The Birthmark.

The sun was slowly approaching sunset, the lights of the city were waking up, filling the coming night with bright colors.

David stopped the car at a traffic light and looked in the rearview mirror. Elena put Ashley on the seat and put the girl's head on her lap, the baby girl fell asleep as soon as they left the hospital. "Maybe you will rest a little? Now there are big traffic jams in the city, we will be driving at least an hour more," David suggested to his wife, to which Elena shook her head.

"No, everything is fine, do not worry," the woman gently stroked the head of the sleeping child, "She is sleeping so sweetly. But she didn't even show fear, although she was in such a situation. I can't even imagine what Corey went through; I'd probably be crazy with worries."

"Yes, Ashley has always been brave. And a bit of reckless," added David.

"I think she took it after her mother. You can't even imagine what Corey did when she was little," Elena giggled, "Once we even got to the police for disturbing public order," she suddenly remembered the situation when they were fifteen years old and Corey wanted to arrange a huge firework in the central park at night. But the strangest thing was that when Mr. Lee picked them up from the police, instead of scolding them, he bought a huge can of ice cream. After that, they decided to keep a low profile.

"Ha, why have I never heard of this story?" David raised his eyebrows, learning unexpected facts from his wife's biography.

"Oh, Elena, and it turns out you were a naughty girl? Maybe you can tell something else while we are standing still?" Armand grinned, the traffic flow in front of them was stuck at a red traffic light.

"I never claimed to be exemplary. It's just you had such a strange impression about me," the woman folded her arms across her chest and threw a measuring glance at the men, "In general, the pot is calling the kettle black!"

David and Armand laughed, but not very loud, so as not to wake Ashley.

"By the way, you were not told anything in the hospital about the fact that you were found safe and sound, even without signs of poisoning?" Elena asked Arman.

"No, everything is okay. I came to myself when they loaded me into the car, so I had time to refuse a medical examination. Although their eyes looked a little shocked."

"It's good that you were found on the second floor, and not on the first. Otherwise, their eyes would be even more shocked," David added and moved to the next lane. Looks like they needed to drive longer than he expected. "And by the way, why did you get out? I thought smoke wouldn't affect you as much as would the ordinary people. Even Daniel was normal, and you-"

"To be honest, this question now worries me the most," Armand looked out the window and added in a serious voice, "There was someone else there. Because I clearly remember how the metal construction from the ceiling fell on me, considering the power of the fire, I would have had to burn in the fire for at least half an hour before my body would begin to regenerate and only then could I get out myself. But by that time the firefighters would have arrived in time, and they would find me in the fully burned hall. You must admit, that would be a strange picture, don't you think?"

"You want to say that someone moved you to the second floor? So you didn't get there yourself?" Elena asked in surprise.

"Well, I don't know how to teleport like some people here," Armand threw a little scornful glance at David. Given all the scrape that he fell into, this skill would definitely come in handy. "I heard the voices of two people, and I am absolutely sure that it was them who moved me. Moreover, I do not know what they did, but my wounds were completely healed by the time the firefighters found me, although this should have taken longer. But the strangest thing about this is that they moved me not manually, but teleported me somehow."

"Do you think that there is someone else with similar skills like us?!" David looked at his friend in complete confusion, "Of us, if you do not take children into account, only Rick and I have this skill. But Rick is long gone."

"No, there is another person who can do it. It's Marcus."

There was silence in the car.

"Hey, do you think it was him?" Elena asked, although it was unlikely to believe in the reality of that.

"No, it was definitely not him. First, these voices were unfamiliar to me. Secondly, we have not seen each other since 1945, I doubt that he suddenly decided to come to rescue his brother," Armand laughed, but behind the notes of sarcasm, there was pain in his voice. "But that is not all. When I was on the street checking the building to find Corey and Ashley, there was a man with them. I hadn't even blinked and he had brought Ashley to the roof, and when we went inside, Corey was already on the roof too. And he did it the same way."

"Did he teleport?!"

Armand nodded silently in response to Elena's question, "Exactly. And now the question is tormenting me: was this man one of those two who moved me, or was it the third?"

"Do you think they can be associated with Marcus or work for him? Who could it be?"

"I have no idea," Armand gave his friends the most charming smile, to dig into what they did not know, did not make any sense.

Elena felt her phone vibrate, she took it out of her pocket and looked at the unknown number on the display.

"Hello?"

"Elena, this is Lina Jones."

"Miss Jones? But ... where did you get my number?" Elena asked, not even assuming that this girl would be the caller. Armand, hearing a familiar name, immediately turned his head in Elena's direction, playful lights flashed in his eyes.

"Harry gave it to me," the girl replied, as if it was their good and mutual friend.

"Harry? My secretary, Harry?!" Elena's surprise moved to a new level. She remembered this serious man in glasses, who was pedantic ad nauseam.

"Yes, as it turned out, he is my big fan. Very nice guy."

'Harry? Nice guy?! Maybe she is talking about another person?' Elena could not imagine that her demon secretary, as he was called behind his eyes, could be a fan of a famous singer. The most that could be thought of was an adept of classical music. And... a nice guy? Where can such a definition come from? This girl obviously did not see him live.

"In any case, I heard about the fire in the gallery, and I wanted to know if everything was alright. I hope no one suffered."

"Oh, Miss Jones, thank you for your concern. No, thank God, except for the paintings, no one was hurt," answered Elena.

