I slap the out of Mark. I would punch him but he deserved worse. He deserved a slap. The slap clearly stings his face because he sits there and lets out a deep exhale. I reach back to do another but he stops me.

"You are scaring the Cancers," he says, "They don't like violence. Come with me."

" you."

"NOW!"

Mark walks me back into the house. I see the Zodiac Killer following us the entire time. Mark seems so comfortable around this killer. He's so comfortable around everything. The Cancers' house is empty when we walk in. Mark pushes me down on the couch. He's aggressive probably still annoyed from the slap.

Yugyeom seems amused honestly he crosses his arms, "I didn't think Libras fought. Learn something new every day I guess. How does it feel Mark? Manhandled by a Libra."

"You aren't helping," Mark states.

"This was your idea," the Zodiac Killer responds, "Look. He's trying to run. Better get him!"

I was halfway out of the room when Mark grabs me and pulls me back. The Zodiac Killer watches Mark struggling with me but he doesn't help. He seems amused by it all. It's annoying is what it is. This isn't exactly how things were supposed to work.

"Let me just explain my side of the story," Mark pleads, "If you still hate me and you want to run go ahead. Even if you want to go to your cop boyfriend go ahead."

"Wait? Cop boyfriend? His boyfriend is an Aquarius?" Yugyeom asks.

"Chief of Police," I let Yugyeom know.

Yugyeom isn't smiling anymore. All of a sudden, he seems very serious. He gives Mark the same look that I'm giving him. We are both trying to figure out what the Mark is thinking. Mark is trying to maintain peace. He moves past Yugyeom and walks over to me. He pulls up the end table and sits on it. He leans over to me so that he's close to the dusty couch and looking directly in my eyes.

"You've been lied to," is how Mark tells me, "The system is broken. It is designed on the hierarchy. Libras on the top then Aquarius, Gemini, Taurus, Capricorn, Leos, Sags, Pisces, Cancers and then at the bottom are the Aries."

"You didn't include Virgos and Scorpios," I respond.

"It's because they aren't in the system. They are tools of the system."

"What are you talking about? Virgos are tools maybe but what do you mean by Scorpios. Scorpios are Zodiac Killers."

"That's what they tell you," Mark explains.

"That's what I know."

Yugyeom shakes his head, "There is no such thing as a goddam a real Zodiac Killer dude. It's something they made up for their program."

"What program."

"Think about the Virgos. Put things into perspective. Do you think Virgos would really with their bodies in order to be bodyguards? Who would willingly do that?" Mark asks.

I think about Nyxx. I guess that is the problem. I've never really thought about Nyxx before. She did her job. I never cared about her background. She was half machine for all I knew. She didn't even have a consciousness or if she did it was buried a long time ago. I just assumed it was the Virgo culture to put that machinery in their bodies.

I stumble in thinking about it.

"Are you saying this was done to them?" I ask.

The two boys nod at that moment.

"By the system," Mark explains, "Virgos were tools to protect and Scorpios are tools used to harm."

"By who?"

"By the same system," Mark explains, "Yugyeom tell him."

Yugyeom crosses his arms, "We are taken at the age of 5. We are trained to be terrorists. We don't have a choice in the matter. If we refuse, we are killed. Our orders come from the system. We are given a list. Every year one Scorpio is chosen. If you complete your list you are given a fast painful death. If you don't complete your list you die a very slow and painful death ."

Holy .

Mark was right. My world was turned all the way upside down. I think that maybe Yugyeom is lying. I hope that he is lying. What this would mean if he wasn't lying was scarier than what it would mean if I was actually sitting next to a stone cold killer. I stare at the wall. I take a deep breath. Mark might know I'm going through it because he comes and sits right next to me. He begins to rub my back at that moment. He's slow. He takes his time.

"It's OK," he tells me, "Breathe normal. That's it. Take your time. I'm here for you."

Yugyeom just shakes his head, "We don't have a choice. This year I am going to die. I am going to kill as many people on my list as possible before I die. I don't have a choice. Then again none of us in this stupid system has a choice. Scorpios just got screwed the worst. Maybe it's because we rebelled against the system in the beginning. Just know that I find no joy in killing. I am going to kill you Park Jiyoung, but I won't enjoy it."

"You aren't helping Yugyeom," Mark explains.

"It's the first time someone has ever told that dude the truth. It's about time he realizes what's going on."

Mark shakes his head.

"Nothing is going to happen to you Junior."

"The hell it isn't. He's on my list," Yugyeom says.

Yugyeom is obsessed with the list. He keeps looking at me. I wonder if he wants to kill me right now and get it over with. I wonder if he wants to just end it. Maybe he is enjoying the final year of his life by doing this. I don't get him. I don't understand him.

Mark is the only comfort I'm getting right now. It comes from a strange place.

He lifts my chin with his forefinger until our eyes meet.

"No one is going to hurt you… I won’t let it happen. OK? You trust me?"

