Page 22

Valencia

I woke up suddenly. For a minute, I stared up at the ceiling and wondered where the hell I was.

I tried to remember the day. OH! It all came back to me in a kaleidoscope of images.

The pond and the bee, Tito’s fabulous mouth, his smile, his voice…

Then the rest… Julianna was really Juliet and I was Valentina of all things.

Her and I on the Zoom meet with our parents.

Tito’s father murdered. Then our very hot shower… “Hmmm,” I hummed under my breath.

Turning my head, I looked over at the other pillow on the bed. Tito wasn’t there. I heard the door to the room click shut and I sat up. Did he just up and leave at…I paused to look over at the clock. Midnight?

I sat up and got out of bed. Looking down, I realized I was naked.

“Darn it!” I muttered. I raised my head and looked around.

Spotting the robe Tito mentioned sitting over the chair back, I rushed over, threw it on then hurried to the door.

I opened it and stepped out into the quiet hall.

I halted to tie the robe, then I looked up.

I just caught sight of him as he left the hall and took the stairs. I felt odd chasing after him, I mean he could be thirsty or hungry, right? Then I remembered he had an ensuite kitchen so maybe not?

When I got to the end of the hallway, I looked down the stairs and saw him step into the main hall then head left, toward the kitchen.

Ok, so maybe he was hungry or thirsty. I headed down the stairs and after I stepped to the floor, I tightened my robe belt.

The robe was too long and I needed to raise it up.

Belonging to Tito, it was actually very large for me.

Rushing down the large hall with the robe raised up in my hands, I then slowed at the kitchen door. What if he gets mad at me for…I shook my head. Nope, he wasn’t like that. I opened the door and peeked in. I didn’t see anyone. Stepping in, I looked around again.

An odd sound and a thump came from somewhere. I gasped and whirled around as I realized what was up now. Tito went into the pantry! He didn’t forget about Max. Oh, no. He was still on it.

I paused to look around again. Then I stepped over to the pantry door.

I couldn’t believe I was following Tito around like this.

But if he found something I wanted to be there.

It was him and me, after all. I wanted to be beside him through thick and thin.

This Max and the pantry business was probably on the thin side, as in nothing would be found but still… I wanted to be there.

Opening the door, I nearly jumped inside so no one would see me, then I quickly but quietly shut the door in case anyone came into the kitchen.

Raising my head, I stared at the interior in pure disbelief.

“Oh, wow.” This wasn’t a pantry, it was more like a supersized storage facility.

It had a huge wide aisle with shelves that went up to about ten feet high. They called this a pantry?

I realized I didn’t see Tito in here as I looked all the way down to the end of this wide aisle. “Where—?” I jumped as something grabbed my ankle.

“Shhh!”

Looking down, I saw an odd thing.

Tito had a hold of my ankle as he stood below me at the first level of the shelf. All that could be seen of him was his head and shoulders.

Blinking at him, I asked, “H-how…”

He stared up at me and asked, “Baby, what are you doing here?”

I told him the truth, “I followed you.”

He shook his head.

“Why…” I paused and started again, “How…”

He tried to look past my feet. “Did anyone see you?”

I shook my head. “No, but what the hell is…” I knelt down and tried to see beyond him. “How are you in the shelf like that?”

He let out a sigh and replied, “Max has a secret door in here and I went through it.”

“Oh, wow…” I stared at him. “You were right about Max?

“I don’t know yet…So come on,” he urged.

“Come on?” I asked him while feeling confused.

The rest of the shelf slid inward and he said, “You need to stay with me, so come on.”

My mouth had popped open in shock as I could see he was on a stairway or something. Only it was inside of the wall behind the shelf.

I stared at him as he stepped down.

I stepped down and onto the stairs. Then I gasped as the door behind me or– the wall really– slid shut. “What is going on, Tito?” I asked breathlessly.

He helped me down and then looked around. “I don’t know yet. But damn, the hair on my arms is practically standing up.”

“What?” I asked. “You mean like when they say, the hair on the back of your neck?”

Tito shook his head. “No. I mean for real. And…” His voice fell away. “Valen, your actual hair looks …” He reached out and touched my locks. “Like when you rub a balloon across your head.”

