Of Gaea (9 page)

She smelled familiar perfume.
Ari sighed and realized she could
hear again, as well. Slowly she opened her eyes and saw Ghita and
to her surprise; Sasha was who held her hand.

“
Sasha,
you’re supposed to be on the ridge.” Ari murmured even though she
was relieved to see him there.

He was pale, sickly so and his smile was weak.
“Some things are
more important.”

Ari
turned her head to the woman she had called Mom all her life.
Mascara smeared in bold streaks down Ghita’s cheeks. Her hair was
disheveled as if she had run through the whirlwind that had
rendered Ari helpless.

“
I’m
sorry baby.” Her eyes locked with Ari’s, so much the same, and yet
so different. “I didn’t think… She shouldn’t have been able to…”
Ghita started sobbing. “I could have lost you. We should never have
come.”

“
Where
is Lyris?” Ari shifted and immediately regretted it. Pain blossomed
everywhere to an ugly throb.

“
She’s
lapsed into a coma. She was unconscious when we found you.” Ghita’s
eyes stayed locked on Ari’s and begged her to believe it as
truth.

“
I want to go home.”
Ari looked at Sasha. “I want to
leave.”

Something creaked and Ari turned her head in time to see
Kleisthenes rise from a chair. “Sasha, go take her home. We’ll
follow.”

Sasha
nodded and gently scooped Ari up off the chaise. “Your chair is a
mess. Good thing you have a back-up at home.”

As they
left the room Ari could almost feel the tension grow. The door
didn’t swing the whole way shut when they exited. She could hear
the beginning of their conversation.

“
You
have some explaining to do.” Kleisthenes stated. “Your luck can
only hold out so long. This is becoming ridiculous.”

When Ari
gestured silently to Sasha to stop so they could listen, he shook
his head and continued to walk. Once out of hearing distance of the
door, he spoke. “Some conversations are meant to be private. I
think Ghita and da have a lot to talk about.”

“
He’s
not your dad.” It was a quiet, careful statement, and Ari studied
his face for reaction.

His eyes moved down to hers.
His smile was a surprise. “Lyris spoke to
you? Do you want to talk about it?”

Ari
frowned. “You know?”

He
managed to shrug without dropping her. “I’ve always known. It’s our
way of life.”

“
Is
Ghita my mom?” Something told her Sasha would know. He would be
able to clear up all the doubt that had been sown.

There was a long pause before he spoke.
“No, she’s not.” Sasha sighed.
“It would probably be better if you told me what Lyris told
you.”

“
She
called you a Spartan. The rest of it really didn’t make any sense.
She was crazy cheerful at first and then I really don’t know what
changed it. I don’t think I was ever in any real danger until…” Ari
swallowed as she remembered the demonic eyes that had taken
over.

“
You may not have been.
I didn’t think it was Lyris’s
intent to hurt you.” Sasha replied.

Ari marveled at the moonlit sky when he stepped
outside.
Hours had passed unnoticed. It felt slightly surreal. She
had gone inside with some thought that she had been right in
demanding answers. Now, after what she had thought of as truth was
ripped apart, it felt like a different world outside. Perhaps it
had been better to be ignorant than lost in the current sea of
confusion.

“
Open the door would you?”
Sasha leaned over
far enough that she could open the door to his Cayenne. He settled
her in the passenger seat and then moved around to the driver
side.

Ari sighed, leaned back and closed her eyes.
With every passing
moment the ache grew stronger. So did the fatigue. With her eyes
closed her other senses sharpened.

They rarely used his SUV.
There was no reason to in Highland Valley.
They could walk everywhere. It smelled like him. She had never
noticed before. There were a lot of things she had never noticed
before.

Certain memories popped out at her.
Certain odd moments made better
sense. Certain abrupt conversations or silent looks were a bit more
understandable.

Her entire life was based on a lie.
She had no idea what she could
believe as true. But she knew who. Sasha.

When she could feel his presence fill the car Ari spoke
without moving.
“I emailed a Voodoo Priestess last night. She hasn’t
replied yet but, will you go with me tomorrow to see
her?”

She
couldn’t see his grimace but she could hear it. “How did you
sleep?”

A Miracle healer didn’t bother him but a voodoo Priestess
did?
She
didn’t understand his apprehension. Since he knew what she was
doing, why would a voodoo Priestess upset him?

Ari thought about his question.
The sachet hung on the center post of
her head board. She hadn’t paid attention to it once she hung it.
She supposed that was the point. “I have been sleeping through the
night.”

“
Have you looked into what Elias told
you?”
The Porsche purred to life. “What research do you have
done?”

“
I
haven’t really done any serious research… I’ve just sort of been
looking for a miracle healer.” It was said sheepishly.

Ari felt the car move just as she felt his
disappointment.
His silence was often enough to let her know she had let
him down. She sighed.

“
If the Voodoo Priestess can’t help I’ll do some
digging.”
She replied.

“
I doubt she won’t want to help.
It’s more what
you’re willing to sacrifice for her help. Whose blood are you
willing to shed for the assistance of a Voodoo
Priestess?”

