by Unknown
I could feel my cheeks turning more and more red. Ari kissed them and smiled.
I looked up at him from under my lashes. “I love you more.”
He slowly shook his head, “impossible.”
****
I tried all day to keep the butterflies in my stomach at bay but every time I glanced down at my finger, my stomach did a little flip. We all sat down to a big Christmas dinner and everyone talked happily about all of their gifts. Rory went on and on about how pumped he was about seeing Vampire Weekend with Ra Ra Riot on New Year’s Eve.
“Who even said you could go, Rory?” Ari finally asked.
Rory looked like someone had slapped him across the face, “Awe, c’mon you guys gotta let me go.”
“There are two extra tickets, Rory. Who are you going to take, your ma? No offense, Aunt Gianna,” he added.
“Take a look around, Ari. Anyone in this room would want to go. I don’t care who else goes, just please let me be one of them.”
“Fine Rory, you can go with us under one condition -- no more barging in on me in my room. In fact, I want you to stay away completely. Until the concert, if you need to talk to me for any reason, you can text me. If you and Ava are going to run, you wait for her outside. Do you understand?”
“Ouch, I’m hurt cuz.” Rory said, really looking hurt.
“Well, what’s it worth to you?” Ari retorted.
Rory put his napkin on his plate and stood up. “Fine, I’ll do it, but if I keep my side of the deal, and believe me I will, I get both tickets and I get to pick the person I want to bring with me.”
“Fine, deal.” Ari said.
Rory had a horribly mischievous smile on his face, “Good it’s settled then.” He turned to face Julia.
“Julia, would you like to go on a date with me on New Year’s Eve? I have two tickets for Vampire Weekend and Ra Ra Riot.”
Apparently, Rory had given up on the “hard to get approach” and was going all out! The entire table shifted attention to Julia. You could hear a pin drop. Julia was caught seriously off guard and her cheeks actually turned pink. After a beat, she smiled up at Rory and let out a small “yes.” Rory did a victory dance, grabbed a whole pie and walked out.
Ari put his face in his hands while I shook with laughter along with the rest of the table. Andy slapped Ari on the back, “nothing like taking your cousin and ex-girlfriend out on a four hundred dollar date, huh?”
Ari mumbled something under his breath that sounded like a cuss word and I laughed even harder.
After dinner, Ari and I helped Aggie clean up. She hit Ari playfully on the back. “You shouldn’t have done that to poor Rory, kicking him out like that.”
“If I have to hang out with Rory on New Year’s Eve, then the least he can do is leave me alone for a few days. I swear every time I turn around, there he is.”
“Cut him some slack, Ari. You and Ava are his best friends. What do you expect him to do?”
“Yeah, well it doesn’t matter anyway. He’s going to slip up and come waltzing through that door before you know it.”
“If that’s the case, then you can always take your mother and father along with you to the show,” she said with a wink.
With that, Ari rolled his eyes, took me by the hand, and led me to his room.
Chapter 14
No. Game
“Mmm,” I said waking up in Ari’s arms, “I love your bed.”
“I love the girl that’s in my bed.”
I tilted my head up and kissed Ari on the lips. “I love you. I love telling you that I love you.”
“Me too.”
The week did pass by more peacefully than usual without Rory walking in uninvited and unannounced. I had no bad dreams. Ari and I woke up later and later each day, tangled in each other’s arms, which caused me to greet Rory outside for our run later and later.
“I’m gonna leave you if you’re late like this again, Ava,” he sighed, as I showed up an hour after our usual time.
“Lighten up, Rory,” I teased. “Just think, you could sleep in, you don’t have to hear Ari call you an idiot all the time, and you get two free tickets to the best show all year. By the way, is Julia really going?”
“Um yeah, I hope that’s cool. We’ve been hanging out together a lot lately.”
“Yeah, sure, that’s great. I’m glad to hear it.”
“Have you regretted not having me around to save you from yourself?”
