• Marcus smiled as a couple passed him in the park, feeling a bit lonely. He glanced up at the clear blue sky above him and sighed slightly. As he stood up, he startled the pigeons that had come to rest around him, “Sorry, friends but I can’t wait for them to come to me. Gotta go look for them, it seems, and I won’t get anything done if I'm sitting around all day.” “Mister?” Marcus jumped a little then glanced down at the small girl standing a little ways away from him. Her blonde hair was pulled into cute pigtails and her blue eyes were bright with interest. “Mister? Why you talking to the birdies?” Marcus blinked “Well, they never seem to get to talk with anyone and the dirty one looked lonely.” “Their all dirty and birdies can’t talk. Besides mommy says birdies are stupid.” Marcus rubbed the top of his head then leaned down, “Well, they are always shooed away before they get a chance to say anything intelligent. So how do you know they can’t talk or if they are stupid? Hmm?” he smiled as the girl’s eyes widened when she thought about this. “Kyrie! What are you doing?” Marcus glanced up as a women rushed up pulling little Kyrie away from him “Don’t talk to strangers! Let’s go, now.” She said fiercely taking her daughter’s hand but Kyrie turned back to Marcus “Mister! I'm Kyrie!! Whose you??” he smiled “It’s ‘who’, not whose and my name is Marcus Copper. It’s a pleasure, Kyrie.” She smiled happily “Mommy? He was so nice but he looked really sad.” Her mother glanced down then over her shoulder with a frown. Then she stopped in shock and Kyrie turned back. Her new friend, Mister Marcus, was gone and all that was left where the pigeons.
    Belle stared out the window, barely hearing the music from the stereo or the rain outside. She sat by the small fireplace, leaning against the glass, cold on one side and warmth on the other. “Where is he?” she turned to her sister, Catrine, and waited for an answer. Catrine shuffled her cards and withdrew a single card from the top, flipping it around for her sister to see. The Death card glared at Belle Mensonge with the fire casting a sickly glow upon it and causing her to shiver. “What does it mean?” Catrine glanced at the second card, the Universe card “Change. A lot of change is coming and it will cause harm among those it touches. Brother is caring the wind that will destroy this city and the lives of certain individuals in it.” “Will anyone die?” “People always die. That is the way of everything in the realm. But the death that is coming is not the death of life but the death of monotony. He will change all who he comes in contact with however brief that contact may be.” “He always was a mess up and generally ruined everything. That’s why they kicked him out of the orphanage before he was old enough.” Belle stood and padded over to sit beside her sister on the floor “What else?” Catrine drew another card, this time from the bottom of the deck. She stared at it “The Lovers. He will meet her who is in danger and protect her from everything but himself. She will fall in love and it will be her undoing and his pain.” Catrine looked at Belle, wide eyed, “Sis? Will Marcus be alright? Shouldn’t we go out and warn him of this?” “Why? He won’t listen and he never has let what fate dictates guide him. All we can do is wait. Wait and let fate decide whether to pull him from pain…or crush him for his ignorance.”
    “Reveal yourself!” Marcus jumped at boy’s tone then raised an amused eyebrow. The boy stood protectively in front of his sister, glaring into the darkness. It would have been intimidating if he hadn’t been staring 3’ to the left of Marcus’s actual position. Marcus shook his head then stepped out of the shadows and “Not afraid of little me are you?” as he said this, Marcus felt the wind shift from blowing south, to east and an uneasy felling settled deep in the dark of his stomach like a bad egg. ‘This does not bode well.’ He thought giving the two siblings a smile.