Fruit of Misfortune (26 page)

“Hello?”

“One minute,” a man’s voice answered. “Make
yourself comfortable.”

I didn’t know whether to stand or sit as I
waited. At last, I chose to stand because every time I tried to sit
down, I had trouble breathing.

The light in the corner room turned off and
the door opened. A tall man—maybe in his thirties—walked out. He
wore a long white lab coat. His five o’clock shadow made him look
too scruffy to be a doctor.

“I’m sorry about the wait,” he said. “I’m Dr.
Leumas. How may I help you?”

“Dr. Leumas,” I stared at his green eyes and
light brown hair as I shook his hand, “my name is Isis Martin.”

The doctor’s hand froze in mine. He blinked
at me and opened his mouth, but no words followed. After a moment,
he released my hand.

“Are you my father?” No response. A moment
passed, before I said, “I really need to know the answer to that
question.” Still, he said nothing. “Listen, I don’t have a lot of
time, and I think I might be confusing you with someone else, so I
better go.”

“No, don’t—don’t go. I’m sorry. I’m just
surprised. Speechless. I wasn’t expecting you—my daughter—to walk
into my office today.”

“Should I have made an appointment for a
routine checkup?”

He looked at me with a confused
expression.

“That was a joke,” I said. “Bad timing?”

“Bad joke. I’m a gynecologist.”

“Oh.” I felt my ears burning. I couldn’t have
made the moment more awkward even if I tried.

“Would you like to sit?” he asked.

I nodded and took a seat on one of two chairs
in front of the desk.

“This isn’t how I imagined our first meeting.
I had planned…” He raised a finger. “Just a second.” He walked
behind his desk. He bent over and opened one of the desk drawers.
He looked up at me before he brought up whatever he had in his
hand, and then showed me a small plush bear with a pink bow.

“I was planning a trip to America within the
next month.” He walked around the desk and handed me the plush toy.
“This is for you.”

I stared at the bear as he held it out to me.
I hoped he didn’t think that giving me a cute stuffed animal was
going to make me dive into his arms and call him “daddy”.

“I know it doesn’t make up for
anything—especially not for lost time,” he said, taking the chair
next to mine.

“No, it doesn’t.”

I took the bear and placed it on my lap. I
felt myself start to tremble. But it wasn’t nerves I felt. I was
angry.

“You must have a lot of questions.”

“I do.” I looked him up and down for a second
time. “I want to know why you didn’t go back for my mom.”

“Somehow, I knew that would be your first
question.” Leumas ran his hand through his already tousled hair.
“It wasn’t because I didn’t want to. It was all so
complicated.”

“Oh, I see—things were complicated—
for
you
? Do you even know what you did to my mother’s life? Do you
know how much she struggled to raise me?”

“She didn’t do it alone. You had a good man
as a father.”

“Yes, he was a great dad. He accepted me even
though he knew I wasn’t his. And then you know what happened? He
died, and my mom had to do it all alone.”

“I know that. I should’ve gone—”

“But you didn’t. You sent a big check and you
expected things to be okay.” I dug my nails into the bear in my
hand. “Money doesn’t buy happiness, Dr. Leumas.”

“Don’t call me that. I’m your father.”

“My father?” I narrowed my eyes. “My father
died six years ago. You’re not him.”

“I deserve that. I was expecting it, to be
honest.”

“That’s not even the half of it,” I said.

“Then keep going. Get it off your chest.”

His calmness irritated me.

“You know what? Just forget about it. There
are things that are much more important right now.”

“Like what?”

“The reason I’m here. I need you to take me
to the Council.”

“I—I don’t know what you’re talking
about.”

“You don’t have to pretend. I know what you
are.”

“I’m not sure what you mean by that.”

I looked over at his desk and saw a bronze
letter opener. I picked it up, and without giving him time to
react, I jabbed him in the stomach. He didn’t even flinch. I raised
the bent piece of metal for him to see.

