The Marked One (The Marked Series Book 1) (7 page)

“Uh-huh?”

“For a date. Kind of. I think. Say something.”

“Just be careful and don’t forget who you are,” he said far too easily.

“Just like that?” She was baffled.

“You are smart enough to know people with money think they can get what they want, and you’ve been through enough to know how to take care of yourself. I know you are smart enough to see the bad ones coming from kilometres away. You’re a grownup now. You can handle anything.”

“But I still feel like a kid,” she whispered.

“I told you, you could stay with me until you are forty, but you insisted on doing your own thing, so that is your loss,” he teased her, clearly just wanting to help keep her spirits up.

There was a real knock at the door. “I think Madeline just arrived.” She found her feet and walked to the door. “Thank you, Daddy, and I love you. Now go back to sleep.”

“Don’t forget me when this man becomes more important.” Her father didn’t say that he was worried, but it was clear that her tone—likely sounding too excited—gave away how she was handling it all.

She opened the door to find Madeline looking like she was in shock. “No man will ever be more important. Good night.”

“Love you,
pampoen
,” he said with a heavy sigh and ended the call.

“Before we get to this mention of a man…what the hell were you thinking when you chose this place?” Madeline looked beyond repair with shock.

Aaliyah smiled at the mean-looking Mr. Martinez. “Thank you for fixing that.” He grumbled something and she quickly closed the door.

“Seriously, this is freaking serial killer paradise.” Aaliyah led Madeline up the stairs, without a word. “What are you doing?”

“Just move your bum,” she said. Passing her at the landing of the staircase, Madeline complained about the unmade bed but Aaliyah ignored it and opened the door.

“Cheese and crackers!” Madeline dashed out. “This is insane! Okay, I get why you got this place, but the place is a—”

“I like it and I’m the one who lives here,” Aaliyah said defensively.

“Fine.” Madeline frowned. “So what man will not be more important than your dad?”

“No one.” She turned and walked back in. “Do you want something to drink?”

“Uh-uh, buddy, I see that face.” She darted down the stairs. “Tell me all. Is he hot? Oh, is it your boss at City Lights Marketing where you did the interview?” Aaliyah made a face and Madeline continued, “Okay, just a guy working there?” Aaliyah made a disagreeing sound. “A fucking security guard? I don’t know how they look these days.”

Aaliyah took a deep breath. “Mr. Gerardo himself interviewed me.”

Madeline’s face turned comical. “The old guy? He is married!”

“No! Not him! He has a son.”

“Ah, thank God! Not that he is bad, but dear heavens, talk about a scandal.” Madeline was animated now.

“So have you got a few ideas—”

“Now, wait a moment.” Madeline stopped her, hand in midair, her mind clearly not in the right place. “The dad is really kind of not bad even for his age, so the son must not be either?” She looked at Aaliyah, clearly craving details.

Aaliyah smiled. “He is kind, made me feel okay about who I am, and I felt comfortable around him. It is so strange.”

“You think? Since I’ve known you, you’ve barely dated and when you do, the assholes always had issues with…has he seen your special mark?” Madeline looked a little more concerned.

“Yes, he said I shouldn’t hide.” The words sounded unreal.

“My fuck, who would’ve thought it would take a rich man to see true beauty?” Aaliyah shook her head, “Buddy, this is amazing.”

“I’m really not liking the subject. Let’s move on to the one of me being yours,” she said, rummaging through the fridge for something to drink.

“Momentarily.” Madeline thought for a moment. “Do you guys have a date?”

“Yes, Friday, now please—”

“You haven’t told me about your job?” Madeline persisted and showed that she wanted the red instead of the white wine. “Glasses?” she asked and grabbed two glasses from the locker, after Aaliyah showed her which.

“I’m starting tomorrow as a lab technician for the Gerardo Research and Rehabilitation Laboratory at the marina, close to the aquarium and zoo.”

“That is amazing. Hell, you are getting it all,” Madeline chirped.

“I am getting nothing yet. And maybe Mr. Gerardo isn’t as kind as he’s seemed so far.” Aaliyah couldn’t trust too easily. It was one thing about herself that made her miss many things in life, but it was all part of protecting herself from pain.

