The Caledonian Inheritance (The Athena Effect) (9 page)

Caledonia smirked, “You know Layla. She had so many ideas for the best wedding gift that she couldn’t decide.”

“I asked the saleslady for a recommendation!” Layla huffed in her defense, ticking a list off on her fingers, “It was between a food processor, copper cookware, a down comforter or an espresso maker. So I got them all. One from each of us.”

Just then, Conrad pulled up in his sparkling sedan. Layla rushed to gather her overnight bag, pausing to give Cali a brief hug. “Wish me luck,” she spoke in her ear. She climbed into the passenger side of his car, waving out the window. “See you there!”

Michael watched them peel out, going too fast for the narrow road. “I don’t know if I like that guy.”

~

Conrad took the long way, careening along a scenic, winding road with spectacular views of the coastline. By the time that they pulled up in front of Jarod’s house Calvin and Cali’s truck was already parked in the driveway. The street out front looked like a parking lot, packed with shining new sports cars interspersed with dented up clunkers that wouldn’t be out of place in a junkyard.

“What does Cal’s brother do for a living anyway?” Conrad asked, looking suspiciously
at some of the run-down houses in the neighborhood until he finally chose a spot across the street.

“He runs a motorcycle
repair shop with his father,” Layla replied.

“I see,” he muttered, straightening his sport coat as they passed by two rows of diagonally parked motorcycles in the driveway.

Crystal had done a fine job of decorating the place, and the formerly junk-strewn yard now hosted a large party tent, open on the side that faced the house. Garlands of silk flowers decorated the poles, and there were several picnic tables set up on a fresh layer of gravel, packed with people of all ages eating, laughing, drinking and talking.

“Layla!” Cali’s voice called out from the doorway. She waved them over from the porch, beckoning them into the house. “Come and meet Calvin’s grandparents.”

They followed her inside to find even more people milling about a buffet table laden with bowls of picnic salads and trays of meat and cheese. Caledonia led them into the kitchen, where an old women was fussing over a platter filled with cupcakes. “Grandma Costa, I’d like to introduce you to my cousin Layla.”

Calvin’s grandmother smiled warmly as she wiped her hands on the apron tied around her waist. She reached out to take Layla’s hand in both of hers. “It’s lovely to finally meet you sweetheart.” She looked between Caledonia and her cousin, “Well I can certainly see the family resemblance… Why, you’re every bit as pretty as our Cali.”

Caledonia beamed, basking in the older woman’s warmth and affection, and Layla felt a rush of bittersweet sadness. She couldn’t fathom what it would be like to have a grandmother any more than she could imagine having a mother. She shook it off, remembering her manners to introduce Conrad, who was standing uncomfortably by her side.

“Did you say Conrad?” Crystal appeared in the kitchen, dressed in a short white dress glittering with iridescent sequins. She looked rounder, softer, and happier than Layla remembered. Crystal grabbed a hold of Conrad’s hand after Calvin’s grandmother, flashing a smile at Layla, “Hey Layla! You’re looking
hot! It’s good to see you again!”

“Congratulations!”
she replied with enthusiasm, fielding a big hug from the new bride. Layla really liked Crystal, and would never forget her kindness when they first met. After her ordeal at Max’s, Layla had arrived in Santa Rosa with only the clothes on her back, and Crystal had taken her under her wing, helping her shop and pack for the Cayman Islands trip, no questions asked.

Crystal leaned in
close. “He’s cuuute,” she whispered into Layla’s ear.

“Where
’s Jarod?” Layla asked, wanting to congratulate him too.

Caledonia pointed through the window to a table outside where Cal and Jarod were eating, sitting with their father and Grandfather. There was a peaceful energy between the four men that hadn’t been there before, and Caledonia
beamed with happiness at the sight. Calvin looked up suddenly as if he could feel her gaze, and only Layla could see the brilliant thread of sweet emotion that ran between the two of them. She turned to look at Conrad, who was surveying the crowd with barely concealed uneasiness. 

“Guys! Grab a plate and eat,” Crystal
called out. “The DJ is setting up pretty soon and we’re going to have a toast!”

