Giada is coming
The evening performance had been a huge success as usual and tomorrow they would fold up the big top and go to the mainland for their fall/winter tour to start, but Donna Tiziana was anything but happy. Brooding she sat in her trailer, she had consulted her Tarot cards for advice and seen death and destruction. What could be looked at best-case scenario as the end of something and a new beginning? But, things first had to collapse and be destroyed before something new could arise. On the other hand, since Gregory and Keanu had disappeared, she had somehow lost hope for a new beginning. Donna Tiziana sighed, even if she didn’t believe a word of what Antony said. In his opinion, they had killed each other and that was just not possible for Tiziana. But, it was a fact that the two of them hadn’t come back and were gone since that day. It had been a week by now.
Giacomo was a true bundle of nerves, it seemed as if he expected to be attacked anytime. Donna Tiziana did understand him very well, because without Keanu they were in danger. Once the Di Benedetto Clan or other families got wind of him being away, the damn threatening would start all over again. There would be the threats for protection, the money issues, and many other unpleasant matters. She felt tired and didn’t know if she was strong enough to stand her ground this time against the Di Benedetto or any other clan. Since what had happened with Keanu, they had come to a truce and had left her and Giacomo in peace. Thanks, also to the successful debut of Antony and Valentina, which had contributed to the peaceful phase. The Circus Motta had successfully formed some great artists who appeared around the globe in well-known Circuses like the - Cirque du Soleil - and had therefore helped to get many young Sicilians off the street and into the Circus, giving them some purpose in live. At least three-quarters of the youngsters of the important families on the island would certainly be unemployed, or hit the road as a contract killer for the Mafia or worse, if it hadn’t been for the Circus Motta Benedetto. Each of her grandchildren or any other child of her tainted family, which could be brought to the right path, was a soul rescued out of the clutches of the Vultures and the Mafia. Antony was a good kid, which he had proved once again when he arrived full of despair about the fact that Gregory and Keanu were going to kill each other. He had a good heart and none of the wickedness of the Cinisis and she hoped and prayed to god every day that even Valentina didn’t have any evil in her.
Tomorrow they would leave the island and the way it looked it was high time for it, because when the family got wind about Keanu not being in the Circus anymore, it was only a matter of time before someone would show up. Giacomo had already gone to bed and his loud snoring filled the trailer. Donna Tiziana lay down beside him, but except for the snoring, which had really reached deafening proportions, there were too many things going through her head to sleep. After a sleepless night, she got up and made herself up carefully. Giacomo was still asleep and it was not necessary that he understood at first glance that she was worried. She left the trailer and walked with her head held high for the buffet breakfast at the dining tent. Most were surprised to see her so early in the morning. It was only seven o'clock in the morning and there were not many people around, because today there was no performance and the Big top would be folded away for the voyage, most slept a little longer. Donna Tiziana sat at a table a little aside from the entrance with her cappuccino and a brioche reading the morning newspaper. There had been flooding near Messina, the river had overflown the banks and a small community called Barcelona had been swamped. Donna Tiziana snapped upset. It was no wonder that each time a few drops of rain fell from the sky, that village was swamped.
First time it had happened a few years ago and the mayor - his name was De Capitani, - got some funds from the Italian government conceded to seize measures to ensure that this tragedy didn’t repeat itself and more innocent people lost their lives. He hadn’t done anything of the sort, but blown the money on women and booze or whatever. Now the citizen demanded his resignation and he tried to silence them with tall tales. It was disgusting, to see how corrupt politicians were. Again people had died, among them several children. On this island, nothing would ever change. If Gregory would be able to do his job, at least the machinations of the Vulture-born mobster would come to an end. The old pure resident Mafia families tended to stay among themselves and made out their problems among themselves. So to speak, they were even the lesser evil. The Vultures on the other hand were interfering everywhere and were so proud of their shamanic background, although they usually had virtually no powers at all. Which in Tiziana’s eyes was clear to be understood as a god’s punishment for their evil machinations. Unfortunately, they found out that Vultures from other countries, who had not been born in Sicily, had very strong powers. So, they started to look for them, trying to convince them to work for them. They had been so keen to have Keanu in their ranks, and for the exact same reason the Grande family had their training unit overseas, from which they certainly hoped to get access to, untamed power. Yes, they dreamed even to dominate the old families of the original Cosa Nostra in Cuor Leon. This bunch of delusional morons. That was the reason the Canadian Vultures would get here to make sure that Gregory disappeared for good from the surface of earth. This would get them another 100 years to continue their ruler ship and gain control over the island, if the volcano didn’t destroy the whole Island this time around.
