Maya and the Rising Dark

by Rena Barron

  “Your little tricks won’t save you,” the Lord of Shadows said as another set of his ribbons cut me off. I stopped, my sneakers slipping, and almost lost my balance.

  I turned to face him and laughed so loud that for a moment he froze.

  “You’re not as smart as you think,” I said, stepping closer to him.

  “Maya, no,” Papa said, still trying to get to his feet.

  “I bet there is a reason you spent all that time sleeping in the shadow of a star.” Something that had puzzled me finally made sense. Every time that I’d seen the Lord of Shadows, he was, well, in shadows. What if he couldn’t stand the light?

  His ribbons crept across the gym, coming at me from every direction. There were no tricks left to play and nowhere to run. I inhaled a deep breath, then let go all the heat and light inside me waiting to burst free. The whole room lit up and the Lord of Shadows recoiled. His writhing ribbons retreated from the light too.

  Maya: 1.

  Lord of Shadows: a big fat 0.

  “Now.” Papa grabbed my shoulder from behind. “That won’t stop him for long.”

  And he was right. The Lord of Shadows slinked closer again, and his darkness began to overtake my light.

  I wrapped my arm around Papa’s waist, and we limped into the wormhole together. This time the walkway inside was chaotic. God symbols flew everywhere. We’d only made it a few steps when the walkway disappeared completely, and we fell hard and fast down a long dark hole.

  “Ahhh,” I screamed.

  “Maya, don’t lose your concentration,” Papa shouted as we collided into each other. “We can still get through if you focus.”

  My ears popped, and I couldn’t catch my breath, let alone concentrate, but I tried. I didn’t focus on slowing our fall because the Lord of Shadows had entered the wormhole too. His ribbons stretched behind us, speeding to catch up. We couldn’t let him enter the human world, so I concentrated on closing the portal while we were still inside. Even if it meant trapping Papa and me in the Dark too.

  Have you ever heard of the phrase light at the end of the tunnel ? Well, that was exactly what I saw as we continued to freefall through the wormhole. As we got closer, I could see a bed of yellow and white tulips and sunlight on the other end.

  Papa sent flashes of light behind us to slow down the Lord of Shadows. His ribbons drew back but only for an instant. They swallowed the light just as we dropped out of the wormhole. It turned out that I had miscalculated, and the exit was hovering somewhere near the top of a tree. We fell the final few feet and landed hard in the bed of tulips.

  There was no time to breathe a sigh of relief, as some of the Lord of Shadows’ ribbons shot out of the wormhole, too. The space around the wormhole turned gray, and darkness started to seep into our world. Dread rolled in my belly as I channeled my powers through the staff again, preparing for one last strike. But both of the cranky twins, Miss Ida and Miss Lucille, struck the ribbons with their magic first. The ribbons recoiled back into the Dark, and I had just enough strength to close the wormhole with the staff.

  “Maya, you’re okay!” Frankie screamed, peering down at me, her face bright.

  Tears pricked my eyes again. I couldn’t believe it. My friends were alive. Nulan had lied. I shouldn’t have ever doubted that Frankie would have a plan.

  My voice got all choked up, and I couldn’t get a single word out. I sank against the grass, smiling up at the oak tree and the blue sky. There was so much color in our world, and it was all so beautiful.

  Eli nudged one of my sneakers with his foot. “I want to know everything that happened after we left.”

  “Of course you do,” I finally said.

  “Everything,” Frankie added, to be clear.

  I laughed.

  My friends helped me and Papa to our feet. Papa and I both took in our neighborhood. The colors, the smells, the people. Mama stood with her hands on her hips, sandwiched between the Johnston twins, who looked as cranky as ever.

  “Maya Janine Abeola,” Mama yelled. “You’re in big trouble.”

  “I know, Mama,” I said, ducking my head. “I’m sorry.”

  Papa leaned against the oak tree. He still looked sick, but he was going to be okay. “She is in trouble, Clarisse.” He winked at Mama. “But she did save her old man’s life. She should get credit for that.”

