She had reached the back of the barn where a huge black horse was standing looking interested at her with big black eyes. She had never been interested in horses, but this one had something majestic about it. Its mane was braided. The horse tried sniffing her arm when she tried passing by. She stretched out her hand and caressed its neck. Then all of a sudden, Gregory was standing beside her, patting the horse's neck too.
“If Notte likes you, you can’t be as crazy as I thought,” he said.
Mila felt relieved; she had finally managed to find Gregory. She looked at him and was shocked when she saw that the Color of his eyes had really changed no kidding. She had never seen such a thing before. They had turned into turquoise with golden flickers around the Iris. It looked completely out of place and unnatural and it made her think about the prophecy. She heard his voice and shook off her thoughts.
“So, Shane tells me that you're kind of a witch that can help me gain my memory back.”
“Yes, something like that, but I 'm not really a witch. Where is Shane anyway?"
“I think he is talking to some girl, but he should show up any minute. He told me that you are in kind of a hurry and that we must go back to Port Hope soon.”
“Yes, because I have to get back to the city. Leyla is waiting for me.” She looked at him expectantly, “Would the name ring a bell?"
"Is she a friend of yours?"0
Apparently not so much for her experiment. She really hoped that one of her antidotes would help him to get back his memory because even a prophecy may have an expiration date and if that was the case, they were doomed.
He looked at her again and she had the look away. Those eyes had something hypnotic and made her feel dizzy; that definitely had not been there before. She nodded and Shane appeared in the barn.
“Are you ready to leave? It is already half past two. We need to get going and start our experiment if you want to get back to Toronto in time because of the car.”
Finally for once, they agreed on something.
The trip back to Port Hope passed without further incidents. Gregory and Shane both fell asleep during the whole trip. Yep, the male sex was so much harder and stronger, not to mention persistent. She had proof enough in that car, Mila thought, smiling to herself. There happened to be an accident on the highway and they arrived quite late in Port Hope. It was after four when they arrived. Maria welcomed the three of them with a cold chocolate and a homemade cake. Mila was delighted with the warm welcome and liked Maria immediately.
She had to admit that she was hungry again.
The three of them piled cake on their plates. Satisfied and with a full stomach, Mila carried the box with the four flasks into the parlor. Gregory and Shane sat down next to her.
“Well, here we go.”
She took the first vial containing a pink liquid out of the velvet-covered box shaking it. Then she handed the flask over to Gregory, “Well then, cheers.”
"How long does it take until it should show any effect?"
Gregory asked nervously.
“I’d say more or less immediately, within 5 minutes at max.”
"And are you sure that it is not dangerous?"
Mila nodded, “I have mixed these antidotes under supervision of my grandmother Shalin. She is Grandmaster of the earth and would never put someone in danger.”
Shane shook his head in disbelief.
“Grandmaster of the earth, you got to be kidding, right? Why can’t I get rid of the feeling that I am playing a role in Lord of the Rings, the Fellowship?”
He earned an angry look of Mila and fell silent immediately.
"Well, here we go.”
Gregory put the flask to his lips and drank it in one gulp.
Shane and Mila waited anxiously for a reaction. Gregory's eyes were closed but the minutes passed and nothing happened. Mila was about to take the second flask out of the box with jittery fingers, as Gregory suddenly got up and rushed passed them towards the bathroom choking. Shane followed him staring at Mila reproachfully.
“What did you give him? I thought you were trying to heal him, not kill him!”
Mila was completely baffled.
“I have no idea, as I said, the mixtures are from my grandmother and against the poison he took. There was no antidote until now, so we are developing new potions and have to test them on him.”
"Great! The poor guy - I can only feel sorry for him. First you poison him and then he has to play the guinea pig. He really hit the jackpot.”
Mila shrugged.
“What else can I do? The poison was meant for someone else and he should have given it to that person. Point is, Gabe is a lot more dangerous and cunning than we thought at first and now the tables have turned.”
"Wait a minute. That means that someone is actually after Gregory?”
"No, the Vultures think he's dead.”
Gregory came out of the bathroom. His face was white as the wall behind him. He looked like a zombie.
“Whose dead?” He asked.
There was no answer.
“Could I get some water?” Maria just came out of the kitchen. “Dios mios. What have you two done to the poor boy?”
Shane pushed her back into the kitchen.
“It's all right, he has got just a little too much sun and needs a glass of water and can you please make some tea?”
Maria disappeared in to the kitchen muttering in Spanish to herself.
Shane put a big glass of water in front of Gregory on the table.
To his surprise, he didn’t look sick any longer. On the contrary, he suddenly was bursting with energy, as it seemed. “I can’t believe I'm saying this but I feel great. It is as if I puked out all the weakness within and got all my energy back. Sounds insane I know.”
Mila jumped off the couch.
“Do you remember anything in particular?"
He seemed to be thinking hard.
“No, but I feel better, that's a good thing, isn’t it?"
“I'm glad for you, but that means that my mission is not completed yet and you have to drink the next flask.”
He shook his head.
“Hello, are you out of your mind? I have just puked my guts out. Who knows what kind of impact the next flask will have on me.”
