Marked - Chapter 5 Sporking

[wolfgoddess77]

CHAPTER FIVE

The path up the side of the bluffs had always been steep, but I'd climbed it about a gazillion times, with and without my grandma, and I'd never felt like this.

Oh boy, here we go again… Crash helmets, everyone, WAAAANGST incoming!

It wasn't just the coughing anymore. And it wasn't just the sore muscles. I was dizzy and my stomach had started to gurgle so badly that I was reminding myself of Meg Ryan in the movie French Kiss after she ate all that cheese and had a lactose-intolerance fit.

Name Drop: 11

Down With the Sickness: 39

If you’re feeling dizzy and your stomach is growling, that’s usually an indication that you need to eat. Maybe you should have made yourself a sandwich or something before attempting a strenuous activity. It’s not like you can’t still eat human food.

(Kevin Kline is really cute in that movie—well, for an old guy.)

Name Drop: 12

 

And I was snotting. I don't mean just sniffling a little. I mean I was wiping my nose on the sleeve of my hoodie (gross).

Down With the Sickness: 40

Get some tissues or something, that’s nasty!

I couldn't breathe without opening my mouth, which made me cough more, and I couldn't believe how badly my chest hurt!

Down With the Sickness: 41

Cry me a river; you were the one who chose to go hiking. You have no one to blame but yourself if you keel over dead.

I tried to remember what it was that officially killed the kids who didn't complete the Change into vampyres. Did they have heart attacks? Or was it possible that they coughed and snotted themselves to death?

Okay, so… Scientists have no idea what causes the change, except Zoey’s biology teacher explained what it was, but apparently there have been autopsies done on the kids who didn’t successfully change, but they still don’t know anything about vampire biology?

I’m completely lost.

Stop thinking about it!

I needed to find Grandma Redbird. If Grandma didn't have the answers, she'd figure them out. Grandma Redbird understood people.

Zoey, you do realize that there’s a big difference between understanding a person and understanding their biological functions, right?

Not to mention that I really don’t know what answers you’re looking for. You know what’s happening to you, you know what you have to do in order to survive, and I’m guessing you know where the damn school is.

There is no mystery here.

She said it was because she hadn't lost touch with her Cherokee heritage and the tribal knowledge of the ancestral Wise Women she carried in her blood. Even now it made me smile to think about the frown that came over Grandma's face whenever the subject of the step-loser came up (she's the only adult who knows I call him that).

Very mature, Grandma.

Grandma Redbird said that it was obvious that the Redbird Wise Woman blood had skipped over her daughter, but that was only because it had been saving up to give an extra dose of ancient Cherokee magic to me.

As if you need to be any more special. Seriously, you’re going to end up with a hundred different abilities; you don’t need this, too.

Speshul Snowflake: 18

As a little girl I'd climbed this path holding Grandma's hand more times than I could count. In the meadow of tall grasses and wildflowers we'd lay out a brightly colored blanket and eat a picnic lunch while Grandma told me stories of the Cherokee people and taught me the mysterious-sounding words of their language.

How much do you want to bet this never comes up again?

As I struggled up the winding path those ancient stories seemed to swirl around and around inside my head, like smoke from a ceremonial fire…including the sad story of how the stars were formed when a dog was discovered stealing cornmeal and the tribe whipped him. As the dog ran howling to his home in the north, the meal scattered across the sky and the magic in it made the Milky Way. Or how the Great Buzzard made the mountains and valleys with his wings. And my favorite, the story about young woman sun who lived in the east, and her brother, the moon, who lived in the west, and the Redbird who was the daughter of the sun.

Of course this is Zoey’s favorite story. She thinks it’s all about her.

"Isn't that weird? I'm a Redbird and the daughter of the sun, but I'm turning into a monster of the night.”

Speshul Snowflake: 19

I heard myself talking out loud and was surprised that my voice sounded so weak, especially when my words seemed to echo around me, as if I were talking into a vibrating drum.

Except that you keep waffling back and forth between lamenting this fact and rejoicing in it, so I really don’t buy you saying you think you’re turning into a monster. On top of that, except for one detail, you in no way resemble a vampire, so I’m calling bullshit.

Also, how badly do you have to wangst that you start doing it aloud to absolutely no one? Just shut up, already.

