She looked at Keanu and strolled toward him. Like the snake in paradise, Gregory thought, and he had no idea why the thought popped into his mind, but she reminded him of a beautiful wild cat or an iridescent snake, both looked beautiful but were dangerous and best to observe from afar. “Ciao Caro. What are you doing here? What gives us the honor of this visit?” Her gentle voice had something lurking. No doubt, this beautiful young woman was a deadly weapon, and she reminded Gregory of someone. He didn’t know whom, but he was sure having met before this kind of dangerous femininity. She turned to him and looked at him, "Hello, whom do we have here?" She cooed, gazing at him from top to bottom. "That's Antony Cinisi from the Circus Motta Benedetto, a grandson of Signora Tiziana." She stepped closer to Keanu, "You don’t say. So, are you still the sidekick of the Signora. Such a shame Amore, as I remember it, you had better perspectives. Didn’t you Tesoro?" She stroked over his cheek with her long slender fingers. Keanu didn’t move, looking blankly.
"Antony, may I introduce this is Giada di Benedetto. She is one of the most influential young women on this island. Her Daddy rules the island like a king," he added with a bitter undertone. "Oh baby, don’t be so damn melodramatic. You could have had it all if you only wanted it enough." She pouted and gave him a kiss. "No, thank you, if you mean that I could have been a henchman under your Daddy’s control, one of his puppets. I had to pass on this generous offer, unfortunately. I am a free man and not for sale, not even for you beautiful!"
"Never say never Amore, so what are you doing here?" She smiled mockingly. "I'll get my boat, it is still here in the harbor, as you surely remember. I don’t think you mind if I go sailing with Antony and do some fishing. I’ll leave you my car behind, so to speak as a pledge."
He managed to put on a disarming smile, which turned out more like a grimace. Not very convincing, Gregory thought amused. Keanu definitely didn’t have the gift to set up a poker face. Giada di Benedetto took off her scarf shaking her coppery mane. It fell like scales from Gregory's eyes, and suddenly he knew exactly on whom she had reminded him from the first moment. "Angel" he didn’t remember her last name, though. Now that he thought about it, it had been Di Benedetto. So, she had to be related necessarily to the money and power leering Di Benedetto community, probably a cousin or something. However, Gregory couldn’t understand why Angel was able to control the earth and had even been damn good at it. He thought back, and she had been quite into mixing poisons, if he remembered well. Anyway, she almost managed to send Shane to the happy hunting grounds, if Mila hadn’t intervened courageously. Keanu said earlier that Sicilian descendants either had very strong skills in rare cases or none at all. Gregory was caught up in his own thoughts, not following the talking of the two until he was startled by Giada Di Benedetto's sharp voice, "I'll give you some good advice Keanu, it would be better if you don’t show your face around here with this Circus scum again."
She looked into Keanu's eyes intently, "You mean a lot to me, and I have a soft heart for you," she put a hand to her heart in a dramatic move, "but Daddy and the family, don’t appreciate it when you just show up unexpected. I am sure you do remember what happened last time."
"Giada, you don’t have to remind me what happened, my scars remind me every single day about it. I just want my boat nothing else. Then I’ll disappear, and you can have my car as a souvenir for a disaster."
"I am happy to take your gift Amore and my thoughts will be with you if I’ll get the car up to speed! You remember certainly that I am quite talented in this field." Gregory held his breath, Keanu looked miserable, as if he would collapse soon. They sure had to get away quick from this refined woman. She had taken off her sunglasses, and they stared at each other. There was clearly a dangerous crackling in the air. Finally, Giada lowered her gaze, leaving the Vespa on the stand. Then she went to Keanu's car, opened the door, and LP got in. She let the engine roar loudly, waved casually and drove away in a cloud of dust.
