Marcus
The house felt wrong.
Not empty or quiet but off.
I stood in the living room,
staring at nothing in particular. The same couch. The same table. The same
faint smell of coffee that had somehow refused to disappear.
Everything was still here.
Except the people who made it
matter.
My grip tightened slightly at
my side.
"You can't stay in between
forever."
Callie's voice echoed in my
head.
I exhaled slowly.
Yeah, I knew That but it
didn't make it easier.
I stepped outside just as the
sun dipped lower into the horizon.
She was already there.
Leaning against the gate like
she'd been waiting.
Of course she had.
"You always did take your
time," she said without looking at me.
I frowned slightly. "Thought
you said I had a choice."
"You do," she replied. "That
doesn't mean I wont be impatient about it."
I almost smile.
Silence settled between us for
a moment.
"That person," I said. "The
one watching."
Her expression shifted
slightly.
"Seraphina," she said.
So that was her name.
"She trained you?" I asked.
Callie nodded.
My eyes narrowed slightly.
"How?" the question came out
sharper than I meant it to.
"You were the one training," I
added. "Not me."
Her lips pressed into a thin
line.
"For a while," she said.
That wasn't an answer so I
waited.
She sighed quietly.
"She found me after the fire,"
she said. "I didn't even know where I was. I thought-"
She stopped and swallowed then
continued.
"I thought you were dead."
That landed. Hard.
"I stayed with her," she went
on. "At first because I had nowhere else to go. Then… because I realized what
she was."
"And what is she?" I asked.
"Stronger than anything you've
seen so far." That wasn't comforting. At all.
"She's family," Callie added.
"Azzurro blood. Same as us."
That word again.
Family.
It didn't feel simple anymore.
"She's been protecting you,"
Callie said. "From a distance."
"Without telling me."
"You weren't ready." I let out
a quiet breath.
"Yeah. I've heard that one."
She didn't argue.
Just let the silence sit and somehow
that made it easier to listen.
"She's the one who taught me
everything I know," Callie said. "How to fight. How to control what we are."
"What we are," I repeated.
My gaze dropped briefly to the
bracelet.
"You said I have a choice," I
said finally.
She nodded. "You do."
"And if I say no?"
Her expression didn't change.
"Then I leave," she said. "And
you stay Marcus."
Just Marcus.
The words felt heavier than
they should have.
"And everything else?" I
asked.
"The truth," she said. "The
past. What's coming."
A pause.
"You'd be choosing not to
know."
That… hit differently. Because
it wasn't just about danger.
It was about ignorance. About
pretending.
I looked away. Towards the
street.
"I could finish school," I
said. "Take my exams. Go to college. Live a normal life."
"You could," she agreed.
"And you?" I asked.
"I'd keep fighting," she said.
"With or without you."
Something in my chest
tightened.
I didn't like the idea of her
out there alone. Again.
"You're younger than me," I
said.
"You've said that already."
"Yeah, and it still matters."
A faint spark of the old
Callie flashed in her eyes.
"No," she muttered. "it
doesn't. not anymore."
That stung. Because a part of
me knew she was right.
"I need time," I said.
"You don't have much," she
replied.
"Then I'll use what I have."
She studied me for a moment
then nodded once.
"I'll be nearby," she said.
Of course, she would.
The cliff felt colder that
evening.
Or maybe it was just me.
Noah and Riley were already
there.
Riley stood the second she saw
me.
"What did she say?" straight
to it.
Noah stayed quiet, watching.
I sat down slowly. "She gave
me a choice."
"That doesn't sound good."
Riley frowned.
"It's not," I said.
"What kind of choice?" Noah
asked.
"Stay here," I said. "Or go
with her."
Silence.
"You're not actually thinking
about going, are you?" Riley asked.
I didn't answer immediately.
That was enough.
Her expression hardened.
"Marcus-"
"She's my sister," I said.
"And you don't know her
anymore," Riley shot back.
I exhaled slowly. "She didn't
lie."
"That doesn't mean she told
you everything."
Noah leaned forward slightly.
"What happens if you go?" he
asked.
"I train," I said. "I learn
what all of this is. What I am."
"And if you don't?" Riley
pressed.
"I stay here."
"With us," she added.
That part wasn't said lightly.
I looked at her. At both of
them.
This was my life.
Or at least, the one I
understood.
"She said I'd be choosing not
to know," I said quietly.
"Not to know what?" Noah
frowned.
"Everything."
The word hung in the air.
Riley looked away briefly then
back at me.
"And what do you want?" she
asked.
That question...
Simple yet impossible.
I thought about the fire,
about my parents.
My jaw tightened. " I want
answers," I said.
"And if those answers cost you
this?" Riley asked.
I didn't respond immediately.
Because I didn't have one.
Noah spoke up quietly.
"Whatever you choose," he
said, " just don't disappear on us."
I let out a small breath. "I
won't."
"You better not," Riley added.
"And try not to die," Noah
said.
I smiled lightly.
"Low expectations."
"I'm serious."
"I know."
That night, I stood outside my
house again.
Same place with different
feeling.
I looked at the bracelet
again. Then I clenched my hands.
"I'm not done," I said
quietly.
Not to anyone just to the
silence.
To the past. To whatever was
coming.
Footsteps behind me.
I didn't turn.
"I figured," Callie said.
I exhaled slowly then face
her.
"I'm going with you."
Her expression didn't change
much but her shoulders relaxed slightly.
"Good," she said.
I held her gaze.
"This isn't about
destiny," I added. "or whatever you
think I'm supposed to be."
"Then what is it about?"
My jaw tightened. "My
parents," I said.
The air went still.
"I'm going to find out what
happened," I continued. "And when I do…"
I didn't finish the sentence.
I didn't need to. Because she understood. I could see it in her eyes.
She nodded once.
"Then we start tomorrow."