Mythos (The Descendants, #1)

by Vrinda Pendred

  * * *

  ‘I can’t believe you went on a date and didn’t tell me!’ Devon scolded her the following morning. They were in Itzy’s room, while her mother struggled through a day at work. The summer wouldn’t last much longer. Soon the girls would be returning for their final year of college, and it would grow cold and gloomy. Itzy wondered if her mood would fade with the sunlight.

  ‘It didn’t turn out to be a date,’ Itzy reminded her.

  ‘Rubbish,’ Devon pronounced.

  ‘You know,’ said Itzy, ‘I hadn’t expected you to be so enthusiastic about me seeing him, after…what happened.’

  Devon flicked her long hair over her shoulder. ‘I wasn’t, when Ash first told me what you were doing. But it sounds like maybe we misjudged him. That friend of his, on the other hand.’ She shuddered. ‘What a creep. Hey,’ she changed tracks, ‘do you think that girl with them was his girlfriend?’

  ‘Melody,’ Itzy said. ‘And maybe.’

  There was a ringing sound from downstairs: the doorbell.

  ‘Ugh,’ Itzy grunted. She pulled herself off the bed they were sitting on. ‘That’ll be Seth and Oz, wanting to know what happened.’

  She’d called Devon over earlier so she could run through all the details she thought mattered, and now she would have to go through it again covering the things she didn’t care about anymore.

  She hopped to her feet and headed downstairs to open the door for them. Oz was dressed from head to toe in black, which didn’t surprise her. Seth, on the other hand, wore a bright blue t-shirt in a seeming bid to inspire the sky, over dark jeans and bright white trainers. Everything about him was so perfect. Not like Aidan, who looked clean and together, but with a hint of catastrophe about him that gave him an edge.

  Stop it! she commanded herself. She couldn’t go comparing the two of them every time she saw Seth.

  ‘Itz!’ Seth greeted her. Mixed with his smile was relief. ‘You’re still here. That’s good.’

  Her mouth straightened into a perplexed smirk. ‘What did you expect?’ she asked. ‘That he’d eaten me?’

  ‘Hm,’ said Seth, seriously considering this new idea. She fake-punched him in the arm and he pretended it hurt.

  ‘Come inside,’ she told them.

  They took off their shoes and followed her upstairs, waving at Devon as they came into her room. Oz sat at his sister’s desk; Seth sat on the floor, against a wall; and Itzy returned to her original place next to Devon on the bed.

  Oz’s eyes scanned the room, slowly taking in its personality overload. ‘So how’d it go?’ he began things as calmly as he could, but it was clear he’d been driven mad with curiosity all night. Seth looked like he might have been driven mad with something else.

  Itzy shrugged. ‘I don’t know what to tell you. It’s not what we thought. He doesn’t know much. It seems he was just trying to do what our dad was.’

  ‘Which was?’ Oz pumped her for information.

  ‘Find the Wisdom.’

  Seth and Oz both did an intake of breath.

  Then Seth said, ‘Why does he want it?’ He said he like he was talking about something disgusting he didn’t want to touch.

  ‘I can’t tell you,’ Itzy said.

  The boys exchanged a look, before turning it on her.

  ‘Why not?’ Seth asked.

  Itzy reflected that if this had been three weeks ago, she might have felt nervous about holding her ground. But a lot had happened in those three weeks. And no matter how desultory, the feelings Aidan had inspired in her were special. Even if Aidan wasn’t the one, the experience had taught her that neither was Ash.

  So she said, ‘I just can’t, alright?’ She could feel Devon watching her. Devon would understand.

  ‘You just can’t,’ Seth repeated. The words were like acid in Itzy’s ears. She’d never heard him sound so bitter.

  Oz’s voice was friendlier, albeit baffled. ‘Itzy, what’s wrong? What happened?’

  ‘Nothing happened,’ she said. She played with a lock of her hair and fidgeted her toes. ‘It’s just…it’s his personal business. It’s not my place to share it, yeah? But I can promise you I know he was being honest with me, and he’s not up to anything dodgy. At least, no more than our father was,’ she added.

  For a moment, no one spoke. Then Seth said, ‘I can’t believe you bought whatever lines he fed you.’

  Itzy flinched.

  Oz surprised them all by defending her. ‘That’s my sister,’ he said. ‘Watch what you’re saying.’

  The two friends glared at each other like cats, each one daring the other to look away first. Seth lost.

  ‘Seth, they weren’t lines,’ Itzy insisted.

  ‘How can you be so sure?’ Seth retorted.

