Sky Ghosts: Marco (Young Adult Urban Fantasy Adventure) (Sky Ghosts Series Book 1.5) (5 page)

BOOK: Sky Ghosts: Marco (Young Adult Urban Fantasy Adventure) (Sky Ghosts Series Book 1.5)
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Chapter 7

Pain stretched on her bunk with a loud yawn. She could hear her sister stirring on the other side of the room, grumbling into her pillow. It was eight o’clock, and outside the window the day was beautiful. Not a cloud in the bright blue sky…just like her mood.
Finally.

She jerked the pillow from under her head and threw it at her sister, while sitting up.

“Rise and shine, baby!”

Jane cursed and hurled the pillow back, so that Pain flattened against the wall as she caught it.

“What’s up? It’s too early for the good mood…” Jane muttered into the covers. “Something’s not right…”

Pain smirked at her, though Jane wasn’t looking.

“You know what’s up,” she said as she pranced to the mirror. “He’s outta here.”

She studied her eyebrow: there was barely a greenish bruise left, and that meant her healing was improving. She rewarded herself with a smug smile.

“You don’t know that,” Jane said, finally raising her face from the pillow.

“He’s outta here!” Pain’s pose reflected her stubborn reply as her hands rested on her hips.

“How do you know? I don’t think…”

Pain began ticking off the reasons on her fingers.

“I saw him leaving with Skull yesterday… He didn’t show up for supper… And he’s not gonna show up today. Trust me.”

Jane sighed and fell back on her bed. With an indifferent shrug, Pain turned on her heels and disappeared in the bathroom, not trying to hide her self-satisfied expression.

Soon enough they were on the second floor, Pain pushing her sister out of the elevator impatiently.

“Hurry, hurry! I can’t wait to see it again!”

Pain shoved Jane in the back as her sister spread her arms wide, pretending to be stuck in the elevator doorway.

“What??” she asked incredulously. “The
canteen
?”

“The canteen without his face in it!”

The older sister finally broke free and dashed down the hall like a kid running to the Christmas tree in the morning. Jane picked up her pace and followed her, only to bump into her sister’s back as she suddenly stopped in her tracks in the doorway.

Pain stood there as if she’d been turned into stone and stared. There, among the throng of black and white clothing by the counter, a single red T-shirt stood out. It caught her attention like a red rag to a bull. Two thick, tattooed arms protruded from the T-shirt, as well as a Mohawked head. The fighters around them only took a second to notice Pain’s furious expression and point Marco in her direction.

He turned, his expression as cheerful as ever, and stood before her with his fists on his hips and a huge smile that would have looked genuine, if she hadn’t known better. Across his broad chest, a splash of white on red, shone five fat letters:

 

BITCH

 

Pain exhaled raggedly, as the fighters around her chuckled at her livid expression. She felt Jane push her in the back.

“Oh, come on already,” said her sister, “what do you care?”

But Pain wasn’t willing to be in the same room as him. Not now. She turned and stalked to the staircase door.

 

*

 

Marco chuckled with a deep, rumbling sound that made him even happier. It had been a while since he felt like laughing. He watched Little Bitch storm out of the room leaving her sister alone, a surprised expression on her face. Then she shrugged and continued walking, glancing at him arrogantly in all her five-foot glory.

“I thought you wanted to stay here…” she muttered as she pushed him aside and stood in line in front of him.

His face twisted into an incredulous grimace as he looked her up and down. He’d expected something much more toxic, really. Still, he mentally tagged her
Little Bitch 2.0
.

 

*

 

Pain ran up the stairs, fuming and cursing. She hated stupid T-shirt captions even more than stupid, insolent men. It was like he’d been sent to personally torment her. Everything about him was irritating.

She hurried toward her room so she could sit down in silence and come up with a countermove while that bastard was enjoying his breakfast in the canteen. But then she froze, her foot over the next stair. He was in the canteen, just like everybody else from his floor…

Without wasting another moment, she spun and ran back down the stairs toward his room. She had no idea what she would do when she got there, but the chance was too good to miss. Without being seen, she quickly reached her destination and disappeared inside. She had about twenty minutes before he returned.

The room was a mess: even worse than her own place was sometimes. She glanced around in revulsion, looking for something interesting. Clothes were strewn all over the place, and there were a bunch of magazines on the bed, a pyramid of apples and a burnt paper on the desk. Pain blinked at that. And then she got an idea.

