Margot began to pace around the perimeter of the study, cutting a sharp ninety degree turn around the end table that defined its outer most corner in the apartment. As she rounded the corner for perhaps the fourth or fifth time, she took a deep breath and pressed the bridge of her nose tight between her index finger and thumb.

“So he saw… you’re sure?”

“We’re about eighty percent sure.” Connor answered for Sara, who couldn’t bring herself to actually answer her mother.

“But you’re sure he can see now?”

“That’s closer to ninety-nine percent.”

“And the one percent being?”

“A massive coincidence that he kept staring at our left arms.”

“Fair enough.” Margot started pacing again. “And he brought his roommate, and you’re pretty sure the roommate can’t see. And what’s worse, you think they both suspect something strange is going on…”

“Is that last part so bad?” Sara asked weakly. “Something strange is happening. It’s always happening. Josh, at least, should know about it now.”

Margot stopped again, this time near where Sara was curled up on the window seat in the study, and put a comforting hand on her daughter’s head. “I should be more clear. I’m not mad at you. And I’m not disappointed. Not even a little. You did good for your first real challenge as a marked. But you’re right, someone has to tell Josh about what’s happening around him now. And I don’t think it should be me.”

---

Sara approached Josh alone.

It was very nearly like the first time they’d talked in front of the doors of the astronomy lecture hall after class. Same place, same time of day, Sara even wore the same t-shirt underneath her hoodie for good luck. What Josh noticed though, was the same smile that he’d seen the first time she had approached him. She was bright and bold, and yet somehow still a little nervous, still a little vulnerable.

“So… I think I should talk to you about something…”

Josh stopped and prepared himself. Her tone did not speak of casual conversation. “Oh. Okay? Is something wrong?”

“No. No. It’s… it’s just kind of private.” Sara couldn’t help twisting her fingers together nervously while she spoke. “Do you mind coming with me to the observatory? It’s the middle of the day so it should be empty.”

“That’s…” Josh couldn’t think of a good reason to say no. He wanted to. But he didn’t want to be rude and risk ruining a growing friendship. “Okay. Sure. Let’s go.”

Josh held his arm out for Sara to lead the way and she eagerly began to march towards the nearest stairwell. It was a bit tiring to walk up the four flights to the ladder on the top floor of the building, and worse than it could have been at any other time since they were both carrying bags. When they reached the steep stair to the small observatory dome on top of the building, Sara paused to check around the deserted hallway as if she anticipated that someone was following them. Satisfied that no one was, she nodded her head for Josh to follow her up the precarious steps to the near hatch-like door.

Inside the dome—which was only about twelve feet wide in diameter—there were some chairs, a desk, the modest department telescope, and a whole lot of stale air. To top it all off, the room was very poorly lit. There was a single dull yellow bulb screwed into an exposed socket right next to the door, which Sara had turned on as soon as she opened the door. And as soon as Josh followed her in, she closed the door quietly behind them.

For a moment, Sara looked as though she wanted to talk but didn’t know what to say. Then without warning, she dropped her bag and began to remove her hoodie. For a moment, Josh feared she was going to remove her top altogether. But only the hoodie was removed. The removal left her arms mostly bare and Josh was again confronted with the mark on her left arm that he couldn’t ignore, and he knew immediately that that was what this was about.

“You can see that… can’t you.” Sara held her arm out.

“I’m not entirely sure…” Josh tried to deny her claim, but he was quickly interrupted.

“Don’t play stupid, I know you’re not. You’re not blind either… and neither an I.” Sara’s tone was uncharacteristically severe. “You can see the mark on my arm.”

Josh sighed. Despite his fears he knew there was only one option. “Yes. I can see that. Whatever that is.”

“And you know that’s not normal… right?”

“Considering Kerry can’t see it, and your mom and Connor have the exact same spiral pattern tattoo on their arms… which I did not see before… yeah. I kind of figured that it wasn’t normal.”

Sara began to bite her lip as she contemplated what she should say next, but Josh didn’t give her the chance to explain any further.

“And I saw, at least I think I saw, your mom give you that.” Josh pressed his fingertips into his forehead to try and alleviate some of the pressure from the stress he was experiencing. “So, clearly it isn’t just a tattoo. And the way it almost glows, I don’t think that can be done safely with ink.”

Sara smiled weakly at the honesty. “See, I told you you weren’t stupid. But you did do something kind of stupid. You shouldn’t have brought Kerry into this. You shouldn’t have told anyone, and you still shouldn’t tell anyone about it. They won’t just think you’re crazy, which they probably will, but telling the wrong people could get someone hurt.”

The words Josh was hearing were churning up a brand new and difficult to process fear. Not just that he could get someone hurt, but that there was actually a bigger secret at play. It was a scenario out of a novel, but Josh didn’t want that sort of secret or responsibility thrust on him. He never had. He was too normal to deal with that kind of bizarre ordeal. And it went against most of what he wanted to accomplish in life. Harboring a secret that could harm others was the exact opposite of helping people in his mind.

Sara seemed to pick up on the fear that Josh was feeling.

“I know that’s kind of a big bomb to drop, but I needed to tell you sooner rather than later. Really, we should have told you even sooner, but we weren’t sure you actually could see them and we didn’t want to risk you getting hurt if you couldn’t.”

There was no good way to respond to Sara. At least none that Josh could think of. His mind was racing and he couldn’t keep up. Was this real? Was he having a fever dream? Was he imagining things because he was overwhelmed that a girl had asked him into a secluded and private space one on one? Was it actual magic? Was he even awake? Josh pinched himself quickly and quickly realized that he was awake.

