What would Gregory say, if someone asked him about her? Would he ever say such things about her? No he sure wouldn’t. She sat on her chair gazing in abstraction. She knew him too well. But he didn’t want her to be with him. He wanted her out of his life. Again she felt sad and depressed. Aiden had finished talking in the meantime. He picked up his muffin. "Thanks, I'm starving."
He looked at her; "Hey what's going on, you look sad again."
He grabbed her shoulders with both hands, so that she was forced to look at him. "Don’t be sad Leyla, we will go to Sicily and you'll see Gregory again. I promise. Your story is far from over, I'm sure. I know that he’d never have broken up with you, if he didn’t have a damn good reason, probably a life threatening reason. His feelings towards you were too obvious, he didn’t dump you just like that, even if you think so." Leyla wanted to believe him, "you promise?"
"Yes I promise and now eat your Muffin, drink your coffee, plaster your nose and smile. Brooklyn is about to join us, and I don’t want you to cry when she gets here." Obedient Leyla took a bite and drank her Coffee. "Aiden, how are you going to tell Brooklyn that you go to Sicily? I don’t suppose you want her to join us, being exposed to unnecessary risks."
"Absolutely not, but the problem has already been solved. She is going to Paris with her parents. There is a fashion event. God, Leyla, that's it. You’ll tell your parents that you ’ll go to Paris with Brooklyn. This is an absolutely brilliant idea."
"And if they ask Brooklyn's parents about it, what then?"
"We'll find a solution; her parents are hardly ever home."
"But my mom might ask Brooklyn. I mean she often comes to my place, you know that. Besides, there is another problem, who is going to pay for my stay in Paris?
My parents would never pay that kind of money. They won’t buy the story at all."
"Damn Leyla don’t be such a pessimist. Technically they could invite you, they’ve got the money, don’t they?"
Leyla nodded, "But if they ask Brooklyn, I am screwed."
"Then keep her away from your house. For God's sake Leyla, there are only two weeks left until the fall break, you’ll sure work things out."
Leyla was far from being convinced. She knew her mom, and no one could lead her on easily. However, she could not raise any further concerns, as Brooklyn was heading for their table. She looked radiant as ever after last night. Really enviable, her skin was flawless, her long curls covered her face. She wore a trendy beige trench coat and boots in a matching color.
"Hey you two," she kissed Aiden extensively and sat down with them at the table. She glanced sympathetically at Leyla, touching her hand gently; "Aiden cheered me up, and he really is damn good getting someone back to the ground. I think he would make an excellent shrink. His conversational therapy would certainly be unbeatable. "
She looked at Aiden winking conspiratorially.
"Nevertheless, he should perhaps work on a confidence-inspiring look, otherwise his patients could run off out of fear because of his appearance. I mean. who wants a fearsome therapist? "
Aiden grinned and Brooklyn ruffled his already tangled black hair.
"I don’t know what you mean, I love his look. I couldn’t imagine him in suit and tie. Although, if I think back to the summer festival, he did look extremely hot."
She paused startled, because the summer festival was a sensitive issue, after that day nothing had ever been the same again, especially for Leyla.
"I'm really sorry, I didn’t mean to revive any unpleasant memories."
Leyla shook her head; "Don’t worry Brooklyn what happened, can’t be undone. We know only the now and here, and the future is a mystery, so we have no choice but to make the best of the present. "
Brooklyn smiled gratefully, "I'm glad you think that way. Does anyone want to have another a drink? I'll get myself some tea. "
They both shook their heads. Once Brooklyn was out of reach, Aiden grabbed Leyla’s hand; "I’m relying on you Leyla, Brooklyn doesn’t have to know under any circumstances about our travel plans. I guess she is suspecting that something is going on, but I was able to reassure her we’d wait until we know more, and that before winter dawns there are no plans to follow Gregory and stand at his side. You know that I couldn’t stop her to come along. "
"I’ll be silent as a graveyard, you take care of the others, especially Mila, she is the one babbling without thinking, so see to it that she holds tight."
