Greco (Book 1.5) (The Omega Group)

by Andrea Domanski

  “What happened?” Greco’s mom asked.

  “Does it matter? It’s over now.” Alayna seemed to have resigned herself to the fact that she was going to prison and that was fine with Greco. He didn’t care what her story was.

  His mom obviously did. “It matters to me. What happened?” she asked.

  Alayna took a deep breath and stood. “I’ll show you. Follow me.”

  Greco wasn’t interested in taking a field trip with this woman, but he could see that his mother needed this. “Where?”

  “Just down the hall. It’ll only take a minute.”

  “If you try anything…” Greco let her imagination fill in the blanks.

  “I won’t. You have my word.”

  The secretary gave them a quizzical look as they left the office, but Alayna didn’t respond. After a thirty-foot walk she stopped and pointed to the room on her left. “This is it.” Greco’s mom entered first, followed by Alayna and the rest of the group. “This is my son, Jeremy.”

  Making her way to the sleeping boy’s bedside, Greco’s mother asked, “What’s wrong with him?”

  “He has Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease. It’s a rare, degenerative brain disorder,” she said. “About a year ago he started having trouble in school. He was acting out, forgetting things—nothing too unusual. Then his vision started to deteriorate and he showed signs of coordination problems, so we knew it was something serious. At first we thought encephalitis or meningitis, but we weren’t so lucky.”

  “There’s no cure?” Greco asked.

  “No, his brain is just…dying. He doesn’t have much time left.” Tears were flowing down Alayna’s cheeks as she spoke.

  Greco’s mom gave him a pleading look. He knew what she wanted. Hell, even he wanted to let Alayna go. He could only imagine how she felt as the parent of a dying child, but if he were ever in the same position, there’d be nothing he wouldn’t do. He looked at Mirissa for support but saw her wiping away tears of her own. Even Asteria, the most upbeat person he’d ever met, was crying.

  Greco nodded solemnly to his companions, silently communicating his desire to simply leave this woman and her son in peace. As they turned to leave, he heard his mother speak.

  “Alayna. Take my blood. You know it can heal him.”

  “No!” yelled Greco and his father in unison.

  “I want to do this. I’ve done so much harm in my life, mostly to those I love the most.” She looked at Greco as she spoke but held on to his father’s hand. “He reminds me of you when you were that age, son. Beautiful. Perfect. And dealing with something that no child should ever have to deal with. I can’t change the childhood you had, but I can change this boy’s.”

  Greco felt his own eyes well up at his mother’s selfless offer. She was fully aware of the consequences of an Amazon giving blood, yet she still volunteered. This was a side of her he’d never seen. And it impressed him.

  “It won’t work, Gayle,” Alayna interrupted. “Believe me, I’d hoped it would. But Jeremy has a rare blood type and it doesn’t match yours. That was the first test I ran after I”—she paused before continuing—“after I took you. I’ve spent the last three days trying to isolate whatever it is that makes you heal the way you do so I could replicate it, but I haven’t been able to.” Alayna walked over to Greco’s mother and held both of her hands. “After everything I did to you, you’re still willing to help. I can’t tell you how much that means to me, and how sorry I am for what I put you through.”

  “What’s his blood type?” Greco asked.

  “He’s AB negative. Why?”

  Greco let that little piece of information simmer. By the looks he was receiving from both of his parents, he knew they understood the same thing he did. “I can do it. I’m AB negative.”

  “I don’t know what to say.” Alayna seemed overwhelmed at the outpouring of support from the very people that had come to arrest her. “I appreciate the offer, but Gayle’s blood is special. A transfusion from anyone else won’t help.”

  “Gayle is my mother. We have the same…ability.”

  Alayna’s eyes grew wide in astonishment. “You aren’t serious. You heal the same way Gayle does? That’s amazing. Yes! Please, yes! God, yes.” Her tears of sadness suddenly became tears of joy at the prospect of curing her son.

  “No. Absolutely not,” his mother said.

  “Greco, you can’t do this. You know what will happen if you do.” Asteria moved to his side.

