****
Beeping turned to knocking and my head pounded with the noise. I blinked my eyes open, disentangled myself from the blankets and climbed out of bed. I grabbed my cell off the little table by my bed: holy hell, ten o’clock! I had slept that late only one other time in my life. I quickly shoved that memory out of my mind, walked by the mirror to give myself a quick once over, and shrugged. Not too much I could do about my sleepy looking state.
I assumed Viola or Sophie or Emily, or maybe even all three, had knocked at the door to demand details of the night before, but instead I found Ari, holding two cups of coffee. My breath caught in my throat. He was so handsome. His hair was still damp from a shower. He had on jeans with a pair of loafers and a button-down white oxford with the sleeves casually rolled half way up his arms. A modern day Adonis standing before me in my dorm room.
“Hi?” I said with uncertainty.
“Morning!” He handed me a cup of coffee and confidently walked into my dorm room making himself at home in my fluffy chair. “Sleep well?” he asked.
“Uh, I’ve slept better,” I said, taking a sip of my coffee.
The corners of Ari’s lips pulled up into a smile. “Me, too.” His eyes sparkled as he spoke. “So what are you doing today?” he asked.
I shook my head. I hated the weekends; they could be so empty and tedious.
“Nothing,” I admitted pathetically.
“Good, because Lauren has not stopped texting me to see if you are coming over to our house today,” he held up his iPhone to show me the multitude of texts from his sister.
I gaped at him incredulously.
“You cannot be serious. Why on Earth would you want me to intrude on your family thing?”
“But of course I am serious, and you won’t be intruding on anything. A lot of people come over on Sundays. We actually have fun. You’ll know other people – Rory and Nick will be there, and, um, Julia, and besides, Lauren will not leave me alone if I don’t bring you with me. I’ll never hear the end of it. And I don’t like telling her no.”
“Why would Rory and Julia be there?” was my only response. If he thought I wanted to come along just to see Rory, he was wrong. Rory and I definitely needed to talk, but I was okay with pushing that conversation aside for another day.
Ari smiled at me as if I should have known the answer to my question already.
“Rory and I are cousins, Ava. Our dads are brothers and you know how Greeks are. Or… maybe you don’t. And, umm, well, Julia lives there.”
What the hell, his ex-girlfriend lives with him? Not good.
“Are you going to explain that any further?”
“Not… right now.”
Ok, later, I could deal with that. At least there was the promise of explanation in the future. We were getting somewhere.
He smiled a huge hopeful smile.
“You already said you didn’t have anything else to do and if you say no,” he added, putting his hand over his heart, “I will be hurt.”
I knew he was teasing but it still made my heart skip a beat.
“Ok, fine,” I agreed and I shooed him out of my room. I tried to wash my nerves away in the hot shower. I dressed quickly, deciding on a new pair of jeans I got from Margaux’s store and one of her tops and paired it with my favorite black-and-white striped shoes. I met Ari in the commons and we made our way down to his Range Rover.
We arrived at Ari’s house and Lauren let out a squeal of delight. The house was packed full of people. I sucked in a deep breath and braced myself for the onslaught of personal space invasion. The kitchen was full of women all gossiping and laughing while the men sat at the dining room table playing cards and passing a bottle of ouzo around. People gathered on the back deck and on the sun porch; the house was literally packed with Ari’s family and their friends.
When we walked in, everyone greeted Ari. Each one of them kissed his cheeks and hugged him as he introduced them to me. Once, he even put his arm around my waist. I let out a quick gasp and he quickly removed it and gave me a shy, apologetic smile. His touch was unexpected but surprisingly welcome. I could have kicked myself for reacting. I had been longing to have his arm wrapped around me again for weeks.
There were familiar faces, just as Ari had promised; I spied Julia in the kitchen talking with Rory’s mom, Gianna. I had not yet seen Rory, but I heard his booming laugh coming from the other room. The bouncer and bartender from Hellenes’ Hideout were there along with Sarah and some of the other kids from school and their families. Mrs. Cali and Dean P. from DPI were even there. Aggie, Ari’s mom, came up and gave me a big welcoming hug.
“Ava, I am so happy you decided to come.”