Aiden nodded pondering, and they fell silent until Brooklyn got back with her tea. Then no proper conversation could get off anymore, everyone seemed to indulge their own thoughts and Leyla decided that now probably was the right time to go home. Maybe she could sleep for an hour before she met Ana tonight. Arriving home, she lay down at once and fell into a fitful sleep full of confused dreams. She was standing on top of a volcano, or rather, she was hanging on the edge of the crater of a volcano. Below her she saw the depths of the hot red-orange glowing mass of lava. She clung to the rocky cliff, feeling her strength fading away. She wasn’t able to hold on to the cliff much longer. Her arms hurt and her fingers began to become numb. Sparks from the glowing lava below her shot into her blackened face, leaving burning marks behind. She knew that the inevitably imminent crash into the depths would happen soon enough. When suddenly someone called her name. On a rope a dark figure climbed down to her. As the figure was on eye level, she could see the face under the black hood. "Gregory," she cried out. His blue eyes looked worried. "Hold on, I'll get you out of here."
She tried to hold on to him letting go the cliff edge with one hand. Then, however, her forces left her. Her fingers loosened one after another from the ledge. before he was able getting hold of her properly. He couldn’t help it. Once again she tried with her last strength to reach him with her other hand, but could only reach the amulet he wore around his neck.
Then she fell into the depths of the volcano. Gregory’s shocked widened blue eyes above her. She held his amulet in her hand, it was made of wood and had a gemstone at each four sides, and some kind of tree in the middle. Reaching out for Gregory, she fell screaming, then she woke up soaked in sweat, on the floor of her room. She had actually fallen out of bed. She stumbled to her feet sitting back on her bed. For the first time, it crossed her mind that Gregory might be right, being with him could be dangerous for her. She lay back on the bed, trying to remember the details of the dream, but the only thing she saw clearly in front of her was the amulet. She quickly jumped up, and sat down at her desk. She drew the amulet from her memory on a piece of paper. She would ask Moonworthy about it, because she remembered the name of the author writing about the Onendas, the prophecy and the drawing of the savior in that page, she found in the internet last summer. It had been a certain Chayton R. Di Santos. It just had to be Moonworthy after what Aiden told her today. How many Chayton’s could there be? There was no doubt. If anyone knew something about that amulet, it was him. She looked at her watch, she had to get ready for meeting Ana.
When she finally got there, the Judo Training was particularly intense and Leyla couldn’t shake of the feeling, that she was fighting no longer for fun, or her personal health. She felt like she was preparing for a battle, a matter of life and death. Hazard had it, that today, it was no regular training, the club was preparing for a tournament against another club coming Saturday. By then, Ana was already back in Europe moping. Anyway Leyla gave everything she had, and defeated all her training partners, the largest and strongest, and finally she even double-crossed her Brazilian coach Elliott. After training, before she left the dojo, he took her aside, his eyes examined her closely. He was something like a star, an icon in the combat business, besides he was extremely handsome. His body was muscled and his muscles didn’t come only from his hard training in de dojo. He was also an avid weightlifter and a free climber. A real crazy fight and fitness freak. In addition, he also happened to have an almost ridiculously beautiful face. He looked as if he had been painted by Michelangelo.
The iris of his green eyes had an almost black rim, and he was incredibly charismatic. In short, women and to his disapproval, also men were lining up trying to flirt with him. Quite a few of them came only to the BJJ to get near him and others stalked him regularly. Sometimes she really felt sorry for him, as it must have been awkward for him and his wife, who was equally a sports-mad beautiful young woman. Leyla met her several times at her mom’s studio, where she taught -Power Pump- lessons. Leyla participated only once in a lesson and after that she hadn’t been able to walk properly for days. Anyway, Elliott stood in front of her, observing her. "Girl, is there something you want to tell me? I'm kind of worried about you, you fought with a frightening intensity in there, as if it was a matter of life or death!" Leyla swallowed hard not saying anything, because he was damn close and she didn’t know what to say. She could hardly tell him that she actually was preparing for a fight, and was angry enough to knock whatever got in her way to pieces. She felt this incredible rage, because her life had been a disaster lately, and reached its peak when Gregory broke up with her. Altogether, it seemed as if someone had smashed her live domino stones and since then, one after another fell down. The big Pop quiz was how many of these domino stones would still be standing before her life was a pile of shards.
