part0009

I looked around. It was morning. The sun shone in through the window, blinding me. I remembered the carving in the wall as I looked back over at it, confirming it was true.

“Hey, do you know these two names?” I asked Logan.

Logan walked over to the wall to get a better look. “Yeah, they used to live in this cabin a long time ago.”

“I think I know who they are, Matt is a sheriff in Rockport and Amelia was an FBI agent.”

“Not everyone in the Order stays in Dracfort. Once you complete your training, they send you out into the real world to live a normal life. You report back any weird signs of Cambion or Nephilim activity. They were probably there to protect you in Rockport.”

I nodded to him as he was probably right. I stood up and quickly changed my clothes.

“You’ve played capture the flag before, right?” he asked me, opening the door.

“Yeah. My friend Jason and I used to play it in the woods behind my house.”

“Great; we’re going to need help if we’re going to win this time.”

I followed him outside, the sun barely in the sky as we jogged toward the arena. Standing on one side of the arena were about twelve people in red clothing. I looked around; there were about the same number of people standing around me, this time in blue clothing.

“Hello, students. Today, we will be having our capture the flag competition,” Mrs. Crane called out. “We all know what is on the line for today. The red team has won the last five competitions, holding the bragging rights. The winners of today’s challenge will not only receive bragging rights but will also force the losing team to clean the living area.”

Everyone let out a mix of cheers and boos. I understood the training, but just felt like there was so much more going on out in the real world, and we were just hiding in this place. I needed to show Josiah that I was ready to take on the Syreni. The only way I could do that was to follow with the training.

“Remember, you can use any means necessary to capture the opponent’s flag. The only thing I ask is do not kill another student. Yes, I am talking to you Mr. Parker; harness your powers, control your feelings. Nephilim, Cambion, and humans, you are all here because you have a gift. A gift that will one day be called upon to protect this world from the evils that exist. If your spirit animal chooses today to come out, remain calm, and control it.”

“Blue team, you will be going with Dexter, red team is with me. The competition will start in thirty minutes.”

Mrs. Crane and the red team quickly jogged into the woods, out of sight. I looked around at who was on my team. Logan, Autumn, and a bunch of other kids I didn’t know were with me. This could be my chance to speak with her.

“Ok, kids, sorry I’m late,” Dexter said as he approached with our flag. “We’re going to go to the top of the hill and hide the flag. I’m thinking six of us stay back to defend it while six go for the enemy flag.”

“What happens if the opposing team sees you?” I asked nervously.

“They can see you, but if they get a hold of you, they can remove you from the competition,” Dexter said.

“What Dexter is saying is don’t get caught, killer,” one of the other kids on my team said. “They have free wind to do some pain to you. ”

“Why are we playing a game when the Syreni are out there feeding Aurora?” I asked, instantly regretting it.

“Mark, you may be the chosen one, but you are going to need people to stand with you. That is what we are doing here, we are building a team. What happened last time you faced the Syreni?”

“You’re right, I shouldn’t have said that.”

“No, seriously, tell them what happened the last time you faced the Syreni,” Dexter pressed harder.

The other students nervously awaited an answer. I felt the rage inside me grow as I thought back to that terrifying night. I looked down at my reflection in the sword. My eyes had a red glow to them.

“They killed everyone I cared about.”

“Do you think if you went back to Rockport right now, you could defeat the Syreni and Aurora by yourself?”

“I said I get it,” I replied, clenching my fists.

“Breathe, Mark,” Autumn cut in.

“Let’s go,” Dexter said, leading the way through the woods.

I took a few deep breaths to calm down before following the group. At the top of the hill was a small clearing with a single tree in the middle of it. Trying to catch our breath from the hike, we heard a horn go off, signaling the start of the game.

“Ok, it has begun; you six defend that flag. Logan and Charlotte pair up, scout the area that way. Mark and Autumn, you guys go that way. Everyone take a wooden sword and armor. Remember guys, be safe, stay low, and don’t get captured. I’m sick of being on the losing team.”

“Let’s go,” Autumn said as she walked past me.

I was still in shock that I was paired up with her. It was even more of an incentive to speak with her. As we descended the hill, that familiar eerie feeling came over me, the same one I got in the woods behind the drive-in—like a pronounced silence, the stillness of someone watching me.

