Curse Of The Marhime

by Dayana Knight

  Getting up from the bed, she decided to go downstairs and make a cup of tea. As she descended the stairs, the unexpected shrill of the phone made her jump and almost miss a step. Hurrying down the last few stairs, she jogged into the kitchen, and plucked the handset from the wall.

  “Hello?”

  “Pita!”

  “Sasha! How are you?” Pita filled the teakettle with water, placed it on the burner, and then turned on the gas while she talked. She lit a safety match and the pilot sprang to life.

  “Fine. How are you doing? Have you found anything about your parents?”

  “No, not yet. How’s your father?” She sat at the table, planting one bare foot on the chair’s edge hugging the leg to her body. “Are you calling to tell me you’re going to be on the next plane to Romania?”

  “I wish. Papa is still weak. The doctors don’t understand. His heart seems fine, but he has trouble exerting himself. They don’t want him to do too much yet. I’ll have to stay on and run things. I’m so sorry.” Pita heard the apology and tension in her friend’s voice.

  “No, Sasha, don’t feel bad, your place is with your family. I’m okay. Dorina and Tomas have been great. I’ll muddle through on this end. Besides, I’ve met someone.”

  “You did? When? C’mon spill. Tell me all about him.”

  Pita laughed at Sasha’s excitement. She went on to tell her friend all about Niko—except for the shape-shifting part.

  “So you met on the plane and he’s already come to see you there? Wow! From what you say he sounds wonderful.”

  “Yes, I was with him today.” At the kettle’s whistle, Pita rose from her spot. She poured the water into an ornate ceramic teapot, and then immersed the tea ball into the hot liquid. It slowly began to bleed the water golden and the aroma of chamomile filled the air. “Sasha, can I tell you he…well…he just makes me…” Pita felt the warmth of a blush on her face.

  “He what?” Sasha prompted. “Pita?”

  “I’m here,” she laughed. “He is hot.”

  “No, I think you mean he makes you hot.” Sasha laughed.

  “That too,” Pita fanned herself with a napkin. “Can you believe I’m blushing?”

  “More likely you’re horny.”

  “Sasha!” She laughed.

  “Well…? When’s the last time you’ve even dated anyone, Pita? Let alone had sex?”

  “I really don’t remember. That’s pathetic, isn’t it?” She sobered. “Listen, I’m going to be spending some time with Niko. We’re going to the mountains and stay with his family.” Pita lied. She hated to do it, but she and Niko both agreed that the little white lie would be best—she didn’t want to explain the ‘furry’ part to anyone.

  “Oh migod! Pita! You’re going to meet and stay with his family? That sounds serious.”

  “No, really, Sash, it’s not all that big a deal.” Pita gently twirled the teapot then removed the tea ball. “Niko is just giving me a tour of some places he thought would interest me, and his family happens to live in the area.” She grimaced, Sasha’s my best friend, and I am weaving quite a tale— basically lying through my teeth. Forgive me, Sash.

  She’d already given Dorina and Tomas the same story. They seemed to accept it without question. The only obstacle seemed to be her own guilt. She hated liars and now she found herself being one.

  “Okay, but if he proposes I want to know right away, so I can catch the next plane out.”

  “Oh, that’s what it takes to get you here?” Pita feigned disgust as she poured the tea into a cup and added a teaspoon of sugar.

  “Well, yeah, or the graphic details of a sexual encounter with your Hotty.”

  They both laughed.

  “Sounds like you’ve got everything under control. I’ll let you go. Call me if you get any info on your parents.”

  “Tomas had a lead on something in the city, but he hasn’t said anymore, so I assume he’ll let me know when he has compiled all the info,” Pita said pausing to sip her tea. “He found someone who had worked with my adoptive father at the university. Apparently, my father taught for a short time here in Romania. Something else I never knew; could be the connection, though. Student gets pregnant and can’t keep the child or something like that.”

  “Yeah, I could see that being a good clue to run with. Let me know how it pans out. Talk again soon.”

  “Okay, Sash.”

  Just as Pita placed the handset on its cradle, it rang again.

  “Hello?”

