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“WHAT DO YOU mean, our mother hates me?” she gasped.
Rays of sunshine slanted through the window and onto Floriana’s face as Vittor took a step closer to her and put his hands on her arms. “I mean she blames you. She blames you and Grandpa for what happened to Dad, what happened to our family, to us.”
“This ... this doesn’t make any sense,” Floriana stammered. “Why would she blame me for what happened to our dad? I was two years old when our dad created Bacterium-Z. And a few years ago, I got infected by this brilliant finding of his and almost died. Does she know? Did you tell her?”
Floriana felt her heart pounding in her ears as she waited for Vittor to respond. “Well?”
“Mom knows everything.” He pushed his chestnut hair off his forehead. “However, her perspective on the events that mark our family life is, let’s say, dark.”
“Can’t you be more specific?” Floriana asked as her breathing sped up.
“She thinks that our father had stopped loving her after you were born and that he aimed to divorce her and leave because you were born,” Vittor said, and blood rushed to his cheeks.
“But ... you were born less than two years after I was born. Why doesn’t she blame you as well?”
“Apparently she thinks that it was you who started it all. And, as I said, there is no common sense in what our mother thinks. You have to believe me; she is cuckoo nuts.” Vittor gripped Floriana’s arm tightly. “I have a hunch that something bad is going to happen to us. These people here are lunatics. And our mother is the queen of loonies. I promised Grandpa that I would take care of you and get you out of here safely.”
“Did you talk to Grandpa? When?”
“I gave him a call as soon as Duclan brought you here. You were still sedated, but Duclan reassured me that you were fine, just sleeping. I called Grandpa, and he told me they will come for us.”
“Oh, Vittor, I am sure you are overreacting. You shouldn’t have called Grandpa. We can take care of ourselves. Didn’t he tell you that I am an operating agent now? I am supposed to be able to protect myself, even in the most dangerous of circumstances. I am the one who should keep you safe, not the other way around. You are a sweet little scientist, after all, not an agent.” She playfully pinched his cheek and slightly pushed him away before she opened the door behind him.
Vittor followed her as she rushed from the room and tried to keep pace with her as she scurried into the bright corridor.
“What is this place anyway?” she asked him before she stormed down the stairs.
“They call it ‘Empire Headquarters’. They have something like a war room in the basement,” Vittor replied, panting. “Floriana, listen to me. Don’t go downstairs. Let me show you the way out of here.”
Running downstairs, Floriana glanced at him. “Don’t be silly. I am sure we will be fine. I just want to see Mom—”
Her run was stopped abruptly when a black-clad woman appeared in front of her. She had her thin silver hair neatly pulled back into a strict bun on the top of her head and wore a pair of white glasses in front of her hazel eyes.
“Floriana, my sweet baby,” the woman said as she took Floriana into her arms.
“Mom?” Floriana’s voice trembled with surprise and emotion. “Is that really you? With white hair?”
“Yes, my baby, it is me. I missed you so much. I am sorry, my baby, I’m so sorry for everything I have done to you.” Althea burst into tears as she kissed her daughter’s cheeks and tenderly brushed her curly red hair.
“Mom, I thought you were dead.” Floriana sobbed uncontrollably.
“I know, my child, I know.” Althea tightened her hug.
“It was awful! It hurt so much. The pain of losing you was so horrible; I wished I were dead. Why would you do this to me?” bawled Floriana.
Mother and daughter stood at the bottom of the staircase, hugging each other tightly, weeping bitter tears of remorse and despair. Standing behind of them, Vittor wiped a tear from behind his glasses as he watched the family scene. However, his hands were still shaking in anxiety.
“Come, you must be hungry. I am going to make something to eat. Vittor, come and join us. You must be hungry too,” Althea said to her children as she put her arms around them and led them to the crowded ground floor. Men and women of all ages, in brown military uniforms, were gathered there, moving around nervously. Some of them were carrying folders and boxes; others were talking on the phones, while small groups seemed to be engaged in serious conversation. Many turned to greet them respectfully, smiling courteously. It was like they were walking inside a beehive—Floriana noticed that people treated her mother like she was the queen.
After they entered a small kitchen, Althea closed the door behind them. A big smile lit her face as she invited her children to sit around a small round table decorated with a yellow tablecloth and a vase full of wildflowers.
“I’ll make you some sandwiches like I used to do when you were kids,” she said, and her face shone with happiness.
Floriana gave her brother a worried look. “What is she talking about? She never made us sandwiches, because we never lived together,” she whispered to Vittor as soon as their mother turned her back.
