Elementary Virtue: The Prophecy (13 page)

Gregory put his phone reluctantly back into his backpack. He really would have liked to hear Leyla's voice before Keanu killed him tomorrow. Depressed Gregory went to the big top for the evening show, he had gotten into the habit of helping the workers moving the equipment around from one performance to the next, and he also helped out where ever help was needed. Like that, he was able to get a salary of 100 euros per week. Although this wasn’t exactly a lot and it sure as hell wouldn’t pay for his education. At least he had some money before he could go back to High School to finish his senior year and then go off to college. But, he first had to survive this entirely unfortunate story before he could move on with his life. A challenge that he had to complete, but there was still a damn long way in front of him. It certainly made no sense to wrack his brain too much about the future.

Finally, he was only eighteen and had plenty of time. Then again, maybe he was already dead tomorrow. That was why so many things went through his head. He would never give up fighting, and that much was evident. He didn’t want to die without having seen his friends and Leyla again. His depressed mood and his mental absence made him inattentive, and he almost didn’t properly secure the base fixation for Antony’s and Valentina’s performance. At the last Moment he got aware of it, and he pressed the button to settle it. That he could overlook something like that at all made him even more pensive. Valentina and Antony to have an accident because of his carelessness, to have the two of them on his conscience for the rest of his life. That was what he needed! Gregory sighed and trudged powerless out of the tent. Maybe he should treat himself with a beer or a coffee Grappa, instead of his last meal. Gregory grimaced and smiled ironically.

Outside the tent, he met Donna Tiziana and Giacomo. Damn, he didn’t feel like talking to these two right now. He tried to walk by with a nod, but there was no chance for that. Tiziana watched him like a hawk. Her harsh voice stopped him. "Gaetano, may I have a word with you." Giacomo stood silently beside her and after a significant look of Tiziana, he cleared his throat and mumbled something about an errand he had to do urgently. Now Gregory had no other choice than to stand there waiting for her to start talking. He was prepared for a bad kind of talk, that she had called him Gaetano, honestly didn’t bode well. He was waiting for a lecture seeing Giacomo walk away. To distract her and to demonstrate his lack of interest, he took his phone out of his backpack. Wow, Leyla had repeatedly tried to call him back, a smile crept onto his sullen face. "Well, boy, can you put this useless devilish thing away for a Moment so that the two of us can talk?" He stuffed it reluctantly back into his jeans pocket. He could hardly wait to call Leyla back. Every fiber of his body wanted to hear her voice. Who knew if he would still be able to reach her later, maybe she would go to sleep, and not hear the phone ringing. What was the time in Canada now? He was desperate, and Donna Tiziana was to blame, that he would die without speaking to Leyla previously.

Defiantly, he looked at the Signora, and his displeasure was quite obviously written all over his face. Tiziana smirked, "Did I disturb you making an important call?" Gregory stubbornly remained silent. It was none of the old trout’s damn business who he called. "What is it, that's so important? Did you want to inform Keanu that you noticed how crazy your idea was? That you got carried away in your anger?" He looked at her confused, why did this woman always know everything? "No definitely not, and besides, he provoked me. He constantly reminds me how unable and stupid I am. I simply can’t stand it any longer. He is impossible to work with. That's why I wanted to call my girlfriend and hear her voice before I die tomorrow. What's the problem?" She rolled her eyes, "Oh boy, don't be so dramatic, you are not going to die tomorrow." He looked doubtfully, "How would you know? Oh, I forgot, you are the fortuneteller. But, Keanu has more experience fighting than me, and he has hurt me more than once in training, you know that, after all, you fixed me up afterwards." She shook her head with a smile, "Then call your girlfriend, but don’t tell her no such crap that you are going to die tomorrow, you don’t want to upset her unnecessarily, right? I am sure about that." He shrugged looking leery at her. In the dark, his eyes shone like a cat's.

"Boy, I hope your eyes will get back to normal as soon as you have fulfilled your task. Otherwise, your girlfriend will have to buy a good pair of sunglasses. If she wants to look deep into your eyes." He stared at her blankly, "Excuse me?"

