His father and the whole Mafia gang were convinced that Gaetano was the long predicted savior out of this ridiculous legend, and just because he had these bright blue eyes and had been born a few years before the turn of the century. Maria Rosa had never liked Leonardo's family. But, as the daughter of the Belvedere clan she played along grinning and bearing. Her family had been against the union between her and Leonardo from the beginning, but she had been stubborn und blinded by his charm. For a long time, she didn’t want to admit that this marriage had been a mistake. It had been doomed from the start. Strictly speaking a terrible mistake, what had she been thinking? How could she ever have fallen in love with Leo, what had been wrong with her? Where had her common sense gone? Although he was quite charming, he had never been strong willed. He had the heart of a poet. Probably she had liked that side of him, which had ended fatally. He might have been a poet and a hopeless romantic and was incredibly handsome. Unfortunately, he was also a wimp who let himself be ordered around by his corrupt father and his entourage. At first, Maria Rosa had not noticed how bad the situation was. They were both studying in Florence far away from their families, but when they moved back to Sicily, it had become worse, and after Gaetano was born, Leo had seriously begun to change.
Finally, on that fateful day, Maria Rosa had overheard the conversation between Leo and his father. Her baby should be sacrificed because of a stupid legend. That had pushed her over the edge, and she could no longer close her eyes to reality. She had married a wimp, and his father was a monster, who was planning to kill his only grandson because of a legend. She couldn’t get her family to help her, as she was on bad terms with them since she married Leo against their will. Some close friends had helped her to plan her escape and get away. Unfortunately, Leo's father and his followers got wind of it and were at her heels. She peered out the door. The coast seemed to be clear for the moment. Maria Rosa sneaked out with her head down walking through the crowd, and she had to hide away her long curly mahogany-colored curls under her hood which was difficult.
Her hair was far too eye-catching. She bought a baseball cap and a pair of sunglasses at a kiosk. Then she hid her lush hair under the cap putting on the sunglasses. As unobtrusively as possible, she walked towards the exit to the bus station. She had no idea where she should go. The decision was made for her, when she saw Amadeo and Francesco, two of her persecutors walking around, obviously looking for someone. She quickly got into the first available bus, bought a ticket, and sat down in an empty seat. Her heart was pounding rapidly; she prayed silently that the bus would close its doors and finally leave. Her prayers seemed to be heard. The doors closed and the bus drove off. Not a second too early, as Amadeo discovered her and was waving wildly to his accomplice. Such a stupid thing to happen, now they both knew exactly where she was going and would, of course, take up the pursuit. Maria Rosa wondered if she should get off at the next stop to disappear in the crowd, but rejected the idea again immediately. First, she needed a plan, what her next steps would be. Meanwhile, she had seen where the bus was going. - Lerici - there was this small town on the coast, a bay over which a Castle towered.
She had once been here before, and she knew one of the Counts sons. He studied at the University of Florence with her. His name was Franco Rossi, if she managed to get to the castle, she might ask him for help. He was a kind soul and had given her some good advice during her study time in Florence. He would remember her if he were around. The trip to Lerici took over half an hour. Full of panic Maria Rosa looked out the window, and she was almost 100% sure that Amadeo and Francesco followed the bus. They were probably even behind the bus following her in a taxi. She had to act quickly as soon as the bus reached its destination. As most passengers got out at the port, she decided to change her plans. She wouldn’t get off at the last stop. That was too obvious. If she happened to be the last passenger getting off, it would be too dangerous. She mingled with the passengers getting off acting as if she belonged to a group of loudly cackling American tourists. She joined them and then disappeared at a favorable opportunity in a narrow alley of the old town. She waited a moment, the baby began to stir, and hopefully it didn’t start crying. She paused a moment, and then she crept through the narrow streets, to a staircase, which was leading to a wooded area in front of the castle.
