Chapter Thirty-eight
Andrea
I came home from practice with my unit exhausted. Today we ran drills and went through the obstacle course today. It was fun but took almost everything out of me.
It has been a month since we returned from Pescadero. We stayed an extra week with my parents; it was wonderful to be with them and for them to get to know Ariston. Ariston and I rode Vrontos and Luna every day and went out to dinner a few nights with my parents and grandmother while we were there.
Since we returned all my time has been spent reading the journals of Pandora and her Descendants, training with Ennina and Cronus or with my unit while spending what little free time I have with Ariston. Not to mention planning our wedding.
Who would have thought so much detail would go into planning one day? Well it was not only one day; the celebration would last for five days and nights. The first day would be a feast at my parent's home; the second day would be a feast on Olympus hosted by Ariston's parents. The third day Ariston spends with his closest friends and I spent with my closest friends as our sort of last day and night of freedom, even though that is not how we see it. The forth day is the wedding ceremony, which we have decided will be held on Olympus in one of the great halls followed by the reception. The fifth day will be a feast at Ariston and I's home that we will hold together as husband and wife. After that we are taking off for a month long honeymoon in one of the many houses Ariston owns, this one being on the shore of one of the most beautiful beaches in the world, and best of all is that we will have the entire island to ourselves. Since Ariston is a son of Zeus and a prince, it is customary that he will bring me to each of the homes of the gods to introduce me as his wife after our honeymoon.
The good thing is that with all this going on, Ariston and I have not had the time to worry about what is to come. We have not spoken of the prophecy since we returned from the Moirae, we both know what is going to happen and neither of us has felt the need to bring it up. I was thankful for that. Strangely and wonderfully enough, there is still an element of bliss to this madness. How can there not be? I am planning the wedding of my dreams with the love of my life, I have a whole new family that I love getting to know and a soon to be daughter that I also love. In short, life is good; far better than good in actuality.
With all the feasts and days and nights of celebration I have had to do more shopping, which my parents and grandmother were happy to help with. I also asked Zeus and Hera to help me choose one of the gowns; they will soon be my mother and father in-law and I wanted to include them. They were both very happy about that.
Zeus may have many sons and daughters, but it is easy to see how much he loves each and every one of them. And Hera is one of the sweetest, most kind women you would ever want to meet. I also visited with Margret in New York and went shopping for the gown to wear at my parents feast. I even let Ariston design one of the gowns for me because I lacked the time; he was very happy to help. I honestly would not be able to do this without him; he is a part of every decision and is always there when I need a break. The way things are going we have had to push the wedding date to late spring. There is no other way we would be able to get it all together before then and perform our duties.
A part of me wanted to push the wedding back a few years. The Moirae said we would be wed, so logic says that we are both safe until we are married. But as much as I might want to do that, I will not. Ariston and I agreed that we would not let the prophecy interfere with our lives.
After bathing in the waterfall, I sat down on the divan in the library of our home with a scroll of Pandora's Descendants. I have been reading as much as I can, trying to understand where they went wrong. Did they lack training? Were they too rash? What mistakes did they make that brought about their end?
The scrolls were simple enough to understand. They wrote about each of the Descendants a full bio, at the top of which they wrote the cliff notes about their birth, life, death and family, below that was written the full bio. Everything up to the 17th century was written in hand, the rest was on the USB.
I have also been reading up on the box. It is said that each of the gods gave something to Pandora's box. The finale ingredient was a drop of Pandora's blood, so that only one of her blood would be able to operate the box and find it if need be. Hephaestus crafted the box to Pandora's specifications.
I read a piece I have never read before. It was written by Prince Apollo.
It was her blood, Pandora's blood. She was special, unique in a way not even the gods understood. Pandora went to the fates to ask what she could do to help the race of men. There she was given instructions for a box to be made and how to use it. Her blood is the key to its working. Even though some of the same blood runs through her Descendants, there has never been another one like her. Hephaestus has tried time and time again to create another box with a drop of blood from one of her Descendants, but each time has failed for unknown reasons.
The only thing that can be concluded is that there was an element that she either failed to pass down or has passed down but lies dormant within her Descendants. The Descendants will be able to wield the box, but their blood will never be strong enough to create another like it.