Keanu broke away from his rigidness, "Come on, let’s go before she changes her mind and shows up with her crazy bunch of Mafiosi." They climbed on the boat, which was a luxurious version of a sailing boat. Keanu was casting off, and soon they had left the harbor behind "Wow, pretty sharp your boat, no puny boat as I expected." Keanu remained stubbornly silent. Encountering Giada di Benedetto had gotten to him and made him speechless. But, Gregory didn’t give up that easily, he had to know more about that Love Story having gone apparently wrong. "There was a very violent crackling in the air between you and Giada. The air almost burned. Are you sure that the story between the two of you is over? I had the impression not everything had been resolved between the two of you."
"There is nothing to be clarified. She’ll do everything Daddy asks her to. She is the evil one, the wrong one," he paused. "And yet you still have feelings for her, right?" "That doesn’t matter, she has chosen her side, and it is not ours. Believe me, if Daddy were to kill me, she would watch without flinching." He looked at Gregory with a tortured expression on his face, "I had to learn it the hard way."
"What happened?" "Gregory, that is none of your business, and we don’t need to discuss that now, we have other matters on our list."
"Oh, we have a list? What a pity, I would have liked to hear the story of you and dangerous Giada. You have become very pale, and someone who can take you out of balance must have some qualities. You usually are such a tough one we both know it."
Keanu stared thoughtfully at him, then he threw the mast in his direction, "Get out of here, you wanna be amateur shrink. Otherwise we’ll get past Malta and land on Mallorca, and I am not in the mood for Ballermann, right now." Gregory ducked and dodged avoiding the mast." "Don’t get excited. I’ll do my best. This means literally, that you want to know everything about me, but are not going to tell me anything about you." Keanu didn’t answer and for some time there was silence. Gregory also had his hands full to do sailing. Damn it. He had no idea about sailing. When he finally made it and sat down exhausted on deck, his phone vibrated in his pocket. Leyla sent him two pictures. One of her in that turquoise Bikini, which reminded him of the Little Mermaid at that beach party having taken a wrong turn, back in time. The second picture was a selfie of her face. She looked amazing. For a moment, he forgot all about his complicated life, sitting there with a smile on his face just like a normal teenager in love, who had received a picture of his girlfriend. Keanu watched Gregory, the boy looked at that damn phone, as if it was a treasure or something. If he would tell him about his experiences concerning love, he would throw that phone away and avoid any female until this Savior story was over. He set the course on automatic and got two beers from the fridge.
He was amazed to find some beer in the fridge. Probably Giada had deposited them there even before the abrupt end of their relationship. It didn’t matter, since the cans were still unopened, assumed they were not poisoned or otherwise manipulated. He strolled back to Gregory, holding out a can under his nose, "Here's a little peace offering, but I still give you the good advice to stay away from girls until you have fulfilled your destiny," he glanced at Gregory's cell phone, "cute, but don’t be fooled, she means trouble and can bring danger to you." Gregory looked up taking the beer gratefully, "Maybe you are right, but I just can’t deny my feelings for her. She means something to me, and I am human not some machine. I love her." Keanu lifted his can for a toast "Then to love it is. My dear friend. Love that makes us weak and vulnerable listen to my words. Believe me dude."
"No, you're wrong about that. On the contrary, love is hope, strength, courage, with love one can overcome everything." Keanu shrugged, "Whatever you say. Let’s hope that life is not going to teach you a lesson one day."
For a while they sat next to each other without saying anything, then Gregory looked up at Keanu’s sharp dark profile, he seemed to be miles away from his thoughts, "Why are we going to Malta?"
"I have part of my family there, living in the north of the island, near an artificial lake. No
one will disturb us up there, and it will not surprise anyone when storms are coming, and floods subdue wild flames. Nobody knows about this place, not even Tiziana or Giacomo."
"That means you could also bring me there to kill me if no one knows where we are. Who knows maybe you're working with Giada secretly and are just pretending to be on my side? "Keanu clucked angrily," I'll bring you to a safe place idiot and now shut up before I’ll punch you in your stupid face. Don’t forget that the idea for that duel was yours not mine. This means that we are supposed to kill each other right now. The only one that has seen you is Giada, and she thinks that you are Antony. Precisely this fact will save the Circus and all their asses as well as our asses.