“
You
talk as if you know her.” Ari tipped her head in his direction
without opening her eyes. She doubted he’d notice in the dark that
she wasn’t actually looking at him. In some ways she felt as if she
could see him even with her eyes closed.

“
I’ve crossed paths with Madame Erelah
before.
She’s not one I would voluntarily go to for help. However,
first impressions with her are always the same. I doubt you’ll even
consider it after meeting her, or if you go to her shop meeting her
won’t be necessary.” The air in the SUV moved on his heavy exhale.
“But enough about me; tell me the first thing preying on your mind
and we’ll go from there.”

“
Ghita
isn’t my mom.” It blurted from her lips before she could think
about what bothered her most. “And you knew. Kleisthenes knew. I
don’t know if Nasya knows or not.”

His
exhale was pained. “I’m sorry. I’ve always known da isn’t my birth
parent, but it’s different for you because you never knew. I can’t
imagine what you feel.”

“
I’m not
sure what I feel. It’s not sunk in yet, I guess. I suppose I’ll cry
later or scream. Shoot some arrows.”

“
What
else did she say? We have an almost two hour drive.” His fingers
tapped the steering wheel, “unless you want me to turn on the
radio?”

Ari
started at the beginning and told him everything from the time they
had parted at school. There was no reason not to. Ghita probably
told Kleisthenes and he would tell Sasha anyway. Sasha didn’t
interrupt. He listened in the way that she knew he was absorbing
and calculating.

“
Truth is rarely what we think it is.
The question is:
what are you going to do now? How will you let it affect you?” he
asked quietly.

“
You could have told me.”
She retorted
angrily. “You could have done something. Anything. You could have
helped.”

“
I have.
Do you think what I deal with is easy? Do you think I like seeing
you in pain and tired and hopeless. Do you know what that does to
me?” Sasha replied mildly. “I’ve been by your side since we met.
I’ve protected you in the only way I knew how. I have rules I must
follow as well. All I’m supposed to do is protect and I’ve done a
piss poor job of that. There’s not much the Guild can do since they
don’t know where we are but when da checks in he gets a lot of heat
for my mistakes. Otherwise if they knew where we were there would
be someone else sitting here.”

“
No,
there wouldn’t be.” Ari jerked angrily and gasped at the sharp pain
that radiated from the motion. The pain inflamed her anger further.
“I don’t know how it works in Sparta, but we’re in America and I
don’t replace friends like worn shoes. Are you even my friend
because you want to be or because it’s required of you?”

“
I made
a promise at four years old, before I knew what it meant. I helped
you write when letters were difficult at seven years old. I
demanded the right to be your guardian at twelve when the boy that
was supposed to be refused to sacrifice his life for anyone else. I
demanded, because I was not originally trained as a guardian but as
a scholar, a historian even. I was a paper pusher. I changed
everything I was supposed to be for you; all because I wanted
nothing more than to be with you for as long as you would let me.”
There was something in his voice that was almost bitter as well as
angry as if he’d done things; things she didn’t know about; things
she shouldn’t know about, to stay at her side.

“
Sasha,
there is more to life than protecting me, than staying by my side.
You could have done, said anything to change your fate.”

“
No. I didn’t want anything else.” He reached
across and squeezed her hand. All of his anger seemed to vanish at
the simple touch. “If you believe nothing else from today, believe
this; I am exactly where I
want
to be.”

“
What
about Nasya? Did I really see her in some outdated dress with her
hair not braided? That’s a bit farfetched even for me.”

“
I can’t speak for Nasya.
You could ask her.
I suppose if you want to rationalize it; it could have been a
hallucination from lack of air.” His fingers drummed a tune she
didn’t know on the steering wheel. Ari knew it must somehow be
important because it was steady and measured, not the random
drumming of nervousness.

“
I suppose.”
Tired of the conversation she reached out
and turned the radio on low enough that they could still talk.
Still, she knew Sasha wouldn’t speak over the radio no matter how
low it played.

Ari turned her head to look out the window at the darkness
and shivered.
Ghita’s fear of the dark had more meaning than it had
before. Ari didn’t think she’d ever joke about it again.

A
ri ran. She
ran
as fast as she
could. Her feet mercilessly pounded the soft earth and her
breathing whooshed out in a harsh but steady rhythm. The air was
warm and beautiful. It was a stunning, carefree
afternoon.

She knew the forest she ran through as well as her
backyard.
It
was
her backyard in a sense. This was where she and Sasha came
to hunt, to rest. This was where Ari had been taught how to listen
to the sounds of life and become one with the forest. This was
where she learned what it meant to be a predator.

The trees were silent as she ran but that was
expected.
The animals were always silent when the hunter appeared.
Even the wind through the trees barely made a sound. The only
steady noise was the pounding of her feet.

The trees thinned out and then faded completely leaving her
standing alone on their favorite camping ridge.
It was large enough that their
tent sat comfortably in the center of the space yet small enough
that the trees still cut the wind. Highland valley sprawled out
below; postcard perfect.

As she approached the edge to better admire the view a
deafening high pitched wail pervaded the air.
She dropped to her knees and
clamped her hands over her ears. It was a vain effort to block out
the sound.