She really was beautiful, tall and slender, eyes a bold brown just like Ari’s, her hair straight and silky and resting ever so lightly on her delicate shoulders. Her smile was huge and genuine and her lips were full and soft pink.
“Me, too,” I said. “Thanks for inviting me.”
“You’ll always be welcome here, Ava.”
Before I could start pondering the significance of her phrasing, Lauren stole me away from the crowd. I happily went with her. Something about Lauren made me fall in love with her. She was so sweet and funny, not to mention the fact that she was drop-dead gorgeous. Stressing out over her Halloween costume, she demanded my assistance. She made sure I knew that she was all of fifteen years old and wasn’t even thinking of going trick or treating. She, I was informed, would be attending her very first Halloween party.
I am actually something of an ace when it comes to Halloween costumes. For myself, I strongly dislike the holiday. The idea of going door-to-door, begging for candy, is absurd. But my mother always helped me with my costume, and the yearly ritual of creating something together was important to me, so I was glad to help Lauren. She wanted to go as a butterfly, which was simple enough. I sat with her in her room with some sheer fabric, wire and a hot glue gun and we went to work on some sparkly wings.
I was about an hour into the costume, just putting on the finishing touches, when Ari walked through the door.
“I have been looking all over for you,” he said, sounding relieved.
“Well, I’ve been in here the whole time,” Lauren said with a cute, playful grin on her face.
Ari smiled back at her and rolled his eyes. He put out his hand and wiggled his fingers, waiting for me to grab on so he could pull me off the floor. I hesitated for a moment and then put my hand in his, feeling the warm delightful tingle all through my body. He pulled me up with ease, standing me up right next to him. We were so close to each other that I could hear his heartbeat. Then the disturbing thought came to me that if I could hear his heart, he could probably hear mine, and at the moment mine was racing. Lauren cleared her throat and I stepped away a bit, feeling embarrassed, as she started showing off her new costume.
I had to admit the butterfly wings were pretty awesome. Ari gave his approval and then led me out of the room.
We headed into the living room, which was huge and full of people. I was struck again by the size of the space and by the fact that one entire wall was of glass. Windows that reached up into the vaulted ceiling allowed an unblocked view of the ocean. A baby grand was tucked into one corner of the room and I pointed to it.
“Do you play?” I asked Ari curiously.
“Ha, no way! None of us can play,” he answered with a laugh. “It’s just for looks, sort of pathetic actually.”
“I heard that, Ari,” Aggie said from behind us, holding her hands on her hips.
“That piano belonged to a dear friend of ours – he left it to us when he passed.” Aggie frowned at the thought. “Ava, why don’t you play something for us? Ari told me you were very talented.”
Looking around the packed room full of new faces, I shook my head.
“Uh, maybe another time; playing is kind of a personal thing for me. I don’t really play for other people too much.”
My statement brought a
small smile to Ari’s face. Admitting my shyness aloud made me feel incredibly foolish and I wished I had not mentioned the piano at all.
Rory walked into the room and saw me for the first time. He walked across the sea of people and put his hand on my elbow.
“Hey, can I talk to you for a minute?” he asked.
Excusing myself from the group, I followed him out of the living room, through the kitchen and out onto the deck. We took a seat on one of the wraparound outside couches by the fireplace.
“Ava,” he started then stopped again, taking a deep breath. “I am so sorry about last night. Seriously, I didn’t mean for that to happen.”
I let out a small laugh; clearly, Rory was distraught about his behavior of the previous evening. I had never seen him look so down.
“Forget about it, Rory,” I said with a smile as I bumped his shoulder with mine. “You don’t have anything to apologize for; it’s totally fine.”
He ran his fingers through his short hair.
“No, Ava, it’s not. I really like you a lot and I don’t know what happened. I’m such an idiot.”
The conversation was making me feel super uncomfortable; I squirmed in my seat, took a deep breath, and then turned back to him.
“Rory, listen, I like you, but… I don’t think I share the same kind of feelings that you do. You have been my friend since I’ve been here. No one has been as welcoming and as nice to me as you have. You make me laugh, and you do such a good job at being yourself that it makes it easier for me to be myself. If that even makes sense. Anyway, you’re my friend and I don’t ever want to jeopardize that.”
