by Meagan Fink
“You still could have told me to slow down,” she says. She watches Dyton as his eyes light up when a soldier brings out a gun and shows them how he holds it.
“I don’t need any special treatment,” he mutters, his voice muffled from the hat. She glances down at him now understanding what was really going on.
“Now I see how it is,” she says, trying to suppress a laugh. The smile in her voice must have gotten through the material of his hat because he takes it off and sits up on his elbows.
“Oh really?” he asks curiously.
“It’s an issue of pride for you. You hate feeling like you can’t do something on your own, and it would be unthinkable for you to ask for help,” she declares, now with a smug smile.
He gasps, “Me? Prideful?” he grins, shaking his head.
“I don’t know you that well so I won’t draw any premature conclusions.” She grins already knowing that he is proud, but realizing there are many other things that she has not yet figured out.
Dyton looks over at them and points at the gun smiling. “Why do kids love guns?” asks Luca. Tita glances at him surprised. She didn’t take him to be the type against war.
“That’s actually my biggest worry, that Dyton will want to be like our father and go to war only to get himself killed.” Luca sits up straighter now, not as relaxed; he opens his mouth wanting to say something but changes his mind.
“What?”
“Nothing, never mind,” he says, shaking his head.
She frowns at him, “What were you going to say?”
“I just didn’t know that your father died in the war. When you said your parents died, I just didn’t think of the war. Was your mother in the war as well?”
She doesn’t understand why her father’s death was so interesting to him, but she decides to just ignore it.
“No, she wasn’t, but she did die from war.” A war that hopefully ended with her death, she thinks. He nods, seeming to sense the end of the conversation.
“I should go get Dyton.” She gets up off the lawn and dusts herself off. She glances down at Luca to see him staring into space, “Are you all right, Luca?”
He jolts his head up as if he wasn’t aware she was still there, “Oh, yeah, I’m good.” She nods and starts to walk away with the feeling that something about him wasn’t completely making sense.
After an hour of walking, the train station comes into sight which is a good thing for Luca. Dyton had been talking nonstop, happy now to have a new pair of ears to tell all their stories to.
“Then one time Tita and I were at this black market place, and this huge fat man came over with this gigantic hot dog, and…” Luca has an amused look on his face, all the while patiently listening to the endless barrage of stories.
Almost there, she thinks, almost out of New York. Dyton could maybe get some schooling, she could get a job, and they could start whole new lives.
Tita looks over her shoulder once again, the men are still there. She wonders if she should tell Luca. It’s probably nothing, you’re just being paranoid, she tells herself. But she can’t help looking over her shoulder every few minutes. Luca glances at her and frowns.
“Is everything all right?” he asks her. She glances back again and nods. “Yeah,” she says, but she still can’t shake the feeling that someone’s following them.
“Almost there,” says Dyton, with excitement in his voice. She smiles at him and momentarily forgets the guys behind them; it’s cute how excited he is.
“So Tita, what kind of job are you going to get?” asks Dyton.
She wraps her arm around his neck and leans on him. “Whatever I can get, kid,” she says. But then she thinks about it a little longer, if she could choose what would she pick?
“Well, what skills do you have?” asks Luca, joining in on the conversation.
She looks at him and thinks about it. She laughs as a list comes to mind. “Well, I’ve never been caught pick pocketing, um, I can outrun the coppers fairly quickly; I was able to sneak us into the cargo hold of a ship to get us to America; and pretty good at dressing wounds, wouldn’t you say?” she asks, a grin on her face.
“I would say you’re pretty good, I’m still alive aren’t I?”
“I guess, maybe I can be a nurse?” Although wounds are not my favorite, she thinks. She glances back and picks up the pace. “Let’s hurry up, I don’t want to miss the train.”
Luca sees her glance and turns around, but this time when Luca looks back he sees the two men. His face goes white.
“You know them?” she asks, but she already knows the answer; it’s his family. He nods and quickens his pace. They reach the ticket booth and Tita looks at the schedules; the last D.C. train for today was leaving, at that moment.
Luca runs up to the counter and quickly buys three tickets. The lady gives him a questioning look, probably wondering if they knew there was no way they could make it. Tita looks back to see the two men running to catch up. She grabs Dyton’s hand and starts running toward the platform with Luca following closely behind.
“We’re not going to make it!” she shouts to Luca, as the train starts to roar to life. She picks up the pace running faster than she thought possible; it’s not possible for Dyton.
“Slow down!” he yells at her, but she doesn’t hear him as her focus is just on getting them on that train and through the door that is starting to move.
Dyton stumbles, then falls, and she’s yanked back and falls with him, their hands still interlocked. They both hit the ground hard. Luca runs up to them and yanks them back to their feet, “Wait!” he yells, but the train speeds past. They slow down and catch their breath, Luca clutching his side and trying to mask the pain on his face as their future flies past them.
Tita stops and stares blankly at the vanishing train, what do we do now? The only other station is all the way across town.
“What do we do?” asks Dyton between breaths.
