Chapter Seventy-Five: ‘Son of Water, observe carefully...’

Ever since school let out for the day, Marcos couldn’t quite shake the feeling that he was being watched. It was discomforting, to say the least, like his eyes could see someone recognizable there in the pedestrian crowds, but his brain simply refused to tell him who it was.

He tried to be smart about it and just stuck with his friends. When their basketball game concluded, he asked them if they wanted to come over to his house and play some other games. They agreed but still ended up finding excuses to abandon him along the way. He knew they were just uncomfortable in these fancier neighborhoods, but still. He really wished they would’ve stuck with him a bit longer.

On his own now, Marcos attempted to stay near the crowds, which was rather easy, thankfully. Aguarey had ample foot traffic despite the constant rains. Temperatures were usually mild enough that walking wasn’t terribly unpleasant so long as one had a raincoat or umbrella.

The last leg of his journey proved problematic, however. The Elroy Estate didn’t sit on a main road, which meant he would have to abandon the comfort of the crowd in order to actually make it home. But it wasn’t that far. He just needed to make it past the madega tree at the end of the next street, round the corner, and then it would be a straight shot the rest of the way.

He gathered his courage and went for it, quick as he dared on the slick concrete. He glanced over his shoulder to see if anyone emerged from the crowd to pursue him. He stopped dead when he instead saw his jackass brother there.

Marcos was at once incensed and relieved. “Cisco! Were you following me?!”

“Maybe.”

“Why?!” Marcos had to stifle his next words, realizing they would only have been an admission of fear. He didn’t need Cisco making fun of him.

Cisco took his sweet time answering, letting his eyes drift elsewhere, probably talking to his reaper privately like Marcos wasn’t even there.

Marcos hated when he did that.

“No reason,” said Cisco. “I was just wondering why you’re always disappearing.”

“I disappear to get away from you!”

“Good to know.” Cisco closed the distance between them and put an arm around his brother. “Come on. Let’s go.”

Marcos squirmed out of his grasp. “What’re you doing? Don’t touch me.”

“Just move your ass, brat. No one likes a sluggard.”

“A what?”

“It means a slow and lazy person.”

“Then why didn’t you just say that?”

Cisco pushed him forward. “Walk.”

Marcos walked. He didn’t understand what was going through his brother’s head, and he didn’t much care to, either.

They finally reached the gate, and Nico and Jorem welcomed the brothers home. Marcos thanked them for the courtesy, while Cisco only nodded.

Marcos parted ways with Cisco at the first opportunity. He made his way upstairs, looking for the refuge of his room, but Ramira appeared in his path with a question.

“What did you do?” She was a tiny thing, this girl, skinny even for a nine-year-old. Her overalls and wild black hair made her look almost as boyish as he did.

“What are you talking about?” he said.

“You did something bad and got in trouble.”

“No, I didn’t.”

“Liar. I heard Mama telling Cisco to keep an eye on you this morning. Why would she do that if she didn’t think you did something wrong, huh?”

“I don’t know. But I didn’t do anything wrong.”

“Yeah, right. I bet you put a frog in Emy’s bed again.”

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It was actually going to be slugs next for Emy, but Marcos hadn’t gotten around to it yet. He’d never been brave enough to try anything on Cisco, but he was thinking it was about time to rectify that. Maybe replace his shampoo with vinegar. Or write him a fake love letter from a secret admirer. And include instructions on where to meet. And then the admirer would turn out to be a bull terrier with a pink bow on its head.

He might’ve been putting a bit more thought into that second one.

“Tell me,” said Ramira. By the eager look in her eyes, she was about to pester him to let her help with his next prank.

“I really didn’t do anything.”

“Hmph. That’s boring.”

He tried to move past, and she stepped in front of him.

“Are you going to do anything?” she asked.

“No.”

“Really? Because Emy has a boyfriend now, so...”

That caught his attention. “She does?”

“Yeah!”

A beat passed as Marcos stared at his little sister. “Alright, what can you tell me about him?”

“It’s Alex Belos. Cisco’s friend. His favorite color is green. He has a pet turtle named Frank. He walks to school, because he doesn’t like the bus. He hates broccoli, and he’s scared of dogs. And Cisco.”

“How the heck do you know all this?”

She gave a confident grin. “Because I’m a spy. Duh.”

“A spy. Right. I forgot. Sorry.” He knew that trying to tell her otherwise would only upset her. “Well, I want you to keep spying, then. If we’re going to do this thing, then we’ll be needing as much intelligence as we can gather.”

“Okay!”

He lowered his voice and said, “But keep it a secret. You never know if one of the reapers might be listening.”

“I’m a spy. Not an amateur.”

“I know. Just don’t get caught.”

