***
The next day was a Saturday, and I woke up around nine. I wasn’t sure when I had fallen asleep, but it couldn’t have been much earlier because my body ached with fatigue. When I went to the bathroom to splash water on my face, I hardly even recognized myself. My eyes were puffy and encased in dark circles, my skin pale. I put on some makeup so I wouldn't look so awful, when my stomach growled. Hunger pains shot through me. I tried to think of the last thing I’d eaten, but couldn’t remember. This wasn’t good at all, and I knew I needed to get something in me.
I found Mom and Dad in the kitchen making breakfast. Farrell sat at the table working on a puzzle, something my dad had always done to ease his mind. I grabbed a biscuit but my stomach knotted. Suddenly the idea of eating made me want to hurl. I put it back on the plate, pushed it away, and decided to go directly into my questions.
"There are some things I don’t understand," I blurted out, not really sure how to ease into a conversation about my death.
"Sure," Mom said, sitting next to me. "We thought you might."
"I don’t get energy beings. What does that mean? How does that…work?"
Dad sat on a stool by the kitchen island. "Let me begin with explaining the human brain. There are about a hundred billion neurons in the brain, the same number of stars in the galaxy. Each neuron connects to a thousand other neurons. These neurons communicate with each other and transmit information throughout the body. All this information, when added together, forms an electrical discharge, or a nerve impulse."
"Energy," I muttered.
"Yes, energy," Mom said. "It propels the body into action. With Transhumans, the neurons work the same, except we have more of them."
"More?"
"Yes, at least double. That’s how we’re able to do the things we do."
I thought of how Mom and Dad had been shielding me, how Farrell appeared in Infiniti’s house when that black mist tried to get me, how he had healed his arm from that blast of energy from Tavion, and how he could hear me in my room from down the hall. They were more than human. For the first time since playing the cards at Infiniti’s, I thought I might be okay. Like they could protect me…this time.
"Anything else?" Dad asked.
The smell of sizzling bacon filled the air. Usually I loved bacon, but not today. My twisted stomach just couldn’t take it. If anything, I needed to get out into the cool air, but I wasn’t finished yet. "Yeah, I’ve got another question. Why me? Why am I marked and not someone else?"
Farrell moved his chair closer to mine. Mom and Dad fell silent. I could see so many emotions in their faces. Hurt. Worry. Guilt. I braced myself for their answer because it couldn’t be good.
"Dominique, the prophecy of the marked one is ancient," Dad said. "It is said that the marked one will be chosen at random and will be identified by a mark at the nape of the neck." He rubbed his stubbled face, almost afraid to go on. "A red mark symbolizing the touch of the Tainted."
My hands went to the back of my neck while a ripple of horror ran through me.
"Dominique, we don't know why it’s you. There is no explanation," Mom said. She reached out for my hand, but I drew it away. I didn’t want her sympathy. "We did everything we could to remove the mark, but nothing worked. And then we hoped that somehow your life would be spared, that the Tainted would perhaps not pursue you, but they do in every life." Her eyes watered. "Dominique, not a day goes by that your father and I don't agonize over your fate, wondering what we could've done differently to spare you."
Tears filled my eyes. "So my mark can't be removed? Not even with your...abilities?"
"There is no way that we know of," Dad said. "Yet."
Despair flooded me. Like the walls closing in and suffocating me. I felt sorry for my Mom and Dad, but at that moment, all I wanted was to get away and be alone with my thoughts when I realized something. I was their daughter, the offspring of Transhumans, but I was normal. I didn’t even have an aura.
"Wait a second," I said. "Why am I not like you? I mean, if I’m your daughter, then I should be just like you guys, right?"
I looked at Mom and Dad, and then Farrell. His eyes met mine before he cast them down. He knew their answer.
"We don’t understand either," Dad said. "The Tainted say…" he stopped for a moment before he continued, "you’re an abomination. That that the red mark at the back of your neck is a sign of death. That you should be eliminated because you are not one of us."
A ripple of horror ran through me and my body shook. I was a freak of nature with a death stamp on my body and nobody could save me, not even them.
"We’re not going to let anything happen to you," Farrell said. "I promise."
How could he promise me anything when I had died already eight times? How could any of them help me?
Just then the doorbell rang. The timing couldn’t have been better.
When I opened it, I found Infiniti. It had to have been around fifty degrees outside, yet she wore shorts, a sweatshirt, and flip-flops. "Hey! You look…good!" she said. I could tell she was lying because I knew I looked like shit.
"Yeah, right," I said with a laugh.
Infiniti walked in. "Okay, maybe you do look a little out of it, but you’ve been through a lot! I mean hell, you got amnesia and a concussion from that tornado. All I got was stupid amnesia. I could’ve used a few more days off from school."
So she totally believed the tornado story that Farrell had made up. I just hoped her memory wouldn’t return. She looked around, as if waiting for an invitation to come in and hang out, but I needed to get out of there. But what about Tavion? I remembered my parents telling me I was safe, that they had reinforced my shield. But should I risk it? Trent’s words echoed in my mind. It’s harder to play it safe than it is to live.
He was right. I wasn’t going to live in fear. Not anymore. I was sick of it.
"Hey, let’s go to your house. Mine is boring. And my parents are home."
"Yeah, sure, whatever you want."
She waited at the door while I went to Mom and Dad. "You guys said I was safe, that you had reinforced my shield, right?"
Mom hesitated before answering. "Yes. That’s right."
She knew exactly what I wanted to do, leave the house, and she wasn’t thrilled. "Well, I’m going to Infiniti’s then. I’ll see you guys later."
Farrell stood, like he didn’t want me to go. Dad stopped him with a wave of his hand. "Go on," Dad said. "You should be fine, but if something happens, call for Farrell."
Worry and sadness covered Mom's and Dad's faces. I couldn't leave like that, no matter how badly I needed to escape the sorrow. "Mom, Dad, it wasn't your fault."
Finally, I had let them off the hook. Now all I could do was hope that they'd figure something out here in Houston— before it was too late.