Marked

by Jasmine Derriman

  “What’s wrong, Hadley?” I asked her as she started to flip the paper faster.

  “All of this stuff I thought…I thought he was just making notes on certain demons, like the ones he had been tracking down all week, but it’s not,” she told me, glancing slightly at me. “I mean, yeah this is about demons…but he’s been looking into places with abnormal demon activity. He really is going to get himself killed.”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “I’m talking about this,” she said, pushing a piece of paper in front of my face.

  My eyes focused on a map, well it was a blueprint of a building. My eyes scanned it and for a moment I didn’t really understand what I was seeing, but as I looked closer I saw the word hospital, written near the top. It was a hospital. I couldn’t find the same of it, but instead I found a date in the corner and realised it wasn’t a current hospital.

  “It’s decommissioned,” I muttered. “It’s no used anymore.”

  “I’ve heard of it before,” Hadley shook her head. “We were warned about this place. It’s supposed to be crawling with demon activity, huge amounts, which is abnormal….”

  “Because demons don’t stay together,” I nodded at her as I looked over the picture again, and my eyes locked onto something else. “St. Jude. Why do I know that name?”

  “Is that the name of the hospital?” Hadley frowned as she continued to look through the papers.

  That’s when is suddenly clicked. “Oh my god, Hadley. I do know this place. It’s where Annabeth used to work. She came here to New York and she worked as a nurse in St. Jude.”

  Hadley straightened up and turned to me. “Are you sure?”

  “I’m positive!” I exclaimed. “She wrote it in the diary I have of hers. Why would Isaac go there? Hadley, seriously, what is this all this?”

  “Oh, god,” Hadley was shaking her head again. “He’s gone there.”

  “Why? Why would he go there?”

  “Why do you think?” she almost yelled it, at me chucking the papers she had in her hands, on the ground. “He wants to make sure that demons don’t exist around here, around you. That place is the closest and high concentration near us. I don’t know what he thinks he can do… or why he thinks he can go there alone. The fact that it’s the name hospital Annabeth was at, just makes everything worse. No wonder it’s crawling with demons.”

  I felt a pit in my stomach. Isaac had gone somewhere beyond dangerous…for me, again. He dies and he dies because of me, not just for me.

  “Hadley, we have to go there,” I said to her frantically. “We have to save him. We have to help him.”

  “We don’t have a car, Lily,” Hadley said walking past me and grabbing her phone off the counter in the kitchen. “It’s nearly an hour away.”

  “He’s going to die!” I found myself yelling at Hadley before I realised what I was even doing.

  “I know!”

  Hadley’s hand had clenched around her phone and her other hand was now leaning on the kitchen bench. I could see she was breathing heavily and I realised that she was scared. I felt like sinking to the floor and I even felt like crying. Isaac couldn’t die. I wouldn’t let him. Not now, not when I really needed him.

  Hadley suddenly sighed as she managed to lean off the kitchen bench and she ran her fingers through her long brunette hair. “I have a guy who owes me a favour, I can get his van…but this really isn’t a good idea.”

  I didn’t bother asking why some guy owed her favour and I didn’t bother arguing either. This wasn’t a good idea. It wasn’t good idea for me to go anywhere near any of these demons, but nothing Hadley could say could stop me, and she knew it.

  I couldn’t do much but wait as Hadley made a phone call and then disappeared off in her room for moment. When she returned I noticed she had changed her clothes, into something more appropriate for the occasion. She held something in her hand, and when she got near me, she forced it into my hands, and I realised what it was. She had handed me a telum inside its case and she held another in her other hand.

  “That’s Felix’s,” Hadley told me, “and I figure you’ll need it. Even with your mark, you’re not ready to fight without something to assist you.”

  “And you?” I asked her. I recalled that last time she didn’t use a telum to fight. Her telekinesis mark was pretty strong by itself.

  “Even I don’t want to run the risk of not having one, not for where we are going,” she answered softly. “Now come on, we have to walk to get this van, but it’s not far.”

  I realised to anyone who saw us we might look like completely idiots walking down the street with sword like weapons strapped to us. Hadley walked quite furiously too and I had to try my best to keep up. I was glad that it wasn’t far as Hadley had said. Like she said, it was just a van. It looked like the van was pretty worn down too, or at least over-used. The black exterior was covered in scratches and marks and it had a few dings in it too.

  Hadley’s hand reached into one of the crevasses under one of the wheels on which she pulled out of a set of keys. She doesn’t speak to me as she walks around to the other side of the car and unlocked it. We both jumped in and stayed quite silent as Hadley started then proceeded to speak off quickly.

  I held onto Felix’s telum tightly in my hands and rested it on my lap for the car ride. My head was completely spinning right now and I had to let myself lean on the headrest of the car seat to stop myself from feeling sick. I had probably only been awake for an hour and upon realising that this time Isaac really was in danger both Hadley and I had set off to save him within seconds.

  Hadley cared deeply about Isaac, and I was starting to understand that the more I observed how she behaved when it came with anything to with Isaac. I noticed now how her hands gripped to the wheel as she drove. She was terrified that we wouldn’t find him alive, and so was I.