I raised my hands and I found out what he meant. My hair was standing up like it was full of static. “Is it electrified in here?”

“Again, baby. I don’t know." He looked around. “But this isn’t right.”

I looked around like he had. We were in a small space like a closet. “So there was a secret door and it led us to this? A closet?”

“The hell it does,” Tito replied. “I’m not fooled by this closet shit.” He then started running his hands over the wall in front of us.

I watched him and realized he was looking for a switch or something that would open up another door. “Oh wow, this is like one of the places Deacon took me to.”

Tito froze and stared up at me. “I hope not, didn’t one of them explode if you didn’t know a code or something?”

I nodded my head. “Yeah, but this was another location. Do you see a light switch?” I asked him.

He looked around and said, “The lights are already on.” Then he gazed upward. “Only where are the lights?” He grunted in bemusement. “What’s lighting this place up?”

I kept looking for it along the wall. Then I turned around to look at the wall by the stairway.

Spotting a light switch, I stepped over and said, “It goes like this. See the three switches, you start at the 3rd one and it is…” I flipped all three, starting with the one furthest on the right. “3, 2, 1.”

Now we both heard a noise. Then the whole wall slid over as if on rails.

“Well fuck,” Tito exclaimed as he moved me back.

When it opened up, we both stared at a large room. It had a huge fireplace that was fully burning. So the whole area was overly warm.

“What the hell?” Tito started at it. “It’s 70 degrees and the fireplace is lit…” He turned and looked around at the interior of the basement room.

I did the same.

On the far side of the room were monitors and a single office chair on wheels in front of them.

We both went over to them.

One showed the front of the estate, the gatehouse and driveway. The next showed the back of the house. The 3rd and fourth ones were inside the house, showing the main hall. Then the foyer, dining room, study and the main stairway were shown in four parts of the screen.

Tito looked pissed as he swore, “What in the fuck—?”

“Your mother would not approve of all the swearing,” a deep voice spoke from behind us.

We both flipped around.

A man seemed to step out of the large furnace-like fireplace.

I screamed and practically leapt up onto Tito in absolute fear.

“Max?” Tito said.

I peeked around Tito, even as frightened as I was, I had to see this.

“You know me, Sir,” the tall figure replied as the fire disappeared.

I blinked and now recognized the man as I whispered, “Max?”

Dressed as always in his formal suit with tails, the butler then did something that was perhaps more frightening than coming from fire—he smiled.

“Oh, fuck no!” Tito exclaimed as he literally gawked at Max and his grin. “I’m having a nightmare, right?”

I couldn’t speak, all I could do was shake my head over and over. If so, we were sharing the same nightmare.

“I knew if I were ever to be discovered that it would probably be you, who discovered me.” Max continued to smile as he gazed at Tito. “You have always been great at mysteries and knowing when something is off. It is what makes you the best at your job.”

“Oh, my God,” I finally found my voice.

Max looked over at me. “Do not be afraid, Ms. Walker.”

I shivered and grasped Tito’s sleeve in a tight-white-knuckled grip. “Sorry but I am scared to death!”

“Explain this, Max,” Tito demanded.

“You discovered the door in the pantry, then somehow figured the switch out. Disturbing my rest, you broke in here.” He gave us a firm nod as if that covered it.

Tito kept shaking his head. “You know that is not what I meant.” He waved his hands at the monitors behind us. “What the hell is all that?”

“Security, Sir. You should know that.”

“We have security,” Tito replied.

“In part you do, but who is watching when you and your brother are not? Your other security men, Sal and Tony?” He shook his head. “No, they do not watch the inside of the house either.”

“Because that is an invasion of privacy!” Tito retorted.

“Wait!” I yelled as I felt more panic. “You aren’t like…You don’t watch…” I couldn’t finish as all I could think of was this man seeing me naked.

Cocking his head at me, Max then seemed to realize what I was thinking and he actually grimaced. “Madam Walker, I would never put cameras in the rooms.” Reaching up, he straightened his collar even though it didn't need to be straightened. “That would never do.” He looked entirely insulted.

“ Do? ” Tito asked. “Max, you just walked up to us out of fire. You are obviously living in our basement and…You are spying on us!”