“Rory, if you’re asking if I am still a virgin, then the answer is yes,” I snapped.
“Hey, I wasn’t trying to intrude on your privacy. Sorry. If it means anything to you, I am one too; a virgin that is.”
I nearly tripped over my own two feet; I had no idea how to respond to Rory’s confession. Topics like sex make me uncomfortable, but the Alexanders talk about sex as though it’s the weather – without an ounce of self-consciousness. I will never get used to it. Their conversations always turn south when I’m around; I think it’s because they enjoy watching me squirm and blush.
“Just please don’t tell anyone,” he begged.
“Rory, it’s nothing to be ashamed of... it’s a good thing.”
“Yeah, I guess you’re right.”
We finished the rest of the run in silence, and when we got back to the house, Rory stood on the beach and watched the tide change.
“K,” I said, breaking his concentration, “I’m not running tomorrow, so I’ll just see you tomorrow night, I guess.”
“Right ya, bye,” he said, not looking at me.
I headed to the shower and cleaned up, and when I got out, I heard a ton of screaming and yelling. I padded my way down to Ari’s room to be sure everything was ok. Ari was sitting in his chair reading a tattered copy of Kafka’s The Metamorphosis. There was a coffee stain on the front cover and several dog-eared pages. Ari looked up at me from over his reading glasses and smiled.
“What’s going on out there?” I asked.
“Lauren got caught sneaking out of the house to meet some friends last night. As far as I can tell from what I have heard, she’s grounded indefinitely and isn’t even going to be allowed to go to town tomorrow for the New Year’s party. She is taking her punishment pretty hard. I guess she’ll be the only one home tomorrow night.”
“Bummer. She should know better than to go sneaking behind Aggie’s back.”
“Ha,” Ari laughed, as I crawled onto his lap to read beside him.
****
Ari and I lay interwoven together in bed. I felt his hand run down the length of my back. I blinked my eyes open. It was only two in the morning.
“When is doing something you know is wrong the right thing to do?” he asked.
Snuggling deeper into his chest, I thought about his question. I knew what was worrying Ari. Could I do it, could I kill?
Everyone comes from somewhere. Some of us come from good and others from bad. The best part about life is that we have the ability to rise above the situation we find ourselves in. We are dealt certain cards, yes, but we don’t have to cheat to win. My father made the wrong choice; Andy made the right one. I hoped I would make the right ones, too. We were at war, a silent war that would not be reported on the news or told in any history books. The first battle was with ourselves as we decided how to deal with our internal conflicts on a day-to-day basis. Should I choose what’s right or should I choose what’s wrong?
Unfortunately, the line between right and wrong isn’t always cut and dried. The Kakos came from bad, the lowest of the low, and decided to try to go lower. They are direct descendants of Hades. Their blood is not watered down or tainted. They are literal spawns of Satan. They possess no soul and therefore feel no grief or regret for their actions. The Kakos’ ultimate goal is to live forever on earth. They escaped from hell eons ago, tracked down and tricked a descendant of a Fate, who agreed to allot them more time.
They followed this pattern for centuries until finally, the idea came to them that if there
were no Fates, there would be no more cutting of their threads, and they would be free to live on earth forever. They then set out to kill every descendant from Clotho, Atropos and Lachesis they could find until they got to my father, the last known Fate on earth. He had made a covenant with the Kakos and then had broken his promise. As a result, the Kakos had declared war on every last Greek descendant. The Greeks could side with the Kakos or they could die.
I was the only weapon the Greeks had, but what do I know about war? I’m a seventeen-year-old girl. I have not yet discerned the path my life will take...and I am supposed to go up against the devil’s brood? If I fail, I die. Eventually the Kakos will come for Andy, Aggie and Ari and everyone I love. Andy will have to choose whether to side with the enemy and spare his family’s life, or accept death. In my heart, I knew Andy would never back down and that his family would die a horrible death because of his decision.
