Metanoia (26 page)

“
Here, Gina,” said a
whispering voice close by. Gina turned to see Athena talking to
her. “You can share my book until you get yours. My name is Athena,
nice to meet you.” Gina smiled and shook her outstretched
hand.

“
I’m Gina. It’s really nice
to meet you.”

Darkness had already been present in Nythagié
for a few hours when Gina finally returned. At once, she made her
way to the bathroom for a long shower. The pressures of the day
seemed to drain away as the warm water cascaded down her body.

When Gina finally entered her bedroom,
Leyance was already asleep. Or so she thought. As soon as she sat
down on the bed, he jumped up and threw his arms around her, much
to her surprise.

“
Gina! Oh my God! Are you
insane? Did you see her? What did she say? What does she look like?
Never run off to tell people these things without first consulting
me! Did she believe you? Is she coming here?” Leyance was obviously
having a struggle as he thought it right to reprimand her and yet
was terribly curious at the same time.

“
Calm down, Leyance,” Gina
said, though she couldn’t fight back a small smile.

“
What
happened?
” he asked, trying to submerge his
curiosity.

“
I saw her,” Gina began. “I
drove right up to her house…”

“
And you actually told
her?” he interrupted. “Gina, didn’t it ever occur to you that we
needed to make sure it was okay that she came here? She’s
vulnerable now. If any evil forces are lurking, she’d be a perfect
target!”

“
Relax. I didn’t tell her.”
Yet, Leyance continued on.

“
Fheyrhil’s been a nervous
wreck. I mean she is an absolute perfect person to kidnap with her
connection to you and her inability to fight for herself…Wait, you
didn’t tell her?” Gina couldn’t help but burst into
laughter.

“
No, I
didn’t tell her,” she said, calming down. “By every means I meant
to, but then I saw her. She looked so stressed out. I realized that
if she was stressed in
that
world, she’d only find it ten fold in this world,
as we all know. I couldn’t put Athena through what I found myself
going through two years ago. That almost broke me, and I couldn’t
do that to her.”

“
Did you talk to her at
all?”

“
Yes. She dropped a
business card for a night class she was taking.” She shrugged. “I
enrolled. So, yeah. I talked to her. I sit next to her.”

“
What did she
say?!”

“
Umm, ‘you share my book
until you get yours.’”

“
That’s it?” he asked,
obviously wanting more.

“
I just met her. Give me a
break!”

Suddenly, a new voice joined the
conversation. “Does she look like you?” Gina and Leyance quickly
turned to see Fheyrhil in the doorway looking more vulnerable than
ever before.

“
Yes, a little bit,” Gina
said quietly.

“
How is she? Does she seem
happy?” he asked.

“
She seems to be,” she
responded.

“
Does she eat healthy?”
Fheyrhil asked. Gina was beginning to see his fatherly
side.

“
How would I know? I just
met her.”

“
But she is alright?”
Fheyrhil asked quietly. His once intimidating nature completely
dwindled as he spoke of his youngest daughter. “And she does not
know?”

“
Yes, she is alright, and
no, she doesn’t know anything,” Gina assured him. She felt sorry
for him, but at the same time she still had not forgiven him for
the news she had received that afternoon. She simply did not
understand how he could have kept not only her, but another in the
dark for so long.

“
Will you be going back?”
Fheyrhil asked. He already knew the answer.

“
I won’t abandon her like
you did,” Gina said bitterly. Fheyrhil simply nodded and, hurt, he
left. Gina caught Leyance’s glance. He was obviously taken aback.
“Well, I won’t,” she stated assuredly. The rest of the night was
left in awkward silence.

Morning came as did royal duties, exercises,
and visits. Afternoon finally arrived, and Gina hurried to her
room. Carefully she picked out cargoes, sandals, and a T-Shirt
sporting the words “1-800-YOU-WISH,” grabbed her purse and headed
out the door. Leyance met her on the way up, studying her
appearance.

“
Well, you certainly look
out of place, Darling,” he said smiling. He gave her the once-over.
“That is so not this season.”

