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  “I would hardly classify our relationship at this point as friendly. Civil maybe now that you two have dialed down the third-world interrogation tactics, but not friendly.” I heard Everett let out a soft laugh at my comment.

  “Do you really think he’d still be there? I thought you guys chased him away.” I said.

  “He’s right Emma. It’s not likely he stuck around. He probably went to rally the rest of his clan now that we’ve found him.”

  “All right.” She conceded. “But we’re going to be in and out. No more than ten minutes.”

  “That’s fine.” I said. “I just want to pack a bag of clothes and get my wallet and phone.”

  At that we were out the door and on the road to my house. Emma let me sit in the front seat while Everett drove so that my long legs would be more comfortable in their small mid-sized silver sedan. The short ride to my home was silent. None of us spoke. I gazed out of the car window at the trees with less and less leaves on them. It was a sure indication that winter would be full force in about six weeks. I hated the winters up north. They were so bitterly cold and work was very slow. People didn’t want to move when there was three feet of snow and ice on the ground. If I had any gumption about me at all I would move to a warmer climate. I, however, had serious problems with stepping out of my comfort zone.

  I watched the trees pass by quickly and thought of a warm, tropical place I would like to have escaped to. The car went around a large curve, and there was the meadow I saw the beast in. Or, at least what I thought was the beast. The meadow was empty with just barren trees and their lost leaves turning brown on the ground beneath them. I shuddered as I recollected the previous afternoon when I spotted the wretched creature.

  “We’re here.” Everett said as we pulled into my paved driveway.

  The front door of my house was wide open and the porch swing was hanging by only one of its two chains. There were marks on the door frame that were freshly carved in.

  “They were here.” Emma said from behind us.

  I reached down and opened the car door. Everett reached over quickly and grabbed my shirt so that I couldn’t get out of the car. “Wait, Nate. I’ll go and make sure there’s no one inside. You wait here with Emma until I know everything is safe.”

  I nodded understandingly and closed the door. Everett got out of the car and approached the house very cautiously. He looked around either side of the house, then came back to the front and proceeded inside slowly. I watched through the windows of the house as I saw him go into the kitchen, then double back through the sitting portion of the great room to the dining area. I lost sight of him when he walked down the hall to scope out the bathrooms and bedrooms. I held my breath the moment he was out of sight in anticipation and didn’t breathe again until I saw him emerge from the hallway and walk to the front door. He stopped at the threshold and motioned for Emma and me to come in.

  As we walked up to the house, Emma kept an alert eye to our surroundings, constantly checking behind us. When we got to the porch, I ran my fingers across the marks that sat eye-level on the door frame.

  “These look like claw marks.” I uttered with a surprised undertone.

  “Come on, Nate. Hurry.” Emma said as she pulled me through the door.

  I put the thoughts about the mysterious marks on the front door on hold and went straight to the master bedroom to pack some clothes and bathroom essentials. I walked back to the great room with my suitcase in hand to search for where I left my wallet and to grab my phone and charger from the kitchen counter. I found everything and we were out of the house and headed toward the car.

  The three of us slid into the car, so that we could speed away. I looked down to find the fastener for my seatbelt, and when my head came up I found myself staring a large black animal square in its green eyes. I gasped, startled, and the beast let out a low growl of intimidation. It stood there at the hood of the car without moving, just staring me down. It took me a few minutes to process what kind of animal it was because it was shockingly out of place. Emma and Everett remained silent until I spoke.

  “Um…is an-anyone else seeing the p-panther in front of us?”

  “I told you he’d be here.” Emma said in a whisper.

  “Where are the others?” Everett asked in response.

  “I don’t see them. They’re not behind us. What are we going to do Everett?” Emma looked out of the back glass trying to spot anyone else.

  “I don’t know.” He replied. After a few seconds of silence he asked, “Nate, do you have the keys to your car with you?”

  “Yeah.” My voice shook.

  “What are you thinking Everett?” Emma inquired.

  “I’m going to send a charge through the ignition and overload the engine. It may disorient him long enough so that we can get in Nate’s car and go.”

  “That’s insane! You could kill us all.” She argued.

  “Well, do you have a better suggestion? If we try anything too obvious he’s going to come at us; and with us being confined in the car, he’s got the upper hand.”

  “It may not even work.” She said with pessimism.

  “We have to try something, and we don’t really have time to come up with the best case scenario. I’m going for it.”

  I looked down at the ignition, which Everett was now touching. I saw his body tense and an arc emanated from each of his fingers, connecting with the metal around the ignition. The engine started as if Everett had used the key. The enormous cat standing in front of us stepped back and let out a loud roar of aggravation. Its tail waved back and forth with irritation as it lowered its body close to the ground, ready to pounce on the car.

  “You jump-started it, you moron!” Emma shouted as she slapped Everett on his shoulder. “I thought you didn’t want anything obvious to happen.”

  “I didn’t even know I could do that!” Everett said in disbelief.

  “That thing doesn’t look happy.” I said, still panicking in the passenger’s seat.

  “I think I need more voltage to blow it.” Everett thought out loud. “Emma, you’re going to have to help me.

