The Goddess Twins Read online

  The Fates and Beings were, rightfully, disgusted by so many things about this turn in Ezekiel’s character. They hated his delusions of grandeur, his self-centeredness, and his sexist assumptions. They were sick of the patriarchy demanding to win. So they decided the child would most definitely have to be a girl. But not just any girl—a child beyond human, one blessed with the eternal gifts of the gods and goddesses. (I really like this part of the story. I imagine them standing around, open-mouthed, while Grandfather spouts some patriarchal mess, and then looking around like, “Oh hellz naw,” and rolling up their sleeves.)

  The Fates and Beings magicked up a child who, while made of human flesh, was also a goddess in her own right. They connected her power to nature and the island as a way to ensure she would have a recharging force while living an eternal life. While they gave power to the baby inside her, they gave Gran Gran some eternal life juice, too, making them both beyond human. Goddesses.

  The Celestial Beings hoped Ezekiel’s heart would change, that this child’s talent would bless the world and the man and put Ezekiel’s wishes for a boy to shame. They hoped he would be won over by his daughter and melt into becoming a better man for her, as many fathers do. But instead, Ezekiel shunned his daughter as she grew, becoming particularly cruel when she started to display her powers as a child. He told Ghani the next baby would have to be a boy. But over the years, the couple had three more girls, every one of them goddesses blessed with unique and enviable talents. Ezekiel spiraled more and more, becoming verbally abusive after nights out drinking, now openly supporting the mob who would overthrow his wife and daughters’ power in the community.

  After a heavy week of binge-drinking with the Women Hater’s Club (as I decided to name them), Ezekiel started thinking up his own plot against his wife. He thought if he got rid of his daughters in what looked like an accident, his wife would turn her backs on the Fates and her powers, and things could go back to the way they were before. He figured, if the Fates were responsible for his daughters then his daughters should be sent to live with them.

  A few nights later, he snuck a heavy sedative in the family’s dinner. Late that night, as Ghani slept, he loaded his four girls into a wheelbarrow and rolled them to the river, to a steep trail by a rocky waterfall, where he intended to dump them into the water, leaving them to drown.

  So, this is where the story gets fuzzy. Apparently, the way Gran Gran tells it, the Fates saved the children from drowning. But according to Lilo and Liberty, the way Aunt Victoria tells the story is that our mother, Selene, stopped grandfather from killing his daughters at the waterfall by commanding the water to create a chain around grandfather’s body, holding him back while the girls ran away.

  Back at home, the Fates awoke Ghani and downloaded on her all that had occurred, including their decision to strike Ezekiel dead that morning for his attempted crime. But Gran Gran pled to them for his life. She knew he had been turned against her because of her powers, and she believed that one day she could get her husband back. She begged that he be given a chance to change. So the Fates decided Ezekiel would live eternally with his wife, but with no abilities beyond immortality. Then Ghani begged that the whole family could remain intact throughout time. The Fates relented, granting immortality to Taresh as well, but without the strength and abilities Ezekiel so craved. This would be Ezekiel’s punishment: to never have the son he desired. He would live to see his wife and daughters and granddaughters grow ever more beautiful and more powerful than him. The Fates hoped that, throughout time, he would appreciate the bountiful gifts of his life and family.

  Now, this was where I couldn’t help but yell out, “Wait, if Gran Gran’s such a soul-reading super goddess, why would she defend some attempted baby-killing loser, even if he is her own husband?”

  “You have no idea what you’re talking about!” Liberty reprimanded, grabbing my hands and shaking them. “This was a human man who found himself corrupted by the forces that prey on human men. Gran Gran believed that he could change, that there’s always a chance for people to change for the better. I mean, imagine what they had already been through together. And now she was growing, evolving so much, and that change came with a backlash against the one she loved the most.”

  “Psh. Sounds like a lot of justification for domestic abuse,” I muttered, taking back my hands.

  “You know what? Why don’t you just ask Gran Gran about the exact reason she stayed with Grandad when you meet her tomorrow? Huh?” Liberty said flatly, folding her arms.