“
Ah, shut up,” she snapped
back, but she couldn’t help but smile.

“
So, you’re heading out
already?” Leyance asked.

“
Yes, I have to go get my
books,” Gina replied. She produced a piece of paper from her bag.
“I need to go hunt down both of these before class which starts at
5:30 anyway. It’s not exactly a quick journey there and
back.”

“
Don’t I know. Well, have
fun, Beautiful. I love you.” He leaned down and gave her a sweet
kiss. Gina held it for a minute, savoring the moment.

Leyance watched her as she made her way down
the steps and hopped on the horse waiting for her. She rode off
through the gates and towards the familiar haze.

Three hours later, Gina walked through the
halls towards her classroom. Her new books were clutched in her arm
while paper and pens rested in her shoulder bag.

“
Hey, Gina! Hold up!” Gina
turned around to see her sister running up behind her, out of
breath. “Hey, what’s up? Got your books I see.”

“
Yeah, I just bought them
before class,” Gina responded. “So, uh, what’s up? How’s the day
been?”

“
Better than yesterday.
Everything went wrong yesterday it seemed. One more bomb and I was
going to crack,” she joked. Gina smiled nervously. “So, hey. Where
do you go to school?”

Gina shrugged. “I don’t go to school anymore.
I’m out already.”

“
Really?” Athena asked,
eyes wide. “How old are you?”

It took Gina awhile to answer. So much had
happened over the past two years that she hardly felt her age. “I’m
twenty.”

“
Cool.
I’m eighteen,” she stated.
We’re only two
years apart. She’s exactly the same age I was when I learned the
truth.
“So did you just want to take extra
classes or what?”

“
Well, I’ve always been
really into mythology.”

“
Me too! My school doesn’t
offer any classes in it and besides I get extra credits for this.
What kind of mythology do you like the most?”

“
Greek mythology,” Gina
responded.

“
Love that stuff.
Persephone is my favorite goddess.”

“
And Athena I’m guessing
too,” Gina suggested.

“
Well, of course, but that
goes without saying. So any special story behind your name?” she
asked.

Where do I begin?
Gina thought. “Well, it’s short for Regina which
means ‘queen.’”

“
Coolness! So you’re a
queen, and I’m a goddess. It just proves that we’re awesome,” she
exclaimed, passing through the classroom doors and sliding into her
seat. They talked for a little bit but soon the teacher’s booming
voice echoed through the classroom.

“
Continuing from where we
left off…” Mr. Jettson started discussing how mythology even
related to the seasons. “Because Persephone had been tricked into
eating four pomegranate seeds, which was known to be the food of
the dead, she was forced to return as Hades’ bride for one month
per seed. This, as can be expected, deeply grieved Demeter, and she
refused to let anything grow while she was separated from her
daughter. Thus, we receive the winter. When Persephone and Demeter
are reunited, we receive the summer…” Gina glanced over at Athena
who slouched in her chair and had slid a book inside her text. Gina
giggled.

“
Man, you seem to retain so
much of what he is saying,” she whispered jokingly. Athena
smiled.

“
Hades was lonely in the
underworld and so Zeus told him he could take Persephone as his
bride. Well, Demeter had a hissy-fit when she heard of that and
stopped anything from growing. Sure enough Zeus was forced to send
Apollo down to retrieve her. The rest I’m sure he’s telling.” She
giggled. “Like I said, she’s my favorite goddess. I know all of
this already.”

“
So what are you reading
then?” Gina whispered. Athena held up the book so she could read
the very familiar cover.

“
You’re going to go nuts
when you reach chapter 17.” Athena’s head popped up.

“
You’ve read it?” she asked
in disbelief. “No one’s ever even heard of this book.”

“
Well, I have. It’s one of
my favorites. I used to read it everyday during lunch at school. My
friends hated me for it.”

“
Whoa, we are really
alike,” Athena whispered. “Sweet.”

“
You have no
idea.”

They sat in silence for awhile. Gina’s
attention turned towards the teacher, and Athena’s back to her
book. Yet, even though Gina loved mythology, the teacher’s boring
lectures were beginning to be too much.