“You were saying, Dr. Leumas?”

“I hope that was to prove a point and not
because you were trying to kill your father. And you don’t have to
call me ‘Dr. Leumas’.”

“If you think I’m calling you ‘Dad’—”

“Call me Samuel, then.”

“Alright.” I dropped the bent letter opener
on the desk. “Samuel, you need to take me to the Council before I
really do kill you, along with anyone else that comes near me.”

“Are you—mutating?”

I nodded. The color drained from his
face.

“Do you have a craving for raw flesh?” he
asked.

“Only when I dream.”

Samuel rose and raised a hand to his head. I
watched as he took a few paces with his back to me.

“Does your mother know?” he asked at
last.

“No.”

“Is she here with you?”

“No.”

He turned to look at me. “You’re here
alone?”

“No. Can I ask the questions now?”

He nodded.

“You had no idea that I was changing?”

“I was hoping that by some miracle you
wouldn’t. You were born human.”

“Well, I’m
not
human. And if you don’t
want to turn me over to the Council, then you’ll have to kill me
yourself, because turning into a blood-thirsty beast isn’t in my
plans.”

Samuel stared at me in silence. There was a
knock at the door, but he didn’t make the slightest attempt to
answer it.

“That’s for me,” I said, standing to open the
door.

“Hey.” Galilea was leaning against the
doorframe. “You okay in there?” She put a piece of gum in her
mouth.

“Fine,” I said. “Give me a few more
minutes.”

“Can I see him?” Galilea tried to peek into
the room just as Eros stepped next to her.

I felt Samuel walk up behind me. He opened
the door wider.

“Galilea, Eros, this is—”

“Samuel,” Eros said. “It’s been a long
time.”

“Is this who you came here with?” Samuel
asked.

“You two know each other?” I glanced between
them.

“We do,” Eros said. “Now, I remember where I
know you from, my sweet. I was present at your birth.”

“
What?”

“Why are you with her, Eros?” Samuel’s brow
creased. “If you’ve used any of your charms on her, so help me
Deus, I’ll—”

“Relax. I didn’t use anything on her,” Eros
said. “Isis is my fiancée.”

“No, I’m not.”

“She is,” Eros said, then looked at me. “You
are.”

“You’re not marrying my daughter.”

“We can discuss that later, oui?” Eros said,
putting his arm around me, and I slapped it off. “Tell me, Samuel,
were you able to do the father-daughter bonding thing? Did you tell
her how much you regret conceiving her?”

“Shut your mouth,” Samuel said through
gritted teeth.

“Did you tell her how you were going to kill
her at birth?” Eros asked.

“Is that true?” I looked up at Samuel.

“Wow.” Galilea elbowed me. “Your life is like
a soap opera. This is getting good.”

“Who’s this?” Samuel sized up Galilea. I
ignored his question.

“Were you going to kill me?” I asked
again.

“
No
!” Samuel said.

“Now, Dr. Leumas,” Eros said. “That’s a flat
out lie. Don’t play with her feelings.”

“Eros, if you say another word, I’ll make
your balls shrivel up like prunes,” Samuel growled, and Eros
widened his eyes in mock horror.

“Why didn’t you do it?” I stared up at
Samuel’s green eyes. “Why didn’t you kill me? It would’ve been so
much easier.”

“I couldn’t.” Samuel walked away from the
door and into the office.

“But you knew what I was,” I said, following
him. “You knew what would happen. You could’ve ended this all
before it even began.”

Samuel turned back to look at me.

“Isis, I delivered you. I was the first to
hold you. How could I kill my own child—my blood?”

“Tsk, tsk, Samuel. You lied to me. You told
me you had killed her—burned her remains,” Eros said leaning on the
desk. “But now, I know your dirty little secret.” Eros glanced at
me. “No offense, my sweet.”

“Stop calling me that!” I snapped.

