by Cat Mann
Chapter 28
The Host
I sat on our bedroom chair with my arms folded across my chest. My feet were bouncing up and down so frantically they were making the chair squeak and shake. My eyes danced across the room as I watched Ari get ready for the evening.
“Are you sure you have to go?”
“I am not having this discussion with you again. Period.” He snapped.
I squinted at him in a cold stare and he rolled his eyes at me. I got up, said nothing more, and slammed the door behind me. Ari had given up following me out of the room during a fight days ago. He had found he had better luck to let me stew alone; fewer items flung at him in fury and broken that way. I walked to the study and slammed that door, too. The glass case holding my scissor collection rattled with the force of the door. I was probably going to wake Max up from his nap but I was too ticked off to be rational.
I did not want Ari to go to Margaux’s cocktail party. But most of all, I didn't want to be stuck all night warding off Aggie’s anger by myself. I might have been okay if someone else had offered to stay with me, but it seemed everyone was going to Margaux’s party. I felt betrayed by my family and friends. Margaux, I was convinced, was determined to kill me and all the people who supposedly loved me were running off to some black-tie event she was hosting.
The study door opened and I looked up from my desk expecting to find a very crabby Max. Instead, Ari strolled in wearing a black dinner suit and tie. He looked absolutely perfect and I got even angrier.
“Don’t look at me like that, Ava. I love you. Please stop being mad at me. I thought we were over this.”
“What do you want, Ari?”
He pinched the bridge of his nose and exhaled noisily.
“I am going now. I wanted to tell you bye.”
I gave a very fake, too-sweet smile. “Bye!”
He clenched his jaw. Good. I was getting under his skin, just as he had gotten under mine.
“I promise I’ll be back in time to kiss your soft, pink lips at midnight.”
“Okay,” I snapped. “But just let me make sure I have this right. You made plans to go out though I begged you to stay home. You made plans for me to stay here. You are dressed in black tie clothes and look perfect. The whole baio office and the whole family will be out with you except for your mother, who, even though she has actually banned me from her house, will be here at my house with me. Oh and with Max, my other New Year’s Eve date. Well, let me just tell you, if you walk out that door, don’t worry about coming home at all, let alone about kissing my soft, pink lips!”
Ari turned and slammed the door behind him. Hard. So hard, in fact that the glass case slid violently down the wall and crashed to the floor. It should have shattered, it hit the floor so hard, but the case door, unharmed, swung open, hitting the wall behind it. The scissors tumbled out and formed a giant pile on the floor.
I ignored the mess and left the study after I heard Ari’s car pull out of the garage. I padded down the hall to check on Max. I had kept him busy all day long and he was off schedule. I had been avoiding Ari all day … all week actually. Max hadn’t gone down for his nap until late in the afternoon and if he didn’t wake soon, he would definitely not go back to sleep at bedtime.
I walked softly in to our bedroom.
“Come on, Max, it’s time to wake up. Aggie’ll be here soon and she’ll have my head if you’re still sleeping.”
He rubbed his eyes and blinked at me a few times. It was already dark outside and Max looked confused.
“Hey, Buddy, it’s just me. Let’s get up for a while and I’ll make you something to eat.”
He climbed across our bed and crawled up into my arms. I carried him to the kitchen and flipped on the lights.
“Holy crap!” I screamed and jumped about ten feet in the air.
“Aggie, you scared me! What are you doing here in the dark?”
“Ava, that is terrible language to use in front of a child. You should be ashamed of yourself.” Her voice was cold and flat, but she was right, nonetheless.
“Sorry, I was not expecting you for a while and you startled me. What were you doing in here in the dark?”
“I wasn’t doing anything, Ava; I only just walked in.”
“The door was locked.”
Aggie held up my house keys, jiggling them between her fingertips. “I found these in my car – they must have fallen from your purse the other day when we went shopping.”
“Oh,” a cold chill trickled down my spine as I took my keys from Aggie. “Well … I was going to fix Max something to eat. Would you care to eat with us?”
“That sounds lovely, Darling.”
