“I thought you’d ’never ask. Bye".
The idiot had actually hung up on her, Leyla thought slightly pissed, when the doorbell rang. After some time, she heard her mom's slightly hysterical voice, "Leyla hasn’t come home yet, at least, I don't think so." There was a murmur of voices downstairs, and she couldn’t understand exactly what they said. Then again she heard her mother's nervous voice, "Leyla could you please come down for a minute?" Leyla opened the door and walked slowly out of her room. She got to the banister looking down. What was going on? It came as a shock to see the group of people standing on the doorstep. Shane was one of them, she couldn’t exactly make out who else was with him, but there was a bunch of them. Her mother looked at her questioningly, "Can you please tell me what all these people are doing here? You are still grounded. I think you know." She shrugged, "Maybe they want to negotiate."
"Negotiate, about what?" "I don't know; why don't you ask them?"
Meanwhile, her dad, Shannon, and Franco got to the stairs. Everyone looked up at Leyla. She raised her hands, "Don't look at me like that. I have nothing to do with it." Shannon had a pleading look on her face as if she expected answers from her. Leyla couldn’t stand this inquiring glance any longer. She turned around and went back into her room. They could negotiate all they wanted with her parents. She couldn’t deal with this; it was all too much for her. She had no strength left for any further crisis management. She lay down on her bed burying her head in her pillow. After some time had passed, she heard a vague knock on her door. She looked up, straight into her aunt's compassionate green eyes. Leyla buried her head back into the pillow muttering in despair, "Go away! I don’t know where he is." Shannon sat down on the bed beside her, stroking her back soothingly, "Shhh, don't get upset, I know. Aiden has told us." Leyla sat up in surprise, "Did he?"
"Yes, we had no idea, or maybe we knew but just tried to ignore the signs. If I'm honest about it, I knew a long time ago that something was wrong with Gregory."
When she saw Leyla's accusing look, she shook her head, "No, I didn’t mean it that way, don't get me wrong. I love him as much as if he were my flesh and blood, but he isn't. These special talents, even though I didn’t want to admit it for a long time putting my head in the sand. I thought that everything would just turn out fine. Now that I know about it for sure, I am worried a lot more about him. I am usually a worried mother. You don’t have any idea how fearful I can be. When it came to him, I have always been frantic, that something might happen to him. When he spent most of his time on trees as a little boy, I’ve almost become insane," she looked at Leyla with a guilty expression on her face shrugging, "what can I say, I was always an overly cautious mother and not knowing where he is, simply drives me crazy. I am close to having a nervous breakdown. That is why I am begging you to tell me where he is, or if you can’t tell me, tell me at least that he is safe."
To Shannon's surprise, Leyla started to cry and put her hands over her face. Shannon was stunned, she had never seen Leyla cry. On the contrary, she had always been a tough little thing as a kid. The kind that didn't shed a tear even with a bloody knee. Well, she thought a bloody knee was probably a lot easier to handle than an aching heart. Patiently she waited until Leyla stopped sobbing, blowing her nose loudly, "If I knew where he is, I would have followed him already." Shannon handed her another tissue, "I know sweetie, but don't you have any idea where he could be?" Leyla hesitated she didn’t want to give too much away. "I know that he is somewhere in Italy in search of his ancestors to find out more about the prophecy. But he promised to contact me after his arrival. Now in almost two weeks, I haven't heard anything from him." The tears started rolling down her cheeks again, "I'm afraid that something terrible has happened to him." Shannon nodded sadly, "Exactly, that's why we have to find him." Leyla shook her head, "No, there is no we in this matter. You will keep yourself out of it. If I knew, where he was. Only people of the Akando clan could take care of the matter, as they are familiar with the tribal issue, and the legend. It's much too dangerous, do not trifle with the Vultures. They are like the Mafia believe me."
Her aunt sighed; Leyla would never tell her anything it was hopeless, «Your friends are downstairs and seem to have a bomb proof idea how to put an end to your house arrest."