She turned back to the huge heap of clothes on the bed. Some of them were from the supply room; others were obviously his own, all bright colors and silly captions. The idea that had formed in her head was childish – just like his idea with the T-shirt print.

Quickly, she worked her magic on the clothes, trying to use as many of them as possible without needing anything else to finish her project. It was easy: the material was stretchy and thin, and even the prints turned out to be of use in the end. She couldn’t help but grin at the caption she’d managed to create out of them.

She was done in less than ten minutes, then went back to the door and rose into the air. The wall clock left its place above the door: the hook behind it was just what she needed. Then she got everything into place and left through the window before anyone saw her.

The sun blinded her as she hovered outside. There were a few fighters smoking on the benches, and she landed away from them, hidden behind the trees. She decided not to go to her room, though. She hadn’t had anything for breakfast, so she might as well celebrate her little victory.

The nearest store was across the field and a few blocks away. She headed there at a jog, reaching the road in a minute, and walked through the quiet streets smiling. The best ideas are always spontaneous, she thought. She was clean. There was no way to prove that she was the one who did it, and no one would see it but him.

And that was what she called the perfect revenge.

Chapter 8

Marco sat still for a minute after he finished his meal. Overwhelmed by gloating, he tried to remember the last time he had been so excited about something. This place suddenly had a new appeal, and he smiled at the thought that Little Bitch was actually the reason of her own unhappiness. He decided it was worth staying here for a while, after all.

Stacking his plates, he watched a big crowd of Ghosts leave the canteen, the younger sister among them. Some guy slapped her rear, and seconds later was spitting blood while she simply walked ahead without another glance in his direction. Marco wondered idly what would happen if he slapped Little Bitch like that.
No doubt she would freak,
he thought with a sneer and added it to his mental to-do list. He picked up his tray, standing up…

…and found himself face to face with Rob.

“Nice T-shirt, jackass,” Rob said, glaring down at him. “I told you not to encourage her!” He stabbed his finger into Marco’s chest and jerked his head toward the trash can.

With a sigh, Marco carried his tray to the trash, then joined Rob and Brad, his partner, at the canteen door. They both were in full gear and armed, and that meant they were going on an assignment, Marco knew.

“I heard you had some fun in the training hall yesterday. So sorry I missed that,” Rob continued to gloat as Marco strode down the hallway, as if he could outpace Rob’s huge strides.

“Just rein in your Bitch Interrupted before somebody got hurt,” Marco snapped back, “and by somebody I mean her sorry white ass.”

“Cut it out, Marco,” Rob retorted as they crowded inside the elevator together with a half-dozen other fighters, “I see everything that’s going on, but since you’re older than her, I’m counting on your common sense. ’Cause that girl’s got none, believe me.”

Brad was silent all this time, following them quietly like a two times smaller copy of Rob.

“Why are you following me, don’t you have work?” Marco asked, staring into Rob’s dark eyes with irritation. “Or is your work to bug me all day?”

“If you’d prefer Skull, I can tell him that you want to see him on my way out,” Rob said, and Marco snapped his mouth closed, but only for a moment.

“Fella, I’m just kidding, I
looove
talking to you,” he replied, patting Rob’s shoulder as they came out on the third floor, and Rob shook his hand off nervously.

“Don’t fella me, kid. You’re even younger than my brother here. Have some respect.” He shoved Brad with his shoulder, and it dawned on Marco what was so familiar about Rob’s partner. “Just grow up already, because if you don’t manage it in the next few days, I can tell you won’t stay here for long. Pain can do all she wants. She’s not the one who’s being watched. She’s already passed the tests and will join the agents in a few months. You’re not even close to it, especially while you’re wasting time on your stupid teenage wars.”

He gave Marco a serious look as they walked down the hallway, and just for once Marco didn’t try to argue. He only exhaled loudly, stopping by his door.

“Look, why don’t you talk to her instead? That girl’s pure evil. You can’t ignore the fact that she’s bullying people.”

“Again with this bullying, Marco…” Rob shook his head and waved his hand at him. “You’re the one in the
BITCH
T-shirt!”

He stepped closer as Marco reached for the doorknob.