The sun was high in the sky, and it was already getting hot. Sweat run over Maria Rosa’s forehead, as she climbed the steep steps. Breathing heavily, she arrived at the top. She risked a glance back, and her blood froze in her veins. Amadeo and Francesco came running up the stairs. Amadeo clearly had a weapon in his hand. There wasn’t a soul in sight. Maria Rosa runs as fast as she could to the forest, which led to the castle. The baby had woken up and began to cry loudly. Maria Rosa ran further into the woods. She saw a dark shape in the distance coming towards her. She mobilized her last forces, and adrenaline shot through her veins. This simply could not be the end. She had to save Gaetano. They couldn’t get their dirty fingers on him. A shot echoed through the silence of the forest. Maria Rosa collapsed and crashed down on the hard ground. Even as she fell, she held her arms protectively around the baby. The sling loosened and the baby rolled on the ground beside his mother. The crying ceased immediately, and it lay very still.
Father Paul, was on a late morning walk, trying to memorize his sermon. The fresh air in the forest helped him usually to prepare his best sermons.
All of a sudden, he realized that a young woman was running in his direction from a distance. She was apparently in trouble being followed by two men. One of them was obviously carrying a gun. Then a gunshot echoed through the peaceful scenery and the woman fell to the ground. Behind her, he saw the two men, one of them still holding the gun in his hand. Without thinking any further, Father Paul quickly hastened courageously as fast he could to the young woman, even if the attackers were still at close range. He bent down to her, but it was too late, the young woman was already dead. Father Paul looked up, and her pursuers were backing away, apparently they weren’t cold-blooded enough, or simply too religious to shot a churchman. They probably thought that their mission was settled, and the young woman was dead. It was only by then, Paul saw the baby, who had rolled away from its mother during the impact. At first, he thought it was dead. He lifted it up and cradled it in his arms. What kind of criminals shot at a mother carrying a child? What had become of this world? Father Paul thought bewildered, and he went back to the church with the supposedly dead baby. Suddenly it opened its eyes looking at him with bright blue eyes. Father Paul gasped for air, and he felt as if the wisdom of the whole world was lying in these eyes.
When Paul held the baby, he felt the warmth like the heat from a fireplace on a cold winter night. As if it wanted to tell Paul everything, the baby babbled, gesturing with its pudgy little arms, staring at him with its piercing blue eyes. Paul found it particular and named the Baby Boy Gregory, a subtle reminder to stay alert, a trait that saved its life! Finally, Father Paul was a member of St. Gregors’ church and had been at the right time at the right place, which meant this name had been destined for the Baby.
Mellieha, Malta
Yaros told Gregory about the emergency meeting. Ubana had called all the Milan to attend after the incident of the weather glowing that had been observed all over the island. Ubana called upon the Milan to meet urgently. Each one of them had the duty to follow the call, even if many among them reacted anything but enthusiastic, which was partly understandable, given that the Milan had suffered from bad reputation in the past. Jamiro had done his part with his crazy actions to guarantee them a real bad reputation for many years. Since several decades, they had gotten over it and were being respected on the Island. Almost all of them were very successful and wealthy. On the other hand, they had to follow the tribal call and were forced to believe in the legend and the Savior. It was their duty to help him bring the two amulets back to the volcano -The Etna- as it had been predicted in the legend.
But, they also
knew that the Vultures wouldn’t spare any efforts to stop him. As the Sicilian Vultures were much more superstitious than the Milan ever had been they feared Ourdays’ prophesied Savior. He had announced before plunging into the crater of the Etna, more than the devil feared holy water. They thought the Savior would be their downfall. Bring them disempower and poverty. Deprive them of their possessions and high-ranking positions, taking away their powers. The latter was ridiculous since most of them had no powers at all. Sometimes Yaros felt as if their superstition made them lose their mind and he had never quite understood the panic about that Savior legend. But, what did he know? After all, they were a bunch of power hungry superstitious people that feared any change on the island. There were even rumors that in the last century a boy had been killed because they thought he was the Savior, even before the Milan had gotten wind of it. Gregory listened interested, "I have heard that the last savior has been betrayed by a girl."
"Really?" Yaros looked surprised, "I mean, how would you know?"
"Oh, I have my sources and it doesn’t matter. But, what bothers me most, is that they only want to get rid of me because I am jeopardizing their wealth. I mean, it’s not even their life that is at stake!
