by Alana Siegel
“What an interesting question, my dear,” Aunt Ev said, and then sighed. “I guess that’s as good a place to start as any.” She hopped up on a stool with amazing agility for a woman in her nineties and picked up her fork. She cleared her throat and started her story between forkfuls of lasagna.
“When I came to the United States, it was a very different time, not just for the average person, but especially for the Gifted,” she said, beginning the walk down memory lane. We all settled into our seats, preparing to learn about what kept this impressive woman ticking.
“I was born in Ireland when Gifted and non-Gifted humans lived knowingly, but not happily, side-by-side. The community still gathered for Gifted occasions like Crescent ceremonies, but they were often ended quickly by protests from others. Sixteen years later when I became old enough to receive a Gift, the parties stopped and details like the previous owners of jewelry were kept a secret.
“The growing unhappiness between the different humans was exacerbated by the economic depression. Turning sixteen didn’t just mean I received a Gifted bracelet. It also meant I was working age, but unemployment was very high, and I couldn't find a job. My father had passed away years earlier and my mother could no longer support us.
“Back then, Europe was plagued with intolerance and looking for a scapegoat. There was prejudice against people with special abilities and the history books conveniently leave out the details on how world leaders and governments pressured the Meta to keep a close eye on its subjects. The Meta began imposing outlandish laws to placate the outside rulers. In turn, many of the Gifted chose to escape the injustice.
“I gathered up my two younger sisters, who were fourteen and six years old at the time, and we shipped out to the better life that America promised us,” she explained. Her voice was full of pride.
“The Gifted were latecomers to the land of the free. The Meta fought to maintain the appearance of control over their own people and advertized incessantly in local newspapers against traveling to this new world. They said it was too far from their protection, but the life we had in Ireland was so grim that I decided we should go anyway.
“I met up with my friend, Roslyn, who had traveled to the United States a year before us. She was living in Salt Lake City at the time and provided food and a bed for us as I searched for employment. Eventually, I found a job as a librarian and put my little sisters through school.
“I spent my time helping out with homework, cooking our meals, and working at the library. It was grueling, but I loved it. Life was so hopeful and vibrant in this country.
“I wanted to take advantage of everything that it had to offer. For the first five years, I searched for every Gifted person I could find. I started writing letters to Gifted friends in neighboring towns and others popped up all over the United States. Soon we grew into a happy family.” Aunt Ev paused to catch her breath.
“One boy in particular caught my eye,” she whispered and laid her hand over Jaime's. “James.” Her cheeks blushed again under her papery white skin.
“He was another Ikos from Italy. He proposed and our little group of friends was elated. We were blessed with family, friends, fortune, and a wedding!” I couldn't help but smile with Aunt Ev as she looked back in time. We all shared her excitement. I pictured a neighborhood of Gifted families living the American dream in houses with blue shutters and white picket fences.
As we sat there, hanging by a moment with Aunt Ev, her face began to shift. Her bright eyes glazed over and her wide smile turned into a frown.
“At the same time technology and infrastructure improved for the Meta. They watched the United Stated more closely, and they found out about our Gifted colonies. They looked for a way to assert their power,” she paused to look at each of us, as if trying to convey the importance of this statement.
“They enacted a new law which stated the marriage of two Gifted people was illegal. Under this decree, the marriage of two Gifted people from the same descendant family was unthinkable. It was treason. The Meta believed that our children would be more powerful and rebel against their rule. They claimed it would set us back hundreds of years, maybe even cause another Gifted War.”
She shook her head and let out a sigh. “They wanted us to assimilate with the non-Gifted people of the world.” Aunt Ev’s eyes were downcast as she stared into her plate, remembering another time.
“June fifth, nineteen thirty-seven, Meta agents, armed with guns and protective gear, appeared at the church where James and I were to be married. We had our Gifts, but we were taken by surprise and not prepared to fight. They arrested every Gifted person sitting in the pews,” she said angrily.
