The Marked Ones (10 page)

‘Forget about it!’ the woman raged, storming out the back. ‘I need to go get more milk! Abigail! Watch the counter!’

‘Um.... okay...’

Lincoln glanced over at the younger waitress who was hurrying to her feet. She looked gobsmacked, and the boy was watching Ivyanne with wide eyes.

Lincoln himself could have been knocked over with a feather. He wanted to thank Ivyanne- whom he had just elevated to superhero in his foggy brain-but before he could get out the words, the woman came back in.

‘Whaddya want anyway?’ she snapped, cleaning off the steam valve with a tea towel. ‘Non-fat something, right?’

‘Oh no-I hate non fat milk, plus, I just walked here so I’ve earned a treat. Give me….. a butterscotch latte with cream please. I’ve heard you make great coffee here.’

Lincoln finally snapped out of it. Knowing Ivyanne had his back, he stepped up beside her again.

‘Excuse miss.... but can I buy that for you?’ Lincoln tried to turn on the charm he’d once been so adept at. The fact that it was all a farce made it so much easier, like being an actor in a play. ‘And maybe join you?’ Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed that the barista had stopped whatever she was doing and was now watching with astonishment as he made a play for a teenager.

Ivyanne ducked her head and peeked up at him between beautiful thick eyelashes, her sea-green eyes dancing with mischief. ‘Really? Wow... I’d like that,’ she reached up and stroked his arm. ‘Hey aren’t you the manager of the resort I’m staying at?’ she giggled, a girlish, blissful sound. ‘Feel like giving me a private tour?’

‘Sounds like a plan,’ he murmured, his eyes flicking to her mouth without him being able to help it. ‘I’ll meet you at the reception, okay?’

‘Okay,’ she breathed.

Lincoln glanced over at the barista and winked, a cheeky gesture which was rewarded with a look so full of loathing that he was surprised she didn’t spontaneously combust.

‘Guess there are a few things I’m not too old for yet, huh?’ He asked cheekily. The barista’s face went purple. Lincoln then turned and headed outside, letting the door swing shut behind him, trying to sip his coffee but failing with clumsy, grinning lips. He felt so light, so brilliant, that he didn’t even care that it had been for show. Ivyanne had just done him a major service, and he wouldn’t soon forget it.

10.

Tristan was on Ivyanne’s heels so quickly that the annoying bell over the door only had a chance to the jingle the one time.

‘Okay what the hell was that?’ he demanded the second their feet hit the pavement outside the shop.

Ivyanne didn’t look back at him. ‘What?’

He grabbed her hand and swung her around so she had to face him. ‘Um.... that little act you just put on for the gargoyle making coffee?’ He said, full of contempt. ‘That guy was your boss Ivyanne. What-he didn’t recognize you?’

Ivyanne looked heavenward. ‘Oh my god Tristan, chill, okay? Didn’t you hear the way she was talking to him?’

He shrugged. ‘Yeah... so? She’s clearly a mutant... what does that have to do with you?’

Ivyanne tapped her foot impatiently. ‘Nothing okay? He and I were talking last night before last, and he mentioned that she always insults him when he goes down there. I didn’t know he was going to be here this morning-I walked down. But when I saw the little exchange, I couldn’t help but get a dig in. I’m just relieved that he played along.’

Tristan crossed his arms, studying her. Irritated or not, she’d never looked sexier. ‘So you’re a good fairy now?’

Ivyanne shrugged. ‘You know what, if you knew the whole story, you probably would have done the same thing, okay? He’s a decent guy, and she’s making him feel like a geriatric.’ She eyed him warily. ‘What does it matter to
you anyway?’

Tristan stared down at the ground, scuffing the toe of his sneaker against the footpath. ‘I don’t know, it just seemed
weird. You, flirting with another guy....’

Ivyanne made a snorting sound. ‘Oh my god, do
not tell me you were jealous.’

He looked up at her sheepishly. ‘Well.... I
did come all this way....’

‘Tristan!’ Ivyanne yelped. ‘What is wrong with your head? I saw you trying to pick up that little brunette in there-where do you even get off acting like you have some sort of prior claim on my attentions?’

Tristan exhaled. ‘I was told you were coming here, okay? I got a cab. I was hoping to make you jealous-not to get an actual date with that chick!’

Ivyanne made a face. ‘Tristan I know damn well what you’re like, okay? Hitting on other women in front of me is just going to increase my
resentment, not my desire.’

That cut him. ‘Even after,
you know...’ he hated the weak tone of his voice. ‘What happened on Thursday night?’

‘
Thursday night?’ she repeated. ‘I’m sorry, did we fall in love, and I just missed it?’ She threw up her hands. ‘For all I know, you’re just toying with me right now!’

