by S. E. Akers
“Swim over here, Tanner. I’ll show you just how much of a WITCH I can be,” Lorelei seethed and sharpened her scowl. I got a good look at her. Oh, I had done more than merely “clip” her. Her whole left side was bloody and singed from her waist all the way to the top of her cheek.
“And I see you’re looking just as lovely as ever,” Tanner affirmed with a grin.
Since Tanner had Lorelei’s attention for the moment, I placed my lips over Ty’s and gave him one more deep puff of air. He coughed up the remaining water and turned over on his side. Even without any supernatural intervention, thankfully, he was going to be fine.
Lorelei started to churn up another wave. This one looked even more formidable. With his eyes locked on our attacker, Tanner called out to me telepathically, “Shiloh, concentrate on your moonstone. Focus on pulling the tide.”
WHAT? I knew he couldn’t hear me, but the “are-you-for-real” look my eyes were screaming said it all.
Tanner glanced at me. “Your moonstone can sway the ocean,” he added swiftly as he turned to hold back the water. “This cenote is the only reason she’s so far inland. Now concentrate on that damn stone and drag this bitch back out to sea!”
Talk about on the freakin’ spot! I raised my right hand and uncloaked the moonstone’s golden shield. As soon as I focused on wanting the water to recede, the mysterious and beautiful bluish-white stone began to flicker. It was subtle at first, but the harder I concentrated, the brighter it glowed. It was getting much easier for Tanner to keep the water at bay. Lorelei noticed it too. The water level started to drop and the cenote began to drain swiftly. She looked down at the receding pool of water in a panic.
“That’s impossible!” Lorelei raged as the current began to tug her under. She held onto a boulder, hell-bent on staying. I drew my wand and ran towards her, despite Tanner’s warnings. I had to get that bracelet! Lorelei looked at my right hand and then at me, her eyes swirling a fierce red hue. “You have MY MOONSTONE!” she growled.
Just as I dove towards Lorelei’s wrist, the water swept her away. Even with her under the water, I heard every one of cackles — all of them aimed at me. She was gone in an instant, right along with the water and of course, the fire opal I desperately longed to retrieve. All that remained was a dry crater in the ground. I may as well have been staring straight at my heart because it looked just as empty.
Tanner jerked me to my feet. “What do you think you’re doing?”
“We have to go after her! Come on!” I demanded and turned to jump down into the waterless crater. Tanner yanked me back.
“That would be suicide!” Tanner insisted. “She’s not a normal Talisman, and she now claims the aquamarine. It rules over everything that lives under the sea. I’m a water element, but even my powers can’t compete with that!” Tanner pointed to the cenote with an unyielding sweep. “That is HER domain!”
I kicked the boulder so hard it cracked in two. “We can’t let her get away! She has Gallia’s bracelet! She was at the cemetery that night! She’s the one who killed her and took the fire opal!”
Tanner grabbed my shoulders and pulled me close to him. “Shut up, Shiloh,” he ordered in a low, whisper-like growl.
“NO!” I barked as I glanced over at Ty, who was struggling to rouse. “I don’t care if he hears me!” I pointed over to the cave’s entrance. “I don’t care if ANYONE hears me!” I yelled in a fit of rage.
Tanner looked down and pointed to my chest. “Are you sure about that?” he asked.
My mind froze like his words had been laced with blistering ice. I started to tremble uncontrollably, too scared to call out her name. She had been asleep all day, even at the mine. Hung-over. Passed out. She’s asleep now, I thought wishfully. She didn’t hear it. She didn’t hear any of it. She couldn’t have. I took a deep breath and looked into Tanner’s apprehensive eyes.
Please don’t let her have heard it.
“Katie?” I finally called out. She didn’t answer. “Katie?” Again, there was nothing. Just before the knots in my stomach could untwist, my mind began to cloud as a vehement whip of rage pummeled my senses.
“Y—You’ve lied to me,” Katie whispered tearfully. Her raspy voice sounded almost hoarse. “Ever since the night at the…at the graveyard…”
“Ye—”
“SHUT UP! That wasn’t a question!” Katie bellowed. “But here’s one. Why didn’t you tell me? WHY? After you promised there would be NO SECRETS… Why didn’t you tell me when it happened?”