There was a pause, and her voice went soft. “I was supposed to enter the church last so everyone could watch me walk down the aisle. When I heard the commotion from the back room, I had time to run and hide,” she whispered this and a single tear fell down her cheek. Luca wrapped his arm around her shoulder. She looked like a child under his thick, muscular arms.
“But I wish I hadn’t. I never saw the man who was supposed to be my husband ever again,” she said with a heavy sadness. I wiped my own eyes which were now overflowing with tears.
Aunt Ev took a deep breath and placed a large smile on her face. She picked up the fork she had abandoned halfway through the story and made a point of distracting herself by taking a bite of her food. Jaime reached across the table and placed her hand on top of Aunt Ev's. Reliving the story was difficult, and Aunt Ev cleared her voice, trying to regain her composure.
“His honor has not been forgotten. He is the reason I started the Gifted Retreat, to bring Gifted people together in passive aggressive defiance against the Meta,” she said the last line with immense feeling. Then, she slapped her hands on her knees and got up to wash her plate.
“I can't believe the Meta would do that. Aren't they supposed to be protecting the Gifted?” Max asked incredulously. Aunt Ev laughed cynically from the sink. “That's what they want you to think. Years of successful propaganda,” she said.
“But Mr. Dimon is a Meta agent, and he protected us from Ms. Magos when she impersonated an agent,” Chelsea stated.
“My sister wasn’t going to hurt us,” Max argued with Chelsea, defending his sister.
Aunt Ev raised her eyebrows as she turned to look at Chelsea and said, “Maybe Max is right. Max’s sister wasn’t a big enough concern for the Meta. I think they were worried about the bigger picture.”
“Prometheus,” Max breathed the name with obvious disdain. Aunt Ev looked like she was about to say something when Helen shrieked from the doorway she just entered.
“I'm sorry, you must be Luca. Aunt Ev has told me so much about you. I’m Helen O’Reilly,” she said in her bubbly voice. Luca's friendly grin turned into one of his broad, magnificent smiles.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you and your friend…” Luca motioned towards the door. Standing patiently in the archway of the kitchen door was Cliff Adams, decked out in a full baseball uniform.
“Hey guys. What a surprise! I had a baseball tournament in Salt Lake City during spring break, and I ran into Helen and Aunt Ev at the park,” Cliff announced in his friendly and rambling manner.
After a few introductions, they settled at the table. Cliff was easy to be around. His quirky and detailed stories broke the tension that had filled the room before. Max kept his distance, but Luca and Cliff hit it off. They discussed Cliff’s position on the baseball team and relived some of their favorite sports moments.
I had finally relaxed when we started talking about school. Cliff was midway through telling a story when he mentioned Justin. “Mr. Stackhouse gave me and Justin an extension for our lab report. We were lucky that he did since I would have been kicked off the baseball team if I failed his class,” he said. Everyone's ears perked up, but I was the only one whose heart was hurting. My eyes were wide with anticipation.
Cliff shoveled lasagna into his mouth and continued, “I needed to wake u
p early for my flight so I went to the lab right after school. The weird thing was that Justin never showed up, and I was worried that he would disappear like last time...” Finally catching on to the horrified faces around the table, Cliff stopped talking. It was a few sentences too late.
“Why did he disappear last time?” I asked Cliff in a tiny voice. It was a question that Justin had never answered for me. Cliff stared back at me.
“Justin knew I cared for him. I would do anything for him, but he refused to tell me why he disappeared from Pandora for an entire week after the Homecoming dance, only to reappear and act like nothing had changed. You have to tell me why,” I pressed him.
Aunt Ev gasped, and the metal knife that she was holding clamored to the floor. She whispered, “Pyramus and Thisbe,” and gaped at me like I was a ghost or a wild beast that managed to get loose in her kitchen. We stared at each other until the knife was finally still, and there was dead silence in the room.
Luca reached down to pick it up. The motioned broke Aunt Ev from her trance. She quickly turned away and busied herself by drying silverware. She didn’t look at me again.
