Of Gaea (25 page)

Ari pulled him gently back and he seemed to slowly relax
under her touch.
As the coughing receded, he wheezed a bit then glanced
around slowly.

His eyes were unfocused, but as close as she was Ari knew
the instant he recognized her. He smiled weakly. “Welcome
home.”

Ari reached up and stroked his hair away from his face.
“Rest now. You’ll be fine.”

“Ari, to interfere like that… do you know…” Kleisthenes
stepped forward.

“What goes out comes back times three.” Ari shrugged. “I
can’t prevent death. Whoever created it wanted me to die. So I sent
it back to the source. Let them deal with it.” Ari turned back to
Sasha’s sleeping face. “Sleep, real sleep and food should do him
some good. If you don’t mind I need a shower and some clean
clothes.”

“Your things are still in the guest room.” Kleisthenes sat
down in the spot Ari vacated. “Feel free. Ghita is, well, you know
where she’s at.”

“Of course. Did she miss me at all?”

“I think she
gave up on you coming back.”

“Thankfully, I have Sasha and you to come back to. I would
never abandon you.” Ari glanced over her shoulder. “I
promise.”

Kleisthenes
waited until the door was firmly shut before he gathered his
sleeping son in his arms and wept.

The shower was glorious.
There was nothing like a continuous stream
of hot water and real shampoo after a month of roughing it. She
hadn’t really noticed the lack until she stood under the generous
spray.

She felt more human in her clean jeans and knee high tanned
leather boots.
She probably looked more human as well, since she finally
got a brush through her hair and her skin was no longer stained by
nature’s bounty. Since it was there, one of Sasha’s tee shirts
completed her outfit and brought her comfort at the same
time.

Ari was
yanking her hair up when someone knocked softly on the door.

“I’m decent.”
She called out as she wrestled with the hair
band.

Kleisthenes stepped in.
There were lines on his face Ari hadn’t
notice before and what looked like tear streaks down his
cheekbones. “What are you about to do?”

“I need to talk to Leonidas. Then I’ve got to talk to
Ghita. I’ve got to figure out if I can still get my diploma after
being gone all this time.”

“Back to
normal then?”

Ari met his eyes through the mirror. “Who I am hasn’t
changed. I’m still Ariadne. I’m just,” she shrugged. “More complete
now. I don’t feel so broken or lost anymore.”

“Sasha is sleeping. I’ve got some soup cooking. Figured it
would be best if we start with that.”

Ari finished the ponytail and turned. “I’ll be home in time
for dinner.”

He nodded and held out something in his hand. Ari took the
wallet and cell phone. “Your IDs are in there, and that,” he
pointed to the cell phone, is to call if you’re going to be
late.”

Ari smiled. “Yes, Da. My room is clean and my homework is
done. Can I go out to play now?”

He laughed softly. “Smart aleck. Go.”

Ari couldn’t resist peeking in on Sasha before leaving the
house. He was breathing evenly and cleanly. His color was returning
slowly as well. She watched for a moment before shutting the door
quietly and continuing down the hall.

“Ariadne.”

She turned. Kleisthenes stood in the doorway to the guest
room.

“Thank
you.”

Ari gave a short curtsy and resumed walking. Her action was
a sign of great respect to him. It was her saying without words -
thank you would never be needed between them. There was no question
in her mind that he deserved the respect. They had given her
everything; it was only fitting that she gave a little
back.

M
ANIC SCREAMING
RENTED THE TINY
space. Damia twisted and turned unnaturally as she was
overtaken with darkness. Her eyes glazed over and what she had cast
out was visibly returning. The visible veins and the not so visible
ones turned black, starting from her head and going down her
body.

“Quiet girl.”
Erelah touched the girl’s forehead and Damia
dropped to the ground.

She still sobbed but it was muted in comparison to the
screaming. “I will kill her. She will die.”

“You best pray it be so.”
Erelah muttered. “You do not have long
before it overcomes you. A day, maybe two at the most.”

“You can stop it.” She whirled on Erelah. “You can change
it.”

Erelah shook her head. “Gaea, herself cast it back. I don’t
play in the Gods’ pool. A lesson you should have
heeded.”

“There has to be something.” Damia insisted.
“Anything.”

Erelah pursed her lips before smiling wickedly.
“Anything?”

Damia clutched the woman’s arm. “Anything.”

Erelah patted Damia’s hand. “I will do a summoning. Perhaps
one of
them
would be willing to help you. No promises
though.”

“Do it.” Damia release Erelah’s arm. From a nearby table
she picked up a knife with harsh, angular carvings on its blade. “I
have a Goddess to kill.”

P
EOPLE STARED AT
HER AS
she walked
through town. To be expected. The last time any of these people saw
her Ari had been in a wheelchair with Sasha by her
side
. Well,
and she hadn’t had tattoos on her arms and backs of her
hands.

The door
jingled as she walked in.
Steady footsteps came up the hall and Leonidas did not look
happy to see her.