"How do you know that?" I ask him, "Like you said. Yugyeom doesn't have a choice."

"He doesn't have a choice in the system. You're right. But that's why I married you. That's why I got close to you," Mark states and gives me a smile, "You and I are going to blow up their ing system once and for all."

Just as he says that Marshall, the Cancer, runs into the room. He has a desperate look on his face.

"Virgo," he states almost as though a warning.

I don't know what that means but I watch as the Cancers come in the house.

"What's happening?" I ask Mark.

I watch at that moment as the floor opens. A few of the Cancers help Yugyeom into the floor. They put a floor mat over him and move the couch over the floor mat. This was orchestrated. They were hiding Yugyeom. The Cancers were helping Yugyeom for some reason. I wonder why they helped him. Regardless of if he wanted to kill people or not Yugyeom was still a killer. He was still a murderer. Why would they be helping him?

There was so much I didn't know. So much of the story sounded so backwards and suspicious.

Mark answers me, "Nyxx has found you."

"How?" I ask.

"She isn't your bodyguard. She's a spy from the High Liberty. You are at the end of Yugyeom's list for a reason. If Nyxx reports back that you are loyal you will be removed from the list. If she reports back that you have been corrupted, then you'll be killed. They'll blame the death on Yugyeom."

"They use him?"

He nods, "There is a reason that the system stays in place. Everyone who opposes the system ends up on the list of the Zodiac Killer. They blame it on the Scorpios and they come out as the good guys."

I remember now what the High Liberty stated.

He said that everyone had a place. Scorpios had to be bad so that Libras could be good. Is this it? They were using personal assassins to kill off their enemies while they walk away looking like heroes.

Is this our system?

Nyxx walks into the house. She doesn't knock. She is silent. Deadly. For the first time in forever I feel like she isn't protecting me. For the first time, I realize that Nyxx is actually my enemy. I can almost see it in her eyes as she scans the room.

Marshall walks over to her, "Good evening. You are just in time for barbeque!"

Nyxx ignores Marshall. She makes her way over to me.

Her eyes are suspicious as , as to why I'm here.

"Sorry I took him away. Got carried away. Wanted some alone time with my husband," Mark covers for me.

Nyxx stares at me for a minute.

"Are you ok?"

I think about responding. I think about if I should tell Nyxx everything I know. Mark himself said that I'd be safe if I remained loyal. It makes sense now why the other heirs of the High Liberty all died. They were all on the list. They all didn't make it through. Now I was on that list by default and I had to prove myself to get off that list. I had to prove myself with loyalty.

Or there was another option.

I turn to my right to see Mark. He put his trust in me. He swore there was another option. There was an option for Yugyeom and me. I didn't know what his plan was yet. I didn't know how he wanted to do it but for some reason I think Mark is trusting in me.

So maybe I can trust in him.

I look at the floorboards.

"I'm fine," I tell Nyxx, "Let's go home."

***

Work the next day is weird. Looking at the world after everything that I know just seems a little weird. I'm having the worst day possible. I have a case that I am judging the next day. Some Gemini is charged with stealing money and fraudulent activity. It is a white-collar crime that a lot of Geminis go to jail for. A lot of the time they get off as well. Before I would have never thought twice about it, but now I'm suspicious of everyone. Geminis had money. They had power.

So of course, everyone found the Gemini innocent.

The whole system was corrupt. I am thinking about that when I stand outside for some fresh air and realize that Nyxx is right behind me.

"? Do you mind? CAN I GET A ING MINUTE! PLEASE!"

I've never gone off on Nyxx like that. She doesn't move an inch though. She just stands there. She's just watching. She's just waiting. I can't take it anymore. She's driving me crazy. I am losing my mind being watched all the time by her. In a matter of minutes I realize I'm causing a little bit of a scene because Jackson   comes out to check on me.

"Everything OK with you?" Jackson   asks me.

We got out of the trial not too long ago. I just needed a fresh air because I know for sure that I was forced to let a guilty man walk free. I couldn't go against what everyone wanted. I couldn't go against the High Liberty. That trial was bull. Everything isn't OK. I keep thinking about everything that Mark revealed to me. The High Liberty would kill me if I wasn't completely compliant. If I became a problem he'd have Yugyeom kill me. In the end, everyone that Yugyeom killed would be blamed on some Zodiac Killer bull that wasn't even real. The real threat was the High Liberty.

"Just got a lot on my mind."

Jackson squints at me, "You know you can tell me anything right? I know we haven't been on the best terms but you're my best friend. I love you and I got your back. You do know that right?"

A part of me wants to tell Jackson everything. Mark wouldn't like that. Mark would hate that actually. The more I think about it though the more it worries me. Jackson was a good guy. I really felt that way but right about now we were still having some issues. That issue surrounded none other than his husband JB.

"Hey...how's it going?"

Just at that moment JB's car pulls up. He is drivi