BLUE VENOM

Six - Outlandish

"What is it?", asked Kain for the fifth time.

When I didn't reply, just licked my lips, trying to think how exactly to explain this and not make him freak out, Kain grabbed both of my shoulders and shook me back and forth. "Masie. Sutton. Speak!", he ordered, green eyes staring into my grey ones. I instinctively flinched backwards away from him.

"Uh, I'm afraid it... Marked you."

This life was getting stranger and stranger.

"What?", he said.

I pointed at both of his temples. "The light thing. You have, like, two small white light dots on both sides. And..." How to put this. "They glow."

He looked at me like I'd just revealed to him that I'd found eggs with bacon in the tree closest to us and I sighed. "Look, it's probably only right to revisit our alien planet theory..."

He then clasped his hand over his mouth and grinned. "Oh yeah, you're right about that!.".

"Uhm, what is...."

"You mean I have two dots next to each eye, right?".

"Yeah?"

"And they emit a faint glow, like they're glow-in-the-dark-stickers?"

"Yes?", I asked, a strange feeling in the pit of my stomach.

"Well", he said, leaning back and looking at my face, like he had just been the only person in the room with their pants insides out and now I'd joined. "I've just spotted them as well. You've just got them too, ghost girl."

My hands went up to my temples and there was a faint tickle. I mean I would have freaked out if the entire situation wasn't already less tuansub normal.

We checked on both Ty's and Desirees faces - who were still fast asleep. Our little encounter with alien light ball and our exclaimations of awe and the bit of panic on my side hadn't woken them up, thankfully. But their temples were clear, just tanned skin like they had been before.

"This is not at all freaky.", mumbled Kain.

"Quiet. You'll wake them up."

"Surely should", he said. "You and I should sleep now, mommy cares. Time's ticking and it's meatheads turn to watch"

"I'm not that tired anymore", I threw in truthfully and, as if to prove my point, I rubbed my temples in anguish. "In fact", I grumbled. "I think I'll never sleep again without nightmares. I just developed alien freckles."

"Oh don't worry. From the right angle, they look kind of cute on you."

I tried to manifest a glare that would bore another pair of dots into his head. Preferably holes. Or just shoot him to another planet. But he still stood there in all his black sweatshirt wearing, tousled glory.

He chuckled and stretched in the faint brown night light like me looking at him was an invitation to be theatralic. "Let's freak out over this" He pointed at our temples. "Tomorrow. Trust me. You'll wish you'd slept." He probably pulled all nighter all the time or that's what it sounded like . I could see him sneaking into sophomore girls bedroom windows or partying with the cool kids until somebody passed out. Mighty, he probably knew what he was talking about. I on the other side, was the type who fell asleep before eleven PM. It was like it was physically impossible for me to keep my eyes open beyond that. I'd tried to pull all nighter study sessions before and always ended up drooling on my books.

But the low rumble in my stomach still told me that I was a, too hungry to sleep and b, to psyched.

"You go to sleep. I'll keep watch", I told him.