  I was still watching the cat, trying to anticipate what it was going to do as Emma and Everett debated on how much electricity they needed to blow the engine without blowing us up in the process. The cat was baring its teeth now and I could see every muscle in its back and shoulders trembling, as if they were coiling, getting ready to spring at any moment. It wasn’t five seconds later that the cat was on top of the hood of the car. We all screamed. The car shook at the cat’s landing and the hood dented significantly under its weight.

  “Emma, now!” Everett shouted.

  Emma lunged forward from the back seat and touched her hand to the ignition along with Everett’s. The cat drew its huge paw back and swiped at the windshield with its razor sharp claws, making large scratches on the glass. Another hit or two, and I was certain the cat would break the glass and we’d be dead. Emma and Everett sent a collection of electric current coursing through the car’s electrical and mechanical systems. I jumped and covered my face as the stereo overloaded and sparks spurted out. Seconds later, the engine started making a terrible sound. Shortly after the sound, the engine blew up with a loud bang. It jarred the car and startled the cat, prompting it to jump off to the side. Black smoke started billowing out from under the hood, making it hard to see anything around the car.

  “Go!” Everett yelled out as he opened his door and got out of the car. Emma and I quickly followed suit. I heard snapping and popping come from the other side of the car, then the cat roar in agony. I looked over and saw the cat lying on the ground on its belly. It moaned in pain. I could only guess that Everett sent a bolt of lightning in its direction. The next thing I knew, Everett was around the busted car and at mine.

  “Nate! Unlock the car!” Everett panicked as he pulled repeatedly on the driver-side door handle.

  It was difficult for me to dig the car keys out of my pocket while I wa
s holding my suitcase. When I got to the car I placed my suitcase on the ground so that I could get my keys. As I reached into my pocket, I heard coughing coming from the direction of Emma and Everett’s car. I looked up and saw a naked man on his knees with his head to the ground coughing and gasping from the smoke coming from the exploded engine. The big cat was gone. There was just the man now. I looked more closely and realized I knew this man. It was Cade. Why was he always naked when I saw him? It was bizarre. Then I recollected what Everett told me last night. “Cade is the animal.” There was no other explanation. One minute, there’s a huge black cat on the car, and the next, there’s a man choking on the fumes of engine smoke. Had it not been for my recent discovery of electricity sparking from people’s hands, I would have had a hard time believing that a man could turn into a beast. Still, the idea seemed too fantastic to even entertain.

  “Nate!” I snapped out of my pondering as Emma and Everett shouted my name simultaneously.

  I hurriedly retrieved the keys from my pocket, unlocked the doors, and we all jumped in. Everett started the car and we peeled out of the driveway. Emma turned around quickly in her seat to see if we were being followed. There was nothing on our bumper except the shrinking view of my house and a rising column of black smoke still billowing from the car.

  “Everett, did you see the others?” Emma asked, out of breath from the excitement.

  “No. That was weird. He doesn’t usually attack like that without backup. He knows what we can do to him.”

  “Then why did he?” I asked curiously.

  “I’m not sure.” Emma said, contemplating the different explanations to my question.

  “Do you think he knows that Nate has the Mark? Maybe that’s why he came to Burlington in the first place, to find Nate.” Everett offered.

  “That would make sense. He’s hunted down others with the Mark before and killed them. But how did he know that Nate had the tattoo? We didn’t even know.”

  “I’m not sure, but we have to get Nate out of town. If Cade is prepared to attack without the others here, he must want Nate dead badly. We need to find out why you’re so important, bud.” Everett said to me over his shoulder.

  “But I’m nobody. I’m not special. Why would Cade think so, and why would he want me dead?” I asked, bewildered.

  “You are special, Nate. To an extent anyway.” Emma said from the seat beside me as she put her hand on my knee.

  “What do you mean, ‘to an extent?’” I asked nervously at her touch.

  “Well you have the Mark, which is special in and of itself.”

  “You mean my tattoo? What does it mean, and why do you and Everett have the same tattoo?”

  “I hate to break up twenty questions back there, but I need to know where we’re going.” Everett interrupted from the front seat.

  “Go south to Georgia. We can drop in on Jasmine. She can help us with this mess.” Emma responded.

  “Athens it is.” Everett said as he turned the GPS on and entered our destination.

  Georgia was a long way from Connecticut, someplace I had never been. Since I was going to be on the road with Emma and Everett for some time, I decided that it would be a good time for me to get some answers about my tattoo and what exactly had been happening since I met the both of them.

  “Okay you two, I want to know everything. Start talking.”

  Chapter 7

  Origins

  It had been only ten minutes since we sped away from Burlington, on our way to Athens, Georgia. My demand for information about my identity and the strange events that were happening had yet to be satiated. Emma and Everett sat in silence, not answering my questions. I started to get slightly perturbed, thinking that I was well due some explanation, after all that I had been through the past twenty-four hours. I lived my whole life not knowing who I was or where I came from, and here sat two people with some semblance of insight, yet they were refusing to divulge anything to me. I decided to change my tactics from angry demands to pitiful pleas.