"I don’t understand what you're talking about." Keanu looked into the distance with a slight smile on his lips, "Giada is sort of a life insurance for Giacomo, Tiziana, Valentina and Antony, and she saw me sail away with Antony, right?" "Yes, so what?" "Think Gregory, when they find out that the real Antony is still in the Circus. When one of them shows up there, they’ll know that it was you. However, they can’t threaten our people because they don’t have a clue where we are. And, they think we killed each other." Gregory was impressed, "Dude you're awesome." Keanu nodded smugly, "But don’t you dare tell your Arielle, or else I will whack you."
"Don’t worry. But, you have had quite a good look at that picture. You are well informed. Keanu grinned, "What can I say? I'm not blind." Gregory grumbled something unintelligible under his breath. “And how will you let Giacomo and Tiziana know that we are still alive."
"Let me worry about that. I know ways and means that you don’t know anything about.
Now let’s create a decent storm." He didn’t have to ask him twice. The clear ocean swirled. A storm broke around the sleek white ship, followed by fireballs. In the eye of the storm, the white sailing boat glided calmly and undisturbed ahead. The spectacle lasted about half an hour, and it was as if a war had broken loose on high seas. When they passed near a cruise ship, Keanu made a sign towards Gregory helping him understand that it was time to stop. Finally, the last thing she wanted was getting the attention of other ships. Besides, they had almost reached Valletta, Malta’s main harbor.
Keanu maneuvered the ship into the port. Once they arrived, they left it behind, both carrying only a backpack. They looked like two ordinary tourists. Gregory clamped a skateboard under his arm, which he found on the ship. He loved to skate, and man, he was damn good at it. Keanu had to stop him by force when he was skating around him. "Darn kid, stop it, you're driving me crazy," he barked gruffly, grabbing the board. He tucked it under his arm. Gregory smiled and looked at the grim-faced Keanu, he stopped in front of him, looking sternly like some strict father. "Of course, Mom," he said mockingly having Keanu raising his Ray Ban looking reproachfully at him. They strolled through the old city of Valletta, which was built like a fortress. Right and left the dusty street there were tourist shops that offered all sorts of souvenirs and light shows of Malta's interesting past. The Island has been pretty much conquered by everyone having access to the sea at least once. Gregory felt somehow light headed, although he didn’t know why the energy of the island maybe. It was as if he had been here before, it was like a feeling of coming home, he didn’t understand.
On their way towards the bus station, a young man who stepped out when they were passing by lured them into a shop. Something about him was scary Gregory thought to himself, he wore his black hair in a bun, which gave him an Oriental touch. His apparently cheesy smile with admittedly bleached white teeth, for which many others would have envied him, was as wrong as his British accent, or the antique items he wanted to sell them. Gregory felt damn uncomfortable under the glare of the jet-black eyes of the seller, although he couldn’t explain why he had the feeling. All he knew was that he wanted to get away immediately from the guy and the store. His instinct told him to run, and he didn’t even know why. Anyway, he was grateful that he was wearing the shades. As much as the island fascinated him, this young man with the piercing black eyes scared him in an eerie way. Somehow Keanu didn’t seem to notice his discomfort, quite the contrary. He apparently wanted an amulet he had set his eyes on, from the store. He even began to negotiate the price with the scary young man. Gregory's whole body was ready to run. He had to get out of here, and it had to be now. There was no good reason to run, but the fact was, he couldn’t bear to stay in this damn shop any longer. He wrenched the skateboard from the puzzled-looking Keanu mumbling something about the bus station, and then he hit the road on the board, without looking back.
