much forever. We get taught from an early age to keep the truth of ourselves hidden. I mean, it’s not hard until we manifest, there’s nothing to hide really, we just don’t advertise that we know things will be different for us.”
I bring my fingers up to my lips darting my eyes around the room. Is he for real? Ollie continues, “Typically, when we come of age,” he clears his throat, “we get a marker, like an identifier that links you to your grouping.”
I hold my hand up and close my eyes. “What kind of identifier?”
“It’s usually something small, something that looks like a birthmark,” Dante answers, leaning back on the couch, fiddling with the thick leather bracelet on his wrist. “So, most groups have two males and one female, there are a few that have three guys, but that’s not very common.
Ares got his mark before us, cause obviously he’s older. When your mark appears it’s a big deal, it gets…” He struggles for the word. “…registered?” He glances between Milo and Ollie.
Milo nods. “Yeah something like that.” His hands are braced on the counter behind him. It shows off how tapered his waist is, and the width of his shoulders. He’s staring off into space, so I take a few moments to study him. The distance and the fading sun conceals the blue of his eyes. His brow is drawn low, and shadows darken his features, making him look more intimidating. His head snaps up and he meets my eyes, I look away immediately hating he caught me staring.
“Ares’s mark was presented, and no one came forward with a matching mark. That occasionally happens. Sometimes members of the group might not have manifested yet because they are younger by a year or two, but Ares went four years before anyone got the same identifier.”
“It was me,” Ollie pipes up. His chin rose with a challenge. “I was relieved. I already knew Ares, loved him like a brother so I knew we could work together as a team. But… it scared me too. Ares had manifested four years early and he still didn’t have a Synergist, that’s a long time to go without the core of your ability.”
Milo’s brisk movement startles me as he joins Ollie on the sofa. He sits down hip to hip with him, running his palm over Ollie’s back. “I was next, my birthday is just a few weeks after Ollie’s.” the two boys look at each other, a slight grin pulling a Milo’s lips, while Ollie just stares back with open affection. My earlier assumption is affirmed, they are definitely together.
“My mark showed up a few months later, but by that time we already suspected it would, we had always been really close, so it made sense in a weird way that we would all be in a group. There hasn’t been an Infinity with five in a really long time; it’s almost unheard of now.” Dante adds. “Ares was… he had been struggling, but now with all of us manifesting with the same mark, he got excited. Thinking that our Synergist would show herself at any moment.” Dante scoots forward on the couch, his eyes boring into mine. “That was almost two years ago.”
They seem so serious, there’s a small part of me that almost believes them, they’re so convincing. “Let’s pretend I believe you.” I raise my eyebrows in query. “What does any of it have to do with me?”
A man steps forward from the shadows in the corner of the room, a scream almost tears from my throat. “You’re who we’ve been waiting for. You are our Synergist.”
Thirteen
Dante jumps up and turns to face the man who just walked in out of nowhere. He must have been here the whole time—hiding in the bathroom? My brain struggles to explain his sudden appearance. I get on my knees, preparing to bolt at a moment’s notice. The relative safety I’d felt with the guys evaporates when my eyes connect with the man in front of me. The shadows cling to him, casting doubt that’s he’s even really there. “Ares,” Dante warns. “You said we had until tomorrow before you arrived.” This is Ares? Holy shit! If I thought Dante had the bad boy thing down, he has nothing on his big brother.
Ares’s eyes leave me for the first time since his appearance and shift to Dante. His hand lifts to cover his mouth, pinching his lips slightly, and then he pulls his palm,