Shane took Gregory's side.
“He is right, give the poor guy a break.”
Mila sighed frustrated.
“Ok then, let Maria pamper him and let him drink his tea. But after that, we have to move on; I must get back to Toronto, otherwise Brooklyn is going to kill me.”
"Don’t worry Gregory, Alice is a brutal woman and knows no mercy,” Shane’s nasty comment was not very helpful. Maria brought a large pot of tea and they all drank silently. After a while, Mila cleared her throat.
“I don’t mean to push, but it is already after five o’clock. If we need an eternity for each flask, I am screwed. Can we not somehow speed up the procedure? Finally, we have three flasks to go.”
Gregory nodded.
“Ok let's try it again. I don’t want you to get in trouble because of me. Mila got the box with the three flasks. I will let you choose the color you want to drink first.”
He twisted his mouth into a wry grin.
"To tell the truth, if I could choose none of them I would prefer that, but as this is not an option, I’ll take the one with the red liquid.”
She handed him the flask and he drank up. This time the reaction came fast. He closed his eyes and opened them again. He looked angry. He lunged at Shane and threw him to the ground apparently trying to choke him. Shane croaked.
“Damn Alice, do something.”
Maria, who came from the kitchen with a snack she had prepared, screamed and fled back into the kitchen. Mila did not hesitate. She quickly took the third flask with a golden colored liquid from the box, sat astride on Gregory’s back, jerking his head back and holding his nose until he gasped for air so she could force him to drink the contents of the flask.
Exhausted, she fell to the ground and prayed that he would let go of Shane. Maria had come back armed with a broom, ready to strike a blow on Gregory. Yet that was no longer necessary, as the new mixture had triggered a different condition. However, it was questionable whether this one was a better response than the last one.
Well, at least he did not appear to be aggressive anymore. He was nervously pacing up and down the parlor mumbling and pattering to himself. Then he went to the baffled Maria into the kitchen, picked up a window spray and a cloth and began to clean the display cabinet in the parlor like a maniac.
His movements were agitated and uncontrolled. He was sweating like a pig. He moved on and was now removing some imaginary spots from the dining table. Mila shook her head; everything went completely amiss.
She reached for the last flask containing a turquoise liquid and indicated Shane with a movement of her head that it was time to bring the last flask in to the game. It was her last chance to make things right. So far, she had only made it worst in her attempts to fix things. He understood and nodded. Mila stood right next to Gregory and Shane on the left side. She tried to speak to him gently, but he lashed out and continued cleaning. Shane and Mila exchanged a quick look, and then they grabbed him and brought him down to the couch in united forces. By force, they made him drink the last flask. Instantly Gregory slumped and fell into a fainting-like sleep. He rolled onto his side and began to snore loudly. Mila fell exhausted to the ground. Holy crap, she was exhausted and the worst thing was that she had not been able to accomplish anything with the antidote.
She lay her head on her elbow and sinking into her misery, when Shane got down next to her on the floor and put his arm comfortingly on her shoulder.
"Don’t worry. I am sure it will work next time. Yet I think you should go back to Toronto by now. It's almost half past seven and your phone has vibrated a couple of times in your bag.”
"What am I going to do next?” Mila thought.
She ran a hand over her eyes and wiped away a few tears of frustration. She had been so sure that it would work. She got up and nodded. She had nothing to say anymore. Shane and Maria accompanied her to the car and promised her to keep her up to date if Gregory’s condition would change.
Girls Night
That had been a close call. Mila and Brooklyn were sitting in Brooklyn’s spacious room on the huge four-poster bed that was decorated with copper moons and stars. She was currently going through her oriental phase and her room was furnished in a way that one expected to see a genie appearing any minute to ask about a wish or in the worst case, Jafar with his snake stick. They giggled silly like two teenagers at the concert of her favorite band, yet that’s what they actually were; as a matter of fact, teenagers having to bear a heavy burden. The two girls that could not have been any different had been united by a dangerous situation and somehow eventually started to like each other. Who would have thought that? In front of Brooklyn's room, they heard the muffled voices of Brooklyn's parents:
”Louis, I'm worried about our baby. Have you seen the girl she brought along? Is that what they call a punk?”
Her voice had taken a slightly hysterical sound. Her father muttered something unintelligible, but it had a soothing sound. Brooklyn put a hand on Mila’s shoulder.
“I'm sorry, but that’s how they are. Full of prejudice and trapped in their own little world.”
Mila stopped laughing and hugged Brooklyn unexpectedly.
"It's ok. I'm glad you are not like them and that I was wrong about you.”
They looked at each other again and broke out in laughter. “Today's been a hell of a crazy day,” Mila stated.
“Imagine if your dad had caught me in his car.”
She shuddered at the thought. Mila had been driving into the garage driveway with a breakneck speed. She had previously been searching desperately for the garage key until she accidentally noticed that pressing a button on the key chain was all it took.
A built-in sensor automatically opened the garage. Brooklyn's mother had unexpectedly returned from a failed spa stay. The hotel had burned down. Yep, how were the chances that such a thing would ever happen? One in a million?