“I’m sure if you are having a date you can call him by his name,” Madeline teased as she took over pouring the wine when Aaliyah clearly took too long in doing so.

“It might not even be a date. It might just be dinner. He asked to have dinner,” she defended.

“Exactly, it’s a date,” Madeline said as she put the wine away. “He’d ask for lunch if he wanted it to be casual business.”

“That is a stereotype. People can have dinner casually and lunch intimately.”

A mishevious gleam came to Madeline’s eye. “Have you thought of him intimately?”

“Maddy!” She immediately felt an awkward warmth of embarrassment cover her entire body while Madeline held her head back in laughter.

“What? In my imagination, a man with Italian anything is fucking fantasy land.” They moved to the couch and slumped down onto it in synchronicity, just like how it was when they’d lived together. Both took a sip of wine and admired the view.

“Can we just get to the paintings?” Aaliyah asked. “Now, or not quite yet?”

“Fine, but is this place reachable for pizza? I’m hungry…for Italian.” Madeline’s suggestive tone and brow wiggle made Aaliyah chuckle. Sometimes Madeline was a bit of a handful, but she kept everything enjoyable. She went to grab their favourite pizza place’s menu off the refrigerator and tossed it in Madeline’s direction. “Yay, at least I can also have some Italian then.”

“Maddy, please, stop. This is going to kill me if you go on.” It was a pure whine.

“Fine, fine, but can I Google him?” She looked like a child asking for a treat before dinner.

It caused Aaliyah to almost choke on the sip of wine she had in her mouth, “Are you insane? That's like stalking. I’m sure some dictionary would agree with me.”

“How else are you going to find out more about him?” Madeline asked, more serious than what Aaliyah found usual and also just a bit weird.

“By getting to know him…the normal way. The human way. The pre-Internet way,” Aaliyah said with a frown, feeling a bit disgusted by the idea if the tables had been turned.

“At least just tell me his name so I can do it later,” Madeline pried.

“If you do it here, I’ll kill you. This serial killer zone doesn’t have place for loonies the likes of you.”

“I won’t. I promise. I’ll go home and then do it.” Madeline smirked. “I’ll get it on the Internet somewhere anyway. At least tell me so I’ll feel less guilty when I do Google him.”

It was a losing battle. “Fine, Tristano.”

Madeline sighed in delight, as she was still carrying a smile that meant she was far from done. “I’ll order the pizza, and after I’ll tell you my plans while we wait.” Surprisingly, she kept her word of letting it be.

After the order was placed, she crossed her legs, set her wine glass on the floor, and turned to Aaliyah. “So I only have two ideas so far.” Aaliyah felt like a disapproving mother with the look she gave Madeline. “We still have time, damn it.”

“Fine, tell me.”

“Okay, but will you please come to this exhibition?”

Aaliyah sighed. “I need to be there, exposed, I assume, so the people can see how great of an artist you are?” Madeline only smiled. “You can be glad I like you, because it sure as hell isn’t going to be fun.”

“It’ll be fun. You’ll see. People interested in art aren’t as shallow-minded as those who don’t understand that beauty’s origin is uniqueness, and that, my dear friend, is the pinnacle of what you are.”

Aaliyah just shook her head, seeing no point in arguing with Madeline, who would only shut her down.

Madeline shifted around, finding an odd sitting position that made yoga look like child’s play, before she continued, “Okay, how do you feel about writing a letter about how you feel about your special marks? How other people make you feel about it? Or the things they have called you?”

“Pissed off. Not happy. Really disapproving of the idea.” Aaliyah shrugged. “Likely violent.”

Madeline made a face. “I have this idea of simple black and white script that covers a sketch of your face and then things in this letter, message to the world if you will, will be emphasised in different colours. Like names or feelings. I’m still figuring that one out.”

“The idea I’m getting isn’t bad. I just…I’m not sure about what I would write, and it’s almost worse than
The Marked One’s
origin. This is going to be far more personal.”

