To most, the Marked ones were the physical manifestations of the divines themselves. Every city had churches devoted to the divines, their followers were countless in number, and the divinity of the Marked ones was ingrained in the people of this world from their births.

The words and actions of Marked ones were law.

“It really was Gerial that was standing next to us the whole party. I swear. He even walked with us to Unice’s place from the guild and tripped on a rock on the way.”

The first stage of Amanda’s reaction was denial.

She laughed. Then, when I didn’t tell her to stop, she took a deep breath and huffed at me, angry that I was teasing her. Air gathered into her cheeks and made her look like a squirrel. Then she exhaled.

Stage two was acceptance.

I could tell she was starting to take me seriously when her breathing quickened, and her chest rose and fell with rapid breaths. She kneaded her shoulder, and I could see her grip was tight and pinching on her pajamas.

“You know, I’m starting to think you’re not joking.”

She threaded a hand through her hair. A curl of flames wrapped around her finger, and she gave it a sharp tug.

She winced.

“I’m tired, but I’m not dreaming. You're telling me that you’ve been hanging out with a Marked one, and that Marked one has been hanging out with me too, but I didn’t know it.”

“When you put it that way… yes. Absolutely. It’s true.”

I plucked a stray ember from the air and inspected it between my fingers as Amanda got her thoughts together.

She was reacting a lot better than I thought she would.

Considering her father’s religious tendencies and the stereotypes surrounding Marked ones that held them high on a pedestal as living gods, I was expecting more shouting and disbelief.

“Okay.” Amanda smoothed down her clothes and faced me. “I’m wide awake and ready to hear that one last time.”

“Gerial thinks you’re a super cool person.” I put my thumbs up.

Amanda leaned towards me and flicked my forehead with her finger.

“Ow! Why’d you do that?” I rubbed my forehead.

“To check that you’re not dreaming either.”

Amanda covered a smile with her hand.

“Also, you kind of deserve it for letting an invisible person listen to me talk all night without telling me. But I get it. If you’re not lying, then they have a great reason for not showing themselves.”

She gripped the back of the sofa with her hand and lifted herself into a more comfortable position. I was pushed to the side as she stretched her legs across the seat cushions.

I could see the wheels turning in her head as she pieced together the events of the day. My mouth stayed shut as I allowed her time to accept the situation.

A silence fell over us, interrupted only by the ruffling of feathers as Gold and Agni watched our conversation.

The two birds were starting to get drowsy, and I could see Gold’s head drooping down and then bouncing back up as he started to drift off to sleep but stopped himself at the last second.

“Okay.”

Her voice broke the silence.

“Before I dive in. Do you have any more surprises for me? Fue’s Marked one isn’t chilling in the room with us, is she?”

“She is not, and I don’t know if she can even turn invisible.” I smiled. “And maybe there’s more. That depends on if you think you can handle it.”

The conversation I’d had with William during the party played in my head.

“I can handle it as soon as you tell me more about the Marked one.” Amanda’s voice was barely restrained. “Why was he hanging out with us? How did you guys meet? Where else did we go when he was ther-”

I held up a hand to stop her with a gentle smile on my face.

“I can only handle one question at a time.” I chuckled. “What do you want to know the most?”

Amanda took her time in answering, her eyes darting towards the bookshelf that held all of her books on Marked ones.

To her, a Marked one was something she had only read about, and I could only imagine the fantastical tales that had been spun inside those covers. I hoped she wasn’t too disappointed, or unrealistic in her expectation.

Gerial didn’t shoot lasers from his eyes or slay dragons.

“Is this why you asked me what my opinion on him was?” Amanda turned back to me.

I nodded.

“Good. I like that.” She spoke to herself. “That means you always intended to introduce me to him. Thank gosh I decided to reserve my judgement, that would have been awkward.”

A small wave of relief washed over her features and the corners of her mouth curved upwards.

“I was always going to tell you.” I responded. “Having us hang out as a group is one of my main goals. Splitting up my friend's time isn’t fun, and it’s hard for Gerial to stay invisible, only interacting on the side.”

“That’s true.”

Amanda sank back into the sofa, moving a cushion under her head.

“You realise we can never tell my dad about this.” Her voice floated into the air. “I’m warning you about that now, he would freak out and I don’t think it would be in a good way.”

A flash of surprise rose from my heart.

“Does he have something against Gerial?”

I’d thought that with his religious background he would be excited to know that his daughter was becoming friends with a Marked one.

“No, but eventually he would try to use my connection with a Marked one to increase his own reputation. Even if it doesn’t really exist.” She frowned. “Nobody likes to be used.”

“That’s… an issue.”

Keeping the friendship a secret from others after telling Amanda hadn’t been a consideration for me. How she would react was my immediate concern, and Gerial didn’t care about how others perceived him as long as they were distant from him.

