“What do you mean?”
But Fheyrhil continued as if he had not heard her. “I sensed right away what the Vice knew. I shared the information with Jasmine right away, but it was too late. You cannot change destiny. I already knew she would become pregnant.”
“Pregnant? With me you mean?”
“No. With your sister.” Silence swept over the room. Gina stared at Fheyrhil with disbelief. Fheyrhil continued. “He knew that the one with the gift was supposed to have a sister, two years her junior. It was already years past that deadline when I began to sense the pregnancy, but I knew that destinies could not be changed. Everything is predestined. Somehow, it would be explained and I knew that the Vice would not give up. After you became queen, I began to sense his plan to destroy you. I had been too careless and he was beginning to understand your importance, even if he did not know fully who you were. I had to take a different course of action. Thus, we decided that Jasmine would separate herself from me and move to the other world. There she would be safe from him and another daughter could not be born. I was foolish. The Vice quickly discovered that the queen was my long lost daughter. He destroyed you, but brought you back, forcing you to be reborn from Jasmine in the other world. The potion would kill you, but have you be reborn from your mother wherever she was. The Vice did not know where Jasmine was though. She and I both knew we could not be with you through your life. It would be too easy for the Vice to track you down and attack when you were defenseless. We put you in foster care and tried to disappear as well as we could. We did visit by disguising ourselves as this and that so we could see you. Jasmine and I hardly saw each other though. We still attempted to escape fate. But two years after your birth in the other world, Jasmine became pregnant with my second child.”
“I have a sister?” Gina asked shaking. She still could not believe it.
“Yes. Her name is Athena,” Fheyrhil offered.
Athena, Gina thought. I have a sister named Athena. Still, the reality did not sink in. “Does she know? Does she know about you, about me, about Nythagié?”
“No, Gina. She knows nothing of our world. Her mother took her away when she was only first born, but she too was given to foster care for her own protect and for yours.”
“But where’s our mother?” Gina asked, trembling.
Fheyrhil took a deep breath. “She’s dead. She died in a car crash 11 years ago. Your sister doesn’t know anything about her.”
“So, Athena doesn’t know anything? She’s grown up thinking she belongs there when really she belongs here…” Gina’s temper began to get the best of her. “Athena thinks she has no father or siblings when really she does! You let me believe a lie my whole life, and I thought that was awful. That doesn’t even compare to the injustice you’ve put upon my sister! You lied to both of us.”
“Gina, I was forced to lie out of love for the both of you!”
“You made her suffer because of me. And now she doesn’t know anything! You can’t do that to her. You did it to me, and I had to live through it. I refuse to allow you to do that to her,” she stated. By this time, the sound of raised voices had led Leyance to rush into the room at full speed only to stop dead in his tracks at the sight of Gina and Fheyrhil glaring at each other, anger boiling inside both.
“And what exactly do you plan to do? It is over; it is done with!” Fheyrhil roared.
“What do I plan to do about it? Well, I’ll tell you, Dad.” This last word came out as sarcastically as possible, causing Leyance to ask loudly over the shouting.
“He’s your what?!” Yet, neither Fheyrhil nor Gina heard him. Gina continued to shout at Fheyrhil.
“I’m going to make things right. I’m going to fix what you destroyed! I’m going to the other world, tonight. I’m finding her, and I’m telling her the whole truth!” she yelled. Fheyrhli stopped in his tracks.
“You cannot.”
“Yes, sorry, Father, but I’m exposing your lies…”
Leyance screamed over them again. “Fheyrhil is your father?!”
“You cannot do that!” Fheyrhil roared. “Just use your senses! Can you not see? You have my powers too! You too can sense the future, sense the present. Feel it, use it now!”
Gina paused, taken aback. “I have it?”
Fheyrhil nodded. “Yes. The Power of Knowledge is in you too. Can you not sense it?”
