Midnight Runes (The Bestowed Ones)

by Celeste Buie

  “After I was approached about joining the group, I learned as much as I could about it before jumping in. I wanted to know who they were, why I was on their radar, and if you were too. I came across old records that connected my family to this…gang. There were other random notes in the pile with a few names. The people I met, some had always been members, some were new recruits like me. I was angry. I was resentful. And I saw no other option. The life I thought I’d live—the one where I was in charge and responsible for my own decisions? That one disappeared. Someone else calls the shots now. You would despise every second of it. I pretty much do.”

  “How can you not have a say-so in your life? You’re still in school, aren’t you?”

  “I don’t go to class that often, and there’s little time for studying. My grades suck. I’ll probably drop out after this semester. I told my parents what happened because my behavior was erratic. I wasn’t supposed to talk to anyone about it, but they started thinking I was on drugs or something. They told your parents soon after.”

  “Landon said joining was optional.”

  “Did he?” he said a bit too sarcastically. He added sugar to the cups and placed one under the Keurig. He pushed a button, and the coffee brewed. “You don’t have to worry about anything. They won’t approach you about joining.”

  I stared at the back of his head. I really hoped he had decided not to go through with it. “What did you do?”

  “I committed to a more involved term.”

  “What else did you do to get further in besides the moving tattoo?”

  “Landon tells you too much.”

  “You know that’s not true.”

  “What else do you know about the tattoo?”

  “It connects you to the person who gives it to you.”

  “And?”

  “And…” I looked away, deciding how much to tell him. I had come here looking for information, but ended up being the one grilled. Why did I always get myself into this situation? “There are different ways to transfer it.”

  He turned his back to me and gripped the counter. “Partial truths. They connect you to everyone who has the same one. There’s only one way to transfer it. I don’t know what he’s trying to accomplish by lying to you.”

  “I came over here to talk about my parents, not Landon.”

  He turned. “You brought him into this conversation.”

  “My parents knew how worried I was about you, and they didn’t tell me anything.”

  “My parents only told them to end their suspicion. I made it very clear how dangerous it was to me if anyone knew about it.”

  “Why would they risk telling mine?”

  “Our families have history. The group is the reason. And it was before I figured out how to prevent you from being drawn in. It was natural that we all worried about you and what it would mean for you.”

  “Is there any danger of them being pulled in too?”

  “Probably not, but who knows? It appears he only wants young blood.”

  “He as in…who?” I asked.

  “The leader of this area. The mastermind behind it all. Didn’t Landon tell you?”

  “He said that the leader was reactivating families that had chosen to leave, and that it was against the rules.”

  He nodded. “There are a lot of us, Brynn.”

  “What’s the purpose?”

  “I don’t know, but he’s very impressed with his new recruits. Our abilities develop fast.”

  Later, I sat in his driveway with the car running. I couldn’t put it in reverse. I flipped through my preset stations, trying to wrap my head around what to do.

  I couldn’t not say anything to my parents about this. I knew they knew the secret. I couldn’t pretended they didn’t. A secret that not only affected Trevor, but also included me. They saw what Trevor’s distance had done to me. They worried with me. They worried for me. Why didn’t they put me at ease?

  Eventually, I headed home, taking the long way. I anticipated our dinner conversation the entire time.

  I was really tired of everyone keeping so much from me.

  • • •

  My parents chatted about the opening of a new restaurant and plans for the weekend while I pushed what was left of my chicken enchilada around my plate. I couldn’t figure out how to say what I wanted to. I sighed.

  “Brynn, you seem preoccupied. Is everything alright?” my mom asked.

  The opportune moment arrived. It was like standing on that ledge with Landon. I could choose to jump or not; I could deny anything was wrong, or I could face it head-on. I knew what was at the bottom of that cliff. Getting there was the scary part. I also knew that not jumping meant denying the truth.

  I hesitated long enough to get my dad’s attention. I jumped. “I’m aware of our family involvement in the Bestowed Ones. I know that’s what’s been going on with Trevor.”

  They shared a look that spoke volumes; unfortunately, I didn’t know the language. I had another truth-seeking technique at my disposal and turned it on. My mom said, “Oh, honey, we didn’t want you to worry about something so out of your control.”

  “But why wouldn’t you tell me so I would be aware of what was going on, or that it was a possibility someone would approach me about joining?”

  “Who approached you?” my dad’s voice thundered.

  My mom reached for my dad’s hand. “We knew this was something we couldn’t totally protect her from. Our runes failed.”

  I gasped. “The runes were from you?”

  She nodded, and my dad said, “We gave permission for Trevor to put them on you, although I don’t know how you know about them. They were the best course of action…out of the few options we had. Trevor told us they’d been replaced, and he suspects Landon.” I stopped breathing. “We feel like you should keep a distance from him—especially after what Trevor did for you. We don’t know Landon’s motivations for coming here.”