Caledonia helped herself to some food and left to join the men, urging Layla and Conrad to follow suit. Layla
scanned the crowd outside to see Michael talking to a group of girls, a red plastic cup in his hand. He said something that made them all laugh and toss their hair flirtatiously.

Conrad led Layla to an empty table at the far end of the yard, brushing off the bench with care before he sat down. He looked the crowd over, taking in the scene. “How did your cousin meet these guys anyway?”

“Cali met Cal at school.”

The way he nodded
reminded Layla of Millie, and she didn’t like it. Before too long a DJ’s voice was booming over some speakers, and they assembled with the rest of the guests for a toast. Jarod stood with his arm around Crystal while plastic cups of sweet pink champagne were passed around, and everyone took turns raising their glasses and saluting the couple.

“I can’t drink this swill,” Conrad whispered in Layla’s ear.

Loud dance music started playing, and within moments the tent was filled with gyrating bodies. Layla could pick out Michael’s mop of red hair in their midst, embarrassed by the way he was bumping and grinding with several of Crystal’s dancer friends. Conrad and Layla stood back watching until a couple of small boys running through the crowd bumped Conrad’s elbow, spilling his drink onto Layla’s dress.

“I’m sorry!” he cried with dismay, looking with distaste at the children retreating into the house.

“That’s okay,” she said, brushing it off. “Excuse me for a minute. I’ll be right back.”

When she finished toweling herself off in the bathroom, Layla emerged from the house to find Calvin on the porch talking to a blonde who was
not Cali. The girl twirled her hair flirtatiously, slinking much too close to him. When she put her hand on Calvin’s chest Layla saw red. She marched closer to stand glaring at them with angry eyes. The blonde glanced over at her, doing a double take when she saw the look of scorn on Layla’s porcelain face.

“Who the hell are you?” the girl asked.

It was the last thing she said before her face fell, its angry scowl replaced by a mouth slack with horror. She staggered back a step or two, wobbling on her thick wedge heels as her ankles and knees buckled, her joints loosened by terror.

All at once Caledonia was there, catching the girl by her elbows
and sparing her a dangerous backwards tumble off the steps. She steadied the girl, pointing to a nearby bench, “You’d better go sit down for a while.” The three of them watched her stumble away in a daze. 

Cali turned back to Layla, shaking her head reproachfully. “Don’t you think that was a little extreme?” she scolded. Calvin shrugged, nodding in agreement.

Layla looked down, embarrassed. “I – I…” she felt awful for losing her cool, and she tried to find the words to explain, but when she raised her eyes she saw that they were both laughing. Cali stepped over to give her a hug. “It’s okay, I know you were only trying to protect me. Just relax… Okay?”

“But she– she was–”

“Believe me, I
know
,” Cali said, arching an amused eyebrow at Calvin. “But I think he can handle himself.” She looked over Layla’s shoulder to where Michael was hovering over a scantily clad brunette who was stretched out on a picnic table, adding, “Now Michael… I’m not so sure about!”

Layla turned to take in the scene with a snort. Someone poured tequila into the girl’s exposed navel and Michael bent down to slurp it up, biting the lime she held in her teeth afterwards. His cheeks were splotched red, and he stood reeling, letting out a whoop with an involuntary shudder that made all the girls surrounding them laugh.

“He thinks he’s back at Max’s,” Layla commented sourly.

Cali nodded with sympathy. She wasn’t a big fan of wild parties either. She
also knew that Max’s house was something Layla didn’t like to remember if she could help it.

“Are you okay?” Conrad asked, coming up the stairs. “Did you get it out? I know a really good dry cleaner
…”

“It’s fine. Everything’s fine,” she replied, taking his arm and letting him lead her back to an out of the way table. The two of them sat together outside as the sky darkened, watching
the party grow louder and more raucous. Layla could see all the happy colors of revelry on the makeshift dance floor, wondering if Conrad was ever going to ask her to dance. When a couple of slow songs came and went she realized that dancing probably wasn’t his favorite thing to do.

The older people and families with children departed one by one, leaving only Jarod’s biker friends and Crystal’s scantily clad girlfriends. A burly bearded man produced a bottle of whiskey and passed it around, calling for Calvin and Jarod to come and do a celebratory shot.