Drum…

Thinking the word reminded me of powwows Grandma had taken me to when I was a little girl, and then, my thoughts somehow breathing life into the memory, I actually heard the rhythmic beating of ceremonial drums.

Or—and here’s a wild thought—maybe you’re just hearing the blood pulsing inside your head. There’s nothing mystical about it.

I looked around, squinting against even the weak light of the dying day. My eyes stung and my vision was all screwed up.

Down With the Sickness: 42

WE KNOW. SHUT UP ABOUT IT ALREADY.

There was no wind, but the shadows of the rocks and trees seemed to be moving…stretching…reaching out toward me.

"Grandma I'm scared…" I cried between wracking coughs.

Down With the Sickness: 43

Just hack up a lung and be done with it. Actually, hack up both lungs, so you’ll suffocate and put me out of my misery of having to read about you.

The spirits of the land are nothing to be frightened of Zoeybird.

"Grandma?" Did I hear her voice calling me by my nickname, or was it only more weirdness and echoes, this time coming from my memory?

Yeah, that would be more of a mystery of it wasn’t in italics. Clearly you’re hearing things.

"Grandma!" I called again, and then stood still listening for an answer.

Nothing. Nothing except the wind.

U-no-le…the Cherokee word for wind drifted through my mind like a half-forgotten dream.

Well, it seems like our intrepid authors can do a basic Google search.

Wind? No, wait! There hadn't been any wind just a second ago, but now I had to hold my hat down with one hand and brush away the hair that was whipping wildly across my face with the other.

Uhh, Zoey, you’re aware that sudden, unexpected gusts of wind are actually real, legitimate things, right? It’s nothing weird or supernatural.

Then in the wind I heard them—the sounds of many Cherokee voices chanting in time with the beating of the ceremonial drums. Through a veil of hair and tears I saw smoke. The nutty sweet scent of piñon wood filled my open mouth and I tasted the campfires of my ancestors. I gasped, fighting to catch my breath.

I honestly have to wonder if this is ever going to become relevant again in any of the other books. It’s good that we have a protagonist of a minority that’s very rarely represented, but I don’t think PCK is talented enough to actually make it a recurring theme. I feel like they’re just going to randomly slap something in there every now and then so they can say “Hey, remember, Zoey has Cherokee ancestry!”

That's when I felt them. They were all around me, almost-visible shapes shimmering like heat waves lifting from a blacktop road in summer.

…okay, in all fairness, this is actually a decent description of what a spirit might look like.

I could feel them press against me as they twirled and moved with graceful, intricate steps around and around the shadowy image of a Cherokee campfire.

Join us, u-we-tsi a-ge-hu-tsa…Join us, daughter…

Cherokee ghosts…drowning in my own lungs…

Down With the Sickness: 44

the fight with my parents…my old life gone…

It was all just too much. I ran.

Zoey. You are a moron. If you can barely breathe and you have fluid in your lungs, the absolute worst thing you can do is an activity that requires more oxygen than normal. You’re going to keel over dead from oxygen deprivation.

*pauses*

On second thought, keep running.

I guess what they teach us in biology about adrenaline taking over during the whole fight-or-flight thing is true because even though my chest felt like it was going to explode and it seemed as if I was trying to breathe underwater,

Down With the Sickness: 45

I ran up the last and steepest part of the trail like they'd opened up all the stores at the mall and they were giving away free shoes.

Wait, wait, wait. Zoey, you’re close to adulthood, right? That means…let’s say about seventeen years spent on Earth so far. Her age was probably stated somewhere, but I don’t give enough of a damn to go back and look for it. Are you trying to tell me in all of those seventeen years, you’ve never had an adrenaline rush? Because if you had, you would have known the fight-or-flight thing is true. Yeah, maybe you wouldn’t have known what it was called until you took biology, but you would have known that it was a real thing!

Also, running for your life and running to snatch up some shoes are entirely different things. No matter how much you love shoes, I’m pretty sure trying to get away from life-threatening danger will make you run faster.

Gasping for breath I stumbled up the path—higher and higher—fighting to get away from the frightening spirits that hovered around me like fog,

I thought they were your ancestors. Aren’t ancestors supposed to be guardian spirits in some cultures? So far, they haven’t really done anything that would constitute a threat. They’re just talking to you and dancing.

but instead of leaving them behind it seemed I was running farther into their world of smoke and shadows. Was I dying?