“You’ll get over it,” Madeline reached for her wine and took a sip. “I’ll work on the basic part of getting your face on it, using one of the photos I still have.” Aaliyah sighed and nodded in defeat. “And then I have a mirror idea of your face’s left side.”

“The mark is gonna look like a crippled butterfly?”

“Exactly! That is the title I thought to use.” Madeline paused. “Not the crippled part, just the butterfly part.”

Aaliyah pressed the heels of her hands against her eyes, stopped, and looked back at Madeline. “Fine. Is that all you got so far then?”

Madeline jumped up and walked to the fridge to fill up her wine glass again. “Yeah, for now. I’ll figure out the next two once we get there.”

“Please fill mine as well.” Aaliyah held her glass out in Madeline’s direction.

“Oh.” Madeline took the glass and looked at Aaliyah. “Congrats with the job. I’m proud of you.” As wild as Madeline was, she was one hell of an amazing friend, and Aaliyah had to fight the tears of appreciation teasing against her eyelids.

Chapter Four

Aaliyah walked up to the door and looked at the sign:
Gerardo Research and Rehabilitation Laboratory
.
She smiled to herself, still unable to believe that her luck had changed so much since she had began searching for work in the city. She was still overwhelmed with awe that Gerardo himself had employed her, or at least made these things happen.

She would never do as Madeline had suggested, to search his name online, to find out more about him, but it was tempting, as she wished to see if this man, who claimed to want to see her exposed, was a kind soul in other areas as well. It wasn’t that she was in love and felt like swooning at the thought of him, but she was already appreciating the fact that there might be a person out there who would accept her and her birthmarks.

A man rose behind the desk of the reception area. It was small and minimalist with aquariums and terrariums already giving the idea of something great taking place within the building. “Good day. Ms. Labuschagne, I presume?”

Instinct made her want to cover her face, but the makeup was already in place, so she hoped the reason why the man was assuming it was her was because they didn’t get many visitors. “Good morning, and yes, that is me.”

His pale face lit up. “Welcome to Gerardo Labs. I’m Stephen.” They shook hands, and he smiled at her with shimmering, central heterochromia brown-green eyes that were filled with excitement. “I will give you a quick tour and introduce you to some of your mentors, whom we might bump into, and when—”

She did a double take. “Sorry, mentors? You probably mean the professors and doctors I’d be working for.”

“Mr. Gerardo has asked me to not elaborate too much, but he said that a new paid student—that will be you now—will come today, and for the next few days you will just be introduced and allowed to settle, but next week you will basically continue to study. Dr. Ramadan will be able to explain that part better.”

Her heart was beating out of control. This was her dream and now it was being handed to her. She wasn’t sure what to make of it. She was very appreciative, but it felt wrong, as she hadn’t done anything to deserve it.

“You look a little in shock. Should I get you something or can I continue?”

“I’m okay. Can you just maybe explain to me how you understand this is going to work?”

“Of course. You see, you have done all the modules that are needed, right?” She gave a prompt nod. “But it needs to be verified and many of the researchers here will help to confirm that you are worthy of the degree. Once that happens, you’ll get your degree and be a full-time researcher here, and later, when you want to, you can even continue your studies.”

“And Mr. Gerardo has made this happen how? I don’t think this can be very—”

“He said you would likely protest, so let me take you on the tour and show you that we do currently have students from the University of Pittsburgh with us to do their practicals and help you get a feel for the place. See the study-degree thing as a bursary.” The desire to protest hadn’t left her yet, but it was a little exciting and she gave in for the moment to follow the man.

After Stephen entered a code, they stepped through the first glass door, waited for a green light above the second door, and then stepped in. Past the second door, a long hallway laid a path of several labs on both sides with glass walls, which showed numerous people moving within. They were busy with things ranging from water or agar plates being studied beneath microscopes, tadpoles being counted, insects being sorted and scored for environmental water health, and even plant material being mounted for microscopic research.

This was what she wanted most, to be a water ecologist, and right before her eyes this dream was turning into a reality. She couldn’t believe what was happening.

