat down on the other end of the bed. He switched on his PlayStation and handed me one of the wireless controllers. I obviously didn’t feel much like video games right then, but I grabbed it anyway. Sometimes all you really need is a couple hours with a video game to make you forget about all the crappy stuff happening.

“So, what’s next, then?” Vince asked as he got Madden going. We normally preferred baseball or FPS video games above all else, but during the first few months of the football season it was almost always the newest Madden.

I shrugged as I selected one of the worst teams. I always did since I was so much better at Madden than Vince. It was probably the one thing I was actually better at than him.

“Did she give any hint of what they’ll do or when they’ll strike?”

“No,” I said.

Vince was getting frustrated. He always liked to have a plan, to be thinking ahead. So to have no good information, I thought, was driving him crazy.

“Are we going to fight back or just let you and the school suffer?” he asked.

“I think we should just see what happens next and decide then,” I said. “I mean, we’ve never been in this kind of spot before. I really don’t know what to do.”

Vince nodded. “Okay, sure. I mean, I guess it’s like my grandma says . . .”

I groaned, but already I felt a smile sneaking its way onto my marked face.

“‘Sometimes you just know the answer, and other times you need to wait for the arrival of Dr. Appleplasty and his team of über talented, talking lizard people.’”

And then in spite of everything else I laughed so hard I dropped my PlayStation controller, allowing Vince to score a touchdown on the first play of the game.