It was almost 2 am and Zac still couldn't sleep. After hearing the phone ring at a little around 12, he had let it ring, not wanting to wake his parents up with his incessant talking. He had checked the messages a little later and heard something very odd. He heard screaming and crying, and then laughing. Then all went silent. He had immediately panicked because it sounded like Rachel. He wanted to call and see if everything was okay, but decided to wait until morning, seeing as though it was 2 in the morning.
He was sitting in bed, when suddenly the phone rang again. He jumped out from under his covers and hurriedly picked up the phone. "Rachel, Rachel are you alright?" He reeled backwards when he heard the scratchy voice on the other line.
"She is marked. She will be hunted and joined with us in unity. You cannot protect her from her fate Jordan." The voice laughed and the line went dead.
Zac set the phone back on it's cradle and sat back down on his bed. He snickered. "Nice try Rach. I'd think that you'd be able to do better than that." He lay back on the soft pillows, and now determined that his girlfriend was just playing a joke, he drifted off to sleep.
When Tanner finally came to, a searing pain cut through her left shoulder blade. She rubbed it and sighed in relief when the pain slowly dissipated and then disappeared altogether. She sat up slowly and rubbed her eyes. She looked at her clock and noted that it was around 8 am, and they were supposed to leave at around 9:30. She had around an hour and a half. She stood up, and grabbing her robe, she noticed her sister sleeping on the floor right at the foot of her bed. She laughed softly and picked her up. As she slowly carried her slumbering sister into her room and laid her on the bed, she wondered why she was even asleep in her room to begin with. Oh well. She sighed. I'll just have to ask her when she wakes up.
Tanner crept out of Rachel's room and walked out to the kitchen for some cereal. As she was pouring the milk over her Cocoa Crispies, she heard the phone ring. She ran to her room to pick it up, not wanting to wake her sister, and answered. "Hello?" She plopped onto her bed and awaited an answer.
"Hi Tanner. This is Zac."
Tanner smiled, hearing her sister's boyfriend greet her. "Oh! Hey Zac. What's up?"
Zac laughed lightly and then cleared his throat. "Well, Rachel called me last night and I didn't want to wake anyone up, so I just let the phone ring. After about a half hour I checked the messages and I heard some screaming, then laughing…and I think she was playing a joke, but I'm not sure."
Tanner listened to Zac's rambling with amusement. But what he said next caught her off guard.
"At around 2am," the blond boy began "I heard the phone ring and this time I picked it up. A man, well with a voice like that I use the term loosely," Tanner couldn't help but laugh. To Zac, life was just one big practical joke. "But anyway, the.."thing" called and said that someone was marked. And that she was going to be taken."
Tanner felt her should throb softly. She pushed the thought out of mind as the curiosity of what Zac was saying hit her. "Zac? What kind of mark?" She felt her back throb more intensely now, the pain coming in small tidal waves. She began to tear.
"Well, I checked the message later, and whoever it was said that it was on the left shoulder, and looked like a tattoo of some kind of Gothic symbol, but in blood." Tanner felt her back pain lessen, and then roar back to life again, as though it had a mind of it's own.
"Zac, will you do me a favor?" Tanner suddenly got an idea. "Will you tape that message and give it to me today? I would like to hear the description for myself."
"Sure thing." He promised. "Hey, I hear you're comin' with us today."
She laughed and agreed. "Yeah, Rachel's makin' me. She's very hard to resist when she makes up her mind on something."
"You're tellin' me!" Tanner laughed and then heard someone shout Zac's name.
"Hold on a sec Tanner. Tay's calling me."
"Okay."
Tanner, having heard Taylor's name, couldn't help but listen in.
"Hi Tay! I have to ask you something. You wanna come to the mall with Rachel and I? We even have a special guest coming along."
Tanner heard Tay laugh and smiled. His laugh was so cute.
"I guess I'll come. I still want to meet your girlfriend. She sounds nice." He sounded quite sincere as he said this.
Zac interjected and laughed. "Don't you go stealing my girl Tay. You may be the hottie of the family, but that don't mean that you can go around snatchin' up my chicks!"
Tay laughed again. "Well, we'll see. I can make no promises." The two brothers chorused in laughter, and Tanner couldn't help but join in.
Tay turned his head as he heard another person's laughter. He saw the phone and walked towards it. "Who's that Zac?" He picked up the phone.
"No Tay!! DON'T!!" Zac didn't want Tanner to meet Tay until they were in private. This would ruin everything.
"Hello?" Tay said into the phone. Zac prayed that Tanner would hang up, or something.
"Um, hi. Who's this?" Tanner managed to squeak out. She noted the insecurity in her voice and mentally kicked herself.
"I guess I could ask you the same question." Tay joked.
"Yeah. I guess you could." Tanner paused before she answered, debating on whether or not to reveal her identity. She then decided that he probably wouldn't care about her. "I'm Rachel." She sputtered.
"Oh! Hi Rachel. I'm Taylor." Taylor laughed. She sounded so sweet. So this is Rachel…
"Hi. Um Taylor? I gotta go. I guess I'll see you later, okay?"
"Okay, bye." Tay noticed that he was almost disappointed when she said this.
"Bye." She hung up.
Zac smiled. Good goin', Tanner. And he ran off to his room to grab some other clothes.
As Tay walked to his room to change to go with his bro, he couldn't help but note how sweet and shy Rachel sounded. Almost completely opposite of how Zac described her. Her voice showed insecurity, and the way she said his name was irresistible. Geez Tay, you're falling in love with your brothers girlfriend! Get a grip! But even as he kept reminding himself that this was the wrong thing to think, he still couldn't help thinking about Rachels sweet voice. He was still thinking about her as he changed into his other clothes. He decided on a pair of khaki cargo pants, a white T-shirt, and a flannel overshirt. He slipped into some sneakers and ran out the door just as his bro flew around the corner and out the door next to him.
"Ready Tay?" Zac wheezed as he smoothed down his hair and stuffed some Tic-Tacs in his mouth.
Tay nodded and the two veered off toward the girls' house down the street.