  Mama smiled through the tears sliding down her cheeks and pulled me and Papa into her arms. I let myself collapse against my parents, feeling safe for the first time in weeks.

  Twenty-Nine

  Guardian of the veil

  “Did you really have to land in our tulips, Maya?” Miss Lucille shook her head. “Do you know how hard it is to grow anything?”

  “Um, sorry?” I shrugged. “I’ll make it up to you.”

  Papa and I had landed smack in the middle of the twins’ flower bed underneath the oak tree in front of their house.

  “Give the girl a break.” Miss Ida nudged her sister in the side, even if she was scowling at the crushed tulips too. Then she snapped her fingers, and magic that looked like ministars lit up around the tulips. In a split second, the tulips righted themselves and were like brand-new.

  Eli smacked his forehead. “Hard to grow, huh?”

  Miss Lucille pursed her lips. “Well, it’s the principle that counts.”

  Mama fussed and looked me over for injuries, but aside from the cut on my lip and a few bruises, I was okay. I was more than okay. My friends and I had saved Papa. I couldn’t have done it without them. I looked around our neighborhood, taking it all in. The sun was high in the sky, and the birds sang in the trees. My neighbors went about their business as if Papa and I didn’t just drop from a wormhole in the sky. I saw the last of the cranky twins’ memory-altering magic floating on the wind as a neighbor waved to Papa.

  “You’re back from your business trip already, Eddy?” Mr. Reese called from across the street. He was sitting on the top step of his front porch working on one of those model ships he liked to build.

  Papa waved at our neighbor, flashing a peevish smile. “I hope for a long time this go around.”

  “Are you sure you’re okay?” Mama asked, feeling my forehead for the umpteenth time. Then she pressed two fingers against my wrist to count my pulse. “Your heart rate is a little high. Maybe we should take you to see Dr. Kate for a checkup.”

  “The young guardian will be fine,” came a musical voice from behind me that rang out in the most perfect notes. “Welcome back, Elegguá and Maya.”

  I turned to see the orisha of beauty, Oshun, in her Miss Mae human form, which was as majestic as her semidivine body. She wore a shimmering gold pantsuit and a choker of black pearls. Her hair was done up in an elaborate crown of jewels that glistened in the sun. How I had never recognized that the owner of our local beauty shop was a goddess was beyond me. Even now she had that extra spark about her.

  “The council must speak to you, Elegguá, about these unfortunate recent events.” Oshun glanced to my friends and me, her expression guarded. We already knew better than anyone what was at stake and the threat still in the Dark.

  “Unfortunate events?” I said, my voice tense. I wanted to give her and the orisha council a piece of my mind. I was still mad at them for not trying to save Papa.

  Mama cut her eyes at me without even saying a word, and I knew now was not the time.

  “We also need to talk about what to do with the children,” Oshun said quietly.

  “Do what with us?” Frankie nudged up her glasses. “You mean you want to erase our memories like everyone’s else’s?” She turned to me, her eyebrows knitted together in a thoughtful frown. “Except for our parents, no one outside of the orishas and a few godlings remembers it happening.”

  “No way I’m letting you near me.” Eli backed away from Oshun. “I like my memories unmanipulated, thank you very much.”

  Miss Lucille rolled her eyes. “If we were going to erase your memories, we would have done it by now
.”

  “What do you mean, then?” I crossed my arms.

  This time Mama cut her eyes at Oshun. “I would like an answer to that question as well.”

  Oshun bowed her head to Mama and smiled. “We will share that information in due time, Clarisse. For now, we must talk to Elegguá alone.”

  Nervous, I looked between Mama and Papa, who exchanged a glance. What did any of this mean? The fight was far from over, but the Lord of Shadows was trapped in the Dark, so we were safe for now. It could only be about the veil, which was still failing.

  “I need to get home!” Eli said before jetting off. “I stopped by to check on Jayla when I got back, and she was not happy that I left. Now I need to bake three dozen snickerdoodle cookies to make it up to her.”

  One of these days I’d have to ask them how they’d gotten to Chicago so fast. The gateway they’d entered led back to Daniel Boone National Forest in Kentucky.