“Are the studies mostly based on the rivers of the city?” she found herself asking. She watched a girl drawing a vial of blood from a euthanized frog in a container marked
Sharpsburg Islands Marina
.

“Yes, that’s mostly the focus, but Dr. Ramadan’s main focus is the health and wellbeing of the animals at the zoo, which also allows the study of smaller niches within the specific enclosures. He has a team of eleven students who are on the second floor. But Professor Li, from the University of Pittsburgh, is doing a study on the air pollution and the effects on the surrounding marina environments, so basically, there are many aspects and focus points to chose from. You’ll need to decide on one eventually.”

“This is amazing,” she said, still in awe as they passed a lab with terrariums filled with critters that gave her the heebie-jeebies. They passed all the labs and took the elevator at the end up to the third floor, which were mostly offices, apart from the last door, where they entered a cafeteria.

It was mostly void of people, other than the older man sitting in the far back with a laptop on the table next to his odd-looking meal. As they approached, Aaliyah saw his silver-gray hair showed a few black strands. He peeked from behind his glasses to reveal bright brown eyes.

“You must be Ms. Labuschagne. I’m Dr. Ramadan.” The man stuck out a wrinkled hand, which looked like dark brown leather. She took hold of his hand and gave it a shake.

“While you two get acquainted, I’m off to help Maiha with the feedings,” Stephen said and left before she could say thank you for his help.

“Take a seat, miss,” Dr. Ramadan said, and she remembered to finally let go of his hand.

With an awkward grin, she found her seat. “Thank you so much for meeting me, but I am a little lost over what is happening. I was under the impression I’d be someone’s lab assistant, or something in the line of a fish tank cleaner.”

He laughed full-heartedly. “That is what I am here for. Not the cleaning, the help with clearing up the confusion.” He took a bite of his food, chewed while tapping away on his laptop, and looked at her once more. “I am aware that you have all that you need to have a degree, but what we want to do for you is actually help you gain it, because once you have decided what you want to make your main study, it’ll be easier for journals to accept your work, and ultimately it would give you a name as a scientist. I’m sure you can understand that?”

She nodded, but it didn’t answer what was causing her the most confusion.

“Good, well, I’ll be working with you from next week to get your practical work ready, and then we’ll have Prof. Li evaluate everything the week after. Once she passes you, we’ll have an actual degree in your hands within the month. That would be followed by you deciding what you would like to study further, but that, of course, would be discussed as it does need to benefit the labs and so on.”

“Can I just stop you there, Dr. Ramadan?” He eyed her over the frame of his glasses. “I appreciate this more than anything, but people don’t just…
get
these things. I don’t want to sound accusatory, but it feels like Mr. Gerardo’s liking toward me might—”

The doctor belted out a laugh and it made Aaliyah feel her cheeks burn with confused embarrassment. He found his wits when he said, “No, don’t worry that he has any more control here than paying us. His company name just gets to be on all the papers we write.”

“But I am getting a huge opportunity I would’ve never gotten if it weren’t for his help.”

The doctor thought for a moment. “True, but we also wouldn’t have taken you in if we couldn’t benefit from you.” Her brows popped up, making him smile as he continued. “What I mean is that, regardless of Mr. Gerardo’s and your relationship…” she wanted to protest, but the doctor pressed on, “…we evaluated your achievements, and if it weren’t for him seeing your potential and informing us about you, a great mind would’ve been lost. You are exactly what we were looking for and it made me wonder. Why hadn’t you applied for the open lab technician position?”

“I…I don’t have a
proper
degree. I never thought I’d stand a chance at such a huge research facility. After being turned away from smaller labs in the city right after I had finished university, I just thought it would be pointless.”

“Well, I’m glad that you and Mr. Gerardo’s paths crossed, because I believe you’ll bring great things for our groups here. What are you leaning toward?” He looked excited and maybe even a little hopeful, which Aaliyah thought meant he was hoping she would want to work in his field.

She let out a small, overwhelmed chuckle. “I am still just trying to realise this is all real, but I like water ecology very much.”