Disgusted Tiziana threw the newspaper aside, now her appetite was gone. She pushed her brioche aside sipping her coffee, when she suddenly heard the sound of an approaching car. Who the hell came out on the peninsula early in the morning, on the day of their departure? Alarmed she looked in the direction of the noise. A black Mustang came to a halt with squealing wheels. The car looked familiar. It looked like Keanu's Mustang, but she was not sure. And she couldn’t see who was driving it. The driver seemed to be alone. Therefore, it couldn’t be Gregory and Keanu who returned. Nevertheless, hope rose that maybe at least one of them was coming back. In any case, the arrival didn’t bode well, she felt it. The car stopped not far from Donna Tiziana’s table. A figure in a black jumpsuit and a black hood got out and came towards her. Looked as whoever it was didn’t want to be necessarily recognized. As the figure came closer, Donna Tiziana saw that he was of a delicate shape of stature. Maybe a boy from Solanto who intended to hire for the Circus hoping they would take him to the mainland. Relief came up for a short time, until the moment the figure took off the hood.
Giada di Benedetto was standing in front of her. She looked like an Amazon, Tiziana thought to herself. God, this girl was a real beauty, in fact she reminded her of herself when she was young. Pride and beauty, combined with a damn good self-confidence. She shook her long copper mane, glittering in the morning sun, which had been tousled by the wind and the hood. She looked at Tiziana from her almond-shaped gray gold-flecked eyes. Donna Tiziana was not thrown off balance that easily. She had experienced too many uncomfortable situations in her life. She gave an easy look and smile to her unexpected guest, "Giada what a surprise. What gives us the honor of your visit, so early in the morning?" She looked at her mockingly, trying to act as condescending as possible. Which was a bit difficult given the fact that Giada was standing in front of her and she had to look up to her. Giada smiled disarmingly grabbing a free chair and sat down. Donna Tiziana beckoned a member of the staff to bring Giada some coffee, "So tell me dear, what are you doing here?"
"I beg your pardon. I wanted to visit Antony and Valentina because you are moving on to the mainland today and I haven’t seen them for quite some time." Tiziana frowned, "But your family has no contact at all with their family, you are even not very well disposed towards each other, the Cinisi communities and Di Benedetto communities hate each other. As far as I know, they rather get in each other’s way sometimes. Isn’t that corrupt mayor, I read about in the newspaper, this Emanuele De Capitani one of them, your father can hardly like such behavior, does he ever?" Giada smiled again and her pearly white teeth shimmered, "The young generation d
oesn’t want anything to do with such nonsense, we are friends now Auntie"
"Please don’t call me Auntie, I am choosing my relatives recently myself, you're confusing something, because you certainly don’t belong to the illustrious circle. For I haven’t quite forgotten what your clan did to Keanu and you've watched them without even flinching. The worst part of it was, that you called such a thing actually love!" Giada didn’t say anything, she just stared at her silently, "If this was love, I am asking myself, how you would express hatred, if your so-called love was as cruel as it could be? It will be hard to exceed everyone’s expectations."
For a moment, both of them fell silent. Donna Tiziana stared at Giada reproachfully. Suddenly Giada bent over the table taking her hands, "I know that you hate me, but believe me. You don’t hate me as much as I hate myself." She looked at Donna Tiziana imploringly, "I had no chance against my father, I had to do what the family expected me to, even if you can’t understand it and you will never forgive me. I still love Keanu. You have to believe me. I will always love him, but I will never be able to be with him." Tiziana frowned at her. This could be nothing more than a nasty trick. She had to be on guard because Giada was up to every trick she knew it very well. Giada let go of her hands, running her hand in an uncertain gesture through her shiny mane, "I've seen Keanu and Antony a few days ago." Donna Tiziana tried not to show her surprise. "He was in Capo d ‘Orlando and took the boat to go fishing with Antony. He left me the Mustang. But as he has not yet returned the boat and you are leaving today, I wanted to check with you whether the two of them are not going with the rest of you to the mainland? Aren’t they artists in your program?"
