Of Gaea Read online

  Even though she had given him an escape, Ari was glad he stayed. Maybe it was her imagination but it felt better having him asleep on the floor.

  Ari greeted the sun as it inched its way into her room through the patio doors she never used anymore. She wanted to use the doors to sneak out like she used to, but the step down to the terrace was an accident waiting to happen. It just wasn’t wheelchair friendly.

  Ari scooted to the edge of her bed and carefully lowered herself to the floor. Being careful not to disturb Sasha she used her arms to move awkwardly towards the door.

  The glass was already warm when she leaned against it. She closed her eyes and the sun burned away the darkness that rose. Pressing her head against the glass, she fell asleep.

  She woke in gradual stages. First to the full warmth of the sun, then to the quiet chirp of birdsong. The soft breathing of someone else nearby. The familiar perfume of the only woman she had ever known as her mom.

  When she opened her eyes, the first thing Ari noticed was she was stretched out across one of the padded Adirondack chairs on the deck. The next thing she noticed was Ghita sat at the kotatsu table nearby; her laptop open and Ghita was rapidly typing away. Ari’s notebooks, both the one Sasha gave her and the one Nasya just gave her, were lying on the table’s surface.

  There was no way to be stealthy and cripple. Thus, by the time Ari was sitting up properly and turned, Ghita was already watching and waiting. Ghita’s silent stare was one of Ari’s greatest annoyances but there wasn’t any way to change that.

  “Where’s Sasha?” Ari asked and was puzzled by Ghita’s instant frown. It smoothed out and was replaced with a cautious smile in rapid timing. Had it been anyone other than Ari watching the change in demeanor might have been missed.

  “I sent him home. You don’t really need him here. And besides, I want to talk to you.” Ghita gestured to the notebooks. “I’d like for you to explain. Without others feeding you words.”

  “No good morning, how’d you sleep?” Ari looked around for her wheelchair as she spoke. It sat out of reach on the far side of the patio. At a guess, Ghita didn’t want her rolling away. “You know I only have to shout for him and he’ll be over here. Or Nasya for that matter. You’re freaking me out with the semi hostage situation.”

  “Good afternoon.” She raised a brow. “You’re not getting out of this conversation that easily. I’m waiting.”

  “Last I knew you could read.” Ari shrugged. “It’s obvious isn’t it? One is everything we’ve already tried, and the other is everything I haven’t yet tried but I think could work.”

  Ghita reached out for the book with the Kirin on it and flipped it open. She must have had the page bookmarked somehow because it opened exactly where she wanted it to.

  “How will this work?” Ghita lifted it enough for Ari to see her own doodling before it was dropped back to the table. “How will any of this,” she gestured to the books, “pagan trash work?”

  “Let’s get something straight. Your God is not my God.” Ari’s tone was mild but there was no denying the undercurrent of anger. “What you call pagan trash may just be what I believe in. Maybe I’m not the pagan one. Maybe you are. After all, everything I’ve written down has existed long before your God was even a thought on the wind.”

  Ghita gapped and reddened. “Humor me,” she said tightly. “What makes this,” she gestured, “viable.”

  Ari sighed. “It’s all clearly notated but if you want me to explain, those are what I believe to be a translation of the Elder. They’re much, much older though so maybe I should say the Elder Futhark is a translation of them. I found them last night. When I compared them to the Elder Futhark these look like a starker version so I’m assuming they are. I want to discuss it some with Nasya. She knows practically everything.”

  “You’ve not explained the how part, Ariadne, though I’m sure you find the history of such primitive work fascinating.” Her voice dripped with venom which surprised Ari. Ghita was usually placid in all things.

  “They’re used for magic. Or at least the Norse used them for magic. I still have some studying to do, but I think I can use them for healing. It’s not exactly what I was looking for, but it feels close enough. I can’t really explain it.” Ari casually stretched and tried to send invisible hand signals to whoever was watching. She had no doubt either Sasha or Nasya or Kleisthenes watched. It was more a matter of announcing she needed help without Ghita figuring it out.