He gave her an endearing smile. “Very well, but there is still plenty of time to get you on my side,” he joked and continued explaining more of the mystery. “This week you should explore the labs a bit, get acquainted with others, and just try out some equipment. Next week we’ll ready you for the evaluations. Then you can still decide, but I really want to have you on my team instead of Prof. Li’s. She is going to be hard on you, but secretly she wants you just as badly as the rest of us study leaders.”

She still couldn’t comprehend how and why she could be so helpful to these people, but fully embraced it and knew she was going to give her all to make it work. “I am looking forward to this opportunity so much. I just want to start doing something.”

“Ohhh, you should be careful with those words around here. I’ll throw you in my lab and force you to identify the ants I found in the bear enclosure of the zoo.” They both laughed, because ant identification was not for sissies. Aaliyah was ecstatically happy, so even the thought of doing that wasn’t getting her down.

***

Madeline

Madeline moved to the door after buzzing Aaliyah in. A few minutes later, a beaming Aaliyah stepped in and hugged her before moving toward the living room and falling onto a sofa with a sigh. Madeline could see her day went well, but before she wanted to hear more of it, she felt the need to confess of overstepping and breaking a promise.

In her spare time—that time she had when she wanted to figure out what her last portraits should be and watching the paint dry on a free sketch she felt needed some colour—she went and Googled Tristano Gerardo. She was furious over what she found, and though it wasn’t as bad as she initially thought, she was sure that it would only break the confidence and joy which now illuminated Aaliyah’s sparkling demantoid eyes.

“Maddy?” Aaliyah said with a frown. “Did you hear a word I even said?”

“Yeah, your day was awesome. It is basically like you’d be studying and then you’ll get a degree and work full-time,” she said, quickly recovering, taking a seat next to Aaliyah on the sofa and tugging her legs beneath her.

“Yes, and the best thing is, Tristan couldn’t just give it to me. I still had to be approved so it makes it so much better.” Aaliyah’s smile was heart-warming and devastating at the same time. Devastating to Madeline, because there was no way she could tell her friend the truth about the man, and the heart-warming part was due to Aaliyah looking in love for the first time since they’d known each other.

Instinct made her grab her camera off the coffee table and snap a photo of Aaliyah’s eyes. “I’ll work your special mark in.”

Aaliyah’s wondrous eyes met hers, “Huh?” She looked at the camera. “Oh, you’re going to use a photo of me that you took now?” It bothered Aaliyah less than usual, and Madeline was inwardly smirking.

“Yes…uhm…hope is what you have in your eyes and it is perfect.”

Lover’s Hope
, Madeline already named the look and the portrait to come from it.

“Okay, well, I am excited and tomorrow night is still on the way.” Madeline knew that the hope Aaliyah was showing, the hope that Tristan was pure, was real, was honest, was what made her look so beautiful. She was already in love and it convinced Madeline to keep the secret that Tristan couldn’t be hers.

She decided that it honestly wasn’t so bad. He might still be married, but according to the articles she read, the wife doesn’t want to sign the divorce papers and they had been separated for nearly a year. Madeline comforted herself in the fact that she knew Aaliyah well enough to know that she’d take time before giving herself to him completely.

“I feel like Thai green curry and loads of bow ties!” Aaliyah cheered, breaking Madeline’s train of thought, as she found her feet and went to the bathroom.

“Mhmm, and sweet and sour prawns.” Madeline also found her feet to grab her cell phone to call the takeaway place.

Aaliyah peeked around the bedroom door’s corner with a washing cloth in her hands to remove her makeup. “Get some papadums as well, please!”

“I almost forgot those.” She made the call and soon they were having an Asian feast. “I really want to go to Japan some day.”

Aaliyah licked some of the bow tie syrup from her finger and then looked at Madeline. “Random.”

“What? Isn’t there a place you’d really like to go?” She snapped off a piece of papadum and ate the crackly thing.

“I wanted to come to the US, but I’m here now,” she said, thoughtful.

“No, I mean adventure. Culture shock. New place.” Aaliyah made a face at her. “Fine, this must have been just that, but nothing or nowhere else?”