I could not help but wonder if my blood would be any different, if it was strong enough to create another. I would look into it as soon as I had the chance. I put the scroll I was reading down and picked up the same one I read that day in my parents living room with them all looking on. Something about it meant something to me.
I just hope that my work will make some lasting difference, that something I am doing will help to one day destroy my fathers sire. I know what I am risking in doing this; I know that I could very well spend the rest of my days traveling the earth locking the Shadows away. I could miss out on marrying the man I love and bearing his children. The thought of living a barren life worries me in more ways than one. Who will continue my work if I have no children? Only a child of my own blood, a direct Descendant, may wield the box.
My mind drifted to what would happen if Pandora were to come back to Olympus today, if she still lives. I can only imagine how she would react to finding out that her daughters were dead, that all her descendants except for me have been murdered, that her husband had remarried. Ariston has said time and time again that he will wait for me, and I believe him. Our situation is different from Pandora and Epimetheus', Pandora disappeared without so much as a goodbye. Ariston and I are soul mates and he knows I will return to him.
I decided to look through some of the more resent files. I plugged the USB into the port built into the table. The room went dark and a huge screen appeared, floating in the air. It was one of the upgrades Ariston and I had put into our home. There were thousands of files on the screen.
"Where to begin?" I wondered aloud.
I chose to go to more recent Descendants and clicked on the folder marked 1900-2000 and looked at the names of the Descendants. Edna Jackson 1900-1923, Daniela Whitmen 1905-1925, Sophia Kritikos 1907-1922, Andrea Lorispa 1955-1970…
I stared at that last name for a good five minutes before clicking on her folder. There were hundreds of files on her life and death. I opened a photo and gasped. The woman with blond wavy hair and violet eyes standing next to the other Descendants looked back to me. It was my grandmother, my mothers mother. She was an active? I thought in amazement.
I have never known much of my maternal grandmother, I knew that she died when my mother was a girl but that was about it. My mother would talk about her sometimes, but not often, and she would always stop when I would ask how she had died. My grandfather, my mother's father, died a year before I was born and so I could not ask him.
I also noticed the cinnamon skinned, black curly haired god in the photo, standing off to the side with crossed arms, looking on with a smile on his face and an old sadness in his sky blue eyes.
"Ariston." I said out loud. I felt him behind me a moment later. He kissed my neck from behind.
"You rang, my love?" He asked against my skin.
Even though his lips on my shoulder and his hands around my waist sent a fever though me, I could not look away from the photo.
"She was an active." I said. "You knew her."
Ariston stopped kissing my neck; I looked back to him to see that his eyes were on the photo, an old sadness creeping into him.
"Yes, I knew your grandmother." He replied even though what I said was not a question. "Among others, I have served your family for several generations. When an active of your line comes of age I am usually the one whom was sent to them."
"Why didn't you tell me?" I asked him.
"There are near a thousand years of knowledge and stories like these to tell of your ancestors," Ariston told me. "Forgive me if I have left some out. It is not a subject I enjoy speaking of." His face was grave and his apology sincere.
I placed my hand on his cheek and went to the next image; it was a scan of a newspaper article. A photo showed Ariston guiding my grandfather away from the house as he hold my mother. She cried and reached back for the house.
New Jersey Mother and House Wife Violently Murdered, Police Have No Suspects.
Andrea Lorispa, wife of Roger Lorispa and mother to their five year old daughter Anne Lorispa, was found by her husband and daughter in their home in Ridgewood, NJ. late last night, details of the scene are too gruesome to recount. The husband has thus far been found innocent. There are no witnesses and no leads in the case so far, though there is word this may be the work of a serial killer. Could you be next?
I stopped reading there. I felt pure, unadulterated agony within Ariston, it still haunted him. I looked upon his face as he stared at the photo.
"I still hear Andrea's little girl, your mother, screaming 'mommy' in my dreams sometimes." Ariston said. "She was not the first child to cry out for the parent they lost, and sadly she will not be the last."
I took in his words and how they might refer to me. I could only imagine what my mother went through, what her father went through. Tears fell from my eyes as I looked upon the god who is to be my husband; no part of me could stand to put him through that kind of pain.
