Arcadia Awakens (26 page)

“Until two years ago you didn’t even know where the Mediterranean was.”

Zoe let out her breath sharply and walked faster again. Rosa kept up with her from one circle of light to the next. The chestnuts on the outskirts of the forest were rustling. The cicadas had struck up their nocturnal concert long ago.

“What will happen if the Hungry Man comes back to Sicily?” asked Rosa after a while. “Pantaleone says there could be a power struggle between the dynasties.”

“They’re all afraid of him.”

“Does he really think he’s the reincarnation of an ancient king? That Lycaon?”

“Some of the others are sure of it.”

“He must be quite old.”

“About the same age as Pantaleone. Midseventies, I think.”

“How great can it be to belong to a … a
species
that would commit murder just because an old man tells them to?”

“No one knows what he’s really planning. But he must have powerful allies.”

“Doesn’t the Mafia already exert an influence on the government?”

“Pressure must have been applied in the very highest places to get a man like that set free.” Zoe stopped as they entered the front courtyard again. They had walked all around the property. “It’s still no more than rumors. No one knows exactly when and why the Hungry Man will be let out. Or what’s going on behind the scenes. But the
capi
are uneasy, and Pantaleone … well, some say he isn’t strong enough now to keep the dynasties safe from prying eyes when he’s been living underground for decades.”

“Maybe that’s why someone is spreading rumors—to weaken Pantaleone’s influence and prepare for the return of the Hungry Man.”

Zoe uttered a mirthless laugh. “Do you think you’re the first to think of that? Florinda’s always going on about the possibility, and Pantaleone doesn’t seem to know what to think. It would be much simpler if half the families weren’t at odds with the other half. But as things stand?” She shook her head.

Rosa leaned against the parapet of the fountain. She took a deep breath. “There’s something else I have to tell you.”

Zoe looked at her expectantly, more anxious than curious.

“In Rome, at the hotel,” Rosa began, “when you were out and about in the morning with Lilia…” She hesitated, and then told her about Judge Quattrini.

Zoe compressed her lips. “Did she ask you questions about our family?”

“Yes. I didn’t say a word, and finally she let me go again.” She scrutinized her sister. “Did they try that with you, too?”

Zoe shook her head. “Not so obviously. Sometimes at first, when I went out, I had a feeling … well, that people were throwing themselves in my way, people I thought were new friends. I figured it was because of all the money at first, and I told Florinda about it. She warned me against the police, undercover officers who’d try to pump me. But for a judge to approach anyone so openly and so soon… Are you sure you didn’t tell her anything?”

“Absolutely sure.” Rosa didn’t mention that the conversation in the hotel room had been all about Alessandro and the Carnevares. She was afraid that Zoe would tell Florinda, and then her aunt really would move heaven and earth to make sure Rosa didn’t see him. “She lectured me for a while. Why it was important to oppose the Mafia, the whole works, drug trafficking and contract killing and so forth.”

Zoe took her hand. “We should have prepared you for something like this.”

“She seemed to know a lot about Alcantara business. And she wasn’t just talking about wind turbines.”

“No,” said Zoe quietly, “of course not.”

“Florinda’s flights to Lampedusa … they have to do with people trafficking, the judge said.”

“Refugees from North Africa coming to Europe of their own free will.” Zoe sighed. “They try to cross the Mediterranean in tiny boats, and if they’re lucky they make it to Lampedusa. Anyone who lands on the island can’t be sent back. One of the largest reception camps for refugees is there. And Florinda sees to it that a number of them get a reasonable chance of—”

“Nonsense,” Rosa interrupted her. “Florinda picks the strongest men and sends them to building sites all over Europe, where they work for starvation wages.”

Zoe avoided her eyes. “You’ve always known wind turbines aren’t the only way we earn our money.”

That was true. And she had never felt like a criminal. No one who saw their modest apartment in Brooklyn could have thought that they or their mother had profited from the Alcantara wealth. But here she was today in this palazzo, with the fast cars, and the bags full of designer clothes from Rome waiting for her in her room.

Zoe was staring at her in astonishment. “She didn’t really manage to do it, did she? Give you a guilty conscience? My God, Rosa, you never used to have problems with that kind of thing.”

“I told her to go to hell and leave me in peace, that’s all.” She looked Zoe in the eye. “You have to promise me something.”

Zoe swore under her breath. She clearly guessed what was coming.

“You can’t tell Florinda and Pantaleone anything about this,” said Rosa. “Not a word. I don’t want them thinking I’m a risk to them. Or sending me home again.”

Zoe looked at the ground. Rosa’s hand shot out and seized her arm, forcing her to look up again.

“Promise, Zoe.”

“That—”

“You owe me. I know about the transmitter in that cell phone. It was a mean trick to play, and you know it.”

Guiltily, Zoe bit her lower lip before she uttered another sound. “Florinda—”

“As if I give a damn. And it’s okay.
Once
it’s okay. But not again. I didn’t have to tell you all that. But … well, you’re my sister.”

Zoe nodded slowly. She didn’t seem to be happy about it, but she looked Rosa in the eye again. “I can keep my mouth shut when it matters.”

“You swear?”

“Oh, come on, you want me to spit on my palm, turn in a circle three times, and—”

“I want to have you on my side, that’s all.”

Zoe swallowed, then threw her arms around Rosa. “I won’t say a word, I swear. And I’m really glad you’re here. I’ve missed you.”

