Marked

We walked back inside as soon as we landed. Scarlet was still at the table, poring over a book. It looked so ancient that I thought it was going to crumple in her hands any second. The notebook next to her was filled with runes and sketches of words so ancient they were mostly forgotten. Ever since Scarlet got her hand, she had been trying to figure out how it worked, so she could make one for her leg.

“Hey,” I said, dropping into a chair across from her.

“Hey,” she said. Nick disappeared, heading towards his room. “What should I do with all these requests?” Scarlet pointed to a stack of papers on the table. The highest order of Mortem was required to take on as many contracts as they could, according to rules that had been set in stone long ago. It was so that the other orders wouldn’t have as much stress. Looking at the pile of papers, I could tell that it would be too much to handle. We could either refuse to accept them or hand them over.

“Hand them over,” I said. “Go in order for which group gets the most.”

“Which branch would be the highest?” Scarlet asked. “I mean, there are probably people in Dragonside on par with our assassination skills, so do you want them to do it, or us?”

I ran a hand through my hair. I hadn't paid attention to Mortem in such a long time that the once powerful organization was falling apart.

“We should get renamed,” I blurted out. Scarlet raised an eyebrow. “We’re the highest branch in Mortem now. We’re not X5 anymore. We’re X0. It would take care of all of these problems, and it would structure.”

“True,” Scarlet said slowly. “When Danny comes back, we can get new tattoos and stuff.”

“This could also help with renaming our branches,” I said. “They need tattoos, too.”

Scarlet put a hand on my arm. “You’re stressing too much,” she said. “This is a really small matter. The leaders should only worry about the big stuff. The reason you have people that work for you is so that they handle the smaller issues. Seriously, don’t worry. I can handle this. Or anyone else for that matter. Your job is to make sure that  everything is going smoothly.”

I blushed slightly. She was right. “I don’t think of you as people who work under me,” I grunted. Scarlet smirked. I forgot that she was several years older than I was. I took a deep breath. “Thanks,” I said.

“No problem,” Scarlet said.

I stood up. “I’m going to go meet with my grandpa,” I said. Scarlet nodded. I went out the door and teleported. I was standing in the middle of a grove of cherry blossom trees. Without sparing them a second glance, I ran past them. At last, I got to the very end of the rows of trees. There was an old, gnarled, ugly oak tree that ruined the picturesque scene. Under the tree, I saw my grandpa.

“Grandpa?” I called out, slightly uncertain. He turned around and nodded slightly. There was no greeting or anything. Very rarely did he spare emotions on me. That was his way of showing tough love.

“Castor,” he said when I got closer.

“What did you want to talk to me about?” I asked. Neither one of us would waste our breath on formalities.

“I’m sorry for taking your apprentices away,” Grandpa said. I had already forgiven him for doing that. I had been feeling like they needed a new teacher, one with a different perspective who ran things differently. Besides, they were already pretty good mages.

“That’s fine,” I said. “Was there anything else?”

“The revolution,” Grandpa said. “You know about it, right?” I nodded. “They’re starting to target humans.”

“Snake?” I asked.

“Of course! Who else?” Grandpa roared. He took a deep breath. “Look, he was working with Pollux. He hates humans, too. The Zodiac War will happen all over again.”

“But people are revolting,” I said. “It won’t be as easy to gain control.”

“Yes, but how much can humans do against the powers of a mage?” Grandpa said.

“So you want me to stop this in its tracks,” I said.

Grandpa nodded. “However, it’s going to be harder this time.”

I crossed my arms. “What do you mean?” I asked slowly.

“I want Mortem to become good,” Grandpa said. I tilted my head, asking for him to elaborate. “Mortem had been seen as evil because you assassinated people, even if they were bad people, in secret. Actually join an army. Make it so that people aren’t scared of you.”

“No,” I said. “The entire purpose of Mortem is to kill people from the shadows. I will not do this, so people will openly recognize that we are good.”

Grandpa shrugged. “Fine, have it your way, but promise me one thing. If one side in this war clearly becomes bad, promise me that you will fight against that side, even if it’s mine.”

The corners of my lips twitched. “This isn’t a war yet,” I said. “But, yes, I do promise.” I turned and was about to teleport away when Grandpa said something.

“What?” I asked, turning back around.

“I’m dying,” Grandpa said more clearly.

This didn’t surprise me. The first reason was that Grandpa was old. The second reason was that each time I looked at his aura in the Cross World, the smaller it seemed to me. At first, I thought my mind was playing tricks on me, but then I realized that the difference was too significant to be ignored.

“I know,” I simply said. “Why do you look so sad about it?”

“What do you mean why do I look sad?” Grandpa snapped. “Maybe it’s because I’m dying?!”

“Well, do you have any regrets? Is there anything in this world that you’ve wanted to do, but you haven’t?” I asked.

Grandpa hesitated. “No,” he said.

I shrugged. “Then why are you sad? Your life was long, and you enjoyed it. Be grateful. Besides, at your age, wouldn’t it be boring to live longer when there’s nothing left to do?”