"Does my mother know?" I asked in a soft voice, he shook his head and I saw tears brimming his eyes.
"She believes they never caught the killer." He told me, his eyes far away. "Your grandfather thought it best to keep that truth from her."
"I should tell her. She needs the truth." I told him, he nodded.
"As you wish." He said.
"What of my father? Are there similar stories of his family?" I asked.
"No," Ariston said softly. "Except for his parents, there has not been an active in his line for five hundred years until you. The Twelve watched you day and night from the day you were born, you were never alone, always protected."
Ariston met my eyes and I wondered how many he has seen killed in his five thousand years. I did not want to know. He smiled a moment later, a sad smile.
"There is a video of her." He told me.
He opened the folder and to my surprise, the video was crystal clear, it could have been taken yesterday if not for the sixty's clothing and hair. My grandmother was in a red mini dress with red lipstick, thick mascara and eyeliner. Her hair was long and pulled back in a ponytail. Her smile was what reminded me of my mother the most, that same smile. The video played to show her posing for the camera, giving flirtatious looks and laughing.
"Andrea, is there anything you would like to say to future generations?" The man behind the camera asked.
She smiled, standing proud and tall.
"This is the start of something new." She began. "I am the chosen one and you will be reading in history of my deeds, of the Descendant of Pandora whom found the box! That Nameless foul better watch out, because Andrea Falless has come." She boasted.
"You do not have it yet." Ariston reminded her, the camera panned over to him for a moment, before returning to my grandmother just in time to catch her rolling her eyes and making a dismissive gesture with her hand.
"Soon." Was all she said, before flashing a brilliant smile to the man behind the camera. Andrea blew the camera a kiss.
"Oh and to my future children, I love you all and remember, nothing truly ends. For every end, there is a beginning." My grandmother promised then blew the camera another kiss.
"She was strong." I said.
"She was cocky." Ariston said as we watched the film. "And a huge pain is the ass." He laughed and I smiled at the way he said it. "But she believe that she was the prophesized one, and so did I."
The man holding the camera went up to my grandmother and turned the camera so that it showed them kissing. He was a handsome blond youth with emerald green eyes.
"That is not my grandfather." I stated, surprised to see her with anyone else.
"No, that is Terence Quill, great grandson of Apollo." Ariston said. "They were together for a few months. Your grandmother had a number of boyfriends before your grandfather. Every man, god and mortal alike, wanted her for his own. She always was flirtatious." He gave a little laugh and I gave him a look.
It was a moment before he began to speak; I knew he was deciding on telling me something.
"Before you I did what I could to stay away from young women," Ariston began, clearly uncomfortable. "Most want more than sex and I knew I could not give them a relationship. After Elianna and before you the only thing I wanted from a woman was sex, a few hours reprieve from the pain and emptiness of my life. I would not let myself be open enough with anyone to be hurt like that again."
"Ariston," I said softly. "Just tell me what happened." He took a deep breath.
"We kissed, or made out as you would say, once but there was not much to it." Ariston admitted. I gave him a look that said I wanted to know the details. "There was a celebration and Andrea and I both attended. She was sitting next to me at the table and she kept putting her hand on my leg. I removed her hand a number of times only for her to put it back there and higher up. I nearly hit the ceiling as I jumped in surprise when her hand touched something it should not have.
Later I took her to a privet place in the garden to talk to her alone, to straighten things out. Before I could, she kissed me… and I returned the kiss, more than once. In my defense I had been drinking." He added in. "I stopped when I realized what I was doing. It could not happen between she and I. For many men their brains and their bodies are rarely on the same page, it is the same for gods. Your grandmother was a very beautiful woman, like you. I told her to stop and she said 'I want to make you happy, let me make you happy, Ariston.' then she kissed me again. I stopped before it went any further than kissing and we never kissed again after that night. I told her that I would not be with her."
I sat there, not at all certain of how I felt about that. At least it was no more than some kisses shared.
"This is why I did not tell you." Ariston said quietly. "How do you tell the woman you love that you made out with her grandmother?" Ariston looked to me and I laughed, I could not help it and to be honest, I needed the comic relief in this moment.