“Yeah, ok, I understand,” Rory said, as a flash of relief came over me. “Are we cool?”
“Definitely,” I answered nodding my head. We stood up and started to walk back inside, Rory paused and turned back towards me.
“So what are you doing here anyway?”
“Err. . . umm. . .” I paused, unsure of what direction my answer should take.
“Lauren wanted me to help her with her costume.”
Okay, I gave him a partial truth and felt a little guilty leaving some stuff out, but Rory just nodded in agreement.
“Yeah, that sounds like Lauren.”
We got back inside just in time for everyone to gather in the eat-in kitchen for dinner. Most of the family’s friends had gone, leaving just Ari and Rory’s immediate family, Julia, and myself. Julia and I smiled at each other.
Ari came up next to me, causing my stomach to flip.
“What was that all about?” he whispered almost intimately into my ear, causing lovely shivers to dance up and down my back.
“Nothing really – we were just getting a few things straightened out.”
Ari pulled out a chair for me at the table. Normally, I would have felt really out of place sitting at a dinner table with a huge family I had just met. Oddly, though, I felt right at home. I sat between Lauren and Ari and across from Rory. I laughed at conversations and answered most of the questions people threw at me. I did get uncomfortable when I caught Ari’s father, Andrew, staring at me on a few different occasions. I had gotten the same feeling from him the night before. He was just looking at me, not in a creepy way but more in a curious way.
“Ava,” he finally spoke, “do I know you from somewhere?”
“No, I don’t think so. Well… actually, yeah, kind of.” I looked down and played with the hem on my napkin. “I sort of ran you over a few months ago at Perry Baio’s memorial service causing you to spill your coffee.” I could feel my cheeks turning pinker by the second.
Andrew laughed aloud and shook his finger playfully at me.
“I remember that, and I thought I recognized you then, but you walked off before I could actually talk to you. Are you sure we have never met before that? You look so familiar to me. . .are you from the area?”
Ari spoke up before I could answer, “Dad, you don’t know her. She’s from Canada.”
“Well, actually,” I said correcting him. “I was born here in California; my mother and I moved to Montréal when I was still a baby. We lived there until I was thirteen, then moved to Chicago. I had to move back here after, uh,” I paused, “after she died.”
“Oh, I’m so sorry to hear that, Ava,” Andrew responded solemnly.
“What was your mother’s name, may I know?”
“Lucy Baio. She was Perry and Margaux’s daughter.”
“Oh, so you were related to Perry? Once again, I am sorry for your loss.” Andrew’s eyes scrunched up at the corners in thought. “I know Margaux quite well actually. We are good friends and we run a foundation together, but to be perfectly honest with you I did not know she had a child, let alone a grandchild.”
Boy, did this not surprise me.
“My mom was adopted. They weren’t close.”
“That’s not how I know you,” he continued. “What about your father, what’s his name?”
“Well,” I paused again, “I never met him. He died when I was born, but his name was Adrian Moirai.”
As soon as the words left my mouth the room went completely silent, aside from a few gasps and the clanging of silverware falling onto plates.
Oh, crap. I should have just said I didn’t know the name of my father. Why did I have to go and open my foolish mouth?
Rory was the first to break the silence. He stood up fast, causing his chair to rub against the floor loudly.
“I knew it!” he said in his booming voice. “I knew she was one of us! I knew it from the minute I first saw her.”
Ari stood up, looking extremely angry.
“We all knew she was one of us, you idiot. Weren’t you just listening? She’s Baby!”
Rory retorted by getting louder and rolling his eyes.
“She’s not Baby!”
“Rory, yes she is. She just said so,” Ari had an exhausted tone.
Rory thought about it for a second and his triumphant smile faltered.
“I just figured she had some small part of us in her . . . I didn’t think she was Baby. I asked her who she was and she didn’t know what I was talking about.”
“Of course she didn’t know, Rory. She’s been missing for seventeen years.”
Rory got even louder.
“I don’t know why the hell it matters to you so much, Ari…”
Ari was about to open his mouth again when Aggie and Gianna both stood up from their seats.
“Enough,” they both commanded, and then Aggie looked back and forth between the boys. “Remember your manners when we are at the dinner table. And try to remember that you two used to be friends; it’s high time you started acting like friends again.”
