ACE

Chapter 4

The next day Layla sat up on her bed with a blanket wrapped around her and eyes slightly opened. Her hands was moving around feeling for something. They stopped when feeling a cold object. Picking is up, Layla brought it close to eyes. The cold object were a pair of lenses framed in black. Layla placed them on her face and with the blanket still wrapped, got out of bed. Walking over to her dresser, she pulled out a pink tee and denim shorts. Changing into the clothing she tied her hair up into a high ponytail. Going to a blank wall, she touched it and out came a sink and a medicine cabinet. She opened the cabinet, took out a toothbrush, then brushed her teeth while placing contacts on and sat down at her desk. She opened a drawer to her left and took out a concealer. Placing a little on her finger, Layla rubbed it over her insanity mark. Finishing up she placed the concealer back, and walked over to Eric's door.

Knock Knock

When there was no reply, Layla just walked into his room. Inside she saw Eric still sleeping peacefully. Layla smiled for a second, then walked over to his bed and tried to shake him awake. When Eric wouldn't wake, Layla got on his bed and sat on the bed closest to the wall. With a quick shove, Eric fell to the floor with a thud. Eric shot up and looked around the room with his blurry eyes. Layla started to laugh, catching Eric's attention.

"Did you push me off my bed?!" Eric asked in annoyance. He then reached for his phone.

"Yeah I did cause you wouldn't wake up," Layla replied looking at him.

Eric, have seeing the time on his phone, yelled, "It's only 5 am! What are we doing this early in the morning?!"

"I told you last night shopping," Layla said like it was obvious.

"Yeah I know that, but what place is even open at this time?" Eric asked getting up from the floor. He then tossed his phone on his bed besides Layla.

"Don't worry I know what I'm doing. So get ready, 'kay."

"Urg fine but I need to brush before we..." Before he could finish Layla went up to an empty wall and did the same as before. "Umm thanks. Now can you leave so I can change."

"Yep of course." She then walked out of the room, closing the door behind her.

Erick hearing the door shut, walked towards his closet and pulled out a blue graphic tee and black jeans. Changing he went towards the sink and opened the medicine cabinet. After brushing his teeth he walked out of the room.

Entering Layla's room, Eric found her sitting cross legged on her bed. She was typing way on what seemed like a phone. When she glanced up to see Eric, she put the device in her back pocket and got off the bed.

"You're finally done. Now let's get going to the dining hall for breakfast," said Layla walking over to the pasted card. Eric followed and stood next to her, puzzled. Before he could say anything, Layla clapped her hands. The room around them was soon gone and what replaced it was the familiar living room.

"Huh how.. did.. we get here?" Eric ask seeing a new room.

"Do you really need to know?" Layla said looking at him.

She then grabbed Eric's arm and pulled him towards a long hall on the right side of the room. In the hall, the wall's were all bare, lacking any sort of decorations and picture. The only thing that was on the walls were the velvet wallpaper itself. After what seemed like an endless hall, Layla finally stopped in front of a grand door. When opening the door, the pair were hit with the scent of fresh food of eggs, pancakes, waffles, crepes and other delectable morning treats.

"Oooo these look so good," Layla said cheerfully. She then sat at the head of the table and motioned Eric to sit down on her right. As he did so Layla placed some food on Eric's plate and her's.

"Ah thanks," Eric said seeing the food in front of him. He then started to eat fulling up his now noticed hunger.

"No problem and here you go," Layla said taking the phone from earlier and handing it to Eric. When he took it from her, he realized it was his own phone. "I canceled your rent at your old place and told someone to retreive you things."

"Huh? Ah okay. Um Layla, I don't know if can stay here, since I can only assume that the others who live here are umm criminals," Eric said looking at his plate and playing with his food.

"What, criminals? Hahaha, you're funny, no one here is a criminal. Well not truly one, you see everyone here has one goal, and that's to rid the world from the corrupted," said Layla looking at Eric.

"Wait what do you mean by corrupted?" Eric asked looking back at Layla intensely.

Shifting her gaze to her food, Layla explained, "The corrupted is those that are beyond insanity. What this means is that they no longer see any good, only the bad world itself."

"What can cause the corruption? And where does the insanity fit into then then?" Eric questioned with curiosity in his eyes.

"What can cause the corruption, are certain mind sets that person makes. Another way is through corrupted objects, that were turned that way by nightstealers. And how insanity fits in is through us, those who hold insanity within. This is important for we can find the difference from those unaffected to those about to or is being controlled by it," Layla said answering his questions.

"Hmm okay I get that. Though there is one thing that is not answered yet," Eric said.

"And what might that be?" Layla asked thinking over her explanations.

"Well last night you said that every mark had it's own specialty, right? Then what decides that and is there another way to receive the mark?" Eric asked pondering his mind for guesses.

"Ah I did say that huh? Well for what I know, the marks specialty is decided by what the owner of the mark posses. If they posses something that is different from the other marks even the slightest, they will receive a power relating to it. Though I'm different, I inherited mine, which was decided by who had my power before. But it's rare to inherit for those giving must have much power." Layla then paused for Eric to compute the information. Seeing him nod in understanding she continued, "And there are other ways to receive the mark, by spell, which is how you received yours, by inheritance, like me, and through birth. Now is that all your questions?"

"Huh uh yeah that's all I can think of for now. Thanks for explaining," Eric said giving Layla a small smile.

"No problem. Now let's quickly finish eating, I want to get out of here before the other residence get here," Layla said speeding up her eating pace.

The room then became quiet for sometime. The two both eating hastily, had finished and Layla took their plates to a bin in the corner. She then turned towards Eric, looking at him with a gaze that she remembered something.

"Ah right! Eric hold still," Layla commanded reaching for Eric's mark. "I need to put in get you a mask for when you go out on missions. It won't take long."

"Umm okay..." Eric said awkwardly.

She then touched his mark and lightly pinched it. Layla then pulled it and out came a mask. The mask was black and in the corner was his mark's sign in white.

"This is what your mask looks like. When you go out in public on missions, tap your mark twice to get the mask. To put that and the sword away snap your fingers. Now snap so that the blade in my room will vanish too."

"Got it." He then snapped his fingers and the mask vanished from Layla's hand.

"Okay now let's get going to the mall!" Layla said happily pulling Eric out of the room.