I pulled a roasted chicken out of the oven and Aggie sat at the table and watched me dish up the chicken, couscous and spinach. Max had wrapped himself completely around my leg and buried his face in my jeans. I had to peel him off me and strap him in to the booster seat at the table. After setting a loaf of bread down on the table, I walked away to grab the knife.
“I’ll take that, Ava.” Aggie put her hand out towards the knife, I placed it in her palm and she smiled and sliced the loaf.
Taking my seat in between Max and Aggie, I ate and made a valiant attempt at conversation as dinner went on. I asked her how she was feeling and what she had been up to, I talked with her about some of the photos she had taken lately and about donating a few of her choice to the House to Home silent auction slated for the summer. But, when my phone rang, I sprang to my feet, thankful for a reason to get away. Thankful, that is, until I saw Ari’s name on my cell. I hit “decline” and put my phone back on the counter.
“Who was that, Darling?”
“Uh … just Ari.”
“You can answer his calls; don’t feel as though you have to sit here and keep me company all night.” The peevish tone in her voice was hard to miss.
“Oh no, it’s all right. He’ll just leave me a message.”
“Okay,” she said with a tiny smirk and a noncommittal shrug.
I walked back to the table, collected all the dirty dishes, and freed Max from his booster seat. As soon as his feet hit the floor, he took off in a dead sprint towards the living room.
“What’s gotten into him?”
I peeked into the living room.
“Rory must have left the TV on; he’s on the couch watching cartoons.”
“All he does over here is watch TV,” she mumbled under her breath, but loudly enough for me to hear every word.
I suppressed both a sigh and an eye roll.
“Aggie, please don’t start. You know that isn’t true. Let’s have a nice evening.”
She batted her eyes at me and watched as I cleaned up the kitchen mess. My phone rang again and I saw it was Ari. Decline.
“You really ought to answer his calls – he may have something important to tell you,” Aggie’s voice was sing-songy and really irritating.
“Doubt it.”
She peered at me from the corner of her eye and gave me a wicked little smile. I guess she was attempting to be coy, knowing full well that Ari and I were angry at each other and had been fighting all week.
Looking back at the week that had just passed, I saw clearly that the two of us had been at odds about everything. The only time we had communicated with each other in the last three days was to scream at each other. I had yelled so much that my throat was raw and my voice sounded gravelly. We argued about Max. Ari wanted to get started on getting Max’s bedroom put together. I didn’t want to set up a bedroom for Max. I knew in my heart that doing so would only make things tougher for when Max went back to live with Aggie. We argued about money, of all things. We argued over the lost journal and about how it had just disappeared off the face of the earth. I said Aggie probably threw it away and Ari defended her. I told him that his mother kept him on too tight a leash and he completely blew up on me. His mother put me down every chance she got and he kept taking her side, running across the yard to wipe her tears aw
ay instead of mine, even though he knew she was the aggressor and that I was right every time. We might as well have been born to be enemies.
Mostly we fought over the cocktail party though. New Year’s Eve of all nights! The very date my ordeal with the Kakos had started the year before! Earlier in the week, in an attempt to salvage what little civility we seemed to have left, I had sat down with Ari to tell him how I felt about being left alone with his mother on New Year’s Eve. I asked him to reconsider. Ari came to his senses and agreed that going off to a party while Max and I stayed home was not a good idea.
But when Aggie heard of his decision, she called him over to her house and had little trouble convincing him all over again that he needed to go, that his job obligated him to attend and that because he had already promised Margaux he would be there, he should keep his word. She convinced him to go and I couldn’t change his mind no matter how much I begged, screamed or cried. I reminded him of his promises not to leave my side or make me cry. He accused me of acting like a spoiled brat. I knew those words had come right out of Aggie’s mouth. I told him he was breaking my heart and he scoffed at me. Aggie was poisoning him, plotting to turn him against me. What I couldn’t figure out was why.
I picked my phone up off the counter, stared at it, and then jumped when it rang again.
“You are awfully skittish tonight, Ava Baby,” Aggie said derisively.
I declined the call and shoved the phone in my back pocket.