Ari was
surprised to see him. His hair was no longer mostly gray but a
healthy auburn with a sheen of red in the strong overhead light.
His eyes were the same jeweled aquamarines that held her attention
before. What had once looked like an old man was now a young one in
his prime.

“What do you
want?”

Ari
raised a brow at his hostility.
“I came to say thank you, and I have no memory of what
happened between here,” she pointed to the covered tattoo on her
arm, “and waking up.”

“
You
passed out, I couldn’t wake you so I called Sasha.” He pointed to
his face where a yellowing bruise was fading along his jaw and
around his eye. “Got my ass kicked, and then you were taken. After
that I couldn’t say. Your thanks is received. You can leave
now.”

He turned
away.

“
Why
didn’t you tell me? Where have you been all this time?” Ari took a
few steps forward. “You owe me an explanation.”

He froze.

“
I’ve
just saved Sasha’s life.
Something I wouldn’t have had to do if you had mentioned
it. Something that wouldn’t have had to be done if you had done
something, anything, in the beginning.”

“
I
wasn’t here. In the beginning. I came afterwards and did do what I
could to stop it from killing you. That’s all I had the power to
do.” He turned slowly and smiled bitterly.

“
Healing
a Goddess can only be done by a Goddess.
I didn’t heal you. You healed yourself.” He
gestured to the marked. “The tattoos are simply amplifiers for what
you already are, though it may take you some time to learn to use
them.”

He
shrugged.
“Sasha was
willing to make the sacrifice so prolong the disease from
spreading. Who was I to stop him? What I didn’t anticipate was the
backwash, since he wasn’t really your guardian. You don’t
technically have a guardian so unfortunately, since I’m the closest
one to that rank, I got the backwash. I was crippled for you. He
was not, but his burden was much heavier.”

“
You
could have told me. I could have calculated that in.”

“
A
sacrifice had to be made. You can’t ask for something without
offering something. We offered Sasha. Whoop-dee-doo. At least it
gave some meaning to his meaningless life.”

Ari
didn’t realize she had done it until Leonidas was on the floor and
her boot was crushing his windpipe. She had went out and in within
the space of a heartbeat, and kicked him to the floor.

Thunder
rumbled dangerously outside.
Lightning flashed in the cloudless sky.

The fear
on his face broke through her anger and she took a deep calming
breath.
“I warned you
once already about trash talking Sasha. You’re nothing but a
coward. At least he fights for what he believes in.”

“
It
doesn’t matter. It doesn’t make him any greater. He will always be
a lowly scholar.”

Ari
sighed and stepped back. “He is greater than you will ever be. Not
because of rank. It’s not a man’s rank that makes him a man. It’s
how he treats others. You will never be remembered.”

He
climbed to his feet as Ari turned and walked to the door.
“Wait.”

Ari turned
back and lifted her chin slightly in challenge.

“
Maybe
you’re right, and maybe you’re not. I really don’t care. We’re not
in Sparta anymore so it doesn’t really matter, does it? I’m still
going to die as prophesized. And you are more than anyone there
would have ever imagined possible.” He reached into his pocket and
pulled out a cylinder no bigger than her pinkie. “Here. Left over
ink and needles. Carry it with you, just in case.”

“
Just in
case what?” Ari stepped forward and took it anyway.

“
Gaea
didn’t tell me. She said I would know when to use it, and you would
have it.” He shrugged. “Doubtful, since I’m not staying, however I
know better than to go against the wishes of a Goddess. She wanted
you to have it so now you do.”

Ari shrugged
and stuck it into a pocket and walked away.

“Oh, and
darling?”

She glanced
over her shoulder.

“I liked you
better in the wheelchair.”

Ari
flipped him off and left. There was no way to rationalize with the
man. She may not have dealt with asshole before, but she could
recognize it easily enough. She had more important things to worry
about than a prick anyway.

She had
to figure out how to deal with Ghita.
Ari would rather deal with a hundred of Leonidas
than one of Ghita but there was no avoiding it. She owed her
something. Ghita was still - regardless of mentality - family. And
now that Ari knew what she had been hiding Ghita’s mentality made
more sense.

The
phone bleeped in her pocket as she walked and Ari pulled it out to
stare at it.
The only
person she knew of that had the number was Kleisthenes. After some
fumbling, she figured out how to read the text message.

I called Ghita.
She’s on her way back. Good luck.

Ari
sighed.
Ghita would have
been back in four hours anyway if she kept to schedule to be home
before dark.

Ari
stood on the sidewalk in front of the house for a few minutes
studying it.
If she had
looked she would have seen a cottony wall around the property. Ari
didn’t bother looking, she could feel it.

How
could Sasha stand being at her house all the time?
Ari was getting itchy just
standing on the sidewalk outside the house. How had she not felt it
before? Or maybe she had. The house had always felt kind of
oppressive. She just figured it for Ghita. Maybe that hadn’t been
it though. Maybe this wall of protection was the reason.