“Hey, what are you doing?” Autumn whispered, crouching behind a tree.

I walked over to her and crouched next to her. “Sorry. I was just thinking about how quiet it is.”

“Good, keep it that way. Let’s stay here a little while and see if we can see anyone coming.”

“Okay, sounds good. So you’re Josiah’s daughter?”

“Yeah, I’m sure you’ve heard all about me already from the others.”

“I’m sure you’ve heard all about me too.”

“Everyone here knows about the ‘chosen one’, and no one here knows the real Mark Parker. It’s your life, write your own destiny.”

She was right, ever since I’d been here, everyone had been saying my fate was to save the world. I might well be this chosen one but that didn’t mean I couldn’t do it my way.

“So, how did Josiah adopt you?”

“He saved me when I was a little girl. I don’t remember much about back then; the doctors say I suppressed all my memories of being a kid. Josiah said I came from a horrible family who abandoned me, and he wanted to protect me. Why are you asking me so many questions anyway?”

“Sorry, just wanted to get to know you. Everyone says you’re weird, but I don’t see that.”

“Listen, everyone here is here for a reason. They all have a gift and swore to serve the Order against the evil that exists. I didn’t have a choice. I was forced to come here and have been here my entire life. Forgive me if I come off as weird; I’m just sick of meeting new people and watching them go out into the real world while I’m stuck here. Now shut up and let’s keep moving.”

Even with her yelling at me, I couldn’t help but feel a connection grow. An outsider, forced to be someone she didn’t agree to be? We had more in common than I thought.

“Are you staring at my butt?” she asked abruptly, turning around.

“No, of course not, I mean not that I wouldn’t, you’re very pretty,” I said, feeling my face heating up.

In that moment I thought about Veronica, the girl that changed everything for me. My first kiss, my first love, gone forever at the hands of my mother. Lexi entered my mind too, the girl I thought I was falling for. I thought she’d be there for me, but she betrayed me for the seven.

“Just stay low, don’t be seen.” Autumn demanded.

We made our way through the woods over the next twenty minutes or so before we finally came to a steep descent.

“See it?” Autumn whispered, crouching again behind a tree.

I looked down at the bottom of the hill and noticed a creek ran through the middle of the woods. In body of the creek, a red flag was tied to a branch.

“Seems too easy; they are definitely watching it,” she said, looking farther.

A raven flew by us, up into the trees, circling the area. I looked over at Autumn; her eyes were closed and she was sitting propped up against the tree.

“Autumn, are you ok?”

“Yeah, I’m fine,” she said, opening her eyes. “What’s the play here? ”

Just as I was about to answer, I heard a scream echoing through the forest. I looked around and felt dizzy. The morning light was replaced by darkness. Only the light of the moon shone through the trees around me.

“Autumn!” I screamed.

I stood up in confusion and walked around. I quickly acknowledged I wasn’t on the hill anymore. I walked through the woods and heard a faint noise that echoed up ahead. I jogged as the noise grew louder, like someone talking. I reached a building and peered around the corner. I dropped to my knees and shook my head, trying to snap out of it.

In front of me, cars were parked at the drive-in, a movie playing on the screen. The concessions shop was in the corner of the lot; I must have been having another vision of Rockport. I heard a noise behind me, and quickly crawled into a bush beside the building. This could be the bush that Jason and I had hidden in, the night Mr. Fink almost caught us in his office.

The noise grew louder as someone walked right, almost stepping on my hand. They jogged through the parking lot, into one of the cars parked in the lot. I focused in on the lot and was stunned to see Charles, Rachel, Katherine, Russell, Ryan, and Jimmie sitting in two cars in the parking lot. How were they just at the movies after everything that had happened?

I got up and ran back through the woods, trying to wake up from this nightmare. I tripped over something and slammed into the dirt, my head hitting the earth, forcing me to shut my eyes. As they opened again, I saw only Andrea’s eyes, staring right back at me from ground level. Empty, staring—dead.

“Mark, what is going on?”

I was back on the hill. Did I just have a vision of the past? I had to have done; Andrea’s body was found in those woods behind the drive- in. That could have been Ryan running by me in those woods after he’d killed Andrea.

“Mark?” Autumn whispered louder, pushing on my shoulder.

“I’m here, sorry, I was just looking around.”

“Your eyes went black, it’s like you were gone.”

