CHAPTER TWENTY
I heard Richard’s voice again, still far away. “We’ll have to cut her out of these clothes.”
“Damian,” Adriana’s voice, “would you go find Selena, please? And ask her to bring her kit.” She paused. “I don’t know how we’re going to get that necklace off of her. That probably wasn’t the best idea I’ve ever had.”
Most of what I heard after that was just bits and pieces of conversations that didn’t make much sense. Then I fell into a deep sleep.
…I was standing just outside a village high up in the mountains. I could hear people yelling and screaming. Almost instantly, I understood them and realized that they were speaking the Mayan language, Quiché. I was in Guatemala. As I started to walk toward the village, I saw that I was wearing a long, white, flowing gown and my feet were bare. I walked into the village, only to see that I had entered a scene of total chaos. Children were crying, their bellies swollen with malnutrition. The men were yelling at the women to keep bringing more water. The women were hurrying past me, and I could see that their beautiful Mayan skirts and blouses were filthy and torn. No one seemed to see or acknowledge me at all, so I continued to walk closer to where the yelling was coming from. A minute later, I came to the center of the village. Now I could see what was happening. There was a fire. The ceiba tree, the heart of the village, was in flames, and the men were desperately trying to put it out. An old woman, whose face was wrinkled and blackened with soot, suddenly looked right at me “K’atik!” She cried. She seemed to think I didn’t understand her because then she spoke in Spanish. “Ayúdenos, Diosa! Por favor, que nos ayude!” She fell to her knees, grabbing my white gown and smudging it with ashes and dirt. She kept repeating her plea for help over and over, her face contorted with grief….
I woke up. I was covered in sweat. I couldn’t get that old woman’s voice out of my head. I was in my bed. But when I looked at Matt’s side, I saw that it hadn’t been slept in. All I had over me was a cotton sheet, but even that didn’t seem comfortable. My skin felt hot. It stung and burned like mad. I stood up, wrapped the sheet around me toga style, and walked into the bathroom, where I flipped on the light and looked at myself in the mirror. I gasped. I looked like hell! My whole body was covered with what looked like a horrendous sunburn. Even places where I had been wearing clothing were red and burned.
“Hey, you’re up!” Matt came into view behind me.
“Uh, yeah.”
“I know it’s red,” he said. “But you already look so much better.”
“Better? Better than what?”
“It was worse when we took you down from El Castillo yesterday.”
“I only slept one day? I feel like I’ve been out for weeks.”
“About twenty-four hours,” he said, kissing the top of my head.
“Ouch.”
“Sorry.”
I turned to face him. “Matt, why am I still wearing my necklace?” I asked. I reached up to touch my neckline, but he caught my hand.
“You’re…you’re not, babe,” he said.
“What do you mean I’m not? Of course I am. I can see it.”
“I thought I heard voices in here!” It was Adriana. “Maya, you’re awake.”
“What the hell is this?” I asked, still staring at my reflection.
“I’m so sorry, Maya. The silver became super-heated because you retained all that energy yesterday. The burn from the necklace is imprinted on your skin. I’m afraid it’s going to be permanent.”
“Wait—what?” I panicked, looking back at my reflection, my eyes tearing over.
“It will improve with time. Selena has been keeping a special salve on it around the clock. But, yes, to some degree, it will always be there.”
Matt spoke up. “Why don’t I run you a cool bath, My? Adriana, how about if we see you at dinner.”
“I don’t want a bath,” I said, and then I burst into tears. Matt put his arms around me, being as careful of my burns as possible. He held me gently for a long time, and I realized that I could feel him again, his worry and love for me. I sighed in relief.
“I’m sorry,” I said, feeling and quite possibly sounding like a two-year-old. But once I was in the tub, the cool water and the herbs from Selena started easing the burns on my skin, and I started to feel better.
Matt poked his head in a few minutes later. “My, I left your shorts and one of my T-shirts on the bed for you. I figure the looser the better for now.”
“Thanks,” I said, then, “Matt?”
“Yeah?”
“Is my necklace okay?”
“It’s fine. Damian said it should have melted, but it’s fine.”
“In Lak’ech,” I said.
“Ala K’in, babe,” he said.
A few minutes later, I got out of the tub. Giving up on toweling off, I decided to air dry as I carefully brushed out my hair. I had a similar issue with the shorts Matt had left for me. I decided that a pair of his boxers would work best with the big and (mercifully) dark-colored T-shirt Matt had put out. I couldn’t even imagine trying to deal with a bra. Yikes. I tiptoed out to the kitchen. By the time I got there, only Adriana, Richard, Matt, Selena and the twins were there.
“Here she is!” Richard said, flashing a very un-Richard-like grin. But it sounded hollow somehow. Liam’s death was weighing heavily on everyone.