I wish.

Was this what happens? Was that why I could see ghosts?

No, it’s because you’re a…

Speshul Snowflake: 20

Where's the white light?

Bold of you to assume you’re going to heaven with the way you’ve mistreated your best friend, and probably many others, as well.

Completely panicked, I rushed forward, throwing my arms out wildly as if I could hold off the terror that was chasing me.

LOLCLUMSY in three…two…one…

I didn't see the root that broke through the hard ground of the path. Completely disoriented I tried to catch myself, but all of my reflexes were off. I fell hard. The pain in my head was sharp, but it lasted only an instant before blackness swallowed me.

I will admit that when you’re under the influence of adrenaline, you kind of start to tunnel vision. I was being chased by a dog once when I was young, and the only way to get away from it was by climbing over a chain-link fence. Normally, climbing those were difficult for me, but before I even realized what was happening, I was on the other side of it. I have absolutely no memory of climbing over it.

That said, because tripping randomly over things is a Mary Sue trait, I’m not feeling charitable enough to give Zoey a pass.

Waking up was weird. I expected my body to hurt, especially my head and my chest, but instead of pain I felt…well…I felt fine.

Down With the Sickness: 46

Goody for you. Does that mean you’ll stop whining now?

Actually, I felt better than fine. I wasn't coughing.

Down With the Sickness: 47

Thank god, because I was getting really sick of hearing about it.

My arms and legs were amazingly light, tingly, and warm, like I had just slipped into a bubbly hot tub on a cold night.

Huh?

Surprise made me open my eyes. I was staring up at a light, which miraculously didn't hurt my eyes.

Down With the Sickness: 48

Funny how, even though she says she feels great, she still manages to complain about something.

Instead of the glaring light of the sun, this was more like a soft rain of candlelight filtering down from above. I sat up, and realized I was wrong. The light wasn't coming down. I was moving up toward it!

Only Zoey would be big-headed enough to think that when she dies, the light at the end of the tunnel should come to her.

I'm going to heaven. Well, that'll shock some people.

Me included.

I glanced down to see my body! I or it or…or…whatever was lying scarily close to the edge of the bluff.

Oh, please fall and put us all out of your misery. I’m begging you.

My body was very still.

…were you expecting something different? If you are actually having an out of body experience, your body isn’t just going to get up by itself and start dancing the Macarena.

My forehead had been cut and it was bleeding badly. The blood dripped steadily into a gash in the rocky ground, making a trail of red tears that fell into the heart of the bluff.

PCK, you damn well better not be making an allusion to the Trail of Tears. I will hunt you down and dunk you both in a barrel of rotten fish guts.

Also, stop it with the Purple Prose.

It was incredibly weird to look down on myself.

I don’t know why. You look down on everyone else; this should be old hat for you.

I wasn't scared. But I should be, shouldn't I? Didn't this mean I was dead?

Stop getting my hopes up. I know you come back to life.

Maybe I'd be able to see the Cherokee ghosts better now.

You were running from them just a few seconds ago. What makes you think they suddenly want to talk to you now? If I were them, I would be offended that you’re suddenly lowering yourself to talking to spirits.

Even that thought didn't scare me. Actually, instead of being afraid it was more like I was an observer, as if none of this could really touch me. (Kinda like those girls who have sex with everyone and think that they're not going to get pregnant or a really nasty STD that eats your brains and stuff. Well, we'll see in ten years, won't we?)

You Judgemental Bastards: 21

Okay, breathe. Whoo, that was a good one! First of all, PCK, fuck you and the horse you rode in on, acting all high and mighty and looking down your snoot at other girls. Secondly, that’s rich, coming from Zoey, who ends up with a harem of her own. I guess it’s only something to be mocked if it’s someone other than her doing it. Thirdly, I feel like this is an uncomfortable dig at the kids PCK went to school with. See, other girls? They weren’t stupid enough to do something like that!

I enjoyed the way the world looked, sparkling and new,

Which you’ve said nothing about until now. I didn’t even know it did look any different.

but it was my body that kept drawing my attention.

Even in an out of body experience, she’s so awesome that she has to focus on herself. Sorry, ghosts, Zoey is more important than you.