“She may be a pain in the ass, but she’s a sixteen-year-old girl in a building full of cutthroats. What kind of bully is-HOLY CRAP!!” he yelled suddenly and jumped backward as Marco opened the door and a large, dark form sprang at him. Rob knocked into his brother, and all three of them struck defensive poses for a second, their wild eyes on the doorway.

Marco was the first to unfreeze and return to the door with a troubled grimace.

“Jesus…” he muttered, catching the thing with his hands. “What the…”

He turned it around, a look of profound disgust on his face. It was a sloppily made dummy, stuffed with…
his new Tshirts??

“I WILL KILL HER!!” he roared and lunged for the staircase, only to drop senseless into Rob’s arms the next moment as he stunned Marco with a quick blow from behind.

He tightened his hold on Marco’s heavy body and growled quietly, struggling to contain his anger.

“Freakin’ teenagers,” he grated. “I swear, next time in the training hall I’m gonna beat the crap out of that girl…”

He dragged Marco into the room, Brad joining him silently, picking up Marco’s legs and helping Rob to dump him onto the bed.

“As if it wasn’t enough that she keeps showing up in the streets at night, I now have to deal with their stupid wars! What’s wrong with this girl??” Rob grumbled, watching his brother take the dummy off the hook.

Brad turned it in his hands, studying it with revulsion. On the front, formed out of three different pieces of clothing, was a single word: PIG.

“I think he’s right about the bullying,” Brad said at last, shaking his head.

Rob gave him a doubtful look, then glanced at the dummy like it was a poisonous snake.

“I am so done with this shit,” he stated, and with that, he left the room together with his brother, slamming the door behind him.

Chapter 9

Pain finished her cheesecake and lay back with a contented sigh, a book open in her lap. The day wasn’t perfect anymore, but at least it was better now that she had got some revenge. If Marco thought he was the only one capable of disgusting pranks, he was wrong. She was the one who had grown up with a bunch of thugs and had learned how to stand up for herself.
And he probably was raised by a pack of wolves,
she thought caustically.

The door creaked as Jane came in, and Pain raised her eyes.

“Wow, he really got to you if you decided to pig out,” Jane said, whistling at the sight of all the food stacked on the vanity.

Pain gave her a wry look.

“I’m celebrating,” she answered simply, smiling to herself as she remembered that this morning she really did
pig
out in some way. “Want some cake?”

With a grimace, Jane dragged herself to her bed and collapsed onto it.

“No, thanks. I’m so full, I think I’m gonna explode,” she pointed a finger at her sister. “Being a teenager sucks. You’re always either too hungry or too full,” she complained and lay back on her pillow.

Pain only smirked, mentally agreeing with her sister. Then Jane’s bloodied knuckles caught her attention.

“What’s with the blood?” she enquired in a steely voice.

Jane waved her hand lazily.

“Some rookie tried to slap me.”

“Which one?”

“It doesn’t mat- ”

“Which one??” Pain pressed, anger seeping into her voice.

Jane stirred on her bed uncomfortably.

“Why, so you can break his arm in four places?” she asked irritably.

“Yes. His name, Jane,” Pain demanded in a flat tone, “You can give it to me now, or I can find it out on my own, and then it’ll be his leg broken in ten places.”

Jane sat up straight, exhaling angrily.

“It won’t change anything! Relax. I took care of it, okay??”

She stared into Pain’s eyes for a long, strained minute, and Pain finally let her book drop to her stomach and pointed at her.

“You’d better mean it, or you know what will happen. Let one of them get away with it, and they’ll never leave you alone. One day they slap your ass, next day they follow you into a dark alley and… ”

“I know,” Jane interrupted, before she got further into that story again, “You got away and they learned their lesson. It won’t happen again, and you know it.”

Pain opened her mouth, but Jane added quickly, “And I’ll tell you if it gets serious, I promise.”

For some reason, Pain didn’t feel like pressing her sister this time. She breathed out, giving up. Jane quickly used the silence to change the subject.

“What did you do? To Marco, I mean.”

It took a minute for Pain to calm down and decide how much she should tell her sister.

“Broke into his room,” she answered at last, “Left him a surprise in the doorway…”

Jane sat up straight again, her eyes wide.