  “Emma, please, if you know who I am, tell me. I need to know.” I begged.

  She let out a heavy sigh and looked at Everett in the rearview mirror.

  “Okay, Nate. Fine. Just remember that this is going to be hard to hear.”

  “I don’t care. I want to know everything.” I said finitely. Emma began her story with the ancestor.

  “There was a man named Lachlan Kane, born in 1532 in a parish outside of Dublin, Ireland. He was born with an unknown genetic disease that claimed the life of at least one child in each generation of his family by the time they reached the age of twenty. The disease was degenerative, but only later in its stages. The man lived with the disease his entire childhood, only knowing that it was a possibility he had it. When he was fifteen years of age, the first symptoms started manifesting themselves. He knew then that he only had a short time to live out his life.

  “At seventeen, the disease had taken its toll on his joints. His only relief from the crippling pain was in the therapeutic warm springs that used to run through the parish. One day he was soaking in one of the springs when a rogue lightning storm broke out unexpectedly. He was struck by lightning, but survived. In the days following, he began to notice his symptoms dissipating. His disease was reversing, which he attributed to a miracle.

  “A few weeks after the lightning strike, some anomalies started happening. First was the electricity arcing from his hands. Next were bursts of energy, like shockwaves that emanated from his body; then the creation and manipulation of flames. Finally, he morphed into the beast for the first time. He was overwhelmed with his newfound powers, and couldn’t control them individually. After years of practice and honing, he finally had his abilities under control.”

  “So this is yours and Everett’s ancestor, not mine? I thought you were telling me about where I came from first.” I interjected.

  “I will get to it, Nate. Just listen for now.” She said soothingly.

  “At twenty-six, Lachlan took a wife that bore him three sons. Each of the children inherited one of his powers. One child attained the power of electricity, one the power of shockwaves, and the last the power of shape-shifting. Thus, the clans were born.”

  “What about the fire ability?” I asked curiously.

  “The ability to create flames was not passed on. That trait remained solely with Lachlan.” She explained.

  “So Lachlan was the only one who ever exhibited more than one power?”

  “As far as we know, yes. Offspring of the original sons only ever exhibited the one power of whichever son they were born.”

  “Okay, so what about the tattoo? And how do I fit into all of this?” I questioned.

  “Well, this is where it gets weird, Nate. The tattoo you have is the identifying mark of a Kane descendant. That’s why Everett and I have the same tattoo. Cade has one too, but you probably didn’t notice it. I almost didn’t see yours.”

  “So, you’re saying we have the same ancestor?”

  “Yes. But the weird thing is that you’ve never exhibited any of the abilities.” She said incredulously.

  “So? What does that matter?” I asked, curious as to why she was in such disbelief.

  “You said that you’ve had the Mark for as long as you can remember. You also said you were orphaned at the age of two. It’s custom that the Mark not be inked until after puberty when the first signs of the abilities manifest. If you are telling us the truth, and you have always had it, whoever your parents are jumped the gun in branding you with the Mark. They had no idea whether you would get an ability or not. Not all descendants do. The Mark is solely reserved for those with the powers. It’s a way for the Commission to keep up with all manifested descendants.” She explained.

  “Oh.” That was all I could manage after all of the new information I had been given. I had some answers, but they led to even more questions. Why was I orphaned? Why did my parents brand me prematurely? Why didn’t I exhibit any of the powers?
This was my one chance to be something special, and I was anything but.

  I turned my head and looked out of the car window at the trees passing. I could feel my eyes move back and forth rapidly as they tried to keep up with each tree that was rushing by. I needed a moment to let what Emma told me seep in. A world where the things she was saying existed had only been mere fantasy before yesterday. A world where people with unbelievable powers belonged to a secret society that kept their existence hidden from the rest of the world. It was implausible. My pondering was broken by Emma’s touch. She laid her hand on my shoulder and shifted across the back seat, closer to me. My heart pounded and blood rushed to my face. My mouth went dry as I tried to clear my throat.

  She made me so nervous. I’d never felt about another woman, the way I felt about her. In fact, there had never been another woman. It wasn’t in my nature to seek out companionship, so I never did. All of the feelings I had were new and intriguing. It would be perfect if she felt the same way about me. I wasn’t getting my hopes up though. Her hand moved to the back of my head, and stroked my hair. I turned my head and looked her in the eyes. I could have swum in those eyes; so beautiful and deep.

  “Are you okay, Nate?” She asked in a soft voice.

  “Mon obsession m’hante.” I replied in French.

  “What does that mean?”

  I closed my eyes and dwelt on the fact that she was so close to me. “My obsession haunts me.” And she did. She was always in my mind, haunting me. I wanted to be with her. I wanted her to want me too. I had no idea how that would happen though. Being suave and debonair was not something I was particularly adept at.

  “Are you sure you’re okay?” She asked with a tinge of worry in her tone.

  I opened my eyes and took in a deep breath. “Yeah, I’m fine. Just thinking about everything.”

  “I know it’s a lot to process. Just take it one thing at a time. You’ll be fine.” Her voice was smooth and calming.