Fates' Folly (12 page)

I had to hide a snicker as she sat down. Her
solemn look of intellectual superiority -and matching brown suit-
was lost as she did battle with the leaves of the peace lily,
batting them out of her hair and face.

"You are inquiring about Dr. Black?" she
asked, pretending there wasn't a giant green leaf in her face.

I looked at Riley. Dr. Black? Couldn't
Sebastian have thought of a better name than that? Riley, of
course, ignored my inquisitive expression.

"Yes. As I told the receptionist I spoke with
yesterday, my niece and I are Sebastian's only living relatives,
and distant ones at that. However, being his only living kin, we
had hoped to gather his things. I received a message," he looked at
his black pocket watch, "Friday afternoon, stating that I could do
so."

We had talked about this on the way over. In
my excitement to see Morgan Hill for myself, I had forgotten it was
Sunday. Riley assured me it was not a problem, he had already
checked and discovered the school offices were open from 11 to 3 on
Sunday. I asked how he planned to get into Sebastian's
office/classroom, but he only smiled and said, ‘Godly gifts’.

When Ms. Garner blinked twice, murmuring, "Of
course, of course you poor dears, we only hope Dr. Black is found
well," and busied herself going through a ring of keys from her
desk, instead of asking for our names, identification or how we
received a call to get Sebastian's stuff less than two hours after
the school reported him missing, I assumed this is what he
meant.

While Ms. Gardner worked on finding the
correct key to Sebastian's office and classroom -a time consuming
task which consisted of matching the numbers printed on a drawer
full of different keys, to numbers on a list with each teacher's
identity- I wondered two things. One, why wouldn't a school like
Morgan Hill have a better system to keep track of extra keys, and
two, where did the peace lily come from?

A peace lily was a beautiful plant with fat
green leaves and white flowers that looked like a delicate cup
curved around a tiny pearl colored thistle. They were deadly to
dogs and cats, and in the south, the traditional gift at funerals.
I had been stuck with four giant peace lilies after my mama died-
one from each of the four Baptist churches that lived and breathed
the morality in the town of Covington, where I grew up.

Watching Ms. Garner swipe at the plant every
few seconds led me to believe that she wasn't any happier about her
acquired peace lily than I had been about mine. And, like all good
southern girls, I was nosy.

"That's a beautiful peace lily," I said.

Ms. Garner nodded, with a quick, "Yes," as
she continued to search her lists of numbers. Riley gave me his own
version of an inquisitive look. I pointed to the plant, but Riley
didn't seem to get it. I started to mouth out funeral, but Ms.
Garner made a little squeal and announced, "I've got them. Yes,
3035 and 3038, these are Dr. Black's office and classroom
keys."

She stood up, and so did we, but feeling like
I really needed to ask, I said with a hint of a southern drawl, "I
hope you don't mind me asking but what have you done to keep your
plant looking so healthy? I got several as gifts from my mama's
funeral, God bless her soul, but I just can't seem to keep them
alive, one is just as weepy and bare as it could be."

Ms. Garner stopped walking around her desk.
She looked at the huge plant and then looked back at me.

Riley sighed, impatiently.

Ms. Garner continued to just stare at me.

Suddenly, she said, "I'd love it if the damn
thing would die, it's been in my office barely two days and already
it's practically taking over. If it wasn't a gift from the school
to Joshua Collins' family, I'd have hauled it out to the dumpster
days ago. I still can't figure out what idiot had it delivered here
instead of the Collins home. I can't exactly drop by their house
and deliver it myself, can I? No, I have to wait until Tuesday when
I'll have to carry it into the funeral home myself like some poor
classless hillbilly that doesn't know any better."

"Joshua Collins? I didn't realize he was a
student at Morgan Hill."

"Why would you?" she snapped. "Where are you
two from again?" she asked, her eyes appearing sharper by the
minute.

Riley gave her a pleasant smile. "Tennessee,
same as our dear cousin Sebastian. I'll take those keys now, Ms.
Garner."

