The Symbolon (34 page)

“Caleb was very important in
plan B and C!”

“Plan C?”

“Yes, that was if everything went poorly, Caleb was to wrap his arms around you and put you in his kayak and leave and not turn around until you were both safe.”

“If it went poorly?” Valeria asked.

“If Paolo was forced to testify, it would be damaging. Caleb was involved but he couldn’t testify, even if he was a member of the council and he also couldn’t be searched. If necessary he was also a weapon that could protect you!”

“Yeah! I got to be the superhero again! That was so cool!” Caleb lifted an arm
in victory before returning to his game.

“If we had gone to
plan C, how would you have gotten out?” she asked, concerned.

He shook his head
. “If Paolo had testified, both he and I would have certainly been put to death!”

Valeria shuddered
. “Then why would Paolo do that? For the gamble?”

“Paolo was more involved than you know!
He and Caleb set up all the supplies for the escape.”

“Paolo?” she said in surprise. “I don’t understand how this all came about! If you planned this, how could you testify?”

“A transference—which is what we use in testimony—doesn’t show what you thought, only what you sensed externally.” Alex brushed his hair back and rubbed his thumb over her hand and then laced their fingers together.

“I don’t understand how you c
ame up with all of this and were able to tell Paolo?”

“Let me show you.” Alex took Valeria’s other hand in his and she felt the rush of energy.

Valeria saw Alex approaching Paolo in an Italian restaurant. She could see Alex’s mark and his white knuckles on his clenched fists. She immediately knew that Alex wanted to hit Paolo.

“You know you may have just signed her death warrant. Is that what you wanted?” She heard Alex say angrily.

“What is done, is done.” Paolo’s eyes were wary.

“Why did you do it?”

Paolo shrugged, unwilling to answer him.

“If we don’t work together to fix this, we will be burying her again.”

Glancing off into the distance, Paolo shook off his thoughts and without looking at Alex said, “I have always intended to withdraw the petition at the next council meeting.”

“That’s just not good enough. Do you have any concept of the pain you have caused her?”

“She will recover.”

“I have always believed
, deep inside, that you truly loved her.” Valeria sensed that Alex was working to curb his rare temper. “If you did, you never could have done this to her. She’s alone now. Ask Shinsu how well she’s recovering—she nearly drowned herself in Paxos!”

Paolo flinched. “She needs time to…recover from your influence.”

Alex nearly exploded in rage. “Well, she may never recover! Are you willing to win even if she dies? Even if you’re causing her pain? Are you willing to win at the cost of her life?” He took a deep breath, attempting to regain his composure. “Were you aware that Mani and I were working on ensuring that the curse is resolved? But it takes testing.”

“The curse is gone! Her eyes have changed back.”

Alex looked up in frustration and then glared coldly at Paolo. “You’re willing to take that chance?” He shook his head. “If you would have believed me last time, you might still be married to her.”

“I read Mani’s report, she’s immortal!”

“My reports are that she has stopped eating. She won’t leave her flat. I am going to need to contact someone to break into her apartment.” Alex’s voice was almost a cry. “I don’t even know if she is still alive.”

Placing his face in his hand, Paolo’s voice softened
. “There are no other options.”

“There is another option.”

Reaching into a pouch, Alex pulled out a notebook of drawings and slid it over to Paolo. “This is…an idea. Take a look. I’m certain it will be acceptable to you.”

Alex pulled his hands from Valeria’s, effectively ending the transference.

“What was in the book?” she asked.

“I had to find a way to communicate to Paolo without having a discussion. I couldn’t see any details, or discuss it, so I typed it out on a keyboard and printed without permitting myself to look at it. That way there was no recorded memory.

“Paolo was aware of Caleb’s rare gift. So when Caleb returned from his wayward adventure to New York, I had Paolo pick him up so that they could begin planning.

“I typed out my concept of the propeller that had to be invented by Tavish for Caleb. It had to be waterproof, work off of Caleb’s power, and we had to be able to completely break it down so that Caleb could wear it into the Council Room. Paolo and Caleb both already knew how to dive, but Caleb needed a brief lesson in snorkeling and kayaking—especially in that treacherous cave!

“Actually, the St. Croix trip was planned to get you into the water,” Alex said.

“You planned that trip?” Valeria asked, startled.

“It was the only way I could think of to move things along.”

“Move things along? Alex, that
kiss...on St. Croix...with Paolo. Please tell me that wasn’t—”

“N
o!” Alex’s eyes got wide. “No, Val!” He shuddered. “I would never plan something like that! As a matter of fact, Paolo and I had quite the discussion on appropriate behavior. He knew better than that. His hormones just got out of control, with a little help from the rum.”

She pressed her hands into his. “Alex, I am so sorry about that and I hope you know—”

He smiled softly. “I know.” But she could still see the pain in his eyes.

“Alex? That wasn’t all of your conversation with Paolo, was it?”

“You really don’t need to see the rest.”

“Is it something about you and Kristiana?”

“No! No, Val.” Alex swallowed and then nodded as he took her hands in his and looked into her eyes and she again felt the rush of energy.

Paolo smiled slyly. “I agree to this on one condition,”
Paolo said. “On plan A, if the council approves the marriage, Valeria must tell me she doesn’t love me and wants to marry you. I will not end the engagement unless she tells me so.”

“Pal, she will never want you. She loves me.”

