by Amy Lignor
Without warning, he reached out and pulled her into a hug. “I’m so sorry, Anippe. So is your mother. Please believe that. I know there’s no way we can go back.” When he pulled away, his gaze was one of a man begging for absolution. “I really thought your mother was dead…or I never would’ve left.”
“And…me?”
Tears glazed his eyes. “I believed what Neith had told me…that they would come after both you and Leah once they figured out who you were. Use you as leverage, or kill you just to cause more pain. And when I thought she was dead…I felt it was safer to split you up.” He took a breath. “Leah, with her red hair, would have stood out here like a sore thumb. Although you both share those beautiful eyes, you looked far more like your mother; a native who could melt into the crowd.”
Anippe could do nothing more than nod. Everything he said made sense.
“I always knew my brother was taking good care of you. He kept me updated constantly on how you were and what you were doing. You were loved. You were safe.”
Anippe followed his gaze down to her tattoo. “Not quite. But I am my mother’s daughter. I am a protector.”
Her heart quickened at the look of pride her father wore. “I know. You and your sister both are.”
With his words, a peculiar thought rushed into her mind. “Do you have any idea why Neith and I were marked with green, but Leah’s all-seeing eye is blue? No one seems to know why that is.”
David paused, seeming to search for a reasonable answer. “The staff Leah carried was sapphire. Wasn’t that the tool that marked her in the first place?”
Anippe nodded. “It just seems so out of place. All of the protectors I have ever come in contact with wear the green eye.” Her voice fell to a whisper as she pointed at the now sickly-looking artifact, “The color of Satan’s stone when it was first found.”
She could almost feel her father tremble, knowing the power they stood so close to.
He cleared his throat. “Maybe the color refers to what job a particular protector has. The wearers of the green mark, perhaps, are destined to keep that stone far away from the men who search for it—the men who already have immoral thoughts and sinful desires inside them.”
Anippe looked down at their now clasped hands. “You don’t have any marking.”
Pulling from her grip, her father’s voice turned into one of disappointment. “Protectors are chosen from the most honorable. All I am is a man who abandoned his family. No honor in that.”
He glanced up at the painting of three golden-haired women. “I’ve abandoned two families now.”
“Those are the Furies.”
“They look like my other daughters.”
“That’s right. Leah has three other sisters.” Anippe nodded, remembering the girls living across the ocean. “Like Aphrodite, they are bestowed with golden hair. Your other wife is beautiful, as well.”
David’s eyes welled with tears. “Her name is Mary. She saved me.”
Anippe remained silent, sensing her father’s shame.
“Don’t get me wrong, I love Neith. I’ve loved her since I was a very young man. I met her father first, actually. I was an intern for him—an assistant on his digs. When I went to his home for dinner one night, I met her. She was…exotic; stunning. Her black eyes seemed to see right through me.”
He paused. “I was so awkward back then, Anippe. Bright red hair, tall and gangly.” He shook his head at the boyhood image that must be playing out in his own mind. “You should have seen me. The Egyptian sun brought out so many freckles on my skin that I looked like I had been attacked by a swarm of mosquitos.”
Anippe couldn’t help but want to hear more. “Go on,” she prodded.
“Neith didn’t seem to see any of my flaws.”
“And fell madly in love with you.”
David snorted. “Not even close. She was always very kind, but she treated me as if I was the son her father never had. She’d roll her eyes when he and I spoke of legends and myths. I would try to impress her with my knowledge of history, but the sight of her made me forget my own name. So…I usually came off sounding like an idiot. She would always excuse herself from the room. Always remained polite. But I believe she thought my ramblings were nothing more than nonsense.” He paused. “Neith actually had far more in common with my brother.”
Anippe smiled. “Neith is like Uncle Aaron?”
“Oh, yes.” He nodded. “I was always the one talking, doing stupid things to gain your mother’s attention. Aaron was quiet. She would sit with him and cast her runes while they talked about dreams and oracles—all kinds of things that were way too over my head to understand. They had a great friendship.” He glanced back up at the Furies. “They still do. They haven’t seen each other in decades, but I’ll bet they’re in the kitchen right now talking and laughing as if absolutely no time has passed.”
“You sound a bit jealous,” Anippe remarked, hearing the slight alteration in his tone.
“I don’t have a right to be now.” He sighed. “But I was back then. I ran on ego and testosterone. I was willing to drive her nuts until she had to fall in love with me out of pity, or just so I’d shut up.”
“There is no truth in that!”
Anippe turned towards the voice, staring down the hall at the closed door leading to the Curator’s Quarters.
He grinned. “I swear she could hear me if I was standing in my living room back in Connecticut.” His eyes immediately dimmed.
The mythological women dancing in the fire drew Anippe’s attention. She wondered for just a moment if the trio of beauties back in America were now burning pictures of their father, angry that he had disappeared from their lives. “I am sure you miss them very much.”
“I owe them as big of an apology as I owe you and Leah. I never thought my time on this earth would bring so much pain to so many people.”
Wishing to play the role of dutiful daughter, she infused her voice with kindness. “If they knew the whole truth, they would forgive you.”
