Page 10 of Marked by the Demigod

She sighs again, refusing to turn around and deal with the staring. “Dave?”

There’s a strangled sound, as if he’s trying to speak but can’t get it out, then he coughs. “Yeah. An hour. That should be fine.” There’s a pause, then, “Pasadena High School students will be in around 2:45 to try again.”

“I’ll be out of your hair by then,” Aimes opens up the code, the tips of her ears burning. Seriously with the staring, it’s getting old.

And she’s known Dave for like five years, so he should be above this. Whatever the hell this is and whatever the hell his problem is.

“Hey Evan, would you mind hitting the east Pasadena branch to make sure it’s still alright?”

“They don’t have the Dewey system project there,” Dave pipes up.

“But if the code is wrong there, it’d be good to clear it up before some rich high school has an issue, right?” Aimes raises an eyebrow at the code so she doesn’t do it at him.

As if sensing the tension, Evan nods and leaves. He’s never the most social with coworkers, despite being charming for the little old ladies.

The moment the office door clicks closed behind him, Aimes swivels in the chair and faces Dave. “Okay, what’s this.” She demands.

Dave blinks at her, wide eyed. “What --”

“You seem spooked by me.” She stares him down without any issue. Dave’s a librarian, he’s never been the type to take to someone being aggressive. “Dave, we’ve known each other for like half a decade now, what the hell is this?”

She sees the indecision in his eyes, the look of vague panic, then the acceptance the moment he does actually cave.

“What did you do?” He asks, his voice quiet, as if asking a shameful secret. He pulls over a chair next to hers

“Don’t know what you mean. I went to a conference, came back, and randos on the street have been staring. Just like you did.” She looks him in the eyes, and he ducks his head away.

It’s a long moment, with the only sound the muted resonance from the great vaulted room below them, before he sighs. “You don’t know what it is you did?” He asks, voice soft and a bit pleading. “Are you really gonna make me explain this?”

She nods. Like hell she knows what she did.

Dave plays with a scrap of paper, a nervous tick that he’s done since she first met him. “Last time I saw you, you were a normal person,” he starts, face twisting. “You didn’t seem to have any issues with anything...you know.” He stops, helpless. “You know.”

She leans forward, and he leans back. “No, Dave, I don’t know.”

He blinks rapidly at her, jaw working. “Seriously?”

“Seriously.”

“Fuck.” He whispers, and it’s probably the first time she’s ever heard him swear. “Man. Fuck.” He scrabbles his hand over his face, as if wishing he’s anywhere else. “I can’t believe I have to do this.”

Aimes sits back, an odd feeling of detachment sitting in her stomach. Like Dave’s panic isn’t about her, and isn’t really going to hurt her. Like his mini freak out isn’t actually about her, but about some fictionalized version.

“It can’t be that bad.”

His eyes widen, and he leans forward, sudden. “It’s not going to take you an hour to fix the code, is it?”

“Nah, five minutes tops, I said that so Evan would leave.” She smiles at him, delicate, showing her teeth, and gets a thrill of satisfaction when he blanches. “Spit it out.”

There’s another fleeting moment of hesitation, before he springs up and makes sure the door is clicked shut.

“In this world, there are the normal people, and there are the...un-normal people,” he starts. Aimes would mock him, but he’s obviously struggling for words. “There’s people, and then there are the people of fairy tales. Changelings. Dryads. Incubus. Gods. Those sort of people.”

Her stomach settles into a feeling of wrongness. “Right. Of course there are.”

He gives her a stern look, and she’s immediately reminded that he is still a librarian. “We can...tell when someone is a normal human, or not. Last time I saw you, you were normal. Now…” He opens his hands wide, a helpless motion. “Something has happened, and something un-normal has marked you.”

“Yeah that’s bullshit.” Marked her, like she was a tree that a dog walked by too much.

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