I floated closer to it. I was breathing in short, shallow pants.

Goddammit. She is still alive. *grabs a pillow* Let’s change that, shall we?

Well, my body was breathing like that, not the I that was me. (Talk about confusing pronoun usage.) And I/she didn't look good. I/she was all pale and her lips were blue. Hey! White face, blue lips, and red blood! Am I patriotic or what?

No, you’re just stupid.

I laughed, and it was amazing! I swear I could see my laughter floating around me like the puffy things you blow off a dandelion, only instead of being white it was birthday-cake-frosting-blue. Wow! Who knew hitting my head and passing out would be so much fun? I wondered if this was what it was like to be high.

I was just about to say, you’re not having an out of body experience, you’re on an acid trip. A very boring acid trip, at that. Can we get on with it already? What is even the point of all this, besides padding the word count?

The dandelion icing laughter faded and I could hear the shining crystal sound of running water.

Ringing crystal and running water sound nothing alike, Zoey.

I moved closer to my body, able to see that what I had at first thought was a gash in the ground was really a narrow crevasse.

Which is…pretty much what a crevasse is. From dictionary.com: crevasse: a deep, open crack, especially one in a glacier.

The living water sound was coming from deep inside it.

WATER IS NOT A LIVING THING. I don’t care how high you are, you can’t just assign random descriptors to things that don’t make any sense!

Curious, I peered down, and the sparkling silver outline of words drifted up from within the rock. I strained to hear, and was rewarded by a faint, whispering of silver sound.

…because straining to hear writing will actually let you hear the words. O-kaaaay, then. Now I’m convinced, Zoey is high off her ass.

And tell me, if you can see the words, why can’t you just read what they say? Why do you have to have them read to you?

Zoey Redbird…come to me…

No. You come to her, you pleb.

"Grandma!" I yelled into the slash in the rock. My words were bright purple and they filled the air around me. "Is that you, Grandma?”

No, it’s Pennywise the Clown. Hiding in storm drains just wasn’t doing it for him anymore, so he moved to cracks in cliffs. Do you want to float, Zoey?

Come to me…

The silver mixed with the purple of my visible voice, turning the words the glistening color of lavender blossoms. It was an omen! A sign! Somehow, like the spirit guides the Cherokee people have believed in for centuries, Grandma Redbird was telling me I had to go down into the rock.

Dear sweet baby Jeebus, end me. This is getting stupider with every word that passes. Can someone slap Zoey awake already so we can get on with this book?

Without any more hesitation, I flung my spirit forward and down into the crevasse, following the trail of my blood and the silver memory of my grandma's whisper until I came to the smooth floor of a cave-like room.

What’s so cave-like about it? It’s a hollow in the middle of a cliff. That is an actual cave.

In the middle of the room a small stream of water bubbled, giving off tinkling shards of visible sound, bright and glass-colored.

*sighs* Okay, no matter how you pretty it up with purple prose, it doesn’t make this any better. I’m about to start chewing on things to keep myself occupied is this goes on much longer.

Mixed with the scarlet drops of my blood it lit up the cave with a flickering light that was the color of dried leaves.

Which would be…? Dried leaves come in all kinds of colors, Zoey. Green, yellow, red, brown, orange… Which color is it? Also, way to pollute a pure stream with your nasty blood.

I wanted to sit next to the bubbling water and let my fingers touch the air around it and play in the texture of its music, but the voice called to me again.

Zoey. You are a Sue. Go stand on the beach just before a hurricane makes landfall. I hope it eats you.

Zoey Redbird…follow me to your destiny…

Right into this vat of bubbling green liquid. Pay no mind to the fumes rising off the surface.

So I followed the stream and the woman's call. The cave narrowed until it was a rounded tunnel. It curved and curled around and around, in a gentle spiral, ending abruptly at a wall that was covered with carved symbols that looked familiar and alien at the same time.

They were what the young kids called “emojis.”

Confused, I watched the stream pour down into a crack in the wall and disappear. What now? Was I supposed to follow it?

Of course not. That would imply that you’re actually doing something, rather than just sitting there and waiting for everything to come to you.

I looked back down the tunnel. Nothing there except dancing light.