“Katie… I—I couldn’t—”
“NO! No more excuses! NO MORE LIES! I’ve heard enough of them! I don’t want to hear another one roll off your heartless, deceitful tongue! I don’t know which is worse? The all the lies or the deception… You’ve just been pretending to find my body for the PAST THREE MONTHS!”
“That’s NOT true!” I shot back swiftly.
“I DON’T BELIEVE YOU!” Katie cried out. “Why waste time finding a body when you don’t have the damn stone anymore? HUH? And you put on an excellent performance too. Telling me that Bea and Tanner locked you in with a spell… NICE TOUCH!” she grumbled. “I SWEAR, KATIE! I SWEAR ON YOUR LIFE!” she repeated venomously. “Now I see just how much it means to you!” I could hear the exhausted ache in her voice. “And you knew all this when you took away MY PARENT’S GRIEF!”
“For YOU, remember?” I countered.
“DON’T FLIP ANY OF THIS ON ME! DON’T. YOU. DARE!” she snapped. “WHY?!? Why didn’t you tell me? What else aren’t you telling me?”
I didn’t say a word, but my silence spoke volumes.
“There’s something else, isn’t there? ISN’T THERE?” Katie screamed.
“Katie—”
“You know, FOR THE RECORD…I’ve never lied to you! NOT EVER!”
“Katie, just —”
“NO! STOP!” Katie demanded. “The sound of your voice makes me sick! Take me off!”
“No,” I replied.
“TAKE ME OFF, NOW!” Katie roared.
“Katie, PLEASE?” I begged. She didn’t answer me. “KATIE?” I dropped to the ground in tears.
“What did she say?” Tanner asked.
“She wants me to take her off,” I replied listlessly. “But I’m not. I WON’T!” Tanner lifted the diamond from my chest and ran his finger over the face of the stone.
“I think you should,” Tanner urged. “At least for now. She’s not only angry, she feels helpless in there. Give her some semblance of control.”
He was right, but I couldn’t bring myself to unfasten the clasp. I’d already done enough damage, and now it felt like I was abandoning her. Sensing my struggle, Tanner finally did it for me.
“I’ll hold onto her for a while. At least for the rest of the day,” Tanner promised as he tucked her inside his pocket.
My heart felt like it was dying and crumbling away, piece by piece. “I should have told her from the start. This is just like that tarot card,” I mumbled. I was so numb it took me a second to realize I’d shot my mouth off — again. I didn’t even have to look at Tanner.
“Maybe you should let this be a good lesson for you? No more lies…to anyone,” he ordered.
No sooner than I’d tilted my head, the Amethyst Talisman pounced.
“So am I correct in guessing that Lá Léo read your cards?”
I hopped up off the ground. “We should check on Ty,” I evaded.
Tanner locked his arm around my wrist. “He’ll be fine. Answer my question…honestly.”
“No,” I replied solemnly and swallowed a hard gulp. “Padimae did.”
Tanner couldn’t have looked more stunned if he tried. “The only way THAT would be possible is if you removed her curse… A curse that Adamas placed on her for a reason.”
“She didn’t give the Onyx that stone.”
Tanner’s steely look hardened. “How do you know?”
“My gut told me,” I assured him with an unwavering glare. Before Tanner could continue
his interrogation, we heard someone heading our way.
“You and me are going to have a long chat later,” Tanner warned, this time telepathically.
“I’m sure we will,” I mumbled under my breath.
“Lorelei saw your wand. She knows the diamond has been claimed.”
“She already knew,” I remarked hastily. “She has the diamond I gave Ty, too.” Tanner’s brow sharpened into that “V” I loved so much. Why only let one bomb fall when you can drop two?
“Very long indeed,” Tanner reaffirmed with a firm dip bore into his brow.
Ms. Fitz came rushing over to us. “What happened?” she cried out.
I was all lied out and at that moment, I couldn’t have cared less about offering up any convincing explanation. My bosom friend hated me, Tanner looked like he was about to implode because we couldn’t finish our truth-talk, and I was climbing the walls because Lorelei had gotten away. It turned out that a now fully conscious Ty was our saving grace.
“You got tangled in some seaweed and Shiloh rescued you?” Ms. Fitz repeated back to him.
“Yeah,” Ty assured her. Between the much darker surroundings and her concern for Ty’s injuries, Ms. Fitz hadn’t noticed the empty cenote.