Elliott read her silence likely as unwillingness to tell him what was going on. He touched her arm; "You know you can tell me if something is troubling you. I won’t tell anyone, not even Shana.”
He smiled disarmingly. Shana was his wife, and she thought it was really sweet that he noticed she was feeling bad and even offered his help.
However, she didn’t feel like telling him about her problems, certainly not where her increased aggressive potential came from. Honestly, she felt such rage within against the Vultures and everything that had remotely to do with Italy. Well, that was probably pretty narrow-minded. In fact, it was just about Sicily, but who was sure those assholes had not spread around the whole country. Gregory's mother had been murdered in the north. This meant nothing else than, that they also acted in the north. So, all of Italy was rotten to its core. A small bomb, and the matter would be scratched. Except that Gregory would die too, and with him all the other innocent Italians. Damn she had it in her to become a terrorist, pretty scary. All these thoughts went through her mind, while Elliott was still staring at her, waiting for an answer. He cleared his throat and Leyla’s thoughts popped back into reality.
"No, it’s ok, you don’t have to worry. I'm just a little upset because my boyfriend broke up with me." She decided to tell him at least half the truth, so he would leave her in peace. He nodded sympathetically; "Now I understand your fierce commitment, and I’d like to advise you to keep it up until Saturday, and not let your anger turn into discouragement, because we need precisely this motivation of anger to win the tournament on Saturday against the- - Crazy Boonzaayers-. Our last victory against this club's been years, and you could help us to win this time." He patted her arm benevolent and they left the dojo together.
Ana waited for her in the changing room already dressed and impatient. "Where have you been that long? Saul is waiting outside for us."
Leyla shrugged; "Elliott wanted to know why I was in such a combative mood. Then go and enjoy a few undisturbed moments with him, finally today is your last evening. We can meet directly at - The Crowd - later on. I'll be coming soon."
Originally, Leyla had intended to tell Ana about her misery, but actually she didn’t want to spoil her last day in Toronto and burden her with her problems. Ana should spend a great evening with Saul and her friends at the Crowd, to keep up her time in Canada in good memory. "So why were you in such a combative mood then? Did something happen? Has somebody made you mad?” Ana looked critically.
"No, I just happen to have some excess energy," Leyla put on a cheesy smile.
"Don’t worry, everything is cool. I'll meet you later at the Crowd ok? "Ana grinned, the more time she was able to spend alone with Saul, the better.
The Crowd
The Crowd was already packed when Leyla showed up. She seemed to be the last to come. All of them were hanging around at the bar. She first discovered Brooklyn and Mila. "Hey girls, how is it going?" Mila moaned, "All right, I guess, but tonight I’ll stick with ice water, I don’t want to puke on Ana’s last evening." Brooklyn looked perfect as ever, as incredible as it was after such a night. She pointed to Ana and Saul, who stood leaning tightly entwined against the wall together. "Actually, I think that these two wouldn’t even notice if a bomb exploded. Thus, it is questionable whether they realize at all, that this is supposes to be Ana's farewell party. Maybe we better rented them a hotel room, with candles and rose petals scattered around the room." "Brooklyn," Leyla frowned, "maybe you shouldn’t get ahead of yourself jumping to conclusions." Brooklyn sighed, "I know, but I'm just a hopeless romantic and you have to admit that these two don’t look as if they’d take great notice of their surroundings." Where she was right, she was right, Leyla thought to herself.
