The constant beeping of his alarm clock came far too soon for Marcus who had not gotten a single wink of sleep that night. He turned his head to look at the slightly vibrating electronic and thought long and hard about hitting the snooze button for a second time. Eventually the beeping became too much to bear and he silenced his alarm, swinging his legs over the side of his bed and getting to his feet with a loud groan. He stumbled his way to his bathroom and turned on the shower, wincing as the cold water assaulted him momentarily until the hot water began to run. An involuntary shudder racked his body for several seconds, not stopping until he got out from under the water and dried himself off.

"What is going on?" Marcus complained for perhaps the hundredth time that day. He rubbed his eyes and checked himself in a mirror, scowling at the bags under them. He ran a through his tousled auburn hair and sighed mightily before throwing on a shirt and shorts. He grabbed his spare backpack from his closet and headed out the door, locking it behind him and tossing the key into one of the potted plants that lined the porch of his parent's house.

He hummed quietly to himself as he walked, enjoying the relative coolness of the morning. To anyone who happened to see Marcus would see a young man in a particularly good mood, which was not entirely false, but Marcus could not bring himself to stop thinking about what he had overheard. He had tried, several times in fact, but each time he managed to get his mind off track it would snap back to the conversation like a rubber band. "Hey! Marcus!" Zach called, running out of a house to Marcus's left. He threw on his backpack as he ran, a piece of toast held in his teeth. When he reached Marcus's side he removed the toast and smiled at the newcomer. Marcus found the happy expression very odd as he had spent a good time yesterday being glared at by Zach.

"Uh, hi. Zach, right?" Marcus asked, though he knew perfectly well who he was.

"Yeah." Zach said, taking a bite of his toast and quickly swallowing it. "Hey, sorry about being so cold yesterday. I guess I'm not that great with new people."

"Uh huh." You tried to poison me you bastard. Marcus thought sourly. "Its fine I guess."

"So you live around here?" Zach asked after a brief pause in conversation.

"Yeah, in that house on the corner." Marcus said, waving vaguely back whence he had come.

"Just you and your parents?" Zach whistled. "That's a big house."

"No, just me." Marcus said with a shrug. "I asked my parents if I could come out here for school. I got tired of boarding school so they bought me a house."

"They bought you a house." Zach said, nearly choking on a mouthful of bread and butter. "Just because you wanted to come to school here?"

Marcus shrugged uncomfortably. His parents' wealth had always made him uneasy especially when he discussed it with other people. In all honesty, when he had told Rita that his parents' wanted him to work for anything he wanted himself he had been lying. He had a credit card with no limit currently collecting dust somewhere in his closet. "Well, they wanted a summer house." Marcus lied.

"What do they do for a living?" Zach wondered aloud.

"Listen, Zach, I had a really long night and I would rather not talk about this. Is that alright?" Marcus asked, effectively terminating all further conversation.

"Yeah, sorry about that." Zach smiled. He reached into his pocket and withdrew a small water bottle. Marcus looked away when he suddenly felt water on the back of his neck. He immediately began to shudder, reaching desperately to wipe off the liquid.

He turned to Zach and glared daggers at him. "What the hell man?" Marcus demanded, the last of the water gone from his skin. The shudders stopped and he exhaled an angry breath.

"Oh, s-sorry." Zach said, "I, uh, I slipped."

"Over what?" Marcus exclaimed, gesturing to the flat surface around them.

"You know I really have terrible balance." Zach told him. "I can trip on pretty much anything."

"There's nothing to trip on." Marcus argued. He threw up his hands and shook his head. "I don't have time for this. Listen, just leave me alone for a bit alright?"

"Yeah man." Zach said, walking backwards in front of Marcus and raising his hands. "My bad again. Catch you in class."

"I really hope not." Marcus muttered as Zach jogged into the school. He covered his face with his hands and groaned into them for a long moment before slapping his cheeks lightly and shaking his head. He swung his backpack around and dug into a sheaf of papers withdrawing a list of classes. At the bottom of the paper, written in elegant sweeping handwriting, was a locker number and a combination. He looked up at the school in front of him and took a deep breath. He raised his chin and strode forward confidently, swinging on his backpack as he walked. He let a confident smile grow on his face until he seemed to exude confidence.

By the time he was walking into his first class he had allowed himself to entertain the possibility that his first day might not have been that bad. When he scanned the class he immediately knew that such a notion was clearly not going to be possible. Sitting in class, obviously awaiting his arrival, were Zach, Evie, and a blonde haired man who Marcus immediately knew to be Cam. Ya know, maybe boarding school wasn't so bad. Marcus thought, though he made his way into the classroom and let the teacher introduce him to the class.

"Well, I see we have an open seat next to Zach and Evie." The teacher said, smiling politely at his newest student. "Please, take your seat. I will get you your textbooks at the end of class. Today we are watching a movie at any rate."

"Yeah, great." Marcus said as he made his way to his seat. He shrugged off his backpack and slid into his seat. Immediately, all three of his neighbors leaned in.

"New student, eh?" Cam asked sympathetically. "No worries, my name's Cam."

"Marcus." He said, painting a friendly smile on his face although he felt anything but friendly.

"So, Marcus, we were just talking about going to the café after school today." Evie said, clearly acting as though she hadn't spent yesterday staring a hole in the back of Marcus's head.

"Well, I hope you have a good time." He said brightly. He saw the invitation, actually it seemed more like an order but he didn't want to split hairs, but he had his own ideas for what he would be doing after school. He had decided last night that he would return to that Moon Cave or whatever they had called it. But he had a feeling that returning to the island would not be as easy as it had been the first time. In fact, unless he was very much mistaken, he felt certain that Principal Santos's young cohorts would do their best to ensure that he did not make it back to Mako.

"You should come with us!" Zach said encouragingly. "This is the place that Rita, er, Principal Santos was talking about. We'll introduce you to David and you can start working there today if you'd like."

Caught, Marcus admitted defeat and turned to them. "Well, I guess I'll see you after school then."

I'll have to give them the slip at some point. Marcus thought to himself as the teacher shushed the class and turned off the lights before starting the movie. I need to know what they are hiding in that cave.