I was confused and growing increasingly ill at ease with all the stares. Andrew stood up calmly.
“Ava, pay no attention to Ari and Rory. They seem to be having the same issues as last year.”
He glanced over at Julia, then back to me.
“Ava, may I have a word with you in the study? Alone?” He narrowed his eyes at both Ari and Rory and shook his head, irritated, then turned away from the table.
I didn’t say anything; blood was beginning to pool behind my ears and my mouth was dry. Holy hell, what was going on? And who the hell has the unlikely name of Baby? I just wanted to crawl in a hole and disappear. I stood up and followed Andrew through the house to his large study. He pointed to a chair and I took a seat.
“You’ll have to excuse the disarray,” he said, waving his hand around the room. He sat down in his chair behind a big mahogany desk. “There was a fire in here a couple of months ago. I lost nearly everything.”
His office was sparse. I could see little nails in the wall where pictures used to hang and there was a damaged bookshelf that sat empty. He pulled out a fire-safe box, unlocked it and handed me a faded manila legal envelope. The glue had worn off but the flap was still held closed by a shiny metal clasp.
“Your father,” Andrew began, “was a very dear friend
of mine. He and I, along with my brother Thais, and Julia’s father Troy, grew up together.”
Andrew took his glasses off and rubbed the bridge of his nose.
“He was a very powerful man, Ava, but he made some serious mistakes that cost him his life. He gave me this before he died and asked me not to touch it until you arrived. Adrian told me that you would find us one day and that it would be important for you to see this. I should have known it was you from the minute I first saw you. You look exactly like him.”
Andrew pointed to the envelope and waited for me to open it.
I pulled out a picture, then what appeared to be a letter. The picture was of my mother when she was quite young. She had a radiant smile stretched across her face and her cheek was pressed up against the cheek of a man with dark wavy hair and bright, sea-green eyes. His smile nearly consumed the whole photograph. They were quite obviously in love. I knew Andrew was right. This was my father. This was Adrian Moirai.
I swallowed hard, put the photo down, and began to read the letter.
Ava,
I know that you don’t know me but believe me when I say that I know you. I have seen images of your life, and those images were the happiest moments of mine. I saw you when you were born, heard you cry. I was there with you when you met your best friend Mia and, Ava, I was there when your mom died. I am so sorry for your loss, Ava Baby, truly I am. Please know that she is now here with me and we are happy together once again.
I know that this is all so strange. Every word of what I say is true. You are the key to life and death among our people. We are not like the rest. We come from a long, great bloodline of rulers, heroes, gods, and goddesses. Ava, you are a Moirai. You are Fate. You and you alone hold the power to spin and end the thread of life. I was once that person. You must know that you have a very important choice to make, as did I. We are not all good, and some of us can be easily swayed by greed. As powerful as I thought I was, I turned out to be a very weak man. I was tempted into making the wrong choice and I have paid dearly for it.
When I was young, I met a man who introduced himself as a Kakos. This man promised me many wonderful things if, in turn, I would spare him and his kin from death. I made the promise of immortality, a promise I could keep only if I stopped my own bloodline. I kept my promise for a long time, until the day I met your mother.
We loved one another from the first moment that we shared together. She made me happier than I had ever been before. When she came to me with the news that she was pregnant, I was overcome with joy, but that joy was quickly replaced with fear. I told your mother what I was and what you would become. I urged her to flee and to never return, to keep my identity a secret from you as long as possible. My own fate came to me one night in a dream and once I saw it I knew it was irreversible. I had gone back on my word and the price would be our lives, yours, your mother’s and mine. You now have a choice to make, to choose between good and evil. A war has raged for many years between our people, The Kakos and the ones who side with them. You are the only one capable of ending this war. I want only the best for you, Baby – please do what is right, but know that if you do, you will be hunted.
Love,
Your Father,
A.Moirai
My hands were shaking and I could feel the tears stinging the back of my eyes.
“What does this mean?” I demanded from Andrew, handing him the letter.
He read it and then looked back at me.
“We . . . ” he started then paused and started over. “Ava, we come from a long line of Greeks . . . not just any Greeks, but The Greeks.”