Her reaction was abrupt and strange. I didn’t know what sort of frightful memory I triggered for her, but I wasn’t going to let the subject of Justin disappearance go. I focused my attention on Cliff.
He swallowed and continued, “I'm sorry, Olivia. I can’t explain Justin’s actions.”
“Why did he disappear last time?” I asked Cliff again, a little more forcefully.
Cliff rubbed his hand along the back of his neck and tried not to look at me. “I don’t know why, Olivia. The day after the scavenger hunt and Homecoming dance, Justin and I were taking apart a spare transmission in his mom’s garage, and out of nowhere, he starts pushing for me to ask you out. He said that he was only getting in the way and that he didn't want to ruin your life.”
He couldn’t stop the words from flowing out. “It didn’t make any sense. I tried to tell him that there was nothing between us, but he wouldn't believe me. It seemed like he wanted me to be with you, even though I didn't have feelings for you in that way,” Cliff said and shrugged his shoulders.
For a few seconds, I stared at his apologetic face, and the rest of the table sat in silence. Then, I got up and ran from the kitchen. I knew it was childish, but I didn't want to hear anymore. I would have clawed my way out of that kitchen if I had to, but no one stopped me.
I ran straight to my room, and climbed into the bed without turning on the light. Crawling under the blanket, I let the darkness envelope me.
Maybe Justin never really wanted to be with me. He felt bad for me when Cliff rejected me, and then the facade of romance he built to keep me happy became too much for him to maintain. He had to leave.
I pulled my pillow over my head. That was all wrong. I knew Justin loved me. I felt it when he pushed back my hair, cradled my face, and pulled me in for a desperate and hungry kiss.
I flipped over, burying my face into the mattress. The problem was that Justin never said the words out loud. He told me very little about how he felt. Did I really know him at all?
* * * *
Chapter Seventeen: Brotherly Love
After hours of tossing and turning, the morning finally came. I wasn’t excited about the upcoming day, but I had to get out of bed. Drowning in self pity was not a life style that I wanted to maintain forever. I went through my mental list of things to do. To begin, I needed to apologize to Cliff. I was rude and no matter what Justin did, it wasn’t Cliff’s fault.
Next item on the list was to patch things up with Helen. Between her surprise entrance with Cliff and my rude departure, we never got a chance to talk. I threw one leg over the side of the bed.
I froze when I heard footsteps in the hall outside my room. A streak of light danced along the floor as someone cracked the door to check in. I rolled over to see who it was, but their face remained in the shadows.
“V? Are you awake?” Derek! His voice was like a shot of adrenaline pumping through my blood stream.
Marching towards my bed, he put his hands up like he was playing the trumpet and sang, “Toot da da doo!” mimicking the tune that used to wake us up at sleep-away camp. I smiled wider than I had in days.
“Come on, Liv. They keep us on a tight schedule at this retreat,” he said, giving my arm a friendly slap. His grin was genuine, and I felt a tiny fraction better just seeing it.
“Did Mom send you to check on me?” I asked, nervous about how much I was making Mom worry. Derek pretended to be shocked that I would accuse them of something sneaky, and then he gave me a crooked smile.
“Okay, you caught us, but just so you know, there is no better way to spend spring break than with my little sister and her Gifted gang,” he said. My jaw dropped.
“You know about the Gifted?” I asked. He pulled out a linked chain from under his shirt. I sat up quickly and ran my fingers along the metal. It was thicker than mine, but it had the same unbreakable shine and underlined, upside down ‘u’ engraved on the cool, flat surface of the charm.
“You are Gifted,” I whispered in utter disbelief. How long ago had he received his Gift? Did he know about the Gifted Program? Did he know how to use his Gift? Did he always know I was Gifted? There were a million questions running through my mind.
“Are you really that surprised? Just look at my Gifted body,” Derek responded and gave me his best Adonis pose. I giggled and threw my pillow at him. It was the reaction Derek was hoping for.
“How did you get your Gifted jewelry?” I asked, but he had already jumped off the bed and turned on the light. I squinted my eyes. When they adjusted, I watched Derek take in the room around him.