“Hey, Aggie, I have a huge mess in the study. Would you mind if I disappeared for a minute to go sort it out?” I wanted to add, “Also, I need to get away from you.” But I held my tongue.
“Oh please, take longer than a minute, Baby.”
I bit my tongue and walked through the kitchen to the living room on the way to the study. Max caught sight of me as I passed by.
“Ava Baby, where are you going?” I secretly loved it when Max called me Ava Baby. How could the words sound so ugly coming from Aggie?
“I have to clean up a mess, Max. Do you want to come with and help?”
He hopped down from the couch and was at my feet almost before I could finish my question. Once in the study, I shut the door behind us and breathed a small sigh of relief to be out of the line of fire for a bit.
I started to pick up the scissors while Max sat on the floor and fooled around with some creepy little collectibles that I pulled down for him from the shelf, little items Ari and I had found on our various trips to the flea market. Max ferreted out my Ghostbuster action figure, played with it for a while, and then dug through the collection some more. I turned to place a pair of scissors on the desk and noticed the scissor cuff bracelet Margaux had sent me for Christmas. The inner surface of the cuff was visible and for the first time I saw an inscription. “Use them.”
Chills ran down my spine.
I thought briefly of Maya but my phone rang, ripping me from my thoughts. I placed the cuff on my wrist, hit “decline” and noticed that Max was holding up a pair of super-sharp, ancient scissors and I let out a gasp.
“Max, no! Give me those! They can hurt you.”
“Use these, Ava?”
“No, Max, put them down. They aren’t a toy.”
I was distracted by my stupid phone again. Why on earth had Ari decided that Margaux’s big party was the perfect time to call me and make up? I pulled my phone out of my pocket and saw the name: Margaux. Yeah, right … decline.
I had half of the scissors arranged back in the case when the study door swung open with a crash.
“Why do you have Max in here?”
“He wanted to help. Why, Aggie? What’s going on?”
Her eyes grew impossibly big and round when she saw Max sitting on the floor holding my ancient scissors. Great, I’ll never live this down.
“Where did you get those?” she spat.
“What do you mean where did I get them? They’re mine.”
“Where did they come from?” she asked again, trying this time for a sweet tone, but I could still hear the venom on her lips.
“Hmmm. Well, Maya gave them to me when Ari and I went to Greece last fall.”
“Give them to me. He shouldn’t be playing with them!”
“No, Aggie. They’re mine”
“Max, bring me those, now,” Aggie demanded.
Max let out a whimper and the hairs on the back of my neck stood on end. Goose bumps spread down my arms. My phone had not shut up since Aggie had walked into the room. It was ringing again like crazy from my back pocket.
“Max! Bring them! NOW!!” Aggie demanded again.
I swallowed hard.
A flash of light from car headlights hit the study’s windows and, moments later, I heard the front door open. Footsteps pounded through the house.
Oh, thank God, Ari’s here.
The footsteps made their way up the staircase and down the study hallway at rapid speed and a figure dressed all in black stood in the doorway.
Oh, crap. It’s Margaux.
I swallowed hard and took a step to position myself in front of Max. Margaux squinted her beady little eyes at Aggie. They were standing right next to each other. One wrong move and the scene could go terribly wrong.
“Margaux, what are you doing here?” I asked over the ringing of my phone. My eyes stayed tight on Aggie, watching her every move.
“Stay still,” I mouthed to Aggie as quietly and calmly as I could.
“Why weren’t you at my party tonight, Ava? Ari promised you would be there.”
“Ari lied to you. You are the devil, Margaux. I hate you. Whatever made you think I would come to your party?”
Margaux looked down at the bracelet on my wrist.
“I see you finally got my message.”
Max poked his little head around my legs and stared, wide-eyed, at Margaux. She peered back at him and I felt him slide his hand up my leg. He pressed the old, cold scissors into my palm. “Use them,” he whispered. I curled my fingers around the scissors, holding them like a dagger.
“You shouldn’t have come here tonight, Margaux. I am going to kill you,” I took another step toward where she and Aggie stood side by side. I caught another gleam of light hitting the study windows as another car pulled up to the house.
