The Marked Girl (17 page)

Liv gripped the steering wheel tighter. She had so many questions that only the professor could answer, but there was no way she was going back to ask him. And she couldn't bring herself to ask the questions out loud, although she knew Cedric must be thinking at least some of the same things. His only goal since coming over to this world was to find a scroll, and now
he had. But if he was thinking about somehow using her to get back to his home world, he wasn't saying so. Instead, he kept his mouth closed and his eyes trained on the rearview mirror.

And one more thing Liv couldn't say out loud—that the thought of him leaving, the thought of physically helping him to go, made her feel strangely empty, scooped out inside.

That was something she obviously had to keep to herself.

Liv tried to keep her attention on the Los Angeles skyline as it rose in the distance, its tall glass buildings twinkling in the night. It was better than seeing her own pale face in the rearview mirror, with the brand-new bruise she had just under her chin. She was collecting injuries at an alarming rate.

“I thought for a second I was going to die back there,” Liv finally said, her voice nearly a whisper.

Cedric's expression was stony. “I would not have let anything happen to you.”

“Because I'm the scroll?”

He tensed beside her, but she didn't know if it was because he was angry, or because she was right.

“That is not what I meant.”

Liv spotted their exit sign and watched as it grew nearer and nearer.

“Almost home,” she whispered, more to herself than to Cedric.

He looked away from her, out the side window.

“Almost.”

A
lthough it was nearly midnight when they finally got back to the house in Echo Park, Cedric and Liv weren't able to rest. Merek and Kat—who were still wired from their own mission—wanted to hear every last detail of what happened in San Diego, the professor, and their escape that almost wasn't.

When Cedric explained about Liv's “tattoo” and what it could mean—a one-way trip back to Caelum—Kat let out a whooping noise.

“You were right! The scrolls exist! I knew you were right,” Kat said, clapping a hand on Cedric's shoulder.

“And she never shut up about it, either,” Merek said, but his heart clearly wasn't in his customary sarcasm. He couldn't keep the smile—an actual smile—off his face. He didn't even flick his ever-present lighter as he eagerly took in Cedric's story.

“We still do not know what the next step should be . . . ,” Cedric began, sitting up straighter. Surrounded by his friends, he seemed more sure of himself than he had during the anxious car ride home.

“We will figure it out,” Kat replied. “We have a scroll now. And there are other things we know now, too.”

Cedric's eyebrows furrowed. “You found something at the museum?”

Kat smiled. “A wrath was waiting there, just as we thought.”

“Wait until you hear what she did,” Merek put in. “Even I can admit it was brilliant.”

Kat grinned. “Merek and I split up. He went to get the rest of our belongings, and I looked around the perimeter. The wrath was alone, and unprepared for me. I do not believe they really thought we would return. It was one of those who attacked us last night. I dragged him through the grate and into the tunnels, and I threatened him, but only a bit—”

“A bit?” Merek gave a sly grin. “When I caught up to you, the wrath looked more than ‘a bit' scared.”

“I would not want to be that wrath,” Cedric said.

“Anyhow,” Kat continued, clearly pleased, “the wrath said they were under orders to find ‘the marked one,' which I did not understand at the time—”

“He meant me,” Liv interjected. She was sitting a little outside their circle, and they all turned to look at her.

“That makes sense,” Kat finally said. “He also said he was not from here. He came from Caelum, like we did. He came through the portal shortly after us, on the orders of Malquin.”

“Malquin?” Cedric immediately became alert.

Kat nodded. “But he claimed he did not know where Malquin is now. He said only that his orders were to find us and discover what we knew about the ‘marked one.'”

“So Malquin is looking for the scrolls as well. Not only that,
but he knew the scrolls were in human form . . . ,” Cedric said. “Where is this wrath now?”

Kat averted her eyes. “Gone. When it had no more information to give, I thought it would be a good plan to let it go and then follow. I wanted to know if it was telling the truth, or if it might lead me to Malquin.”

Cedric nodded. “Smart.”

“It might have been,” Kat continued. “But the wrath got away from me in the alleyways several blocks from the museum.”

Cedric was quiet for a moment before shooting Kat a reassuring smile. “You did well. We know so much more now.”

Kat smiled. “And we might have finally found a way home.”

Liv could practically feel the mix of tension and excitement coursing off everyone in waves. She was just tired.