“Duh.” She scampered off.

He watched her go. She was going to be a very scary person one day, he thought.

It wasn’t much longer to dinnertime, so Marcos just watched television for a bit. Regardless of what Cisco said, Marcos hoped the day would never come when he no longer enjoyed cartoons.

At dinner, there seemed to be a tension in the air that even he noticed. Marcos mostly just kept his head down and peeked around the table from below his bushy eyebrows while he worked on his stew. His father was eventually the one to break the ice.

“I have a small announcement,” said Pa, immediately drawing everyone’s attention. “My presence has been requested in Rheinhal, so I’ll be leaving in the morning.”

The children digested his words.

“Are you being given an assignment?” said Cisco.

“Possibly. I don’t know. I do know that it will only be for a day or two. I expect all of you to behave in my absence and listen to your mother.”

“Yes, ensir,” said all four children, nearly in unison.

There wasn’t much left to be said after that. A few inquiries into their schooldays, a request to meet this Alex Belos fellow, and nothing else. Marcos was far from an expert on what his mother was thinking, but she didn’t look particularly pleased, and her dour mood seemed to permeate the entire dining room. Gradually, the evening drew to a close.

Marcos lay in bed in his odd, brick-patterned pajamas, and he found himself unable to sleep. Something was nagging at him, and all he had now was time to think about it.

This business about Ma telling Cisco to follow him around was certainly odd. And if that was really the case, then why hadn’t Cisco just told him so? To be a jerk? It seemed like a lot of needless trouble to go through. Cisco must’ve been tailing him for hours...

Hmm. Had Cisco really been following him that long? Because it would’ve been impossible unless Cisco had skipped the end of school, which wasn’t something Cisco was likely to do. Cisco made no secret of his view that school was an important obligation as an Elroy. Perhaps orders from Ma trumped that, though. But then, there still remained the question of why she would ask Cisco to do something like that when she knew he would be so against it.

At length, Marcos sat up. He rubbed his face. He got out of bed and made his way downstairs, looking for a glass of milk from the kitchen. As he poured, he could hear muffled voices from the next room over. His parents were still awake, it seemed, and curiosity got the better of him, so he wandered closer. Their voices sounded heavy and serious--even more so than usual for his parents.

“...I don’t like this, Zeff.”

“Neither do I, but what would you have me do? Ignore Lawrence’s orders? For what reason, exactly?”

“It just feels very sudden, and after everything Salazar said, I think we should be very cautious. I have little respect for the woman, but I have never considered her to be stupid.”

“Well, thankfully, I married a woman who excels at caution.”

“Zeff--”

There was a long pause.

“Rallying?” said Pa. “You’re starting to sound a bit paranoid. We’ve no reason to suspect General Lawrence of any wrongdoing.”

“No, she’s right,” said Ma. “It’s best to be overprepared.”

“Fine, but--”

Another pause, but this time, Marcos heard footsteps moving toward him. He panicked and tried to run, but the door was already opening, and then he heard his father’s voice.

“Marcos. What are you still doing up?”

Marcos flinched. His father never really yelled, but the man could take a certain tone that made Marcos suitably frightened. He held up his glass of milk. “I’m sorry,” he tried. “I couldn’t sleep, so...”

“Well, hurry back to bed.”

Marcos looked up at his father and frowned. “Pa. Um... are we in danger?”

The man gave a sigh of irritation. “You were eavesdropping.”

Marcos looked at the floor.

“It’s nothing that you need to worry about,” his father said, a modicum more softly. “That’s a job for your mother and I.”

“But...”

He patted his son on the head. “Marcos. You know the world is dangerous. I can’t promise you that nothing bad will ever happen. Your mother would kill me if I lied to you like that.” He knelt down to look his son in the eye. “But you are an Elroy. A Rainlord. And what do the Rainlords say? What have we always said?”

“‘The rain fears not the torch.’”

“Yes. And what does that mean?”

Marcos remembered asking that same question. He remembered his father’s answer equally well and now chose to repeat it. “It means we don’t run from danger. We destroy it.”

“That’s right. All of us. Even while I’m away, your mother will be here, and you know she won’t let anything happen to you. Neither will your brother. You understand that, don’t you?”

“Yes, ensir.”

“Good. Now with that said, we are not in any danger that we know of. I would tell you if we were. Do you believe me?”

He wasn’t really sure he did, but he still said, “Yes, ensir.”

“There’s a good boy. Back to bed now. Off you go.”

He nodded and downed the rest of his milk before returning to his room. He didn’t feel all that comforted, really, but he still fell asleep after a fashion. When he awoke, he was able to see the Lord Elroy off before school. As he watched the man drive away, Marcos frowned and wondered who would be there to prevent anything from happening to his father.