Rosa hugged her back. “Missed you, too.”

They stood beside the fountain for a little longer, close together, saying nothing, and only when the limousine rolled out of the courtyard gate and turned on its way to the garages did they let go of each other, as the beam of the headlights moved past them, and the rumble of the engine drowned out the sounds of the Sicilian night. They walked back to the house together.

That was the night she first dreamed of the panther’s kiss.

S
HE KNEW FROM THE
first moment that it was a dream.

She was lying in her bed, and the bed was surrounded by jungle. Moisture dripped from fleshy leaves. Orchids flowered in the twilight, the glowing eyes of the flowers watching her. Gigantic pod-shaped fruits pulsated in the shade like lungs, swelled, and then collapsed. A breath of hot air wafted through the undergrowth, stroking her hair back from her bare shoulders.

There was something missing, and only after a moment did she know what it was. Animal noises. The jungle was almost totally silent. Only the swollen lobes of the pods rattled and rustled, while a quiet squealing and cheeping came from among the leaves. It was a few more minutes before she realized that it came from the orchids as they discussed her with one another.

Something stirred behind the nearest trees; a black outline moved through the thickets, soundless, prowling quietly on soft paws. Rosa watched him, waited for him, because she knew he wanted to find her.

As he came closer she was amazed by his supple beauty. He moved out of the shadows like a blot of ink, and only in the twilight did he take on the shape of a panther. Keeping low as the big cats do, he prowled once around the bed before stopping at her feet and placing one black paw on the snow-white bedclothes. The orchids whispered faster, in frenzied excitement.

She was sitting upright now, the bedspread a high white cloud. She could hardly see over the edge of it. The panther’s eyes were glittering, and there was a silvery sheen on his black fur. She noticed everything about him: his quivering whiskers, his gleaming teeth, the pink tip of his tongue.

With a fluid movement, he jumped up on the bed and pushed himself under the bedspread at the foot end. It seemed much longer now, surely a good sixty feet long, and the panther was moving under it, a slight mound under that white cloud. Only now did she see that the jungle had vanished, and the bed had grown even larger, reaching to the horizon in all directions. The mound was coming closer, perhaps ten, perhaps a hundred steps away from her now, a wave that would soon reach her bare legs.

She was breathing faster, and the hoarse sound that the plants had been uttering a moment ago now came from herself, came warm and rhythmically through her lips. As she sat she braced her upper body on her arms, the palms of her hands firmly on the bed. Her blond hair fell from her shoulders as she laid her head slightly back, eyes half-closed in expectation of his touch. She felt him approaching under the covers, felt the mattress shaking slightly, as big as the whole world, and senses she had never guessed at stirred in her.

She dared not look down at herself, because she was afraid of waking up. Afraid that he might suddenly be gone, leaving her alone. But the shaking of the bedspread was more marked as he made his way toward her.

First there was a new kind of quivering, very close to the soles of her feet, then a gentle touch on her toes, her ankles, moving up her calves. He was there, very close to her, and the bedspread rose even higher, pushed up from below into her field of vision, although she was still looking up, and her eyes had become narrow slits.

She had to fight the impulse to pull back the covers and look at him, the growling, hissing beast of prey pushing himself toward her. His fur touched her skin, and every single pore sensed that he was close. He filled her with his presence.

Enormous warmth radiated from the panther as he lay on her, robbing her of air. Sweat stood out on her brow and ran into her eyes. Her lips tasted salty; muscles and sinews stretched taut on her neck. His breath had reached her hips; its hot vapor was creeping over her stomach, pressed through her rib cage, touched her breasts and her collarbone, then her throat.

She had closed her eyes long ago, sensing him only through his touch. His paws brushed along her thighs, his claws punched holes in the sheet.

Very slowly she lowered her head again, looked down at her body leaning back and at the edge of the bedspread. It had risen, forming a dark cave above her torso. Cat’s eyes flashed in it.

He ran his tongue over her, rough and warm and supple, licked the sweat off her skin, licked her up to her armpits and then down again, over every part of her.

She shifted her weight to one hand and pushed the other under the bedspread, felt the soft, silky fur between his eyes. Slowly, she raised her arm, carefully pushed the covers aside, and saw him crouching over her in all his impressive elegance, a shadow that had become a beast with glowing eyes.

He pricked up his ears, seemed to wait, only for a couple of heartbeats. Then he lowered his panther’s head, licked the white human skin off her body like milk, and revealed the golden scales of her serpent self.

“I
OLE’S SAFE,” CALLED
A
LESSANDRO
, jumping out of his red Ferrari in the inner courtyard of the palazzo. “For now, anyway.”

Rosa ran down the stone stairway from the terrace. She was relieved, but also surprised to see him suddenly turn up on Alcantara property. “What are you doing here?” she said. “If Florinda finds out—”

He had stopped on the bottom step. “She knows already. The guards at the end of the drive told her.”

“That’s not possible. Florinda isn’t here. She won’t be back until later.”

Alessandro shrugged. “Well, they called the palazzo, and someone told them to let me through. So if it wasn’t you—”

A window opened above them. Looking up, Rosa saw Zoe.

“Hurry up,” she called down. “If Florinda gets back and sees the two of you together, it won’t be fun for any of us.”

Rosa gave her a smile. “Thanks.”

Zoe winked and closed the window. The blue sky was reflected in the glass, so they had no way of knowing whether she was still watching them.