Keanu looked after him, shaking his head. The boy was a freaking fruitcake. He needed that damn amulet. It was important for the destruction of evil, of falsity, of greed but how was Gregory supposed to know that? Something scared him off. Something he hadn’t noticed. Bad vibes? Was it the young man, who was quite pushy? He told him he was from Israel. His name was Yusuf, he was very talkative, which was odd enough, the locals in Malta never were quite like that, if they didn’t know someone. They had taken over the British aloofness and thawed only after they got to know someone closer. "Your friend is not the patient type," he said, watching Gregory leave on the skateboard. Keanu raised the Ray Ban once again and looked at him warily. Then he tossed back his hair with an impatient movement, "Forget my friend, how much you want for it?" He took the amulet carved out of wood on a black braided leather band dangling from his hand. It looked as if it was already quite old. The embroidery presented a structure, could have been a volcano, a tree, or a swirl. There was a gemstone on all four sides, in the middle a crystal, a sapphire on the right, an emerald on the left, and a ruby at the bottom center. The young salesperson had clearly recognized that Keanu wanted the amulet and began to praise its advantages. Keanu slowly lost patience to deal with this weasel. But he needed the amulet badly, and the guy understood, which didn’t make it any easier. He wanted to close the deal as Gregory had taken off and he didn’t know where he was. So he paid finally a much too high price leaving behind a happy smiling Yusuf, who was looking after him waving. Good thing the idiot didn’t know the amulet was indeed of great value and had only come into that shop because of Keanu’s various relations. Anyway, he hoped that this brazen young seller didn’t know anything about the true origin of the amulet otherwise it could cause some real trouble.
Keanu hurried up the stairs to the bus station. Gregory was sitting on the ground next to his skateboard at the bus station and was surprised how many different bus lines traveled around the island. He hadn’t expected that many possibilities to get around the Island on a bus. His phone beeped, he had received a text. Leyla wrote him that he had been right about Ana, she had been Gabe’s spy. She added a weeping emoji, and assured him how sorry she was, and that it was all her fault. He quickly wrote back, that he didn’t want her to blame herself, and she shouldn’t feel guilty. He also wrote her telling her that he was no longer on the island and that it would be better for her if she didn’t know where he was staying. Then he added a kissing emoji and sent the message.
It took damn long until Keanu finally showed up. He was visibly upset and moved his head in a gesture that made him understand that he wanted him to follow. Gregory got up and walked to Keanu, who was getting into a bus, destination 'Cirkewwa'. They sat down on an empty seat. Keanu remained silent and seemed to be pissed about something. Around his neck there was a wooden amulet dangling with four gemstones stones on each side and a tree in the middle. Gregory didn’t dare asking what the amulet was about. Keanu was absent and unapproachable like he was miles away with his thoughts. In silence, they drove along the coast. They passed the nightlife area of St. Julian, and then they went up further north. The area was wild and mostly rocky. The ride took almost an hour until they arrived at a small village, standing on a rock plateau. Gregory read the name of the village 'Mellieha' then the bus went back down to the beach. They drove further for about ten minutes of the coastal road to the bus terminal, which was so
mewhere in the boonies and from where the ferry went over to Gozo. Keanu and Gregory were the last two remaining passengers. Keanu got out without turning to Gregory and trudged along the dusty road. There was no house in sight. Gregory had no choice but to follow him.
Keanu goose-stepped forward then he turned into a dusty, rocky road that was lined with dry bushes. The road led steeply uphill. After a long climb, a house appeared on the top of the hill. It was white, had blue shutters and a big blue entrance door with a golden doorknob. A large veranda and a terrace that lead around the house could be seen from afar. When they finally reached the top, Gregory was out of breath and was welding his forehead. Keanu, however, seemed to enjoy the climb. At the top, he took out the key from underneath a pot with a cactus and was about to unlock the door when the door opened from the inside and a small plump woman in a black dress, with a white headscarf, looking like an old gypsy woman, stood in front of them. A flood of words in an unknown ominous-sounding language hailed down on Keanu. Gregory cringed awaiting any moment to see her pull a gun from behind her back aiming at them. But, that couldn’t have been further from reality, as it was a broom she was holding behind her back. Keanu laughed picking up the small woman. He spun her around in circles and the broom almost hit Gregory’s nose, and he was able to cringe once more at the very last moment. Keanu put her back on the ground and hugged her fiercely, and then turned to Gregory, "May I introduce, Veronica, my uncle’s housekeeper, and at the same time the good soul of this house."
Elementary Virtue: The Prophecy Page 16