  “Norse… Pagan trash. I will not have that in my house!” Ghita shouted and stood so suddenly the kotatsu table overturned. Her laptop crashed to the patio and Ari’s notebooks scattered at her feet.

  “It’s been around longer than anything else. Certainly there has to be some truth in it if it’s lived so long. Longer than your God even.” Ari spoke cautiously. Ghita never got angry. She was as volatile now, as her twin had been last night.

  “I forbid it! Do you hear me?” Ghita paced as she raged. “You’ll come to church and do what you should have done a long time ago! This is getting ridiculous. Sasha’s obviously filling your head with garbage.”

  “No.”

  Ghita froze mid-step and turned to sear Ari with a look. “What did you say?”

  “Sasha doesn’t put words in my mouth; you of all people know that. He’s above that, but what’s more important is I won’t be going to your church. Ever.” Ari picked up her notebooks and held them close. “If your God was supposed to heal me, Elias would have done so when I saw him. He didn’t. Your faith is not mine and I want you to stop pushing it on me. It’s not fair.”

  “You saw Elias?” Her voice was quiet in disbelief. “He… wouldn’t… heal you?”

  “He wouldn’t even shake my hand.” Ari tipped her head. “I need to make my own choices, and I have been or at least I’ve been trying to.”

  Ghita drew herself up. “I am protecting you from yourself.”

  “No.” Ari shook her head sadly and suddenly tired. “You cripple me. Just as much as my legs do. Instead of teaching me, of showing me why; you simply keep insisting it’s the right thing to do. Why wouldn’t I question it? Why should I simply take your word as truth?”

  “I have the experience, you do not.”

  “I can’t get the experience if you make all the decision for me, can I?”

  Ghita pointed at the notebooks. “Don’t bring that trash into my house again, or you won’t have a place to call home anymore.” She walked into the house and slammed the door behind her.

  Ghita walked through the house and down the block. She had to see Elias. What had he have been thinking. It was such a little thing for one as gifted as he was. Ari was too much of a burden in the wheelchair. They all would be much better off when she was whole again. It was outlandish to think Elias was somehow conspiring against her. She would bring an end to it immediately.

  Nasya watched Ghita storm down the block with a half-smile on her face. While she shouldn’t have taken pleasure in the other woman’s frustration it was good to know Ari had stood up for herself. Nothing was more bothersome than a bully and though Ghita would deny it, that’s all she was to Nasya.

  Nasya walked silently around the house and studied the scene.

  Ari eyed her chair across the porch. It felt like it was mocking her. In a way it was. It was proof that while she had said she would make her own choices she couldn’t do anything without the help of someone else.

  “She’s wrong you know.”

  Ari thought she would die from the sudden gallop of her heart. She turned to see Nasya. “Geez, must you scare me?”

  “I’m sorry.” Nasya walked across the porch and brought the wheelchair over.

  “I feel like… like she knows something but refuses to tell me. She could be all I need and yet, she’s not.”

  Nasya held the wheelchair while Ari scooted into it. “It’s fear I think that stays her hand. Take Lyris for instance. The last time Ghita took action it changed her twin. I think she’s tr
ying to keep from making that same mistake.”

  “It doesn’t make it right.”

  “No, it does not. I never said it did. I was merely giving voice to the thought.” Nasya rolled the wheelchair off the deck and around to the sidewalk in front of the house. “Accompany me on my walk, please?”

  Ari had little choice since Nasya had already started walking but she nodded anyway. “Sure. It’s not like I want to go in there right now.”

  “She’ll cool off by the time we come back, that too, is in her nature.”

  “Nasya, you’ve only been here for like four years and you’re never really around. How do you know so much?” Ari tipped her head back to look at the other girl. “I mean sure, Sasha and Kleisthenes know but you’re kind of new.”

  Nasya eyes seemed far away for a moment. “She knew my mother when they were children. Ghita has always been the calm one and Lyris the outspoken. Two halves of the same coin.”

  “How do you know your mother? I mean don’t you follow Spartan tradition? Would I know my mother if…” Ari trailed off.