Ms. Garner's eyes glazed over again and she
handed over the keys. Riley and I, excusing ourselves and assuring
Ms. Garner we could find our way, left the administration office
and headed outside and down the little stone path that led to the
building that housed Sebastian's classroom and office.

Once we were back outside, I said, "Wow,
you're going to have to teach me those Jedi mind tricks."

Riley kept walking, while I ran to keep up.
We reached building 300. As Ms. Garner had directed, because the
front door was locked and would only open from the inside, we
walked around the back of the building and entered down a set of
stairs through the basement. Riley opened the door and started down
a long hallway to a set of elevator doors. He pushed the up button,
the doors opened and we got in.

When the doors slid shut he leaned against
the wall, folded his arms across his chest and asked, "What was
that all about?"

"Are you angry?"

"No. I told myself I didn't care why you were
going on and on about a plant, or Joshua Collins, whoever he is,
but I can't stop wondering why you started asking all those
questions. So, now I'm asking-what was that all about?"

"First, tell me about the Jedi mind trick
thing."

"It's nothing. All of Hades' Assassins are
given the power of misdirection. It helps us remain inconspicuous
when soul collecting."

"But I thought only believers could see you,
unless you wanted it otherwise."

"For the most part, yes, but there is always
an exception to the rule. More and more of us have been spotted in
the last century. The power of misdirection is an inherent gift of
Hades’ Assassins." He gave a small shrug. "Basically, it comes with
the job. Yesterday, when I reported to Hades, he gave me the power
of persuasion, not a job standard, but considering it's also one of
Hades' inherent gifts, not a big deal either. The two powers
combined enabled me to maneuver Ms. Gardner into accepting the
story we gave her and easily gain her cooperation with our request.
It also helped that she really doesn't give a damn."

"It's still pretty cool, though."

"I guess."

"Okay, my turn. The peace lily is usually a
funeral plant. I was just being curious, but hearing it was for
Joshua Collins, I have to wonder."

Riley frowned. "I don't understand. Who is
Joshua Collins?"

"Joshua Collins committed suicide late Friday
morning. You've already learned how fast Dempsey gossip is. Anyway,
by fifth period on Friday, Mrs. Kilpatrick, the 9th grade algebra
teacher, was overheard telling Ms. Alverez, the Spanish teacher,
about a student, Joshua Collins, who had taken his own life in the
home of a city school employee. She hinted it was a teacher, and
that an inappropriate teacher/student relationship was at the heart
of the tragedy. But Ms. Garner said Joshua was a Morgan Hill
student. Mrs. Kilpatrick told Ms. Alverez he was an eighth grader
at the middle school. Obviously she was wrong, which would explain
why, after going through all the middle school teachers, she
couldn't think of anyone who could have been involved. At the time,
I hadn't put any real thought into the rumor, thinking it was too
farfetched to believe."

"What does this have to do with
Sebastian?"

"I'm not sure, but the timing seems more than
just coincidental. You said yourself we don’t know the event that
made Sebastian turn rogue, maybe Joshua's suicide was it.”

Sebastian's classroom was impressive. Rows
of folding metal seats were surrounded by three muraled walls
depicting Olympus and the twelve Greek gods acting out various
myths. The rows of seats narrowed as they descended to a small
octagon shaped stage cluttered with a battered oak desk, rolling
chalkboard, and traditional podium.

"Wow, I could sit in here for hours. The kids
must have been lined up to take his classes," I said, staring at
the Greek constellations painted on the ceiling.

Riley began to search the desk. "When I find
Sebastian I'll be sure to tell him how impressed you are with his
decor."

I stuck my tongue out at him.

"Cute. How about making yourself useful. Take
the other key and start looking through Sebastian's office," he
said, pointing to the back corner of the stage and the glass
windowed door with the word ‘Office’ printed in bold black letters
in the center.

"Sure," I said, catching the key as I walked
across the stage.

After a few minutes of frustration, I came to
a conclusion- the key didn't work.

"Riley, the key doesn't work."

"Did you try it more than once, I made sure
she matched the numbers correctly," he said, walking over to where
I was standing in front of the door.