Smiling smugly, Paolo said, “Without you in her life, she will need someone who knows her past. She will be angry with me at first. That’s to be expected. But then she will realize that I am a link to you.” Paolo sipped his wine before continuing. “Then one day, she will realize she enjoys my company. Soon, she will become afraid of her feelings for me and realize my…skills. She will insist on seeing you. You will come…I think with that redhead, Daphne? Yes, I think she would be suitable.”

Valeria’s face turned flaming red.
“That bastard!”

“Well, that bastard saved our lives. So in the end, I’m grateful for him. To be honest, I did want to kill him but I needed him in order to resolve this. Fortunately
, he loves you enough to repeatedly risk his life to set things right.”

Her anger with Paolo was on several levels; the fact that she had responded exactly as he had told Alex was upsetting.

“Alex, if you had come to St. Croix with Daph…” Valeria knew that she would have believed that Alex had moved on. She would have given up and probably run straight to Paolo’s waiting arms. That thought gave her a shudder!

“Yes.” He looked down
. “That’s why I refused that one request.” He looked her in the eyes. “Still, I hated what I did in St. Croix, giving you the additional vision of Paolo lying to you. I did that because I was feeling insecure. But it was wrong. We might have been able to proceed with plan A, with no need to place your life at risk, if I had just kept my agreement with Paolo. And I am so sorry about that!”

She pulled his face to hers and kissed him. “Hey!” He looked up. “You know that I would never choose anyone but
you!”

He offered her a weak smile. “I will admit that I had my doubts in St. Croix.”

She ran her hand over his cheek. “I’m so sorry.”

“I understood the situation. I didn’t like it
, but I understood. And, beautiful, I never blamed you. It was a situation that I created. Actually, it was the result that we needed. Val, you went through so much over the past few months. I only regretted that I couldn’t be there and that Paolo could, and that you were forced to turn to him.”

She kissed
Alex, again.

“The night after the council meeting has haunted me through this whole ordeal. Having to plant the seed for a relationship with Paolo was bad enough.” Alex shook his head
. “I didn’t know if I could do it. I didn’t know if I could make it believable. But if I didn’t, I knew there was a chance I’d never see you again.”

Alex cleared his throat. “But there is something…there was a lie that I cannot live with another minute.”

Valeria suddenly wondered if Alex had fallen into someone’s arms…Daphne’s? Kristiana’s?

She stroked his face
. “Just tell me.” He looked away, ashamed; it must be bad, she thought.

He gulped
. “The night that I left…” He drew a deep breath and looked out at the horizon. “I told you…” Tears came to his eyes and he closed them.

“What? Just tell me!” He had an affair, she concluded.

“When Paolo submitted the petition, all I could think of was…
how can I solve this?
”

“Of course!”
Oh, her poor, sweet Alex!

“That last night on Paxos, I laid there with you in my arms…” He bit his lip and pulled her into his chest
. “I couldn’t imagine what life might be like for you. I was haunted by it. Tormented.”

“Yes.” She let out a cry.

“And finally, I knew that Paolo had to resolve it. I knew he would and the only way that would work is if…” He broke into a silent sob.

“What?” She clung to him.

“Beautiful, you have to know that leaving you was the hardest thing I have ever done.”

“Just tell me…you found someone else?”

Alex looked at her for a minute stunned. “No!” He let out a small laugh and raised his eyebrows. “No, Val! There is no one else for me.”

“What has you so upset, Alex?”

He closed his eyes and clenched his jaw. “It was the last things that I told you before I left. You asked me and I looked you straight in the eyes and lied to you.” Tears flooded her eyes. “I told you that I had given up and that we both needed to move on. I said that there was no hope of us ever seeing each other again and it nearly killed me!

“But
, Val, you must know—you need to know,” he shook his head in agony,
“I would never give up on you! EVER!”

“Yes
, somehow, I knew that.” She held him, while she brushed his hair back. “Alex, I love you and you love me. And no one is
ever
going to force us apart again!”

He looked relieved.

“Alex, what were you doing at the edge of the river when I first found you?”

His mood suddenly lightened as he shook off the previous memories. “I almost forgot!” He reached in his pocket. “I needed something to signal Shinsu that we had left.” He brushed his hand across something in his hand. “I made this after we were forced apart to remind me of who we are.”

He took out a shiny metal triquetra that was mounted on a thin leather cord. “My plan was to give this to you until we discovered your mark.” She took it in her hands and kissed his cheek.

“It’s beautiful!
I’ll wear it always!” She pulled up her hair and he hooked it around her neck.

“But then last night…”

“What?”

He shook his head and narrowed his eyes for a moment. “Come with me!” He took her hand and led her back to the bedroom. In front of the mirror, he pulled her hair back from her face.

“What is it? A gray hair?”

“Hardly!” he laughed.

She looked in the mirror as he kissed a spot behind her ear and looked at her knowingly. She leaned in even closer and then she saw it, on the edge of her hairline; the tiny mark that told them that they were meant to be—the triquetra, the mark that Apollo had given to them alone—as symbolons.

∞

Caleb, Valeria, and Alex stood at the Barcelona airport looking at the outbound flights with their sunglasses on. She was wearing a dress and heels that Paolo had bought her—and her new necklace from Alex—and looked quite the jet-setter. Alex wore slacks and a polo shirt. They all wore their brown contacts.

“So
, where to?” Alex asked. “The only stipulations are that it has to be more than two thousand miles from Paxos, preferably a bit unpopulated, and probably nothing in Europe for a while; too many of us here.”

Caleb said, “Can we go to Disneyworld? Then we can go snorkeling and scuba diving and deep sea fishing!”