Xan, who’d managed to pin Marko down on his belly, had the poor guys arms wrenched behind his back in a very unnatural position.
Grinning nastily, Xan bared his teeth at the crowd.
“Nadya!” he shouted.
Jericho and Maisera’s granddaughter stood up, brushing the grass and mud off her tiered, rainbow colored skirt.
“What do you think of your man now, dulcea mea fată?” Xan taunted.
Nadya, hands on hips, narrowed her pretty brown eyes. “I think I’m going to have a hard time telling him what a fundul calului you are with him under your boot!”
Even with his face in the dirt I could hear Marko laughing.
“Who’s next frate’s?” Xan bellowed, helping Marko up. He released him with a friendly shove.
This was a typical afternoon for the guys. Hours upon hours of physical labor was never enough to tire them out. They had to beat each other bloody, bruised and broken in order to call it a day.
Cupping his hands around his mouth, Shandor yelled, “Hockey! Come on man! Get over here!”
Cutting wood near the chicken coop, Hockey waved them off. Becki’s stark look of disappointment didn’t go unnoticed by me. But why Hockey’s lack of participation bothered her was beyond my comprehension.
In my opinion, the frighteningly masculine display was utterly unnecessary to prove one’s worth. No matter how beautiful their muscles looked as they tightened and released, gathering a nice coat of shine the harder they worked at bringing their opponent down, it hardly determined what kind of person they were. It only proved they could kick some ass. Not that I had much experience in the way of relationships, but it seemed that there had to be more to it than winning wrestling matches if it was going to work.
“I’ll fight you, brother.” Gerik strode forward, his hands shoved in his pockets. Shandor began to snicker and giggle, sounding like a deranged hyena.
“Oooh damn,” Adriana Siwak breathed, watching Gerik take his shirt off. “I have always been so jealous of Onyx. That Gypsy bitch gets that beautiful man naked every single night.”
She turned toward the Horváth’s and lowered her voice, “My tent is right next to Onyx’s and you should hear the two of them go at it. Oh. My. God.”
In a romantic gesture, Adriana put her hand over her heart. Hearing this, the Horváth’s began to giggle like thirteen-year-old girls.
Becki turned toward me, eyes wide, and I immediately looked away, my stomach clenching. I’d had my suspicions; it was hard not to since I had seen them disappear together and heard tidbits of rumors around camp, but hearing firsthand that they were together every single night by someone who lived right next door to Onyx was like a punch in the gut.
Xan was pouring some water over his already torn and bloodied fingers. His bottom lip was split in several places and blood was trickling from the corner of his mouth, but his dark eyes were alit with pleasure. The word 'crazy' came to mind as I watched him.
Cracking his destroyed knuckles and rolling his shoulders, he faced Gerik, smiling impishly. I shook my head. What an idiot.
Gerik, smirking, threw the first punch. His fist shot out with ridiculous speed and Xan’s head was thrust back with an audible crack. His footing wavered as he stumbled backwards but he caught himself before he fell.
The girls went crazy.
Xan’s smile had disappeared. In its place was what was going to be some nasty bruises.
They rushed each other like bulls, heads down and horns forward…er, fists forward.
I jumped up.
“Where are you going?” Becki looked shocked that I would even consider leaving this useless testosterone-laden display.
“I can’t watch this.” I gestured toward Gerik and Xan. Xan was face down in Gerik’s chest, pummeling his abdomen. With both arms wrapped around Xan’s neck, Gerik was trying to wrestle him to the ground.
“Want me to tell you who wins?”
I gave her a wry look. “I’m sure I’ll be able to figure it out.”
CHAPTER FIVE
Fire meetings were our once a week version of a party. The entire clan gathered together for a lavish spread of drinks and food, storytelling, music and dancing. The celebrating usually lasted long into the night and sometimes didn’t end until the first sign of the sun.
Tonight I had been asked to tell a story, since I’d made it my business to tell them all the time anyway. I couldn’t help myself. My daddy had been a born story teller and I’d grown up regaled with tales of Greek gods and goddesses and the mythology of Greece long ago. To me, it was as cherished as the stories in the bible were for others. I knew the myths and legends like the back of my hand and loved re-telling them.
