Chapter Sixteen – The Betrayal of Friends
The rain began to ease, “Grasiella?” Tatiana called her name. She was afraid to approach Grasiella; afraid of whom she might be speaking to.
As Grasiella turned, Tatiana saw that her eyes were a very dark green. Grasiella’s voice was different as she spoke, “I need to make myself stronger.”
“Grasiella?” Tatiana did not understand.
“This body is not as strong as mine was.” Her voice sounded frustrated.
Tatiana placed her hand on Grasiella’s shoulder, “Come back Grasiella.” Turning to Kye she shouted, “Go get G.”
Grasiella placed her own hands on Tatiana shoulders. As she did she spoke, “Its okay now,” When she looked back at Tatiana her eyes were back to their natural dark brown, “It’s okay,” Grasiella took deep breaths. They both sat for a moment on the garden floor.
“What happened to you Grasiella?” Tatiana had a feeling she knew already.
Kye came back to them. “She’s gone.”
“What do you mean?” Tatiana asked.
“She’s nowhere in the house.”
Tatiana and Grasiella looked at each other not sure what to do now. Tatiana felt she was the one who would have to take charge, being that Grasiella was not herself. She didn’t quite understand what was going on with her and wasn’t sure how to help her work it out. Grasiella had always been the one to take the lead. She was always the strong one. This time Tatiana would have to be the strong one.
Grasiella saw the uncertainty flash on Tatiana’s face. Grasiella felt like a freak. The sadness that had come and taken over her was getting stronger each time. “Its okay now Tatiana,” as she said this, Grasiella stood up.
“Why is she using you?” Tatiana suspected that what was entering Grasiella, was their ancestor.
“I don’t know. We need G here to tell us. I’m sure she must know what’s happening to me.”
“Sita Knook said something was coming. She seemed afraid of whatever it was.”
“Eros tricked me into handing the crystal over to him.” Grasiella stated.
“He was desperate.” Kye said.
“Well whatever. He owes us.” Grasiella didn’t care what Eros’ reasons were.
“There was something that he said to me once. He said that Sita Knook is not her real name.” Kye said wonderingly.
“What is her real name?” Tatiana asked.
“Mnemosyne,” replied Kye.
“Doesn’t mean anything to me,” stated Tatiana.
“Memory,” Grasiella said out loud.
“What memory? Do you remember something?” Tatiana asked.
“You don’t look good Grasiella.” Kye thought she looked a little pale.
“I’m ok. It’s just something Sita Knook was saying to me, and it finally makes sense now.”
“What did she say to you? And when did she say it?” Tatiana asked concerned.
“She said that time was like a stream.”
“I’m not following you, Grasiella.”
“She talked to you while she was still in the crystal?” Kye asked.
Grasiella nodded her head, remembering what it was that Sita Knook said. Her name was not Sita Knook. It was really Mnemosyne. And now she knew what she was trying to tell her.
Grasiella looked up into the sky. The sky had cleared of the lightning. What had Mnemosyne seen in the sky? More importantly what or who was she expecting to come?
“Kye?” Tatiana had moved away from Grasiella and Kye. She wanted to check on the man whom Kye had killed. “Where did that man go?”
“He was a faerie. He died when I singed his wings off with my electric blast. They don’t leave a body when they die.”
“No they don’t. They become one of the stars.” Grasiella said as she searched the skies. She was concerned.
Tatiana looked up. It wasn’t dark, and there were no stars out to be seen. What was Grasiella talking about? She asked, although she hadn’t really expected to get an answer.
“When a faerie dies, they become one of the stars. I don’t know how I know this. I just do.”
Tatiana didn’t say anything more. She looked at Grasiella warily. Tatiana couldn’t understand why the faeries were attacking them and said as much to Kye and Grasiella. Kye told her that they didn’t like humans much.
“Why not? What did we ever do to them?” Tatiana asked perplexed.
“You remember the story G told us, about how the faeries were kept as slaves for their magic?”
“Oh, right. That would be a good reason. But we just learned that we,” pointing between herself and her sister, “are not all human. Why would they care about Mnemosyne? Why would they try to rescue her? She’s not even a faerie.”
“Don’t believe whatever comes out of her mouth, Tatiana,” Grasiella said, folding her arms, “We have no reason to trust her and every reason not to.”
“Why would she lie to us about this?”
“Humans generally do not have magical power, Grasiella. It’s not in their nature.” Kye added this.
“We are not what she says Kye. Our family couldn’t come from something as horrible as the Cinerians. We are not like them. Our family fought against them.”
“Those who come before don’t define you. You make your own destiny.”
“As should be the choice to take a life, yet I did it anyways.” The skinny man had called her a killer. Maybe he had been right.
“Grasiella,” Tatiana wanted nothing more then to take away her sister’s pain. She knew that Grasiella would work it out in her own way, but she was taking to long. “Let’s go inside before something else decides to drop in.”
“Who was it that Eros was looking for?” Tatiana asked as they headed inside the house. “He kept asking about someone.”
“We probably won’t see him again.” Kye said as he held the door open for Grasiella and Tatiana. “He told me that they had taken his wife from him.”
“What about your cousin, Kana’i? Do you think he’ll leave now?”
