“It’s about Axel, Aust,” I said and walk forward put my hand on his and Levi’s backs. Ushering them forward toward the gallery, both brothers were frowning at me in confusion.
Stopping at the entrance way, I turned to them, my other friends trailing at the back, and said, “You were right, Austin, Axel didn’t come to Seattle to work at the fish market as part of his parole.” Levi tensed, as did Austin, then I added, “But he also wasn’t selling drugs either...” I dropped my head and huffed a humorless laugh. “You see, Axel is exceptional… he’s so talented and amazing, yet never felt he could tell you. He felt he didn’t deserve any praise or acclaim after what he’d put y’all through.”
“Praise for what?” Austin pushed. Levi nodded in agreement,
“Praise for his work.”
“What work? Al, what the fuck are you talking about?” Austin said curtly. Rather than tell him, I moved aside to face the gallery and gestured to the stunning show with my hand.
“This work, Austin… Axel… Axel is Elpidio…”
I scanned the shocked faces of my friends and watched as they took in the exquisiteness of the marble sculptures.
Lexi stepped forward, her hand over her mouth and said, “Axel… Axel created all these… Axel is… Elpidio…?” Her green eyes brimmed with tears and she whipped her head to Austin. “My God, Austin… Axel did all this… and we all thought… oh God!” she cried.
“You didn't lie,” Molly said. I met her knowing gaze.
“No, I fell in love with Elpidio… it just so happened that he was Axel Carillo too; both the hero and the villain.”
Molly’s expression filled with sympathy and Rome stood beside her gaping at the packed gallery.
“Come see,” I said to my friends, holding back my tears. Walking forward, we came face to face with the marble boys pointing up at the stars. I heard Austin suck in a sharp breath.
“Stelle,” I said, revealing the title.
Austin took a step forward, gazing down at the marble boys lying on their backs, smiles on their faces. “Fuck…” he said through a tight throat. “That’s us,” he looked to Levi who was pale and rooted to the floor. Levi was completely dumbfounded by it all. “Lev, that’s you as a baby.”
Lexi wrapped her arm around Austin like he needed the support and she asked, “You used to look at the stars with Axel, baby? Like you do with me?”
Austin nodded, unable to tear his gaze away from the sculpture. “Yeah… Axe used to take us to the top of the trailer when my papa would come home drunk and hit my mamma.” Austin’s face scrunched up like he couldn’t bear to remember those times, but he added, “He would make me look up at the stars and tell him the constellations… he would distract me so I didn’t hear my mamma’s screams.” Austin looked to Levi, and wrapping an arm around his shoulder, he pointed to the baby. “That’s you, Lev. At night, Axel would take you from Mamma so when Papa came home piss drunk, he wouldn’t hurt you. Axel would keep you in our room, feed you, change and bathe you… fuck, he’d hold you all night long in his arms just in case papa came in for us. When the fighting got real bad, he’d take us both on the roof and we’d look at the stars…”
Levi’s gray eyes were huge as he leaned forward to inspect the baby in Axel’s arms. “He… he looked after me? Protected me when I was a baby?” Levi asked innocently. I watched as tears began dropping down their faces.
“I… I don’t know why I forgot all that?” Austin said numbly. He looked at Levi, then his wife, “He practically raised Levi until papa left… and me… he was always looking after me.”
Clearing my throat, my heart breaking at the love shining in their faces, I led them to Axel’s newest piece. As I walked in front of Levi, I heard a painful whimper escape his mouth.
I stood in front of the sculpture and looked to my friends. Rome was running his hand down his face. “Shit,” I caught him whisper to Molly who was studiously reading the text board.
“Hamartia,” I announced, pointing at the statue.
“That’s me,” Levi claimed. I could see the agony on his face as he relieved that moment. “Shit, Aust, that’s me and Axe when I was younger.”
Austin was drinking in the piece with disbelieving eyes. “What does Hamaria mean?” he asked gruffly.
“Sin,” Molly said from behind us and everyone turned to face her. She blushed as she realized she’d said it out loud. “It’s Aristotelian philosophy. It means taking someone to a dark place, missing the mark, to err, or doing wrong is how it’s normally interpreted today.”
“Sin…” Levi said.
I heard Cass whistle low in her throat. “That’s some powerful shit right there,” she said quietly. I wanted to look to her, but I couldn’t take my eyes off Levi. Tears were streaming down his handsome face.
As though sensing my stare, Levi looked to me and asked, “How, Al? How did he go from the Heighters, to prison… to this? How is it possible?”
Glancing away from his penetrating gaze, I debated how much to tell them. But deciding that secrets and lies had been the source of so much misunderstanding, I came clean with it all.
“Axel… went through some things when he was in prison.”