I waited until most of the children had gathered around me. The Moldoveanu Family twins, Pali and Mala, were taking up space on both of my knees while little Benyamin Vãdura sat directly in my lap.
Maisera, sitting with Jericho, held up her hands signaling silence to the clan. As quiet descended, she smiled at me, her many wrinkles causing her face to crinkle like a ball of crumpled paper.
I scanned the crowd quickly, not focusing on anyone in particular. I didn’t see Gerik, or smell him, and exhaled a sigh of relief.
“Do you all know the legend of the mermaid?” I directed my question at the children. A lot of them shook their heads yes. I smiled. “Are you sure?”
“Do they come from Greek, Trinny?” Daniella Vãdura asked.
“Greece,” I corrected her. “And yes, they do. Everything does.” A collective groan followed my statement and a lot of laughter. “Who can tell me what a mermaid looks like?”
Pali pulled on my hair. “Nakey,” he said very seriously. The men in the crowd roared with laughter and Pali, startled, looked confused by the reaction. I hugged him and whispered, “You’re right, ignore them.” Pali grinned, proud of himself.
“Mermaids are usually naked. They have the torso, arms and head like a human, but they also have the tail of a very large fish.”
“How do they take a crap?” Stevo Sava shouted. “Ow!” He cried out as a cup was thrown at his head.
“Anyway,” I continued, shooting him a dirty look. “This story is about the very first mermaid, a Macedonian Princess named Thessalonike, who lived in a time so long ago that no one knows exactly what year this story took place.”
“Was she beautiful?”
“Yes, Daniella, very. All princesses are, especially Roma princesses, like you.” The little girl grinned, revealing several missing teeth.
“Her brother was Alexander the Great…” I paused. “You all know who he was, right?” A bevy of small heads shook from side to side. I groaned. “Ok, well, that will be a story for another time. All you need to know is he was a great warrior, a great king, and he loved his sister, Thessalonike, very much. He also loved adventures and, during one, he discovered the Fountain of Immortality –”
“What’s immorodally?” Adi Vãdura’s big, brown eyes were full of innocence. She reminded me of a young Tahyra when our father would tell us the same stories.
“It’s living forever without getting older.”
Pali’s eyes went wide. “But I want to get older,” he cried out. “I want to be big and strong like tată and Hockey and Xan.”
“I am definitely bigger than Hockey.” Xan’s voice cut through the chuckles. Hockey gave him a mocking grin and then went back to chewing on a blade of grass.
Punka came and collected him, pulling the boy into his lap. “You’re going to grow big; you have nothing to worry about. Let the poor girl finish her story.”
“So,” I continued. “Alexander found this fountain and took some of its immortal water and brought it home. The story goes that he bathed his sister's hair in the precious water –”
“Why?” Mala’s face was scrunched up in confusion. “Why not drink it?”
I sighed. “I’m not really sure why.”
“Dumping it on her hair sounds pretty stupid to me.” A few
of the other children murmured in agreement with her.
“Well, whether it was stupid or not, that’s what happened. Not long after, Alexander died in battle and a grief-stricken Thessalonike tried to kill herself by jumping into the sea. But, because of the immortal water her brother had washed her hair in, she didn’t die.
“Instead, she turned into a mermaid, an immortal mermaid, who forever swims the seven seas. Whenever a ship would encounter her, she would ask the sailors a question, the same one every time.
“She would ask, ‘Does Alexander the Great live?’ If they answered incorrectly, she would transform into a Gorgon, sinking the ship and all of its sailors to the bottom of the sea. But if they answered correctly, telling her that ‘Yes, Alexander the Great lives and still rules as King,’ she would allow them to pass safely.”
“But that was a lie, cuz he was dead.”
“Duh, Dani, but she was crazy, she turned into a Gordon and killed them. Wouldn’t you lie to her?” Adi piped up.
