Pello Island: Cassia (2 page)

This girl, Meghan, had been a real slob.  The car was filled with old fast food containers and soda cups.  Cassia swept them out of the car with her arm and sat down.  She turned the key and saw that the car had some gas, but no GPS.  She pulled out of the parking lot and into traffic.  

Cassia perused the area for a big blue sign with an “H” on it.  Three blocks down, she found one.  She followed it to the Sisters of Mercy Hospital and parked.  

Cassia was shaking and sweating now.  She walked into the ER waiting room and was told to take a seat.  By the time they called her name, she was unable to respond.  When they were able to revive her in the ER, she gave them the name of her doctor, and was then whisked away to a private room on one of the upper floors.  

Cassia was given medication to ease her detox symptoms, and within a few days she was feeling better and asked to be released.  Her doctor telephoned her attending physician, and the papers were signed that day.  

A limousine met Cassia as they rolled her out of the hospital in a wheelchair.  She had to wear the same jeans and T-shirt she’d worn to the ER.  As she got into the limo, she smiled at Manuel.  He smiled back.

“Home?” he asked.

“Home,” she replied.

Home - Schuylerville

The dead autumn leaves blew across the driveway as Manuel drove the limousine toward the mansion.  The ride from Baltimore had been uneventful, and Cassia had slept most of the way.  It was cooler up here, and she shivered involuntarily.  She didn’t know whether it was the temperature or the company awaiting her arrival that caused it.  Manuel parked the car and climbed out of the limo.  He came to her door and opened it.

Cassia sighed and exited the limo.  She pulled the old jacket she’d taken from Meghan’s apartment close, but the wind was relentless.  Late November in upstate New York could be extremely cold, even though winter had not officially arrived yet.

Manuel opened the front door and let her in.  

“Thanks, Manuel, for everything,” she said.  Manuel nodded and gave her a small salute before closing the door, leaving her alone in the foyer. 

Cassia stared down the hallway toward the den.  She desperately wanted to climb the stairs and go to bed.  She was still recovering from the aftereffects of the drugs Meghan had ingested.  But protocol demanded she make an appearance, or the boys would be offended.  No one but Manuel knew she was here, and he wouldn’t mention it to anyone, so Cassia decided to go upstairs and take a shower.  The boys wouldn’t object to that.

Her room was on the second floor, next to Amatus’.  It was a pretty, feminine space with a huge fireplace and floor length windows.  Her windows looked out onto the garden.  This time of year it was brown, with green bushes dotting the landscape.  In the spring, the garden would be full of flowers.  Still, the mountains beyond were spectacular.

Cassia threw off her clothes and made a mental note to ask Laurie, their “manager,” to have them burned.  She turned the water on and decided she’d rather have a bath.  She turned on some music and got into the tub.  She let the water run over her toes until it covered her body.  She lay back and let the warmth seep into her bones.  

Cassia closed her eyes.  The sensation of the water combined with the music caused her to drift into a semi-nap.  She had been in this new body a week.  The doctors had found nothing wrong with it, a miracle considering the girl’s lifestyle.  With good food and rest, the body was recovering nicely.  Cassia hadn’t looked at it closely yet.  She had glanced at herself once in the hospital, but quickly looked away.  She was still adjusting to her new look, and preferred to think of herself in her last body.

When she felt relaxed enough, she opened her eyes and sat up.  After scrubbing every body part, she got out of the tub, dried herself off and dressed slowly.  When she could find no more excuses for staying in her room, she opened the door and went downstairs to face the music.

The boys were in the den - Amatus sat by the fireplace in a wingback chair and Darius sat at the bar.  They both turned to look at her when she came in.  

“Holy crap,” Amatus said.

“Yes, indeed,” Darius said.

Cassia stood staring at them.

“How did she do this?” she asked.

“I thought it was odd when I saw him,” Amatus said, nodding at Darius.  “But apparently, we’ve all been cloned.”

“No shit,” said Darius.  “My God, Cassia, you look exactly the same.”