“You don’t know what you are talking about, Ava,” Margaux spoke in a hushed voice.
A car door slammed.
“Yes, I do.” I took another step towards Aggie, trying to position myself in between her and Margaux. My back was turned to Aggie then, and I did not let Margaux out of my sight. And Margaux, it appeared, was not about to let Aggie out of her sight.
Margaux slowly moved her hand and put it on her chest. She spread her fingers out wide then curled her pointer finger and tapped twice right above her heart. I blinked as I took one more tiny step.
Aggie’s breath was on my neck.
“Help us, Ava,” my mother-in-law said. “She will kill us all.”
“Don’t worry, Aggie. I promise I’ll save you.”
I took one more step, nearly closing the distance between myself and Margaux.
Footsteps and hollering rang out through the house. The study door shot open, providing the distraction I needed. I spun around, gripped my ancient pair of scissors and drove them straight into Aggie’s chest. Ari’s hand flew to his face in horror as he fell to his knees in the doorway. He had just witnessed me stabbing his own mother. Aggie collapsed to the floor as her eyes rolled back in her head. Her mouth opened and a white ghostly mist trailed out of her leaving Aggie pale and nearly lifeless.
“Margaux, save her!” I screamed and Margaux came to Aggie’s side and began CPR. I pulled my phone out of my pocket and dialed 911. Once I was assured an ambulance was on the way, I riffled through my desk drawer and pulled out Detective Scott’s card.
“Scott,” he answered on the first ring
“It’s Ava. I need to you to meet me at the hospital. I just killed No. 7 and I have seriously hurt the
host.”
“On my way.”
We both hung up with no further discussion.
Ari was catatonic, on his knees in the doorway. Margaux had removed the scissors from Aggie’s chest and was working on applying pressure to the wound to keep her from bleeding out; Max stayed silent at my side. The paramedics arrived and took Aggie, who was unresponsive, out on a stretcher. I buckled Max in his seat in Ari’s car. Margaux slid into the front passenger-side seat as Andy pulled up in front of the house.
“Aggie has been taken to the hospital. Ari is still inside the house. Get him and go, now.”
“What’s going on, Margaux?” Andy demanded.
“I can’t explain it right now, Andy. Just please get Ari and come on.”
I peeled away from the curb and drove to the hospital. I had to remind myself over and over again that there was a three-year-old child in the back seat and that I needed to be careful. Andy, with Ari in the passenger seat, passed us at lightning speed on the highway.
I called Rory, Gianna and August and told them that there had been an accident of sorts and Aggie had been hurt.
We arrived at the hospital, but there was no word yet on Aggie’s condition. I sat with Max on my lap in the waiting room. Margaux took a seat next to me and put her hand in mine. I rested my head on her shoulder and stared blankly at the white tiled floor. Ari still had not even looked at me. An hour passed and the doctor hadn’t come out to tell anyone anything and I was beginning to freak out; if I had killed Aggie, I would never be able to forgive myself and Ari would never speak to me again. The waiting room was full of family, but no one spoke. The room was thick with tension.
Detective Scott broke the silence by running down the corridor from the emergency room. He pointed at me, then to an empty hospital room across from the waiting room. I slid Max off my lap and he went willingly to Margaux. I followed Scott into the room and he closed the door behind us.
“Start at the beginning,” Scott demanded. He took a seat on a rolling stool and motioned for me to sit across from him. Scott unbuttoned his suit jacket and the gleam from the fluorescent lights in the ceiling bounced off the handcuffs hanging from his belt. I swallowed and stared at him.
“Well, Ava, come on. What happened?”
“Uh … I am really nervous. Can Ari come in here with me?”
“I am sorry no, Ava. Please take a breath and tell me what happened earlier in the evening.”
I nodded my head up and down a few times while I gathered my thoughts.
“Ok, here goes. My grandmother, Margaux Baio has been possessed by a Kakos, No 7, for as long as I have known her and a month ago, I set out to find a way to kill her. But the closer I got to finding a way to ending her life, the less certain I felt about her being possessed. There was something different about her. She was nice and almost … caring.”
