Of Gaea (35 page)

Ari took it from him and studied it.
It looked ordinary enough at a
glance. It was less than three feet with a shiny, black finish. The
unusual part was the script that circled up from the bottom and all
the way to the top. It was barely visible though when she rubbed a
hand over it, she could feel it clearly.

“Twist and
yank for the blade,” Sasha stated and Ari did as instructed.

The blade was half the length of the cane and appeared
deadly sharp.
There was visible script running down the blade. It was
extremely light as well.

“I don’t think
I’ve seen this before.”

“Da had it shipped over from the Pantheon a few days ago.
There are more things that came, but this is what you need now. A
gift from Miera I’m told. She was thrilled to hear from
Da.”

Ari sheathed the blade and smiled sadly at him. “I wish you
could be there.”

His hand reached out and brushed her cheek. “Take a purse
so you can at least have the cell phone if you need help. And
you’ll have Nasya.”

She nodded and stepped back into the room to do as he
asked. Ari had to dig around for a bag. She wasn’t in the habit of
carrying purses thus she had nearly given up on finding one in her
closet when she found it wedged under the shoe rack.

It was simple olive cotton about half the size of her
messenger bag.
Ari transferred the necessary contents from the messenger
bag then as an afterthought found the bag she carried over from
Leonidas. Her book, the ink, and Sasha’s herbs still sat at the
bottom.

She stuffed the book and the ink in her purse.
Ari shouldn’t have
been without them to begin with. The book was invaluable and the
ink irreplaceable.

Ari tossed the bag of herbs at Sasha.
“From Leonidas. Boil one
teaspoon, or was it tablespoon? Tablespoon. Yes, one tablespoon and
eight ounces… or was it four?” She stopped to think about it. “One
tablespoon and eight ounces. It’s going to taste foul he says, but
you’ll be at full strength in no time.”

He crossed his arms. “How do you know I’m not at full
strength now?”

“Because in the two… three days I’ve been home you’ve not
spared with Kleisthenes or walked any of the mountain trails. And
at the botanical garden, you seemed to wear down faster.” Ari
smiled when he frowned. “I do pay attention, I truly
do.”

“Fine.”

She slung the bag over a shoulder and situated it on her
hip before walking over to him. She looked up at him and smiled
sweetly. “Promise?”

His arms uncrossed and his hands rested lightly on either
side of her hips. “Promise what?”

“When I leave you’ll take the first dose. I think he said
every eight hours, it might have been four. I’m pretty sure I
remember a four in there somewhere.”

He sighed. Ari knew and he knew she knew that if he
promised he would hold to it. Even without her around to see. Sasha
would never break a promise to her.

“Promise?”
She asked again.

“I promise to
take the herbs,” he muttered.

“Thank you.” Ari stretched up on her toes and pecked his
cheek. “I’m going to get going. I want to be there and back as soon
as possible.”

“Sounds like a
plan.”

Sasha walked her out and waited on the porch until Nasya
appeared. She hadn’t really intended to call Nasya but with Sasha
waiting she didn’t have much of a choice.

Nasya rose out of the ground like some kind of zombie or
mud man.
Ari
smiled as she dusted off.

“Can I leave now, Da?”
She looked back at Sasha smiling but he
wasn’t.

“Be very careful. And at the first sign of anything fishy
you call or come right back.”

Ari nodded.
“I’ll be safe.”

“Gaea protect you.” He turned and strode into the house.
The door slammed behind him.

“I will.” She murmured softly. It was kind of pointless
wasn’t it? To ask her to protect herself. Twice.

“What’s his problem?” Nasya asked once the slam of the door
finished echoing.

Ari shrugged. “I made him promise and he’s not happy about
being left home.”

“Ah.” She linked arms with Ari. “Shall we go, then? The
sooner we get back, the sooner his black mood will
withdraw.”

“Let’s
go.”

Ari had a pleasant surprise when the cane struck the
sidewalk.
It
was like a tuning fork or a lightning rod. She could feel the earth
without the muffle that her shoes caused. It was very much like
being barefoot. The cane was an amplifier. She wondered if Sasha
knew. Kleisthenes probably did.

They walked in companionable silence.
There was no need for words
between them. It was weird but at times Ari would swear Nasya could
read her mind or at least her body language very well.

Outside Goddess Ink they both paused.
Something felt off. Ari
couldn’t place it; the building looked as it always did. But there
was something, well, off about it. It was weird to think it, but
the place felt silent rather than alive.

When Nasya stepped forward she grabbed her arm. “It doesn’t
feel right.”

“I know.” Nasya loosened her hand. “There’s a side door, in
the glass of the solarium. You go in that way. She gestured to the
front door. “I’ll go in this way. Meet in the middle,
yes?”

“Sasha wouldn’t like us splitting up.” Ari
countered.

“No, he would make you wait here, whilst he
investigated.
I’m giving you something to do. Only a fool would tangle
with Leonidas’s plants.”

Ari remember
the night of her tattooing and what she had seen, what Nasya
herself had driven off, but didn’t mention it.

Nasya squeezed her hand. “You should be relatively
safe.”

Ari nodded and tightened her grip on the cane. “Let’s do
this.”

She walked silently along the building in the direction
Nasya had pointed for the solarium. There was nothing on that side
of the building but open fields. Ari could see tractors off in the
distance doing whatever it was farmers did on them.

