Of Gaea Read online

  Ari deleted both messages. It was a small, petty act, but it was the only thing she had at the moment. Not only was Ghita keeping secrets, but her secrets were far bigger than anything Ari had even imagined possible.

  She had an aunt. And she was in a mental institute. The fact that Ari had living family was news enough; that she was within driving distance of home was even bigger news. Why hadn’t anyone told her? There hadn’t even been a whisper of it.

  Ari pushed a chair away from the dining room table and set up her school books. She would attempt to do homework and wait for Ghita. Something told Ari her mother had a lot of the answers she was looking for.

  Ghita was later than Ari had thought she would be on a school night. She bustled in from the garage door, grocery bags in hand. “Ariadne! I’m home.” She shouted even as Ari flicked on the light switch.

  “Welcome home.” Ari replied woodenly. “I’d offer my help but, you know.”

  Ghita waved it off. “It’s alright baby. I’m sorry I’m so late. I’m making tacos to make up for it.”

  “I’m assuming you stopped at the Mental Health Center.” It sounded like an everyday question, except Ari shouldn’t have known about it, and her icy tone was hint enough to her anger.

  The tomato that had just been pulled out of the bag dropped from loose fingers to the counter top. It rolled slowly and came to a halt next to the head of lettuce. Complete silence filled the room.

  “There were messages.” Ari continued after she realized Ghita wasn’t going to speak about it. Her voice had become clip with Ghita’s silence. Surely her mother would have something to say. “I checked them. I thought maybe it was you announcing you might be late. Since we don’t carry cell phones, it was a logical thought.”

  “It was.” Ghita nodded absently and finished unloading the bag in silence. She had hoped never to have this conversation with Ari. Lyris was her responsibility and the child was just an innocent bystander. Why should she be punished for sins of the parents?

  “So we’re not going to discuss this? Are you even going to work during the day or is that a lie too?” Ari was heartbeats away from shedding her icy veneer to shout and rage, but that would close Ghita down completely. “Why wouldn’t you tell me something this important? Why don’t I know about her at all? Is my grandmother still alive too and you’ve just been hiding that from me? My father?”

  “Your father,” Ghita’s voice was deadly quiet, “is most definitely dead. I watched him die.”

  Ari flinched from the tone. Surely Ghita had more feeling than that for her father. “I don’t understand. Why don’t I know anything?”

  Ghita shrugged uninterestedly, “Because it wasn’t safe for you to know. It still isn’t safe for you to know. You may do something foolish and it could cost… a whole lot more than you’ve already lost. Go wash up for dinner.” She turned away and began pulling out pans.

  “I want to meet her; to see her. I am not alone. I have family. I need to acknowledge that somehow. You can’t keep hiding these things from me. It’s not fair.” Ari’s anger clipped her words.

  Ghita remained silent for several heartbeats before finally speaking. Her words were cold and forced. “Go wash up for dinner. We’ll go out there tomorrow evening, after school.” She didn’t want to say it that was obvious but there wasn’t an out for her to take. Ghita knew there was no way Ari would have allowed it to drop.

  Ari had to strain to hear the words. It seemed as if it was something Ghita’s had hoped never to say; something she was hoping could be pretended away if it wasn’t heard.

  “Be careful what you wish for, baby.” Ghita said as Ari turned away. “Always remember the truth is rarely what we want it to be.”

  “She’s keeping secrets.” Ari muttered indignantly around a mouthful of cucumber, onion, cheese and tomato. It was Sasha’s turn to bring lunch so they were eating what he or Kleisthenes had made. She had never heard of Nasya cooking, though there was no reason she couldn’t read a cookbook the way she did everything else, was there? “This is good. What is it?”

  “A simple pita, Da didn’t feel like cooking last night. I made them this morning so they’d be fresh.” Sasha smiled. “I’m glad you like it.”

  “You always amaze me with what you can do.” Ari swallowed the mouthful, “but back to the topic at hand; my mom.”

  Sasha shook his head. “You should just wait and see what Lyris is about. Maybe your mother was ashamed that her sister was in a crazy hospital.”

  “Maybe she’s not the crazy one.” Ari muttered obstinately. “Seriously, though, I’m eighteen this year, and she never mentioned one word of it, not a single one. All this time and she said she watched my father die. How cryptic is that?”

  “Maybe it’s something that can’t or shouldn’t be forgotten. Maybe in a way she caused it.” Sasha gestured with his pita. “Just wait and see what happens tonight.”

  “I was kind of hoping you’d come along. I know Mom wouldn’t protest that.” Ari replied sheepishly.

  “Can’t,” Sasha’s smile radiated excitement and a little bit of nerves. “I’m spending the weekend with Da. You know how he likes to test his skills against mine. We’re going out to the ridge tonight and won’t be back until Sunday, I think. You’ll be two days without me. Can you handle all the free time?”

  Ari wanted to cry at the unfairness of her life, but knew it would ruin Sasha’s trip if she did. The ridge was their favorite camping site. It overlooked their little town in the tiny valley it sat in. Whenever they needed to get away they’d go out with her bow and his spear, and live off the land for a few days. Kleisthenes understood their need to get away and even Nasya didn’t intrude when they went out. It most always was just the two of them. Now, it would just be him.

  Of course they hadn’t gone since the accident. Ari couldn’t prevent the slight bitterness that rose at the thought she’d never go camping again. She’d never be able to pitch a tent; never be able to use her spear if there was no way to cure her legs.

  “Have fun.” She meant the words but they sounded anything other than genuine.

  Sasha looked at her carefully. “You’ll stand there again. I believe it. I want to ask one thing of you.”

  Ari smiled, “Only one?”

  He nodded. His face was completely serious. “Don’t go to a healer without me. I’d add Nasya to that, but she spends more time with books than people at the moment. Don’t go without me.”

  “Want to witness the miracle?” she joked but he didn’t laugh.

  “Promise, Ariadne. You won’t see anyone without me. Take the time and do some research. Have Nasya help if you want. She’s got an entire library in the basement. She’s bound to have books on anything you want.”

  “You need to give me a reason Sasha.” Ari stated flatly. “Why shouldn’t I try to get healed?”

  “I can’t protect you if I’m not there. I’m asking you not to deliberately put yourself in danger. Wait for me. Please.” His eyes pleaded. “If you don’t promise I’m not going out with Da. I won’t risk you being in danger again.”

  “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 goi
ng 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?

  Ghita 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 earlie
r 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.