‘I’m not,’ he said quickly. ‘I mean, yeah, I came down here to mess with your head a little.’ He’d never noticed the differing shimmers of green in her eyes before-like the facets of a jewel reflecting sunlight. ‘But getting jealous
myself wasn’t in the plan.’ That was hard for Tristan to admit. ‘Look I’m sorry-I wasn’t expecting to see you flirting with someone else.’

‘Well I wasn’t flirting, not for real. He’s just my boss and he knows it was for show. I was able to cut him a break-so I did.’ She shook her head sadly. ‘I can’t make you leave Tristan, but aren’t you supposed to make me
want you to stay? Not hang about to criticize me?’

Tristan was about to answer, when the sound of someone clearing their throat cut him off dead. Slowly, he and Ivyanne both pivoted to see the very person they’d just been talking about, leaning against his shiny black Toyota, a coffee in one hand, keys in the other.

‘Excuse the interruption kids... but I was hanging around to offer Ivyanne a lift home,’ He smiled a lopsided smile at Tristan. ‘But from what I hear-you could use one too mate.’

Tristan glanced from the man to Ivyanne, who was already scowling furiously at him. He held up his hands in an expression of helplessness-his face burning with the humiliation of being caught in a private moment of jealousy by the very man who had threatened him-and being absolutely unable to explain himself. Tristan couldn’t remember the last time he’d been humiliated before he’d come to this place, and now it had happened twice in forty eight hours. No, he wasn’t enjoying his vacation at all.

⁓

As rattled as Ivyanne was by the scene with Tristan and Lincoln, the car ride made her so nauseous that she almost forgot about it all. At least that she didn’t have to hide it-many humans suffered from motion sickness. It gave her a good excuse to roll down the window and ignore them while she regained control of herself.

‘You wanna drive?’ Lincoln asked. ‘It’ll make you feel better.’

Tristan snorted in the backseat-knowing full well that Ivyanne could count the number of times she’d been in a car in one hand, and were she to take the wheel, she’d certainly kill all three of them.

‘No, that’s okay,’ Ivyanne murmured, ‘it’s not exactly a long trip.’

The road veered between grassy hills and farms, occasionally brushing up against the side of the rainforest before swerving away again, towards the coast. Ivyanne realized that the slopes and inclines and pin turns were the root of her distress-she’d never gotten this sick in a jeep flying along the sand with her father and his filmmaking crew before.

When they arrived back at the resort, Ivyanne wasn’t surprised to see Tristan get out of the car, mumble a thanks and take off through the reception like he was suddenly in a hurry. As mortifying as the situation was, it was nice to see Tristan tripping all over the place- over her. Who would have seen that coming? It was almost endearing.

A strategic retreat wasn’t on the cards for
her though. She knew it, and so he did Lincoln. Ivyanne lingered while he got out, willing the world to stop spinning long enough to control her nausea. A million thoughts raced through her brain as she leaned against Lincoln’s beautiful car and decided how she was going to handle things from there. She took a tentative sip of the coffee in her hands and winced at the overly sweet yet heinously bitter taste which instantly stained her taste buds.

‘Oh gross. Really... this coffee is worth the weekly insults?’

‘You have to be a coffee drinker to appreciate it’s unique flavour.’

‘I’d have to be a
gasoline drinker to find this appealing at all.’ Ivyanne put the cup down and folded her arms, thinking on her feet, running over the argument with Tristan in her head and scanning it for anything incriminating which may have been said. But nothing alarming came to mind. They were lucky he hadn’t given the game away entirely!

Lincoln smiled. ‘Okay so I’m sure you already know how grateful I am to you for what you did back there-I’ll never forget the look on her face. It was splendid. I definitely owe you one.’

‘Think nothing of it,’ Ivyanne said. She’d almost forgotten about that part! ‘I feel like I ought to be apologizing instead, for not warning you, and for Tristan....’

Lincoln moved so that he was standing in front of her. ‘I’ll admit, I was surprised to hear you talking to each other at all. It’s not often that one of our wealthiest guests and newest bartenders have a prior relationship.’ He frowned. ‘Is he your boyfriend or something? He certainly seemed...possessive.’

Ivyanne forced herself to meet his curious gaze and shrugged. ‘It’s really complicated.’

He chuckled. ‘Why do I get the feeling that
everything about you is complicated? I mean, sorry to say this, but you’re just like your sister.’

‘Hmm.....’ Ivyanne looked down at her shoes. God how was she going to play this? ‘You’re right, of course. Nothing in my life ever seems simple or normal.’

Lincoln lifted her chin with his finger. ‘Ivyanne, I’m really sorry for what you’ve gone through-all of you-but I have to know.... what’s the deal with your family? I mean, I get that you can’t tell me anything, or much... but give me a vague idea, okay? It’s been driving me nuts for almost twenty years.’

Ivyanne laughed. ‘Putting me on the spot here Link!’

His eyes lost their smile. ‘I mean to.’