Tita and Luca look back, the men are walking toward them; and that’s when she gets a clear view of their faces. She recognizes them. They were there the day her mother was killed.
9
“You’re them,” she whispers with realization in her voice, but no one hears her. “The Morans.”
“Luca my boy! We’ve missed you,” says one of them. He has dark hair with a red tint, maybe in his mid-fifties to early sixties, with a face that looks like old leather. The other one is a little shorter and much younger, somewhere in his twenties.
“Michael,” says Luca and nods at the younger one, and then glares at the one that spoke. “You know I didn’t kill my father, you know that this is all a lie.”
“I don’t care, you killed him or you didn’t, it doesn’t change my orders; your brother wants you to come home,” says the old geezer.
The young one, Michael, looks at Luca with guilty eyes. “I’m sorry Luca, but your brother’s the one giving the orders now, whether we like it or not.”
“Maybe, but you don’t need to follow those orders,” says Luca, glancing between the two of them.
“Oh no Luca, you can try and change our minds all you want, but we like our little group; we’re not rebels like you,” says the old one, starting to walk closer.
“It doesn’t bother you at all what we do?” asks Luca, as he motions Tita and Dyton back.
“Not in the least, now come with us peacefully or we can force you to come with us; but, if that’s the case, then I don’t think Isaac would want these two here,” he says, pointing at her and Dyton. His meaning is clear, either Luca goes with them or it ends badly for the two of them.
Luca looks between the two men, and then at Tita and Dyton. He bites his lower lip as he thinks through his options. Either way Luca was going with those men, but it was up to him if Tita and Dyton survived. He takes a step forward.
What
is he doing? He can’t go, we need him to get out of New York. I need to get Dyton out, and I can’t do that without him. She thinks through her options wondering how she can get all of them away from these men, then the realization dawns on her. They don’t know who I am; they probably think I’m just some girl he’s picked up, and I don’t know anything about them. Tita lays a restraining hand on Luca’s arm and shakes her head and then faces the two men.
“You know Luca’s told me all about you people and the things that you’ve done.” Luca and Dyton look at her with confusion wondering what she’s talking about. The men just look at her curiously.
She nods, gaining confidence, as she plans what her strategy will be.
“Oh yeah, he’s told me everything about you, all the people you’ve killed and how you make a living, and about your organization --- oh, and about Ace,” she says, and that last one gets to them. Their eyes widen, they look at each other, then at Luca; whereas Luca is staring at her with his mouth agape. Michael takes a step forward and points at him.
“You told her about Ace?” he asks accusingly. Luca looks between the two of them not knowing what to say. So she says it for him.
“Oh yes, I know everything about Blackheart, about the Laskos and what you did to them.” Dyton looks at her and frowns. She knows what she’s doing; now she needs to spill it all to both Dyton and Luca, about who they really are.
“And, because of this, that is why I’m sure you don’t get along with the authorities; so, if you two wish to keep your freedom, I suggest that you get moving.” She holds her breath waiting for the thing that will sell her story, something that you never give a second thought to unless there’s a possibility it’s for you. Police sirens. They blare fairly close to where they stand and she grins.
“I think that’s for you,” says Luca, catching on.
“Luca, what, what are you doing?” asks the old one.
“If I were you I’d start running,” says Luca. The two men look once again at Luca questioning, then look at each other and start to back away. As the sirens get closer they start to run.
Tita lets out a breath she didn’t know was there and smiles, “I can’t believe that actually worked,” she says, her smile widening. She looks over at Luca to see that he’s frowning at her.
“How do you know who I am?” he asks.
“Your family, are they the Morans?” she asks, as she watches the fleeing figures of the two men. Luca’s eyebrows are drawn in confusion.
“How, how did you know that? Have we already met before?” he asks. She thinks about it, he does look familiar. She places him at about 13 years old, deep red hair that falls to his shoulders, and a gun slung over his shoulder. Add seven other men around him, and he was the mystery boy who kept her hidden when her mother was killed. But she wonders if she should tell him.
“Don’t worry I’ll explain everything, but first we need to figure out what we’re going to do next,” she says, rubbing her locket. She needs to tell both of them and have them each read the letter. Luca wasn’t just some random stranger like she had thought; and, now that she knows who he really is, it explains so many things. That was why he was running from his family. From what Tita knew from her letter, no wonder Luca felt he had to run from those people.
Luca frowns at her, wondering if he should push the topic but decides to let it go. He slowly nods.
“Alright, well we can’t head to D.C. now. My family will check what train we were trying to catch. They’ll figure out that I was trying to contact my uncle,” he says, biting his lower lip, thinking.
“Well where else could we go?” asks Dyton, frowning at her.
“I don’t know. I would ask if you guys have any family or friends, but I’m sure that if you did you would be with them,” says Luca, and Dyton nods. Tita runs a hand through her hair. She hadn’t wanted it to come to this; she just wanted to put her parents and everything in which they were involved into the past. But it was just a matter of time before she had to face it, at least this way it was on her terms.
