Mark of the Rising Sun

For weeks after the incident with the soothsayer, I was unnerved. My enemies had made themselves known, and were on the prowl. I had no idea where they were, what they were doing or how they would attack when the time came. School could only distract me from my worst fears for a short time before letting it come crawling back to me stronger and more disturbing than before. Most disturbing of all was the feeling that I was being watched.

I would not have the feeling all the time, I certainly had it a lot. I would look around me, but not see anything out of the ordinary. Students were everywhere, but most of the time, they just ignored me, especially the older ones. One exception was an older boy, probably three or four years older, he always seemed to be staring at me when our paths crossed. In the lunchroom, for instance, I could feel his eyes boring holes into my back. I wanted to confront him about it, but could never work up the courage to talk to him. He was an older boy after all.

I called my parents and talked to them about my feelings considering being watched, and they tried to assure me that it was all in my head, that all the stress from school and football training was just getting to me. Football training was the worst time for these feelings because I was so exposed. They didn’t have a lot of spectators, at least that I could see, but I could still feel that presence watching me from afar. I even thought I felt a malevolent intent in the gaze, but no matter how hard I tried, I could not find the source of my discomfort.

I even went as far as to reach out my mind beyond the field to the surrounding area, but if there was someone out there, they were able to mask their presence from me. It was disturbing to find that there were people out there who were able to hide so well, and at first, I thought it was the creatures themselves. I quickly discarded the idea since it was always during the day, in the sunlight. They wouldn’t be out here, wouldn’t risk getting seen until they were ready to make their attack. These things made me wonder if they had any minions working for them that could be their eyes and ears.

One day, I decided that I had had enough, and just went out seeking those who were spying on me. I attempted for several days to catch up with one of them, but each time I thought I had them in my sights I lost them. That’s how I knew there had to be more than one of them out there watching me. I spent more and more time inside, away from prying eyes. I spent the time helping Kat with her studies and making every excuse I could to stay indoors. With all of my classes and things keeping me busy, however, I was not able to do this as often as I would have liked.

Eventually, the day came when I was tired of all the watching eyes and I decided to do something about it. I couldn’t do anything to stop the ones I could not see, but I could do something with the boy who was always staring at me when he had the chance. I went up to him during one of our daily meals and confronted him.

“You know, staring at people is considered rude in most circles. It is getting on my nerves.”

He looked taken aback. “Have I been? I guess I have, haven’t I? I’m sorry, but there is just something about you that I cannot place as if I know you from somewhere. I’ll try better in the future to not to stare at you in the future.” He turned away, and from his attitude, I could tell that he was not entirely honest with me, in fact, he was definitely hiding something from me but I couldn’t tell what.

The gambit worked though, and I couldn’t see him watching me, now that doesn’t mean that he wasn’t watching me while I wasn’t looking, but who can tell. I decided to find out some things about the boy, but didn’t find out much. Most of the older students didn’t want to talk to the “little girl”, thinking I had a crush on him or something while, like me, most of the younger students knew nothing of the boy themselves. At some point I gave up on it as a waste of time, but not before I learned two things, first he was a water magic user, and second, his name was David.

As the watching eyes continued to happen, I grew more and more paranoid, and I became more of a recluse. As I distanced myself from Kat, she became more and more worried about me, and finally she cornered me and forced me to talk with her.

“Angela, it’s time we had a talk.” I shook my head, not wanting to hear what she had to say, but she continued anyway. “It’s time for you to stop losing your head, I know things haven’t been the same since your parents came around, there have been secrets, and distance, but I accepted that it was not good for me to learn about this stuff, but now you are avoiding me and others, and I can’t take that. We are best friends, and I can be there for you, but you need to tell me what’s wrong. Is it that boy? Do you have a thing for him?”

For the first time in a couple weeks, I smiled and my face turned as red as a tomato. “No, no matter what you may think, I do not have a thing for that boy. I don’t know him, don’t want to.”

“You sure show a lot of interest in a guy that you don’t want to know. People have been talking and you have been asking a lot of questions about him. Is it puppy love?”

“I don’t have a thing for the guy. I was only trying to find out why the guy was so interested in me. He was the one always staring at me, not the other way around. In fact, I found it rather annoying and disrespectful, and besides, he is only a small part of the problem.”

“Small part huh, well, you don’t have me convinced, but we’ll get back to the boy later, what about the rest of it? Come on you can tell me.”

Realizing that I couldn’t tell her everything, but that she wouldn’t stop hounding me until I told her something, I decided to tell her a little bit, but nothing too harmful. “I have the feeling that I am being watched by several people. It started a couple days after the incident that brought my parents here, but has continued since. I believe the two are connected, but cannot say for sure. I have tried many times to catch them, but have been unable to do so.”

“Why haven’t you told anyone, the teachers, someone in charge. Surely someone in authority could help you and get these people.”

“I don’t want anyone else getting involved, they could get hurt. This is a matter that I need to take care of by myself, and I will, I just need time to figure it out.”

“You can’t do everything yourself. You need others to help you. I could help you.”

“I’m not alone, whatever you might think, I just need to find the others involved, and I will someday. One day, I will tell you everything, I’m not sure when. Just be patient.”

The conversation didn’t end there, of course, but I was able to convince her that everything was happening for a reason. I never did catch the people that were spying on me, but to my relief, they finally went away on their own. I was happy about that because the approach of the end of the term meant that I would be busier than ever with my magical studies. Despite the reprieve, I was nervous about what it could mean for my enemy. Are they ready to make their attack? Will they destroy me before I even have a chance to finish my first year? Will I find the others in time? With so many thoughts racing through my mind, it was a wonder that I was able to concentrate in school at all. Deciding that worrying was not going to get me anywhere, I stopped and focused my attention on those things I could control, namely making myself stronger