  “It will go so very well, you meeting Gran Gran. Oh yes, like watching a shark try to swim in lava,” Lilo snorted, blinking sweetly at me.

  That was the moment I wanted to punch Lilo’s face off of her face. Punception, I’ll call it. Instead, I folded my hands in my lap, in silence, and continued to listen to my family’s origin story.

  So, after decreeing that Ezekiel would live and extending his and Taresh’s life, the Fates stepped back for the next century. They still talked with Ghani, but mostly they let the family experience life without their influence. Unfortunately, the intra-family drama did not go away. Chaos swelled again around the 1930s.

  So this is where the family story again gets super fuzzy. It’s the part of the timeline that no one wants to talk about, not even Aunt Victoria. Liberty and Leo are unsure of the details, but some major, eternal, life-altering ugliness went down. Whatever occurred, it led to Grandfather Ezekiel disappearing and Mother exiling herself from the family. It’s the reason Mother forbade anyone from ever contacting us once we were born. It’s the reason she bound our powers and basically had us on the run from our family our whole lives. It’s the reason we became the lost branch of the goddess family tree.

  Until now.

  NOW ARDEN SNORES on, while sleep eludes me. I stare at the ceiling, questions boomeranging in my mind. What happened to the family in the 1930s? What made Mother turn her back on who she is? What made her hide this gigantic truth from her own daughters decades later? Only my mother could answer those questions for me.

  But those aren’t the only puzzles in need of solving. The cousins told us most goddesses start displaying their mojo in childhood, around seven or eight years of age. So, not only did Mother lie to us about our entire existences, she suppressed our twin powers for the last decade. When would she finally have said something?

  I roll over in my bed and heave a big sigh. I feel like a pinball bouncing between emotional extremes—from hurt to overwhelmed, from dismissive to infuriated—as I sift through my entire life. Before I know it, sunlight begins to creep through the window blinds, sending slices of light across the ceiling, and my anger grows sharp, taking shape as my final response. How could Mother be so selfish, hiding who we are, never giving us a choice in the matter? To bind our powers for ten years so she could continue living the life she wanted? To pretend to be a human family because she chose to abandon her goddess one? We do not deserve to be discovering everything on our like this, only now.

  While I can’t do anything to resolve my anger with Mother, by the time the sun has fully lit the room, I am resolved in one matter: Arden and I absolutely need to get away from the cousins. I’m done with these emotionally obtrusive, condescending as hell, want-to-be saviors. Lilo is especially the worst. There’s no way I can put up with another day in her presence. I mean, really, she’s been beyond trying me. I’m surprised the magazines have been the only victims of my irritation. It’s taken superhuman strength just to refrain from smacking her—which only proves I’m the one who needs to press the eject button before I self-destruct on the entire group.

  Okay, the cousins have done us some major solids: giving us a place to crash tonight; revealing the 411 on our family; showing us how to take control over our mojo. But even though Arden’s been smitten with them, I still didn’t trust the cousins completely. Like, I accept what they’ve told us is true, but I don’t believe in their motives.

  What if the cousins are merely bait
sent out to lure Arden and me into a trap? What if this Gran Gran character is actually the Don in the kidnapping scheme to capture Mother and us? Despite all the goddess hospitality the cousins have shown us, I’m not convinced it’s smart for us to keep following wherever they lead. I feel sick to my stomach at the thought of going to Gran Gran’s this morning. I can’t just trust everyone and walk further into danger.

  I climb down from the top bunk and quietly sneak out the room, taking care not to disturb Arden. Out in the hallway, I tiptoe silently past the cousins’ closed bedroom door and continue out to the house phone in the kitchen. When I noticed the phone last night, I thought, Wow, I have not seen a phone attached to a wall by a cord in ages. What hipster den did they steal it from? But now I’m beyond grateful it’s here, since my cell phone refuses to dial out.