  Itzy’s calm fled, replaced with frustration and irritation with his obstinacy. ‘I just am. Can’t you trust me on this?’

  Now it was Itzy’s turn to have a staring contest with him - and he lost that one too.

  ‘I’m going home,’ he decided.

  ‘But you just got here,’ Devon pointed out.

  ‘Yeah, well.’ He jumped to his feet and started to leave.

  Itzy closed her eyes and sighed. ‘Seth.’

  He ignored her and headed out the door and down the stairs. Then she was on her feet too, chasing after him. Her feet made the wooden floorboards of the stairs creak. Downstairs, she caught him by the arm and spun him around so they faced each other.

  ‘Hey,’ she said, ‘what’s the matter with you?’

  He looked askance and shook his head, before letting his eyes return to hers. ‘You have to ask me that?’ He sounded so hurt, it took the wind out of her.

  ‘I don’t understand,’ she said. ‘We’re just friends, right? I mean….’ She shifted on her feet. ‘You basically told me it couldn’t happen.’

  Seth threw his hands in the air in frustration. ‘Yes. Because of Ash. Because you were still in love with your ex-boyfriend. I didn’t want to be some rebound thing your heart wasn’t really in.’ His chest rose and fell in quick, heavy breaths. When he spoke again, he lowered his voice, aware that Oz and Devon were probably eavesdropping upstairs. ‘But now it’s different. In a day, you seem to be over Ash - don’t pretend it’s not true, because it’s written all over your face. You’ve fallen for someone new. And it’s not me.’

  It was the closest he’d come to admitting he didn’t just fancy her, but actually felt something serious for her. He seemed so different, now - helpless. Itzy didn’t like it. The image she’d built up in her head of him was strong and cocky, untouchable. That Seth made her feel safe and secure. This Seth made her feel like the power was all hers and she could do whatever she wanted to him, and he would just let her. It was scary.

  Her mother’s advice echoed in her ears: don’t ever leave yourself feeling unbalanced.

  She stepped away from Seth. ‘I’m sorry,’ she said, her voice soft but resolved. ‘I can’t help the way I feel.’

  He rubbed his temple. ‘Don’t,’ he said. ‘Please. I know you can’t, but…it doesn’t make it any easier.’ He leaned down and put on his shoes. As he tied them, he laughed bitter-sweetly and said, ‘You know, sometimes I wish I had no conscience. Then maybe I could paint your face to look at me the way you look when you talk about him.’

  Before Itzy could respond to this, he stood and opened the door, and he left.

  There was a creaking sound, and Itzy turned to see Devon and Oz both watching her from the stairs, their faces sad.

  It was Oz who came to her first. He put his arms around her in a way she hoped he might do again, might always do when she needed him. She nestled into his embrace and tried to focus on the soothing sound of his heart beating.

  ‘Who knew my sister was such a heartbreaker?’ Oz teased as he rested his chin on the top of her head.

  She laughed against him. ‘Well, I do have the s
hirt,’ she mumbled into his clothing, and he laughed too.

  ‘Give him time, yeah?’ Oz said. His hand smoothed down her hair, reminding her of a Loving Stephen moment, when she’d fallen off her bicycle and grazed her knee on the pavement. ‘He’ll get over it.’

  Itzy knew this was true, but she still couldn’t blot the image of his disappointment out of her mind. It was ridiculous, too, because Seth was the one person she could have.

  Then, all at once, Seth’s face vanished from her mind and all she could see was Aidan; all she could hear was Aidan telling her his story. She saw the poetry of his hands mending the fabric of his jumper. She heard him saying she was beautiful. Most of all, she saw his grey hungry eyes, just like they had looked in her dreams, when they had leapt out of the shadows and reached to touch her with their stare.

  ‘So what now?’ Devon asked, coming up to them.

  Oz pulled away from his sister, though he left his arm around her shoulder and let her lean against him. ‘What do you mean?’

  ‘The Wisdom thing?’ she reminded them both. ‘Are we back to square one? And what is the Wisdom, anyway?’

  Itzy cleared her throat and said, ‘Aidan thinks it’s the meaning of life. Or something like that.’

  Devon arched one of her faint eyebrows. ‘That’s a little heavy. So this is like a Holy Grail sort of thing? How do you know when you’ve found it?’

  Her companions blinked in response.

  ‘It doesn’t sound like something you can touch,’ she pointed out.

  They both considered this. ‘It’s always been a vague idea to me,’ Oz told her. ‘I’ve never really understood it. I suppose Aidan and our father were hoping to ask the Ancients.’

