I looked at him closely. Disbelief laced his tone.
I looked around for the problem. “What’s wrong?”
The rest of the group reached us. Their faces were as shocked as Josian’s.
I looked at Lucy. “Is my skin green? Do I actually look like an alien now?” I patted my face again, disturbing large chunks of sand residing in my hair.
“Your marks, Abbs ... we can all see your marks,” she said in a kind of stuttering awe.
In surprise I looked down to see if my necklace had fallen open. It was resting in its usual spot, closed up tight. But, pulsing in the moonlight, my marks ran down my arm into the black of my dress.
Without thought, I raced back up the beach, pounding across the deck and inside to the nearest mirror: the downstairs powder room.
I used the energy stream to turn on the lights and open the door. I stared at my reflection.
The marks were fainter than under the moonstale crystal, but they were there. And my knife wound had disappeared. The pink puckered scar, which had been hidden under my dress strap, was gone. In fact my skin looked perfect, not one spot, scar or blemish. Besides my Walker marks pulsing away at me.
Josian crowded in behind me. I turned my shocked eyes in his direction. “Why has this happened?”
He shook his head. “I don’t know, baby girl. I’ve never seen this happen to any Walker before. But you are the first half-Walker that I’ve seen reach power enlightenment.”
He paused for a moment. Everyone else had crowded into the room behind us. I found myself pressed right against the sink that sat below the mirror.
Lallielle’s panicked voice came from the back of the group. “You told me the original Walkers had their marks on display, Jos.”
Josian sighed. “Yes, but this has to be something different. Aribella’s only half-Walker. I don’t know if this has something to do with the combination of First-World and Walker powers or something else entirely.”
I glared at my reflection. “This is probably why people wanted to kill me as a baby. No one likes the unknown.”
Lallielle forged her way to us. “Josian, we need to figure this out. We cannot send Aribella out to the youngling planets with Walker marks on display.”
“The average person doesn’t know about our marks,” was his helpful reply.
“Don’t worry yourselves,” Francesca chimed in from the back of the room. “This is meant to be for Aribella to complete her task. There’s nothing more that can be done.”
“Thank you, Frannie, succinct and crazy as usual.” Lallielle was becoming much too adept at sarcasm.
“No need to be a witch, Lallielle. I was just imparting my wisdom.”
Clearly sisters are the same no matter what planet or age. I ran a hand along the pulsing pattern on my arm. I now had the world’s biggest ice breaker. Something this out-there was sure to be useful when trying to make friends on other planets.
“We should think up a cover story for your marks,” Lucy said as Samuel lifted her up for a better look. “Although, you look gorgeous. They really suit you.”
“Thanks, Luce, that makes me feel so much better.”
She shrugged. “Who cares how you feel? Haven’t I always taught you it’s how you look that counts?”
I stuck my tongue out at her.
I started shoving people back so I could leave the powder room. Brace halted me with a hand on my arm. His expression appeared to be light-hearted, but his eyes were a smoldering cauldron of emotion.
“Lucy’s right, Red. You do look gorgeous. But please, if you value my sanity, no more screams of pain.” He leaned in closer, talking so low I almost missed the words. “I know my kisses are potent, but that was more of a reaction than even I expected.”
Flushing, I elbowed him in the ribs as I moved past. His kiss had been potent, and hot, and...
Focus, Abby.
Taking a breath, I finally made it out of the room and back into the hall. Lallielle, who had followed me, took one look at my expression before turning to the group.
“Alright, everyone, to bed now. You’re leaving in the morning and you all need as much rest as possible.”
Thank God she’d seen that I’d had enough for tonight.
Josian reinforced her. “I want to speak with Aribella before she goes, but, the rest of you, we meet back here at 0800 hours.”
I pointedly ignored the worried glances thrown my way. One by one they filed out of the room, taking off to finalize their lives.
Lallielle stopped Lucas with a hand on his arm. “If you’re leaving with them tomorrow, would you like to stay here tonight?”
He nodded. “That’d probably be the easiest. I’ll have my assistant drop off a bag.”