  “I’m officially grounded for the first time in my life.” Frankie grinned. “Which means I’m stuck in my room doing scientific research. Such a hardship.”

  Once my friends headed home, Miss Ida and Miss Lucille set off for the community center with Oshun and Papa.

  Instead of looking Mama in the eye, I stared at my very dusty shoes. “I’m sorry, Mama,” I said. “I know I shouldn’t have gone into the Dark, but . . .” My voice caught in my throat. There was no excuse, so I bit my tongue and told the truth. “No buts. I chose to help Papa, and if I had to do it all over again, I would.”

  Mama let out a deep breath and wrapped her arm around my shoulders. “I know, Maya,” she said, her voice gentler. “I’m still upset, but I understand why you did it. I’m just so thankful the both of you came back safe and sound.”

  “And now that I’m back, I’ll do extra math tutoring to make it up to you,” I said when she pulled away and picked grass out of my locs.

  Mama shook her head as she looked me over once more. “You’re going to need to do a lot more than that this summer to make up for breaking the rules three times.”

  I bit my lip and rocked on my heels. “I figured as much.”

  “Come on,” she said, her voice heavy and tired. “You need a bath.”

  I sniffed my armpit and wrinkled my nose. A bath was an understatement. I was pretty sure that I would have to throw these clothes away, they were so dirty. “What will the council do with us?” I asked as we walked up the steps to our greystone. My legs ached, and I felt like I could sleep for a week. It was good to be home.

  “I don’t know,” Mama answered, her face set in a deep frown, “and that worries me.”

  * * *

  The next morning, Papa wanted to make his famous blueberry marmalade, but Mama stopped him in his tracks. His skin was still a little gray, although his color was coming back and he was moving better. Mama cooked breakfast instead for the first time since I could remember. I was tearing through my second batch of bacon and eggs when someone knocked on the front door.

  Papa went to answer, and when I heard Miss Lucille’s gruff voice, my heart sped up. “The council has made a decision. They would like you, Clarisse, and Maya to come to the community center.”

  “What’s the decision?” Papa asked, his words echoing in the hallway.

  “We’ve been friends for a long time, and you know I’ll go to the ends of the universe for you,” Miss Lucille said. “But I’m bound by the council’s decree, as are you.”

  Papa grumbled, but he said nothing more.

  The walk to the community center with Miss Lucille, Mama, and Papa was somber even though it was beautiful outside. At least the neighborhood was back to normal. My ex-babysitter Lakesha was adding another art piece to her tree collection. This time, an old scratched-up stop sign that she had spray-painted neon blue. We passed some older kids playing basketball on the sidewalk, the snow cone stand, and the elotes cart.

  Resident bully Winston rapped to a party of two in the park. His friends Candace and Tay were the only ones paying him any attention. When we passed by, he glared at me. I guessed I was still on his to-beat-up list. Too bad I couldn’t throw it in his face how my friends and I saved his life along with everyone else’s.

  I went through the metal detector in the community center in a daze and arrived at the golden doors that led to the gods’ realm. As soon as we stepped inside, my eyes landed on the bleachers, where Frankie sat with her moms and Eli sat with Jayla. There were other people from our neighborhood here too. The ice cream truck driver, the corner store clerk, and several teachers from school. Principal Ollie in their usual impeccable suit and shiny shoes. No Ms. Vanderbilt, though, which was a relief. If she was an orisha, her powers would be coming up with hard math problems.

  The orisha council sat on their thrones in their sem­i­divine forms.

  Shangó (Mr. Jenkins), the orisha of thunder and lightning. Eshu (Ernest), the orisha of balance. Nana, the orisha of the earth. Oshun (Miss Mae), the orisha of beauty. Ogun (Zane), the metal and war orisha, with his six-eyed dog, General, at his feet.

  I wondered how many on the bleachers were godlings versus orishas. I remembered what the council had said, so probably not many were godlings. They whispered to one another as we sat down in the empty space left on the front row. I was nervous but squared my shoulders to look brave.

