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"I still don’t understand why you have to help him," my mother says to my father "It doesn’t make any sense
My father takes her hands in his "Everything will be okay, Jocelyn Stephan assures ether; that he’ll make it so your parents won’t have any probleet married"
My ging you"
"It’ll be alright" My dad cups her face in his hands and leans closer "Stephan just needsand then this will all be over And you and I can begin our happy life together"
She looks like she wants to say so but can’t "Help you hat? Has he even told you?"
"He hasn’t, but I’ht where the Mark of Malefiscus is now, but her long-sleeved shirt covers it up She keeps scratching and scratching like she’s trying to claw her skin off
"Please don’t go, Julian," she pleads "I’ you not to"
"I have to otherwise, I’ll never have this" And then he kisses her
I let out a shaky breath as the picture fades back into the star They seemed so normal and in love, not evil or marked, not about to end the world
Iwhat I’ to see next When the screen shines across the blackness, any table, dressed in black, his hair slicked to the side, and he’s grinning Across from him, is my dad with his arms on the table, the sleeves of his blue shirt rolled up revealing that his arms are mark free
"I have to say, Julian, I’m surprised you showed up" Stephan says "Jocelyn must mean a lot to you"
My dad shifts in the chair and then tucks his arms underneath the table, anxious "Is it true you can create marks? Can you really round That’s what he wanted? He wanted Stephan to er across the scar on his cheekbone, e a vision?"
My dad’s expression plummets "I--I don’t think so"
Stephan slants forward in his chair toward , Julian?" he asks in an icy tone, his eyes darkening "People who lie I can’t stand fking liars"
"I’ "I swear, I’ernails into the wood of the table, as if channeling his anger there "I understand there are rules that the Foreseers have that forbid you to tellin front of apes up at Stephan "Why?"
"Give Me Your Arm," Stephan repeats in a firm tone
My dad exhales loudly then extends out his arm Stephan retrieves a knife froes it into my father’s forearm "Vos es venaliciu for the knife But it’s too late A mark appears on his wrist as blood seeps out of his skin and dribbles onto the floor "Why did you… I don’t understand,"his hand to the wound
Stephan tosses the knife onto the table, grinning "Now you have no choice but to help asps in horror Along his forear a red syive me the Keeper’s mark" My father turns his arm toward Stephan "What the hell is this?"
"Oh, you’ll soon find out," Stephan says darkly
The light diive out and I sink onto the starry ground My mother lied My father didn’t want power He wanted to be with her He thought he was beco a Keeper Why did my mom lie about this? Or didn’t she know the truth? Was the only story she knew from Stephan’s point of view?
But then Stephan had told me that a person had to possess evil blood for the mark to work, so either my father has so about that and he can put the mark on anyone Both scenarios make me shiver
The man has ruined too many lives and it’s time to stop him Filled with determination, I push to ure out which star held the rightto think of so that may have beenaboutthe answers If I could just see which one holds the right et an idea as I think of the Foreseer book and concentrate on not seeing the stars, but seeing the one that carries the memory of my dad when he altered the vision that will lead to the destruction of earth The stars begin to gli a round I move back as it slithers across the stars like a snake and into the darkness and I chase after it, weaving around stars, until it finally cohter than all the others The ical cloud swoops into the air and then swan-dives down into the star I stop and wait for the screen to light up, but no light or movie clip appears so I lean over and peer into it There’s a faint light e froers against it Energy jolts through round below ins to break I let out a screa me with it
Chapter 31
When I land, it’s soft and I’m breathless I’m on a hill with my back to the Keeper’s castle, and in front of me, the lake and the trees, crisp with ice and frost, the water frozen, the sky cloudy and grey And Death Walkers are everywhere
My dad co down the hill toward the lake He’s still around twenty but he’s wearing the sa in the Room of Forbidden His face is sole them He doesn’t seeuring I’m in vision form
"Where is it?" he mutters as he halts at the icy shore of the lake
Death Walkers creep out fro across the snow, their yellow eyes reflecting against the ice I shiver as the ground quivers with the beat of their es from the forest, not too far off from where we stand He has on a black cloak with the hood over his head and his eyes seeht as he takes in the winter wonderland He motions at someone behind hi a cloak
"Des out in front of my face as it laces with the arctic air