  “I thought you liked him.”

  “That was when we thought he was a normal guy,” my mom said.

  “Trevor’s not normal, and neither am I! What does that have to do with anything?”

  “Trevor we know and trust. Landon we don’t,” my dad said.

  “And I didn’t ask Trevor to do anything for me. Everyone needs to stop making decisions for me.”

  “What’s done is done. He made a sacrifice for you,” my dad responded.

  “I didn’t want him to! Doesn’t that mean anything?”

  “You can’t honestly say you want a part of this organization. You’re not even supposed to be aware of it. Your great-grandmother opted out. She was the end of the involvement,” my dad stated.

  “Exactly. We’re not supposed to be involved, or even be aware such a thing exists, yet here we are. They got Trevor because the leader is defying the laws…he’s not respecting the established rules, but you think he’ll honor Trevor’s sacrifice and not go back on his word about this? Why would he do that? He’s shown no signs of having a conscious.”

  I sensed their denial and worry. They didn’t want to think it was a possibility. As with reasoning with Elyse, I tried to build a case.

  “I think it’s best to have as many contacts as possible. Landon’s not going to harm me. He would have let me drown if that was his intent.”

  They didn’t say anything right away.

  “What if he was the reason you had the problem in the first place? Put you in danger to save you and gain your trust?” my mom suggested.

  I flashed back to the complete terror on his face and the fear in his voice. “There’s no way he could have acted so panicked if that was the case.”

  He’s an undercover agent. He has to be a good actor, I thought.

  I excused myself from the table and closed myself in my room. My parents and Trevor were trying to shake my faith in Landon. I stared at my cell, wondering if it would be a good idea to text him. I sent him one.

  Any luck?

  I waited
eleven minutes for a response, then forced myself to concentrate on my homework.

  CHAPTER 42

  Landon was at school the next morning. I spotted him in a seat in first hour. I had to wait all through class to learn if he had any news.

  He strolled over after the bell. “I stopped by late last night to talk, but you were already asleep.”

  “What did you find? And I’m really glad I keep my room decently clean.”

  He laughed. “I have a lead to follow up on after school today that I hope is worth the effort.”

  I pulled my bag over my shoulder. We walked into the hall. I hoped he would have found something concrete. “These sorts of things aren’t well documented?”

  “The records are hard to get a hold of and even more complicated to decipher. It’s not like there’s a master library somewhere.”

  “There should be.”

  “There was at one point. The records were scattered probably seventy years ago. Each section holds on to what they have. Who knows if they’d be honest and turn them all in if they were ever asked to. They’d effectively put all their cards on the table and not leave any up their sleeves.”

  “And why would anyone do that?” I said, a little too sarcastically.

  He looked at me like I was suddenly more intriguing. “Have you put everything on the table?”

  “Don’t start that everyone-keeps-their-own-secrets stuff with me.” Confronting my parents last night had empowered me. Or maybe it was the doubt creeping in. “I don’t like the idea of being connected to everyone that has the same…mark,” I said to be discreet.

  “Where did you get that notion?” he asked and searched my eyes, as if he looked deep enough he’d find the answer. I didn’t squirm under his intense gaze. “Ah,” he said as if it were perfectly clear. “Trevor’s clever.”

  We walked further in silence, and he broke it. “I’m not connected to everyone else. Trevor’s new to it, so he doesn’t know any better, although I know his purpose behind telling you this. Don’t forget: my family’s been in since the beginning, and we pass our knowledge to each generation. Not much is lost.”

  I glanced at him and ducked into my next class. I felt guilty for second-guessing him, but at the same time it was nice to hear his confirmation.

  At lunch, Elyse announced she had lost her phone privileges and asked us to email her instead of text her over the next two days.

  “What happened?” I asked, anticipating an entertaining story.

  “My little brother is what happened. He’s been messing with my stuff. He snuck into my room and moved around my drawers. I pulled out all my dresser drawers this morning searching for my dress socks because they weren’t where they were supposed to be. Before that, he organized all my stuff into weird patterns on the floor. He’s a freak.”

  Landon laughed under his breath, but I laughed louder, and mine held a hint of hysteria.

  “How exactly did you lose your phone rights?” Samantha asked.

  “I scratched his favorite video game discs beyond usability.”

  “Elyse, you have to be more discrete about confronting him,” Zach said.

  “What am I supposed to do? We had an understanding not to mess with each other after I shredded his coveted Iron Man shirts when he hacked into my Facebook account and posted all that weird stuff.”

  I sighed and looked at Landon. He suppressed a smile.

  The day passed quickly, as most Fridays did. Landon and I didn’t revisit our conversation.

  Saturday morning, my parents left midmorning to finalize plans for their Holiday Kick-Off party next weekend.