  Mirissa walked over, grabbed him by the arm, and pulled him outside the room with the others in tow. “Greco, I know you want to help this kid, but you can’t. Not only will it kill you, but our secret will be out in the open. We’ll be hunted down, studied, poked and prodded—or worse.”

  “Actually,” Greco said. “That last part I can do something about. Give me your phone, Asteria.”

  Chapter 15

  Mirissa sat at the end of the couch in Alayna’s living room. Although the hospital would have been the obvious place to do a blood transfusion, for their purposes it was far to public. Considering the gift the doctor was being given, she was more than happy to move the procedure to her home.

  Greco was still intent on saving this boy’s life, despite her almost constant arguing. It wasn’t that she wanted the kid to die, but she couldn’t lose Greco. He was her friend. He was her guardian. He’d stood by her through all of the craziness that was her life and, despite his severe lack of social skills, had wormed his way into her heart. She couldn’t bear the thought of him giving away his life, even if it was to save a child.

  She’d tried every tack she could think of to talk him out of it. Logic was usually the easiest way to convince him of anything, but this time it wasn’t working. He understood exactly what would happen to him and stubbornly refused to change his mind. Alayna was almost ready to begin the transfusion and Mirissa was no closer to stopping it.

  He’d just spent a private moment with his mom and dad, presumably to say his goodbyes. They’d come back into the room and his parents collapsed on the other end of the couch, sobbing quietly.

  “Mirissa, before I do this, there’s something I need to tell you.” Greco was kneeling in front of her.

  “Oh, there’s a whole bunch I need to tell you. Starting with what an incredibly stupid idea this is. You can’t…” Mirissa stopped short when she saw the look in his eyes. Something in his gaze told her that he needed this, so she nodded her agreement and followed him out of the room.

  “Mirissa, I’ve made a lot of mistakes in my life…”

  “Yah. And this is the biggest,” Mirissa interrupted.

  Greco shook his head. “I’ve made a lot of mistakes in my life, but there’s only one that I truly regret, and it’s been eating away at me ever since. God! I should’ve told you this a long time ago. ”

  He ran his hands through his hair, grasping it as though he would pull it out. He took a step forward and reached toward her, stopping himself before he caressed her cheek. Mirissa had never seen Greco like this. The anguish he felt was palpable and she couldn’t even begin to guess what was causing it. “Just tell me, Greco. Whatever it is.”

  After a few deep breaths he began. “When I was thirteen years old, after my mother told me for the millionth time that I wasn’t worthy, I stole her ring. I knew what it was, what it represented, and I wanted to take it away from her. I was going to sell it at a pawnshop or something, but when I held it in my hand something told me to put it on.

  “That was my first trip to Tritonia. I was terrified. I remember seeing the statue of Artemis and thinking, ‘So these are the people who told my mother I was worthless. The people that made her hate me.’ I hid in the trees so that no one would see me, inching my way closer to the statue. I don’t know what I was planning on doing once I got there—probably something stupid—but before I could get close I heard voices. They were talking about you. They said that you were special. That you were destined to save the world by stopping Daedric. That you were g
oing to be the greatest Amazon to ever walk the earth.

  “I was so angry. All my life my mother told me that I wasn’t worthy of being an Amazon. That I was an abomination that should never have been born. Hearing them talk about you that way made me hate them—and you.

  “So I went back home and did research until I found Daedric. That’s when I called him and told him about you.”

  Mirissa stared at him, dumbfounded. He’d caused it all. Her mother abandoned her because of him. Her father had been kidnapped because of him. She’d almost died because of him. And he’d pretended to be her friend, her guardian. She’d trusted him with her life.

  Greco placed his hand on her cheek and whispered, “Please say something.”

  Mirissa turned an icy gaze on him. The utter shock she felt at what he’d just told her obliterated all other thoughts of their current situation and caused an instant reaction. She slapped him hard across his face and walked away. She kept walking until she was out the door and far away from the man who had betrayed her.

