Elementary Virtue: The Prophecy (25 page)

Sometime later when everybody had some coffee they all got on their way home, leaving Aiden’s Apartment. Finally, it was a regular weekday and they all had to go to school in the morning. Leyla exceeded her curfew for more than an hour. Mila and Brooklyn didn’t get so easily in trouble, but she knew her Mom quite well. What was she supposed to do? She decided to text her the truth for once. She wrote her that Ana would leave tomorrow and that they had lost track of time. Besides, school started one hour later tomorrow, so she could sleep in. The answer came immediately. Damn, did her Mom sit all the time next to her phone? She read, «Young lady, this is the last time that you're out that late on a weekday. Starting tomorrow, when Ana is gone, I don’t intend to hear any of such lame excuses. I expect you to be home in half an hour. Sleeping in or getting up early is not an issue. I don’t want to stay up all night out of sheer concern. You certainly are familiar with the word grounded! I assure you that you are very close to being acquainted again to it. This is your final warning. I'm waiting for you."

Damn, why did she always have to write novels, if she could just write, come home immediately? She seemed to be heavily pissed and Leyla didn’t want to risk to get grounded again. "Folks I have to go, if I'm not at home in half an hour, I am screwed!" She hugged Ana wishing her a safe journey back home. They vowed to remain in contact. Ana nodded bravely, but it was clear that she was close to tears. "Wait, I'll give you a ride home," Aiden came towards her with his car keys in hand. He drove her home quickly, so late in the evening there was virtually no traffic the streets were empty and Leyla was at home in a quarter of an hour. Her Mom was sitting on the sofa waiting for her as one of the archangels. Leyla turned her head down and hurried past her, she didn’t feel like getting lectured. "Good night," she murmured, disappearing into her room. The sermon would decelerate somewhat, until she saw her Mom next time. She had to go to school one hour later and her parents usually left the house quite early in the morning. So, she had a reprieve and with a little luck, her Mom would have calmed down by then.

PGabe lay satisfied in his bed. Today, was the first day in a long time that he really felt good for once. In fact, it had been a successful evening, and he was sure that none of the Akandos or their friends had seen him. The camouflage as a couple making out at the bar with Angel was an awesome idea. Well, maybe they had overdone it a bit and it became a little too realistic, He still felt kind of hot just thinking of it. Angel kissed like a goddess, if you refrained from the fact that she was a calculating bitch. However, the making out had worn him out and he had to focus on his priorities again. These idiots planned to go to Sicily and were about to create some kind of battle song. He overheard them talking about it while Angel was going to the loo.

A wicked smile played on his lips. This guy, Leyla’s friend, who was rarely around, participated in this ridiculous rap which would guarantee him a seat in the front row, when it came to get rid of someone. Aiden however possessed as much brains to avert from that ridiculous rap. Still if he should get in the way, he would not hesitate for a moment to kill him family or not. First, he would have to take care of his old man. He closed his eyes and fell asleep with a satisfied smile on his face.

Ubana Nirros looked out at the turquoise sea. Lost in thought, he drew on his cigar. Life couldn’t have been any better until yesterday. As the oldest of the local Milan, he was truly blessed. Now the times of his ancestors were over, earning a living from fishing or agriculture by doing hard work and still being poor, full of sorrow and distress. Working like a dog, day and night and on top of all having a dubious reputation on the island. He was satisfied being able to offer a better life to his sons and his daughter. Life without any dubious pleasure caused by the powers his clan possessed, but was suppressed as long as he could think by the leading families from the neighbor island. Until the day he had made a deal with them and they had left them in peace ever since. The Sicilians stayed away from their beautiful island since 1980. The tourists, the vineyards and the schools had done further contribution to bring health to Ubana and his family, as well as to the other families of the Milan. Ubana had built a veritable hotel empire. The Ognias kept a restaurant chain. The Abris were well known for their international language school and the Oldons were doing well with their travel agencies.

It couldn’t have been any better for Ubana and his three brothers. The Sicilians had cut their own flesh and for now, there was no way for them to break the deal. Anyway, as long Ubana and his relatives remained on the island and didn’t break the treaty. Strictly speaking, the people of Malta did a lot better than the Sicilians themselves, except for the fact that Malta depended on water from Sicily. Ubana had wondered several times, when the Mafia would break their part of the contract and stop the water supply out of pure envy. But they also knew that this would trigger a Cold War. Milan against Vulture- Mafia and that this probably would harm them more than they cared for. It would harm the tourism on both sides. He sighed and pulled away from the banister. He took one last look at the bay and the breathtaking view. His stern face, with its sharp features and its tanned skin took on a determined expression. He had convoked a first meeting immediately after the events of last night. He didn’t want to make a big deal about it until he was sure what was going on. But ultimately, he knew that the time had come. The prophecy would be fulfilled, even if they were in denial about it. The signs could no longer be denied. First, one of his employees had reported that a tall mysterious stranger, on which the description matched and could be no other than Keanu, had appeared with a boy in his shop asking about the amulet bargained for it and finally bought it. The boy hadn’t taken off his sunglasses during the bargain, acted kind of nervous and left while the bargain was still going on. Ubana was certain that he hid bright blue eyes behind the sunglasses.