We heard several of my classmates’ voices approaching. “I hope you’ve been brushing up on your mind control,” Tanner said telepathically. That cenote can’t fill back up until we get out of here.”
One thing was certain, after Tanner was finished raking me over the coals, we were going to have a serious talk about all this “on-the-spot” training. In a huff, I mouthed to him discreetly, “I have,” as I thought about the security guards back in New Orleans. But this was nine minds we were talking about! Six classmates, two chaperones, and a tour guide.
Fan-freakin’-tastic.
As they each emerged from the cave, I commanded over and over for them to “not look at the cenote”. Talk about pressure. I was so terrified I’d lose focus that I barely remembered to breathe. It seemed to work, luckily. Everyone gathered around Ty, focusing their gazes solely on his injuries and seeming oblivious to the bone-dry hole several feet away. I left Ty’s brain well enough alone. After what he’d already seen, why bother?
“Let’s get him out of here,” Tanner suggested. That was music to my ears. I wasn’t sure how long I could keep up this little impromptu mulit-mental manipulation anyway. Tanner and Ms. Fitz led the way, while Coach Hayes and Mike helped Ty. The rest of the class hurried behind them, and not a minute to soon too. My brain waves tired out just as Kara disappeared up the steps. I hung back and stared at the empty cenote, reeling with disgust.
I have to find her. I have to get that stone. Come Hell or high water. Even I thought that was ironic. Just as I turned around, Javier came trotting back down the steps. He stopped abruptly and stared out at the waterless crater with a stunned gaze. Our jaunty bilingual guide was so taken aback he couldn’t speak, in any language.
I shook my head knowingly as I breezed past him. “The Mayans were right,” I called back to him. “She’s one Hell-of-a-bitch.”
Chapter 20 — Never Leave a “B” Behind
I stood back, waiting semi-patiently on the sidelines, while the others huddled around Ty. I tried to convince myself that the vivid scene playing out in front of me wouldn’t have been any different if we were back in Welch and he’d gotten hurt during a football game — the worried and attentive head cheerleader stroking his head while the trainers gave him a thorough check. Their “broken right arm” confirmation came as no surprise, but Coach Hayes’ announcement that his other one had been popped out of its socket was more than unsettling. Unfortunately, that same sheltering mind of mine couldn’t field any of my guilt or convince my conscience that this was “careless error” or even “another team’s fault” (I’m not that delusional). The blame was mine. All mine. I plopped down on the rocks and stared vacantly at the dusty, gravel-covered ground.
At least he’s alive…
Ethan and Mike helped Ty into the backseat of a black Jeep parked beside the shack. Ms. Fitzpatrick hopped in the passenger-seat and assured Ty that they were headed for the nearest hospital. An alarming thought hit me when I spotted Tanner whipping out a set of keys as he winded around to the driver-side.
Tanner has a DIAMOND…
I rushed over, grabbed his arm, and pulled him off to the side. “Wait a minute. Why are you going?” I blurted. He looked down at my hand and then around at my classmates to acknowledge their stares. I let go of him like a hot pot.
“Because I know the way to the closest hospital,” Tanner replied straight-faced, opting for a low-key tone. “And this is an Xcavare company vehicle. I have to drive.”
“Why are you really going?” I continued.
Tanner’s stare was empty of emotion. “We really need to be on our way,” he stressed.
“You’re going to take away his memories with the diamond, aren’t you?” Tanner didn’t have to say a word. I read the answer in his stern, hazel eyes.
“That diamond was born from my flesh. Will he forget me too? Again?” I asked.
Still, Tanner remained rigid and mum.
“Please don’t,” I whispered softly.
“You need to head back to the bus with the others, Shiloh,” Tanner ordered telepathically.
“He won’t tell anyone,” I vowed. “He would have said something already. He would have run out of Bea’s that afternoon too, but he didn’t.”
“This is my choice,” Tanner stated. “Allow me that much by coming along when I did.”
“Please,” I pleaded again, despite his claim that saving our rears had entitled him to a “free pass” to tamper with Ty’s unsuspecting mind. “Don’t make him go through that again.”
“Back to the bus,” Tanner repeated, nostrils flaring, as he headed towards the Jeep.
Something nagged at me as I watched him walk away. It wasn’t his blatant disregard for my request, but about the specifics of his “perfect timing” and “intuition”. I followed him over to the vehicle and slammed his door shut, cornering his evasive rear.