“Vittor, darling, do you remember when I made egg salad sandwiches for you? You loved them so much. You devoured them in seconds,” Althea said, and her eyes sparkled with nostalgia as she sliced a loaf of bread on the kitchen island with a sharp knife. Then she glided cheerfully across the kitchen, approached to the fridge with a swirl, and took two food storage containers out.
“Yes, Mother, of course I remember,” Vittor replied politely before he winked at his sister and mouthed I warned you to her.
“I am afraid we don’t have egg salad here, but I am going to make you the most delicious sandwiches,” Althea said while she piled the bread slices with cream cheese and ham. “Here you are.” Althea approached the table and placed a plate in front each of them. “Floriana, honey, would you like a glass of milk?” She smiled heartily.
“No, Mom, I am fine.” Floriana tried to hide the worry that had clouded her face.
“But you do want some milk. You loved drinking milk so much,” Althea insisted, forcing a smile as she moved back to the fridge. “Here you are,” she said, pleased, as she put a glass of milk in front of Floriana. “Now, drink it!” she commanded as she returned to the island.
Floriana startled by the authoritative tone in her mother’s voice. “Thank you, Mom, I’ll drink later,” she replied as politely as she could.
“No! Drink now!” Althea demanded. Her fingers caressed the blade of the bread knife.
“It is okay, Mom, she will drink the milk after she eats the sandwich,” Vittor said calmly, staring at his food.
“No! She will drink the milk now.” Althea gnashed her teeth.
“Thank you, Mom, but I would rather drink it later,” Floriana spoke slowly, emphasizing each word.
“Drink it now!” Althea screamed before she grabbed the bread knife and stuck its blade into the kitchen island’s surface. “You little piece of garbage, you are always so arrogant and disobedient. You never respected the sacrifices I made for you.”
A knock on the door stopped Althea’s ranting.
“Is everything okay? I was coming to greet you, but I heard some noise and thought to check it out.”
It was Duclan Davis, standing at the door he had just opened, looking suspiciously at them. He had changed clothes and the white t-shirt he had on accentuated the icy cold of his grey eyes.
“Hi Duclan, nice to see you. Thank you for bringing me here,” Floriana said sarcastically.
“I am sorry, Floriana, I really am,” Duclan said, and Floriana could swear she saw a glimpse of remorse in his apathetic eyes.
“Duclan, you may leave. We are in the middle of a family conversation.” Althea cut him off.
“As you wish,” Duclan said and stepped back. As he closed the door behind him, he threw a worried look at Floriana. Placated by the interruption, Althea put the knife down and once more wore a beatific smile.
“Come on, kids, eat your food,” she said with a serene expression on her face, encouraging Floriana and Vittor to nibble on their sandwiches quietly.
“Mom, I thought you were dead. My heart almost stopped when I saw you here, alive, safe and sound, and I do not want to spoil the moment, but I must ask you...Why did you fake your own death?” Floriana finally broke the silence.
Althea stayed staring at Floriana with a blank expression on her face. Her eyes looked emotionless as if they were lifeless. Her chest barely moved up and down. After a few seconds that felt like centuries, she ended her uncomfortable inaction by starting a passionate speech, which sounded rehearsed and recited many times before.
“I loved your father passionately. I loved him more than anything else in the world. I loved him more than my own life. I would have died for him if he had not decided to give his life to a worthless experiment,” Althea narrated with a dreamy tone in her voice as if she was absorbed in an old but still vivid memory. “We were madly in love. We traveled around the world. We lived around the world. We lived our own happily-ever-after. Until I became pregnant. Then everything changed. With my belly growing bigger, I could no longer travel. Everything in our life changed dramatically. We had to settle down, make a home, find a country to raise our child and spend the rest of our lives in boredom. And we did. We decide to make Malta our home, a little island country in the middle of Mediterranean Sea. Do you think there are many people who know where Malta is located? Why would they, after all? Former citizens of the world, we became isolated islanders. I kissed my cosmopolitan way of life goodbye and turned into a boring housewife. And then, you came”—Althea pointed to Floriana—“and you took my husband’s love away. From the moment you breathed your first breaths of air, you drained all the happiness Rokku, and I had shared. And as if that was not enough, bad news struck again. I was pregnant again. I already had one baby crying and pooping everywhere, and now I had one more in the oven. Your father stopped caring about me. He stopped loving me. His father had poisoned him with all that Order of the Black Rose nonsense, and that was where he was putting all his energy—in the Order and in the lab they had provided for all his creepy experiments. It was that evil man’s fault. His father, your grandfather, filled my husband’s mind with outrageous beliefs about the Order, and he made him believe he would change the world. He could not even change his own family life! How on earth could he change the world? That freaking idiot. He thought he could become a superhuman action hero, and all he did was to lose his life and leave me behind with two crying and vomiting children. Oh God, I would have killed him if he wasn’t already dead. That was the straw that broke the camel’s back. I had enough. I was getting out of there. I was leaving Malta. I was leaving you behind. Both of you, in case you wondered.”