Somewhat incredible! As far as I know, they want to throw me into the Etna, so that Ourdays’ curse ends, at least for this century. They don’t even care about the rest of the prophecy, I mean the thing about nature striking back at them, if they get rid of me. It seems they don’t give a shit about that. Besides, the story about the amulets is completely new to me. What does one have to do with the other?" he looked at Yaros apparently confused, "I just don’t get it. Maybe I should just grab the two amulets and jump into that damns Etna with them so that everyone would be happy. The Vultures and the Milan. I can’t help the feeling that the Milan actually couldn’t care any less about me, whether I live or die, the main issue is for me to throw the amulets into the crater and after that anyone who feels like it can shoot me or push me in too. I am fucked either way." he tore at his hair in despair.
Yaros sat on the porch swing not knowing what to say. The kid was damn right, he was screwed whatever he did, he thought sympathetically. Veronica, the housekeeper who had arrived in the meantime, stuck her head through the porch door again seeing Gregory, who held his head and walked up and down. An angry torrent of words in the guttural, foreign language hammered down on Yaros. He raised his hands, "Veronica, I swear, I haven’t said or done anything to offend him." She went back into the house muttering under her breath, and it didn’t sound very friendly Gregory looked up, "What’s happening? Why is Veronica angry?"
"Oh she thinks I said some nasty stuff to you, as you were looking so desperate." Gregory rolled his eyes, "Which isn’t all that wrong after all if I may say that." Yaros shrugged, "Unfortunately, those were the simple facts, I told you, and I can’t change them, even if they are pretty bad. I also think you should be prepared, because the Milan are gathering and will arrive soon and they’ll expect some kind of speech from you, what your next steps will be," he snapped annoyed, "and that’s why you’ll need Keanu, to appease the mob. The guy is such a drama queen, he has to calm down, and show up at noon, not playing offended for what so ever. We need him now, without him, the whole thing will become a disaster." As if it wasn’t already a disaster, Gregory thought to himself. Yaros got up taking his car keys laying on the porch swing, "I'll find him and bring him back till the Milan arrive. I promise. You wait here," with that, he disappeared into the house."
It looked as if not even George Clooney was able to help him out of his awkward situation Gregory mused. He sat down on the very edge of the terrace at the cliffs. Letting his legs dangle over the edge, between the abyss. It would have been easy just to jump. He was tired off everyone wanting something from him, each of them pursuing merely their own interests. None of them really cared what happened to him after all. He was nothing but a means to an end. Only one small jump and his worries were gone forever and he was in Nirvana. Suddenly images passed in front of his eyes. He saw Aiden, Shane, Mila, and Leyla. Leyla, who fearlessly faced him when he lost his memory and nearly strangled her. Leyla, who encouraged him when he was desperate and helped him escape, even if that meant for her to get in trouble. He saw her large chocolate-brown Bambi eyes full of warm affection in front of him, her laugh, felt her hand in his. He sighed, no, he had been wrong, not everybody didn’t care about him, and there were people who had even risked their lives for him. He tried to think of something else, but he couldn’t. Aiden had been like a brother to him and Mila, the violent rough sister he never had. Involuntarily a smile brightened his sullen face. His friends, he missed them so much that it hurt him.
But, he would never see them again, as he wouldn’t allow that anything would happened to them. Therefore, it was best for all of them, if he put an end to this madness. The prophecy and the amulets would lose their importance if he were no longer there. The Milan would not break their pact and the Akandos’ didn’t have to expose themselves to any unnecessary risks. He closed his eyes. Everyone was better off without him, even Leyla. He opened his eyes staring into the depth. Shortly before he was able to put his plan into action letting himself fall, he was rudely pulled back on his arm. Gregory got startled out of his trance like state, getting back to reality. A boy who was about his age stared irritated at him from gray eyes, "Dude, for a moment it looked as if you wanted to kill yourself, the cliffs are dangerous, you shouldn’t lean over like this." Gregory stumbled to his feet, "You're right, that was probably the plan." The boy looked confused, "You mean kill yourself was your plan?" "Something like that."
