Elementary Virtue: The Prophecy (27 page)

Now more than ever, as Shannon’s precious boy had dumped her she thought grimly. The scope of the truth would have exceeded Shannon horizon in terms of magical powers by far and Leyla didn’t feel like telling her anything that would make her look like some lunatic who had lost her mind. Therefore, Shannon simply had to settle with the fact that Gregory was alive and would eventually show up again somewhere in the future and no one could tell her when this was going to happen. Well, Leyla had to admit that something like that was probably hard to accept for any mother, even if in this specific case, stepmother. She went to her room and switched on her laptop. Rogan followed her laying down on her feet out of an old habit. Leyla scratched his head, smiling. Then she opened the browser and asked Google for pictures of amulets. God, there were hundreds of them. Leyla scrolled from page to page. What the hell did a picture of Queen Elizabeth do here? She shook her head and scrolled further.

Suddenly the English flag appeared several times too. What the heck did the British Empire have to do with amulets? She sighed her feet had become numb. The dog was extremely heavy on her now completely numb legs. She pulled her feet out from under it moving her legs until she could feel her toes again. Rogan got up visibly offended and trotted out of her room. "Sorry Rogan, but you're just too hot and too heavy. Love you!" she called after the dog grinning. Then she sat down on her desk again. Maybe she had to ask Google Web without Pictures. As it always happened when she was looking for something specific in the Internet, she found a whole lot of other stuff that she wasn’t even looking for, drifting away. There were constantly new possibilities opening up and new items to look for. Well, so what? Then she had just landed at the British Empire, no big deal. Suddenly she read something about English colonies and the fact that the Mediterranean island of Malta had been a British colony for a certain period until its independence in 1964.

Now the island was even a country in the EU. Gee, Leyla hadn’t even heard of the island and it was even a country. Actually, she had been initially looking for that damn amulet, but the island looked very inviting and interesting to her. For some time, she scrolled through the pictures and she definitely liked what she saw. There was something wild, intriguing, and inexplicably beautiful about it. She got a strange feeling that she absolutely had to go there sometime. People went there because of the language schools. Well, she didn’t have to learn English anymore, but still, maybe she could learn Maltese? She didn’t know what to use it for, but the Island was still fascinating enough. Who knew, maybe she could go there later in her life, when things were normal again on a holiday. She clicked on the subtitle "Maltese legends."

There was a legend about the Milan, some locals that were into fishing and viticulture and there was this tragic love story, as so many others that had ended in disaster. The legend said that the two lovers even tried as ghosts to get back together. Leyla smiled to herself, how romantic, she thought. She read on, they could only be united, Leyla gasped when two amulets were activated by a certain descendant of the Milan. The wooden amulets with traditional symbols could be bought all over the Island and was quite popular as a souvenir for tourists, but the second, a silver amulet with identical Symbols on it, disappeared and no one knew where it was, or if it even existed. Leyla's heartbeat quickened and was about to burst. She went back to the picture view typing the words Malta, amulet, Milan.

Immediately she was faced with a wooden version of the amulet in her dream. No one would ever believe her, it was incredible, and she really had what it took to become a detective. She printed the picture and looked at it for a long time. No question the four gems represented the elements. A blue sapphire, a green emerald, a red ruby, and a white crystal. She got back into the web, looking for the Milan. It was clear to her that the word Milan alone was a revelation. Black Kites the English word for them meant that they were damn birds of prey like the Vultures. Ok, Vultures feed on carrion, but they were still birds. Suddenly she knew where Gregory was. He was in Malta. The only question was how she managed to dream about the amulet? Was she simply going nuts? Or was there some weird mental connection between Gregory and her, they both didn’t know anything about? Was it the power of his unconscious thoughts? She didn’t know and for now she didn’t need Chayton Moonworthy any longer to decrypt the amulet. She had managed to do it all by herself, which was somehow quite frightening. She dialed Aiden's number telling him the short version of what she just found out. He seemed to be a bit perplexed. But, he promised her solemnly that he would go to Moonworthy tomorrow after school with her. The complete detective thing made Leyla very jittery. She could hardly wait to get to Moonworthy.