“Where is everybody?” I asked.
“Barbecuing down by the cabins,” Selena said. “They need some time to themselves.”
“Oh, of course,” I said.
“We’ll hold the funeral pyre tomorrow night,” Adriana said.
“His body will be burned?” Matt asked.
“Yes,” Adriana said. “It’s become a shifter tradition through the years. A dead shifter’s body is too sought-after by scientists and others that want to study us.”
“Listen, we have a lot to figure out,” Richard said.
“What do you mean?” I asked. Alma handed me a sandwich.
“Well, for starters, Victrixa and her minions were definitely up to more than just fighting with us at the museum,” Adriana answered.
“Hey, yeah, I noticed that,” I said, before taking a gulp of diet Coke. “How come those demon things never went after them?”
“What do you mean?” Richard asked.
“Well, from where I was, it didn’t look like they went after anyone from Toltec at all.” I took another sip of Coke and suddenly realized that Selena, Richard, and Adriana were all staring at me.
“Uh…did I say something?”
“You’re sure, not at all?” Selena asked.
“I’m sure. Why?”
“Demons are pure evil. They wouldn’t discriminate. So if Toltec wasn’t being attacked by them,” Damian said, “then they had to be controlling them or using them somehow.”
“How could they do that?” Matt asked.
“Very powerful dark magic,” Adriana said.
“Holy shit, you mean they knew that those demons were going to be there?” Lyssa asked.
“I’d be surprised if they didn’t,” Richard said.
“Man, that’s just a whole new kind of messed up,” Lyssa said, shaking her head.
“You two were sure doing a number on those demons,” Matt said. “What were you doing?”
“Lots of pushing hallucinations with a little mind control thrown in.” Damian grinned.
“It was the shiznit,” Lyssa added, nodding.
“Hey, wait a minute, I remember now—I saw them! I saw Victrixa, Avery, and that other guy along the edge of the pit. They were looking down, like they were searching for something.”
“Or someone,” Damian said.
“What?” Matt asked.
“He’s right,” Richard said.
“What do you mean?” Adriana asked.
“There was a god,” Richard said. His voice cracked a little.
I wasn’t used to him sounding like that. He seemed uncertain, maybe even sli
ghtly fearful. It made the little hairs on my arms stand up.
He swallowed. “I can’t believe I never made the connection before now! His name was Toltex.”
Adriana gasped. “I just assumed they had taken the name Toltec after the Toltec people.”
Richard nodded. “Actually, I think that was probably the original idea, like we’ve known right along. They named themselves Toltec and made it their mission to kill all of the reincarnations of the goddess Maya. That way, the 21st would come and go, and the world would never transition.”
“And this god, Toltex—where does he come in?” Matt asked.
“Toltex was the god of chaos. He was the son of Gukumatz, a major god of the Mesoamerican people. The story goes something like this. For unknown reasons, Toltex tried to bring the whole world into chaos. In order to stop him, all of the gods, including his own father, banished him to Xibalba. There he became the dark lord of the Underworld.”
“So…,” I said, very slowly, “that wasn’t an earthquake at the museum?”
“Not a true one. Somehow, Toltec must have figured out how to open a way to Xibalba. That’s where the demons came from.”
“But why?” Lyssa said. “Why would anyone want to do that?”
“My guess is that if they failed to kill Maya, and she started the transformation, he would be some kind of backup plan,” Adriana said.
Richard nodded again. “Exactly. At some point in their history, Toltec went from doing what they could to encourage chaos to actually worshipping it.”
“So it’s possible that they made actual contact with Toltex,” Adriana added.
Damian looked at all of us. “So that was who they were searching for in the pit.”
“I hope we’re wrong, but it looks like it,” Adriana said.
“Did anyone see him?” I had to ask. “I mean, I was really high up and I could barely see into the abyss. It was way dark down there. All I saw were the demons. And Victrixa.” I looked from face to face, but it was clear that no one had seen anyone else either.
“You know,” Adriana said, standing up and walk-ing around behind me, “Richard and I were talking about your mark, Maya.”
“When?”
“Just after we got to Mexico. At the time, it was just hypothetical. We wondered if maybe it would change after the solstice.”
“You mean, like change into just a shifter’s mark or something?”
“Well, yes, or maybe that you’d lose it completely. To be honest, we really had no idea.”
Huh? “I hadn’t really thought about it,” I said.
“But it hasn’t changed,” Lyssa said, “and our marks are still there, too.”
“That’s the thing,” Richard said. “It could mean nothing. You may just have them for the rest of your lives.”
“Or maybe Maya hasn’t done everything she was meant to do,” Damian said. It was a strange comment for him.