"I know the legend Gaetano, and when the last savior was ready for his mission, they say his eyes glowed in the dark like a cat's, and his eyesight was as strong as a cat's. Unfortunately, he wasn't emotionally ready to fulfill his destiny, and he trusted the wrong people. He was betrayed and then he got killed. This girl of yours, she makes you vulnerable, your love makes you vulnerable, and therefore you should not waste your powers in unnecessary duels with Keanu. It would be better if you find out what your real purpose is and how you can solve the task. Then you will understand what will be the consequences for Sicily or even humanity if you fail and mess it up. Decide well Gaetano soon it will be too late and don't forget who the real enemy is. It is not Keanu that much I can tell you." She got up leaving him behind.

Gregory lay down thoughtfully into the white hammock hanging in front of his trailer. He looked up to the sky full of stars wondering about what Signora Tiziana said to him previously. It was clear that she was completely right with everything she told him. The duel was a stupid idea, and he did well working with and not against Keanu. His phone vibrated and fell out of his pocket. As it was completely dark out there, he had a hard time to grope around before he found it. He took the call slightly out of breath, "Hey," he heard Leyla's voice as close as if she was standing beside him, "hey, I am lying on a hammock, and it would certainly have plenty of room for two." He sighed, "Above me the sky is full of stars, and it gives me a warm fuzzy feeling to know, that we are under the same sky. Even if we are so far apart." "Hmm," he heard her voice, which was slightly shaking. "Are you crying?" She sniffed, "Yes, I am crying, you are sitting at the other end of the world, and your voice is so close that it makes me feel as if I could just reach out my hand to touch you. I miss you!"

Gregory felt deeply moved. How could he ever distrust her? Even if someone would learn something from her, she would never give anything away about him on purpose. Last time when things had gone wrong, it hadn't been her fault. He had triggered the disaster by himself because of his jealousy. "I miss you too, more than I ever thought possible. What have you been up to lately over there?"

"Not much, you know that I am grounded. Your parents are here, and especially your mother showered me with questions lately. I must say she is a very determined person if she wants to know something." Gregory laughed, "Yes I know her methods of interrogation only too well. How are you holding up against her?"
"I am silent as a graveyard."
"I'm sure about that. How's it going with the gang, what are Aiden, Brooklyn, Mila, Shane and Akandos up to?"
“You are not going to believe it, they wait tables in their spare time in this new club, 'The Crowd', and they are trying to fill up my empty bank account with their paycheck so that my in-home punishment grounding will finally come to an end."
"Stop, to hear that makes me feel sad, knowing that I'm the real reason for your empty bank account. I feel so damn guilty."
"You don't have to," her voice had taken on a compelling pitch, "I would do it again and again, and for your information, I would do anything for you. Besides, I would give anything to have you here with me right now." He sighed, "Same here, and I would give anything to kiss you right now."

"Well, unfortunately, that's out of the question, but at least I can hear your voice, that's a lot better than nothing. Can you please send me a selfie, so that I can look at you? I promise you that I will delete it heavy hearted even if I will never get tired of looking at you, but I guess I’ll' have to delete it so it won’t fall into wrong hands." He grinned, "Ok I'll do it, but only if I get one from you, or wait, maybe two. One of your beautiful face, and one in your hot turquoise bikini." She giggled, "Wow, you are really going for it, well then I want a topless shot of you."

"God, you're a bold one, well I think this is doable as long as you don't ask me to send a picture of the bottom part, I guess it’s okay." She screamed, "What's wrong with you?" He grinned, "Don’t get excited, I'm suffering from an acute withdrawal of affection, you should understand that," he laughed nervously, "sorry, I got carried away, it was just a joke."
"Better that way pervert." she couldn’t help laughing. "Sorry I'm a little out of control, because of my duel tomorrow, and I wanted to hear your voice again before I bite the dust."
"What? Are you're crazy? With whom you are going to fight? No way, I don't want to lose you. In this case, send me a picture of whatever body part you want to. I can handle the sight of your ugly toes somehow, but please, please don't carry on with the duel, the fight or whatever you have in mind," she was completely off balance. "Calm down, I am not going to do it, that was just a stupid idea."