She took a quick step back when she watched his eyes grow wide. Her father looked as if she had suddenly accused him of some blasphemous crime.
His words came out quickly, “They can never know the truth. Mary and my girls would never be able to understand all…this,” he grimaced. “It would hurt them far too much.”
Anippe tried to swallow the tears that suddenly welled up in her throat. “I understand. There would be no way to explain me to your other daughters where they would not find me distasteful.”
His hand grasped hers at once. “All I meant was that nothing can be told to them as long as Hansen is out there. It’s too late to hide you and Leah from his evil, but I can still keep the others as far from danger as possible.”
Taking a minute to calm down, Anippe thought about his proclamation. Finally, she smiled. “It’s probably for the best, anyway. That trio back in America is far too beautiful to compete with. I would feel like punching their lights out if I had to stand by them.”
David erupted in laughter. “You and Leah have more in common than you think.”
An image of a villain she once loved filled her mind, and she sighed. “Then I shall hope there is a Gareth Lowery out there for me.”
Her father’s gaze was direct. “Lowery is a good man. Patient, dependable, strong. Of course, he’d have to own those qualities in order to withstand Leah.”
“They are an anomaly.”
David tilted his head. “How is that?”
“Their faith in each other is far more powerful than any faith in the Divine.”
“I don’t know. But after all this, Leah and Gareth should definitely get to enjoy a happy ending.”
“As should we all,” Neith said, suddenly appearing in the hall.
As she walked towards them, Anippe noted the elegant gait of her mother. Briefly, she wondered how such grace could remain after living so long in a nightmarish prison chained to a wall like an animal. But as Neith took her
father’s hand, Anippe’s heart filled with joy at the look of love that passed between them.
Feeling like an intruder, she turned to walk away when her mother’s announcement stopped her in her tracks. “So you are going to Alexandria?”
Her father looked shocked. “I’m not even going to ask how you know that when I only just decided to go the moment I got off the phone with Gareth.”
“Why would you go to Alexandria of all places?” Anippe spoke.
David turned to her. “Gareth and Leah found a few etchings in the Pergamon library that made me think Marc Antony has something to tell us.”
“Marc Antony?”
He nodded. “The books from the Pergamon Library were taken by Antony as a gift for Cleopatra, and the emerald that once sat in Pergamon ended up in Cleopatra’s Mines. It’s not a stretch to believe that he found the crown there as well. Which means that, too, could’ve found a home in Alexandria. History owns the facts. We just have to find them.”
“They would know where everything was buried,” said Neith.
“Who?”
She pointed at the largest painting in the room. “The Magi.”
Anippe looked at the familiar domed building rising from the ground; the seven tiers atop the roof made it look like a gigantic wedding cake. Exiting the building through a gilded door were three men holding tight to gifts they carried.
“I always wondered who the other man was,” Anippe spoke her thoughts out loud, pointing to the lone man who was walking into the back of the building carrying two brightly painted stones. “Uncle Aaron could never tell me.” She caught sight of Neith’s mysterious smile. “I suppose you can.”
“That is the Temple of the Seven Spheres. It is where the magi met on their way to greet the new King. They carry their gifts of gold, frankincense—”
“That I know,” Anippe interrupted. “I was talking of the other man. Uncle Aaron assumed he was a peasant who’d been too late to join them.”
“Aaron is almost correct,” Neith replied. “He was late, but he was not a peasant. He was the fourth magi.”
“There were only three.”
“That is only one book.”
Trying to ignore the slightly condescending tone, Anippe focused on the beautiful sky in the painting. “It’s certainly a fine day to set out. The artist chose an incredible blue.”
“That actually depicts the throne, not the sky.”
“I’m sorry?”
“The throne of God, which was supposedly made of sapphire. That is where the Gem of Heaven fell from.”
“Wonderful,” Anippe grumbled. “Another gem.”
Neith changed the subject. “The magi were among the first doctors, you know. Once, they were even seen as oracles. Although most of the world now sees oracles as carnival acts; nothing more.”
Anippe felt surprise at Neith’s suddenly disgusted tone.
“Oracles were and are real.” Neith continued, speaking through gritted teeth, “They were once highly revered by both emperors and kings. Now astrology is not even seen as a science. No one believes.”
“The Nazi’s believed in astrology.” Anippe wanted to take back her words the minute she said them, but it was too late. After the terror her mother had gone through, linking Neith’s beliefs to the same people who’d held her captive was like taking a dagger and stabbing her in the back.
Attempting to right the wrong, Anippe spoke quickly, “I was just saying that it is a known fact Hitler believed in that area of science. You were taken because of it in the first place. They believed your gifts were real.”
Knowing she was digging herself in deeper, Anippe stopped talking. The exhaustion she felt mixed with paranoia. Astrologers, Nazi killers, oracles, powerful weapons reappearing—all of these disturbing things seemed to be coming to fruition, and they were all making her sick. The more she tried to make sense of it all, the more she felt like the Devil was lurking just around the corner…getting ready to make his ultimate comeback.