A drunken conga line formed, snaking to and fro, and Conrad looked askance at the laughing dancers as they wound their way through the tables outside of the tent. A big tough looking biker clad in leather gyrated wildly with a girl in a shiny dress, while some lean and dangerous looking types stood back, watching. Pungent clouds of smoke started to fill the air.

Conrad leaned closer. “Let’s get out of here,” he spoke into her ear

Layla nodded, “Okay. I guess we’ve stayed long enough. Just give me a minute to say goodbye to everyone.”

She headed back to the house
to find Cali and Crystal sitting on the couch, engrossed in a serious discussion. Crystal saw her draw near and looked up with a bright smile. She pointed towards the gift table, dominated by the big boxes Layla had chosen.

“Layla! You’re so sweet! Cali told me what you did!” She patted the couch next to her, “Come sit with us.”

Layla shook her head, “Sorry, but me and Conrad have to be leaving now. I just wanted to thank you for inviting us.”

“Thanks for coming!”
Crystal got up to hug her. “You take care sweetheart.”

“You too,” Layla replied. “Congratulations on the baby.”

Crystal gasped, “How did you know? I only just now told Cali!”

Caledonia and Layla exchanged a glance and a smile. They’d both seen it the moment they’d laid eyes on her.

“Lucky guess?” Layla said.

Crystal rolled her eyes, “I suppose it was obvious that he wasn’t going to pop the question without a little push.”

Before Layla could protest a girl rushed over to grab her elbow, her voice urgent, “Is that skinny guy your brother? He’s in big trouble!”

Layla and Cali took one look at her, both of them alarmed by
her panicked yellow-green fear. “Where is he?” they asked in unison.

They raced out of the house, following the girl.

“Layla?” Conrad watched his date run past him, getting up from his seat to follow. The girl led them all to the front of the house where the biggest, angriest man Layla had ever seen gripped her brother by the throat, pinning him against the garage door. The girl whose body Michael had been slurping shots from stood screeching at the man to stop as Michael gasped for air, his eyes rolling back into his head. A crowd had gathered, their delight at witnessing a fight slowly being replaced by the horror of a one-sided spectacle.

“Stop it!” Layla shrieked, but the man was so white hot with jealous rage that he heard nothing but the blood pounding in his own ears. She rushed forward, but Conrad
grabbed her arm, holding her back.

He pulled out his phone, “I’m calling the cops!”

“No!” she cried, “Let me go!” She wrenched away from his grasp just as Calvin and his father arrived to pull the man away, each one fighting to control an arm. Michael slumped to the ground and Caledonia wedged herself between them, taking the big man’s face between her hands and forcing him to look her in the eye.

“Calm down,” she said in a low voice, and Layla saw an impressive stream of tranquilizing lavender engulf his anger, tempering the blood red rage, dulling it, and finally encompassing it. Layla knelt by Michael’s side, cradling his head in her lap as he coughed and gasped, his body
twitching.

“Michael! Michael? Can you hear me?” she cried.

“Yeah… yeah,” he nodded, coughing. He struggled to sit up.

She had just gotten him to his feet when Jarod came over to apologize, “I’m sorry buddy. Someone should have warned you to stay away from Tiny’s girl.”

“Tiny?!” Layla repeated incredulously.

“He only gets like this when he drinks… He put a dude in the hospital just for grabbing her ass once.” He frowned over at the girl, “She likes to start this shit too.”

Layla turned to see the big man standing in a cloud of bewilderment, temporarily pacified. His friends milled about him, equally confused by the sudden turn of events. They looked suspiciously at Michael, and she could feel the anger swelling in their ranks. Their mutterings were underscored by the sympathetic squeals of Tiny’s faithless girlfriend as she clung to his thick neck.

Layla took Michael by the arm and led him to where Conrad stood watching helplessly. Cali came to join them. “That wasn’t easy,” she said in a low voice. “You’d better get him out of here.”

Layla nodded, looking to Conrad, “Can we take him home?”

Conrad grudgingly agreed, his disappointment obvious. “I’ll go pull the car around.”

