Of Gaea (7 page)

“
You’re
being melodramatic.” Ari smiled when she said it but the words
didn’t feel carefree. “I promise I will not visit a healer while
you’re up on the ridge.”

He
nodded and the seriousness left him when he smiled. “Finish eating.
We don’t have a lot of time left in lunch.”

She
should have told Sasha about the Voodoo Priestess; it was the
perfect opportunity to mention it. However, she hadn’t actually
made an appointment to see the woman, yet. She hadn’t even spoken
to her. She had only sent an email on her website.

The
Priestess claimed to be able to revive anything that had
died.
While necromancy
wasn’t something Ari needed specifically, it was close. Besides,
she had promised not to visit a healer. The priestess wasn’t a
healer; she was a medium for her spiritual belief. That was
something else entirely.

“
Mom is
picking me up after school.”
Ari informed. “We’re going to see Lyris.”

Sasha
nodded. “Try to get yourself alone with Miss Lyris. I don’t think
she’ll talk freely with Miss Ghita in the room.”

“
You can
just say Ghita and Lyris, you know. You don’t have to say miss all
the time.”

“
It’s
interesting that it is miss isn’t it?” Sasha contemplated a moment.
His brows drew together in thought. “I said missus once and Ghita
immediately corrected me to miss. She wasn’t married to your
father?”

Ari
opened her mouth to answer and shut it again. “You know, I’m not
sure anymore.”

“
Look at
the cute couple.” Damia stood at the head of the table. Ari hadn’t
noticed her approach and cringed at her voice. “The cripple and her
servant, it’s so quaint. You should write a story about it.” She
looked around. “All that’s missing now is your lesbian companion.
Where is Nasya today?”

Ari
tensed ready to retort but Sasha beat her to it. “The job pays
well. I hear you’re not making much out on that corner you stand
on. You should probably find a new one.”

“
Or a
new pimp to solicit. Advertisement is key,” Ari smiled
viciously.

“
I
suppose you would know.
Tell me, does he offer to bathe you or do you pay him extra
for it?” Damia sneered.

“
Wouldn’t you like to know?
Fortunately, I know she’s not firing me for you.”
Sasha grinned. “I’m much cuter.”

“
There
will be a day,” Damia smirked sadistically, “when you can’t protect
her. We all have destinies to fulfill after all. Think on
that.”

“
I feel
like,” Ari began after Damia walked away, “we’re stuck in this
weird wheel. That somehow she was the same bitch she is now in her
last lifetime and she enjoys tormenting us in every
life.”

“
Possible.” Sasha began packing up the lunch box. “But if
that were true and we were going on the karma theory then shouldn’t
she have been reborn as, I don’t know, a cat or a snake or
something.”

“
I’ll
have to look up karma cycles and let you know.” Ari wrote it down
absently in a margin of the notebook she kept in her chair. “But
you’re probably right.”

“
Don’t
let her get to you.”
Sasha dropped the lunch box in the bag that hung on the
back of the wheelchair. “She’s not getting a second
chance.”

Before
Ari could ask, a second chance at what; the bell had rung and the
opportunity was lost as Sasha stood. She tried to put the pieces
together as they moved on to class. There wasn’t really much to
work with.

The only
thing she could sort of possibly conclude was Damia had been
deliberately trying to kill her when she ran her over in the car,
but it was a ridiculous thought.
Damia was a bitch for certain, but she wasn’t
homicidal; even if she was homicidal, why Ari?

Suddenly
Ari felt like Ghita wasn’t the only one keeping secrets. Everyone
around her was. But which ones were for the good and which ones
should be left alone?

G
hita was
visibly nervous when
she
arrived at the school that afternoon. At least to Ari all the signs
pointed to nervousness. There wasn’t anything off about her clothes
but her smile seemed slightly forced and Ari could feel it in the
air around her. Ghita feared something that Ari didn’t yet
know.

“You ready,
baby?” Ghita hands were white knuckled on the wheelchair as Ari
climbed in the Endeavor.

“
As ready as I can be.” Ari struggled as always
climbing into the SUV.
In truth getting in and out of anything was
repulsively difficult. But she seemed to have extra difficulty
today.

“
Be safe this weekend.”
Sasha spoke from somewhere
behind Ghita. Ari couldn’t see him until she got her legs into the
SUV and swiveled to bring him into view.

“
I made
a promise.” Ari reminded him as Ghita put her chair in the
back.

He reached in the window and squeezed her hand.
Sasha looked to the
rear where they could hear Ghita curse under her breath at the
chair. “Remember, it’s easier to talk to someone when it’s only one
set of ears.” He let go of her hand and stepped away. “Da should
have everything set up by now. He’s really excited. We’ve decided
on capture the flag since you’re not there for hide and
seek.”

Ari
forced a smiled through the sudden pain of despair. “Who’s got the
flag?”

“
He does.
I wish you could be there. Even at capture
the flag you’re a better tracker than I am.” Sasha shrugged in easy
dismissal.

Whenever
Sasha spoke in reference to self it was in always in a slightly
negative light. Though, when he spoke in regards to Ari; she was
queen of all things. It frustrated her that he belittled himself
so.