  Yesterday, after Arden and I realized our cell phones didn’t work, we bought a phone card that would let us call internationally, knowing we’d need to ring up Leo eventually. Now I pull the card out of my pocket and read the code number on it, punching the numbers into the phone. Arden and I had planned to call Leo after we had our cover story down, but I need to do something. Now. I can’t deal with being inside my own head anymore. I need someone to validate my feelings, my need to escape. Or maybe I just want to hear his voice, a voice of calm in a storm, no matter how angry he is at me.

  Leo picks up after just one ring. As soon as I hear a click, I whisper, “Leo? It’s Aurora.”

  “Aurora! You’re okay!” I hear his jagged sigh over the crackled line. “Oh my god, are you girls trying to kill me? Where are you? How is Arden? Are you both all right? What are you thinking? What has gotten into you two?”

  “Leo, we’re all right. I’m sorry, we honestly don’t mean to worry you. I hope you got our note, but of course that doesn’t make leaving okay. We just really needed to do this. We didn’t want to risk you trying to stop us. I understand if you’re mad. But we’re doing okay. We landed in London safely …”

  “London! My god, you really flew to London?” Leo shouts from his end of the line.

  “Yes.” I cringe.

  “And where are you in London, exactly?” Leo asks, still yelling.

  “Um … I think this is the West End? Let me look for an address … We connected with our cousins. We’re at their place now,” I whisper into the phone.

  Leo gasps sharply. “Your cousins? Is that what you said?”

  There’s static, so I move deeper into the kitchen, pulling the phone’s spiral cord with me. “Yes, our cousins,” I confirm. “Liberty and Leolidessa. They found us at the airport. They want to take us to someone called Gran Gran to help us find Mother.”

  “Aurora, listen to me,” Leo says. “You need to get away from that family out there.” His sharp tone slices through the static. I didn’t know if Leo had any clue about Mother’s real family, until this moment. How much does he know?

  “Don’t … if you … taken away,” the crackling interrupts his words.

  “What, Leo?” I press the phone to my ear.

  “You can’t trust … your mother … never told you …” Leo sounds like he’s under a waterfall.

  “What are you saying? Leo?”

  The static grows and falls, then grows again. Finally, I hear Leo’s voice: “You and Arden are so very special. Don’t show them who you are.” Then I hear a click.

  “Hello?” I whisper. “Leo? Are you there?” I wait for more words, heart in my throat, but the only reply is a dead line. “Dammit!” I shout, slamming the phone back to its cradle with more than human force. When I pull my hand away, the phone is cracked down the center.

  “Hey! That’s a no-no, missy. Always so aggressive!” Lilo says in her singsong voice from just behind me. “Tell our phone you’re sorry, princess.”

  “I’m sorry, phone,” I say through gritted teeth, my back to her. Was this obnoxious ball of snot listening to my conversation the whole time?

  Lilo must be reading my body language like her favorite magazine because just as I’m imagining the hypersonic punch I owe her, she continues, “Anger might be the source of your power, but you don’t have to have it on the ready at all time, Cuz.”

  When will this purple pixie stop psychoanalyzing me? This Lilo chick has been riding me since moment uno! I want at least to verbally annihilate her, just to let off some steam, but I think better of it. Given Leo’s final warning, my best plan is to disengage and evacuate as soon as possible. I force myself to take a deep breath before turning around to face her. “I was just trying to connect with our godfather,” I tell her. “Arden and I snuck away from him to fly here. He’s really worried about Mother and now us.”

  “Oh, the dude trying to steal my name?” Lilo snorts. “Arden says he’s been in love with your mother for forever or something. And he moved to Ohio as soon as you guys settled there? Stalkerazzi, am I right?”

  She stands in wait in front of me, wiggling back and forth with her arms crossed. It’s like a weirdo road block. Does she think I’m just going to spill some gossip about my mother because she prompted me? I didn’t even know when Arden dropped those tidbits on Leo, but I am not going to be the supplier for anything Lilo demands. “Um, yeah, Leo’s known Mom since her teens, but they’re like brother and sister,” I shrug, purposefully unhelpful. “The phone cut out just now. I might try calling him back.”