  “We have called this meeting to report on the state of the veil,” Nana said, silencing the whispers in the room. “As some of you know by now, the veil is failing. We knew that it wouldn’t last forever.”

  “Will there be another war?” someone higher up on the bleachers asked.

  “There is no need to jump to conclusions,” Oshun said in her musical voice. “But as a precaution, we have called for reinforcements from the celestials who dwell in the sky. They should arrive soon.”

  “If it’s war the Dark wants,” Ogun said, sitting forward, his fists clenched, “then it’s war we’ll give them.” General’s six eyes grew wider and hungrier, too. “We swore to protect the human world, and that we will.”

  Ogun’s anger sparked more whispers, and Eshu raised a hand to silence the crowd this time. “It’s balance that we need, not war.”

  “How can we have balance if the veil fails?” Frankie’s mom, Pamela, asked. “What evidence do you have to support that balance is the answer?”

  “I will keep repairing the veil.” Papa spoke up. “That’s all we can do for now.”

  “That’s why we’ve called this meeting,” Shangó said, lightning sparking across his skin. “Elegguá, you have done this world a service by keeping the veil intact, but there are more tears every day.”

  Nana leaned forward on her throne, her eyes shimmering. “We ask permission for Maya to become a guardian in training to help protect the veil.”

  Everyone in the room went quiet again. Scratch that: everyone except Eli. He whistled loud enough to ruffle the fireflies lighting the ceiling.

  “Yes!” I answered, bouncing on my seat. “I’ll do it!”

  Mama and Papa narrowed their eyes at me for speaking out of turn. That wiped the smile off my face.

  “Your parents must agree to the arrangement,” Eshu said. “Elegguá and Clarisse, this is a great responsibility, and we don’t blame you if you say no, but we must ask.”

  Papa looked to Mama, his face worried. It was clear that it was up to her. Mama sat rigid next to me, and I reached for her hand. When she looked down, there were tears in her eyes, but she smiled. “I give my permission,” she said to me instead of the council. “But you’ll still have math tutoring, and if your grades slip—”

  “They won’t,” I said quickly. “I promise.”

  “See that they don’t,” Papa added, then winked at me.

  I couldn’t stop wiggling in my seat with excitement. This was really happening. My neighbors buzzed with excitement and chatter about the news. Some slapped me on my shoulder and congratulated me. A fresh batch of tears pricked against my eyes. For the first time since my
father went missing, these were tears of joy.

  “Don’t let it go to your head,” Eli warned, poking fun. “Your ego is big enough.”

  Frankie nudged him in the side. “Like you’re one to talk, ghost boy.”

  As Frankie and Eli got into yet another silly argument about nothing, I let out a deep sigh.

  From that moment on, I was a guardian of the veil.

  Well, technically I was a guardian of the veil in training.

  Author’s Note

  Dear Reader,

  I had such an absolute blast writing Maya and the Rising Dark. In many ways, Maya and her best friends remind me of my twelve-year-old self: a ghost-hunting science nerd who loved superheroes. I was also an avid reader, but I never saw anyone who looked like me in the fantastical adventures I enjoyed so much. This motivated me to start writing down the stories already percolating in my head.

  Along with never seeing myself in books as a kid, I later came to realize that I didn’t know much about my own ancestors who’d been enslaved and forced to bury their beliefs and traditions. As I take the journey to recover these traditions, I know that my perspective will be that of a person from the diaspora. I will always have a different way to interact with, process, and understand the traditions of my ancestors. Yet, it’s important for me to find my path and connect in some small way through my own stories.

  When I first got the idea for Maya, I knew two things. First, I wanted to write about a black girl growing up on the South Side of Chicago who loved superheroes. I didn’t want to focus solely on the struggles of her neighborhood without celebrating its strong sense of family, friendship, and community.

  Second, I wanted to write about discovering the traditions of my ancestors. When I chose to write about the orishas, I did so knowing that I could never speak for anyone raised in the tradition, but I could carve out a little corner for myself and Maya too.

  I hope, dear reader, that you experience the joy of discovery that Maya feels as she learns that she is more than meets the eye—that she will become the hero of her own story.