I wanted to tell her about my visions, but just down the hill I could see two people from the red team walking our way. Lying down in the leaves beside her, I pointed just up ahead. Just as they were about to reach us, a crackling, like a branch being snapped came from the other side of the creek. They quickly turned around and walked back down the hill as we took a sigh of relief.

I looked around and saw Logan waving to us as he descended the hill slowly. He must have stepped on a branch because the two people from the red team looked up in his direction.

“It’s about to go down,” Autumn whispered.

Suddenly, about ten people from the red team stood up out of the leaves and ran toward Logan. Our own team dashed toward them from the top of the hill.

“While they’re distracted, we go for the flag,” she demanded.

I nodded and watched as the two teams met on the hill. Swords were swinging at each other as bodies collided.

We slowly descended the hill, trying to remain as quiet as possible. We made our way down the steep brush and finally reached the edge of the creek. Just as we were about to run for the flag, two reds jumped out from the bushes.

“Autumn,” Callie said, raising her sword.

“Callie,” Autumn responded, pulling her sword out.

Devin was standing beside Callie, and he gave me a look. I knew what he was trying to say right away as the tension between the girls grew. They must not have liked each other; you could see the hate in their eyes.

“Get the flag, Mark,” Autumn demanded as she swung her sword at Callie.

I quickly ran through the ice-cold creek as they fought.

“You know I can’t just let you take it, Mark,” Devin laughed, raising his sword.

“I’m taking that flag, Devin.”

Standing in the freezing water, I pulled the wooden sword out of my belt. I swung it toward Devin, as he blocked it with a shield. I tried to move through the knee-high water but could barely keep my balance. I looked over at the girls on land; they both had amazing sword skills. I looked back at Devin, his sword striking me on the shoulder, knocking me down into the water. The anger inside me grew as I tried to stand up. I stood up and saw Devin wasn’t the only red standing in front of me anymore. Next to him were two more guys from the red team. Their swords were drawn, ready to fight. They were a lot bigger than Devin, but I raised my sword anyway. Dripping, soaked head to toe in freezing water, I was ready to fight. The flag was blowing in the wind just behind them.

“Stay down, freak,” the one uttered, pushing Devin out of his way.

“Kayden, he’s out, leave him alone,” Devin demanded.

“Thomas, keep Devin back while I show this freak he doesn’t belong here,” Kayden uttered. “Either stay down or I’ll keep you down.”

The rage grew inside of me as I stood my ground.

“So be it,” Kayden said, moving toward me through the water.

The pain from my shoulder prevented me from raising my sword higher. I stared at Kayden in the eyes; he looked as angry as I felt. He swung at me as I moved out of the way and dropped my sword into the flowing creek .

“Go back to your demon family,” he said as he moved closer. “I am the future of this place, not you!”

He lunged at me and swung his shield, knocking me into the water again. I quickly got back to my feet and swung at him with my fist, connecting with his face. He dropped his sword and swung back at me as a severe pain came over me. The rage inside me grew stronger. I could no longer keep it in. I didn’t want to keep it in anymore.

I raised my hand toward him and let out with a scream, releasing all the anger built up in me. His body flew backward along with the water around him. I squeezed my fist tighter and walked through the now empty creak toward him. His body lay on the rocks as the creek flowed over him again. He struggled to get back up, and I held him down with my mind. Something in me was holding him under the water, stopping him from getting up.

An image of Ryan entered my mind, the knife he’d used to stab Jason over and over again. I squeezed harder as I began to feel blood running down my cheek. I could see him struggling to breathe, drowning under the water.

“Mark, you’re killing him!” Devin yelled.

I ignored him and pressed harder, feeling the power take over, consuming me. I could see Aurora, waiting in the tunnels below Rockport, growing in strength.

“Let him go, you freak!” Thomas yelled, running to Kayden’s aid.

I took my other hand and waved it at Thomas, watching as his body flew out of the creek into a tree.

“Mark, think of your friends; you can’t get justice for them this way!” Dexter yelled as he came into the water.

Veronica entered my mind in that instant, walking on a beach, in a pure white dress. The waves crashed at her feet, sun set in the background. She nodded at me and smiled .

Out of nowhere, a raven flew in and flapped its wings in my face, knocking me out of the trance I was in. The darkness in me subsided, and I dropped to my knees. Kayden sat up from underneath the chilling water, gasping for air.

