Marked by the Moon

The Awakening

The evening breeze caressed the skin of Eliana as she walked out of the skyscraper, but the coolness did not compensate for the warmth under her wrist. She pulled the sleeve down once more, not wanting to look, not wanting to concentrate on the curious tingling that had failed to go away since she had exited the office of Ryder Blackthorn.

She should be happy , she got the job. There had, however, been an uncomfortable weight that had clung to her mind, constricting around each pulse. How he had stared, as if he knew something she did not, still lingered. Such intense eyes, the smirk, the feeling that he saw through her.

Then there was that mark.

As she came on the pavement, she stopped to stretch out her sleeve and take another look. It remained, the pale, silver, crescent-moon-shaped mark with curling, complex lines that go around. The lines began to glow as she stared at it . The lines look like they may be alive.

The woman walking close to her looked at her in a weird way because of how she kept on checking her sleeves. Eliana instantly set down her arm and began to walk faster. She had to get home. She had to have some answers.

She sat alone on her own bed an hour later, phone tossed down beside her, scores of tabs spread out across her broken laptop screen. She had Googled anything and everything from “strange moon birthmark” to “crescent mark following full moon” and “ handsome CEO werewolf fantasy”although that latter term had been said in frustration and had made her cuss aloud.

None of that had made sense.

She hadn’t been kidding herself. How her skin had shone, the way Ryder had responded, even the way that the air had been dense and heavy with tension in that office. There was nothing normal about that. It hadn’t been nerves or caffeine withdrawal. Something had happened.

Eliana stared into the small mirror sitting on her dresser. She had gotten frizzy curls due to the moisture, and ghostly dark rings had developed under her eyes, but that wasn’t what concerned her. It was her eyes.

They acted. differently.

Sharper. Wide awake. As though something odd behind them had awakened.

Her gut churned.

She did not believe in magic. She had never even believed in luck. The world had taught her better. But tonight, she did not quite know what she believed in anymore.

The following morning, Eliana woke up out of fear, her body soaked in sweats, her heart pounding. Her pillow was on the floor as she gripped her chest breathlessly, the nightmare now gone but leaving behind a scary feeling: moonlight, trees and a pair of silver-gray eyes staring into her out of the darkness.

Her wrist hurt. She jerked her sleeve back.

It shone brighter now.

Panic began. She reached for her phone and dialed the only person that could, maybe, grant her an inch of sanity.

“Hello?” growled an irritated voice.

”Amaya, it’s me,” she whispered. “Something is wrong with me”

There was silence, and then a sleepy breath. “You finally snapped from pressure?” “I’m telling you,” she growled. “I have a mark on my wrist. It did not appear yesterday, not until after I got interviewed by that Ryder guy. And now I’m experiencing bizarre dreams. My skin is burning, and I can smell everything.”

She hesitated. “What sort of mark?”

“It’s like a crescent moon. With patterns. It shimmers”

She hesitated again “Okay. You're either under a curse, or you're reading fantasy books.”

Eliana breathed unevenly. “I’m frightened"

“Okay, okay,” Amaya said, sitting up from her bed. “Don’t take anything for granted. Come here. Let's have a look at it. It might be an allergic reaction. Best-case scenario? You’re an undiscovered magical princess.”

Eliana let out a feeble laugh, but her hands continued to shake. “Okay. See you soon. Thanks.”

Until noon, she had settled herself into Amaya's couch, a blanket tied around her shoulders as she had her friend studying the mark as if she were a scientist.

"You're not allergic to anything, are you?" asked Amaya, twirling her wrist.

“Eviction notices and broken men.”

“Ha, that's funny. "

She tut-tut-ted. “Too perfect to be rash or a scar. It’s as if it is written into your skin, but not. El, the mark is glowing.”

“I told you.”

“What did that Ryder guy say again? Something about wolves?”

Eliana turned away. “He said I looked him straight in the eye like a wolf. What’s that supposed to mean?”

They went silent.

Then, after a few seconds, Amaya whispered, “Did he touch you?”

Eliana nodded. “He took my wrist. That was when it started burning”

Amaya checked again. "Perhaps it is a type of branding. You know how rich people do weird things."

Eliana stared back at her icily.

“Sorry. It didn’t help.”

She sat back and released her breath slowly. “I think… I have to go back.”

“To his office?”

Eliana nodded, hesitantly. “Perhaps he knows something. He looked at me as though he recognized the mark. As though it concerned him.”

Amaya frowned. “Just try to be careful. Don’t go attacking supernatural billionaires alone.”

That afternoon, where there had once been the Blackthorn Corporation building, where she stood, Eliana's heart pounded. Visually, the building had looked no different: sleek and towering but the building looked somewhat different now. As if its walls kept secrets. As if they were observing her.

She didn't enter inside.

She held her bag tightly, walking away and back into the city where she came from.She wasn’t ready, not yet. But soon.

Whatever she had going for her wasn't finished. There still remained the mark still radiating, and her dreams were getting weirder. There was something behind that passionate grin of Ryder Blackthorn and his serenity.

She also did not understand what that was.

But she would soon find out what it is. Even if that would change everything.