"They do?" Leyla asked. "Yes, so come on down and listen to the agreement they have reached with your parents. Luca is certainly easy to persuade, but your mother is a tough nut to crack." Leyla got up, and she felt a bit shaky, stroking over her tousled hair she followed her aunt to the stairs. It looked as if everyone had left. There was nobody downstairs until suddenly Brooklyn and Mila came strolling along from the parlor. Both of them carried a plate with a large piece of cake in their hands, "There you are, finally! Man that took some time," Mila said, with her mouth full, "we have sent away the guys we thought you were into Girl Power. And I have to say that your Aunt bakes incredible heavenly cakes," she put another big piece of it in her mouth. Leyla's heart softened when she saw both of her friends standing in front of her. Brooklyn smiled at her holding out a plate with a piece of chocolate cake towards her, "Here, have some cake and never forget that chocolate cake never asks questions. Chocolate cake understands you." Leyla grinned and hugged her, ignoring the plate, "Hey," Brooklyn said, "be careful, we don't want this incredible cake to fall to the floor. Do we, ever?"
"That would be a shame," Leyla giggled letting her go "guess nobody wants that." She took the plate gratefully.
"So tell me what happened, did my parents go for Aiden's proposal? Or am I still grounded?" Mila nodded and stopped briefly stuffing cake in her mouth, "Well, since there's this new club in the neighborhood of the Scarborough high called Crowd, with live bands and stuff. Aiden was able to get us a deal to wait tables and be paid neatly. We would all take part in it, which means you, of course, are going to be there also this Saturday. It will help to fill up your bank account again. Leyla was speechless, this meant what Aiden mentioned on the phone previously was true. "Would you really do that for me? Man, I am just blown away." Brooklyn nodded, "What a question? Not just the two of us all the Akandos and even Greyson will help you. Your parents just couldn’t say no." "Wow," Leyla looked surprised, "Really?" The two nodded enthusiastically. "Great, this is really something I didn't expect." Leyla's eyes filled with tears.
Her phone started to vibrate in her pocket and at the same time, her ringtone an Up-tempo rich Bollywood melody was heard. Brooklyn and Mila danced to the beat of the music through the corridor, "Let it ring, the sound really gets to my legs and makes me wanna dance," Mila said, wiggling her hips. Leyla didn’t know the number it seemed a foreign prefix. She took the call. It was probably someone having dialed the wrong number.
“Hello?" she heard a distant hissing noise, "hello, is someone there?" She wanted to hang up when she heard a voice through the noise. Although the connection was bad, she would have recognized that voice anywhere and in any situation. "Gregory?" she asked in disbelief. Mila and Brooklyn stared at her suddenly quiet and stunned.
Canadian Awards
Ana glanced at her reflection in the mirror, wow, she thought, hard to believe that she could look like this. She barely recognized herself. Her dark long hair had been first turned to curls and then pinned up. A few strands played loose around her face smoothing the look of the pinned up hairstyle. She looked artistically ruffled, she thought grinning to herself. Besides, her hair glistened slightly, which probably was due to the spray that had been generously spread over her hair and provoked Ana to violently sneeze. They had painted her eyes with brown and golden eye shadow and some thin golden eyeliner. Even her eyelashes were painted golden. She warbled to 'Golden Eye', by Tina Turner to herself. As the neelie but apparently talented stylist, named Vittorio, that her mom dragged her to, was doing some dance of joy behind her. He was fanning air to himself with both hands as if he was about to faint. "Belissima," he screamed out and Ana had somehow to agree with him. She looked like a stranger, a
beautiful stranger. Vittorio had really done a great job and was worth every penny, he got. At least, no one would recognize her back home, if the show were on in Europe, which she seriously doubted.
"Wow, Muffin, you look absolutely stunning," her mom came up behind her, her eyes crossed Ana's in the mirror. She looked at her with pride. "Please mom, do me the favor and stop calling me Muffin. I'm not two years old." Vittorio handed her some golden teardrop-shaped earrings to match the golden makeup and clapped his hands, "My God, doesn't she look fabulous? Doesn't she look like a movie star? We have made a beautiful swan out of a duckling," he fanned himself again with his hands. Ana could hardly resist laughing aloud. She had never met anyone who behaved as neelie as this Vittorio, just amazing. She looked at her mom and both had to pull themselves together, not to grin stupidly. They didn’t want to offend Vittorio, because after all, he had done some miraculous work. Her mom was also barely recognizable she had gone through the same procedure. Except that, Ana didn’t think about Golden Eye looking at her, but rather Dramatic Eyes. Unfortunately, there was no such song. However, her mother's false eyelashes looked somehow dramatic since normally she hardly ever-put makeup on her face. She looked as if she would go to the Oscars. Her black long dress was well cut and brought out the best in her and the new hairstyle and makeup made her seem years younger. Vittorio had every reason to flutter around like a rampaging Hummingbird. He had accomplished a masterstroke.