“You mean like Zeus?” I asked incredulously, fighting the urge to roll my eyes.
“Yes, like Zeus. My brother Thais and I are descendants of Adonis and my wife is from Aphrodite’s bloodline. Gianna is of the family of Achilles. You, Ava, are above us all, untouchable. You come from the start. You are a Fate.”
I stared at Andy while I let some of the information sink in and he continued to explain. “The Fates’ number became fixed at three: Clotho the spinner, Lachesis the allotter and Atropos the cutter. They governed the figurative thread of life of every Greek from conception to demise. You are descended from Atropos, the inexorable cutter of the thread of life. At some point in your bloodline, Atropos and that of Lachesis were joined together, while we think Clotho may have been lost completely. Lachesis was the measurer of the thread. She determined the amount of time mortal souls each have on earth. When a person’s time came to an end, Atropos cut the thread.”
I shook my head confused.
“Your father told me you would not understand. He gave me that letter the day before you were born. I didn’t even know he was involved with your mother until it was too late. He refused to tell me her name, only that he was expecting a child and that one day his child would appear to me. When that day came, I was to do my best to urge you to act on the side of good. I did not know your name or when you would arrive and I am sorry I did not notice anything earlier. My family took to calling you just ‘Baby’ and you have been the focus of most of my thoughts for the past seventeen years. I have looked for you everywhere.
“Ava, I need to be honest with you. You hold the thread of life of every person in this home, and several more outside it. I promise you that we are good and that we want to help you, but you have to promise me that you will not end us all.”
The look in Andrew’s eyes, they told me that he was serious. In my heart, I am good. The choice was obvious to me. I would do what it took to protect them. I thought back to my dreams, the threads and the pair of sharp scissors, and finally accepted that Andrew's words were the truth. I was spending my nights taking care of my ancient duties, walking the halls of the dying descendants of The Greeks and ending their lives.
“I don’t want to hurt you,” I said softly. “I don’t want to hurt any of you.”
Relief washed over Andrew’s face.
“Ava, I am not going to lie to you. You have a very difficult road up ahead.”
“Why can’t I just grant these people, The Kakos, life? If they want to live forever what does it matter to me?”
“They are evil men, Ava, and they cause pain, sadness and destruction in everything they touch. If they live much longer, they will kill us all.”
“Are you sure they want to kill me?”
“They will not cut you any deals. They are past that now. The only good you will do them is in death.”
Before I could say anything in return, Ari walked in cautiously.
Andrew motioned for him to take a seat and filled him in on what was going on. Ari loosened up when he found out that I had promised not to take them away prematurely; he even placed his hand on my knee and gave it a small squeeze. I looked at him out of the corner of my eyes and he gave me a reassuring smile. Andrew cleared his throat and I suddenly felt embarrassed, but Ari did not give him a second glance and he kept his hand firm on my leg and his eyes straight on me.
“So was Perry like you…us?”
Andrew looked at me for a moment confused by my question, then understanding washed over his face.
“Oh, Ava,” he said with a note of sadness in his tone.
“Did you do that; cut Perry’s thread?”
I nodded and answered with a very small “yes.”
“Perry was one of the descendants of Apollo.” He looked at me more sternly. “You did what you had to do. It was his time; life will always be followed by death, Ava, always.”
I kept my eyes down at my knotted fingers in my lap.
“Look at me, Ava.”
I looked up as I was told.
“You did the right thing.”
“So does that mean that someday I will have to make that choice for you?”
“Yes, for all of us; when the time is right.”
I put my head in my hands. Should I run? If I went back to Chicago, I really didn’t think Margaux would try to bring me back. I could stay with Mia. I k
new her mom wouldn’t mind. I could probably even find someone to rent out a studio apartment for me. I had enough cash. My old school would take me back; I was sure. I had left behind a very solid GPA.
I felt the world swing out of place around me. My mind tried to grapple with the sudden screwiness of my life. Yet, as screwy as my life and my future seemed to have become, there was a certain undeniable sense in what I had just heard. Why? Why do these people feel like home to me? I had never felt such a strong pull to any people before, and the pull I was feeling wasn’t generated by just Ari or Rory but by every single person in the other room.