I shook my head and frowned.
“Aggie never saw the danger coming. She is by nature sweet and loving. She was no match for evil. The thing, No.7, left Margaux and attached itself to Aggie, maybe as long ago as a few weeks. I didn’t process the change in my own mind until this evening, though.”
Then I closed my eyes and described how hatefully Aggie had been acting towards me the past few weeks and how Max seemed to be fine until she would come around. Whenever Aggie was near him he cowered and whimpered as though he were afraid of her. Aggie had everyone believing that her cancer was back. That she was ill and upset. That my journal had disappeared without trace in her house. The truth was that she had been taken over by No. 7 and that No.7 had begun his ploy to kill me.
“So tonight, with Max and Margaux’s guidance, I stabbed Aggie in the heart with a pair of scissors.”
“Which scissors?” Scott was wide eyed.
“Atropos’ scissors.”
“How do you know you had the right pair?”
“Because, Scott they are mine. They belong to me. I have dreamed of them every night since I was a young girl. I knew what to do with them as soon as Max placed them in my hand.”
“It sounds as though Aggie was lucky to have you there, Ava.”
“It wasn’t an accident, Scott. I stabbed her.”
He put his elbows on his knees and his fingers formed a steeple in front of his mouth.
“Ava, you made the right decision. You did what you had to do. If you had not acted when you did, I am certain that you and Max would not have survived the evening. I believe that No. 7 was going to kill you in your home. Aggie was not a strong enough host; she was too kind and fragile for him to stay in that body any longer.”
“Is she going to live?”
“If you did it right, I am sure she will be fine.” He stood up to leave.
“So what’s going to happen? What kind of trouble will I be in for this?”
“I thought you just told me that Aggie tripped and fell into the scissors you had in your hand. Have a nice night, Ava. Oh, and Happy New Year! Hard to believe it’s only been a year. Feels like you’ve been keeping me busy a lot longer than that. No offense, but I am glad this part is finally over. I miss my wife.”
“Thanks, Scott.”
I steadied my shaking hands and took a few quick, calming breaths, then walked back out to the waiting room. Ari hadn’t moved … his elbows were still on his knees and his fists were knotted up in his hair. Andy paced the room until the doctor finally came out in to the waiting area.
“Well, she’s stable and her vitals are good. I don’t anticipate her regaining consciousness until the morning. I think it would be for the best if you all went home and got some rest. You come on back in the morning and we’ll see what’s what,” he said.
Slowly people made their way out of the hospital and into the parking lot. Ari climbed into his dad’s car and my heart crumbled into a million little pieces. I buckled Max into his seat and drove him and Margaux back to our home. We were the last to arrive back home and our house was packed with family.
Andy sat on the couch next to Lauren, and Ari sat in the armchair in the same position as at the hospital, elbows on knees, fists in hair. I took Max and changed him into his P.J’s. He was sleepy, but he refused to lie down. He walked back with me to the kitchen and I stood with him as I looked into the living room at Aggie’s family. How familiar the room was and yet how overwhelmingly alienated the family looked to me. I didn’t know if I would ever be welcomed by them again. Margaux came to stand by my side, handed me a cup of tea, and squeezed my hand.
“You did the right thing, Ava. It doesn’t seem like it now, but you saved a lot of lives tonight.”
I nodded my head and closed my eyes.
Max pushed at me in an attempt to get down. He is a lot like me and when he is sleepy, he gets pretty grouchy. He ignored everyone and walked back to the bookshelf only to come back out a few moments later dragging his favorite book by the cover.
“Hey, Buddy, want me to read that to you?” Andy offered as Max walked by him in the living room.
“No. I want my daddy to do it,” Max grumbled.
The whole house simultaneously sucked in a breath at Max’s words and watched as he walked towards the chair and stood in front of Ari. Ari lifted his head and blinked at him. Without a word, he pulled the boy up onto his lap and began to read.