She paused as if she was out of breath, despite the fact that she looked emotionless and impassive. She grabbed the knife again and started stabbing it repeatedly into the kitchen island without changing the blank look on her face. She was like a robot glitching. A shiver went down Floriana’s spine. In the corner of her eye, she saw Vittor clenching his fists and biting his lip. She scanned the room for a way out. There was only one door, and their mother was standing close to it, tightly holding a knife.
“I went to Ganni, and I told him I was leaving. He urged me to stay in Malta and raise my children in his ancestor’s land. I told him he could keep the children; I was leaving. Then he threatened me. He told me I had to take at least one of my children with me. I wanted neither of you with me. He said he would have me killed if I left. He said he would find me even if he had to follow me in the fires of Hell. He made me take one of you with me. I chose Floriana because she looked so much like your father. I chose her because I wanted to feel that I had your father with me.”
Floriana felt like she could not breathe, like there was no air in her lungs. “I thought you loved me,” she uttered.
“I never did,” Althea said bluntly. “That is why I chose at last to take my life into my own hands. Those good people outside this door helped me stage my death and be reborn. I was a butterfly that got rid of the cocoon. With them, I found a reason to live. They worship me here. They respect me, and they trust me. They love me.”
Floriana’s stomach flipped over as she saw a flakey smile slowly being formed on her mother’s face. Vittor was right; this woman was crazy. She did not seem anything like the woman she used to love and call Mother. The mother who so tenderly loved her. Because Althea had loved her once; it was real, Floriana had felt it. God only knew what happened in that poor woman’s mind to make her world flip around. That woman standing in front of her, playing with a knife, was not her mother anymore. Her mother’s mind and soul were lost somewhere, and Floriana hoped that Althea had her late husband’s soul with her. She knew she should take Vittor and flee, but there was one more thing she wanted to know.
“Why did you arrange to meet Vittor? You could have easily left us in our ignorance. We did not need to know that you were alive.”
“Because I saw you. I was there, in a SUV, parked by that road at Ahornweg Forest where you confronted General Müller and his soldiers. For a moment, I felt I wanted to talk to you. I started rolling down the car window, but I changed my mind and drove away,” said Althea.
“And why did you bring me here now?” shouted Floriana.
“Because I wanted to hurt you,” Althea replied brusquely.
Blood rushed into Floriana’s head as she stood up and, with a quick move, grabbed the chair she was sitting on and tossed it towards Althea. Taking advantage her mother’s shock, Floriana gripped Vittor’s hand and pushed him towards the door.
“Run!” she screamed as they rushed out of the kitchen and sallied in the crowd of people in brown military uniforms in the large chamber they had previously crossed. A loud bang sound marked their entrance as they pushed the door open with all the strength their bodies had. Several blond heads turned their way, and the stern looks on their faces made Floriana and Vittor slow down and walk rather than run across the crowed hall. Soon, they found themselves in the middle of a circle of dour faces inspecting them. A chill stole over Floriana’s body. She tried to look calm and casual, but her chest moved up and down uncontrollably with heavy breaths. Disregarding the severe gazes on them, Floriana bit her lip and clenched her sweaty palms as she moved through the group of people staring at them with unyielding scrutiny. She felt like time had frozen, and everything was moving tantalizingly slow, like their bodies were floating in a thick, syrupy liquid. That weird feeling only lasted for a few seconds though, as another bang made the crowd turn their glances back toward the kitchen door.
“Don’t let them go!” Althea’s bloodcurdling scream filled the chamber.
Floriana’s heart almost stopped beating. Her legs felt like jelly being crushed under the weight of her body, but she knew she needed to move. In a moment that felt like a century, she looked at Vittor, who was staring around goggle-eyed and grabbed his hand. Loud screams escaped their throats as they started running through the crowded chamber towards the bright exit. It was like millions of hands were falling upon their adrenaline-loaded bodies, gripping their arms, pulling their hair, touching their skin with their cold fingers, brushing their necks with warm breaths. A frisson of terror conquered her soul as an eerie memory came to her mind. A mental flashback to zombies surrounding her in the abandoned ex-Nazi sanatorium overwhelmed her soul; her breath escaped her, and her limbs went cold. A hand clasping her wrist freed her from the flashback and brought her back to the menacing reality. Floriana knew that there was no way out. Not until the curtain came down on their family drama.