“Excuse me,” she said, standing up in the middle of a conversation about what their next steps should be, now that a scroll was “in their possession.” She knew that her input was important, and that, as the scroll in question, she should voice her opinion about what to do next. But whenever she closed her eyes to think, she instead pictured the professor's unnerving smile, the righteous look in his eyes when he had promised to end her life.

“Are you all right?” Cedric asked. He looked at her directly for what felt like the first time in hours.

“I just need some air,” Liv said and left to make her way toward the back porch.

Cedric stood. “Maybe I should go with you . . .”

Liv blinked. “Why?”

Cedric looked taken aback. After a moment, he straightened. When he spoke again, he sounded less filled with concern and more like he was giving orders to an unruly soldier.

“Those knights are after you. And from what Kat said, the wraths are definitely after you, too. If Malquin wants to get hold of a scroll—I mean, of you—it cannot be for a good reason.”

“I know all this.”

“Liv, it is not safe,” Cedric said.

“It's the porch. Like, ten feet away. Besides, I've been taking care of myself for ten years, and I can take care of myself now. I don't need you to hold my hand.”

Hurt flashed across Cedric's face for a moment. But it was gone as quickly as it appeared. He opened his mouth as if he wanted to say something, but Kat put a gentle hand on his elbow.

“Give her a moment. It has been a long night.”

Surprised, Liv shot Kat a grateful smile before leaving the room. She pushed the back door open, relishing the feel of a light breeze on her face. She didn't turn around to see whether or not Cedric was still looking at her as she firmly shut the door.

Staring at the night sky, Liv was overtaken by a disorienting, but familiar, feeling. It was the same one she always got the instant the lights came up in a theater at the end of a movie. During those moments, it would take a few seconds to disengage her mind from the make-believe and readjust to the reality around her—the too-bright room with sticky floors that smelled of stale popcorn. For those few seconds, her brain was confused. Stuck in a place between real and fake.

That's what it felt like now. She tried to focus on something
real. Almost immediately, she knew what to do.

Shannon picked up after just one ring.

“Where are you?”

“Exactly where you dropped me last night. Sorry to call so late.”

Shannon scoffed, and Liv smiled in the darkness. Though it had been barely twenty-four hours since they'd last spoken, it felt like much longer.

“You promise me answers, and then I don't hear from you for a whole day?”

“I know, I'm sorry. I've sort of got . . . stuff going on.”

“Obviously. Although if you could clarify what the ‘stuff' is, I'd feel much better.”

Liv could hear the lightest amount of hurt in Shannon's voice. But how could she tell her best friend the truth without Shannon thinking she was crazy? Or worse, what if telling Shannon put her in danger?

“I know everything with Rita was hard,” Shannon said after a few moments. The compassion in her best friend's voice made Liv's chest feel like it was being squeezed by a large fist. A tear formed near the corner of her eye, causing the backyard to blur. Liv put the palm of her hand up against her eye and pressed down hard before the tear could fall.

“It was,” she whispered. “But there's more than that.”

“Tell me, Liv. Tell me what's going on.”

Liv hesitated, thinking about how good it would feel to say a single real thing out loud to Shannon. But she couldn't tell her one piece of the puzzle without telling her everything—the
tattoo, the portal, the wraths, the motel . . . Cedric. Most of all she wanted to talk to Shannon about Cedric.

But she couldn't. If she started talking about Cedric or any of it, who knew what else would come pouring out? Not just the details of the last few days, but everything? Her past? Her parents?

Once the truth was out, she wouldn't be able to stuff it back inside, just like she hadn't been able to put it back after revealing the truth about the fire to Cedric in the car. Could she really stand Shannon looking at her any differently?

Even if her best friend deserved the truth . . . what if she got a glimpse of what was really inside of Liv and ran?

“I wish I could, Shan . . . I really do.”

Shannon sighed. For a while, both girls were silent.

“What if we meet up tomorrow morning, face-to-face?” Shannon asked.

Liv glanced back over her shoulder at the back door. Beyond it, she knew that Cedric and the others were still endlessly discussing what to do next. She wondered how long it would take them to decide exactly how and when they would use her to get home.

Would they leave her here when they were done with her, used up and alone for the wraths or the Knights or whoever got there first? Who would she have on her side then?

“Liv?”

“I'm here. Yeah, tomorrow sounds good.”

“The usual spot?”