If I hunted the Kakos down, then I would have blood on my hands. I would be a murderer, a sinner, and a criminal. I decided to refuse to murder anyone in cold blood. I saw myself as good and I did not want to tarnish my soul.
Ari had asked me how a person knows when the wrong thing to do is right. And I answered: “If I must do wrong to save someone I love, it is right. I will not murder anyone, Ari...but I will kill to save you.” I will protect my people, but I will not go out in search of blood.
****
I spent New Year’s Eve Day keeping Lauren company. She sulked around all day in p.j. shorts and a tank top. We cuddled on the couch and watched a movie marathon of all of her favorites, while eating handfuls of popcorn.
Around five, I peeled myself off the couch to start getting ready for the evening. Despite the fact that it was absolutely freezing outside, I put on a super-cute, short, flared dress and a pair of open toe wedges. It went great with my fitted, cropped biker jacket. I took my time doing my hair and makeup, knowing that as soon as we got to the show nobody would see me in the dark, the makeup would just smudge off and my hair would lose its luster, but I didn’t care. This was the first time I had left the house in days and I was getting stir crazy.
Fully dressed and ready, I set out in search of Ari. The house was dark and strangely silent. Aggie and Andy had left for the evening and the sun had long since set. Walking past the large glass windows gave me an insuppressible chill. The wind howled causing the trees to dance around outside and their shadows created lifelike images on the walls.
I turned the corner and my heart stopped momentarily at the sight of him. Ari looked as handsome as ever and scooped me up in his arms for a kiss. I let out a shaky breath, feeling safe in his arms. We were interrupted as Rory and Julia walked in, clearing their throats.
“You have no idea how nice it has been to not have seen your face all week,” Ari said.
“Yeah, right, whatever, you know you missed me,” Rory said with a bright smile.
“I didn’t. Did you, Ava?”
“Stop it, Ari.” I hit him playfully on the chest and we all headed to Ari’s car.
We went to dinner a few blocks away from the theater. Ari had wisely made reservations; the restaurant was crammed, but we were taken to our table right away. We walked from the restaurant to the theater to avoid the crush of cars seeking parking places. The streets were bursting with people out celebrating New Years. Once in the theater, we found our seats right away, incredible seats in the very first row... I could seriously lean my elbows on the stage. Discovery opened up for Ra Ra Riot, and then Vampire Weekend came on and played nearly all of their songs. They ended with “Walcott,” and the crowd went nuts.
Once the show was over, we struggled to get through the swarms of people. When we finally broke free and were outside, we found that rain was pouring down and the temperature must have dropped another fifteen degrees. I shoved my hands in my pockets in an attempt to keep warm. Ari told us to wait and he would hurry to the car and pick us up. We agreed and hung back under the awning of the brick building. People began to get really rowdy and soon after Ari left, a fight broke out between two burly men in front of me. One of the guys shoved the other one back, sending him flying into me. My body slammed back against the wall and my head hit the bricks, bouncing on them several times before my eyes finally rolled to the back of my head.
Images immediately started filling up my mind. I saw myself covered in mud, soaked with rain. I saw the woods and I felt the absolute fear that rushed through my bones. Then I saw an image I had never seen yet before, the source of the screaming. The sound came from a girl tied to a tree. She was bloody and beaten. It was Lauren.
My eyes shot open. Rory was hovered over me with a worried look on his face.
“They have her!” I screamed.
“Who? Are you ok? What are you talking about?”
“Lauren! We have to go.” I knew from my visions of my mother’s and Mia’s death that this was very real and if we didn’t get to Lauren quickly, she would be dead. I swore that this time I would stop the death of someone I loved.
“They took her, Rory; they have her in the woods, behind the house, where we run. We have to go now. Julia, wait for Ari, and tell him to go straight back to the house. Tell him that The Kakos have Lauren.”