Max stared at him. “I can explain. However, you may not believe what I tell you.”

Tito raised his free arm since I had my nails dug into his other arm. “I already can’t believe what…” He then looked around. “You live here in the basement?”

“Most of the time, yes,” Max replied.

Tito again looked at him then around at the mostly empty basement. “I don’t see a bed, or any furniture here, Max.”

“I have a bed in the back area, Sir.” He motioned to the dark area of the very large room.

“Would you quit calling me sir!” Tito snapped. “You raised me from diapers, Max. The sir thing really annoys me. I am not your boss.” Then he sucked in a breath as if something else just occurred to him. “Does my uncle know about…” His voice faded a bit as he went on, “Whatever this is!”

“Yes and no,” Max answered.

Tito sighed heavily then said, “Ok, I can't believe … just please explain all this Max.”

“I am the protector of the Dark Moon.”

Tito stared at him and paused. “Ok…go on,” he urged.

“I was your grandfather’s protector for many years.”

“Yes, I know that, he sent you here from Italy.” Tito nodded.

“I was also his father’s protector,” Max added.

Tito’s body went stiff and I could feel his muscles were as hard as rocks. Stepping around him, I bravely said, “That’s not possible, Max. You must mean that your father protected his father.”

Max slowly shook his head. “No, Madam. I alone have always protected the Descalia family. He shrugged. “Well, as far back as 1750, I have.”

“Seventeen…” Tito faltered. “So I was right? You aren’t human?”

“Yes and no.”

“Max, you keep saying yes and no,” I told him. “Something either is or isn’t.”

He again smiled at us.

When he did this, Tito and I had to suck our breaths in again. It just seemed to be so terrifying. The man had always worn a non-emotional blank look.

“In 1750, your great, great, great grandfather saved my family,” Max explained. “I’d been injured and he took me to his modest home in Italia.” He shrugged his suited shoulders. “Well, it was actually part of Rome at the time.”

We both stared at him.

“He saved your life?” Tito asked.

Nodding, the butler went on, “Yes, it is a long story, but I have been with the Descalias for over two-hundred and seventy-five years.”

“Ooookkk,” Tito replied with a scoff in his voice.

“I told you that you would not believe me, Si…Tito,” Max reminded him.

“What kind of person lives for like 300 years?” Tito argued.

“Well, it’s kind of a blurred line. See back in 1750, I’m only 35,” Max said. “Then again, I don’t think that I am normal now.”

“You think?” Tito asked as he laughed dryly.

“He’s a genie!” I finally got it as I felt like I won a prize. “Right?” I stared at Max.

“You mean like living in a lamp, granting wishes type genie?” Tito exclaimed.

Max raised his hand up at him. “No. I am a protector.”

“So what can you do?” Tito asked him.

He slowly shook his head. “Not what you would guess. I don’t make a person rich or change their lives with some fantasy fulfilment.”

“Then, what do you do?” I boldly asked him.

“Yes, what have you done for us?” Tito added his question to mine.

“Lately, I have done nothing,” Max answered. “Except keep watch.” He motioned to the monitors. “Most of my existence includes doing lots of that.”

“So what have you done in the past then?” Tito asked. “Specifically for our family?”

“The answers to that might upset you, Tito,” Max warned him.

“Upset me?” Tito snapped back. “Oh no, Max. I am already upset by this. Our butler is actually a genie, who lives in the basement and sleeps in a lit fireplace. All of that is already upsetting, don't ya think? So just tell me.” He growled a bit.

“First of all, I am not a genie. Secondly, I do not sleep in the fireplace. It is a conductor.” He paused and then went on, “In the last two decades, I reanimated your mother and your uncle after they…were killed.”

Tito and I stared at him as we did not move or even blink. The room seemed deathly quiet as I don’t think Tito and I were able to take a breath.

“And I do not mean yes or no about this,” Max clarified. “They both were dead for a very short time.”

I think I’d been holding my breath for too long and all the shock got to me and the room seemed to spin around me now. “D-did y-you say d-dead?” Everything seemed to get dark.

“Sir,” Max told Tito. “You need to catch her before she…”

My body tilted forward as the floor came up to meet my face.