  Chapter 16

  Mirissa walked aimlessly, fists clenched at her sides. Although she was surrounded by the beauty of the historic district of Savannah, she was too consumed by her anger to notice it. How could he do this to me? All this time he’d been lying to her, letting her believe he was helping her, when the truth was he’d ruined her entire life.

  Tears streamed down her face as she thought about what her life could have been. When her mom left her all those years ago, she’d closed herself off to everyone. She’d been so afraid of being abandoned again that she didn’t let anyone into her heart. Her best friend for over a decade was a damn turtle.

  Not to mention what it did to her father. His whole life stopped that day. He gave up everything so he could focus on Mirissa. For eleven years, his entire life revolved around her, with no room left for his own.

  Greco’s betrayal took away her family. Her chance at a happy upbringing. And it had almost taken more than that.

  Her stride quickened as she thought back to when she first walked into Daedric’s house and saw her father, Lincoln, Black Jack, Grainger, and his wife tied up on that stage. That was all because of Greco’s petty jealousy. Lincoln, her dad’s old SEAL team member, was murdered right in front of her. He was a good man who was taken out of this world because Daedric was trying to get to Mirissa.

  A car horn brought her back to the present. Taking in her surroundings for the first time since leaving Alayna’s house, Mirissa found herself in one of the city’s squares—an oasis of grass and trees in the midst of downtown streets. She parked herself on an empty bench that overlooked the memorial to someone she didn’t know. A young girl, who looked to be about twelve years old, walked along the cobblestone path with a man who could only be her father. They were holding hands and laughing, at what Mirissa didn’t know. The sight brought back memories of all the times she and her father had spent together. Despite her mother’s absence, he’d given her a good life.

  A loud popping sound to her left drew her gaze away from the young girl and her father. A little boy, no more than six years old, held a long string in his hand. It trailed down to his feet and at the end were the remnants of a balloon. The boy started to cry almost immediately. Instead of consoling him, the woman at his side—presumably his mother—grabbed the string and tore it from his hand. Mirissa couldn’t hear what she was saying, but by the expression on her face, and her flailing arms, her anger was obvious. The boy’s shoulders bounced in time with his sobs as the scene attracted the attention of passersby.

  Mirissa felt her anger rise at this woman’s horrendous treatment of her son. It was everything she could do to stop herself from intervening. She’d never been treated like that by either of her parents and couldn’t imagine what that boy’s life was like.

  But she knew someone who could.

  Greco hadn’t told her much about his childhood, but what he had shared was enough to tell her everything she needed to know.

  Mirissa’s heart swelled at her sudden understanding. The pain he must have felt while growing up was beyond her comprehension. Could she really blame him for lashing out? He was thirteen years old at the time. Under those circumstances she might have done exactly the same thing.

  Mirissa jumped off the bench and ran back the way she’d come. When she crossed the first street she saw the balloon vendor pushing his cart slowly in her direction. Although she desperately needed to get back to Greco, she also needed to do this. She sprinted to the unsuspecting salesman, grabbed every balloon she could, and threw a wad of cash on his cart. As she ran back to the square she yelled, “Keep the change,” over her shoulder.

  A minute later she was kneeling in front of the boy. His mother, still in the midst of her rant, fell silent. Mirissa tied the strings of a dozen balloons loosely around the boy’s wrist and said, “Enjoy these, sweetheart. You deserve them.” Then she stood and faced the mother.

  She felt the tingle from her ring as she called upon her powers. She held the woman immobile without laying a finger on her. When she tried to call out, Mirissa clamped her mouth shut, then reached into her purse and pulled out her wallet. “Now you listen to me. Your son is a precious gift and deserves to be treated accordingly.” Mirissa made a show of opening the stranger’s wallet and looking at her driver’s license. “I know who you are and where you live. I also know that you can feel exactly what I’m doing to you right now. Just imagine what else I’m capable of. Your only job is to be a mother to your son. Do it well—very well—or you’ll see me again.”

