Marked By Pain (The Marked #2)(19)

“For me, you did that for me?” I ask her and she tucks some of her blonde hair behind her ear before she answers.

“Yes,” she replies simply, and I look over at her, seeing her bright, blue eyes watching me with love and a tiny bit of fear. I guess it's the fear of losing each other, that all those years of friendship are gone because of everything that happened. I know she feels guilty, I can see it, but I'm still mad.

“I hate that you lied to me, that you never told me you loved my brother. That you knew Ryan killed Mr Layan, that you kept so much from me and you were a shitty best friend recently,” I bite out and I come to a stop in the corridor, crossing my arms. Kelly looks down at the ground, tears already falling from her eyes.

“I was a shitty friend, I know that. I should have trusted you, but I thought I was protecting you and Ryan. I never meant for things to get so out of control, I never knew how involved Ryan is,” she sobs, “I thought I could convince him not to listen to his father and Verity, but...” she whispers the end part and can't say anymore, the words just trailing off. I pull her to me, wrapping my arms around her as she cries, and I find myself wiping a few tears away too.

“What happened to hoes before bros?” I joke lamely, thinking of the promise we made not to put boys before our friendship when we were ten. Although, I never expected that the boy causing the problems would by my brother.

“I forgot our promise we made,” she laughs, "Where have you been anyway?" she asks, looking down at the dress I'm wearing, and giving a pointed look at my messy hair.

"I went to see East," I admit, and she raises an eyebrow at me.

"And?" she asks, dragging the word out. I bite my lower lip and her jaw drops. "You totally slept with sexy East didn’t you? Wasn't that one of your life goals?" she asks, sounding both amused and impressed that I could now check off one of my items.

"Yeah, when I was like, thirteen. Gods, I can't believe I actually put that on my list," I say laughing as I remember the dumb lists we made. Kelly's things were all practical and sensible, and mine were well... I wanted East, ten dogs, and all the pizza the world has to offer. I frown when I notice that Kelly's smile has already dropped.

“Do you forgive me? Can you?” she asks more seriously, pulling away and I look at her. I would never have understood it, if it wasn't exactly what I'm trying to do now. I'm trying to convince Ryan myself, trying to save him and everyone I love. I get what she did, and Kelly isn't a bad person. I don't think she has a bad bone in her body. She made a mistake, but everyone does.

“I forgive you,” I say, grabbing her hands and then she starts to glow white, her eyes rolling back seconds before I'm pulled into her vision.



“Forgive me,” a voice says but I can’t hear him properly over the sound of rain, smashing rocks, and water splashing loudly in my ears. I blink my eyes open, seeing myself kneeling on the floor in a white dress, blood splattered all over it. Floating rocks are flying around me, rain is pouring from the skies, and a blue light is shining from the left of us, making it hard to see myself in the clearing. I'm holding a man in my arms, but I can only see his chest and legs. There is a dagger in his stomach, and my hand is covering it, glowing white.

“There's nothing to forgive, just don't die, okay? I love you, so you can’t die,” I reply, but I can’t hear what the man says back as everything blurs, and my eyes are forced into closing before I know who it is.



My eyes fly open, and I release Kelly as if she burns, stumbling back from her. “What the hell was that? Who was it, did you see his face?” I question her, needing to know. It's obviously someone I care about. She shakes her head, the tears from before still filling her eyes.

“I didn't see his face, but I felt your pain, Kenzie. You were in so much pain,” she chokes out, her entire body trembling.

I pull her back to me, wrapping my arms around her tightly. Whatever she just saw, we need to prevent. I have to believe that we saw that for a reason, that fate was giving us a chance to stop this from happening. “I need you to try and see more, Kelly,” I say gently, and she pulls away.

“I can't. Kenzie, that hurt so much, your heart, I swear it broke,” she whispers.

“Please, Kelly, I wouldn't ask if it wasn't important. We need to at least try and find out who it is, so we can stop this,” I insist. More tears trail down her face.

“Some things can't be changed, Kenz, you know that. Some visions feel concrete, completely set in stone. Others feel ever-changing, and just a possible route the path could take us...” she trails off, shaking harder. She swallows thickly and looks me straight in the eyes. “I'm so sorry, that one feels definite. I've never had a vision feel so concrete.”

“I won't accept that, I can't. It's not happening!” I snap, turning away.

“Kenzie!” Kelly shouts after me.

“Leave me alone, I need to figure this out, Kells. If you won't help me, I'll try and bring on the vision myself,” I say, walking away as quickly as I can. I won't accept this. This isn't happening. It had to be one of the guys in that vision, and I refuse to lose any of them. I freeze. Fuck, what if it was East? My heart couldn't take it if it was him. I may be falling for the others, but East has had my heart for as long as I can remember. I take a deep breath, and carry on walking back to my room. I need to get my shit together and figure this out, before I lose one of them for real.