Now that Zoey seemed to be going away, the light had decided to have a party. There was a dance-off, and a Limbo competition. Bonus prizes were awarded to the beams of light that could actually dance their way under the Limbo pole successfully.

I turned to the wall and felt a jolt of electric shock. Whoa! There was a woman sitting crosslegged in front of the wall! She was wearing a white fringed dress that was beaded with the same symbols that were on the wall behind her.

Stop saying “wall”. That’s three times in as many sentences.

She was fantastically beautiful, with long straight hair so black it looked as if it had blue and purple highlights, like a raven's wing.

Someone’s been watching too much anime. Are blue and purple highlights even a thing in the real world? I mean, outside of actual hair dye.

Her full lips curved up as she spoke, filling the air between us with the silver power of her voice.

Tsi-lu-gi U-we-tsi a-ge-hu-tsa. Welcome, Daughter. You have done well.

Done well at what? All she did was fall over a root and go on an acid trip. But then, Zoey gets praised for everything in these books, so I can’t pretend to be too surprised. She can’t so much as fart without someone telling her how awesome she is.

She spoke in Cherokee, but even though I hadn't practiced the language much in the last couple years I understood the words.

According to that right up there, she’s also speaking in English. You speak English, she speaks English… Are you seeing the correlation, here?

"You're not my grandma!" I blurted, feeling awkward and out of place as my purple words joined with hers, making incredible patterns of sparkling lavender in the air around us.

Put the finger paints away, PCK. You’ve already talked about how purple and silver make lavender. Can we get out of this acid trip already? I’m bored.

Her smile was like the rising sun.

No, Daughter, I am not, but I know Sylvia Redbird very well.

I took a deep breath. "Am I dead?”

If only, Zoey. If. Only.

I was afraid she would laugh at me, but she didn't. Instead her dark eyes were soft and concerned.

No, U-we-tsi a-ge-hu-tsa. You are far from dead, though your spirit has been temporarily freed to wander the realm of the Nunne 'hi.

The mortal realm got tired of your presence and attempted to assassinate you so some other realm would have to deal with your endless bitching.

"The spirit people!" I glanced around the tunnel, trying to see faces and forms within the shadows.

Your grandmother has taught you well, u-s-ti Do-tsu-wa…little Redbird. You are a unique mixture of the Old Ways and the New World—of ancient tribal blood and the heartbeat of outsiders.

Speshul Snowflake: 21

WOULD YOU STOP WITH THE PRAISING?! I really don’t want to hear about how special and unique Zoey is! And I can guarantee you that Zoey is not the only person in the universe with Cherokee ancestry.

Her words made me feel hot and cold at the same time. "Who are you?" I asked.

I am known by many names…Changing Woman, Gaea, A'akuluujjusi, Kuan Yin, Grandmother Spider, and even Dawn…

One of my most obscure names is Ye Olde Asskisser. I exist solely to praise you, oh mighty Zoey.

As she spoke each name her face was transformed so that I was dizzied by her power.

Transformed into what? This would be a good time for some description. No? Fine. You’d probably botch it, anyway.

She must have understood, because she paused and flashed her beautiful smile at me again, and her face settled back into the woman I had first seen.

I sincerely hope she turns out to be some evil, soul-devouring demon and eats you.

But you, Zoeybird, my Daughter, may call me by the name by which your world knows me today, Nyx.

"Nyx," my voice was barely above a whisper. "The vampyre Goddess?”

For someone who’s supposed to be so well-known, I find it rather interesting that this is the first time we’re hearing about her. I guess she wasn’t important enough to mention until the time came for her to stroke Zoey’s ego.

In truth, it was the ancient Greeks touched by the Change who first worshiped me as the mother they searched for within their endless Night. I have been pleased to call their descendents

It’s “descendants”. With a A. Did the editor get so bored they fell asleep while they were proofreading this chapter? Can’t say I blame them…

my children for many ages. And, yes, in your world those children are called vampyre. Accept the name, U-we-tsi a-ge-hu-tsa; in it you will find your destiny.

Okay, question. If she was first recognized in ancient Greece, why did she manifest as a Cherokee woman? Zoey’s first language is English. She doesn’t even really seem all that interested in her ancestry, beyond knowing a few stories and some words. Zoey didn’t even recognize her until she used the name Nyx. Why didn’t she manifest as Nyx, who Zoey might have been able to identify?