Gina turned her eyes away and glanced at Leyance. What her eyes rested upon shocked her. Standing next to Leyance was a little boy with her hair and Leyance’s eyes. Yet, with a blink, he was gone. Fheyrhil glanced at the same spot next to Leyance and continued calmly.
“It was so hard for you when you first got here, when you first learned the truth. It drove you mad. Your sister will be no different. You will drive her mad too. Do you really want to put her through that pain to get back at me? If so, then you are no better than me.”
“Don’t even make me out to be the coward you are,” she countered, spinning around to face him, but instantly regretted it. Fheyrhil only stood silently, eyes filled with hurt. Though this deeply moved Gina, she dared not show it. She continued to speak, now calmly, but her voice shook slightly. “Write down her information now.”
Leyance had finally caught on to what was going on. “Gina, think about this first. Maybe, Fheyrhil…”
“Don’t,” she warned and turned back to Fheyrhil. “I order you to give me her information.” Silently, he reached for a blank sheet of paper, a quill, and wrote down what information he knew. He slowly folded the paper and handed it to her.
“Here it is, Your Highness,” he said bitterly. The title cut through Gina’s heart, but again, she struggled to keep the hurt hidden. She grabbed the paper and marched out of the door. Leyance watched her go and looked from Fheyrhil to the door Gina had disappeared behind. “Go ahead and follow her, Leyance,” Fheyrhil stated, seeing Leyance’s internal debate. “Perhaps you can talk more sense into her than I did. One thing is for sure. She is as stubborn as her mother. Try to talk some sense into her.”
“I’ll try,” he said and turned to leave but stopped. Carefully, he rotated to look back at Fheryhil who stood motionless in the middle of the room looking lost and confused. “You’re my father-in-law?” Leyance asked. Fheyrhil smiled weakly.
“Yes, my boy. So I am,” he replied. “Now, go. Your wife needs you, though I daresay she does not know it.” Leyance nodded and hurried off.
Chapter 15
“Athena”
Gina sat in a taxi watching trees and houses pass by. She had completely ignored Leyance’s pleas to stay and had left for the other world that night as she had threatened. Now she clutched the paper with her sister’s information as if it was the most precious gift in the world. Glancing down, she began to read it again as she had been doing all evening.
Athena Johnson
1532 Olympus Road
San Jose, California 95128, USA
Suddenly, realization swept over her. 1532 Olympus Road? I lived there! She recalled a time long forgotten when she had traveled from one foster home to the next. This was one of her homes. She remembered because she loved the fact that she’d be living on Olympus like one of the Greek goddesses. If only she had known about that horrid dog. It would bark and bark for no apparent reason into all hours of the night. It would also grip its teeth on anything that moved – including jeans. Gina held the paper close to her heart and once more stared out the window. Burke Road past, Hillside Road past, and finally Gina caught a glimpse of the next street sign. Olympus Road. Her heart gave a little jump. Ahead of the car, Gina saw a young woman walking out of her house. Barking incessantly at the window was a little brown dog.
“Stop the car, please!” Gina ordered.
“You want me to drop you off over here?” the driver asked.
“I just want to sit here for awhile. What house is 1532?” she asked, shaking, still watching the girl who was fumbling through her bags. She looked too familiar.
The cab driver paused studying the houses then pointed to the girl. “The house that girl just came out of.” So that was her. That girl, so innocently looking for her car keys, was Gina’s sister. It seemed surreal as Gina watched the girl she should have known her whole life. She watched the teenager wearing jeans (with ripped bottoms – no doubt caused by the dog), flip-flops, and a T-Shirt which Athena had creatively painted on the words “Rock On.” Gina watched this seemingly normal girl knowing from the minute that girl had been born, she had never been meant to be normal. It was Athena. Gina’s head screamed at her to get out of the car, run over and tell her everything. Yet, her heart restrained her. Athena’s face looked tired and stressed as she continued the search for her keys. Her reddish-brown loose curls fell in her face as she did so. A sudden smile displayed that her hand had finally rested upon the keys. Sure enough, she soon pulled them out of her bag. Gina still could not move. She did not have the heart to make this girl’s world come crashing down upon her has Gina’s own life had when her school was attacked two years earlier. Suddenly, Athena dropped her keys causing her to throw her head backwards in a stressed tone and lean over to pick them up. A piece of paper fell out of her purse and though she saw it, Athena seemed to feel too stressed to pick it up. The dog was still barking, and Gina could see how annoyed the girl was getting with it. Finally, she turned to the window and yelled.