Donna Tiziana didn’t know what to do. What was she supposed to say? She thought feverishly about how to wriggle her way out of this difficult situation, but the burgeoning joy about Gregory and Keanu apparently being alive and sailing away was hard to conceal. She wanted to send that selfish Girl away and give Giacomo the good news. She heard Giada’s voice becoming louder like through a thick a fog, "Auntie, did you hear me? I haven’t told Daddy yet because I thought that he’ll bring the boat back today." Donna Tiziana pulled herself together saying, "I have no idea where he is." Giada was becoming suspicious, the older woman was apparently not telling the truth, that much was clear she would somehow find out where Keanu was and why he hadn’t come back. She would also find ways and means to find the Savior. She was sure that he was hiding somewhere in the Circus. She would look at each one of them, and no one would stop her from doing that, especially not an aging diva who sat here in front of her trying to play innocent. There wouldn’t be that many guys with extremely blue eyes strolling around that damn Circus.
In her mind, she was planning her strategy how to convince Donna Tiziana to show her around the Circus, when a strawberry blond, tall, handsome boy and a pretty girl passed by the tent laughing and teasing each other. The girl punched the boy in the side and Giada caught a few snatches of their conversation. "You're such an ass Antony, Clark's way too old for me and besides, I have no time for stuff like that." The two of them disappeared laughing into the tent and Giada watched them with narrowed eyes. How did the girl call that boy? But wasn’t Antony supposed to be sailing with Keanu somewhere on the ocean? She jumped up. Someone was trying to make a fool out of her. Either Keanu or Donna Tiziana, this old witch. She would find out immediately. She darted the older woman an evil look, "Auntie when I told you Keanu came to Capo d ‘Orlando with your grandson Antony, you haven’t mentioned that Antony is still here. Why did you do that?" Donna Tiziana sat there dumbfounded, what was she supposed to do? How was she to stop the raging fury that would pounce on poor Antony any minute? Giada rushed furiously towards the food tent.
Antony was at the coffee machine. He needed a double Ristretto, since the story with Keanu and Gregory he didn’t sleep well and as a result, he mostly felt as if he had been run over by a truck every morning. He wondered if the two idiots had killed each other, or whether they had come to their senses. He hoped so, he had done his best to prevent them from doing the stupid duel, and when he had come back with Giacomo and some friends to the stone pit, they were gone. He stretched and yawned. However, the yawning got stuck in his throat turning into coughing, when he was torn around roughly by someone. A gorgeous looking girl was standing in front of him. "Shit, are you Antony?" He stopped coughing and croaked hoarsely, “Well hello," putting on his most charming smiles.
"Yes of course I'm Antony, who else should I be?" Giada turned on her heel storming out of the tent back to Tiziana’s table. She passed by hissing at her. " I’ll get you for that, Auntie, you’ve tried to play me pretending you didn’t know that Keanu has taken the Savior to some place where no one is supposed to find him. You wanted to fool me old woman, but you're going to regret that. I’ll tell Daddy everything and then you all are history." She got into the Mustang letting the engine roar. With screeching tires, she drove off, leaving a cloud of dust behind her. Giacomo, who had been awakened by the noise, came to Tiziana's table looking at her quizzically. Antony came running out of the food tent, out of breath, he stopped at Tiziana's table, "Does this mean that Gregory and Keanu are alive?"
Donna Tiziana nodded obviously still shaken, "I guess it does, but it also means that we will not survive for long if we don’t get away as quickly as possible. Giada will be back soon with her Mafia friends." "Well folks, lets pack up our stuff immediately, we can get on an earlier ferry boat then," Giacomo said. He understood how serious the situation had become.