“The door dummy prank? Really??” she asked with a doubtful look. “Have you seen that guy? I really doubt that’s enough to scare him.”

“Oh, I didn’t want to scare him…” Pain drawled, “Just wait till you see him in the training hall today. I bet he’s freaking out right now.” She gave her sister a sly look. “Probably even crying…”

Jane rolled her eyes, then grabbed her laptop from the vanity and flopped back on her bed.

A few hours passed in a blur of book and web pages, before they headed to the training hall. The room was packed this time of day, but Pain was surprised not to find Marco. Her need to gloat was too strong to let her focus, and she was distracted as she practiced with Jane, secretly hoping that Marco would show up.

However, after an hour of heated sparring she forgot all about him, focusing only on parrying Jane’s blows. That was when she was suddenly pulled backward, thrown off balance, and into a corner. She regrouped quickly, whirling around to see Marco’s dark eyes staring down at her, inches from her face.

“You broke into my room!” he grated, sizzling, “That was…” his hands balled into fists as he fought with his emotions, “That was too low even for
you
.” He stabbed his finger into her chest as he finally found the right words. “I spent my last money on those shirts!”

She only snorted, slapping away his hand. Somewhere deep inside she felt a twinge of guilt poke at her heart, but she forced it down. He was nothing but trouble for her. He had no respect for anyone, and he didn’t deserve to be treated nicely.

When his raised eyebrows told her that he expected a reply, she made an innocent face.

“I’m so sorry you spent your last money on offensive Tshirts!” she chirped with fake concern, making him clench his teeth, then added in a hard voice, “but I don’t give a shit what you think of me.”

She turned away, acting as if she was returning to practice, but her mind was doing angry somersaults.

“Fine! I’ll just follow your example then,” he retorted.

“That’s highly unlikely, since I usually lock my room,” she threw back at him over her shoulder, but then she heard him chuckle and turned around.

“Good luck with that!” Marco raised his voice over the noise in the room. “Like I don’t know how to pick a lock!” he yelled, and then cringed as the hall suddenly went quiet at that exact moment, and everyone stared at him. Marco swore quietly.

Pain glanced quickly at her sister before returning her gaze to Marco. Jane was watching them with a wary frown.

“You’re bluffing,” Pain retorted, stepping closer and tipping her head back to look him in the eyes.

Slowly, his eyebrows rose as he brought his hand from behind his back, holding out something white and lacy.

“Really?” he teased, “Then how do I happen to have this?”

But Pain wasn’t looking at him anymore. She stared in disbelief and shock at her favorite bra as it dangled from his fingers, dancing cheerfully in the air as he shook his hand.

“How…” she gasped, “Give it back!”

She lunged at him, hoping to hide it before anyone saw their angry exchange, but she could already hear the other fighters chuckling.

“Why??” Marco enquired in a high-pitched tone. “I find it quite lovely! Maybe I’ll keep it!”

He backed away from her with wide, excited eyes. Pain growled under her breath, not wanting to make a scene and attract even more attention by chasing him around the hall.

“I always knew your boobs were an optical illusion,” Marco gloated, “but this! This is proof!”

“You pervert, you couldn’t just ruin my clothes or something, you had to steal my lingerie!” she muttered, her tone murderous as she stepped closer, trying to tune out the laughter all around her.

Marco made a thoughtful face and scratched his stubbly chin.

“You see, ruining your stuff is no fun because I know you’ll just go and replace it,” he answered, his tone didactic, “But THIS…!”

He threw up his hand, brandishing the bra as if it was Excalibur, no less. Pain pressed her palm to her face, exhaling heavily as the hall erupted with happy howling.

“This will be an eternal symbol of justice!” he announced in a solemn voice, and the fighters exploded into another fit of laughter, “Every time you as much as look at me funny, I will dig this up…” he paused dramatically, “…and put it on.”

He finished in a velvety voice, and Pain stiffened in horror. Slowly, she lowered her hand and opened her eyes to look at him again. Marco was pulling at the straps, measuring them up.

“You’re not gonna…” she hissed, watching in slow motion as he put his arms through the straps and stretched the delicate piece of clothing around his big barrel of a chest.

“Oh, I’m gonna,” he replied, nodding with excitement.

He fastened the bra over his black T-shirt, then backed off a few steps to the center of the hall, smiling broadly at the crowd of Ghosts going wild around them, howling and booing and laughing.

