CHAPTER 42: The Story Behind a Mark

"Do you have anything to say on . . . this?" I asked Elias softly.

Elias put an arm around his son and sighed.

"Well . . . I must take a break, you know. Even dolls do . . . *yawn* . . . get tired, don't they? But don't think that I won't come back for you and your good for nothing, worm filled lives!"

With that, Mar snapped her dirty green fingers and disappeared. Peater managed to squirm away from his father and hold my leaf, which brought a frown to Elias' face.

"Elias . . . why do you hate us together? Have you met me as a child and disliked me?" I asked.

Elias lowered his head and wiped away a tear. "You remind me too much of Ravenna." he mumbled, almost choking on the last word.

"Now that I think of it, you remind me of my mother . . ." Peater echoed.

"Yes . . . Ravenna's death was too much for me to bear . . ." Elias whispered, before reaching into the tiny bag he carried with him and pulling out a picture.

It was a picture of a girl-plant who looked a lot like me, except she had no tattoos on her leaves.

"Ravenna . . . I miss her so much. She was the first of our family to be kidnapped by those damn, nameless traitors and killed. When I found out that she had died, I went to live in the woods. Then . . . I ran into you two."

I gasped, and bowed my head to show respect.

"Just because she reminds you of Mum doesn't mean that you have to get mad at her, Father! Has this war changed you?" Peater yelled.

"You don't even care about your own son!"

Elias narrowed his eyes. "I do care, in case you were wondering, Pea!"

Peater rolled his eyes.

"Why do you care about this wild monster so much?" Elias snapped.

My blood began to boil as my mind lost control over what I was doing. In a blur of screaming and white, I had swept my right leaf in a circle, and knocked Elias flat onto his stem in a whoosh of icy wind. I gasped as I realized that my secret was blown wide open.

"GODDAMMIT! SOMEONE SEND HER TO AN INSANE ASYLUM!" Elias screamed as he held his head dizzily.

"See what I mean, Peater?! This girl has problems! She's a witch! I don't care if she has some prophecy on her head!"

With that, he picked up a wooden stick and struck me hard a few times with it. I cried out at the pain, which increased with every hit.

"Father, stop!" Peater grabbed onto his father's leaf in an attempt to stop Elias, but he was as unstoppable as a train with a conductor on a running riot.

"I. Said. STOP!" Peater yelled as he pulled his father away from me.

I sank to the ground, panting.

"Now tell me. How did you get that nasty mark?" Elias asked, pointing at the tattoo that I was trying to hide as casually as possible.

"It's about time that you've talked about it, Elyssia." Peater nudged me.

I bit my lip, and started talking.

"When I was six, I took someone's eye out with my . . . ability. The principal dragged me into the office, and took pity on me, because I was six and didn't know any better. But . . . she started jabbing a needle into my leaf. This went on for hours and hours, when finally, I had a tattoo on it. It basically was supposed to say, "Beware this girl, for she has power over ice and snow". I knew the sign well ― some of my family members had it. And it was a sign that I was . . . dangerous and powerful, in the eyes of plantly society." Elias clicked his tongue. "Bad ain't a good enough word to describe it. Evil's more like it." he quipped.

"Father . . . I can tell that you've met her before." Peater said stiffly.

Elias let out a grunt and gave me the evil eye.

"Of course I met her! Damn ugly she was when she was a sprout! And stupid! Jeez . . . all she did was laugh, even when I insulted her . . . But of course, she couldn't know any better, being so little. And the way she sent jets of ice hurtling around the room . . . I made a solid vow never to visit their family again, even if my brother was dragging me to do so, just to say hello to Antonia."

Next thing I knew, a pop resounded through the room. Mar had reappeared . . . but with cake in her hands.

"For you, jerk . . ." she muttered, before she popped out of the room again.

I sniffed the cake, hoping that my sense of smell wouldn't detect any poison. Finally, after a century of sniffing about, I broke the cake into smaller pieces ― one for Elias, one for Peater, and one for me.

"Three cheers for ending up in the abandoned art gallery . . ." Elias muttered as he took a generous bite out of the cake.

I looked around, and saw painting after painting on the walls. They were yellowing, fading, and falling off their places, but it was good to know that I found a good place to stay. After finishing our little snack that Mar gave us, we decided to call it a day and sleep on the floor.

But deep down, I was beginning to feel weird. And ― I knew that it sounded unusual ― it felt as if my brain was dividing itself up to make room for a new element.