Aftertaste
Leyla woke up because somebody hit her in the face. On closer inspection, the object that had hit her was Mila’s arm. What the hell? Mila was lying face down on her bed. She had hit her with her arm while rolling over getting into another position. What was Mila doing in her bed? Her mind was a blur, she vaguely remembered the previous evening. Somehow, it had become a boozy party, and they had enjoyed themselves immensely gossiping about boys. Well, Brooklyn didn’t join in that much, because Aiden did almost anything for her, so she didn’t have a reason to complain about a boy. Where was Brooklyn? And, what time was it? She quickly sat up. Man, she felt dizzy. She touched her head, God. She had a headache that was almost unbearable. She touched her forehead. Besides, she was thirsty. She scrambled to her feet and almost stumbled over Brooklyn, who was lying on the floor still asleep. Drowsy she lifted a fist and croaked, "Down with Gregory" Leyla shook her head, that seemed to have been a bad party yesterday. There was a knock on her door. Leyla flinched when the door opened, and her Mom's head poked in. It's after 7 am, and I am on my way to the airport, what's going on here? Why is Brooklyn’s blanket on the floor? You could have taken the folding bed if you have more than one girl sleeping over. Oh, crap, Leyla thought. Luckily, her Mom flew to Vancouver today because of an event. Otherwise, they would have certainly been late for school. "Um, she probably fell out of bed. Actually, we would have plenty of room, and my bed is wide enough." Her Mom looked at her searchingly, and then she shrugged, "Ok, then wake them up, or you guys will have no time for breakfast. I'm leaving," she kissed Leyla on the cheek and ruffled her hair. Then she wrinkled her nose, "in here, it smells a bit strange. You should take some time to air out your room before you leave. Well then, behave Kiddo, I’ll be back tomorrow, and your Dad will come back from Boston late tonight."
Leyla nodded waving at her. As soon as she closed the door, she tried to wake up the two bleary-eyed drunks. She chose to do it the hard way pulling aside the curtains. Bright light flooded the room, and then she turned on the radio. The deep voice of Tucker, the host of the morning show on her favorite radio station Virgin Radio, was just talking about the latest amorous escapades of a singer and then Justin Bieber's latest hit was on the air. Leyla decided to turn up the volume. Both Mila and Brooklyn sat up startled, "Damn Leyla, turn off the music," Mila muttered holding her head. "Nope, not a chance Mila, we have to get up and get ready, or we'll be late." Mila stretched like a cat and stood u
p reluctantly. She stretched again, swayed slightly, and then she tripped over Brooklyn who had slept on with all the noise without noticing anything, not even the sound of the radio. Brooklyn sat up still sleepy-eyed, "What's going on?" she was the only one who still looked perfectly normal despite that late night's sleep, the drinking, and even her eye makeup had stood the test and still looked perfect. Incredible Leyla thought to look at her rumpled appearance in the mirror, "Get up Brooklyn we’ll have some cornflakes." Mila stretched again saying, "Oh Yummy, I am starving, do I get some Juice too? Otherwise, I might lose consciousness out of sheer hypoglycemia?" Leyla grinned. They were a strange bunch. Fortunately, they all were still fully dressed, which meant that they were ready quickly. Except for Brooklyn, who would hardly want to go to school wearing her elegant shift dress. Leyla gave her a T-shirt and some jeans.
"Well, today you’ll have to cope for once with my clothes." Brooklyn shrugged, "What is wrong with your clothes?" Leyla sighed, "Nothing, I guess. So, let's get to the kitchen girls." They were ready in no time and then everybody always said girls spent hours in the bathroom in the morning. At exactly 7:45, they left the house and rushed to the subway. On the subway, they met Melissa, who leered at Leyla asking her whether she had a sleepless night behind her. But, she didn’t dare to say anything to Mila, her hair looked ruffled as if she had put a finger in an electrical outlet. Leyla ignored Melissa and kept on yawning all the way to school. Fortunately, Melissa talked exclusively with Brooklyn, who looked admittedly more or less normal, as always except the unusual T-shirt and the shabby jeans, even if they looked completely okay on her, Leyla admitted non-grudgingly. Maybe Brooklyn’s hair was slightly fluffier than usual, but that's was about it. Leyla said in between yawning to Mila that she couldn’t wait to get back to bed. Then she fell silent again until it came to her mind that she promised Ana to go to Judo training tonight. It was Ana’s last evening in Toronto. In the morning, she would fly back to Europe. Crap, she couldn’t possibly turn her down. "What's going on, did you forget something at home?" Mila asked. "Worse, my bed will have to wait for me tonight, Ana is flying back to Europe tomorrow, and tonight is her final training. I can’t turn her down, it just wouldn’t be fair."
Elementary Virtue: The Prophecy Page 19