Crystal arrived and started fussing over Michael, who stood reeling, more drunk than injured. Jarod watched Conrad stalk off into the dark street. “What’s that dude’s problem anyways? He’s been standing around all night like he has a stick up his ass.”

Conrad
drove his car up the driveway, leaving the engine running while he helped Layla maneuver Michael into the back seat. When they pulled away he heaved a heavy sigh. “I suppose this means we skip the bed and breakfast.”

“I’m sorry.” Layla twisted around to look back at Michael, his head lolling from side to side with the motion of the car. “But we should probably get him home
right away.”

After a while Conrad started to look nervously into the rear view mirror. “He doesn’t look very good.”

Layla turned back just in time to see Michael roll down the window, lean his head out, and spray vomit all over Conrad’s pristine silver paint job.

~

Chapter Eight

SNIPER

~

Conrad drove them straight home that night, only stopping briefly at a gas station where he did his best to hose off the side of his car. When they pulled into the driveway Layla nudged Michael awake, waiting while he mumbled his apologies and stumbled sheepishly into the house.

Layla watched him disappear inside, turning to Conrad, “I’m so sorry. Michael isn’t always like that… He hasn’t been very happy lately.”

He nodded with sympathy. “It’s not your fault. You can’t pick your family.”

“No… really! He doesn’t know any better. I mean, he doesn’t know how to act in that situation… He’s been having a difficult time… adjusting.”

“Adjusting to what?”

She paused, gathering her thoughts, “Moving here. Everything changing so much for us... He’s not as excited as I am about re-building the house. All he
wants to do is play online games.”

“Why didn’t he just stay in Los Angeles then?”

She twisted her hands in her lap. “We needed to make a fresh start… And we want to stay together. Me and Michael… Cali and Cal too.”

His tight lips betrayed his annoyance even more than his dull olive green. “You know, you’d be better off away from all of them.”

She looked at him in shock, “What?”

He nodded yes with a knowing look.

“How can you say that? We’re family. We belong together.”

“You’re better than they are.”

“You don’t even know them!” 

He sighed, “You’re young, and you don’t understand. People like that… people with problems. They’re going nowhere, and they’ll just drag you down along with them.”

She was stunned, and her eyes sparked with anger. “You have no idea what you’re talking about… I owe them everything! I owe them my life!”

“Hey…” He held his palms up, alarmed at her intense reaction. “I didn’t mean any offense by it.”

She groped in the back seat for her bag, her jaw tight.

“Layla,” his voice took on a pleading tone, “I’m sorry… It’s only… I guess I’m kind of disappointed that we didn’t get to stay together tonight.”

“I don’t see how you can judge people you don’t even know,” she snapped.

“You’re right– I don’t know them… And you’re a good person to be so loyal.”

“They’re good people.”

“Look… I’m sorry… I didn’t mean it. It’s only that I was looking forward to being alone with you. I packed a bottle of special champagne and everything.” His eyes were apologetic, pleading. “Please don’t be mad at me.”

The way he looked at her told her all she needed to know. He
had
planned a seduction scene for that night, only now she wasn’t sure if she should be flattered or offended.

She finally sighed, softening. “What kind of champagne?”

“Vintage Dom Perignon. A girl like you deserves the best of everything.”

She arched a delicate eyebrow. “You don’t know what kind of girl I am. You don’t know me at all.”

His eyes flooded her with warm approval. “I think I know everything I need to know.”

She looked out the window into the darkness. “I’m not so sure about that.”

“Hey… Let me make it up to you. Take me out to see your build site tomorrow and we can do something afterwards.”

She was quiet for a moment, thinking. She turned to face him, “On one condition.”

“Anything.”

“We all go together… Cal and Cali and Michael.”

“Okay… Alright. Tommorow it is.”

~

Layla spent another sleepless night mulling over the day’s events. Conrad had judged her family harshly, and truth be told, Michael
had
made a spectacle of himself. She couldn’t help but wonder what Conrad would think of her if he found out about the terrible things that she’d done in her past.