“
Is he always this bad?”
Gina whispered.

“
Hell yeah” was the
response. Athena looked up and smiled. Slowly her eyes made their
way to Gina’s hand. “Whoa, that is a beautiful ring!” Gina followed
her gaze to her wedding ring.

“
Thanks. It’s gorgeous
isn’t it?” she replied, fingering it lovingly.

“
Wait a
second. Are you
married
?” Athena asked in shock. She couldn’t believe that she had
never seen it before.

“
Yeah, I am. My husband’s
name is Leyance.”

“
But I thought you were
only twenty…”

Gina chuckled. “We do things a lot
differently where I’m from. Plus, my husband and I were together a
very long time before we got married. It was almost like we were
together in another life…” Gina studied Athena’s face for any
reaction, but all she saw was a smile.

“
Are you
Mormon?”

Gina couldn’t help but giggle. “No, I’m
not.”

“
Well, that’s cool. I don’t
even have a boyfriend yet, let alone am I thinking of getting
married in two years.”

“
Yeah, well you’d be
surprised how quick things can change.”

“
Yeah, I guess that must
be!” Athena remarked. “Hey, it goes with your necklace great
though. The ring that is.” Gina nodded as she stroked her necklace.
She still had not taken it off since Leyance had given it to her
those many nights ago.

Suddenly, a fellow whisper distracted them,
and they both turned to see where it had come from.

“
Over here!” the whisper
said. They turned to see a boy diagonal and back from Gina’s desk.
“Hey, you guys. I’m having a party on Saturday. Come for a good
time.” He handed Gina a flyer, and Athena immediately grabbed
it.

“
Cool! Hey, Gina, let’s
go!” she exclaimed, trying to keep her voice in a whisper so as not
to be heard by the teacher. Gina wasn’t as thrilled
though.

“
I don’t know if we
should.” She took back the flyer and scanned it thoroughly.
Something just didn’t seem right about it. Gina couldn’t explain,
but she knew she had to convince her not to go. Turning back to
Athena, she pointed at something on the page. On the side was
written “It’s time for a Debauchery Party! Waste the night away
with rockin’ music, beer, cool people, and who knows what else!
What happens is up to you!”

“
So?” Athena
asked.

“
So? It says it’s a
debauchery party. You are too young to drink and be exposed to what
goes on at those parties,” Gina pointed out. “Tell me you don’t
party like this a lot.”

“
Dude, stop the
over-protective parental act. And no, I don’t usually. My friends
and I hardly party. I won’t drink or do anything to help the
‘debauchery nature.’ I wouldn’t want to.”

“
But you’ll be surrounded
by people who are. That alone could be bad.”

“
Dude, chill,” Athena said.
“Do you not want to go just because you’re married?”

“
I don’t want to go because
I shouldn’t be around that kind of stuff and neither should
you.”

“
Fine, fine, you win. We
won’t go.” She slumped in her chair and actually stared straight
ahead at the teacher, attempting to listen to him. Gina followed
suit, but found herself stealing glances at her sister.

Thursday and Friday came and went. Soon
enough it was Saturday and Gina found herself relaxing on the
balcony of her room. She could see Leyance out stretching in the
evening light. The soft glow shone on his bare chest as he moved
slowly and weightlessly. He advanced on to yoga, and Gina continued
her watch with a smile. Even though she had spent so much time with
Athena, she still could not keep focus away from Leyance for too
long. He suddenly broke his concentration and looked up to her,
feeling her eyes on him. He smiled warmly at her and blew her a
kiss, which she happily received and sent one back. Because of him,
she had so much love in her heart and that warmth was shared by
anyone who came in contact with her. Even Athena seemed to be
happier when Gina spoke lovingly of her husband. So, once again,
Gina’s thoughts drifted back to her sister. Soon enough, she found
herself going inside and calling her sister. Gina took out her cell
phone (which had been magically enhanced to be able to reach the
other world) and dialed the now-familiar number. After about five
rings, Athena finally answered.