“
You’re
really good Sasha. Just because it’s not superb like his doesn’t
mean you won’t find him; it just means getting the flag without me
as a decoy will be tricky. Go in at twilight during the long
shadows. It’ll make blending easier. And listen. Don’t rush. Take
your time with it and breathe slowly.”

From his
solemn gaze she knew he was taking her advice seriously, “anything
else?”

“
Be
ready for anything. Take the daggers; your aim is killer. Remain
unseen and unheard for as long as possible.”

He
nodded again. “I really wish you’d be there.”

“
Soon,”
Ari responded for lack of anything better. She prayed to whatever
deity was willing to hear her that she would be out there hunting
soon. She sorely missed the games; the freedom.

“
All right,” Ghita closed her door with a bit more
force than needed.
“Let’s get this show on the road.”

“
See you
on Sunday.” Sasha stepped back from the car as Ghita started
up.

“
Sasha,”
Ari called out the window as Ghita backed up. “Be one with the
Earth.”

Sasha’s
smile in response was pained; the expression was peculiar. Ari had
meant the comment as encouragement not discouragement. He lifted a
hand and then she turned away.

Ari didn’t see Sasha watch the car until it was out of
sight.
Nor
did she see Nasya standing in the doorway of the school with a
contemplative look or Damia watching with an unexplainable
expression of glee.

Ghita and Ari spent the first few miles in tense silence
before Ari broke it.
“Can I ask what she’s in for? I’d like to be at
least a little prepared.”

Silence
reigned for a few more miles before Ghita spoke. “Lyris is
schizophrenic, manic depressive and slightly afflicted with
psychosis.”

Ari
blinked in confusion. “I know schizophrenia is hearing voices, but
what are the other two?”

“
Well,
they all actually contain a lot of the same overlapping symptoms.
The reason she’s diagnosed with all three is for the medical
insurance. A drug may help that’s only for manic depressives and
not schizophrenics but then there may be another for schizophrenia
that works better to control something else.”

“
She’s
medicated?” Ari contemplated. She might not get to ask Lyris
anything if she was off in a happy place.

“
Heavily
usually; she hasn’t had a lucid day in years.” Ghita’s face was
pained. “She’s the oldest. I looked up to her; she took care of me
until it happened.”

“
What
happened?” Ari questioned quietly.

At first
Ari thought Ghita hadn’t heard or picked the question as one to be
ignored. Then Ghita exhaled heavily. “I really don’t know for
certain. I can only theorize. Life is different back there than it
is here. It was the hour of our birth. We were turning eighteen. I
left the house only for a moment. I went to the house of your
father’s mother. She needed sugar to bake a cake.” The pain that in
her voice was as sharp as a knife in Ari’s heart. It was obvious
Ghita loved her sister. It hurt slightly she didn’t love her
daughter just as much.

“
When I came back, your father, Eryx, was outside
on the patio lying in a pool of his own blood.
He was barely
alive. When I touched his cheek, his eyes opened and he said I
could not stop her. Then he closed them again. I found my sister
lying unconscious in a fountain in the garden with her arms slit
from elbow to wrist. No knife was ever found; there were no bruises
or scrapes to indicate she was attacked. If I had found her seconds
later she would have been beyond help. Seconds earlier and I may
have been able to prevent it entirely. You were four months old;
your father was dead and my sister in a coma. When she woke, she
wasn’t my sister anymore. I made the decision for all of us, and
took you away. None of your father’s family knows where we are. I
didn’t want you growing up with the burden of Lyris’s accident, so
I said nothing. I’m sorry.”

“
Do you
have a picture or something? I’d like to see my father.”

Ghita
nodded slowly. “I have a wedding photo secreted away. I’ll give it
to you when we get home.”

“
I don’t
understand what he meant by saying, he could not stop her. You said
she didn’t have a knife to do it to herself.” Ari frowned trying to
puzzle the words out.

“
At the age of maturity you’re supposed to make a
life decision complete with ceremony and party.
Will you be a good
person or a bad one? Choose the light or choose the dark?” Ghita
laughed bitterly. “It’s an outdated tradition.”

Ari sat
silently and thought about it. “We choose every day from the time
we learn the difference between good and bad. I don’t
understand.”

Her
mother shook her head. “As I said, it’s an outdated tradition.
Certainly not something I’m going to do to you. You will be
whatever you want.”

“
What
did you pick?” Ari asked quietly.

Ghita
tapped her fingers on the steering wheel for a few moments before
speaking. “I chose God. He keeps me safe.”

The
drive was an hour and a half long. They drove out of the valley,
over the mountain and into the city in the next valley. Ari
immediately hated it.

Except for those first four months of her life, she’d
always lived in Highland Vale.
Darentown was the nearest big city to the
valley. She’d never found a reason to go there. Ghita always did
the grocery shopping at the local grocer before she came home and
since Ari had Sasha and Nasya, she never really needed anything
they couldn’t find somewhere decently priced.

There were people everywhere.
Ari saw more people in the drive
through downtown than she had all year in the vale. She felt closed
in and sick by the time Ghita parked the car.

Ari
couldn’t see the building from where they sat in the parking garage
but from what she had seen on the drive in, it looked very much
like she imagined a hospital might. She’d never actually seen a
hospital since there were no hospitals in Highland valley. Still
she surmised they would look like the build she has seen. Serious
illnesses in the Valley were airlifted to the hospital in
Darentown.