Her father wasn’t even on Gerial’s radar except for the concern that his religious views had transferred to Amanda.

As long as Amanda didn’t try to use him, he was content.

It was only when strangers and adults were around him that he turned invisible. He was well aware that everyone around the world had different opinions about him.

“Okay!” Amanda clapped her hands together.

Her voice reverberated strongly in the air, and I almost jumped off the sofa in surprise. I heard her giggle at my shock.

“I’ve got so many questions.” She pointed at me. “One by one. Are you ready to answer them?”

“Bring it on.” I puffed out my chest.

“How did you two meet?”

I answered all of her questions as they came, and I soon lost track of time. Most of her questions I had expected, including why I was friends with Gerial and how we met.

It was easy enough to say that we had met when my dad had taken me to the observatory for work. We had hit it off and been friends ever since.

There were some questions I hadn’t expected. Our roles were reversed as Amanda asked me what the proper common courtesies were when talking to a Marked one.

Could she mention his purple eyes? Were smartass comments going to get her killed? Did Gerial really have tentacles for a body that were wrapped up in clothes and disguised as a boy?

She’d meant that last one as a joke. I think.

“Jeez, I'm running out of questions about a Marked one. I never thought that would happen.” Amanda folded her arms in front of her and yawned.

Beside us, Agni and Gold had drifted off to sleep on the chair. Agni’s body pulsated with a low light every time she breathed, making Gold’s purple and black feathers shimmer.

"I know one of his hobbies is book reading, so you guys have that in common." My voice was hoarse.

She had asked so many questions. I wasn't used to talking non-stop.

Amanda’s hair had flared up excitedly when she’d sent the barrage of questions my way, but now the room was dark as she calmed down.

“Two final questions.” She raised two fingers in the air. “First, how do I say hi when I meet him?”

I leaned back against the sofa and imagined Amanda meeting Gerial.

“I've always been fond of the word ‘hello’.” I spoke. “He doesn’t really care about titles or making people change the way they speak around him.”

Amanda hummed as she thought about my answer.

“Okay. Now my last question.” She pushed herself up so that she was facing me properly. “You said you had another surprise for me if I could handle your first one. What was it?”

“Oh, that. It was something I’ve been meaning to tell you. It's about my age.” I chose my words carefully. “It hasn’t come up in conversation so far, but I thought it’s better to erase any misunderstandings sooner than later.”

My eyes turned towards the bookshelves around me, roaming over their dimly lit spines.

“You know how William and I are friends despite the age gap? Well, there’s a reason for that. That’s because there is no age gap.”

Amanda looked at me and I could see her confusion. “I need more information.”

The words flew out of my mouth as I explained my situation, leaving out the Mark. It came out quicker than I’d thought, and it helped that I could use William as a reference for my growth.

A person being Marked wasn’t the go-to assumption for body growth in this world, especially when all seven were accounted for.

Once I was done with the abridged version of my life history, I gave her time to put her thoughts together.

She didn’t look surprised, rather, she looked uninterested. After a few moments she rested her head back down onto her cushion and looked up at the ceiling.

“Okay.”

That was it?

“I was expecting a bigger reaction from you.” I raised my hand and mimed smacking my face with a book.

“Honestly, after your reveal that a Marked one was hanging out with me all evening, this just doesn’t really measure up.” She poked her tongue out at me.

Wow. That kind of hurt. It also removed a weight off my chest.

She saw my expression of relief and kicked my leg gently.

“There’s a bit more to it than that.” Her tone was light. “I’ve spent a lot of time talking to William recently, and I think that’s changed my mind about people with increased wisdom.”

“It’s also the most common trope in my fantasy action books.” She stretched her hand out and pointed towards one of the bookshelves. “The biggest annoyance I had about William was that he was so strong and smart despite being so young. It felt like a slap in the face to all my years of hard work.”

I recalled the words that she had spoken to me when William defeated her brother in the arena. She had never said that she had something against him, only that it was scary how he had caught up to everyone else.

“I’ve seen what you can do, and how you got there.” Amanda smiled. “I can respect that. I mean, I won’t lie to you, it’s a little bit weird, but I think of it as someone growing their body to match their mind.”

“Above all, it helps that I got to know you first.”

We laid back and a peaceful silence descended onto the study.

I smiled as my thoughts reminded me that I was young, but technically I was also old.

Earlier when I’d seen numerous books on the shelves that had reincarnation in their titles. Amanda had told me it was a popular genre.

Would Amanda react so casually if I told her about my own reincarnation?

I shook my head lightly and closed my eyes, sinking into the cushion. That was a thought for another time.

This week was going to be quick and easy. Classes were progressing, my skills were leveling, and I had Alexis’ gathering. I also wanted to get to know some more of my classmates.

There was one thing that was more important than all of those.

This week I would try and get Amanda and Gerial to finally meet.

I wanted front row tickets to that show.