"If it were anyone else saying those words I would be deeply disturbed." I told him then laughed again. "I am not upset. How were you to know that your soul mate would be her granddaughter? I was not even born yet; my mother was not even born yet. It was no more than kissing, correct?" I asked, I had to be certain.
"Correct." He said, seeming deeply relieved. "I pulled away from her completely when she grabbed hold of my belt buckle." My eyes went wide for a moment before I shook it off and shrugged.
"Well, I guess I know where I get that side of me from." I said and Ariston laughed.
"I never thought of it that way." Ariston said.
"Whatever you do, do not tell my mother about this, or my father." I told him. "My father is just starting to like you and this would not be of help."
He nodded and I leaned in and kissed him, these lips are pledged to me now, along with the rest of him, so how can I be upset?
"I love you, Ariston," I said when the kiss ended. "What you have done in your past does not matter to me. What's done is done. I do not want you to keep anything from me because you think it might upset or hurt me."
He smiled and nodded.
"The same goes for you my love." He said. I smiled and gave a nod.
"What happened to her? What truly happened?" I asked him.
"Andrea went on the offensive, attacking the Shadows before they could harm others. She destroyed thousands in the first two years alone. On one of her missions with her team she met your grandfather and fell in love with him. She saw him when she could, she did not tell him what she was until she was sure of him. They were married a year later and nine months more your mother was born. She loved them as you love me," Ariston said as he caressed my cheek. "She did not want to put them in danger but she could not bring them to Olympus since neither of them were actives.
"She balanced being a mother, wife, and Descendant better than most… but eventually he came for her. She did what she could to fight him off and was too proud to call upon the gods to help. Thankfully your mother and grandfather were out of the house when he came. Since neither of them were actives, the Nameless One let them be. Your mother was five years old when it happened." Ariston was silent for a moment. "You were blessed by the Moirae that neither of your parents are actives; I would not want that for you."
We were silent for a time, my mind working to take all of this new information in, to understand it, to learn from it.
"We should have a child right after we get married." I said to Ariston. He looked at me with surprise and joy. "I am the last of Pandora's Descendants, if I should fail, there should be a back up. Our daughter or son. And, if something should happen to me, I want you to have a piece of me with you."
"Elianna wanted the same thing." Ariston said after a moment. "For me to have a part of her. She knew when she was pregnant with Kallisto that this child she carried would be immortal. She told me time and time again 'this one will be immortal my husband, I feel it.' but I would not let myself hope for that. And still, the Moirae blessed me by allowing me to keep one of my children with me, and to give her her mothers face, sense of humor and laughter."
I curled into his arms and laid there. I love that even though we have made love we have not lost this. That we can just hold each other and have it be enough for the both of us.
"Let's stay in tonight," Ariston said. "I will cook. I know that you have been overwhelmed, and besides, I want you to myself tonight." I smiled up to him.
"I would love nothing better." I told him and we kissed.
We laid in each other's arms for a while more before finding the will to get up. I sat on the bar stool in the kitchen and watched Ariston cook the salmon, the wonderful scent filled the kitchen; it was a warm, homey smell.
"Oh, I have a gift for you." Ariston said.
A box appeared in his hands, it was made of blue velvet with a black ribbon around it. I took the cover off and inside were the most beautiful white chocolate truffles. I smiled at the gesture; chocolate was the food of love after all.
"Thank you." I said and kissed him.
I took one out of the box and took a bite, what filled my mouth was heavenly to say the least. I knew that taste by now, within the white chocolate shell was a rich moose of ambrosia. It was one of the most delicious things I had ever eaten and I told Ariston as much.
"Will you have one?" I asked him, taking one out of the box and holding it out to him.
"Yes, thank you." Ariston said as he leaned in, took the truffles into his mouth whole and chewed as I took another one from the box.
"You are likely to make me fat if you keep this up." I teased him.
"You would be no less beautiful." He told me, truly meaning it. "And besides, that is a far reaching possibility. Not only do you have the metabolism of five teenagers put together, you ride Luna every morning and as if that were not exercise enough, you also train with either my brother and sister, or with your unit nearly every day."
"Not to mention the… exercises we do in our bedroom." I added.
"Not to mention." He agreed, giving me a look that told me just what to expect after dinner.