They left a hysterical Vittorio and his team behind, picked up by a limousine. Ana was impressed, apparently her Mom's former flame was someone with connections and more importantly, he pulled the strings willingly for them. Who knew? Maybe the event was not such a waste of time after all and she might even enjoy the evening. She just hoped that her mother wouldn’t be too disappointed if she didn’t win the Award. The chances for this to happen were small. Still it would be somewhat great if she won and certainly, they would have more money than usual. They were often short of money and next month she took a trip to Prague for a week with her class, so again that cost a lot of money. Therefore, the invitation for this trip to Toronto was absolute godsend. It cost them nothing and they were almost VIP's along with the other nominees. Besides, they were invited to stay one week after the Award to do some sightseeing, not so bad. Her mom was looking forward to visiting her former landlady.
The Limousine stopped in front of the Roger Centre, where they got out and walked down the red carpet to the entrance. No one was paying them any Attention. A bunch of teenage girls screamed like crazy when they got out of the limo and fell silent when they saw the two of them. They looked disappointed. Who the hell did they expect to get out of that limo? Justin Bieber? They received an escort to their seats with two seats between her mom and the aisle empty. Mom told her Chris and his sixteen-year-old daughter, who apparently eventually got her mom’s permission, would sit with them. Also, that they might go to an after party when this event was over. Great, Ana thought! If she was not planning to pair her off with a future son-in-law, mom tried to pair her off with a girl. When would she finally understand that she decided herself who her friends were? Ana thought slightly annoyed.
Dropping her playbill absent minded, she bent to pick it up at the same time as her seatmate. Their heads collided painfully. Ana held her aching forehead and heard a concerned gentle voice. “Are you ok?"
“Yes, everything is fine no harm done, thank you," she looked up into two light brown eyes full of concern, and held her breath. The guy was hot and totally sweet. He also somehow looked familiar, but she didn’t know why. "I'm really sorry, usually, I am not as fierce, are you okay?" Ana nodded, "no harm done," she saw out of the corner of her eye, that her mom had noticed the incident and smirked apparently amused. Then after she squinted and had a better look at her seatmate, she heard her mutter in a low voice, "Unbelievable, such coincidences are not normal." Ana had no idea what she meant and silenced her with a well-aimed nudge of her elbow. "In what category are you nominated?" He glanced at her with interest. "Are you a singer from abroad?"
"No I'm not nominated, my mother has written a book series and has been nominated," she pointed at her mom beside her, who was meanwhile talking to a girl beside her, looked as if Renée had arrived in the meantime. "Maira Hano is your mother. Wow, I'm impressed." Ana looked at him in surprise, “You know my mother?”
"Sure, who doesn't know those books? She is well-known around here for her Fantasy Books. You are from Switzerland, aren't you?"
Ana nodded, who would have thought that her mom’s books were apparently that well-known here. The trip to Prague seemed within reach. She looked at him, "What about you? Are you one of the nominees or are you accompanying someone, like me?" He looked slightly irritated as if he were not sure, if she was trying to put him on with her question. His eyes had taken a suspicious expression before he answered. Holy shit, she thought. What had she said to piss him off that way? "I sing," he said in a distended voice. "Awesome, this means apparently, that you're singing is pretty good if you are nominated."
"I always try to do my best", he still looked somewhat weird at her. Did he expect that she recognized him, or what? He was really cute and there was something about him. She couldn’t get a hold of it, but he was extremely alluring and at the same time likable. "Should I know you because of your music? You know, we don’t hear many Canadian Singers in Switzerland. The only one that pops to my mind is good old Justin Bieber, and I must say that I don't like him that much."
He gave her an amused glance, but apparently, he was as relaxed again as before. "What is it you don't like about him? His lifestyle or his singing?" She started to babble. This guy made her nervous, "I guess his life style. So, then what's your Name?" He was completely at ease again and reached out his hand towards her, "My name is Saul Marques."