“Shut up, Sparky! That damn dog…” With that, she opened the door, got in the car, started the engine, and drove off.
“Hey, Lady, are you going to get out or what?” the taxi driver asked irritably. Gina snapped to attention.
“Oh! Yes, yes, sorry.” She pulled money out of her purse, handed it to the driver, and got out. He quickly sped away as Gina walked over to the piece of paper. She leaned over, picked it up and saw it was a business card.
Sterling Night School
(Earn more credits in your spare time!)
For more information call
1-800-415-6287
She pocketed the card and headed out. She might not have been in the other world much these days, but luckily she always made sure to have the necessities on her during visits. She quickly took out a cell phone and dialed the number.
“Hello, thank you for calling Sterling Night School, this is Sheila, how may I help you?” the operator answered.
“Umm, hello. I was wondering. My friend signed up for your classes and was telling me about them and I wanted to join but I can’t remember what the name of the class is…?” I sound so stupid! This isn’t going to work.
“Not a problem. What is your friend’s name?”
“Athena Johnson” was the quick reply.
“Alrighty, hold one second.” There was a click and then a recorded message with music that made Gina suddenly think of elevator music. Soon enough, though, there was another click, and the operator spoke again. “Alrighty, it looks like Athena Johnson is taking the class Mythology and Culture. Would you like to enroll as well? You’ve only missed two classes. I’m sure you could make up the work.” Gina hesitated. She’d get to be close to her sister this way, it was the perfect opportunity.
“Yes, I do.”
“Alrighty. What is your name?”
“Gina Cassidy.” Gina gave her information and spoke with the operator for awhile before she hung up and called another taxi. She was going to see her sister.
Sure enough, Gina arrived in the classroom twenty minutes later. She was ten minutes late. Cautiously, she opened the door and froze as she saw that she had interrupted the teacher. It had been two years since she had been at school and though she could stare down the enemy with the greatest of ease, the sight of teachers still terrified her.
“May I help you?” the teacher asked. Gina tried to collect herself. She glanced at Athena who had lifted her head out of her text to see the new student.
“Uh, yes. My name is Gina Cassidy. I just enrolled.”
“Oh of course,” the teacher said. “I just got the note that you joined right before I stepped in.” He extended his hand. “My name is Mr. Jettson. Welcome to Mythology and Culture.”
“Thank you,” she said and shook his hand. Mr. Jettson now turned to look at the class.
“We have plenty of empty desks. Feel free to pick whichever one you’d like.” Luckily, Gina saw an empty desk next to Athena and slid down in it.
“Alright. Continuing on page 42…” Mr. Jettson was saying.
“Here, Gina,” said a whispering voice close by. Gina turned to see Athena talking to her. “You can share my book until you get yours. My name is Athena, nice to meet you.” Gina smiled and shook her outstretched hand.
“I’m Gina. It’s really nice to meet you.”
Darkness had already been present in Nythagié for a few hours when Gina finally returned. At once, she made her way to the bathroom for a long shower. The pressures of the day seemed to drain away as the warm water cascaded down her body.
When Gina finally entered her bedroom, Leyance was already asleep. Or so she thought. As soon as she sat down on the bed, he jumped up and threw his arms around her, much to her surprise.
“Gina! Oh my God! Are you insane? Did you see her? What did she say? What does she look like? Never run off to tell people these things without first consulting me! Did she believe you? Is she coming here?” Leyance was obviously having a struggle as he thought it right to reprimand her and yet was terribly curious at the same time.