“Wow. Aunt Ev went overkill on the flower motif, don’t you think? I’ll need to watch a few football games to build up my testosterone level after being in here,” he said. I let out a hearty laugh and threw my feet over the side of the bed.
Everyone was already in the kitchen when we walked in. Derek slung his arm protectively over my shoulder and his friendly conversation put the group at ease. His positive energy and optimism were a distraction from the painful questions about Justin that still lingered.
As we ate breakfast, Derek told Luca stories about the parties in college, he helped Aunt Ev with the dishes, and he took out a mug from a cabinet that Chelsea couldn't reach. My dramatic exit from the previous night was never mentioned, and after a few minutes of caution, everyone relaxed and acted normal. Everyone was in love with Derek, and I was happy to be safeguarded under his wing.
I noticed Helen and Jaime were deep in conversation. Taking a deep breath, I decided now was as good a time as any to mend things with Helen. I began walking over, and they quickly ended their hushed conversation. Paranoia set in. Was I being left out? Had they been shooting me sideway glances since I walked in?
“Luca! Olivia!” I stopped midway across the kitchen when I heard my name. Aunt Ev hurriedly walked over to us with a devilish smile.
“Do me a favor and toss these empty bottles in the recycling bin outside?” She shoved a couple of empty cans in our hands and winked at us. I felt anxious about walking away from Helen and Jaime, but Aunt Ev was so pleasant and willing to put up with us in her house. If she asked me to help out, I couldn’t say no. Luca and I turned and walked out of the kitchen door.
“I suppose I could help the muscle man in the house take out the recycling,” I joked with Luca once we were outside. He smiled, but it wasn't his usual grin. It didn’t reach his dark eyes. If I didn’t know him as a secure and smug guy, I would say he looked nervous.
We walked a few steps down the path and his expression never changed. I put my hand on his arm, leaned in closer to analyze his face, and then laughed out loud. “It was a joke!” I exclaimed. I could see a little bit of pink on his dark cheeks, and his smile had totally disappeared. He stared at me, mortified. It worried me to see him so upset. I needed his easygoing presence. It helped relieve the throbbing of m
y broken heart.
“In the twenty-four hours since we met, I've never seen you look uneasy or embarrassed,” I said. His lips tilted upward, but he refused to give me his toothy grin. I rolled my eyes at his feeble attempt to look happy. He turned away.
“What’s wrong? Are you sick of me already?” I asked, following behind him and goofing around.
“I’m fine. Don’t worry about it,” he mumbled and kept walking.
“Oh, you’re fine?” I asked with a smile. “So having another Elste around erodes your sense of humor?” He was acting childish, and I enjoyed making him squirm.
He stopped short and let out a heavy sigh. “Actually, it does, Olivia,” he said in a serious tone that sobered me up. He turned to face me. “Aunt Ev wants you and me to fall in love.”
It was my turn to be embarrassed. “What?” I asked before turning away to avoid making eye contact. This was not what I was expecting. Jokes about being a mama’s boy and taking care of things around the house would have been okay, but this couldn’t be true. I couldn’t handle another person telling me what to do, let alone fall in love with a stranger. I still had scars and lingering feelings from my last relationship.
I needed to get away so I turned to walk back into the house, but he stopped me. “Say something,” he begged.
“Why doesn't she set you up with Jaime, her favorite great-niece?” I burst out. Luca was taken aback by my strident comment. He shrugged, but I knew he would give me the reason. His eyes scanned the sidewalk instead of looking back at me.
“Ev believes there is something special about being with someone from the same Gifted family, and you and I are both Elste,” he said, and began kicking the rocks at his feet. “I think you are extraordinarily beautiful. Am I that terrible of a person that you couldn't imagine yourself falling in love with me?”
I clicked my tongue in frustration and snapped around to give him an incredulous look. I wasn’t looking for compliments. How could I explain that my heart already belonged to someone else? A perfect lineage doesn’t create love.