Sucking in a breath, I looked back up at Andy.
“Is there anyone else out there like me?”
“There is a very small possibility. A couple was killed about a year ago. They were shot by a member of the Kakos; we believe they were killed because the Kakos found a tie between the woman and Clotho. Some of us worried that maybe the murdered woman was you. I spent weeks in my study researching her but could not find any ties between her and your father. She was a bit too old to be his daughter, but I do believe she left behind a small child. A boy, I think, but we have been unable to locate him.”
I bounced about a thousand questions off Andrew and he did his best to answer.
“What does the letter mean that you are 'at war'?”
“Several of us Greeks, my family included, had to flee from Greece many, many years ago. We were dying at the hands of our own people who had crossed over to the side of bad, to the Kakos. The Kakos are essentially the descendants of Hades. They have made deals for several years with the Fates to spare them, to make them immortal. Your Father was the last to spare their lives and they will continue to live until you make the decision to end them; that is unless you die first. They know who you are, Ava, and they will find you soon enough. They will be coming for you.”
“You expect me to kill The Kakos, beings I have never met or even heard of, before they kill me. How am I supposed to do that?” I asked as we stood up to leave the study.
“I do not know the answer to that, Ava.”
We walked back out of the study and found everyone huddled up in the living room. Andrew had a smile on his face. Aggie stood up and walked to me cautiously.
“Is she the one? Is she Baby?”
Andrew nodded and she gasped and threw her arms around me.
“Oh, Ava Baby, we have waited so long for you.” Aggie let me go and then put her hand on Ari’s cheek. “It makes sense now doesn’t it, Ari?” He nodded and I stared curiously at their little embrace.
Aggie moved her hand back from Ari’s cheek and took my face in both of her hands. She made a spitting sound and said “ftou, ftou, ftou.” Gianna immediately took Aggie’s place and she made the same gesture and said “ftou, ftou, ftou.” I looked over at Ari and he had a horrified grimace on his face.
I was confused about the whole evening, including the exchange of words I had just heard between Ari and his mother and the fact that his mother and aunt just pretended to spit on me. I was ready to go back to the dorm. Ari sensed my need to be alone and told his mom and sister we were leaving. They looked disappointed, even though we had been there all day. Aggie gave me a hug goodbye.
“Promise me that you will come back,” she said.
“Okay,” was my only response.
Ari walked me out to his car and opened the passenger side door for me. He climbed in his side and shut the door.
“What was that?”
“What was what exactly, Ava?” He looked a little tense.
“Ftou, ftou, ftou,” I mimicked his mother.
He visibly relaxed and smiled.
“Some Greeks believe that spitting chases the devil and the bad luck away. That is why when someone talks about bad news like death the others slightly spit three times saying “ftou, ftou, ftou.”
I laughed at Ari.
“That’s silly.”
“Indeed it is, Ava.”
He beamed at me and squeezed my knee with his hand, sending the butterflies in my tummy into a frenzy.
Ari seemed to be in a talking mood – answering my questions. I decided to try for one more.
“What did your mother mean when she said, ‘That makes sense now, doesn’t it’?”
He shifted uncomfortably in his seat and looked at me from the corner of his eye. He shook his head no, indicating that he would once again not be dealing with any question related to his own mysterious behavior.
We drove the rest of the way back to the dorms in silence. Every once in a while, Ari would look over at me, checking, I guess, to see if I was about to have a nervous breakdown. To be honest, I was welcoming the information I had gotten from Andy; it felt nice to finally have some answers.
The two of us walked off the elevators onto the twelfth floor right into all of the girls in the middle of the Sunday night movie. I groaned quietly and Ari shot me a little smile. Skylar shot daggers at me with her crystal blue eyes and Emily gave me a “get the hell over here now” look. I tried my best to ignore them both and went straight to my room. Ari stopped at my door before walking the one-foot distance to his and paused.
“Ava, if you need anything at all, I’ll be right here.”
“Thanks,” I replied, before disappearing into my room. I threw on an old Bob Marley tee-shirt and some boxers and disappeared under my blankets. The shock had worn off and fear was beginning to set in. I got up out of bed and knocked on Ari’s door. He let me in his room with a happy, welcoming smile.