I laughed. “A Gorgon. They have giant gold wings and huge claws and fangs with scales like a snake. They were the most feared of all sea monsters.”
“See, Dani.” Adi stuck her tongue out. “You would have lied too.”
Hockey’s little sister, Simza, stood up. “Trinity? Maisera always tells us what the story means afterwards…what does your story mean?”
Oops. I hadn’t thought that far ahead. “Well… ”
I heard someone snicker at my hesitation, causing my face to flame. The guys were going to eat me alive unless I got my act together.
Think Trinity! Think! I tried to channel my daddy.
Taking a deep breath, “It also shows you the importance of accepting what the gods have granted you. Alexander was already a great warrior with great power. He should have never stolen the immortal water. He was never meant to have it and neither was his sister. The story shows the consequences of his greed. Instead of being thankful for everything the gods had blessed him with, Alexander ended up dying and his sister was forced to spend eternity grieving him in the form of a monster, killing innocent people as a result.”
Simza nodded slowly, smiling. “It’s like dark magi –”
“Sim!” Aishe yelled. The warning in Simza’s mother’s voice was clear. The little girl shut her mouth, gave me a small smile and took off toward her mother.
Aishe couldn’t have been anymore obvious. I was an outsider, an interloper, a Gaje, and to speak of magic in front of me was forbidden. Between learning that Gerik’s on-again off-again relationship with Onyx was definitely on and now, once again, being called out as a Gaje in front of the entire clan, I suddenly didn’t feel like being social.
The start of the music was a happy reprieve from my dark thoughts. A heavy drum beat had begun and the clan whooped with delight. Intrigued, I headed towards where the crowd had gathered.
The immergence of two male figures, both wrapped in bear furs complete with a bear head concealing their identities, was a fearsome sight. Their beady eyes, formidable fangs and sharp claws cast menacing shadows from the firelight.
As the two men began to dance, heads down, feet pounding and bodies swinging, so did the clan, stomping their feet and clapping their hands along with the resounding thunder of the drums.
The bear’s movements were starkly different and yet somehow in sync with each other. It reminded me of something Native American. There was a natural energy forming around them. Their movements were electric and the rhythm was addicting. You couldn’t help but be affected by it.
I didn’t even notice Drina standing beside me. She nodded toward the dancers, her expression one of admiration and also sadness. “Beautiful, isn’t it?”
I wasn’t sure beautiful was the word I would use to describe it. Beautiful seemed far too tame a description. It was awesome, ferocious and unique.
It was downright seducing.
******
“So, you’re a bear dancer.” I teased, finding Xan leaning up against a tree, expertly juggling his giant bear fur and a bottle of gin, all while smoking a cigarette.
His face was a swollen mass of blue and purple and I knew instantly who'd won the earlier fight.
“You looked pretty into it,” he murmured.
“It was cool,” I admitted, a blush creeping up my neck. “I’d never seen anything like it. So, who was the other dancer?”
“Tobar,” he said on a big exhale of smoke.
“Tobar! Quiet, introverted Tobar!”
He shot me an amused glance. “One and the same, although he’s not so introverted as all that, just ask Becki.”
Becki?
“My tată taught us. He’s a Blackfoot Indian. Or half anyway.”
“Truly impressive heritage,” I said, genuinely meaning it.
“It is what it is.” He took another swig of his gin. “At least the asshole gave me something before he took off.” He gestured to the bear skin.
“You miss him,” I guessed.
Xan’s dark eyes bored into me. “Not so much anymore. He’s been gone for twenty years.” He took another drag off his cigarette and offered it to me. “Now I’m just kinda pissed he left me somewhere I don’t really belong. I’m a goddamn mechanic in a clan of some of the most powerful Roma in the world.” He looked down and snorted.
I could identify. I didn’t belong here either. The fire meeting tonight had, once again, painfully driven that stake just a little deeper. Even Gerik, who claimed to care for me and desire me, still wouldn’t share so many things with me. Things I knew he could easily share with Onyx, a fellow Roma. I had to question how anything between us could ever be real when a wall of secrets would always lay smack in the middle.