Liv frowned as she thought of the familiar piece of concrete down by the LA river. Her usual spot. How many times had she
and Shannon met there to hang out, do homework, or complain about life? A part of her longed to go back there, but now even her favorite place was too wrapped up in this madness—after all, it was where she'd first seen Cedric and his friends. A portal had opened in the exact spot where she and Shannon used to paint their nails and talk about movies. She wanted to go somewhere else, somewhere untainted by the past few days.

“No, not there,” Liv said. “How about that spot we went to on our ninth-grade field trip? Where we tried cigarettes for the first time?”

“And then threw up?”

“Yeah. That was a good day.”

“Um . . . because of or despite the vomiting?”

Liv laughed. “Both, I guess. We were just two regular teenagers, doing something dumb. I miss that.”

“We're still regular teenagers.”

Liv didn't respond, and Shannon got quiet.

“You're kind of freaking me out.”

“I'm sorry. Will you still come? Noon?”

“Of course I will. Tomorrow, Liv.”

“Night, Shannon.”

Liv hung up the phone and looked around the backyard. It had been a relief to hear Shannon's reassuring voice in her ear, to hear something normal. But it only took a few minutes for that feeling to pass. The emptiness of the yard seemed to stretch and grow into the night, past Liv's field of vision. Still, she wasn't ready to face the others yet. She decided to wait until they'd fallen asleep before going back inside to rest herself.

Liv sunk down low in a lawn chair, feeling even more alone than before.

The next morning, Liv found that getting out of the house wouldn't be so easy.

“There are not one, but two groups of enemies trying to capture and probably kill you,” Cedric said. He made emphatic movements with his hands, which reminded Liv of Joe at his most serious. It also made her angry.

“You think I don't know that? I was there in the motel room last night, just like you. I was scared, too—”

“Motel room?” Kat cut in.

“I was not scared,” Cedric shot back.

Liv just raised an eyebrow.

“Why were you in a motel room?” Kat asked.

No one answered her. Instead, a quiet tension fell over the living room of the Echo Park house. Merek watched Liv face off with Cedric and Kat, an almost bemused expression on his face.

“A motel is like an inn, right?” Kat asked, her eyes bouncing between Cedric and Liv.

Cedric waved his hands. “We were attacked there. What is important now is that we work together to try to figure out our next step. We cannot let Liv fall into the wrong hands.”

Kat pursed her lips, but said nothing.

“I don't intend on falling into anyone's hands,” Liv said, crossing her arms over her chest. “But I'm not going to sit around in this house and wait until you come up with some grand plan on how best to use me, either.”

A part of Liv knew that Cedric was right, that she was in way over her head here. She doubted that the Knights would be able to track her down to this house after she and Cedric lost them in San Diego, but the wraths had been distressingly good at keeping up with Cedric and his group. A group that now included her.

Still, the thought of getting away by herself for just two hours, to sit in the sunshine with Shannon, being normal for just a little bit . . . it was too tempting to pass up. Especially since it was starting to really sink in that her previously “normal” life was about to change, probably forever. After all, being a scroll made her a fugitive from the Knights. Could fugitives do senior year? Or go to college? Or make movies?

The future she had so carefully planned and waited for was slipping away, and she wanted—needed—to see Shannon and hold on to what she could. But how could she explain that to Cedric?

“I must agree with Cedric on this,” Kat said, though her face was still stormy, probably because she was thinking about the motel. “I am sorry, Liv, but you cannot think only about yourself right now. You are no longer just a girl. You are our only means to get back to Caelum.”

“Right. Just some scroll. Some ticket home,” Liv shot back. She could feel the force of her argument against the two of them wavering as they stood side by side. They looked impressive, almost regal.

And in the end, she knew they could keep her here in this room as long as they wanted. She might be a supernatural scroll
thingy with one or two self-defense moves up her sleeve, but she still had all the muscle of a sixteen-year-old girl who'd taken her gym class pass/fail.

She'd have to try another tactic.

“I'll help you get home, but I won't be your prisoner,” Liv said. At the word
prisoner
, Cedric winced slightly. “All I want is to see my best friend in a safe, public place for a couple of hours. You can even come with me if you want. Then, if any wraths somehow manage to find us, I'll have just as much protection there as I would here.” Liv met Cedric's eyes as she continued. “Unless you don't think you can take them.”

Cedric's jaw tightened. “That is
not
the problem. I can handle the wraths—”

“Good. Then there should be no issue with us going.”