  “What are we going to do when get there, Hadley?” I asked her softly, scared to break the silence we had created.

  “We…we just have walk in,” Hadley shrugged. “I don’t know…where he would go, or why he would think there’s enough justification to go in there.”

  “You don’t think he would just go in there to kill all the demons there?” I said to her, looking at her face.

  “No, no, he’s not that stupid, surely,” Hadley muttered to herself.

  “Then what?” I frowned at her.

  “I have no idea,” Hadley shook her head.

  I fiddled with my fingers again, my palms still touching the telum. It was often a nervous habit of mine and I often found myself doing this, and I hated realising how nervous I actually was. I thought I might feel some relief when after our hour of driving and finding ourselves getting further and further from large amounts of civilisation, to a place I had never seen before, but instead of relief I feel that pit in my stomach grow stronger than before.

  Hadley finally turned off and the van slowly started to roll down a driveway. I sat up straighter as I saw the hospital come into view. From the car, the hospital looked old. It wasn’t huge, like the one in the city, but it covered a far bit of land. Most of the white exterior had faded, and I could see that most of the windows were boarded up, and some of the building had been knocked down or stripped away. Hadley slowly stopped the van directly near the front entrance.

  “I think it’s best we keep the van close to the front door,” Hadley said as she jumped out of the van, not even locking it as I followed her. “I have a feeling we’re going to be running out of this place in a hurry.”

  The whole outside of the hospital was covered in vegetation, and the dead leaves on the ground covered most of the pavement. It somehow felt darker here even though the sun still shone bright in the sky. The hospital itself still seemed to be standing strong even though it definitely looked like it had been untouched for nearly a hundred years, but both Hadley and I knew that’s not true.

  The front doors weren’t locked but I noticed hanging from the side of
one of the doors, and padlock on the end of it. The padlock however was completely bent out of shape. I felt myself swallow, must’ve been Isaac. Hadley walked in first and had her telum at the ready. I felt the need to copy Hadley and pull Felix’s from its holster and with some difficulty to get it out cleanly, I eventually held it in my hand.

  The walls of the hospital were completed faded in colour, and had cracks running through the whole length of the hall. Vegetation had found its way into some of these halls and I noticed vines growing on the ceiling and the walls. Our footsteps echoed each time we stepped and I felt the pit in my stomach grow again with each echo. Something didn’t t feel right here, and it’s not just the unnatural cold chill in the air.

  The further we stepped though, the colder I felt, and the more I started to fear something bad was going to happen. The whole place had a presence about it and there was no doubt that we were in the right place, but it didn’t change the fact that we hadn’t seen anything yet but a few abandoned beds and wheelchairs.

  “Hadley,” I whispered to her. “Something isn’t right.”

  “I know,” she said back harshly. “They know we’re here.”

  “They knew we would come,” I said “didn’t they?”

  “I think so.”

  As we turned down another hallway, we found ourselves at a set of doors which Hadley pushed open. This section looked darker, as the only light we had was the sunlight breaking through the boarded windows. In this section, the light couldn’t’ get through. I felt myself stop dead in my tracks and I had no control over it. I felt all my muscles tighten and my body go sort of ridge, and my head started to throb.

  I didn’t feel cold anymore, I felt warm, and I felt…like I was burning. I knew I couldn’t be though because of my mark, I couldn’t get burnt…but I didn’t feel like this was happening from the outside. I felt it inside of me. In my stomach, and in my hands, and in my head, and that’s when see it….in my head, as clear as day, and at the moment my fear turned into terror.

  “Hadley,” I said softly, glad I had managed to speak.

  She turned to look at me and I watched her expression change. I could tell she was worried, and I couldn’t even imagine the look on my face right now.

  “What, what is it?” Hadley asked frantically walking back up to me.

  I was slowly regaining control over my body and I started to shake my head a little. “I can…I can feel it. I… I just…I don’t know how I know…I just know…”

  “Know what, Lily?” she said, taking hold of my arms to try calm me down.

  I couldn’t be calmed down though. I was crying I was so scared; the thought of this is terrifying me, and I couldn’t understand why.

  “Oh god…the dagger…I can feel it. The dagger is here.”

  Hadley’s hands loosened their grip around from hands as her mouth opened slightly. Her eyes trailed from me and I swear she started to shake a little.

  “He knew,” Hadley whispered. “Isaacs…he knows it’s here.”

  “How? How could he know that? I’m the one who is supposed to find it,” I reminded her.

  “And you did,” she shook her head, looking back at me. “He checks on you every morning before you wake up, and sometimes…he walks out of the room with a piece of paper in his hand.”

  I felt like throwing up, I knew what she was about to say.

  “You drew this place,” Hadley said, looking down at the ground, “you drew it, and you didn’t even know, and I didn’t even think to question him when I saw it. Oh, god.”

  I blinked a few times, mainly to get the tears out of my eyes but also in surprise. “I drew it? I drew this place?”

  “I think so,” Hadley just shook her head, “And, if Annabeth had once been here, and Isaac knew that, he would’ve figured it was a good enough guess. He figured it out.”