  ‘Why would they know?’ Devon wondered.

  ‘Because,’ said Itzy, now stepping away from her brother and leaning back against the wall, ‘every holy book ever written was written thousands of years ago, right? So if anyone knows the truth, it’s the Ancients.’

  ‘How ancient are they?’ Devon asked. ‘Would the original writers still be alive?’

  Oz shook his head. ‘I doubt it. But they might have a clearer lineage. We’ve been diluted, if you think about it. Itzy wasn’t told where she came from, and I was kept in the dark about a lot of things. If we hadn’t developed these powers of ours, we could’ve gone to our graves not knowing the truth. But the Ancients might be different. They would be the pure race, the ones who didn’t mate with humans.’

  Devon pointed at him. ‘You do realise how creepy that sounds, don’t you?’

  He nodded, the trace of a smile on his lips.

  Oz turned his attention to his sister. ‘Itzy, did you find out how they made the patterns?’

  She’d almost forgotten about that. ‘Yes,’ she said, pleased to be able to contribute something useful, at last. ‘It was Verdi.’

  ‘The composer?’ Oz said.

  She laughed. ‘No. Remember the younger boy in the field?’

  ‘The one the brave Aidan knocked senseless and said was responsible for hurting you?’ Oz recalled. The pieces clicked into place. ‘Can he control plants or something?’

  ‘I think so,’ said Itzy.

  ‘I feel like there’s a joke in there, about being one with nature,’ Devon remarked.

  Itzy smiled at her friend, before she looked back at her brother. ‘Do you think those energy readings could’ve been registering Verdi, and not Aidan?’

  Oz shrugged. ‘Maybe. Hard to say. I’m not exactly an expert with that thing, and if they were together…maybe it was a mix.’

  ‘So what can Aidan do?’ Devon asked the crucial question. ‘Verdi’s plant boy, Melody’s the musical mood genie, and he’s…?’

  Oz shot her a quizzical look that read, Melody?

  ‘He controls the elements,’ Itzy recited. ‘Like last night, right? I was cold and he made it warm.’ She was aware she was blushing.

  ‘How romantic,’ Oz said dryly. ‘Is that why we were all choking that day?’

  She’d forgotten about that. ‘Probably,’ she said meekly. Then she remembered something. ‘That’s why the plants let go of me. I remember they just stopped, and I couldn’t figure out why, and then I was choking. He must have meant it for Verdi.’

  ‘Quite a dramatic way to save you,’ Oz observed. When he saw the look on her face, he added, ‘I’m not trying to criticise him. I’m just saying…maybe be a little careful, here. Seth may be jealous, but he also has a point. I mean, if that’s what he does to his enemies….’

  Itzy didn’t want to hear it. She knew it was stupid and utterly unlike her, but she wanted the conversation to end so she could go back to the fantasy she had already started building in her head, against her better judgment.

  But he was her brother. And after all those years, there he was, giving her advice, worrying about her, just like she’d always wished someone would.

  So she swallowed her childish protestations and nodded at him in assent. He rewarded her with an approving smile that she recognised from photographs of herself, and that she knew came from their father.

  The doorbell rang and made them all jump. When Itzy answered, she found Ash standing on her doorstep. He looked so human, it was strange. She never thought she’d live to see the day when Ashley Morgan seemed like just an ordinary boy.

  She swallowed back her anxiety. ‘Hiya,’ she greeted Ash. ‘What are you doing here?’

  ‘Looking for Devon.’ He looked around her, into the house, and spotted his girlfriend. ‘We’re meant to be going to a film,’ he said. ‘Hey, are you aware the moodiest looking bloke just left your house a minute ago? I saw him from up the road and when he passed me, he gave me the weirdest look, like he knew me and didn’t like me.’

  Itzy blanched with embarrassment, but thankfully, Devon saved her. She rushed past Oz and stood beside Ash, planting a cautious kiss on his cheek. It seemed she still didn’t feel comfortable bestowing affection upon him in front of Itzy. It probably didn’t help that Seth had all but shouted that Itzy had still been hung up on Ash until last night.

  Noticing Oz, Ash waved at him and whispered to Itzy, ‘Is that your brother.’

  Oz joined them at the doorway. ‘You whisper loud,’ he said, ‘and yes, it is.’

  ‘Sorry,’ Ash said sheepishly. ‘It’s nice to meet you.’ He extended his hand to shake, and Oz reciprocated, though he shot a look at his sister that made her turn away to stifle a giggle. ‘Maybe some time I’ll get a chance to get to know you,’ Ash continued the formalities.