“That’s about right…” Sara chuckled. “It probably doesn’t feel real. Right? Even stranger than a billionaire military science experiment gone wrong trying to blow up an entire city so he can corner the world market on microchips. But not as wild.”

Josh couldn’t help but laugh as well. “I guess you could say that. It’s a small scale kind of weird. It’s personal, and it’s more than a little frightening.”

“I know. When I was little, my mother tried to explain it all to me and I nearly ran away from home. She didn’t know what to do. I wouldn’t talk to her at all. But then one day I realized that there was no way it couldn’t be real, because she was real. And her mark was real. And that was enough for me.” Sara seemed to relax. “And you’re not a little girl, and I’m not calling you one, but it isn’t very complicated. People with these marks are different, and that makes other people angry. And… I could try to tell you more, but it wouldn’t be complete. I’m still new to this half of the equation myself.”

Rather than let Sara continue to ramble on, Josh held up a hand to interrupt. “But, what if I want to just… go on with my life and not get involved?”

“You could.” Sara looked sad for probably the first time at that prospect. “But I would like it… I think you should talk to my mom first. She can tell you what you need to know before you make that decision.”

“What if I can’t go back to my normal life if I hear that?”

“You’re… you can’t… I don’t think what my mom has to say would do that. She knows what she’s doing and she wouldn’t put you in front of a danger she wouldn’t face with you.”

“Okay.” Josh let out a breath he hadn’t realized he had been holding. “When can I talk to your mother?”

The faint smile on Sara’s face was an obvious sign of hurt. Hurt that Josh had had to be convinced of doing what she felt was the right thing. It went against her opinion of him. “She’ll be by tonight, around six. She might crash on our couch.”

“Alright. I’ll be there. Six thirty?”

“She’ll be ready.”

After a near minute of silent nodding where neither Sara nor Josh could decide how best to leave. They both had to go a fairly long distance before their paths diverged, and they both knew it. But there was nothing left to say.

“You can go on ahead, I need to think about some thing.” Josh nodded to the side to gesture Sara away.

Sara offered one last nod and headed out the door to the small observatory, leaving Josh alone with his thoughts. Thoughts of panic and fear, of mystery and disbelief. There was no way he could believe what he was being pulled in to. But at the same time there was no way he could deny it either. If it was a hallucination, it was a strangely consistent one. And what was worse, Josh felt fine—unlike he had the day he helped Sara and Connor move—and couldn’t come up with any reason as to why he would be hallucinating or imagining things.

After about ten minutes of time to himself, Josh flipped the observatory light off and made his way back down through the building. And waiting for him, at the bottom floor, was Kerry. Josh had seen his roommate leave the lecture hall earlier when class had gotten out, but it had been at least twenty minutes since then.

“What’s up?” Josh asked as soon as he was within ear shot.

Kerry had made eye contact as soon as Josh was visible, making it clear he had waited for his roommate. But there wasn’t any visible motive or expression on his face. What was worse, or so Josh thought, was that Kerry was not watching out for girls. Several passed right in front of Kerry before Josh made his way over and there had been no visible reaction on the face of his girl crazy roommate.

“Did you sneak off with Sara after class?” It was the worst possible question that Josh could have heard after the conversation he had had with Sara.

“Yeah. She took me aside to talk. But it was just about movie night.” Josh wasn’t sure what he should say, if anything. Kerry finding out more could be dangerous for him. “But I checked for tattoos again, and I didn’t see anything. I think I may have just been seeing things. Like when you stand up really fast and you haven’t had enough water. It was just my eyes being out of focus.”

Kerry’s eyebrow went up in calm disbelief. “Are you sure? You seemed pretty adamant about it the other night.”

“I don’t see how else I could have seen something that wasn’t there though. So I might have been sure then, but I’m not anymore.” Josh shook his head as he tried to dig back into a topic that he had talked over with Kerry before. “Like in trial, witness testimony can change over time. It’s part of why human witness testimonies are so unreliable. All you have to do is ask the right question and the witness won’t believe their own story anymore.”

“Alright. But promise me one thing, okay?”

“That depends on what the promise is.”

“Don’t go back there for a while. I don’t trust them.”

“Sara invited me over tonight to go over notes from today’s lecture.” Josh had to think of some kind of excuse, and he couldn’t bear lying outright. He was going to speak to Margot, and it wasn’t something he wanted to hide. He wasn’t a teenager anymore, there was no need to sneak out after dark.

“That’s my one condition, Josh.” Kerry shook his head. “Please, just say you’ll keep your distance.”

Josh didn’t want to argue about it, least of all in public, but it seemed like he needed to do some kind of defending of himself. “You know how bad I am at meeting new people and getting along with them… how many friends have you seen me make in the whole time we’ve known each other?”

Kerry let out a deep sigh as he answered. “Zero. Because you don’t talk to people. That’s what makes me nervous. You’re changing your pattern of behavior so quickly with Sara. Do you like her? Is there more going on?”

“She’s nice, Kerry.” Josh didn’t have to lie about that, and it made it all the more comforting to say out loud. “And sincere. There isn’t an ulterior motive in her head, and I don’t think she could handle one if it crept in. She’s innocent.”

“Not that innocent…”

“Well, she’s the nicest person I’ve met in a long time and I don’t want to mess it up.”

“Fine. Fine… fine…” Kerry shook his head. “I don’t exactly think she’s going to hurt you, or that Connor is. But if you start seeing things again, leave. That’s my bare minimum request.”

“Okay. Done. If things start getting weird again… or weirder. I’ll leave.”