“I’m so pretty!” he squealed, making Pain shudder. “Look at me!”

He spun around like a little girl, with one foot in the air.

Pain’s vision blurred as she lunged at him… only to be held back by Jane.

“Stop!” Jane muttered feverishly into her ear, “Don’t react. It’s what he’s counting on.”

Pain let out a hissing breath, but realized Jane was right. She wouldn’t watch this clown, and she wouldn’t show that she cared what he was doing. Katana in hand, she stalked toward the exit, resolving to set up a bear trap in her room next thing in the morning. Jane hurried after her, followed by a chorus of laughter.

The last thing the sisters saw was Marco doing a Marilyn Monroe impression as he floated high up in the air. He even sang “Happy birthday, Mr. President” in his bass voice. Pain couldn’t connect the white bra and Marilyn Monroe in her mind, but she was sure as hell she was going to throw up once she got to her room.

“You think he stole some of mine, too?” Jane asked gingerly, breaking the silence as they came out of the elevator on their floor.

Pain turned her head to her slowly. Her deadly stare was answer enough. Jane just shrugged, and watched her sister rummage in her pockets for the key. She finally found it and threw the door open—

and jumped back as a black figure leaped at them from the inside.

“Fuck!!” Pain yelled before she could stop herself, her nerves already on edge.

She and Jane froze by the wall across from the door, eyeing the swinging black figure in bewilderment. A few seconds passed before Pain kicked herself into motion and stepped to the door, grabbing the dummy and tearing it off the hook. It was dressed in a huge black T-shirt, which somehow made it seem three times bigger.

Jane watched in confusion as her sister stormed into the room, grabbed something from a drawer and stuffed it in her pocket. Then she opened the window and climbed outside with the dummy under her arm. Jane stayed in the room, watching as Pain landed roughly and dropped the dummy to the ground. Muttering something incoherent, but almost certainly offensive, she crouched and rummaged in her pockets.

“What are you doing??” Jane called, as Pain’s fingers finally closed around the matchbox she had taken from the room.

“A bonfire,” she muttered to herself, bringing the burning match carefully to the cloth, “A big, stinky bonfire.”

She watched the fire spread over the dummy, quickly devouring the thin material and licking at the word
Pig
under it. Absentmindedly, she tugged at the shirt’s collar where it had creased when the dummy fell to the ground. There was some symbol on the inside, white on black and about an inch across. She paused, thoughtful. The Tshirts the supply room provided didn’t have any symbols on them: they were plain black. This one must have been what Marco was wearing when they found him. She stared at it for a few seconds, mesmerized, as the cogs whirled in her head, trying to connect it with something she had already seen once.

She jumped to her feet and rolled the dummy over, putting out the fire. Then she crouched over it again and peered at the collar. Jane was suddenly at her side, her eyes full of questions, but Pain hunched over the dummy, blocking it from Jane’s sight and straightening the shirt to cover the symbol of an eagle on it.

“What is it?” Jane asked at last, tired of waiting.

“Nothing,” Pain snapped, standing up and picking the dummy off the ground.

Jane grimaced ironically.

“Nothing?” she mocked, “What? You like it so much, you decided to keep it?”

“I just came up with a better idea,” Pain shrugged.

She rose into the air, returning to her room. Once inside, she quickly tore off the collar, hid it in her pocket, and shoved the dummy under her bed. Then she grabbed her cell phone and headed for the door. Belatedly, she realized that Jane was watching her with suspicion, so she turned back to her.

“We don’t have any rope in here, do we?” she asked.

Jane’s eyebrows crawled up her forehead.

“No, why?”

“That’s what I thought. I need to go get some. See ya.”

With that, she slipped outside, searching for Rooney’s number in her phone as she did so. She needed information, and she knew that Kenji wouldn’t give it to her, however much she offered to pay. But Rooney? He was young and new, and needed allies, just like everyone else at the Headquarters. He would listen and help her if she explained her reasons. With his help she wouldn’t even need to step outside to find out where Marco had really come from.

And she was sure as hell certain that Michael already knew everything.

BOOK: Sky Ghosts: Marco (Young Adult Urban Fantasy Adventure) (Sky Ghosts Series Book 1.5)
6.49Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

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