“How did you know to come here?” I demanded. “How did you know I was in trouble?” I knew something about my question had thrown him off guard by the way his eyes creased. He gave his passengers a quick check to find them dazed and tuning us out. “They aren’t listening,” I assured him. “You’ll still have only one memory to erase today.”
Tanner cocked his head and motioned me away from the door. “I recognized someone back at the mine,” he answered, overly composed and then hopped into the vehicle. “One of Lorelei’s underlings. And I knew about this cenote.”
“But you didn’t know until a few minutes ago that I’d met her. That doesn’t tell me how you knew I was in danger,” I said dubiously.
Tanner gave the engine a hard crank. “Your minute is up. End of discussion,” he asserted and then sped off, leaving a trail of churning dust.
Ughhh! Typical! I kicked a rock several yards in his direction. I may have a lot to confess, but something tells me that you do too, Professor Grey.
I moped around the bend to meet up with the others, now bogged down with even more guilt over something that was beyond my control.
“Nice of you to finally join us, Wallace,” Coach Hayes announced snidely as I plopped down on the curb. “Okay, boys and girls, we’re leaving in ten minutes to go see some ruins.” Coach Hayes held up a brochure. “El Tajín.”
“What time will we get back to Veracruz?” Mike groaned.
“When we get there,” Coach Hayes shot back. “Is that a problem?”
“Yeah. I’ve got plans this evening,” Mike barked. I didn’t need three guesses as to “with whom”.
“Well, we wouldn’t want to infringe upon your time now would we, Mr. Riverside?” Coach Hayes remarked as he edged towards him. Mike averted his angry glare. “We’ll leave when I say so. This may be our last outing anyway.”
“What?” Mike blur
ted.
“Mr. Riverside, someone got hurt today. That’s too big of a liability for the school to take on.”
“We can’t!” Mike shouted. “I need more time!”
“For what?” Coach Hayes demanded.
“Nothing,” Mike grumbled and plunked down beside me. I had to agree with Mike on this one. We couldn’t leave yet — not with Katie’s fire opal so close by. I could feel Mike’s brainwaves desperately trying to concoct a plan. Little did he know, I already had that one covered.
I can brainwash two teachers for my bosom friend… Guilt-free!
We arrived at El Tajín within the hour. The entrance to the pre-Columbian village was swarming with tourists who had come to sightsee and take part in a lively festival the site was promoting. Coach Hayes instructed everyone to couple-up into his and her respective pairs. To my relief, Kara pounced on Mike. I wanted to be alone, left to wallow in my shame. Our current stop was the ideal place for it too — a hidden Mesoamerican city full of rocky, cold-gray deteriorating ancient buildings that lay scattered amongst various wide-open, stark green fields that had been kept a secret for centuries with the help of the jungle’s dense landscape. Very desolate and grim to say the least. It only fueled my isolation. I missed Katie. Karma’s caustic sense of humor, assuredly.
I weaved through the complex at a sluggish pace, uninterested and longing for an escape from everything that plagued me. I have to find that stone. It might not fix the situation entirely, but it’s a heck of a good start.
A strange feeling stirred my senses when I toured the site’s featured attraction, a stair-stepped temple crafted of flagstones called The Pyramid of Niches. “Strange” was actually an understatement. It was downright bizarre. The longer I stared at the deep-set niches that had been carved to imitate cave-like openings, the more shadowed I felt — like eyes were peering out at me. The back of my neck felt as prickly as a cactus. The guide stated that all 365 of the niches were not only for calendaric purposes, but they were considered passageways to the underworld. Maybe that’s where my case of the creepies came from? Their highest deity was the god of rain and thunder. The natives crafted the frets flanking the stairways to represent “lightning”. Some believed they named the site “El Tajin”, because it meant “of thunder and lightning bolt”, while others over the years claimed it actually meant, “place of invisible beings or spirits.” At the very least, that tidbit sent me off towards one of the grassy ball courts in need of some air. The more I heard about “lightning”, the more I felt like the cosmos was trying to rub last night’s mishap in my face. I knew I needed to try to hail a bolt again, mainly to put my mind at ease — but when? Even if I found the perfect time and secluded spot, would I chicken-out? I still felt like something was off.