Ever since the spectacle during the Blood Moon, no one could deny anymore that Keanu must have brought the savior to Malta. The lightning was seen all over the island and all of the Milan knew what it meant. Damn, why did Keanu have to do it? The prophecy could have been fulfilled in Sicily and it wasn’t clearly written in the ancient scripts that the Savior imperatively needed Alawa’s amulet to break it. He got into his dark blue Alfa Romeo 'Giulietta' and drove at tearing pace through the narrow streets towards Valletta, where the crisis meeting took place at Yaros, one of his brothers, Restaurant, one of the trendiest places around the harbor. The room was fully packed. Mostly young men were sitting on long benches at wooden tables. Now and then, a few young women were among them. But the men were in the majority. On the front side of the room there were two tables occupied with some older sun-burned men who had a bottle of local red wine in front of them and some white bread topped with dried tomatoes. Waiters hurried back and forth between the tables to serve them.

After a few minutes in which there was a murmur of voices, one of the older men stood up sending the waiters out. He closed the door and stepped in front of the present crowd. The murmur of voices died away. “Dear families of the Milan,” he looked at the table with the elders, where an elderly couple was sitting apart from the others at a table, he nodded towards them, "and we also bid welcome to our Sicilian allies." Curious looks roamed the elderly couple. The young men twisted their necks to see whom he was talking about. They had heard a lot about the Iron Sicilian Lady, but had never actually seen her. Any kind of information about the Sicilian concerns and the contract that was not to be broken was sparse and mysterious. The contract had been issued after an event about 28 years ago, when a young girl named Morena, tried to escape from an impending marriage with an unloved man and fled to Sicily. She there fell for some local guy, but was retrieved by the Milan clan and brought back to Malta. The young man 'Emanuele Garibaldi' had resisted them, as he didn’t want to lose Morena and this had provoked quite some conflict back then between the families and Emanuele had been killed in the process. What exactly had happened back then, no one ever told them. The information was sparse and passed on within the families. Therefore, the gossip factory was working overtime and there were the wildest speculations about the legend, as nobody really knew the truth about the events back in time. The only thing they knew was that after a pact the Milan concluded with the Sicilian, they had to keep away from their island and that the Sicilians in turn would do the same. If that pact was ever broken from the Milan, water supply would be interrupted, which could have catastrophic consequences. If the Sicilians in turn broke the pact, the Milan would use their powers causing storms and flooding, which would keep the tourists for sure away and harm the population all the same. As the local Onendas in Sicily who called themselves 'Vultures' a fraction of the Akando clan, usually had no powers at all.

Just occasionally in rare cases, there were a few exceptions, but they were no threat to the Milan. The elderly woman with the turban, who sat with her companion at the table of the elders had to be Tiziana Garibaldi Nucci. The sister of Emanuele Garibaldi, the man Morena had fallen in love with a long time ago. The Garibaldi was one of the most important families in the Akando Vultures clan. No one had ever seen Tiziana until today, the woman who had broken away from her family to follow the well-known Circus owner Giacomo Motta after she became a widow a few years ago. Giacomo Motta's interest in the Mafia or the Vultures was very limited and confined to an absolute minimum, but since his Circus was a flourishing business the important families tried to get protection money from him and blackmailed his family.

The Circus Motta produced many well-known artists, who traveled around the world. They all were under contract in other well-known Circuses. The families Di Benedetto and the Genovese fought downright about who was allowed to blackmail Giacomo alternately. But, Giacomo was a stubborn man. He had seen too much and knew no fear. On the contrary, he played the two families against each other, getting the Circus and himself more than once in danger with his attitude. After the death of his wife - a Benedetto - he lost it pretty much, and started drinking and playing cards, the Circus was going to go down the drain. His sons and his daughter didn’t know what to do and it was only a matter of time until the Motta family became puppets of the Mafia, the Vultures or both.

Then suddenly there was a turn around when two people entered Giacomo's life, getting him back on track again. On a hot summer morning seven years ago, when he woke up still slightly drunk on the beach and the sun shone brightly into his face, a tall- boy towered over him looking down on him. He looked at him with concern and asked him in Italian that sounded rather like English, if he was fine? The boy had a bottle of water with him and gave Giacomo some water, who was already quite dehydrated. He helped him get up bringing him back to the Circus. Giacomo was grateful and took the Boy in, who appeared to be traveling on his own. He offered him to stay and help with the Circus.

On the very same day Tiziana Nucci, the widow of a mediocre Mafiosi appeared at the Circus. She was a descendant of Ourday’s great-granddaughter Mara. She came to the Circus with her grandchildren Maria Rosa and Pino, who wanted to be artists. Tiziana had never obeyed the rules of the Mafia and as she was one of the exceptions having strong powers of the element earth like no other on the island, she enjoyed the respect of the corrupt bunch.