“Holy crap," she held her hand over her mouth in horror. Moms, dream son-in-law! How were the chances statistically for something like that to happen? 1: 1,000,000? Yet, here she was sitting beside him, nearly having him knocked out just one minute ago.
"Ok, your reaction makes me guess, that you've heard of me, but couldn’t remember?" Well what should one answer to that without looking too stupid, Ana wondered feverishly. "Guess you could say that. Besides you looked somehow different in the photos and on the YouTube videos."
"What do you mean by different? Different better or worse?" Shit this guy asked some mean questions. Ha, my ass, perfect son-in-law, she thought to herself. "Don’t know," she mumbled uncertainly counting the small black dots on the back of the front seat. Counting always calmed her immediately when she was nervous. She heard his chuckle and looked up, "Well saved, but maybe a little vague. It’s probably the pimple that showed up this morning on my forehead, something like that changes a person a lot." He glanced amused at her with his hazel eyes. Ana couldn’t see any pimple. He seemed to enjoy himself about her embarrassment. Ana had no idea what she should say. Considering the guy was not much older than her and was most probably chased most of the time by a bunch of teenage girls, he was unflappable.
Fortunately, she didn’t have to answer, as the woman sitting next to him asked him something and at the same time, her mom tapped on her shoulder. She wanted to introduce her to Renée but whispered first gleefully in Ana's ear that her seatmate was quite fascinating, "Well, at least, your reaction makes me guess, that you didn’t have anything to do with the seating arrangements."
“Believe me, Muffin even if I had wanted to, it wouldn’t have been possible." She poked Ana in the ribs, "But you do know that I don’t believe in coincidences. Isn’t he cute?" Ana rolled her eyes, "Ok, he is nice, but he is also cheeky and doesn’t behave like a dream son-in-law!"
"Of course, he doesn’t. After all, he isn’t eighty yet right?” Ana crossed her arms defiantly not saying anything more. Saul Marques had faced them again becoming acquainted with her mom. He pointed to the woman on his left, "May I introduce, my mother," the very British and stiff-looking woma
n nodded friendly towards them, “Pleased to meet you, my son and my daughter love your books. Good luck for the Award."
Ana’s Mom smiled, pleased, and Saul's mother continued, "You know it's really a pity that Edith cannot perform with my son. She got the flu, and the organizers insist on a duet, a real shame. Now I’m afraid that the American and this Disney brat will perform a song," she wrinkled her nose. Saul seemed embarrassed, "Mom, he is my friend, don’t be such a racist." Ana felt out of place and tried to make herself look as small as possible in her seat. Better not to get caught in the crossfire of these two clucking mothers, she thought, as her mom was fully in her element, "You ought to know Ms. Marques, that I'm a big fan of your son." Good God, help me, then why don’t you adopt him? Ana thought desperately, hoping that she wouldn’t bring up her dream son-in-law story. Clearly, the woman was capable of anything tonight. If she could have, she would have put a hand over her mom’s mouth to silence her, but unfortunately, it was too late and once her mother was in the mood, it was difficult to stop her, "We love his songs, don't we Muffin?" Ana surrendered, closing her eyes and shaking her head, she hated it when her mom called her Muffin in front of other people.
Startled, she looked up when she heard what news her mom shared with her new acquaintances, "Ana has a beautiful voice, and she knows the song with Edith, she could fill in for her." Ana could hardly believe her ears, "What am I, a horse that you are praising for a race? Are you out of your mind? No way, I am going to make a fool out of myself," then she looked at Saul. He looked at her with interest and she continued enraged, "You truly are asking me to make a fool out of myself in front of all these people." She was beside herself. This time, her mom really had gone too far. She wouldn’t make a fool of herself. Looking at Saul and his mother hoping to get approval, she saw to her horror that they looked both full of interest at her. As if she was the solution to their problem. "Do you think you could manage it?" Saul's mother asked hopefully. "No, no way I'm going to embarrass myself in front of all these people." Saul looked at her intently and under his intense gaze, she felt like a hypnotized rabbit. She would have fled if she could have, but the escape was blocked on both sides. "Forget about the people. Do you think you could sing the song with me?"
Elementary Virtue: The Prophecy Page 7