A chill ran down my spine. “What…what do you mean?” I asked. “That couldn’t have been all for nothing.” I mean, seriously, I was toasted like a freakin’ lobster. “And Liam—he couldn’t have just died for nothing. What else could there be?”
“I wish I knew,” Richard said. “All we can do now is watch and wait for signs of the transition.”
Selena stood up. “Well,” she said, “I better get back to the cabins and check on the shifters.”
“How are they?” I asked.
“They’re mostly just beaten up, cuts and bruises, that sort of thing.” She started out the door, then looked back. “Don’t forget to put more of the ointment on before you go to bed.”
I promised Selena that I would, then Matt and I headed back to our room. In spite of having slept so long, I was starting to feel tired again. I did have one more thing I wanted to do before we crashed.
“I’m just gonna give Grandma a quick call,” I said.
“That’s a good idea. I’m going to take a quick shower. Then I’ll help you with the ointment,” Matt said, wiggling his brows at me.
“Yeah,” I said, “We’d probably get stuck together for, like, years.”
“Works for me!” he said on his way into the bathroom.
“Dork,” I mumbled, smiling to myself as I dialed all the calling codes and then Grandma’s number.
“Grandma, it’s me.”
“Oh, Maya,” she said, her voice suddenly filled with sobs.
“It’s okay, I’m okay,” I said, “I’m so sorry I worried you. I knew you’d be waiting to hear, but I guess I slept a lot afterwards.”
“I’m okay, ts’unu’un. You needed to rest. How are you now?”
“Well, I’m a little sunburned from the k’ul, but that’s already starting to go away.”
“And Matt and the twins?”
“Everyone’s okay. The twins got marked!”
“Did they?”
“Yeah, you know, like the Hero Twins. Damian has a sun on his neck and Lyssa has a moon.”
“The Hero Twins? From the Popol Vuh? That’s truly amazing. Please tell them I’m proud of them. And Maya, I’m so very proud of you.”
“Thanks, Grandma,” I said, my eyes tearing up. “Grandma, there’s something I need to tell you, but…maybe I should wait till I get home.”
“You know you can tell me anything, ts’unu’un.”
“I know, but…well, this can wait.”
“Okay, baby, if you’re sure. And don’t worry about your father. I’ll give him a call right now with the flight schedule like we planned. You go and get some rest. I love you, ts’unu’un.”
“I love you too, Grandma.”
When Matt came out of the bathroom wearing just his boxers, I sucked in my breath and slapped my hand to my mouth (man, did that hurt)!
“It’s no big deal, babe,” he said, sitting down on the bed next to me.
“Are you kidding me? You’ve got cuts and ginormous welts everywhere!”
He smiled his bravest smile. “Sorry, My, but I think you win most injured.” He touched a welt on his upper arm. “It looks a lot worse than it is. See? Doesn’t even hurt.”
I ran my hand gently along his arm and down his back. I could feel him quivering at my touch.
“I’m just so glad you’re okay,” I said.
“You’re incredible, you know that?”
“Why?”
“If you could have seen how you looked on top of that pyramid. It was like you were on fire. And when Richard and I got up there…” He tried to look down at the bed, but I stopped him, catching his face in my hand. As I kissed him gently, I could feel his spirit release its sorrow like a wounded bird.
“I’m okay now,” I said.
“I know,” he said, “and you’ll be even more okay after I put your ointment on.”
“Gross,” I said, taking off his big T-shirt and lifting my hair so that he could spread Serena’s salve on my neck and chest. Suddenly I was feeling self-conscious. “Does it look really bad?” I asked.
“No. It just needs time to heal. We all do.”
“I know.” I sighed.
He reached over and turned off the light. “Come on,” he said, “you’re exhausted.” He pulled the bed sheet lightly over us and snuggled me gently.
“Matt?”
“Yeah?”
“What if I really am a goddess, like Toltec thinks?” I asked, cradling my head on his chest and thinking about the dream I’d had.
“We’ll figure it out, babe. We always do.”
“In Lak’ech,” I said, putting my hand on his heart.
“Ala K’in,” he said, covering my hand with his.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
First, I would like to thank my two fabulous Barbaras. A big THANK YOU to my editor, Barbara Ardinger, Ph.D., who helped bring reason to my madness. And Barbara Rainess from Pedernales Publishing for all her guidance, and for a little sprinkle of copal! I would also like to thank Jose Ramirez, the other half of Pedernales, for making my book into w
hat I envisioned. Gracias!
I would also like to thank Dr. Mark Van Stone at Southwestern College for pointing my research in the right direction.
Many thanks to my critique circle, Maureen Chiacchieri, Ann McGrath, Faith Dion, and Tracy Winslow.
Finally, I want to thank my family for their unconditional love and for always believing that I would be a writer. I love you more than anything.
Jaguar Sun (Jaguar Sun Series Book 1) Page 32