Finally, no one cared about being poisoned eventually. So, they ignored her more or less. The sparks flew immediately at first sight between Giacomo and Tiziana and ever since that day, she was Giacomo's life motivation and his muse. Her two grandchildren had become great artists and were traveling around Europe. Keanu, however, remained at the circus Motta and turned into jack-of-all-trades and a celebrated magician who got the audience under his spell with his fiery arts. Sometime later Tiziana found out that he had to be her brother Emanuele’s son. Emanuele had also controlled fire like no other. Ourday’s direct bloodline had strong powers, even if they had grown up in Sicily. Tiziana kept the knowledge that she was related to Keanu to herself, but was doing some research on her own. She found out what had happened before Keanu appeared in Sicily. She also found out who helped Keanu escape. It had been Yaros Damian, the owner of some restaurants in Malta. Tiziana contacted him and drew her research further concerning the Savior Legend, which the local Vulture-Mafia feared like the devil holy water.

Since the turn of the century was over for 15 years by now, they were expecting his appearance and their downfall anytime. The rumor mill was bubbling and Tiziana knew that the Milan were also waiting for the arrival of the Savior, as they had their own share of prophecy in it. Although they led a quit life after their agreement with the Sicilians, the pact could be broken anytime, then they would be at the Vultures mercy, and their powers wouldn’t help them to get their water supply. So, it was more like of a calm before the storm as a peaceful, carefree life. Giacomo had come up with the idea that Gregory Rossi could be 'Gaetano' the Savior, when she told him about the Milan side of the prophecy. He remembered that his old friend Bernard Johnson, who lived in Canada, had an adopted Italian step-grandson, who had been found as a baby wrapped in a peculiar blanket by a pastor next to his dead mother.

A blanket with four symbols on it, clearly representing the elements, who the mother was no one, knew. Any identity had disappeared from the State Archive. There were no documents about her to find. As if she had appeared out of nowhere. The Boy, Bernard said, had extraordinary blue eyes and was now in Canada with Bernard’s daughter, as there had been unusual incidents at his School in Italy. Besides, the boy must be around 17 or 18 years old by now. When Tiziana heard this, she simply added one and one and asked Giacomo to invite that boy to Sicily for a while. Keanu knew everything about the legend and the boy. Except for one thing, Tiziana hadn’t told him that she was actually his aunt. She had somehow failed to tell him. Otherwise, she would have had to tell him about Emanuele death and she was not ready for that. One day she would have to tell him. Anyway, then Gregory had arrived at the Circus and there had never been a doubt for Tiziana.

Even when she first laid eyes on him at the Airport, she knew he was the savior. She had felt it from the start. The Vultures might have ignored her, not bothering her, but the Maltese Family fired their secret weapon on Keanu, as they had heard about his powers. 'Giada' came to the Circus with a more than a specious excuse to take some lessons in acrobatics, which the Circus offered on a regular basis to obtain additional income. She beguiled Keanu from the beginning with her charms, which she undoubtedly had. Giada was a gorgeous young girl with an allure of mystery. Anyway, it came, as it had to come, Keanu fell for Giada and was no longer responsive to the outside world. He was mesmerized and followed Giada around like a puppy. For a while, Tiziana even thought that Giada felt something for Keanu. But, as it turned out, it had all just been a well-planned show. It had come to the attention of Giada’s father, that Keanu controlled the fire and he needed such a man in his ranks.

Especially in times like these, when they feared the arrival of a savior and rumor had it that this mysterious boy was already on his way here. Therefore, the Vultures had to arm themselves with strong men having powers like Keanu. So, the Di Benedetto's and the Maltese family were doing their best to convince Keanu to join them. Giada’s father gave him a luxurious yacht and promised him his daughter's hand. But, Keanu was as loyal to Giacomo as he was lovesick and he refused to join the Vultures. For this reason, Roberto Di Benedetto decided that a dead Keanu was better than one who fought against him. He instructed Giada to lure him into a trap, where they first tricked him with a poison, so he wasn’t able to defend himself with fire. Then they whipped him badly and finally threw him with cement blocks on his feet into the sea at the port of Capo d ‘Orlando, according to an old Mafia tradition. How he had gotten out of there no one would ever know. But, since then, there were not only scars on his body it had also affected his soul and his trust in people, especially the female kind.

His heart and soul had deep scars. She had hoped that he would become a little softer through his friendship with Gregory, as he was hard and cold lately. Now Tiziana sat there with an immovable expression on her face next to Giacomo at the table in front of a bunch of hostile-looking Milan. Ubana spoke up, "We are meeting here today, because of yesterday’s events during the Blood Moon which can’t be denied and further actions have to be discussed." There was complete silence in the room. It was so quiet one would have heard a pin drop. "The lightning, the storm that churned up earth and the screeching noise. The legend has come true, the spirit of Jamiro and Aaliyah have been released. The two amulets have been united, only one in existence is able to do this, and there is only one conclusion. He must be on our island." There was a babble of voices. Everybody was talking at once. Ubana banged his fist on the table in front of him, " Silence, everybody and listen to me now. The situation is serious. You know what it means, if that boy is here and has freed the spirits. It is our duty to help him, so that he will be able to bring the amulets to the crater without being killed on his way there."