  Reining in her power, she gave the boy a quick wink. She had no way of knowing if her intervention would make a difference in his young life, but the fear she saw in his mother’s eyes said that it might. As she turned to leave, she noticed the other people in the square were looking at her, smiling. Although they didn’t know everything she’d done, they did know that she’d helped. Mirissa smiled in return, then raced back to Greco.

  By the time she got back to the house the transfusion had already begun. Greco was lying on the couch, his parents at his side, with a clear plastic tube running from his arm to Jeremy’s. Mirissa could see his blood inside it.

  As she knelt at his side, Greco opened his eyes. His voice was low as he spoke. “I’m so sorry Mirissa. I would do anything to take back what I did to you. It was—”

  “Shut up.” Mirissa cut him off. “You were a scared and angry boy. I understand. I wish you would’ve told me the truth sooner, though.”

  “I should have. I know.” Greco gave her a cheeky grin. “If it makes you feel any better, at least you know I’ll never do it again.”

  “Not funny.” Mirissa held his hand in hers, shocked at how cold it felt. His skin was pale and his face was drawn. “Please stop this, Greco. You’ve done enough.”

  He gave her hand a light squeeze and said, “It’s already done. I knew what would happen and I’m at peace with my decision. Thank you. I didn’t deserve it, but your friendship has meant more to me than you’ll ever know.”

  With that, Greco’s eyes closed. She watched the up-and-down movement of his chest slow and turned to Alayna. “Do you have any idea what he’s giving you?” The puzzled look on the doctor’s face said she didn’t. “He’s trading his life for your son’s.”

  “What? I don’t understand. He’s just giving some blood. That shouldn’t hurt him.”

  “There’s a lot you don’t understand. Just promise me that you’ll give Jeremy a good life. Earn this.” Mirissa looked over to the still unconscious boy. She’d never seen his eyes, but she imagined them to be the same vibrant blue as Greco’s. He would now have the happy childhood her Guardian never did.

  As tears welled in Alayna’s eyes Mirissa turned her attention back to Greco. She felt so helpless. She possessed all these powers and yet there was nothing she could do to save him. She leaned down and laid a gentle kiss on his lips. She’d spent a lot of time over the last year thinking about what their first
kiss would be like, but never had she imagined this. Resting her head on his chest, she listened to his final heartbeats and prayed.

  A tingle on her finger sparked a glimmer of hope. Acting on pure instinct, she removed her ring and slid it onto Greco’s pinky finger. She placed both of her hands around his and willed her ring to channel all of her power to him. The vibration she felt on his hand grew in intensity until it was almost unbearable for her to hold on. “I won’t let go, Greco. Come back to me.”

  The feeling was so powerful that it made Mirissa’s teeth hurt, but she squeezed his hand even tighter. His chest rose, then fell, then rose, then fell. When it didn’t rise again Mirissa screamed. “No!” She let go of his hand and shoved him, hard. “You can’t die! I need you. Please, Greco. You can’t be gone. There’s too much we haven’t said. Too much we haven’t done.” Mirissa was hysterical, swatting at him as though she thought she could just wake him up.

  Comforting arms engulfed her, pulling her hands to her chest. “He’s gone.” Mirissa looked up, eyes sodden, and held Demetri’s tortured gaze. Beyond him, Gayle crumpled in on herself, a wordless wail escaping her lips. Asteria laid a hand on her shoulder and whispered, “I’m sorry.”

  Alayna joined them and placed her stethoscope on Greco’s unmoving chest. With a quizzical look, she moved it a few inches and listened again. “Um, his heart is still beating. I can’t explain it. He’s not breathing, but his heartbeat is steady.” She looked at the occupants of the room as though looking for answers, but none came. Instead, she was shoved out of the way to make room for Mirissa, Asteria, and Greco’s parents.

  The seconds turned into minutes, then to an hour. No one moved for fear of breaking whatever spell was keeping his heart pumping. And then it happened.

  Greco’s eyes flew open as he gasped for air, breathing fast and deep as though trying to make up for lost time. “What the hell?” He looked confused and Mirissa couldn’t help but laugh, with Asteria, Demetri, and Gayle following suit.