“I’m sorry,” I whispered, looking at my hands. My veins, like black lines, covered my hands and arms.

I looked around at everyone from both teams. Their faces showed pure terror. The terrified looks scared me, proving I was a freak. I looked over at Autumn and a single line of blood ran down her cheek.

Dexter walked down into the water and stood between me and Kayden.

“Everyone listen up!” he demanded. “Did everyone see what just happened? That right there is what we are going to be facing when the war between good and evil calls us. Mark will learn to control his powers, but this is a good example of things to come. There are twenty-three of you standing around Mark. Not one of you stepped in to stop him from doing more harm to Kayden or Thomas. This is why you are here, people; you are here to train, not for fun. When you come face to face with the Syreni, with Aurora, you mustn’t hesitate. Human, Nephilim, or Cambion, you must feel the light in you, use your training, trust your team. Now, everyone, go back to camp, the game is cancelled, and you all failed.”

“I’m sorry, Dexter,” I said as he walked past me.

“You’re dead, freak,” Thomas whispered as he helped Kayden out of the creek.

“Come on, Mark,” Callie said as Logan pulled me out of the water.

“I don’t know how to control it guys,” I said as Callie, Logan, Devin, and Laila walked with me.

“You held Kayden down while throwing Thomas out of the water,” Logan said. “You have immense powers Mark, you need to try harder to control it. ”

“Mark, that was awesome.” Devin laughed.

“Starting tomorrow, we’re going to help you control this,” Callie urged.

“What, so he can kill us too?” Devin asked.

“Devin, shut up, you’re not helping,” Laila cut in, pushing him up the hill.

The rest of the walk back to the camp was silent. I was embarrassed by my actions, and I felt I couldn’t be this ‘chosen one’ everyone wanted me to be. The cold air made me even more freezing against my already wet skin. I was shivering by the time we got back.

“Mark, come with me,” Callie said, pulling me from the rest of the group.

She led me back to her cabin, where she and Laila lived.

“You’re shivering Mark, take those wet clothes off,” she insisted.

“I’m fine Callie.”

“Mark, I have a dryer here, it will take less than an hour,” she demanded, reaching in her drawers.

She grabbed a pair of baggy shorts and a big shirt. Shivering, I just wanted to curl up in my bed back in Rockport and wake up from this horrible nightmare.

“Mark, your lips are turning blue, you need to change out of those clothes,” she said, getting angry with me.

I felt the cold covering my entire body, my heart rate slowing down. I felt as if I was trapped, like I couldn’t move from the spot. I wanted to close my eyes, but the shivering kept me awake. I sat down on the bed and everything seemed to slow in that instance. I lay back in slow motion, like I was falling through time.

“Mark!” a voice screamed, forcing my eyes open.

I sat up in bed and looked around. I wasn’t in the cabin anymore. Dark, sun peeking in through the boards barely lit the room around me. Boards were all over the windows. I ran down the dark hallway, flipping light switches along the way, but nothing worked. Finally, I reached the front door of the house. I took a deep breath and pulled the handle to the door. The sun blinded me as I squinted through it. I wiped my eyes repeatedly until I could see. Sand, as far as the eye could see in every direction. The bright sun bounced off of the dry particles, illuminating the air around me.

“Hello?” I screamed into the air with no answer.

I looked around further and noticed a car parked in the sand beside the house. I walked over to it and found a pair of binoculars in the front seat. I reached through the broken window and grabbed them. I climbed up on the roof of the car and wiped the lenses off. I looked through the binoculars at the immense dessert around me. I looked left and right but nothing was out there. Suddenly, something came into view, a dark object far away. I focused the lenses so I could get a better view. I couldn’t make out quite what it was, but it was big, and moving this way.

I continued watching as the object grew in size, two, then three times the size of the house. It was a few miles away but I had seen nothing like it before.

The wind picked up, throwing sand up onto the car. I could see in the distance; the black object had disappeared behind what looked like a tornado made of sand. I stumbled back and tripped off the car, slamming down onto the hard sand. I sat up and looked into the side of the car.

My reflection was an older me. I could see I had a beard. This must be the future, maybe the future if I fail. The sand tornado surrounded me and grit pierced my eyes. I fell back into the softness and thought of waking up.