“Going by that, what am I supposed to do when I’m dead?” Grandpa asked.

“Doesn’t our family live in the Realm of the Dead?” I asked. “Go see them. I’m sure Grandma would be overjoyed to see you.”

“You’re right.” Grandpa sighed. He looked up at the ugly tree. “Maybe it won’t be so bad to die.”

“Just don’t commit suicide or anything,” I warned.

Grandpa snorted. “What? You think that the person who brought you up is that foolish? I brought you up after all!”

I rolled my eyes. “Whatever,” I said.

“Oh, and Castor! Come back here tomorrow at the same time. I need to tell you something!” Grandpa called.

I nodded. Bye.” I teleported back to my house.

Danny and Kenny were back. Pablo was standing on the beach, skipping shells across the surface of the water. He nodded to me, but said nothing else.

“How did it go?” I asked them.

“Pretty good,” Danny said. “We pulled the whole let’s-kill-him-in-this-empty-alley-in-a-place-where-there’s-no-law trick.”

I nodded. “Excellent.”

“Scarlet said you wanted to talk to me about the tattoos and stuff,” Danny continued.

I nodded. “Now that it’s official that we’re the strongest group, and everything is settled down- for the most part- it’s time that everything got back to normal. So, can you get rid of our X5 tattoos and tattoo X0 ones for us? It’ll be easier to rename the other branches too, if we do this.”

Danny nodded. “You didn’t have to give me such a long explanation. You could have just told me to, and I would do it, no questions asked.” I blushed slightly. That seemed so demanding to me. They were people, and they were older than me. On top of that, I respected them a lot more than I respected a lot of other people.

“Thanks,” I said. “Can we do it right now?”

“Yeah,” Danny said. “Let’s go to my room. All of my tools are there.” We exited the main room and walked down the hall till we reached his room. I had barely ever been in it.

We entered, and I was hit by the smell of guy. That sounds ridiculous, but when guys take up a room for a long amount of time, they leave this distinct odor behind. It’s different for each guy, but a girl can tell that a guy’s been there. On his bed were various stains that I did not want to ask about. It seemed to be more personal. That was the only item of furniture in the room except for a fridge on the other side of the room. Empty beer bottles lined the sides. Danny opened up a closet and began to set up his equipment.

I hadn’t gotten a tattoo in a long time. Danny’s master was the one who had put ink on my body for the first time. There was some intricate magic involved in that. I couldn’t replicate it, no matter how hard I tried. Most people couldn’t. Tattoos like these held some serious magic.

“Sit.” Danny patted the seat. I took a seat, and Danny let out a snort of laughter. “I thought you’ve gotten a tattoo before!”

“I have!” I could feel my cheeks burning up.

“Don’t you know that if you want a tattoo on your back, then you’ve got to expose the area of skin to me?” I could practically hear Danny smiling. I wiggled out of my tank top and dropped it onto the floor.

 Nobody except for Danny’s old master and Nick had seen my back this clearly. I felt exposed. My tattoo of the Angel of Death with his scythe seemed to burn on my back in front of Danny’s eyes. The faded tissue of where X8 was once written was shiny and gleamed in the light. Danny carefully ran his fingers over the X5 tattoo, his aura and the magic coming off of the tattoo reacting with each other.

The tattoos had unique properties. They were blessed with magic from the Angel of Death. Only people recognized by official members of Mortem could see them. If someone else saw them and tried to replicate them, the faint pulse of energy that could normally be seen coming from it wouldn’t copy over, and they would be discovered as an imposter.

Danny muttered something, and I could feel the magic disappearing from my back. I shifted uncomfortably as the tattoo disappeared. Danny clucked his tongue, and I held still again. He turned and dropped something into a bowl. Out of the corner of my eye, I could tell that it was energy. He added some more magic to the bucket and began to mix it. When he pressed the mixture to the nape of my neck, I hissed in pain. It was freezing cold, but it burned worse than what I remembered.

“Just a little longer,” Danny muttered. The energy was reacting with my aura. I wanted to scream and run out of the room before jumping into the ocean outside. I was about to do that when Danny lifted up his hand. I let out a sigh of relief.

“Finished!” Danny proclaimed. I stood up, conjured a mirror, and twisted my body around until I could see most of my back. The X5 had become a pink and puckered scar, and the X0 was dark, black, and bold.

“Amazing,” I breathed. “Thank you.”

“No problem,” Danny said. “I’m assuming that the rest of us would need this, too.”

I nodded. “Yeah. We’re renaming the groups, and that requires tattoos.” I looked at him apologetically. “You’re the only one who can do the tattoos.”

“Looks like I’ll have my hands full.” Danny grinned slightly. I was about to apologize, but he cut me off. “Don’t feel sorry. My job is to follow what you said. Besides, this way, I won’t have to worry about failing any missions.”

“Thank you,” I said. I put my tank top back on and walked out of the room.