Those things normally happened only in movies, but yet it had happened and she appeared unexpectedly at home. Everything seemed to have conspired against Brooklyn. Her father had come back with a previous flight, since some deal had gone off and suddenly he stood outside the front door. Brooklyn didn’t
really know what to do. She felt pretty cornered. She had to creep to the garage with a lame excuse. Fortunately, her mom was not the suspicious type, or she simply didn’t care why her daughter was behaving so weird. Brooklyn managed somehow to keep the garage door open for Mila, as they had forgotten over the whole hustle and bustle to talk about the sensor on the car keys. At the same time, her father had climbed out of a cab. Somehow, they had managed to get Mila in the garage without her dad seeing her. Eventually it had helped that Mila figured out how to open the door and parked the car properly at the regular parking lot. So far, it had been a thrilling ride.
A few minutes later, Mila was ringing at the front door and introduced herself to her mom as a friend from school which had quite an impact on Brooklyn’s mom. Apparently, Mila appearance had been quite a shock for her mother.
Her combat boots and her whole appearance were not exactly what her mom expected a young lady to look like.
It had really been a close call, but they made it. After the adrenaline rush had passed, Mila’s disappointment about the failed mission in Port Hope brought her back down to earth and she felt quite depressed.
She toldBrooklyn about her unsuccessful attempt to bring Gregory’s memory back and to her surprise, she felt relieved afterwards. As they say, misery loves company. Well, she always had considered this quote as an absolute nonsense, but she had to admit that there was probably some truth in it. Brooklyn was not the Barbie girl with half a brain that she thought she would be. Behind her pretty made up face and the cheerleader habits, there was a warm and caring person.
It had been a lesson for Mila to realize that sometimes one really had to get to know a person before judging. Appearances were not always what they seemed to be. In fact, she should try being more open-minded and friendly, otherwise it might happen that she ended up like this cynical Shane. That would really be a big problem since she didn’t even have any relation to animals. Shane had at least the horses to talk to when nobody else would care for him, she thought amused.
She decided that it was time to show the new improved caring Mila starting from now. Brooklyn came into the room carrying a tray of steaming tea and biscuits. She loved tea. Leyla claimed that Brooklyn had probably been British in her previous life because of her tea collection. Indeed, Brooklyn believed that there was no situation in life in which she would not be able to come up with the right kind of tea variation.
“You sure feel kind of logy after all you’ve been through today. I made us some tea and biscuits. I’ve baked them myself. I've tried a few and have to say they taste delicious.”
She smiled slightly embarrassed.
“Yes I know I should not praise myself, but I really think they taste good.”
The old Mila would have made an aspersive even repelling remark, but she thought about her intention to keep it friendly and was also somehow touched by Brooklyn’s care. Instead of dismissing her with a brusque remark, she was going to make an effort to be nice.
“That's very nice of you Brooklyn and I must say that I am starting to get why Aiden is so crazy about you.”
She looked at her tongue-in-cheek.
“So it doesn’t seem to be your looks only. Initially, I couldn’t understand him. I thought you were some dumb blonde cow.”
Appalled by what she just said, she stopped talking any further covering her hand over her mouth.
“Sorry. Now I have ruined everything. I'm a terrible bore.”
“It's ok,” Brooklyn smiled und
erstanding.
"My God, and you are also a saint. How can you be so nice to me? When I would like to smash myself in the face.”
"Don’t be so hard on yourself, you are having trouble showing your true feelings and that’s why you are hiding behind a mask of anger and sarcasm. That’s no big deal.”
Mila looked at her in awe.
“You really have what it takes to become a shrink.”
“Thanks! That’s exactly what I want to be! The human mind has always fascinated me. I want to know what goes on in people’s heads. I think it is kind of intriguing. Don’t you agree?”
Mila shrugged, “Honestly, I have not the slightest idea about that and I haven’t actually really thought about it so far. I have enough trouble with what goes on in my own head, let alone if I have to worry about other people’s heads!”
Brooklyn chuckled, “Mila you must be exhausted. Don’t you want to spend the night here? We could have a girl’s night.”
"Are you being serious?"
"Sure, why not? We can watch some silly romantic movies and eat tons of popcorn - a real girls' night. Wouldn’t that be fun?"
Mila didn’t really know what to say. She had no experience with girl’s nights but Brooklyn seemed to be hooked at the thought of it.
"I’ll let my parents know and you can call your grandma in the meantime ok?"
Mila nodded, taking her phone out of her bag.
“I’ll be right back.”
With these words, Brooklyn disappeared through the door. Her parents were watching one of these dull game shows on television. Her dad had apparently already dozed off. Brooklyn could understand him quite well. She could not stand these stupid shows.
“Mom, Mila is going to stay here tonight. I hope that’s ok with you.”
Brooklyn's Mom looked up confused.
”Baby, but she does not look as if you two had something in common. I don’t want you to get in trouble or getting wrong ideas from her. She does not look to me like a young lady.
ELEMENTARY VIRTUE: The Savior Page 21