"Yes, I'm sure. Do you think I just decided
it didn't work without trying it first? I thought it was just a
temperamental lock, so I jiggled it, slid it inside slowly, slid it
inside fast, and even halfway, wiggling it more. The key doesn't
work."

Riley was looking down at me smirking. "After
all that caressing, it still didn't open for you?"

I rolled my eyes. "Why are we wasting time
with sexual innuendos?"

"Because the look on your face is worth any
amount of time, trust me, I know the value."

I sighed loudly, indicating my degree of
annoyance. "Do you want me to go back to Ms. Garner and ask for a
new key?"

"No, I got it."

I waited for him to try to get the key to
work. I was looking forward to his failure. Actually, I was looking
forward to my gloating at his failure.

Riley took the key out of the lock, handed it
to me, smiled at me and put his right fist through the glass. He
then reached around and opened the door from the inside.

"That was very disappointing," I said, as I
walked through the door he was holding open. Both of us ignored the
bits of glass that were still falling to the floor. "What would you
have done if the deadbolt was the kind to need a key to unlock both
sides?"

"I would have walked through the convenient
opening I made."

"I guess everything works that way for you,
straight forward and simple."

Riley nodded his head. "Just about, but I've
had a lot of years to work out the kinks."

As artistic and inviting as Sebastian's
classroom was, his office was devoid of imagination. It smelled
funny and it was a mess.

Sebastian's office had been reported as being
trashed when he was reported missing, so the papers and books
scattered across the floor, desk and chairs, the cluttered
bookcase, and the torn, barely hanging curtains weren’t a surprise,
nor were they causing the shiver of wrongness knotting in my belly.
It was the space itself. It was just wrong. I'm not sure why, it
just was.

I tried to ignore the wrongness and sat down
at Sebastian's disaster of a desk.

"Just how old are you?" I asked Riley,
thinking of his comment about things working out for him because
he'd been around long enough to work out the kinks.

"Old. Very, very old.”

Riley had started going through Sebastian's
file cabinet while I began skimming over the papers on the
desk.

"Old? Like five hundred years old?"

"Older," he muttered, looking through one of
the files.

"A thousand?"

Riley looked up at me. His jaw was clenched
and his lips thinned into a grimace. Either he didn't like me
asking about his age, or he didn't like what he found in the file
he was holding. I hoped it was the latter.

When he spoke, the harshness of the look he
was giving me subsided fractionally, but the cutting tone in his
voice quickly nullified any doubt of his anger. "Older. I'm a very
old man, born long before the birth of Christianity. I've seen
civilizations rise and fall and collected the souls of the dead
before, in between, and after. It's what I am- Hades' first
Assassin." He held a manila folder up. "Now, would you like to hear
what I've found or continue to pester me about a time that has long
since passed?"

I had to take a deep breath. Every word Riley
had spoken was intense and given with such sharp, precise
articulation that I felt as if I had been physically struck. Not to
mention that in those few short sentences he had unloaded
information I was still trying to process. So, it’s not surprising
that, "Sure," was my only reply.

Riley picked up the chair that had been
hidden under a stack of files in the corner, tilting it so the
papers fell, adding to the mess on the floor. He set the chair in
front of Sebastian's desk, sat down and opened the folder.

"Joshua Collins, a senior, has been in one,
if not two, of Sebastian's classes for the past six years. He was
president and founder of the Olympia Club that performed Greek
mythology themed plays and readings once a month. He created and
organized Greek week for the senior class and had been accepted at
Harvard where he had hoped to eventually earn his doctorate in
History of Art and Architecture with a focus on Greek
antiquities."

"Wow. All of that is written in his school
file?"

Riley scowled. "It's not the school's file.
The entire folder is compiled with a detailed account of
Sebastian's influence in his students’ lives. It has been
constructed with Hades' approval in mind.” He nodded his head
toward the file cabinet. "That metal box is filled with files on
every one of Sebastian's students for the past eight years and his
plan of action in guiding them toward a belief in Greek
theology."