“Calm down, Leyance,” Gina said, though she couldn’t fight back a small smile.
“What happened?” he asked, trying to submerge his curiosity.
“I saw her,” Gina began. “I drove right up to her house…”
“And you actually told her?” he interrupted. “Gina, didn’t it ever occur to you that we needed to make sure it was okay that she came here? She’s vulnerable now. If any evil forces are lurking, she’d be a perfect target!”
“Relax. I didn’t tell her.” Yet, Leyance continued on.
“Fheyrhil’s been a nervous wreck. I mean she is an absolute perfect person to kidnap with her connection to you and her inability to fight for herself…Wait, you didn’t tell her?” Gina couldn’t help but burst into laughter.
“No, I didn’t tell her,” she said, calming down. “By every means I meant to, but then I saw her. She looked so stressed out. I realized that if she was stressed in that world, she’d only find it ten fold in this world, as we all know. I couldn’t put Athena through what I found myself going through two years ago. That almost broke me, and I couldn’t do that to her.”
“Did you talk to her at all?”
“Yes. She dropped a business card for a night class she was taking.” She shrugged. “I enrolled. So, yeah. I talked to her. I sit next to her.”
“What did she say?!”
“Umm, ‘you share my book until you get yours.’”
“That’s it?” he asked, obviously wanting more.
“I just met her. Give me a break!”
Suddenly, a new voice joined the conversation. “Does she look like you?” Gina and Leyance quickly turned to see Fheyrhil in the doorway looking more vulnerable than ever before.
“Yes, a little bit,” Gina said quietly.
“How is she? Does she seem happy?” he asked.
“She seems to be,” she responded.
“Does she eat healthy?” Fheyrhil asked. Gina was beginning to see his fatherly side.
“How would I know? I just met her.”
“But she is alright?” Fheyrhil asked quietly. His once intimidating nature completely dwindled as he spoke of his youngest daughter. “And she does not know?”
“Yes, she is alright, and no, she doesn’t know anything,” Gina assured him. She felt sorry for him, but at the same time she still had not forgiven him for the news she had received that afternoon. She simply did not understand how he could have kept not only her, but another in the dark for so long.
“Will you be going back?” Fheyrhil
asked. He already knew the answer.
“I won’t abandon her like you did,” Gina said bitterly. Fheyrhil simply nodded and, hurt, he left. Gina caught Leyance’s glance. He was obviously taken aback. “Well, I won’t,” she stated assuredly. The rest of the night was left in awkward silence.
Morning came as did royal duties, exercises, and visits. Afternoon finally arrived, and Gina hurried to her room. Carefully she picked out cargoes, sandals, and a T-Shirt sporting the words “1-800-YOU-WISH,” grabbed her purse and headed out the door. Leyance met her on the way up, studying her appearance.
“Well, you certainly look out of place, Darling,” he said smiling. He gave her the once-over. “That is so not this season.”
“Ah, shut up,” she snapped back, but she couldn’t help but smile.
“So, you’re heading out already?” Leyance asked.
“Yes, I have to go get my books,” Gina replied. She produced a piece of paper from her bag. “I need to go hunt down both of these before class which starts at 5:30 anyway. It’s not exactly a quick journey there and back.”
“Don’t I know. Well, have fun, Beautiful. I love you.” He leaned down and gave her a sweet kiss. Gina held it for a minute, savoring the moment.
Leyance watched her as she made her way down the steps and hopped on the horse waiting for her. She rode off through the gates and towards the familiar haze.
Three hours later, Gina walked through the halls towards her classroom. Her new books were clutched in her arm while paper and pens rested in her shoulder bag.
“Hey, Gina! Hold up!” Gina turned around to see her sister running up behind her, out of breath. “Hey, what’s up? Got your books I see.”
Metanoia Page 18