‘Oh...’ Ivyanne rubbed her eyes, wearily. ‘What did my sister tell you?’

He shrugged, stuffing his hands in his pockets. ‘Fuck all really.’ The rough word conveyed just how much patience he had lost with he mysterious Court family. ‘She said you guys had a large extended family, that you travelled a lot, that for the most part, you were mainly home schooled... she just never said why.’

Ivyanne pressed her hands together, silently drawing on her own strength and wit to get her through the conversation without digging a deeper hole. ‘We’re rich, okay? I mean, really,
really rich. And we have been... for a long time.’

Lincoln’s eyebrows shot up. ‘Old money?’

‘The oldest,’ Ivyanne sighed. ‘My mother technically has a title-one I will not share with you, but it’s an important one. My father is a filmmaker- documentaries. They fell in love and had my sister and I..... we’re the only biological kids they had.’ So far, Ivyanne was telling the truth-aside from the sister part. It made it all the more easier.

‘I knew it!’ Lincoln exclaimed. ‘The others are adopted, right?’

‘Some of them are-mostly they’re fragments of families who needed help.’ Ivyanne omitted the part about exactly how intensely they had transformed their lives. ‘My family are what you would call, activists. We visit smaller island communities and help those who don’t have a stable government backing them. We build things. Homes, schools..... but not churches or anything. We’ve not religious.’ She let out another truth. ‘Dad films what catches his interest as we go. He’s big on maritime stuff. He’s off right now actually in the middle of one.’

‘Wow,’ Lincoln said. ‘Ivyanne-that’s pretty great. Why all the secrecy?’

Ivyanne shrugged as she relayed their standard family cover story. ‘There’s a lot of international bureaucracy involved in our work. Taxes, permits yada yada- helping people isn’t as easy as you think.’

‘I hear you,’ Lincoln said, nodding in comprehension. ‘My father got put through the ringer for hiring so many backpackers from the tax department and the VISA department that he stopped
legally hiring them years ago....’ He nudged her, closing the gap between them. ‘Consider that a swap of top secret information okay?’

Ivyanne smiled gratefully. But the truth was-she’d already known that. ‘Cool.’

Lincoln looked at her sideways. ‘That’s not the full story though, is it? I mean, it’s still pretty mysterious.’

Ivyanne shrugged. ‘For generations now, our family has drifted from place to place- it’s given us connections and traditions and additions from a variety of cultures that have sort of been squished together.’ This was certainly true. ‘Mum and dad are traditional and yes, protective. Ivanna and I have been watched with an eagle eye since the day we were born so we
wouldn’t be led astray.’

Lincoln’s forehead was creased. ‘But that’s so old fashioned!’

Ivyanne toyed with the end of her braid. ‘Yes....but what’s the alternative? It’s a scary world, Link. Maybe their attitude isn’t modern, but all of us love our lives. There’s no teen pregnancy, no drugs....I’ve never joined a gang....we’re healthy and thriving and well-off and most importantly, trying to make a difference.’ She looked him in the eye. ‘Is that really so wrong?’

Lincoln looked thoughtful. ‘So you’re
happy to live this way? Having your parents dictate your lives?’

‘For most of the time-yes.Very happy.’ Ivyanne thought of the joy of swimming through pure, unpolluted salt water in a world of her own and smiled. ‘I kind of hit my limit with being told what to do and living up to expectations recently, so my mother gave me the space I asked for, which I’m grateful for, so it’s not like I’m in a
cage.’ As she said it, Ivyanne knew it was true. She had one problem in her life-and one alone-which made her luckier than most. Ardhi was right about that part-she had no right to pity herself. ‘I just needed some time alone to think about my future, and my options-so here I am, getting a taste of independence for once.’

Lincoln raised an eyebrow. ‘So that Tristan guy.... is
he an option you’re supposed to be mulling over?’

‘Yep.’ She said flatly, gratitude for life draining away instantly.

‘What’s he to you?’

Ivyanne looked down at her hands-the tension in his voice her discomfort about discussing a potential husband with the only man she’d ever cared for. ‘I really don’t know yet. He’s here asking for a chance to find out though.’

‘Wow.’ Lincoln made a face. ‘He doesn’t look like the kind of guy that a girl has to be forced to get to know though. I mean-that was one pretty kid.’

Ivyanne laughed. ‘And he knows it! That’s mostly the problem. Sometimes pretty just
aint enough.’

‘But it was on Thursday night?’ Lincoln asked softly.

Ivyanne flushed. ‘That part is private, okay?’

‘Okay,’ Lincoln looked away again, like he wasn’t prepared to meet her eyes.

Ivyanne sighed. God was Lincoln jealous too? This was ridiculous! She was supposed to be pushing him away-not pulling him deeper!

‘So....’ Ivyanne decided to turn the spotlight back on
him. ‘I know you said you were hung up on my sister, and I’m sorry for that. But what about you and Adele?’