  “Pita, Tomas.”

  “Hi. What’s up? Everything all right?” Pita took her teacup to the sink.

  “Yes, yes. Will you be at house later? I have big surprise for you.”

  “Sure. What surprise?” She rinsed the cup along with the tea ball placing them in the dish strainer.

  “I tell you later.” He laughed then said, “I be home nine or ten.” The line disconnected.

  Pita stared at the handset.

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Tomas finally arrived home a little after ten. Pita and Dorina sat on the sofa and Tomas in an overstuffed chair facing them with a huge grin on his face. On a small table between them sat a tea service and the aroma of a sweet Chao tea wafted in small steamy wisps from the three teacups laid out. Pita picked up her saucer and cup and stirred the liquid with a small spoon.

  “C’mon Tomas,” she prodded him. “What gives?”

  He raised a black brow in question as he sipped from his cup.

  Pita laughed. “What do you have to tell me?”

  Dorina smiled and patted Pita’s knee. “Tell her. She looks to burst.”

  Tomas chuckled. “I have found someone at the university who knew Professor Sedgwick.”

  Pita gasped. “You have? My father?”

  He nodded. “Uva. I mean, yes. This man claims to have something for you. He says your papa give him item. He is to give you if you ever come to Romania.”

  “No, way!” Pita’s excitement threatened to topple the tea into her lap so she set it down before continuing. “How could my father know I would even think or know to come here? They never told me about their time here.” I didn’t even know my father had taught here. “Who is this man?”

  “His name is Eliki Zoë. He is Headmaster and claims he was friend to your father.”

  “Will this Eliki Zoë meet with Pita?” Dorina asked.

  “Uva, Mama.” Tomas gazed past his mother with a Cheshire grin spreading across his face. .

  “What is it?” Pita asked, retrieving her teacup.

  “Nothing. We are to meet the Headmaster at his office in the morning. He has much to tell you.”

  “Bate,” Dorina said. “So be it. This is good, no?”

  “Yes…yes, this is great.” Pita stood, went to Tomas and hugged him. “Thank you.”

  “You are welcome.”

  “Misto kedaste tute, my son.”

  “Mama says I did well.”

  “Yes, you have,” Pita moved back to sit beside Dorina who captured her in an enthusiastic hug and planted a hearty kiss on her cheek.

  ****

  Dorina and Pita shared a quiet breakfast of eggs and toast the following morning. Pita picked up a tense distance in the older woman. She seemed distracted and nervous. Not herself. Pita wanted to ask, but thought perhaps it might be personal and if the woman wanted to talk about it, she would.

  While they cleaned up the breakfast dishes Pita asked, “Where’s Tomas this morning?”

  “He go with friend out. He say he come home before in time for you to go to university.” Dorina explained with a forced smile.

  Pita dried the dishes wondering now, in earnest, what was bothering this usually cheerful woman.

  “Dorina?”

  “Yes, child?”

  “Are you all right?”

  Dorina crossed the small kitchen and bent to wipe the table, but kept her back to Pita. “I am fine, thank you.”

  Not wanting to press the issue, Pita excused he
rself and returned upstairs to shower and ready herself for the trip into the city and her meeting with Mr. Zoë.

  ****

  Pita paced like a caged animal while she waited for Tomas.

  Where is he?

  She glanced at her watch yet again. We should have left a half hour ago.

  A soft rap on the bedroom door stopped her pacing. “Tomas?” she called crossing the room to open the door.

  “No, child, only me.” Dorina stepped into the sunlit room. “I worry. Not like him to stay from home.”

  “You mean he didn’t come home all night?”

  “No. He not call either.” Dorina’s fingers worried at the curtain as she stared out into the forest. “He always call.”

  Pita sat down on the bed. “Maybe he just lost track of time and well…forgot to call. He’ll probably walk through the door at any moment,” Pita reasoned, but a seedling of fear bloomed dark in her heart like a bad omen.

  ****

  After lunch, Pita joined Dorina for a walk into the village to pick up some fresh produce, but more to get out of the house and to get her mind off worrying about Tomas and the missed meeting.