“How can you say that?  It’s been two thousand years.  How could you possibly remember what I looked like then?”

“But you see it, don’t you, Cassia?” Amatus said.

Cassia had to admit the boys looked as they had two thousand years ago.  She couldn’t believe she remembered them so well.  Darius was just a little over 5’6” with black hair and blue eyes.  He was gorgeous.  And Amatus was just about 6’ tall with brown wavy hair.  It left her feeling unsettled.

“You think I look like I did back then?” she asked.

The boys nodded.

“You look like the first time I saw you,” Darius said.  He kept staring at her, just as he had then.

“Well, I assure you, I’ve changed a bit since then,” she said.  “Where’s Janus?” she asked, and Amatus answered.

“He’s not here yet.  We’ve been here for a week.  I woke up in some college dorm.  I think it was in Schenectady.  I’ve decided to keep my last name, though.  Please call me Barnaby from now on.”

“Barnaby!  Why would you settle on that?” Darius said.

“I like the name, that’s all.  Amatus is too old-fashioned.  Nobody’s named Amatus anymore.”

“What about you, Cass?  Have you changed your name, too?” Darius asked.

“No, I’m still Cassia.  When do you think Janus will get here?”

“What’s the big hurry?” Darius said.

“Yeah, I’d like to know when he’s coming, too.  I need my new license.  I’m going to stay in Aspen this time,” Barnaby said.

“You’re not staying close by?” Cassia asked.

“Not this time.  I’ve had enough.  Besides, you don’t need me to complete your little psychodrama.”

“Of course we do.  Ama…Barnaby, I need you.”  Cassia walked over to him and put her hand on his shoulder.  

“Don’t, Cassia.  Not this time.”  He shook her hand off his shoulder and stood up.  “I’m gonna have a life of my own from now on.”  He walked to the door and left the room, leaving Cassia alone with Darius.

“We don’t need him, Cass.  You and I always get along without him.  In fact, I think…”

“Nobody gives a damn what you think, Darius,” she said and followed Barnaby.  Before she could reach the door, however, Morta walked in.  She stood looking from Cassia to Darius and smiled.  She was a very old woman, but her eyes twinkled.  Her long white hair was wound around her head and pinned in place.  She wore a long lilac dress.  She must have acquired it sometime in the 1950s.

“My, Cassia, you do look wonderful,” she said as she reached for Cassia.  She hugged her and then stepped back.  “Darius,” she said as she nodded in his direction.  “Would you please leave us alone, Darius?”

Darius made a show of rolling his eyes, but he got off the barstool and left them alone.

“Let’s sit down, dear.  I want to talk to you about this incarnation.”

Reluctantly, Cassia followed Morta to the wingback chairs.  Morta sat in the one Amatus/Barnaby had vacated, while Cassia sat in the other right next to it.  Both chairs faced the fireplace, so Cassia stared into the fire while Morta adjusted her clothing.

“There, all comfy.  You do look remarkably like you did back then, Cassia.”

Cassia was still staring at the fire.  She didn’t want to talk to Morta right now.  She hadn’t been prepared for this.

“I’m pissed off, Morta.”

“Of course you are, dear.  You always are the first few weeks, but then you adjust and everything is fine.”

“This isn’t fine, Morta.  I’m sick of waking up with vomit in my mouth.  Why are they always drug addicts?”

“Because they die young, dear.  You want to be young when you wake up, don’t you?  And I can’t take a person out of a body.  They have to die first, before I can move you in.”

Cassia hadn’t thought about where Morta found the bodies before.  It was easier to just move ahead without thinking.  She always knew someone had to have died in order for the rebirth to take place, but she’d always been able to put it somewhere in the back of her mind.

“I never thought about it.  God, that sucks.”

“Yes, it does, Cassia.  And finding three of them that looked like the three of you was damn near impossible, until recently.  Young people these days are so careless.  Anyway, dear, I have to talk to you about this incarnation.  I don’t know if anyone has told you or not, but this time we have to make a success of things.  It is very important that everything go according to plan.”  Morta looked around.  “We can’t let Darius get away with mucking things up again.”

