The marked keeps the dagger pressed against my throat as I look at Mr Daniels, the twins, East, Enzo, and finally Kelly, who walks in the room after them. She doesn’t even look at me as she steps into the middle of the room, holding her hands together and blocking my view of the guys. The blade scrapes against my neck as I breathe, and in response, Enzo calls his fire mark, setting his hands alight. This isn’t going to end well.

“You will let her go. I have already seen it,” Kelly says, stopping right in front of us but looking only at the marked man. “We’re wasting time when we all have other more important things to do,” Kelly states calmly. The room becomes still, silent except for the sound of our breathing as we wait for him to decide whether to kill me or let me go. I’m not expecting it when he moves the dagger away and suddenly throws me away from him with his other arm. I fall on the floor near Kelly’s feet, and East runs over, helping me up, though Kelly walks around me like I’m not even there.

“What do you see?” the marked asks Kelly, who tilts her head to the side. Her motions are almost robotic, like she has planned every movement before it happens. In other words, she’s acting bat-shit crazy.

“War. Death. Destruction. It will come for both worlds if you ignore my warning, King Elnam,” she says coldly, and King Elnam looks between us all. His cold, grey eyes seem to see something in the way we stare back at him, or at least, in the way Kelly seems so confident.

“Close the door, and we shall talk,” he says, walking over to the only seat in the room and sitting down.

“Are you okay?” East asks me, as the twins shut the door, and Enzo comes to my side, stroking my arm with his hand.

“I’m fine. Well, as fine as I can be,” I mutter in response. Mr Daniels walks to Kelly’s side, his hand brushing mine as he passes me, but I know we don’t have time to catch up right now. The twins stay near the door, giving me protective looks when I look their way.

“We do not welcome Earth marked here. It is not our way, and my people will want your heads for opening the portal,” King Elnam starts and drifts his eyes towards me, “But we will not ignore the warnings of our seers. We treasure them above all else.”

“Have your own people seen the future?” I ask.

“Yes, and we know destruction is a kind word for what the future is showing us all. It seems we were wrong in our belief that the portal being opened was the destruction we have all feared,” King Elnam tells us. “But when I held you, Mackenzie Crowe, I saw your father. I saw him sitting on my throne, with my people dead at his feet.”

“How did you know he was my father?” I ask.

“He had you at his side, tied up with empty, lifeless eyes. He called you his daughter as he asked you to kill another one of my people,” he says, glaring at me like I’ve already done it. I shiver as I take a step back, the fear of my father controlling me like that terrifying to me. I won’t let him live long enough to control anyone ever again.

“Then let me go back. Let me stop him because you know I am the only one that can. He killed my brother, took my marks, and I will kill him for that. I promise you,” I swear to him.

“No,” Kelly is the one that responds. At her demanding tone I freeze, looking towards her. I move away from East and the others, walking over to Kelly’s side, needing to talk to her. I move to touch her arm, but she jumps away from me, bumping into Mr Daniels before standing up straight again.

“Kells?” I mumble, confused, and her tear filled eyes meet mine for only a second before she looks away.

“Mackenzie will need her marks back in order to close the portal, so she must enter the Zarrci Honzel,” Kelly says, and then translates whatever the hell she just said to us as she looks back. “The waters of the pure. It’s a place where the Ariziadian people believe their powers come from. It can bring back Mackenzie’s powers.”

“How the fuck do you know that?” Enzo asks.

“She knows everything. Ariziadia is boosting her powers, her connection. It happens with some of our kind. They can bond with the very magic that makes us marked,” King Elnam tells us, his eyes watching Kelly closely like she is fascinating.

“We need a moment to talk…alone,” Mr Daniels says, stepping around Kelly and wrapping an arm around my waist to make it clear who he wants to speak with.

“I will speak to my people as well. You will need supplies to make it to Zarrci Honzel alive,” King Elnam drawls, already standing up, and heading to the door.

“I will come with you,” Kelly says, moving to follow him. I grab her arm as she passes me, and I hold on tight because I can’t have her look at me like this. I can’t have her ignoring me. I want to hold her and tell her it will all be okay, but nothing leaves my mouth for a moment as I stare at her.

“Don’t do this, look at me, Kelly. Please,” I beg her, and when she does, the pain in her eyes makes me want to look away. She looks so lost; her blue eyes seem empty of anything other than pain.

“You remind me of him, Kenz. You look too much like him, you sound too much like him…please let me go,” she pleads, her voice cracking with every word, and I let go of her arm as my own eyes fill with tears. I nod once, and she walks out the room, following the king without looking back once at us.

“Come here. She doesn’t mean it, and it won’t be like this forever. I am so sorry for your brother’s death,” Mr Daniels says, pulling me to his chest as I burst into tears. I feel someone else rubbing my back, and then other hands on my shoulders, in my hair, until I know all my guys are close and comforting me.

“We will avenge his death, we promise you that Kenz,” East tells me, his grief and anger coming through his words. Ryan was his best friend. He’s lost someone important, too, and here he is, trying to just comfort me.

“I can’t talk about Ryan right now. I can’t focus on him, or I will break down and give up,” I whisper, wiping my tears on Mr Daniels’ shirt. “Sorry, I got your shirt all wet.”

“Not a problem, Kenzie,” he says, kissing my forehead. I turn, still somehow staying in his arms as I face my guys. They all look tired and worried, and yet, they look at me like nothing else matters.

“We have no choice but to trust this king and go where he wants. I trust Kelly, she wouldn’t send us to our deaths,” I say to them.

“I don’t know trust I her right now, she isn’t fully herself…” Locke says, and Logan hits his arm.

“For Ryan, she wouldn’t let Kenzie die. But more than that, she knows Kenzie and us, and she knows we are the only ones who stand a chance of killing Alaric,” East replies firmly, and the others mumble their agreements. The door is opened before we can talk or plan anymore. Kelly and the king walk in, but Kelly stays near the door.

“Have you made your decision?”

“You don’t have to play games. It’s not like we never had a choice. We will go and return my marks,” I say, stepping in front of my guys. For the first time since my brother died, I have the tiniest amount of hope that I can get him his revenge.