  They talked and shopped, both intent on the hope that upon their return Tomas would be waiting. However, their cheery conversation and hopes dashed when there still was no sign that he had returned.

  Hoping to help alleviate Dorina’s worry, Pita decided to call Niko. Maybe he would be able to help. He hadn’t actually confirmed her suspicion that Tomas too could shift to wolf-form, but Pita knew she was right. Tomas produced the same thrumming power that Niko and her shared. She put in the call, breathing a sigh of relief when Niko immediately agreed to her request.

  Despite Dorina’s anxiety, her behavior confused Pita. She hadn’t once suggested calling the police, though she said nothing of where she thought he might be. When Pita had asked if maybe he had a girlfriend and had possibly spent the night, Dorina shook her head vigorously in denial, but hadn’t clarified her definitive “no.” All she maintained is that they must check the forest.

  “Why the forest?” Pita had asked to confirm her own worries, but Dorina would not reiterate. She just repeated it’s the “draba.” The “draba” of “o Beng”.

  Pita asked gently, “What is draba? And o Beng?”

  Dorina seemed to come out of herself a moment. “It’s the magic. Magic of the Evil One.”

  “The Evil One?” She moved to stand beside Dorina at the window. “Please, tell me about this thing you fear. I have experienced some weird things lately. It’s one of the reasons I came to Romania, though I have been hesitant to talk about them, not even to Sasha. Perhaps they tie in somehow.”

  Dorina placed a hand on Pita’s face, cupping her chin. “You are Rom, my child. I sense the moment I meet you. We do not share our secrets with the gaje, non-Rom.”

  Pita remembered Floricita telling her the same thing about being Rom when she’d first met with the seer. “You’re not the first person to tell me that.”

  “I will tell what I myself know and hope it helps you and to find my Tomas.”

  She smiled then said, “Before you begin, I want you to know that I called Niko. He is trying to locate Tomas. I hope this was okay,” Pita confessed.

  “Good. Good, my child. He also Rom. He is like Tomas. I sense this and they are prala, brothers, in the draba.” She left the window and sat upon the couch patting the space beside her. “Sit. I explain.”

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Dorina’s voice grew distant as she recited her story. Lulled by its deep throaty timbre, Pita relaxed into the couch and let herself be swept away by the tale.

  “Many, many years ago a wise and very old drabarni gifted the Rom with the draba—magic, you say—to shift into the wolf form. This gift was bestowed upon only a chosen few. The purpose was to save drabarni from the gaje. Gaje not like the ways of the Rom. They, how you say? Drive us away, say we thieves, and vagabonds. The drabarni give some the magic to shift into wolves, so they might gather food and items of necessity. Also, to protect themselves, but the gaje begin to hunt the wolves. They trap and kill many. Along with the natural wolves many Rom were killed. Now, not many Rom with the draba left. To preserve themselves, they must gather and join together. Tomas’ father was touched by the draba as was his father.” Dorina fell silent a moment. “The gaje kill him in one of their traps. We find him bloody and broken as wolf.” A tear slid out of her dark, sad eyes.

  “Dorina…” Pita whispered, but Dorina raised her hand in silence.

  “I continue.” She gathered herself by taking a deep breath and resumed her tale.

  “We bury Yosef, Tomas’ father, and we go on. Tomas careful with the draba; he change only in the night and run free in the forest where the gaje not find him.”

  “But who would want to hurt him here?”

  “Not all Romanians are of Roma descent. Not all Roma respect the draba. There are many who do not hold to the wisdom of the elders. They do not fear the muló that wander the earth bent on revenge. They have begun to be pulled in by the world of the gaje.

  “I thought muló was the spirit of someone who has died unhappily or whose death brought shame to the family. Then the spirit continues to walk the earth either in wolf form or its own form to haunt those who had done it wrong in life.”

  “Yes and no, child. The muló can be many things. Shape shifting uses draba. Muló are spirits of dead. You see? Different.”

  “So one has nothing to do with the other?”

  Dorina pursed her lips in thought. “Yes and no.” She sighed heavily. “This is difficult explanation. Hmmm…both relate to the draba, but they not same. You see?”