"You can just call me Lina. So your fair-haired friend is fine too? Say hello to him. And yes, about our talking about the picture that this idiot Carter introduced, I will have time next week, so we can meet. I or my manager will call you. See you soon!" Lina finished talking and hung up.

"Yeah, and goodbye to you too," Elena looked at the phone, the call was already finished. She looked up and noticed a friend's glance, asking for details. The woman sighed and replied with a sly smile, "Hi to you."

"Is that all?" Armand was a little disappointed.

"And you wanted something else? I can give her number, I now have one," Elena turned the display to Armand's face, the numbers were clearly visible on the screen.

"No thanks. I will sort it out myself," the man answered and turned away. Elena squinted her eyes, "Well, as you say," she knew for sure that he already remembered this number at first glance so she did it on purpose.

"Hey, does it seem to me or do I see pink unicorns in the air? For sure, there is a smell of love," David bared his teeth in a malicious smile and, twitching his eyebrows, looked at Armand, for what the latter one rolled his eyes.

"Don't you dare start," he muttered and turned away to the window.

"Oh, so I still have a reason to start?" David continued his trolling attack.

"No, there is no reason. At least for now," Armand replied, something mysterious flashed in his eyes.

"By the way, you wanted to tell me something about my mom and didn't finish. So what was it?"

Armand opened his mouth and turned to Elena, "You know, if you change the subject of conversation so unexpectedly, for some people this may cause a panic attack. Did you decide to take me by surprise, dear?"

"Exactly. You didn't expect that because of the fire situation, you'll get off the subject, as it has been for the last five years, right?" Elena reproached him. No matter how many times she raised a conversation about her mother, Armand always found reasons not to answer her questions.

The man sighed hopelessly, in the end, no one pulled his tongue, and this was his initiative. "Your mother," Armand began his story, "She was a descendant of a special family, in which the gift of foresight was passed on from mother to daughter for many generations. I thought that perhaps your dream was a harbinger of the fact that this gift began to awake in you. Tell me, do you have a mole or birthmark like an asterisk on your back, approximately under the left shoulder blade?"

"Um, I don't know," Elena replied.

"Yes, she has," David replied.

"Oh yes, it looks like I was asking a wrong person," Armand smiled slyly. "So, this mole serves as a mark of the person to whom the gift will be passed on."

"So my mom also had such a mole?"

"Yes, she had," Armand confirmed her question.

Elena thought, and then looked at her friend with her eyes wide open, "Wait a second, and how do you know that mom had such a mole on her back, eh? Under what conditions did you have time to see that?!"

Armand was surprised to not immediately understand Elena's question, but as soon as he realized what she was hinting at, the man suddenly became embarrassed, "You ... what did you even think about, eh? Girl, if such ideas come to your mind again, I will be seriously offended! I didn't have anything like that with your mom, do you understand?! I first met her when she was sixteen! I'm not a pervert, to make a move on children, you got it?"

"Oh, grandpa, why are you so wound up?" Elena crossed her arms, she looked like a malicous fox, that was trying to bring its prey to the trap. "If nothing happened, then what's with such a bright reaction?" The woman accurately put a little pillow under the head of the girl, in order to free her knees, sat on the edge of the seat, clasped the seat back opposite and whispered to Armand in his ear, "Or there was something that made you even blush?"

"Get out, you! I did not blush! God, you're so much like Amelia! David, tell your wife to stop teasing me, we are having a serious conversation!" Armand turned his head towards his friend, but David did not react at all. This performance was giving him great pleasure.

Elena patted Armand on the shoulder in a sign that she would no longer touch on this topic, "Okay, but listen, Sean has a similar birthmark on his back. So he, too, may have the gift of foresight, right?"

"No, he cannot. It is transmitted only through the female line. That is why Marcus was so obsessed with Amelia. She refused to cooperate with him, and this enraged him. The future that she saw was different from what he saw."

"It turns out that Marcus can see the future? But how do you know, you said that your paths never crossed?" asked David. If this were true, serious problems could arise. When your enemy knows in advance about your steps, the outcome of the battle is known in advance.

"This is what Amelia told me. The main thing is for Marcus not to know that you can have this gift too," Armand said with anxiety in his voice.

Elena heard these words and goosebumps ran down her body, "Oh, Lord," the woman whispered and covered her face with her hands.

"W-what? What is it?" David asked, he did not like the reaction of his wife.

"I think he knows. When we were dancing with him at the banquet, he... it seemed strange to me even at that moment, but I did not lay any emphasis to that. When we were dancing, his touches on my back were too insistent," Elena put her hand behind her back and felt a birthmark under her left shoulder blade. It really looked like a star, and why didn't the woman notice that before? "I think he was checking if I had this birthmark."

There was heavy silence in the car. David's hands clenched the steering wheel so hard that his fingers turned white, but he said nothing. Armand also looked very serious, he turned away towards the window and silently watched the lights of the shops that they drove along for a couple of minutes.

"I hope that if you have this gift, it will never show itself again," he said quietly.

"Why?" Elena asked, although she herself would not want such abilities.

"Because... because before escaping from Marcus, Amelia did something, which is why he began to pursue her for several years. If he finds out that you see the future, he will come for you."

"But why? You said that he himself could see the future," Elena did not understand what the main problem was.

Armand turned back to the window and, after a short pause, answered, "That's the thing. Marcus can no longer see the future."