Mila stared meanwhile intently to the entrance. "What's wrong with you Mila? You're so quiet, you are not usually this way. Do you still have a hangover?" Mila didn’t seem to listen, and Brooklyn answered instead, "Shane hasn’t come yet, although Aiden said he would show up, he will stay for some days in Toronto. Didn’t he text you?" Leyla shook her head. Shane didn’t seem to be as communicative as he once had been, she felt a slight sting. All her friendships with guys were going down the drain recently, like so many other things in her life. That damned domino effect really got to her. Brooklyn continued, "He will stay at Aiden’s place again, that’s why our girl Mila here is staring as fascinated to the entrance." Mila spun around, hearing her name, "What's wrong?" Leyla could barely suppress a smile, "Nothing, just continue staring at the entrance. Let me know when Shane is here I want to have a word with him. This jerk doesn’t even call me anymore when he comes to town. Considered we were once best friends! Those were the good old days - tempi passati -, as they say in Italy." Mila didn’t answer, surprisingly enough, as usually she was first in line to give some snide comment. Leyla didn’t get it, what the hell was going on? The love marry-go-round was spinning fast and one by one jumped off lately. In the end she would stand alone and abandoned. She shook off the emerging sadness and turned to Brooklyn, "Where's Aiden?" "Oh, he and the boys, especially James are creating some kind of cheer rap, sort of a battle song to unite the Akandos fighting the Vultures and they want so show their support this way. They will send Gregory a video message. Once the rap is ready, we all must go over to them for a Group selfie." She grabbed her bag, taking out a Selfie stick, "You did give Aiden Gregory's number, right?" "I had no choice, if Aiden wants something, he can be very persuasive," Leyla said and her eyes roamed around and then she froze. She nudged Brooklyn, "where did you say Aiden, James and the rest of the gang were?" Brooklyn looked up alarmed. There was slight panic in Leyla’s voice. "In the back of the Crowd, why are you asking?" The music was so loud that she couldn’t understand her own words, the DJ was going through his Goa Rave phase. Leyla hated this kind of music. She screamed in Brooklyn's ear, "Gabe and Angel are on the other side of the bar. Damn what are they up to? That's our meeting place, right?" Brooklyn looked up and discovered the two of them sitting seemingly uninterested at the bar, but their eyes wandered inconspicuously through the crowd. You're right, we meet here, but we can hardly forbid them to come here. What the hell are they doing here, that truly is a legitimate question to ask." They both stared at the other side of the bar and Leyla exclaimed a surprised, "What the -" When she saw how Gabe leaned towards Angel and kissed her. Brooklyn and Leyla couldn’t help staring with wide eyes. That wasn’t what they expected them to do in here. They looked over again to make sure that they hadn’t been mistaken. But it wasn’t the case, although at first it looked as if Angel would bitch slap him, but then she grabbed him on the collar kissing him back. The two didn’t let go, remaining glued to each other. Sure enough, they didn
’t observe their surroundings any longer. Leyla nudged Mila who reluctantly loosened her eyes from the entrance, "What the hell?"
"Quite," Leyla said jerking her head toward the other side of the bar. Mila's eyes followed her move and her expression changed, "Is that -?" "Exactly Gabe and Angel, you’ve got it," Leyla finished Mila's sentence, "I can’t believe it." Mila shook her head, "Not enough that the two idiots hang out at our Club, no, they are doing saliva-city. Sometimes I wonder what I'm doing wrong. Everybody drools around, but I always get away empty-handed."
"God, Mila, is that your only problem that you are unable to exchange saliva with someone." Leyla huffed exasperated when someone hugged her from behind and kissed her on the cheek. The scent of Issey Miake aftershave filled the air that could be none other than Shane, "Hey Leyla, what's up? Sorry, I couldn’t reach you, I really wanted to stay at your place as I'm staying a few days in the city, but Aiden volunteered. Hey Mila, Brooklyn everything all right?" Shane was in a good mood, his eyes roamed around to find his buddies. Mila braced her elbow on the bar and looked at him with a transfigured look on her face, as if the seventh wonder had appeared out of nowhere in front of her. He didn’t seem to notice, "Where's Aiden anyway?" Before Leyla or Brooklyn could enlighten him, Mila pushed him hard, "You've got some nerve, dude to show up, without telling Leyla. She's really pissed, right?" She looked at Leyla searching for applause. Leyla was too stunned to react. What was Mila up to? Shane stood in front of them visible unsure what he should do. Mila sighed looking around, "Such a shame, there are no hot guys in this place tonight," she glimpsed at Shane, who was still standing beside her and looking baffled. "Aiden is in the back, they rhyme a rap. Tell him that Angel and Gabe are making out at the bar. "He stood there for a moment still looking puzzled as Mila pushed him again saying," What are you waiting for, get lost." Shane sighed, "Alice, you are as charming as ever, see you girls." He pushed through the crowd toward the back. Leyla watched him leave.
Elementary Virtue: The Prophecy Page 21