The Broken Destiny (9 page)

“Everything is going to be fine, I promise,” Maya said, a glint of compassion gleaming in her eyes. She pulled me into her arms and I hugged her tightly. Maya and I had never been that devoted to each other before and yet it felt strangely familiar. I swept her black locks over her shoulder, clearing my view as I stared at Anaya. Her conversation with Kim had ended. I held my breath in fear of Kim giving me over to strangers as they had done with Errol. Her shoulders sagging, Anaya placed my device down on the counter behind her. I slowly pushed Maya aside, her left hand lingering on mine before she let go.

“Just as I thought,” Anaya said in a distant voice as she turned toward the dining table.

She sat down and pulled out a chair as a gesture for me to take a seat. I didn’t. My frustration flared up again.
Did they expect me to just be okay with everything?

“Is someone going to tell me when I can go home? I need to know what’s going on. Why was a Minoan Council meeting held here today? Why did Kim agree to let me stay the night? What did you say to her?” My anxiety got the better of me. “The Council doesn’t want me anymore, is that it?”
I could have only hoped
. The words just spilled out from a place long hidden from me. For once, I didn’t care. Something had changed inside me and I liked it.

“You were in no condition to go anywhere yesterday,” Anaya said firmly.

“Sam…” I said softly. “I need to let her know where I am.”

I reached into my pocket for my device, but all that was there were a few coins left over from my weekly allowance. I looked to where my device lay on the counter – not flashing.

“I need to let Sam know where I am,” I repeated. “Why hasn’t she called yet? Why did you turn my device off? Am I a prisoner like Sage?” My voice trailed off. My chest ached with unease, the sound of rushing water surged through my ears as the adrenaline in my body spiked. I was seriously going to lose it. Struggling to catch my breath, I declared loudly, maybe a little too loudly, “Give me my phone!” The usual ‘please’ not added – something that would have made our Behavior Lecturer so mad, had she seen all her hard work going to waste.

I held out my quivering hand. My throat burned as tears threatened again. Both of them stood there, gaping at me.
I had basically accused them of kidnapping
.

“Calm down, girl!” I heard a deep voice shout from behind me.

Maya stood in front of me silent and sad, her eyes catching the edge of the shadow coming toward me.

“Sage,” I said quietly, not taking my eyes off Anaya for one second. “You know what happened to Sage, don’t you?” I exclaimed, the volume of my voice slowly rising again. The words were bitter poison in my mouth. But they came anyway – fast and fuming. “You are all a bunch of liars. I can sense it!” And, at that time, it was not that they were liars; it was more about withholding information from me.

I felt two strong arms seizing me and spinning me around before lifting me from the ground. I hadn’t noticed that a crowd had gathered in the room, a sea of ‘too calm’ faces staring back.

“You stupid, stupid girl! Get a hold of yourself! No one’s going to, or has kidnapped you,” Enoch spat as he came into focus. His eyes cutting through me like a sheet of ice, pushing my fury back.

His eyes held me while he shook me vigorously. I heard Maya scream out his name and remember feeling entrapped. I closed my eyes and the longer I stayed within the darkness of my mind, I felt the storm inside me calm down. Was I going to burst from embarrassment, or explode from rage?

“Put her down, son,” Arriana said sternly from somewhere behind me. When I opened my eyes it was too late, he had lost his cool and had thrown me to the floor. I kept my focus on his face, holding him with my eyes – letting him know that what he had done was wrong. All I could hear was the pounding of my heart against my ribs; almost sure that everyone in the entire room could hear it too. He stood over me, his hands stiff at his sides. I swallowed carefully and looked away, cowering. When one of his warrior buddies grabbed him furiously and pushed him against the wall, I realized that Minoans had human traits too; they did get mad when they needed to. As if in slow motion, a wooden ornament fell from the shelf above and shattered to the ground beside them.

“That was Dad’s!” Maya yelled.

All I could do was stare at the family as they fell apart and I wondered if they had been this way before I had arrived? Maya hurried over and tried to pick up what remained of the object.

“Tatos!” Anaya shouted, outraged. “Get him out of here! Now!”

Tatos and Anaya shared a look and he nodded. She in turn gave him a smile. A door slammed and the windows rattled in their frames. I stood up abruptly and retreated to Maya’s room with haste. I wanted to make it all go away. I wanted to lie on the bed, close my eyes, dismiss the pain and wake up in my room. As I lay there undisturbed – no one sought me out. I guess I must have said some horrible things to them.
What had I been thinking? Where did it all come from?
I had never been that angry before, ever. I had never allowed myself to get angry, but I hadn’t been able to control my feelings of helplessness any longer. I had lost control of myself and the situation.
I should have stayed with Sam,
I thought once more. I cried uncontrollably and stared out the window, watching the gray clouds as they circled above, until my eyes stung and no more tears would come. When I closed my eyes and let my face fall into the pillow, all I could see were Enoch’s blistering blue eyes staring back at me with fury.
I hate all of this.
I tried to blink it away
. I hate this forsaken planet.
I swallowed against the pain. The hole inside me seemed even bigger and emptier than before.