  ‘Maybe,’ Oz said, sounding like it was all the same to him if they ever saw each other again or not.

  Devon touched Itzy’s shoulder. ‘You alright?’ she asked.

  Itzy smiled. ‘Sure. Have fun.’

  She couldn’t think what else to say. The scene struck her as comical. It was clear they were all trying very hard to act natural, an oxymoron if she’d ever heard one.

  ‘Alright,’ said Devon. ‘Bye, then.’

  ‘Yeah, bye,’ Ash added, before they turned and left.

  Itzy closed the door behind them and spun around to see Oz had gone into the lounge. She followed him in and sat beside him on the sofa, tossing a leftover bedroom pillow onto the floor in annoyance. Oz had their father’s journal on his lap.

  ‘Still trying to decode his last words?’ Itzy guessed.

  Oz sighed and handed her the book. ‘Last page with writing. You should probably read it. Maybe you’ll catch something I’ve missed.’

  She eyed him in her periphery, before she opened the book. There it was again, that old familiar handwriting she had grown up with. It was hard to see; it resurrected so many memories, so many emotions. She held the book sideways and thumbed back the pages, letting them fall away, until she saw the writing disappear. She backtracked to the last page Stephen had ever written in the journal.

  I was wrong. All this time, I thought they
would know, but they’re just as in the dark as we were. It’s not there at all. It’s here - on Earth. The Wisdom has been here, all along, but only one person can use it. And that person has no idea.

  Do I tell them?

  I’ve waited so long to know the truth of where we come from. Now that I do, it’s not what I expected. I don’t know how to feel about it. I feel like the butt of a lifelong joke. I am the creation of a God who didn’t know He was creating me. I wonder how much of my life has been my choice and how much was out of my control. All the things I regret - were they ever truly my fault?

  I’ve attracted too much attention. It was what I wanted, yes, but now that I know the truth…I should never have wanted it. They will stop at nothing to get the Wisdom. I fear for the child who holds it. God forgive me for what I have brought on us all.

  As before, there was a break in the writing, and lower down it read:

  ‘God forgive me.’

  Here I am, still believing that holds meaning. How can I be forgiven by a God who made me do what I’ve been doing? Why should I need forgiveness?

  Except I do. I do, because when they come for us, I can’t say what they’ll do. All I know is it won’t be good.

  Itzy snapped the book shut, making her brother jump. She handed it back to him and said, ‘This is rubbish. I don’t know what he thought he was on about, but none of it was sensible. It can’t be.’

  Oz regarded her carefully with his eyes, which matched hers so well. ‘That’s what I thought, too. At first.’

  ‘At first,’ she echoed. ‘You can’t be serious. You knew our father. He was insane. He had split personalities. He can’t be trusted, even now he’s gone.’

  She’d said it out loud: he was gone. Yes, Stephen Loveguard was gone.

  So why didn’t he feel gone? How was he still managing to meddle with her life?

  ‘I know,’ Oz agreed, ‘but what if we’re wrong? If we really are in as much danger as he thought, should we just turn a blind eye to it all? What if it comes back to bite us?’

  Don’t let them get my children, Stephen had said. Those had been his final words as he left the Earth that had reared him. The question had always remained:

  Don’t let who get them?

  ‘The Ancients,’ she said, her eyes dancing.

  ‘Yes,’ he said. ‘The Ancients are coming back. And according to our father…that’s not a good thing.’

  TWENTY-TWO

  When Aidan awoke, he rolled his head sideways and saw Melody sleeping in her usual place beside him. Her hair was splayed across the pillow and her mouth was parted. She was snoring. He’d hoped he would start to find that cute, one day, but that day had yet to come.

  His head returned to centre and he stared up at the ceiling. It was a dull creamy colour artexed to look like oyster shells. It was the nicest thing about the room. He’d never bothered to leave his mark on the place. He supposed, in a way, that was a sign that he’d only ever thought of the flat as just one of many stopping points on the journey. He had the car, but he didn’t have a home of his own. It could be seen as symbolic.

  Where would he go next? Melody had brought him to London, but there was nothing else tying him there.

  But that wasn’t true, was it? Because it hadn’t just been Melody that had inspired him to hijack the car and leave. It had been something more, something inside him that he’d never been able to name. He had been drawn south by a dream, by an instinct he couldn’t explain, just as he was now being drawn to the Loveguard girl. He didn’t know why, but he thought maybe the two were part of the same thing.