“Why, what’s different this time?” Cassia asked.

Morta leaned forward and looked into Cassia’s eyes.

“Jupiter told me that if we didn’t conclude things this time, I wouldn’t be allowed to go home to Olympus.”

“That’s bad for us, how?” Cassia was finding it hard to have sympathy for Morta.

“If we don’t wrap things up, we’ll all end up in a sort of purgatory.  A place we can’t leave - ever.”

Cassia looked at Morta.  She could see Morta was telling the truth.  The old woman looked genuinely concerned.

“All of us?” she said.  Morta nodded. “What exactly do I have to do?”

“You’ll have to marry Darius.”

Cassia stood up and began to pace the room.

“Oh, no, not again.  I haven’t married him for several incarnations and I don’t intend to…”

“In order for things to work out, you must marry him.  It is absolutely imperative.”

Morta stood up and put her hands on Cassia’s arms.

“No, no.  You just don’t understand, Morta.  Not after what he’s done to Dulcia, time and time again.” Cassia suddenly noticed that Dulcia wasn’t there.  “Where is Dulcia?”

“She’s fine, Cassia.  We have her where we need her.”

“But if she’s not available to him, this won’t work.  We have to get her here.  I have to see her, Morta.”

“Dear, this time we have to do things a little differently.  Amatus is going away, and you must marry Darius.  For the first time, we were able to arrange things so that, well, let’s just say it’s out of Darius’ hands.”

Cassia stared at Morta.

“You mean you’re making him toe the line?  How, how can you make him do it?

“You will marry him.  That’s all I can say right now.  You won’t have to be married for long, but it is absolutely essential for our plan to work.”

“He’s just so…” Cassia sat back down in the wing chair.  Morta walked over to her and put her hand on Cassia’s shoulder.  Then she returned to her wing chair.

“He’s good-looking, and you know him well.  There will be no surprises.  Cassia, I promise it won’t be for long.  And when it’s over, you will go home.”

Cassia looked into the fire.  Home.  Where was her home?

“Do you mean I’ll be able to die once and for all?”

“Yes, at the end of a long life, you will die, as will Amatus and Dulcia.”

Cassia noticed she didn’t include Darius.

“So, in order to give my daughter a long life, I have to marry her father.”

“That’s right, Cassia, just marry her father.”

Cassia sighed.  She’d married Darius so many times, and it always ended badly.  He didn’t seem to mind finding himself in a new body every few months, but Cassia had grown weary of it.  After the first thousand years, she refused to marry him anymore.  She had been with Amatus a few times, but finally decided she was better off alone.

Without Cassia, Darius ran wild, never cooperated with Morta, and never did what he was required to do to end the continuous cycle.  Cassia hated the thought of playing nanny to Darius again, it was such a waste of time, but Dulcia deserved some peace.  When all was said and done, her daughter came first.

“Fine, I’ll do it,” she told Morta.

“Thank you, dear.  It will all work out, I promise.”

“Just one thing, Morta.  What if he doesn’t want to marry me?”

“Has that ever been an issue, Cassia?”

“No, he’s always wanted me.  But he’s been on his own for a thousand years.  He may not be so easy to bring around this time.”

“I’ll have Janus pay him a call.  In the meantime, work your charms on him.”

Morta slowly got up off the chair.  She leaned over Cassia and pecked her cheek.

“I’ll be back to check on your progress, dear.”

Morta shuffled toward the hallway and then disappeared.  Cassia stood up and walked out the door.  She wanted to find Amatus/Barnaby before he took off for Aspen.

Schuylerville, New York

 Amatus/Barnaby was in his room packing when Cassia knocked on his door.  He yelled, “Come in,” and she entered.  She was once more taken aback by the sight of him.  He was so tall.

“I remember you pulling in the nets along the Tiber,” she said.  “You looked just like this then.”