I felt blood rushing to my head so fast that
it hurt and made me nauseated at the same time. I started trembling
and the room began to spin. I put my hand on my head and took in
deep breaths. Before I knew it, I was on the floor. My body was
jerking and contorting in ways I couldn’t control. I felt screams
trying to escape my throat, but no sound came out. The lights on
the ceiling became a blur. Then the room dimmed until I was
surrounded by blackness. The last thing I heard was my heart
beating in my ears.

***

My stomach churned. I felt the urge to retch.
I turned over and rolled off the edge of the flat surface I had
been lying on. With a thud, I landed face down on the floor. I
rolled onto my back and let out a small moan as I gazed up at the
ceiling. Galilea stepped into my field of view and looked down at
me.

“You look like shit,” she said.

“I feel like it.”

“What happened to you? You went all Regan
MacNeil.”

“Who?”

“The girl that puked up pea soup in
The
Exorcist
.” She held out a hand to help me up. “Can you stand
up?”

“I think so,” I said. “But I still feel a
little shaky.”

“Does this type of thing happen often?”

“Not convulsing, no. First time.”

“You know what I’ve noticed? Your eyes change
when you get nervous or angry. It happened when you snapped at
Eros, right before you went into that seizure.” She put her index
finger on the side of her chin. “And now that I think of it, the
same thing happens to Dr. Banner.”

“You know someone else like this and you
didn’t tell me?”

“You’ve never heard of The Hulk? What kind of
childhood did you have?”

I rolled my eyes at her. I suddenly realized
how perfect she was for Galen.

“I know you’re shaky, but do you think you
can walk?” Galilea asked, and I nodded. “Good. Because we have to
get out of here before Eros and Samuel get back.”

“Where did they go?” I used the examination
table I had fallen off of to steady myself.

“I messed with their memory a little. I made
you and me invisible, and then made them forget everything. Gave
them fake memories. They went to have coffee like jolly old
friends. But the effect won’t last too long. My power is limited
when it comes to deities—unfortunately. Eros is going to be majorly
pissed when the effect wears off. So come on. I don’t want to be
here when they get back.”

“I need Samuel’s help. I can’t go
anywhere.”

“Samuel can’t help you, Isis.”

“How can you be so sure?”

“Because he told me. He said there was
nothing he could do to stop the change.”

“He can take me to the Council. They’ll know
what to do with me.”

“Oh, I’m sure they will, but Samuel also said
he wasn’t going to do it. Whatever they do to you, they’ll do to
him, to your mother, and to David and his family… and me. Is that
what you want—all of us dead?”

“
No
. I just want all of this to end.
Why can’t anyone understand that?”

“Stop that.” Galilea raised her finger at me.
“Don’t you go freaky-eyed on me, girlfriend. I can see your irises
changing.”

“I can’t control it.”

“Yeah, I figured that much.” Galilea put an
arm around me, and helped me walk. “I sure wish I had that antidote
that Reed Richards developed.”

“Is he another deity?”

“I wish. Reed Richards is a character from
the Fantastic Four. He gave up on the antidote when it didn’t work
on The Hulk, but it might’ve worked on you.”

“Galilea,” I said.

“Yeah?”

“You and Galen should never have kids
together.”

At a
red light, Galilea stared at the screen on her phone. I fished my
own phone out of my back pocket. It was dead.

“We have a sixteen-hour drive ahead of us,”
Galilea told me. “I think I can cut it down by two hours if I
speed. But I’m going to have to bring down the block that’s keeping
us invisible. I’m getting a headache from holding it in place. That
means Turpis can see us, so we can only stop for gas.”

“Can’t we just take a plane?”

“That would be like caging ourselves up. If
Turpis attack, where would we run to at 30,000 feet in the
air?”

“Right,” I sighed. “Tell me why we’re going
to Bucharest.”

“It’s where I live. No one will find us
there. Plus, we have a meeting to attend.”