  Pita shook her head. “No. Sorry.” Exasperated she got up and paced the room. “Is this shifting hereditary? Are people born with it?”

  “In Yosef, his father before him, and Tomas it seems to be so.”

  Dorina picked at the edge of a cushion on the sofa. “Yosef prayed Tomas no shift, and he not live to see change in his son. Tomas begin at age 28.”

  Pita sat down beside Dorina and took her hand. “I think I may shift. Remember the other day?”

  The woman nodded sadly. “I pray for you child. I recognize the signs.”

  “What signs?”

  “When you describe thing at lake. This also happen to Tomas.”

  “Then that would mean one of my parents also shifted.”

  Dorina nodded. “At least one of them.”

  “So we’re back full circle. I need to discover who my real parents were.” She tapped a finger to her lips then gazed at Dorina. “Perhaps I should go and meet with the Headmaster of the university alone. And…” She chewed a nail. “He was the last person that we know of to see Tomas.”

  “Yes, you go. I wait for word from Tomas or your Niko here.”

  “Okay then, at least we have a plan” She stood up and clasped Dorina’s hands in hers. “It will be all right. You’ll see.” She smiled down at the older woman, displaying confidence she didn’t feel.

  ****

  As Pita freshened up, changed into jeans, and knit top, she considered the continuous strange events that surrounded her lately.

  Tomas’ disappearance forced her to see Professor Zoë on her own—something she was not comfortable with, but she saw no other way around it. Niko was busy trying to find Tomas. Selfishly, Pita wished Niko here with her. He seemed her pillar of strength and support, and in his presence, she felt comforted and secure. Without him beside her now, she would have to battle her natural tendencies. Not an aggressive soul, she struggled with shyness, and almost never struck out in a dominant, self-preserving manner. There always had been someone to protect and take care of her— her adoptive parents or Sasha’s family.

  Well…if I want answers, I’ll have to change. She sighed and then did a quick touch-up to her makeup.

  Another thought consumed her mind. Niko has the ability to shift, and Dorina told her that Tomas possessed the same gi
ft. Was this the reason Sasha balked at Pita discussing the wolf thing with her father, and did Sasha already know what was going on? Was her father’s illness just a farce so she could stay behind and allow Pita to find her own path?

  Always more questions and no answers. Pita’s stomach rolled at the thought her life-long friend could ever do anything so deceitful. Yet instinct dictated that Pita tread cautiously when it came to volunteering information to Sasha. Her heart squeezed with dread, causing it to lurch, tumble, and skip a few beats.

  Stepping into a pair of sandals, she grabbed her purse, and bolted down the stairs. She found Dorina where she’d left her.

  Determined to find answers to the growing mountain of questions and doubts, Pita stepped into the room and gave her new friend a heartfelt hug. “I’ll be back as soon as I can.”

  Dorina said, “You must rent car. University is in far end of city, not village.”

  “Is there a rental agency in the village?”

  “Yes.” Dorina gave Pita directions to the rental agency. “Be careful, child.”

  “I will, don’t worry. I’ll rent a car as soon as I reach the village.”

  “Good, then you not have to walk in dark alone.”

  “Exactly.”

  ****

  A brisk walk and a half hour later, Pita entered the small village. After securing a compact car whose make eluded her and name she couldn’t pronounce, she buckled up and drove out of the lot into the afternoon traffic. The road had some cars but was mainly traveled by horse drawn wagons. Thanks to the directions provided by the rental agency, she felt a little emboldened by her journey, but driving to the college took all her concentration, for which she was grateful. It left little time for her to worry about anything other than getting from point A to point B.

  As she drove, the scenery around her shifted from quaint, picturesque village, and began to morph into the starkness of the city. Even in the bright sun-drenched, late afternoon, the environment seemed naked. No color adorned the nondescript, grey or tan concrete as far as the eye could see. The buildings appeared symmetrical because they were all squared; most were two or three story, though none skyscraper size. Many were apartment buildings. All were blanketed in dry weeds or parched earth where landscaping should have been.