Kye was surprised to hear Grasiella mention him, “I’m sure we’ve seen the last of him. He never likes to leave his island long. He thinks the Haoles are going to run off with it or something.”
Grasiella laughed, “Would serve him right if they did.”
Tatiana watched as Grasiella headed upstairs. Grasiella said she had wanted to get some rest. Tatiana had hoped that once she did she would be back to her normal self. More importantly, she hoped Grasiella would stop blaming herself. No one saw Kye moping around worrying about doing in the skinny man outside. If only he had done it before Mnemosyne had escaped from her prison.
Where was Mnemosyne now? Would anyone else come looking for her? What was she alluding at that was coming? Tatiana had so many questions and G wasn’t around to answer any of them.
She picked a fine time to leave the house. Turning to Kye, “You have a lot to explain to me. How could you not tell me your family secret? After everything that I told you about me and my mine, you kept yours from me.”
“It wasn’t just me Tatiana. I would have been exposing my cousin, Kana’i and my grandmother to you. Pele is a very private person. She only shows herself to those she feels are worthy.”
“Will she think I’m worthy?” Tatiana noticed how he hesitated, “Never mind.”
“We need to figure out what to do now about Mnemosyne.” He said as he changed the subject.
“I have a question, Kye. I had spoken to a gnome. I asked him about Sita Knook, and he told me that she had been abducted from her home. But that’s not true. Sita had been imprisoned for over thousands of years, so why would he make it seem like it had been recent?”
“Gnomes only pass on what they are told to pass on. They are controlled by one man who instructs the gnomes to pass on messages. He must have instructed the gnome to tell you that. ”
“Why would he make the gnome lie to me?”
Ky
e didn’t have an answer to that question.
Once alone in her room Grasiella laid out on the bed. She wanted to take a shower but couldn’t summon the energy to do it. As she rolled to her side, she closed her eyes, wondering what would come next.
She heard the front door open downstairs. G was calling out to the girls. Grasiella heard her as she greeted Tatiana and Kye. Tatiana’s voice was frenzied as she spoke with G, asking her where she had been. Kye’s voice carried up the stairs as he tried to settle Tatiana down.
Grasiella rose from her bed to hurry downstairs in order to ask her grandmother a few questions of her own. G only told them that she had stepped out to buy some groceries, that she had no idea what was taking place at the house while she had been gone.
Grasiella didn’t buy that. She knew that her grandmother had sensed when she was in trouble at the cove with Mayrra. What was she playing at?
Tatiana was the one who told her that Sita Knook had been freed. G did not look at all surprised nor did she become upset at the news. She nodded her head before going into the kitchen with her groceries. Kye gave her a hand with the bags. Tatiana told her that Sita Knook wasn’t her real name. She told her that she was actually called Mnemosyne, pronounced Knee-mo-knee-see
G was taken aback to learn this. Although she tried not to show her surprise, she hadn’t managed to hide it from Grasiella, who had remained silent as Tatiana filled in G on what had transpired while she had been grocery shopping. Grasiella helped G as she unpacked the bags.
“Grasiella, you’re so quiet. Is there anything you want to add?” G asked, watching and waiting for her granddaughter to give her some idea of what was going on in her head.
“No, Tatiana said everything.” She answered quietly.
“Do you believe what Mnemosyne said about our being descended from one of the Cinerians?”
“It’s not true right?” Grasiella asked.
Tatiana didn’t wait for her grandmother to answer. She jumped in with her own question to G, asking why she hadn’t told them when she gave them the history lesson about their ancestor Grasiella.
“I had intended to. I just didn’t think it was the right time.”
Tatiana hadn’t liked her answer, “G-“
Grasiella didn’t want her sister to argue with G and cut her off before she could continue. “Is it true what Mnemosyne told us? That we descend from the Cinerians?”
G finished putting the groceries away. Without looking at her granddaughters, who were anxiously awaiting her answer, she said to them, “It’s not all that bad. Every family has its secrets. This just happens to be one of ours.”
Tatiana gave an outraged shout. Grasiella shot her sister a sharp look to remain quiet before saying to G, “Did you know that our ancestor was able to gain entrance into my body? She was able to control me.”
“You must have done something to invite her in.”
Grasiella cast her eyes downward, “When she was inside me, I could feel how she felt. She didn’t like hearing Mnemosyne mention she was one of the Cinerians. Could she have not known?”
Kye sat in the chair next to Tatiana, giving the question some thought, “Maybe she knew it, but didn’t want to accept it.”
“It’s something the family has always known yet never talked about,” G answered. “I had wanted to tell you in my own way. It’s just not as important as you’re making it seem.”
Grasiella understood what G meant. Knowing that their ancestor had been one of the Cinerians wouldn’t change who they are. “When she comes, I feel such sadness.”
G placed her hand on Grasiella’s shoulder to offer her comfort. “I don’t know what that means.”
Tatiana had an idea. She wanted to try to summon their ancestor in order to put Grasiella’s questions to her directly. G advised against that, saying that no one has ever been able to control spirits. She said that Grasiella had opened a doorway from the other realm into herself. G told them that Grasiella would have to learn how to close the doorway and that she would need to figure out how to do that on her own.