Despite what Cali said, Layla knew that she wasn’t entirely blameless. Even as a child, she’d realized that what the professor ordered her to do was wrong. She simply hadn’t been strong enough to stand up to him, particularly where Michael was concerned. By the time Max took control of them she was used to it, and by allowing him to manipulate her she had brought every bad thing that happened down onto both of them.

She swore that no one was ever going to do that to her again.

Like Caledonia, Layla felt that she needed to make sense of the strange talent she’d been born with, and to find a way to use it for something positive. Unlike Caledonia, she also
felt that she needed to atone for her sins. She certainly had a lot of them to make up for, and she only hoped that it wasn’t too late.

~

The two Cals came home the next morning, and Cali agreed to accompany Layla and Conrad to the construction site. Michael, however, was another story.

Layla stood behind her brother’s desk while he clicked away doggedly at the keyboard. “Come on Michael… Cal and Cali are going. I’d like you to try and get to know C
onrad better… Why don’t you get up and come along with us?”

“No way,” he brushed her off.
“I’m in no mood. Besides, I have a date with a dungeon master.”

“You and your games,” Layla complained. Michael was spending more and more time immersed in a
cyber fantasy world, and she was starting to worry. It was like he wanted to be anywhere but where he was, and even more disturbingly, anyone but himself. “You need to get out in the real world Michael.”

“I tried that last night,” he scowled. “It didn’t work out very well.”

“Maybe if you didn’t drink so much,” she suggested gently.

“It’s just… It’s that…” He turned to look at her with sad eyes. “I feel like I can’t talk to people any other way.”

“Sure you can,” she nodded encouragingly.

“Not girls,” he said, turning back to his keyboard.

“At least come down and eat with us,” she pleaded, hoping to change his mind. “Cali made pancakes.”

“Maybe later,” he replied, without turning around again.

Layla sighed and went downstairs. She’d somehow hoped that if they all spent a day together that maybe Conrad would come to see how nice her family was. A pleasant hike on a beautiful day, coupled with a visit to the ruins she planned to re-build might be the perfect way to tamp down her growing misgivings about him.

When
she sat down to breakfast she was met with even more resistance. “Do you really need us to come along? Don’t you want to be alone with mister smoothie?” Calvin asked her over his pancakes, unable to conceal his sarcasm.

Cali elbowed him in the ribs. “I’m looking forward to getting out to the
property again, and the weather is going to be perfect… I’d like to hear what Conrad has to say about the building.” Layla smiled at her gratefully, but truth be told, she wasn’t really looking forward to seeing Conrad that much either. She was starting to think that this little hike might not be such a good idea.

~

Late in the afternoon Calvin and Cali’s truck pulled into the clearing, followed by Conrad’s sedan. He looked through the swirling clouds of dust with irritation. “You’re gonna need to have this paved.”

“I start taking bids this week,” Layla informed him.

The door to the cabin opened and Jesse appeared, sizing up Conrad’s unfamiliar vehicle with a suspicious glare.

“Are you sure it’s safe to leave my car here?” asked Conrad, eyeing the old mountain man warily.

“Yes,” Layla reassured him. “That’s Cali’s friend Jesse. He keeps an eye on our property for us.”

Caledonia got out to greet Jesse, carrying a couple bags of groceries over to the house. Calvin ambled over to join Layla and Conrad, looking down at Conrad’s expensive loafers. “It’s kind of a hike from here,” he observed dryly.

“It seems like a nice day for a walk,” Conrad bristled.

Cali came back to join them with a smile. “All clear,” she told Calvin. “Jesse hasn’t seen a thing.”

“Thank God,” Calvin said, looking up at the mountains suspiciously.

“What exactly was he looking for?” Conrad asked.

“Trespassers,” Caledonia replied, without missing a beat. “We’ve had a few problems in the past.”

Conrad shrugged, turning towards Layla, “Lead the way.”

They hiked up a dirt trail lined with beautiful spring wildflowers nodding in the breeze. Cali named them all, impressing Conrad with her encyclopedic knowledge of botany. Layla’s heart lifted, and she thought this day might not end up a disaster after all. When they finally broke free of the tree line and crested the hilltop the sight was every bit as spectacular as Layla remembered.