I didn’t hear Maya come in to check on me. When I finally looked up and saw her, I confessed the conflict inside me. Maya confirmed that I had started ‘the Change’, and we both sat crying in each other’s arms because ‘the Change’ had never, in three generations, been a good thing. Soon after, Anaya and Arriana arrived handing each of us a glass of hot milk and a warm chamomile soaked towel to dry our tears. I realized how kind they had been to me and despite the fact that I had accused them of kidnapping, they never once treated me any different than before the incident. I felt horrible. Anaya tried to explain why I couldn’t return home, that the Zulus were still on the hunt for me. Furrowing my brows in confusion, one last ripple of hurt ran through me; why, why me?

“Someone who fits the description of the prophecy,” she clarified.

“Prophecy?” I asked, dazed, remembering that Maya had mentioned something about a prophecy before the attack.

Anaya took a deep breath clearly unsure how to explain it, so Arriana took over. Her glazed-over eyes fell on the wall behind me.

“Minoans naturally possess powers that others want to take advantage of.” She smiled at me. She drew in a breath and continued. “The Minoans are one of the ancient cultures, like the Egyptians were, except the Egyptians didn’t survive. We had a weapon that protected us for years. We fled when the weapon was lost during our last war on Earth, before modern civilization took over. We destroyed the city so that no one would ever know of our existence.”

I watched her carefully, hanging on her every word.

“According to the prophecy, the weapon will be returned to us. We don’t know how, but we do know that the fulfillment of this prophecy will be carried out by someone with a unique soul.” She smiled. “That someone is you, Ava.”

My stomach dropped as her eyes met mine. Somehow, she could still see me through her blindness. Her hands reached for mine.

“I can sense that your energy has begun to clear and it will continue to do so as long as you stay here. You are feeling things you never felt before and they are more intense.” She confirmed what I had been feeling – overwhelmed like I had never been before. Feeling rage I had never felt before. The numbness would not come, no matter how hard I beckoned for it. I was totally open to my feelings – I hated it.

“But, there must be other girls just like me on Poseidon,” I protested.

“No, Ava,” Anaya said, as she made her way toward the window. “There are none like you.” Her voice had an edge to it.

“Why now?” I asked. “How can you be so sure?”

I stood up, leaving Arriana to stare at the spot where I had been sitting. It felt like I wasn’t getting enough air. The intense, overwhelming feeling had returned.

“Trust me,” Arriana said.

Her statement echoed through my mind. I didn’t know who I could trust. I didn’t even trust my own feelings just then.

“I don’t want to disappoint anyone, but there is no way that I am this ‘unique soul’. I’m just a shy girl who isn’t capable of anything other than being unhappy with everything around her. I don’t have any powers. I am genetically enhanced to survive famine and disease, that’s all.” But deep down, I knew it wasn’t true. What made me different from my kind, why had the Council been keeping such a close eye on me?

“Exactly my point,” Anaya replied as she stood staring out the window.

I knew precisely what she was talking about. That was the exact thought that flickered in the back of my mind half a dozen times a day –
there is something more to my kind – to me.
Anaya talked on, giving me all the details. She speculated that the Zulus were responsible for Sage’s disappearance and revealed that the Zulu witchdoctor knew about the prophecy; he wanted to harness my powers in some way. What she didn’t know, was the extent of his plan. She further explained that Arriana had tried to use her abilities to locate him but had been unable to, leading them to assume that a warding spell blocked all remote viewing. As for the school, it had gone into lockdown, preventing me from returning home until its security had been properly coordinated. She also added that Arriana had made arrangements for me to meet with someone called Kronan, who could teach me more about the requirements of witchcraft and tell me more about the prophecy; information that had to be kept secret from Kim. She concluded by informing me that I was going to have to stand up to this witchdoctor at some point as he now knew who I was, and that this was the beginning of my destiny. I had survived the first attack and their poison. This in itself was a dead giveaway, but there would be more attacks. Perhaps our kind had been created – I had been created – because of the prophecy. I felt my world suddenly slip away, dizziness attacking me. I never wanted any of it.

Maya and I sat slumped on her bed in silence for a long time, my mind going back and forth about me being whoever they thought I was. The sun had begun to fall behind the ocean. The three moons no longer shone as brightly as they had in the past. I lay there staring up at the roof, stunned into silence.

“I can’t believe my brother! Disrespecting you like that,” Maya said finally. “Enoch has always been a hot head, but I have never seen him act like that before.”

Of all things, that is what bothered her?

“I am very disappointed in him,” Arriana said from her position near the small fireplace, gently rocking in her chair while she knitted. “He is acting very strange these days.”

My eyes studied every inch of the room, trying to shift my focus. I loved everything about Maya’s room. It was big and each corner and little space had its own purpose, either for reading, dressing or studying. In addition, she had her own bathroom hidden behind a narrow wall that also acted as a bedpost. I considered Arriana’s beautiful nature. I hadn’t known her for long but for a second we had loved each other. I instantly ignored the feeling, wanting to distance myself before any more overwhelming feelings returned. I felt like I owed them something for taking care of me. I hated owing people anything.

“Your gratitude is all we need, my dear,” Arriana said.

“What?” I said softly, suddenly remembering her telepathic abilities and not liking it one bit. Her ability made the facts of my destiny seem almost plausible.