Atelo [MXB] [BOOK 1] ✓

CHAPTER 15: POWER

Sadly, Marley doesn't get as much sleep as he so craved. This is because he is awoken somewhere after midnight to someone shaking him awake.

"C'mon. We're meeting again."

Ah, that's a familiar voice. Marley gets the distant sense that he doesn't like whoever owns it, so he decides to continue sleeping. Or, well, attempt sleeping. It's sort of hard when someone is shaking you and you are freezing cold.

"Go away," Marley mumbles to whoever that is, turning and burying his face into his pillow. There's a blanket around him that he clutches even closer to his body. It doesn't do as much as he wants it to. Why is it so cold?

"Get. Up."

Wow, whoever has that voice is clearly angry. Marley realizes that he is probably the cause of that. Oops.

He's about to try and go right back to sleep—screw whoever is trying to wake him up, he is beyond exhaustion—but then the person actually grabs his arm. Marley is wearing a short sleeved shirt, so they touch his bare skin.

"What the fuck? Did you take a fucking ice bath?"

Okay. Marley's up.

He opens his eyes and rolls into his back, not surprised to be met with his roommate's spooky glowing eyes. Staring at him in the dark. Creepy. Marley doesn't have the time for this, and he's about 90% sure his heart would be beating out of his chest if he had one.

Oh yeah, his heart's gone.

"No," Marley responds groggily. He probably could have figured out a more clever response if he wasn't so tired. Still, that is about the only thing wrong with him. Other than his exhaustion and his coldness, he feels just fine. This is so weird.

As Marley is sitting up, ignoring his freakin' sub zero body temperature, the lights flick on. Even though nobody's at the light switch. Huh. Guess Nero can do that. That's when it hits Marley that Nero can probably do a lot with electricity and stuff. Honestly, Marley never even thought about how cool his power actually is.

Marley's thoughts are interrupted when the very object of them says, "you look like a corpse."

That snaps Marley back, and he immediately notices that he's shaking. Shivering. Not to mention, his skin is white. Not like the healthy tan with red undertones that it usually is. No, it's white, and he's freezing.

Marley immediately stands up. He's wearing a t-shirt and sweat pants, not exactly ideal for his situation. He walks around Nero, thankfully avoiding any contact since he'd probably get electrocuted and Nero would turn into an ice cube. Or something.

"Yeah, well, you look like a lightbulb." Marley mumbles. Judging by the glare he can feel burning his back, Nero still heard him.

"We're meeting back on the roof. If you don't hurry up I'm gonna drag you there."

Marley rolls his eyes, then it registers that he just rolled his eyes at Nero. Maybe the loss of his heart is making him a little meaner? Sure he used to give Nero some attitude, before The Heart Incident, but he's generally just not in the mood for anyone's shit right now. This is gonna get him in trouble.

Marley reaches his dresser and starts going through his clothes. He's pretty sure he has long socks somewhere, and there's a hoodie on his bed. Maybe. Or it might be in the bottom drawer. We'll see.

The socks are in the top drawer. They're just knee high socks with Christmas trees on them. They're thick, which is appreciated since his feet (along with his entire body, of course) are cold. He takes a seat at the end of his bed and rolls up his pant legs, sliding one sock on. It's a little difficult keeping it from rolling when he pulls his pant leg back down, so it takes him some time.