  Maybe because the dreams had stopped when he met her.

  He would have to end things with Melody. He knew that, now. If he was capable of feeling things for Itzy, he probably shouldn’t be with Melody. He dreaded the break-up scene, though.

  Melody murmured in her sleep. She didn’t sound happy. Even unconscious, she seemed to flit from mood to mood. She was so hard to tame.

  Oh well. It wouldn’t be his problem much longer.

  Aidan slid out of the bed, taking care not to wake her. Under the bed was a black suitcase filled with his things, all he had brought with him from his childhood home. He opened it and went around the room, collecting anything that was his and placing it in the suitcase. Half his stuff was already in there; he’d always refused to use the furniture Melody offered to share with him. He supposed a part of him had always known it wouldn’t last.

  He went into the bathroom and retrieved his toothbrush. He found a book of his on a shelf in the lounge. And that was that. There was nothing else to do but tell Melody.

  He waited.

  An hour passed before she woke up. When she saw him, she sat up in alarm. He was dressed in his ‘invisible’ outfit, that grey tracksuit that almost matched his eyes. He already had his trainers on.

  ‘What’s happening?’ she asked, her voice alert.

  ‘I’m leaving,’ he announced with frightening simplicity.

  Her mouth dropped open. ‘What?’

  He shook his head like she should know better. ‘This isn’t working,’ he said. ‘You and me…we were good at a distance, like. But we’re not good now.’

  Melody grabbed his arm like she was groping for a wall to steady her and keep her from falling. ‘You can’t do this,’ she said.

  Aidan arched one of his dark eyebrows at her.

  Then she closed her eyes, the act of a desperate young woman. He could hear the singing in his head, the beautiful, hypnotising singing that would have sent anyone else into a vulnerable state. But it had never worked on him.

  ‘Stop,’ he said, unable to keep the irritation out of his voice.

  She flinched as if she’d been hit, and she obeyed. She always obeyed.

  She didn’t understand that her obedience to him was part of what had turned him off. Obedience was for pets, not life partners. He would never be able to bare his true self to her or open his heart to her fully. He saw that now.

  He shook her off and pulled back. ‘I’m sorry,’ he said. And he meant it. It was a shame it hadn’t worked like he’d imagined it would. It was a shame he wasn’t in love the way he’d thought he was.

  ‘Liar,’ she spat out for the second time in as many days. ‘Liar!’

  She crawled across the bed and climbed off. Before Aidan could prepare himself, she threw herself at him and pounded against his chest with her fists. He was so startled that he staggered backward and stumbled over his own feet. Instinct made him grab her by the shoulder, in an effort not to fall down.

  It didn’t work. The pair of them crashed to the floor, but Melody didn’t seem to notice. She continued to strike him, one fist at a time.

  Aidan put up his hands and caught her by the wrists.

  ‘Let me go!’ Even as she screamed at him, she pushed against his grasp, trying to hit him.

  He tightened his grip on her and pulled her close, forcing her to meet his eyes. She was gone, he realised. He could see it in her face. She had lost herself to the splitting.

  ‘Melody,’ he said softly. ‘Please. Please. I’m not happy about this either, but….’

  He trailed off. There was no point in explaining. She didn’t appear to be processing a word of what he was saying. If he’d had any doubts about leaving, they were now gone.

  He released her and disentangled himself from her. He stood and picked up the suitcase, pulling out its extendable handle and tilting it onto its rollers.

  ‘I really do wish ye the best in life,’ he told her. ‘I hope ye find someone who can love ye the way ye deserve to be loved.’

  Fire shone in Melody’s eyes. She looked up at him from the floor. ‘This is because of that girl, isn’t it? Don’t lie to me. I know it is.’

  Aidan hung his head sadly. ‘It isn’t. This would’ve happened eventually, anyway.’

  He started to walk out of the r
oom, and Melody shouted after him, ‘Are you meeting her now? Is that where you’re going?’

  ‘It’s not,’ he tossed over his shoulder as he continued his exit. He opened the front door and was met with sunlight. He decided to take it as a good omen.

  As he stepped out of the flat that had never really been his, he heard her scream after him. ‘Aidan! Aidan! You’ll be sorry!’

  He blocked it out and threw the suitcase into the boot of the Jag. He slipped into the driver’s seat, the only place he’d ever felt truly at ease.

  She followed him and beat on the car window, but he was already turning the key in the ignition. She chased him down the street as the car tore away. She was still screaming something, but he couldn’t hear it over the sweet roar of the engine, like music to his ears.