After having told Mila and Brooklyn about the amulet, she was literally sitting on pins and needles at her desk until school was finally over. When the last hour was over and she went along with Aiden to Moonworthy's apartment, Natalie opened the door. Damn, she looked perfectly normal now and was wearing no Makeup at all. Leyla had almost not recognized her, "Hi Natalie, is Mr. Moonworthy around?"
"Yes I’ll get him. Come on in, he is waiting for you." Then she saw Aiden who had been partly hidden as he stood behind Leyla on the wall. "Uh, I mean come in both of you." They entered and Natalie led them into a modern and bright living room. Leyla had expected a kind of dark tomb due to Moonworthy’s sinister appearance. But, maybe she shouldn’t give too much thought into appearances. "Would you like to drink something?" They shook their heads and sat down on a large, gray fabric sofa. Natalie sat down opposite them and twisted a strand of her hair around her finger. She looked at them curiously. "I didn’t know that you liked my father. I always had the feeling, that you thought he was pretty odd."

Aiden and Leyla didn’t really know what to say. Looked like Moonworthy hadn’t told her why he was expecting a visit from his students. It took a few minutes until Moonworthy came through the front door with a laundry hamper under his arm, truly an invaluable sight, and almost grotesque. Aiden and Leyla looked at each other and had to pull themselves together not to burst into laughter. "Hi Leyla," he handed Natalie the laundry hamper sitting down on the opposing sofa, "I see you brought some reinforcement. Glad you're here Aiden. I found the picture I was quite sure, that I had seen the amulet before," he laid the picture on the table between them. "It is - " Leyla cut him off, "A Maltese legend."
"How do you know that? "Moonworthy seemed surprised. Leyla put the print out on the table." I’ve done some research as well. The question is, why did I see the damn thing in a dream?" Chayton Moonworthy looked at her thoughtfully, "What did you see? A silver or a wooden amulet? Think about it!" Leyla closed her eyes trying to remember the dream she had some days ago. " I think it was made of silver," she saw the amulet in her mind as it hovered over her before she rushed into the depths, "but I am not completely sure about it."
"And where did you see the amulet in your dream? Who had it?"
"I think, at first it was dangling around Gregory’s neck. I was hanging on a rock ledge over an abyss. He tried to help me and somehow I held on to it and probably tore it away from him. Then I fell screaming into the abyss and the amulet floated above me in the air."

"Oops," Aiden said, "that means you’ve died in yours dream?" She nodded, "I guess so. In real life, I fell out of bed and hit my head." Aiden started laughing, but one look at Moonworthy and he fell silent again. Moonworthy looked at Leyla fascinated. "What was among you in the abyss?" "I think it was lava."
"Damn, then you fell into a volcano?"
"I guess so." She shrugged, "There is only one volcano in line and that is Mount Etna in Sicily, but I am sure you already know that, you are quite the detective as it appears to me. Leyla smiled wryly, “Of course, I know that, but what does all this have to do with the Maltese Amulet?"
"You have a very strong bond with Gregory. His thoughts are sending you some kind of subliminal messages, probably without him being aware of it. Really interesting," Moonworthy said. “But on the other hand there are many people that would take you to some psychiatric clinic for your statement." Leyla looked quite shocked. He laughed amused and for the first time since she met him, he radiated something like warmth.

He stood up, "Does anybody want some coffee or a Coke? I don’t have anything else around unfortunately." Aiden and Leyla looked uncertain, "Don’t make such a fuss, I haven't poisoned anybody lately, actually not as long as I can remember. At least so far." Aiden cleared his throat, "I’ll have a Coke," and Leyla nodded, "me too." Moonworthy went to the kitchen and took out two cans of Coke from the fridge. Natalie meanwhile had disappeared into her room. This was somewhat strange, as she was quite the curious type usually. Either she had placed her ear at the door in her room to hear what they were talking about, and what they wanted from Moonworthy. Maybe he had forbidden her to be there and listen. He started talking again, "Now back to our amulet, this amulet plays a big role in a love story reminding of Romeo and Juliet, which took place in Malta a long time ago. One of the leading characters was a man within the Akando rows, a direct descendant of the three Onendas that stranded in Sicily." Leyla and Aiden looked puzzled at him. "Well, I guess, I don’t know how much you two know about the Onendas apart from the prophecy in which Gregory is involved, but I think we can talk openly. I myself have studied my family for years, and it has kept me busy, that much I can tell you. That’s why I know pretty much all the details." Aiden and Leyla still looked clueless, what was he up to? "His name was Jamiro and he was Alawa’s son. She was one of the original Onendas who stranded in Sicily long time ago. After her death, he grew up in a convent. Legend says he was a devout good child. When he found out, who had killed his mother, he mutated into a gunman and erased almost an entire family, including one of the most important families in Sicily.