  “Ah, that cranky phone is always giving us trouble. We mostly just like how it looks. It’s cool right?” Lilo strokes the phone. “Yes, you’re very cool. I’m so sorry the mean lady hurt you.” She turns and bounces toward me with a sudden grin. “How about we wake up the rest of the girls and get over to Gran’s? She always has a huge spread for breakfast, and you can use the phone there!” She links my arm through hers and drags me out the kitchen.

  When Lilo turns into the bedroom where she and Liberty spent the night, I quietly shuffle back into the guest room and find Arden still asleep on the top bunk.

  “Arden, get up, you,” I shake her arm.

  After a moment, she mumbles herself awake. “Morning. Are you going to shower first, or should I?” she yawns.

  “No. We need to get away from these two chicks, now,” I hiss.

  “What are you talking about? We love the cousins; why would we leave?” She rubs her eyes, still trying to wake up.

  I rest my elbows on her bed, inching closer to her ears. “I know you love them, but I don’t think they’re trustworthy,” I whisper. After a pause, I say, “And Leo agrees.”

  “What? Leo? You spoke with him?” Arden’s body straightens with alertness.

  “Yes, I called him from the kitchen just now. He’s glad we’re okay, but when I told him who we’re with, he said we need to get away quickly and not to show them who we are. He was serious, Ar.”

  “But what does he even know?” Arden huffs.

  My eyes widen in shock. She’d rather defend fresh-out-the-box cousins over Leo, whom we’ve known since birth? “Really, Arden! You can’t be this naïve. We can’t just believe these people because they seem nice. Leo might know the real reason Mother pretends to be an orphan and has never told us about all this ‘Caribbean Illuminati with magic’ crap. Have you even thought that they, the cousins and Gran Gran, might actually be the ones behind the kidnapping?”

  “No, they’re not. I would sense it.” Arden scoots out of the bed and shoos me down the ladder. She descends and starts pulling clothes from her bag to get dressed.

  “So, you would sense the danger because of your mental intuition and mind reading? You still can’t even use it on me so who’s to say they don’t have some way of deflecting their true purpose from you right now? What if your powers don’t truly exist?” The second I say it, I know it’s mean, but I can’t help but taunt her about her power deficiency. All night I could use my power against her, easily, but she couldn’t get one thought in or out of my head.

  Arden sighs as she sits on the side of the bed to put on her tights. Ther
e’s a long pause before she looks up at me and says, “Is this about my powers or your need to self-destruct? Because they’re both very real.” When the flare of my nose tells her the burn landed, she continues, “Aurora, I wish you wouldn’t keep up this suspicion that everyone around you means you harm—me, the cousins, the entire known universe. Everyone is not conspiring against you to steal your crush or kidnap you for your abilities or whatever you’ve been dreaming up.”

  “What?” I sputter in the whiplash back to Devin.

  “Look, whatever you or Leo think,” Arden says defiantly, “the cousins are family and they love us. They’ve been waiting half their lives to meet us! And now we are going to meet Gran Gran, who already knows us through her premonitions, and she loves us, too.”

  Arden pulls on a black skirt over her tights. Dressing up to meet grandmother, always the goody two-shoes. I roll my eyes.

  She tries to convince me, “We have to go with them. Gran Gran is going to help us get to Mom. This is the way things have to be, whether you like them or not.”

  “Girl, this is not a reality-show reunion special; why are you being so obtuse? I can’t believe you don’t see it! We are walking into a trap—a huge, deadly one.” I turn away, forcefully grabbing a shirt and pants from my bag. I throw on the clothes without a thought, focused on getting out of here. Finally, I just say it. “I don’t think we should go meet Gran Gran, Arden. There it is. I think we should ditch the cousins on the way and look for Mother alone. That’s what we need to do, so let’s do it.”

  “No,” she says with more force than I’m used to hearing from her. “Why are you putting up a fight against your very own family? The cousins have told us nothing but the truth, and meeting Gran is the next step in everything we’re here for—finding Mom and understanding who we are meant to be. Discovering our family destiny.” I hear in her voice that she’s already resolved this is the only way, the only path. She sounds like a true convert to the Church of Goddess Scientology.