  “Girls are different unless they possess a skill. For instance if a girl child possessed a great skill in words but her mother did not, she would be given to foster within her family but if she was just a normal silly girl, she would be left with her mother. For you…” Nasya trailed off. “If I were to guess, I would say you would have been placed with your grandmother or your great aunt. They possess many of the same attributes you do.”

  Ari frowned. “Attributes? But I’m not skilled in anything.”

  Nasya laughed. “Archery is a skill, so is your athleticism, and of course your ability to hunt on any track. Those are all prized skills in Sparta. You would have made a fine soldier or tracker. Potentially a messenger with your ability to blend in… a spy, too now that I think on it. Of course you’d be part of the Envoy house automatically…”

  “You’re being silly.” Ari chuckled then shivered. Since she hadn’t been paying attention to their surroundings she wasn’t entirely sure where they were. She looked around and saw nothing out of sorts. It looked like a normal street but there was something she felt uneasy about it. “Where are we?”

  “A bit off Main Street. Something wrong?” Nasya’s voice made it sound as though she was hoping for Ari to answer yes.

  “Cold chill.” Ari muttered.

  “It’s eighty degrees out here, Ari. Tell me what you feel.”

  “You’re acting weird, Nasya. Where is Sasha, anyway? Why didn’t he come with us?” Ari twisted to look at Nasya but her companion was paying her no mind. Nasya’s eyes carefully scanned the streets looking ready to ward off anyone who approaches. Ari turned and faced forward again. Her anxiety was growing but she wasn’t ready to tell Nasya that.

  “Sasha is sleeping. His fear and anxiety over you and the relief that you are okay has drained him. I’m not acting weird in the least. I’m trying to help without actually coming right out and saying anything.”

  “Why?”

  “Duh.” Nasya slowed her pace. “Ghita is already angry. Imagine if I actually broke one of her silly rules. I’m not bound by them so I have more freedom than the men do but I still know the limits. She cannot bind me. In reality it’s me she fears, though I can’t fathom why. It’s also why I’ve never let her see me. Or haven’t you noticed that, either? I am never around when Ghita is and there’s good reason for that.”

  “I don’t understand.” Ari yanked on the ends of her hair. If she had the use of her legs she would have been tapping her foot in nervousness. “You’re confusing.”

  “You will understand in time. Humor me. What do you feel?” Nasya stopped the wheelchair and turned Ari to face the street.

  People walked passed unbothered by their pause. The cars moved along like normal but the animals were acting strange. Ari saw a cat stare and hiss and slink away. A dog crossed the street quickly with its tail between its legs. The animals felt whatever it was that made Ari uneasy. As she looked around, none of the people seemed to notice.

  “There’s something wrong.” Ari murmured as a slight panic set in. “I feel uneasy but no one else notices it. The animals do.”

  “Just uneasy?” Nasya whispered in Ari’s ear. “Or is there something else?”

  Ari closed her eyes and breathed in slowly. “Anxiety. I want to leave. Can we leave, please? I feel like if we stay here too long I’m going to vomit.”

  Nasya turned the wheelchair around so Ari could see the shop windows behind them. The first thing Ari saw was a misshapen, decapitated creature that looked like it had been half eaten. Even as Ari cringed her eyes found the vials of unmarked liquids that looked like blood and other bodily fluids. There were bones in various states of decay. At the top of the window in fluid script it read “Madame Erelah’s Voodoo Shop”.

  “In most instances,” Nasya said quietly, “you will be able to tell the difference between good and evil very easily.”

  The shop door swung open and Ari gagged at the horrendous stench that flooded the air. A stench no one else reacted to. It was so strong she very nearly threw up.

  “I thought that was you out here.” The person that exited the shop door turned to the girls.

  Ugly would have been a kind word to use. Her shop window was not as gruesome as she was. The skirt might have - at one point in time - been a bohemian skirt with layers, or a grass skirt that grew moldy. Ari couldn’t see a shirt through the dreadlocks and the necklaces adorning the woman and she didn’t want to examine for origin.