"Great, my father didn’t tell me that he has some crazy dude visiting. Forget it man, you are not going to jump that cliff as long as I am around. Do you know what kind of a mess it is, if someone jumps down here?” Gregory shrugged looking at him already feeling kind of guilty, "I hadn’t thought about that." The boy gave him a reproachful glance, "This is so typical, a tourist with a death wish, those are the ones I like the best. I work as a paramedic, and I am one of the privileged guys to clean up the mess if one of you fruitcakes jumps off a cliff or gets hit by a car or what so ever. Real appetizing, yummy!" Gregory ducked his head while listening to his lecture.
Man, what kind of place was that? He couldn’t even kill himself, without being blamed, he thought, "Sorry I didn’t mean to annoy anyone." "Yes, that’s what they say if I arrive early enough to prevent them from doing something stupid, but if I am too late, they don’t say anything no more." He kept on observing him still disapprovingly, and then he looked around, "Where is my father?" Gregory shrugged, "I don’t know. I don’t even know your father?"
"Well, who could it possibly be in your opinion? Yaros Nirros of course." So, George Clooney had a son. Interesting Gregory thought, "He is looking for Keanu, but I believe that he will be back again soon. So then you belong to the Milan?"
"Me? Certainly not, I don’t want anything to do with that crazy bunch. Thank you very much." Gregory was confused, "But, how is that possible? Do you have a choice at all? Since, you belong to them whether you like it or not, your father is a Milan. At least as far as I know," slowly, he started to lose track of the plot. The boy gave him an amused look. "By the way, I am Milos and I don’t particularly care what the Milan think about me. My father might not have the ability to act freely, although he has done so forever secretly, but no one is going to tell me what to do." Gregory didn’t get it, "But, I thought -,"
"That we all are some sort of a big happy family? Hardly ever, my mother is Greek and the Greeks are at least as proud as the Milan clan, which means no one tells us what we have to do."
Gregory preferred not to make any more thoughtless remarks, this - would like - proud Greek, who had saved him from jumping off the cliff seemed to be somewhat quite revolutionary and aggressive towards the local Milan. Therefore, he just nodded sitting there with a cheesy smile on his face, which probably looked more like a grimace. Fortun
ately, Veronica appeared on scene. Milos threw his arms theatrically in the air, went over to the housekeeper and hugged her. Then the two chatted in English, although Gregory temporarily wasn’t sure about it. It sounded like a throat disorder, perhaps it was Maltese again, but it was slightly different this time. He understood only now and then a word. Exhausted, he let himself fall on the porch swing again. This day had started promising, and chances were high that he wouldn’t survive the evening, even if Milos had just stopped him from jumping off the cliff, except if George Clooney happened to have more offspring, each appearing beside him whenever the situation got tough. At least he no longer felt the urge to commit suicide, which was truly an improvement of the situation.
A Greek, he thought. The only thing lacking was that there appeared some old stories about the ancient Greeks. They had enough legends and stuff if he remembered well. He heard several cars drive up and several voices, this time clearly discussing in Maltese. He didn’t understand a word. In his pocket, his phone roared like a rutting stag. Damn, he needed a different ring tone. He took the phone out of his pocket. Outside the voices grew louder, but Gregory wanted to see first who sent him a message. This time it was Shane who sent a voice message, "Yo, Bro, think you have heard our Rap by now. Would be nice to get a sign of life from you, but hey, it is ok if you are giving us the silent treatment. Still I wanted to inform you that we will be in Nicolosi soon. We will wait for you, and we have booked some rooms in the Hotel Casa … something. How was it called again? Never mind, you'll find it, there are not many Hotels around. Oh, and Chayton Moonworthy, you might not remember him, but I guess he was your math teacher at Scarborough High will be coming with us. Sure you're wondering why; he is a thoroughbred Akando, ha, ha, ha. See Ya!" Gregory listened to the text several times. He didn’t remember any Moonworthy, or a math teacher who was an Akando.
Elementary Virtue: The Prophecy Page 27