CHAPTER 19
Gareth walked outside into the evening air. The sun had just closed its eye on the mighty Pergamon Acropolis, making the scene even more breathtaking. He stared up at the ancient theatre rising into the lavender sky, like an actual stairway to Heaven. Soon it would darken enough to make out the millions of stars hovering above, waiting patiently for their turn to be admired.
Soon, however, Gareth found himself admiring something far more beautiful. The familiar figure made his heart beat faster. Leah’s head was held high; her back was straight and tall, as if always at the ready for a surprise attack. Her curvaceous frame that she tried so unsuccessfully to hide under the long leather duster she loved so much, made him smile. Because no matter how hard she tried to conceal her beauty, Mother Nature just wouldn’t let her get away with it. Her thick, auburn curls were now free, moving in the breeze, looking like small flames lighting his way safely through the ancient world.
Letting go of an exhausted breath, Gareth watched his ultimate wish play out in his mind.
The dining room table was huge; laughter came from all around him. Kathryn was bouncing her baby on her knee while Emmanuel sat like the prideful father doting on his newborn child. Anippe was sitting beside the man she’d finally found who was worthy enough to win her love. And his parents were there, back from the dead, toasting their children and grandchildren and thanking God for the years they still had left to enjoy.
The image melted away, and as the wave of hopelessness suddenly passed through Gareth’s heart, he walked quickly to the one person he knew wouldn’t rest until she found a way to make his wish come true.
___
Leah spun around at the sound of approaching footsteps. Considering the knot of anxiety in her stomach that’d grown to the size of a boulder, she was ready to jump out of her skin at the slightest noise. Her fear immediately dissipated when the handsome face appeared and the familiar hand delivered her yet another gift. “Bless you, my son,” she said, wrapping her hands around the cup.
Gareth bowed.
The unspoken words stood between them like a white elephant in the middle of the street, and she gave in immediately. “Okay. Let me have it. You think I’m a terrible person for not talking to my father.”
“No, actually, I don’t.”
“I’m not dumb.” She stopped, struggling to find the right words. “You want your parents back so badly that I know I must look like a spoiled rotten kid to you right now. Not only do I still have my father, but all of a sudden I’ve been granted another mother and another sister. I have more damn family now than the Queen of England.”
Putting his hands on her shoulders, Gareth pulled her close, leading her slowly to the outskirts of the old town. “Leah, your father was your hero your whole life. Then all of a sudden you found out he lied to you. I believe you and Anippe have every right to want to beat him up…both of them.”
“So do the people back home.”
“And I understand that.” Gareth continued, “Anippe lived with no parents, and you lived with a stepmother who made you pay in little ways every day because she couldn’t compete with the memory of a dead woman.”
Leah shrugged. “Ah…Mary isn’t so bad. I just don’t have anything in common with her.”
“That’s because you’re like your real mother.”
Instantly, Leah jumped away from him. She stared at Gareth, who was now wearing a look that showed how much he wished he had not made his last statement. “My father, yes. But I’m nothing like Neith. She’s a woman who sits around, living in some dream state, casting runes and waiting for gods and goddesses no one has ever met to show her the right path.”
He took a deep breath. “Like you do with Athena.”
A shot of rage hit Leah’s brain and she threw the hot coffee at Gareth’s chest. “That is not the same thing. We, Gareth—not me—took Athena’s weapons. And it was you who showed up at my library with some half-baked scheme that got me buried in all this cra
p in the first place.”
Gareth stood completely still and looked at the coffee now staining his shirt. His voice was low—a growl that spoke volumes, “What are you, ten years old?”
Coming slowly back to reality, Leah groaned. “Jesus, I’m sorry. None of this is your fault.”
“You think?” His wide, green eyes looked almost black. “I take back my previous statement. You are acting like a spoiled brat.”
“Look, Gareth…” Leah took a step forward. “The woman just pisses me off.”
He took a deep breath. “I know that. Neith chose to protect some ridiculous piece of jewelry and abandoned her family. Then she reappears—saved only because of your bravery—”
“Yours, actually,” Leah reminded him.
“Ours,” he corrected. “Then she acts like nothing happened. It’s as if she believes she has the right to turn everyone’s world upside down, and then just pick up the reins of loving wife and mother without blinking an eye. I know it’s disgusting, but you have to keep in mind that what she did, she did to keep the people she loved safe.”
Leah backed up a step, feeling the flame of anger reignite. “I don’t abandon the people I love for a quest, Gareth,” she snapped. “You didn’t either. And who cares about the goddamn stone anyway? If Hitler, himself, had gotten it in his hands, it would have done him no good. Without the crown to set it in, the thing is useless, so what Neith did was a complete waste of time.”
Feeling as if she was losing the last thread of sanity she owned, Leah sighed. “I really am sorry.”
Running his hand through his hair in frustration, Gareth stared back at her. “Don’t worry about it. It’s over. Let’s just…calm down. This whole thing is making us nuts. Everything is going to be fine. We will find my parents and stop Hansen, I already know it.”
“And Kathryn’s safe. There’s one good thing. She’s in a super cool palace working beside the man she loves while awaiting the birth of their very first child.” Leah’s smile returned. “You’ll be an uncle soon! We should think about that for a while.”