  “I’m sorry. You must have me mistaken for someone else.” Ari tugged on Nasya’s arm. “Where is that shop again?”

  “No, no.” The strange woman stepped closer.

  Ari’s eyes partially rolled up into her head and she felt like she was suffocating. When Nasya laid a hand on Ari’s shoulder; it all was wiped away. Not even the anxiety remained with Nasya’s hand on her shoulder.

  “A Child of Gaea is not hard to see. Especially if you know how to look.” She cackled a broken sound. “I am Madame Erelah.”

  Ari tried to force a smile that she knew looked anything but sincere. “It’s a pleasure.”

  “Of course.” Madame Erelah held out a hand and manners dictated Ari shake.

  Gingerly, Ari placed her hand in Erelah’s outstretched one and instantly regretted it. The pain blossomed from everywhere and Ari screamed in agony as she tried to yank her hand away. Erelah didn’t let go. Ari was burning and breaking all at once. She slowly sank under the pain, and then, it was gone.

  Ari looked around crazily but no one noticed. Except for the animals that had disappeared everything moved about as if she hadn’t just screamed her head off. Ari looked to Nasya.

  Nasya’s free hand was on Erelah’s wrist. It looked like she was holding on lightly but Erelah’s face was contorted in pain. “You do not force your opinions on Gaea’s children. Surely you know better than that.”

  “It was a warning. Of what is to come but as an apology I tell you freely,” Erelah released Ari’s hand and pulled away from Nasya. “Your string is bound to another and to untangle them someone’s must be cut. Should you live fully then the other will die. As is, you are both crippled. Be content with your lot. You should have died, make no mistake of that and if you do not, someone dies for you.” She turned away and meandered back into her store.

  “I want to go home.” Ari’s voice quaked and between the sickness that still hadn’t fully receded and the impact of Erelah’s words; she needed to cry.

  There was no way she was going to kill someone else so she could walk again. No way. No matter what the creepy voodoo lady said.

  Ari didn’t speak to Ghita when she got home. She didn’t even know where to look for her if she wanted to. The house was silent and even though the car was in the driveway there was little inkling that Ghita was home.

  She closed herself in her room, climbed onto the bed and curled up. The tears wouldn’t come. There were too many thoughts swirlin
g erratically through her head.

  Who were the Daughters of Gaea; the Children of Gaea or whatever? It was the second time someone had referenced her as such and she still didn’t know what it meant. Why did Lyris and Erelah reference them? Was that somehow important to what was going on?

  Nasya had mentioned it briefly when she spoke about the Kirin. The Kirin that Ari knew without a doubt she had seen on her front porch last night. Nothing made sense anymore.

  She closed her eyes and saw Lyris’s enraged face. Ari reached above her for the sachet from Elias and her hand grasped empty air. She jerked her head up and sure enough the sachet was gone. Ari scooted up the bed and looked between the bed and the wall to see if the strings had somehow snapped and it fell. But it was truly gone.

  Ari sat up and carefully scanned the room. Ghita had never gone through her things before, but as angry as she had been earlier Ari didn’t put it past her to do it now. Especially after the fight they had about “pagan trash”.

  Her notebooks were in her chair where she had left them. Ari picked them up and tucked them next to her on her bed. She could handle little things disappearing. The notebooks were another matter entirely.

  Everything else looked in place at a quick glance. As she scanned back over her room a second time everything seemed soldierly aligned. The bottles sat in tight straight lines on the dresser. The mirror over it was no longer slightly crooked. The perfection was out of place. All her things were accounted for but the slight disorder that was natural to her was gone. On the dresser, a white envelope tied with a blue ribbon was propped against a jewelry box Ari never used. Deliberately propped up so she’d see it from anywhere in the room.

  It took a moment of shifting and muscle straining to get back into the wheelchair to cross the room to grab the envelope. Another few moments to cross back to her bed and resituated herself under the blankets. Ari safely secured the notebooks under her butt as she sat half reclined against the pillows. It was awkward at first; she shifted several times to get the spines from poking soft flesh. Just because she couldn’t move her lower extremities did not mean she could not feel them.