  Now that Trevor decided he could talk to me again, he would come with his parents. And my closest friends had always been invited. Landon definitely fit into that category.

  My parents didn’t like the idea of inviting Landon, but I was somehow able to get them to agree. It was going to be the first time Landon and Trevor would be in the same room together since the coffeehouse day—at least as far as I knew. It was concerning to think about.

  I decided to call Elyse and express my concerns. Boy stuff I could talk to her about.

  “How are you going to keep them separated?” she asked.

  “I don’t see how I can. Our house isn’t big enough to get lost in.”

  “What if they fight? Trevor will get really hurt.”

  “Landon knows how upset I’d be if that happened.”

  “Trevor’s more of the instigator. Are you going to tell him to behave himself?”

  “No, he should know how I feel about it by now. We’ve talked about what happened at homecoming that night and again after. I’m more worried about the awkwardness.”

  “There’s not too much that can be done about that.”

  “Thanks for the wonderful insight. My mom’s expecting my help with the house cleaning—she just opened my door, so I’ve got to go.”

  “Alrighty. Talk to you tomorrow.”

  I I hung up, dejected. Next time I’ll ask her to lie to me.

  • • •

  The following week was spent between school, homework, friends, Landon and his research, and final preparations for the party Saturday. My stress level increased proportionally to the diminishing time. I wanted things to go smoothly, but I anticipated something would happen to cause conflict.

  On the other hand, it wasn’t like they could have an all-out, super power battle during the party.

  I sat across the table from Landon during one of our after-school study sessions, held in one of the library’s back conference rooms. Landon searched for details on how to transfer his tattoo; I studied for school. Or tried to. It was a challenge to focus on my econ notes for the test the next day with Landon flipping through an old text he had brought with him. The distressed binding showed years of handling; the pages had darkened with time. The turning of each page produced a delicate sound in the quiet room. Every few minutes, he would mark a new page, flip back to a previously marked page, and readjust the tattered ribbon bookmarks connected to the spine of the book.

  “Emilee hasn’t bothered you lately, has she?” he said without looking up.

  Now that he mentioned it, she hadn’t gone out of her way to be mean. Had I just been too distracted to notice? “No, she hasn’t,” I said cautiously. Did I want to know how that was possible? “What did you do?”

  “I talked to her,” he said.

  “Seems strange she wouldn’t be worse because of that.”

  “I can be persuasive.” Yeah, if he threatened her.

  I stared at the top of his head as he flipped through the frayed book. I wavered between wanting to know and knowing that I probably didn’t.

  He closed the book and looked up. “It helps that I have something over her,” he said with a smile. “What little I’ve found mentions that a strong emotion must be present for the mark to transfer.”

  “Don’t look at me. Maybe it’s lacking on your end.” Why was I taunting him?

  “Is that what you think?” he teasingly whispered.

  “Could we ask Cassandra about it?”

  “She can’t get involved.”

  “I’m not going to ask her if I should get yours or Trevor’s. If we ask a general question like what she knows about it or how we can get that information, I’m pretty sure that’s acceptable.”

  “It’s easier if no one else knows what we were attempting.”

  “We need to succeed, not try,” I said firmly.

  He reached across the table and held my hand. He transported us to two chaise lounges under a palm tree on a white sandy beach. The water was a stunning crystal blue, and thin clouds streaked across the bright sky. I leaned back against the chair and relaxed immediately.

  “This could really mess with my head, you know.”

  “It’s a good thing you’re so grounded,” he countered.

  “I’d love to spend a few weeks here. But that’s impossible.”

  “That can be arranged,” h
e said casually. “Live on campus. You’ll be on your own. No one’s going to monitor you.”

  “Except for the whole purpose of going to college—attending classes and earning a degree. Not to mention the cost and time spent flying down here, wherever we are, and back.”

  He gave me a look that said I should know better. I looked away.

  “Who even knows what next year will be like? My life might not be my own,” I hedged.

  “Your future will be whatever you choose it to be.”

  “How can you say that with such certainty?”

  “How can you talk to Trevor yet not learn any of the important stuff?”

  “Because there’s so much important stuff to learn! And up until recently, both you and my parents were determined to keep me out. All of you still are, but at least I’m aware of it.”

  “What’s this about your parents?”

  “That was the reason I went to see Trevor. I had to know if our parents knew. We had all been so worried about him and his erratic behavior earlier. He told his parents, and they told mine after he realized why our families had known each other for so long.”

  “Trevor could have compromised everything by telling them.”

  “He told me he committed to a more involved term.” I felt driven to know what he sacrificed, although I knew it wouldn’t do me any good.

  “I’m not privy to the details of their arrangement, but his logic doesn’t make sense.”

  “How do you know why he did it?” I said.

  “I know lots of things.”