Ancient Shadows

Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Malibu, California

Gene Oliveros stood on the deck of his multi-million dollar, contemporary Malibu home atop a cliff overlooking the ocean, and watched his daughter play with her birthday presents. The sun was shining, the temperature warm, but the air was absolutely still. Californians called days like this earthquake weather. His nerves tightened. He glanced out at the Pacific. No seagulls, no pelicans, not even a pigeon scavenging for food.

It was a bad omen. The thought came unbidden. He believed in omens, although he wouldn’t let anyone know that. Gene paid close attention to the hurricanes, typhoons, volcanoes, earthquakes, to any strange natural phenomena that could potentially be dangerous. Maybe that was because of his work. Producing horror movies, where everyday objects turned into deadly missiles to dispatch people to their eternal reward in the most gruesome ways possible, had to have some effect on a person’s psyche. Or so Gene liked to tell himself.

Now, he tried to tell himself the weather was, in fact, a good omen. Good because it made him appreciate all he had, and to appreciate it even more than he normally did. That was the trouble with omens, who knew what they meant? Who cared? The day was gorgeous, and he wanted it to be gorgeous, just like his little girl. His princess.

She was five today, the apple of his eye, which was saying a lot given the beauties that buzzed around his studio every day in Hollywood. Not that his films would ever be nominated for an Academy Award. They weren’t that kind. They were moneymakers, the kind of movies kids went to on a Friday night. Special effects, blood, and gore.

Amberly, his “third-time’s-the-charm wife” as he called her behind her back, was looking young and radiant today, as always. The rumors about her … he tried to shake them from his mind. He didn’t believe any of them. They were jealous, those bastards who went running to the gossip pages with any little thing. Let her go to the dentist, and they’d say she was having an affair. Gene didn’t go for any of that crap.

She was devoted to him, and his age didn’t matter to her. He was thirty years older than she was. So what? He gave her their daughter, didn’t he? Besides, those who didn’t know his age and didn’t know his filmography always took him for a good ten to fifteen years younger than he really was. His peers wanted to know where he got his Botox and facelifts, but he never used any of that s**t. Didn’t believe in it. Didn’t need it. He smiled. Didn’t even need to touch up the gray. Good genes, he’d say. Gene of the good genes.

But he shouldn’t think of all that here; not now on his baby’s birthday.

His chest swelled with pride as he looked around at all that his money had bought. Who would have thought a nobody like him, who used to pick grapes in the fields as a kid with his father and uncles, would now have so much? It was a miracle, no doubt about it.

His daughter’s birthday party, held on the deck, had just ended. The house had been built atop a cliff, and the deck hung out over a rocky beach far below. Ocean waves rolled onto the beach under their feet. It was magical, as if one were on a ship. Of course, ever since the baby was born, the walls of the deck had been built higher, and there was even a little ledge around the outside of them so that if she ever did crawl over, she would fall onto the ledge which was also railed. Gene tried to think of everything.

The ocean had served as a glimmering backdrop to balloons, glitter, cake, candy, and clowns who had made Lake’s birthday perfect. Lake Oliveros—yeah, weird name. Sounded like a place to him, not a person. He was almost used to it. Amberly had insisted on a “different” name, a name she thought had ‘class.’ Class was important to Amberly, maybe the most important thing. He didn’t see how giving his kid a name that sounded like a pond was classy, but he loved both his girls, so he agreed. What the hell.

He heard a woman’s voice inside the house. “I’m sorry I’m so late.” The voice was breathless, but mellifluous, the kind that sounded good in movies, and Gene found himself listening. “Verity couldn’t make it to the party, but I wanted to be sure your daughter received a present from her. Something special. I’m sure Lake will enjoy it.”

“How nice,” Amberly said. “Verity is a lovely girl. I’m sorry you and I haven’t met before.”

“Me, too. My name is Dana. I’ve got to hurry now, but maybe we can have lunch one day soon. Where is Lake?”

“On the deck, I’ll show you.”

The two women joined Lake.

Gene watched. There was something oddly familiar about the stranger. She must be connected with the film industry, he thought, and if she wasn’t, she should be. Her hair was long and thick, a luscious brown with auburn highlights. After a few moments with Lake, she turned to leave. As the family’s housekeeper showed her to the door, she glanced over at him and smiled.

Her eyes, he noticed, were fabulous—a sparkling, brilliant green, the color of emeralds.

He, who prided himself in never forgetting a face, was perplexed as he smiled back and nodded in response.

She tilted her head and then mouthed a word.

He stared, stunned for a moment, he was no lip-reader, for cryin’ out loud … but then he understood. The word was “Egypt.”

Everything rushed back at him.

It had been long ago, another time, another world. The smile he wore vanished into horror, and under his perpetual Hollywood tan, his skin paled to ash. “No. This can’t be.”

His gaze fixed on the wrapped present Lake was about to open.

The sounds of war broke out all around him. An aircraft carrier’s shrill whistle blasted, warning all hands to take cover, to prepare for attack. He looked up. The putt-putt of a decades-old Army helicopter sounded, coming closer. It was a movie, he told himself. That’s all. A movie suddenly playing in his brain. He covered his ears as he gaped in horror at his daughter. “Noooooo!”

“Gene,” his wife called, alarmed by his cry, his expression. “What’s wrong?”

He didn’t hear a word she said as he began to run towards Lake.

She glanced up and gave him one of her darling smiles.

He felt as if his legs wouldn’t move, as if he were in a dream where he was trying to run, but couldn’t. His legs were numb, his throat so tight he could no longer speak, couldn’t cry out a warning as his little daughter reached for the ribbon wrapped around the gift. He saw her pull on it.

When the box exploded, the force of the blast tore the deck from its moorings and shoved it away from the house. Then, like a car that careens off a mountainside, it hung suspended out over the water a long moment before it dropped like a stone, falling hard onto the rocks and waves below.