  I wasn’t sure if I was angry, but then again I wasn’t sure if I could blame him for doing what he did. Taking away those drawings that stopped me from sleeping, that kept me up at night and drove me crazy, he was trying to help. Right now though, I knew I was scared and I knew that I had to find it, because now this was even more dangerous than I ever imagined.

  “Hadley, he can’t get the dagger,” I told her.

  “Why? Why does it matter if you or him gets it?” she frowned as she kind of scanned around her.

  “Because… it might be here, but Annabeth would’ve hidden it well,” I told her. “I was told it would reveal itself to me…and I think I get why that told me that now. I can feel it…like it has a presence. I’ll be able to find it, no one else will.”

  “How? How do you know that?” Hadley frowned slightly.

  “I just know, Hadley, it’s what I feel, you have to trust me,” I stressed. “Hadley, I can feel something bad is going to happen, we have to find him now.”

  Hadley stared into my eyes for a moment before I saw her swallow and she blinked and nodded at me. I saw her hand tighten around her telum and she nodded again and started to lead the way. Hadley’s stepped more cautiously than before, she’s almost tried to stop them from echoing, but she was also trying to move fast. We both knew we needed to get to him.

  “Which way?” Hadley whispered at me.

  “Just because I have a feeling doesn’t mean I’m psychic,” I hissed back at her.

  “Well, doesn’t you feeling grow or something?” Hadley said impatiently as we found ourselves in another hallway.

  “I don’t know,” I admitted. “I feel…something, I do, but it’s not exactly giving me directions, but I think-.”

  I was cut off by a loud noise, a noise we both heard and froze upon hearing it. It was a clang, a loud clang directly in front of us. Hadley turned her head towards me as I tried stare ahead. There was just darkness, I could barely see anything, but the cold chill grew stronger.

  “Stay behind me,” Hadley ordered as she stepped in front of me, her telum at the ready.

  “I can help,” I stated quickly, gripping to the telum in my hand.

  Hadley just shook her head as we again heard a noise. Hadley’s head snapped in the direction of the sound and before I could even open my mouth to speak again, something emerged from the darkness. In a flash all I saw what appeared to be line of darkness spiralling towards us, and as I blinked, I missed how exactly both Hadley and I were forced off out feet and forced straight back, hitting directly into the wall.

  My back stung immediately as I felt myself slide down and hit the ground. My vision was blurred for the moment and I could just see a black spot in my eyes that blocked my vision. I managed to blink it away and also found myself able to stand even though my head would be spinning. Hadley was already on her feet before me, and she was very alert.

  “What the hell was that?” I ask her, rubbing my head.

  “Aer demon,” Hadley answered softly.

  The moment she said it, I remembered reading about it. An Aer demon, or air demon, in English, were fast, and like smoke demons in many ways, but they had the advantage of being able to literally turn into air and make themselves invisible to our eyes, but in its natural form, it will have the same smoky texture as a smoke demon, which was why the two were often mixed up. It was clear why Hadley was able to tell the difference, and it was for the same reason I could too. No smoke demon could’ve forced a rush of air to push us into the wall.

  The next sound we heard was more like a rush of air, like wind was breaking through a window. Hadley stood in the middle of the room and even though her hair was pulled back, it started to blow like crazy around her. It didn’t faze her though as I saw the same black smoke of the air demon rushed back out from the darkness and towards Hadley. This time as the demon got closer Hadley swiped her telum through the air and I saw her telum break through the middle of the demon as it seemed to split the demon into two.

  I heard the sound of the demon kind of screeching as I watched the smoke recollect together and form a body like figure that now stood in front of Hadle
y. I felt myself swallow and it felt like something took hold out of my heart and I felt sick. I had seen this figure before. The long fingers and toes that turned into points, its tall figure, and no features of its face, it was the same demon from my dream.

  Hadley had no doubt weakened it enough that it couldn’t fly through the air and push us off our feet, which was positive for us, but something still wasn’t right. I had seen this demon in my dream with Isaac there, but there was no Isaac, and no dagger, at least not yet.

  “Lily, run! Go, now!”

  Hadley’s voice brought me back to the reality of the situation. The demon took a swipe at Hadley, its hand connecting and leaving claw type makes in her arm. I heard Hadley groan as she spun on the stop and her telum connected with the demons chest, swiping only across it. It gave Hadley enough time to turn and look at me and to see that I have not moved.

  “GO!”

  My feet started to move without much thought as I rand directly past Hadley and the demon, the demon too distracted by Hadley to even notice me. I was running faster then I expected as I passed a hallway on my right, but as I passed it, I started to feel like I needed to go down it. I skidded a little on the floor to force myself to turn back and run into the hall. I knew I have to find Isaac and get out of here as fast as I could, and any sort of feeling I had, I felt like I needed to follow it, otherwise I might never get anywhere useful.

  The sun breaking through the window’s flickered and I slowed down as I realised that the flicking of the sun wasn’t natural. I eventually come to a stop as the sun completely disappeared. I could barely see, but there was light coming from somewhere because I could see my hands in front on my face.