“See you later, fată.” Xan nodded at Gerik, who had wandered over to us and was watching me curiously, probably wondering why I had been avoiding him the entire day. No bruises marred his perfect face. A whisper of pity for Xan slithered through me. Gerik won everything and got everything he wanted.
“Frate,” Xan greeted Gerik. He left quickly, walking towards the fire pit.
“Where have you been? And why are you smoking?” Gerik asked. “I thought that after…" He trailed off. "I mean, I thought we were good.”
Good? What did that mean?
“Everything is fine.” I tried to walk around him, but he mimicked my footsteps and blocked my way.
He shook his head. “You’re avoiding me.”
I sighed. “I’m not. Honestly.”
Skepticism crossed his features.
“I’m really not. I just needed some…” I paused, thinking of how Simza had almost accidently betrayed some magical Roma secret in my presence and had been shushed by her mother. I shot him a hard look. “I needed some Gaje time.”
He rolled his eyes. “You can’t take it personally, Trinity, you’re not one of us. You can’t expect an entire culture to change their ways overnight because you have hurt feelings.”
“No,” I said, agreeing with him. “I don’t.”
“Then what’s the problem?”
“Gerik, it isn’t them I expect anything from.” He narrowed his blue eyes in confusion while I continued to stare at him.
“Me,” he said flatly, finally understanding. “You expect it of me even though you know I can’t, yeah?”
"Can’t? Or won’t?” I shot back.
Gerik drew himself to his full height, his legs spread wide and his jaw set in a hard line. He laced his hands behind his neck causing his t-shirt to pull up, exposing his abdomen. My breathing increased as the thin cotton stretched tight across his broad expanse of muscled chest.
I drank him in, the sight of him, the smell of him, all instantly steering me away from my anger. All my previous hurts fled as the magic that compelled me to react to Gerik in this manner filled me. Unwillingly, I took a step closer to him.
My reactions to him never went unnoticed. With his hands still around his neck, he took a step forward as well, his eyes now burning gray.<
br />
“Let me come home with you tonight,” he whispered.
My body screamed yes. The blood streaming under my skin itched and burned to move forward, to touch skin to skin and fuse with this man.
“I can make you feel better, Trinity. You know I can make everything better.”
My will broke and although Gerik’s facial expression hadn’t changed, his eyes shone brilliantly with triumph.
“Are we interrupting?” Shandor’s head appeared in between us. He was grinning like a jack-o-lantern. Beside him were two of the Horváth triplets, an arm slung over each of them.
“Oh gods,” I mumbled, shaking my head clear.
“And sometimes you make everything worse,” I pointedly told Gerik.
Gerik continued to stare at me until I felt like I had empty holes where my eyes had been. I had never thought of him as anything but Gerik, but for the first time he looked frightening. Between his height and his impressive muscular stature, he was a formidable sight. Add the ridged set of his jaw and the moonlight glinting off his eyes – he looked downright scary.
He turned abruptly, nearly knocking into Xan and Fifi. His long legs ate up the distance back to the living lot in a matter of seconds.
CHAPTER SIX
“Gimme the bottle, Xan!” Fifi whined, jumping on Xan’s back.
“Chill fată.” He took a swig and passed the bottle upwards to her.
“You okay, Trin?” Xan’s dark eyes missed nothing.
I didn’t answer him.
“I do believe this is a first, frate. A fată ignoring you!” Shandor mocked from beneath the eager lips of the triplet Magdolna.
Fifi burst out laughing, causing her to lose her footing around Xan, who hadn’t been holding onto her to begin with. She landed hard on her bottom. Still studying me, Xan reached down to snatch his bottle back from her.
“You’re free to join us if you’d like.”
I snorted. The thought of being the fifth wheel in their drunken orgy didn’t sound the least bit fun. I shook my head and turned to go.
“You think you’re too good for us, Gaje?” Fifi’s pretty face was scrunched up in a scowl and she was pointing a long, red fingernail at me.