"Guess you could say that. What’s going on with you anyway down there? Did you find out stuff about your mission being the savior?"
"Well, I heard all kind of things. But, the less you know, the better. They killed the last savior because of exposed secrets."
"I get it, and you're probably right."
"Of course, I'm right, and by the way, did someone happen to come into your life who is particularly interested in your love life?"
"Not really, I am still grounded. Wait a minute. There's this girl, Ana. She is here for a Holiday, and she is new in my judo course, but she has enough on her plate to worry about. She keeps on telling me about her problems. She has a crush on a guy, and it doesn’t really, let's put it that way, go well. He's a celebrity, you know."
“But it could be that someone has set her up for spying on you, right?"
"Yes, that's possible, but I haven’t had the feeling that I shouldn't trust her so far." "Did she ask you about your love life?"
"Not directly. Oh, my god Gregory, when you called, and I didn’t have good reception, I said that you're on an island and that the network is not that great. Now I feel very guilty." He heard her voice faltering, and she was again close to tears.

Donna Tiziana had been right. Gregory didn’t blame Leyla at all if this Ana girl had something to do with the Vultures. Maybe she didn’t know that she was used as their spy. Only the fact that Leyla had mentioned an island was enough. For the Vultures, there was just one island to think of, and the hunt was on. "Don't worry Lela. Maybe she doesn't have anything devious in mind," he tried his best to calm her down, "you said she was nice and had herself problems with a guy, so maybe she just asked you casually about your life. She doesn't sound to me like a backstabbing bitch. Probably she just wanted to show interest in your love troubles, as she had been crying about hers in your lap. Perhaps she was approaching you on purpose because she is a spy of the Vultures. There are many islands in the world. You don't have to worry about anything. Just relax and calm down."
"But if they’ll find you, it's my fault, damn it!"
"Don’t worry, they won't find me because of you, I will make sure about that, and if they should find out about where I am anyway, it has nothing to do with you. Believe me. I'll be prepared. "She still sobbed quietly and meanwhile her sobs turned into hiccups. Gregory smiled. She was sweet, in her fear for him.

"Send me your pictures I need them more than ever. They will give me strength whatever may come. Besides, if you need me, you can contact Giacomo. But, please only in an emergency, when someone’s life is at stake, or worst. You know what I mean. I'll send you his number. Please encrypt it well."
"Sure thing, I’ll take care of it, and I need your pictures too, or I am not getting through the whole thing un-shattered. I would like so much to be with you now."
"I know, but trust me, that is not a good idea, now as things are. The pictures are almost on their way, and if someone happens to see them, I don’t care. Sending pictures currently is the smallest of my problems." She had recovered in the meantime, "I'll find out whether Ana is a tool of the Vultures and if she is they will get to know me," she said it grimly. He grinned to himself. There she was again his little warrior Amazon.

"Take care of yourself," she whispered. "You too, we will meet again soon, try not to worry too much about me. I have to hang up now and go to sleep. Tomorrow will be a tough day. Don't ever forget that I love you."
"How could I ever forget that? I love you too." They said goodbye and Gregory remained lying thoughtfully in the hammock, and then he crept carefully into the trailer in which Antony was lying on his mattress snoring loudly. Gregory rummaged through Antony's stuff, anxious to make any unnecessary noise until he found what he was looking for. Gregory took Antony's neon green selfie stick. God, it looked quite weird, and then Gregory went outside to take pictures for Leyla. He did his best to make sure he looked good on them. After all, she should get a sizable memory and not a blurred selfie. It took some time until he was satisfied with the result. Behind him, there were the fairy lights of the circus and above him the sky full of stars. He took a picture of his left foot, laughed stupidly to himself, and sent both pictures to Leyla's number. He knew that it was dangerous, but he didn’t care, he just had to do it. He even wrote a ridiculous cheesy text adding hearts and stuff. Well, love made a fool out of him. Unfortunately, Tiziana seemed to be quite right about that. Barely a minute later, his phone beeped, Leyla sent him her pictures, including a picture of her right big toe, painted with a purple nail polish. The woman had humor, and you had to give her that. The second picture of her gave him a sting. She looked so beautiful and tender. The big brown Bambi eyes that he loved so much smiled at him. He went to bed with the phone pressed to his chest. He fell asleep immediately dreamless. Today for the first time he felt, something close to happy again only because he heard her voice. Oh damn, he wanted nothing more than being with her again.