Telling the truth would get Amelia and I in trouble, but telling a lie would get me in trouble. So I settled on a half truth, to avoid all problems, “I fell.” 

“What? When? Why didn’t you tell me?” she bombarded me with questions before getting up to leave the room. She didn’t even give me a chance to answer, maybe I should’ve told her I could dress myself. 

Sitting on my bed, Amelia peeked into the room, her hair was tied back with a few strands hanging over her eyes, to cover the purple color that seemed so intense now that she had her awakening. 

“Are you okay?” 

“Yeah,” I muttered, looking at the gash on my leg, that only seemed to be getting worse. “Amelia, go put your pants on.” My gaze shifted up at the sound of my mom’s voice as she walked in the room, “stop picking with it.” 

“Sorry,” I dropped my hands watching her kneel down with a cup and what I assume was some medicine. It didn’t look like it though. “What’s that?” I pointed at the small bottle of red liquid. “Special healing medicine.” She poured a bit of the water on my leg, grabbing a cloth from her pocket, lightly cleaning the wound before popping the top off the red “special” healing medicine. 

At first I thought she was going to pour the red stuff on the cloth but instead she just dumped it on my leg with no warning beforehand. When I say that stuff burned, it felt like she poured straight alcohol on my leg. Not to mention that stuff sunk into my skin so it burned from deep within. 

“I know it hurts,” do you? I don’t think you do. Squeezing my eyes shut I was scared to even touch my leg because it would probably make the pain worse. I didn’t need that right now. 

“Gimme your wrist,” she muttered, grabbing the silver bracelet Elijah got me. The burning in my leg gradually began to calm down but I could still feel it when I walked out the door. 

“Lotus, make sure to never leave my side. Don’t touch or grab anything I haven’t paid for and don’t use your magic, do you both understand?” she glanced between us. “Yes ma’am,” Amelia said and I nodded showing I also understood. Humming, she began to walk ahead, her soft hand gripping mine in the process. 

Being at ground level, I noticed how busy the market actually was. Before I could only see what was shown to me through my mother and I usually fell asleep halfway through the trip. I blame the baby energy for that, it’s not my fault. 

While we traveled through the market my ears were viciously attacked by all the voices around me. Jerking my hand away from my mom’s grip I pressed my palms to the sides of my head to muffle the people around us. 

A hand being placed on my shoulder, caused my body to jolt and back up. Only to see Amelia’s bright gaze, peeking through the strands of hair hanging over her eyes. “Hey, remember what I taught you yesterday?” she whispered and I nodded, keeping my hands pressed to my ears. 

“Do the same thing and focus on your bracelet,” she pointed at the silver jewelry hanging from my wrist. Huh? This doesn’t make noise. “Trust me, it’ll help.” Taking her word for it, I attempted to focus my hearing on a bracelet, that shouldn’t make any noise if it’s a real piece of jewelry. 

“Do you hear it?” she asked, tilting her head as her eyes shifted towards Lydia talking to the man that was selling fruit. Again it was the radio effect, everything collapsed on top of one another, breaking the sound barrier, trying to push its way through to be heard. Only to eventually be cut off by a single gentle tune. 

It sounded like the tune of a lullaby. It was strangely familiar yet I couldn’t figure out where I heard it before. It was a very vague memory, it couldn’t have been from my past life right?  

“Mimi, what’s the song?” I decided to ask her since she suggested I listen to it. “Daddy used to hum that song to you when you were in mommy’s tummy.” Huh? How come I don’t remember hearing a song? 

“Oh,” I muttered trying to understand why that wasn’t part of my memories since I remember so much. Does that mean Elijah can sing? Glancing at my mom, I squinted, I see you Lydia, is that why you married him? I’ve read enough books to know. 

The muffled giggling of children ran past my ears and my head followed the sound, spotting kids around my age playing with one another. They seemed to be running from something, but unlike what I experienced there was no fear in their eyes. 

Without meaning to, I made eye contact with one of the boys and he smiled at me. Grabbing his friend's attention he pointed in my direction before waving me over but… 

Glancing at Lydia, tugging on her clothing, I tried to get her attention. “Mom, can I go play with them?” There was a long silence and by silence I mean she was busy talking to the fruit seller to answer me properly. When she did respond, however, her answer was disappointing. 

“No, remember what I told you before we left.” Nodding, I let out a soft sigh, holding onto her long skirt watching as she pulled out a handful of brown looking coins, “That’s fifty.” Looking back at the kids who offered to play with me, their look of disappointment matched mine before a red and white cat came running under my legs, eventually chasing the kids off. 

Amelia, ventured around and grabbed my free hand as if she didn’t want me to run off. I only got that vibe because she gripped my hand the same way she did last night. I knew this because it was equivalent to a death grip and my hand was turning pale from the tightness. This had me wondering why they were so adamant on keeping me near them at all times. 

Like I get it, I’m a toddler but I know when to not run off… usually. 

Listening to the soft tune of the lullaby, my eyes wandered around the large and busy market. Though I couldn't really hear anything with my ears hyper focused on the tune of my bracelet, I noticed this stranger staring at us. Personally I couldn’t tell if they were a man or a woman but either way it creeped me out. 

For one they weren’t just looking, they were full on staring. At who? I didn’t know. If it’s my mom they are trying to pursue, I’m sorry, she’s happily married and I will stomp them out if they try anything. If it’s my sister, same results but she's not married, just too young for them and it's gross. 

“What’s wrong?” Lydia asked when I tightened my grip on her skirt as we passed the staring stranger. Not wanting to alarm her, I shook my head in response, smiling up at her. Shifting her attention from me to my sister she grabbed the girl by the back of her shirt and pulled her backwards, “what did I tell you Amelia?” 

“Sorry.” 

The farther away we were from those creepy eyes I glanced back where they were only to see no one standing there. It was like they disappeared because they were completely gone, was I seeing things? As that thought lingered I noticed how Lydia didn’t stop by the mini zoo that we always visited when we came to the market. 

Instead, we stopped by a few other shops and walked right past it, heading straight home. Amelia looked over at me, matching the confused look in my eyes and I simply shrugged not understanding why we didn’t visit it today. 

Looking back at the market, my eyes locked with another, her scarily vivid green eyes were the only things I saw. Much like the stranger before she was covered up in a cloak so I only saw her eyes staring at us. I knew it was a lady because she tugged her hood down right before I looked away, breaking eye contact. 

Not creepy at all, I thought as a cold chill ran down my spine and I stared down at my marked hand. The lotus engraved into my skin glowed a faint purple, sort of tracing the symbol before disappearing. 

Looking up I could see Lydia’s mage mark on her neck, it was faded like an old tattoo and it made me wonder what my father’s mage mark looked like. Was his mage mark just like mine? Or was it different from me as well? These types of questions lingered in my mind the whole way home.