Aiden was about to say something, but Moonworthy stopped him raising his hand and continued, "No matter what you have heard my friend, my research is not sugarcoating any part of the story, even if he was one of us. He was also a cold-blooded monster, from time to time his fuses just blew, so to speak. He was a choleric, and when things didn’t turn out the way he wanted, he went crazy. He didn’t take no for an answer and he killed women and children without showing mercy, when he thought he had been treated the wrong way. His revenge was beyond any mercy. Then he fled by boat and landed in Malta. He was the founder -" Leyla finished the sentence, "of the Milan." This had become crystal clear to her while Moonworthy had been talking. "Well, someone has done her research homework damn well," he looked impressed.

"That is correct and it was also Jamiro who fell in love with the wealthy daughter of a Maltese landowner. Her name was Aaliyah and her father was against the connection because he realized that Jamiro was a ticking time bomb, that one never knew exactly when and where it would go off again. Anyway, he took Aaliyah away to the north of the island. As we all know love is blind, he grinned. Aaliyah didn’t want to separate from her crazy lover. As for the rest of the story, I don’t have that many details the deliverances are unfortunately quite scrappy. Anyway, she killed herself, but the exact circumstances are not known and Jamiro buried the amulet. Which to my knowledge belonged to Alawa. He had given it to Aaliyah, and it must be somewhere on the Island of Malta.

Previously he hunted her parents down and killed them. He blew up their house literally, because in his opinion he found them guilty for Aaliyah’s death and as I said he was not exactly squeamish when it came to punishing other people, especially when he was in rage. There was a counterpart of the Amulet, maybe it was Chiana’s,
I don’t really know. He wore it a lifetime around his neck as a memento of his great love. It is said that neither he nor Aaliyah ever found peace and are still spooking around until today on the island, until a certain descendant will be able to find both amulets any will redeem them." Aiden shook his head, "But if his big love killed herself, how could he be the founder of the Milan?”
"Oh boy," Moonworthy looked pitiful at him, "You're thinking just like a girl," Aiden fell silent obviously offended. "While he lost his soul mate, he was still a man, and men wanted desperately to pass on their genes especially back in time.

Jamiro had at least several children with another woman as far as I know." Leyla sighed, "I think I’m gonna feel sick. She was the love of his life and he had quite a good time after she killed herself." Moonworthy laughed, "Yes, I think you're right, but emancipation was not a big issue at that time and men idealized their big love on one side, but that did not stop them from continuing to breed like rabbits." Leyla was still shaking her head, "Unbelievable!" Aiden grinned, "There are even worse cases, for example, the Taj Mahal, the guy had locked up his big love and no one else was allowed to see her, but when she died he build this splendid insane Mausoleum to remember his big love." Leyla looked at him tapping her forehead, "And this is an excuse for Jamiro’s behavior, or does it make it any better, what are you trying to tell us?" Aiden had obviously dropped a brick and Moonworthy unexpectedly came to his aid, "I think what he means is that men get the most stupid ideas that you can imagine when they are in love." Leyla grumbled to herself, "I guess you could say that and it does explain a lot!"
"Well, now that we have clarified that the so-called stronger sex is having troubles for centuries with love, I would like to put the focus on the real problem here, and discuss it further," Aiden said. Moonworthy nodded, "So, back to the Milan. There are still some families in Malta, forming a secret community. They are very successful in the tourism and viticulture. Their leader’s name is Ubana Nirros. He is a great-great grandson of Jamiro if my research is correct. Tradition had it that the Milan unlike the Akandos can control only water and earth."
"Why do you know all this?" "Some things can’t be found through research?" Leyla looked at him suspiciously, "You're absolutely right, I’ve traveled some time ago to Sicily and have an informant there, who told me a lot of things. He is an old man by now, but he knows a lot about the old times. For example, you should know that most of the local Akandos in Sicily, which usually belong to the Vultures, have no powers or in rare cases, very strong ones."