Julia nodded her head while tears streamed down her face. I threw my shoes off, knowing I couldn’t move nearly as fast with them on, and I took off running down the crowded street, barefoot in the cold rain with Rory closing in behind me.
As soon as we hit the woods, we split up. I closed my eyes, trying to bring my vision of Lauren back to life. At the same moment, I heard the screams. I ran up the hills, pushing myself harder and faster than ever before. I slipped continually on muddy, slick rocks. The bottoms of my feet and the palms of my hands were covered in scrapes and deep cuts. I stopped for a moment to wipe the rain out of my eyes and I heard a small scared whimper. I followed the noise blindly through the rain; it was so dark that I nearly crashed right into her.
“Lauren,” I whispered, “oh, my gosh, Lauren, are you ok?” She was shaking and her body was a frozen blue all over. She was still wearing her tank top and p.j. shorts.
“No, Ava! You have to go,” she cried, “it’s a trap, it’s you they want.” As I worked on getting the ropes off, she told me that two of The Kakos came into the house looking for me and she lied and told them that she didn’t know where I was. They took her for bait, knowing that eventually I would come for her. They were right, I had come... and I would always come.
“Where are they now?” I asked, taking a moment to look around.
“They have a gun, Ava,” she said in a frightened voice. “One of them dropped it in the mud and they’re looking for it.”
I peeled my jacket off and put it on her frozen body just in time to hear the men coming for us.
“Lauren, you have to run. Rory is out there somewhere; he’ll find you. Don’t make any noise and run as fast as you can. Whatever you do; do not turn around and do not come back. Do you understand me?”
Fresh tears sprang from Lauren’s eyes and she hesitated for a moment. I could hear footsteps coming up fast from behind me. Lauren paled and sucked in a breath. I could feel the fear rolling off her in waves. That’s when I heard the shot ring out. I didn’t realize what the noise was until I felt a ripping, searing pain in my arm. Lauren screamed and her eyes grew as she stared at my shoulder. I’d been shot.
“Lauren, run now!”
She did as I said and I hoped like hell that she would not turn back. The men came up to me quickly. I tried to ready myself but it was too late. The first one had me by my hair. He had his knee shoved painfully into my back. I tried to free myself but it was useless. I could feel the blood oozing freely from my body, I was weak and growing weaker by the minute.
“Hello, Beautiful Fate,” the one holding me whispered in my ear.
“What do you want from me?” I spat.
“Shhh… I don’t really want anything from you; all I want is for you to die. Th
at’s it.” He pulled me tighter to his body and his grip tightened like a snake. He ran his dirty finger down my cheek and I spit in his eye. This made him jump back a little giving me a small second to push myself away from him. No. 2 jumped in and grabbed me.
“Just shoot her again and get it over with. The sooner she is gone the better for all of us.”
I heard a loud shot ring out from a revolver, my body let go, and I was surrounded in darkness.
Chapter 15
Murderer
“Ava, don’t let go…Ava.”
The voice was coming from inside my head; I desperately searched my mind for its owner. It was a voice I could not place, one that I had not heard before. I could tell I was fading, but I did not think I was gone yet.
“Who are you?” I asked as a beautiful face appeared, smiling at me and watching me with bright green eyes. “Dad?”
“Yeah, Ava Baby, it’s me.”
“Am I dead?”
“No, Ava,” he answered, “you aren’t dead, but you have to hang on; you have to wake up.”
“I can’t, I don’t know how. How are you here?”
“I am not really here, Ava. I am only in your mind.”
I blinked my eyes as my surroundings came into focus. I was lying in a bed in a dimly lit hospital room. I could hear the beeping of monitors. I could see the clock on the wall counting down the minutes until my death. My father stood there holding a pair of very sharp scissors.
“They vowed on my death bed that they would not rest until you were dead too, but they don’t have any idea how much stronger you are than they are and how much stronger you are than I am. When I lay dying, I had one last vision of the future – this one. Ava, I can control your fate only until I fade out, then the rest is up to you.”