“Llama, Llama,” Ari started and Max put his little hand on Ari’s face and fell asleep on the third page of the story. Ari kept quietly reading until the very end. It was the most beautiful thing I had ever witnessed. When Ari finished, he closed the book and set it on the table. He stood up and walked across the room with Max asleep on the soft spot of Ari’s shoulder. He wrapped his free arm around me and pulled my face into his chest and in that moment, we both let go and cried.
People began to shuffle around and the doors opened and closed, but neither Ari nor I bothered to look up or say goodbye. Ari held me to him long after we were alone. He took a deep breath, sighed, and kissed me on top of the head and I melted.
“
I thought … ” he paused as his voice caught in his throat, “I thought I had lost you. I thought I had lost you and Max both. I am so sorry, Ava. You asked me not to leave you. I promised that I would never leave your side, Baby. I promised you. I am so sorry I broke my promise. If something … if something had happened to you my life would have been over.”
“I’m fine, Ari, it’s okay now.”
“I was so worried about you. When Margaux saw I had come without you, she was very angry with me. She jumped into her car and squealed out of her driveway. I thought she was coming to kill you. I called you a hundred times. I thought I was too late. Then when I saw you and Max standing together … you both looked so scared. I should have been there to help you.”
“We are okay, Ari. Please, don’t worry anymore.”
“How did you know … how did you know No. 7 wasn’t Margaux?”
“Max. Max knew the whole time. He kept trying to tell me but I wasn’t listening. He was so scared of Aggie.”
“When did this happen? How long had my mom been possessed?”
“Margaux told me on the ride to the hospital that No. 7 switched over to Aggie the day we arrived back to California from Greece and stopped at baio to see you. Something was off that day. We should have never walked into baio. I ignored warning after warning.
“Aggie, Max and I waited for you at your office. I grew restless and left with Max and took him down the hall to Margaux’s office. Your mom was alone in your office and No. 7 went looking for you and found her instead. Margaux said that No. 7 had wanted to get closer to me and was planning to move on to you. When No. 7 went in your office, he found Aggie instead and he made the switch.”
“Did my mom know?”
“I don’t know. Margaux doesn’t seem to think so. She thinks that No. 7 really had her believing that she was truly ill.”
“How did you find out how to kill him?”
“This … ” I handed him the bracelet and showed him the inscription from Margaux.
“I was doubtful at first – but Max knew. When your mother came into the study and saw those scissors, she looked terribly scared. Margaux came in right after and Max slid the scissors up into my hand. He said, “Use them.”
He and Margaux knew exactly what to do. She pointed to a spot on her chest and when you came in, I used the distraction to turn on Aggie. I am so sorry about what I did to your mom, Ari.”
“That wasn’t my mom, Ava. She was lost somewhere deep inside and I know you did what had to be done. No. 7 was going to kill you. My dad found a gun, on the counter in the kitchen, and a note. He was going to kill you and Max and then take Aggie’s life. He was going to make it look like you killed them.”
Chills ran down my spine and I pulled myself closer to Ari and kissed Max’s little cheek. “Max isn’t leaving, Ava. You heard him call me Dad. Max is staying here. We are his family and this is where he belongs.”
“I know, Ari. I can’t bear the thought of him ever leaving us again. I love you both more than I have ever loved anything.”
Ari’s entire body relaxed and I finally recognized what we had both been fighting about: Max. Deep down inside I think we were both fighting for the same thing. I just wasn’t willing to admit to myself how very much I needed Max and how much he needed us, too. Ari carried him to bed where we gave him a kiss goodnight.
We walked hand in hand down the hall to our living room and Ari stopped and glanced down at his watch.
“It’s midnight and I believe I owe you something.”
“Oh, really?” I asked and flashed a coy smile up at him.
“Yes, really. Happy New Year, Ava.”
Ari cupped my chin in his hand and brushed his lips against mine, causing my eyes to flutter and close. I wrapped my arms around his neck and kissed him back. My body quivered with anticipation. Ari pulled my body up in his arms and my legs wrapped around his hips. He purposely fell backwards and I came down on top of him on the couch. His lips and fingers greedily searched my body. We needed each other in that moment in every way possible.