I could feel my Mark burning on my forehead,

Stop that. Harry Potter you are not.

and all of a sudden I wanted to cry. "I—I don't understand. Find my destiny? I just want to find a way to deal with my new life—to make this all okay. Goddess, I just want to fit in someplace. I don't think I'm up to finding my destiny.”

Speshul Snowflake: 22

Fitting in probably would have been a lot easier if you had actually tried. There’s absolutely no reason why you should have been an outcast in your school except for the fact that you were a judgemental bitch to everyone.

And, spoilers, you don’t even try to fit in at your new school, either! You’re worshiped as the Best Thing Ever by your peons, and constantly told how amazing and special you are. That’s not fitting in. You would probably drop your sycophants like a rock if they stopped worshiping you for two minutes.

The Goddess's face softened again, and when she spoke her voice was like my mother's,

That’s not a compliment, considering how much you seem to dislike your mother.

only more—as though she had somehow sprinkled the love of every mother in the world into her words.

I wouldn’t have a problem with this, if it were in a different story. It would be perfectly reasonable and acceptable to think a goddess who claims her people are her children would speak of them with a mother’s love.

HOWEVER.

This is Zoey she’s talking to. Therefore, I must view it as nothing more than… Well, more asskissing.

Believe in yourself Zoey Redbird. I have Marked you as my own. You will be my first true U-we-tsi a-ge-hu-tsa v-hna-i Sv-no-yi…Daughter of Night…in this age.

Speshul Snowflake: 23

You are special.

Speshul Snowflake: 24

Accept that about yourself and you will begin to understand there is true power in your uniqueness.

Speshul Snowflake: 25

OH DEAR GOD MAKE IT STOP. I swear, every time I see the words “special” or “unique”, I start twitching. I fucking loathe you, Zoey, you Speshulest of the Speshul Snowflakes. Go lay down in front of a parade of steamrollers!

Within you is combined the magic blood of ancient Wise Women and Elders, as well as insight into and understanding of the modern world.

Speshul Snowflake: 26

I should think there are a lot of people who have insight and understanding of the modern world. Unless by that you mean “bitchy disdain for all who cross her path”.

The Goddess stood up and walked gracefully toward me, her voice painting silver symbols of power in the air around us.

Go take your silver power words and shove them up your ass. …don’t look at me like that, Speshul Snowflake Sues make me cranky!

When she reached me she wiped the tears from my cheeks before taking my face in her hands.

…and with a sound like ripping cloth, tore the skin from my skull.

Zoey Redbird, Daughter of Night, I name you my eyes and ears in the world today, a world where good and evil are struggling to find balance.

Honey, you’re betting on the wrong horse, there! Zoey is a Mary Sue; they are, by definition, incarnations of pure evil.

"But I'm sixteen! I can't even parallel-park! How am I supposed to know how to be your eyes and ears?”

Oh, I dunno, maybe try shutting up and listening? Being someone’s eyes and ears generally isn’t a difficult concept to grasp. Difficult to execute, maybe, depending on who it is you’re supposed to be gathering information from, but not difficult to understand.

She just smiled serenely. You are old beyond your years, Zoeybird.

Speshul Snowflake: 27

NO SHE IS NOT. SHE’S A CHILDISH, JUDGEMENTAL, HOLIER-THAN-THOU BITCH!!!

*breathes deeply in an attempt to keep herself from exploding*

Believe in yourself and you will find a way. But remember, darkness does not always equate to evil, just as light does not always bring good.

Now, see, in the hands of a competent author with good, complex characters, this would be something that would be fascinating to explore. Light = good and dark = evil is a widely-accepted idea, so to turn that idea on its head could make a good story.

Alas, we’re stuck with this steaming pile of elephant diarrhea.

Then the Goddess Nyx, the ancient personification of Night, leaned forward and kissed me on my forehead. And for the third time that day I passed out.

HALLELUJAH, THE BITCHY SUE IS DEAD!

…okay, no she’s not, but this chapter stole a piece of my soul, I swear. I have to rejoice a little now that it’s finally over.

Speshul Snowflake: 27
Down With the Sickness: 48
Name Drop: 12
You Judgemental Bastards: 21