“No, we have someone we can go to, he lives in Florida. He might be able to help us,” she says. After thinking about their circumstances she doesn’t see any other option.
“What are you talking about Tita, we don’t know anyone,” says Dyton. She looks down, not wanting to meet his eyes, and she notices that his hands are scratched and bloody from the fall. She makes a note to clean them up later.
“Dyton, I haven’t been completely honest with you about our parents. We have a grandfather who lives in Florida. We can go see him.” Tita directs the last part toward Luca, and he nods. Something about his expression doesn’t seem right; it’s a little distant, yet approving.
“What do you mean we have a grandfather? We don’t have any relatives,” he says, frowning.
“Dyton, I know you don’t completely remember what happened when Mama died, but she gave me this before we hid in the tunnel.” She holds up the locket and his eyes widen, realizing where she really got it. “She told me about our grandfather in Florida, and she said that he would explain who those men are,” she says, as she pauses and looks at him to see his reaction. She watches as he puts the pieces together.
“Why didn’t you tell me any of this?” he asks, starting to get angry; she can see the betrayal on his face.
“Look, I’m sorry to interrupt, but John and Michael will realize that those sirens aren’t really for them. We need to get moving,” says Luca, looking in the direction his family ran.
“Alright, we’ll come back tomorrow and get, tickets to Florida; in the meantime, I promise to explain everything,” she says looking at both of them, and they nod. Luca grimaces and holds his side; a red spot has appeared on his shirt.
“I’m sorry but we really need to get you to a doctor,” says Tita. “My patch work isn’t enough.”
“No I’m OK, really, let’s just go back to the alley we stayed in before,” he says. Tita shakes her head; she had seen quite a few wounds in her time, and Luca’s wasn’t going to heal on its own.
“Listen, I know a doctor and he’s patched me and Dyton up before. He doesn’t ask any questions; we can go see him, OK?” He thinks about it and then glances at her nervously.
“He doesn’t ask any questions?” he asks.
“None, trust me on this, I’ve known him since we’ve been on the streets,” she says, trying to ease his worry. After a moment of silence, as he thinks over their options, he finally nods.
Tita and Dyton sit outside a small hospital waiting for Luca; she uses the time to explain as much as she can to Dyton.
“Why didn’t you tell me we have a grandfather? I thought we didn’t have any family,” he says. They sit on the front steps, facing each other, and occasionally getting out of the way of someone going up or down.
“Dyton, our family was into some dangerous stuff; and I didn’t know if contacting our grandfather would alert the men who killed Mama, and if that would put a target on us,” she says.
She grabs the wet cloth that she had borrowed from the hospital and wipes at Dyton’s hands. He winces and tries to pull his hand away, but she digs her nails in keeping him still.
“Ow,” he whines.
“Oh, shut up,” she says and applies some medicine and wraps it with a bandage.
“What were our parents in to?” he asks. Tita looks down at her locket, slowly takes it off and opens it, and then takes out the folded piece of paper and hands it to him. He looks at it questioningly.
“Mama gave me this locket and this was inside. It only explains some things and it leaves some unanswered questions. Mama told me that our grandfather, Greg Blackson, would explain the rest,” she says. Dyton opens the letter and she waits patiently for him to read it.
So this is how you knew what to say to Luca’s family?” asks Dyton. When she nods, she can see the wheels in
his head turning.
“So Luca is a part of that family, the Morans?”
“That’s what I was figuring. He has the same last name, and it explains why he’s running from them. And, after the incident at the train station, I now know my suspicions are right,” she says, as she takes the letter back and puts it in her locket.
“Still, why didn’t you tell me?” he asks again. She sighs; the problem is she didn’t have any real reason to keep him in the dark. She was just worried what he would think about their parents. He might question everything, and she didn’t know how she would’ve handled that.
“Honestly Dyton, I don’t know. I was worried that you might want to go see our grandfather to get answers; and, to be honest, I considered going for that very reason. But now it doesn’t matter,” she says.
“Because they already know where we are?” he asks. She expected him to be scared, scared that an insane family was tracking them down to kill them just for revenge. But he wasn’t scared, he was completely calm.
“Yeah, but this way at least we have Luca for help, he knows how his family thinks and he has the cash that we need,” she says. Besides, he had already helped them so much, the least they could do was return the favor and take him along to a place that was safe.
“How do we know we can trust him? What if he goes back to his family and takes us with him?” asks Dyton, glancing up the stairs as if Luca’s presence was right there. She had thought about that and it was possible, but there wasn’t anything else they could do. The two of them were wanted in New York; D.C. was out because now the Morans could be looking there, so that left Florida as their last option.
“I’ll tell you what, we’ll see how he reacts when I tell him that we’re members of the other family. Depending on his reaction, we’ll see if we can trust him or not, OK?” she asks, and after a moment, Dyton nods.
A few minutes later Luca comes walking down the stairs. The blood stain on his shirt was washed clean, and there’s a slight bulge where the bandage is. His skin looks a lot better, not as pale. He seems relieved when he sees them sitting on the steps as if part of him thought they had left him.