The glass to the solarium looked darker than she
remembered.
It was tinted, but Ari didn’t remember it being so. She
remembered clear glass. Every muscle tensed and she slowed her
already patiently slow walk.

There was no door to the solarium.
Or there was a door, but it was
nothing more than shattered glass. Ari stepped through cautiously
then blinked rapidly as her eyes burned and she coughed with
whatever was filling the space.

When Ari crouched she instantly saw the issue.
The glass was
tinted because smoke nearly filled the room. Not enough to escape
the door or the unbroken dome above.

She had no way of letting the smoke out without breaking
the dome.
That would leave a risk that Leonidas’s less than friendly
plants could get out in the public. She had to do something though,
or go back outside and wait.

Resignedly, Ari swooshed the cane at the topmost panels and
sent a hard enough gust of wind to shatter those panels.
Then, as she stood
she swooshed her hands upward — like she was splashing water in a
pool — and pushed all the air from the ground up through the broken
panels.

Not only did that clear the room for her to see, it
apparently also put out whatever had still been burning.
Her fear of the
plants getting out had been unfounded.

There was nothing but ash and death in the solarium.
Blackened stumps
were all that remained of gorgeous trees. There were no remains of
flowers or vines. Shrubs crumpled to piles of ash as she slowly
walked through. Even the stones were blackened and dead looking.
She had no idea how long it had burned, it didn’t really matter.
What mattered was it was gone.

Her favorite bench was a twisted black mass. She didn’t sit
on it but skirted around it silently towards Leonidas’s front door.
Ari slowly and silently drew her blade as she walked.

She knew enough not to shout and give away her position.
She tensed with every slight movement or sound and waited ten
steady heart beats before moving forward again.

The carved door that Ari had so admired was splintered into
pieces.
Even
knowing what she would find on the other side didn’t stop her from
stepping through.

The furniture was broken and scarred with heavy
dents.
Some
were splintered into pieces as if they had been used as a weapon
and fell pathetically before their foe. Blood, black, blue, and red
marred the great tree on the floor. There was only one reason for
that.

Ari hadn’t known the Pure or the Tainted bled a different
color, but there was no doubt that’s what she was looking
at.
There
had been a huge fight in the living room that appeared to have
ended in the kitchen.

Or at least that was where the blood trails ended.
What had been in
the kitchen that Leonidas felt important enough to back himself
into an inescapable corner? Ari flicked the light switch on and
studied the scene.

None of the cupboards were opened and there were no dishes
in the sink. The canisters on the counter were in an undisturbed
soldier like line. But for the blood on the floor, nothing was
amiss.

Randomly, she opened a cupboard and couldn’t prevent her
smile.
His
baking spices were neatly lined up in rows, alphabetically. They
were also kept separate from the cooking spices that were lined up
on the other side of a divider and the grilling spices on the other
side of yet another divider. No doubt to make cooking in any form
easier.

Ari opened another cupboard and found the same thing with
breakfast items.
There weren’t any cereal boxes in the cupboard; instead
there were neat stacks of pour top Tupperware containers with
carefully printed labels. Applejacks, Cheerios, Frosted Flakes,
Fruit Loops… she paused on the Fruit Loops. Really? The man ate
Fruit Loops? The Apple Jacks she could understand but Fruit Loops?
His cereal taste wasn’t why she rooted around in his kitchen she
reminded herself.

“Come on, Leonidas. You know I’m not a pro at this yet.
What were you doing?”

Ari crouched at the very end of the red streak and looked
around.
This
would have been his vantage point if he had been on the ground.
What could he reach from here without anyone else’s attention being
drawn to it?

All the cupboards were closed so she flipped them
open.
Pots
and pans, canned goods, and extra Tupperware, all obsessively
organized greeted her. The OCD organization was frustrating enough
that she kicked a cupboard closed.

The cupboard flew back open and smashed against her
shin.
She
saw stars and fell on her back, into liquids she didn’t ponder,
clutching her leg. Then froze; there was movement fluttering in her
peripheral vision.

“Ariadne!”

She looked up
at Nasya’s hurried approach and barely felt her arms draw Ari up
and wrap her in a tight hug.

“You’re safe.”
She buried her face in Ari’s neck. “I saw the
solarium. I heard the glass but couldn’t get back through fast
enough. Why are you on the floor?”

“An accident. Were there any left?” Ari asked
neutrally.

Her hesitation
was brief before Ari felt her exhale and nod.

“Pure or
Tainted?”

“Ari, we need
Sasha and possibly Kleisthenes too.”

She pulled away from Nasya, put her hand on Nasya’s
shoulder and forced her to meet her eyes. “Pure or
Tainted?”

“A few of each heavily wounded. I put them out of their
misery. Ari, think for a minute, what can we do? We need help.
We’re in over our heads.”

“Gaea told me I need Leonidas. I need him, Nasya. I don’t
know why, but I do.” Ari pointed to the blood at her feet. “There’s
not enough here for him to be dead, yet. They took Leonidas. I’m
going to get him back.”

A
ri was outside
and halfway
down the
block by the time Nasya caught up with her and grabbed her arm. “We
can’t do anything without help. We need help, Ari. You shouldn’t do
anything rash. Stop and think for a minute.”