Then SK’s face was in front of hers.
“Liv,” he said. “Control it.”
“Can’t,” she whispered. “Get away.”
“I’m not leaving, Liv!”
She felt his hands on the sides of her face, holding her head upright.
“Aim it somewhere,” he yelled. He swiveled his head and turned back. He looked her directly in the eyes. “There’s a telephone pole across the highway!” His voice was fading and the circle of her vision grew smaller. The heat in her chest felt as though it was going to melt her. “Aim it at the pole!” he screamed just as the sky lit up and the circle closed.
CHAPTER SIXTY-ONE
THE EXPLOSION WAS dim but there had definitely been one. Celestino jumped, nearly dropping the laptop he was putting away. Although clouds had inexplicably swept in from nowhere, he’d gotten his measurement just before that had happened.
“What was that?” he muttered.
Light was receding into the sky as he turned to look. To the west it looked as though something brilliant had punched through the clouds. Was there a glow on the ground underneath?
Maybe a meteorite?
His uncle’s voice came back to him.
‘Something disastrous will happen. Perhaps the stars will fall down…’
He covered the telescope and slung the laptop case over his shoulder. If it was a meteorite, he had to get there first.
CHAPTER SIXTY-TWO
LEON SLOWLY MADE his way through the darkened streets of the village.
Well, at least I didn’t have to steal it, he thought.
Then again, maybe Nolan had given the mask to someone. But that didn’t seem quite right. He pondered it as he trudged along in the freezing night air.
Why was the canvas curtain laying on the floor? And who would just leave corn pollen spilled everywhere? He slowed down a bit. It had been fresh corn pollen. Someone had fed the mask there recently.
He found himself at the edge of the plaza. Without the moon, it was hard to see. Good, he thought, as he started across. No one can see me either.
Without warning, an enormous bolt of lightning appeared in the east and writhed in place for several seconds. Everything in his vicinity was instantly thrown into stark relief as black shadows skittered frenetically to and fro along the ground. A clap of thunder boomed through the plaza. As he covered his ears from the explosive sound, Leon could see all the way across the plaza.
He came to a stop.
Someone was there.
CHAPTER SIXTY-THREE
SK CLUTCHED LIV hard against his chest and bent his head down over hers. The thunder stopped. The wind died and, for one full second, SK could hear his own heart in his ears as he squeezed his eyes shut. The explosion was deafening and, for a moment, he wasn’t sure if lightning had landed on them or not. Then he was thrown forward.
He and Liv moved as one but only for a foot before his forearms met the grill of the SUV. They both grunted at the impact but SK managed to keep his feet, his forearms protecting her head and shoulders. Small chunks of something hit his back so he kept his head down until it stopped. When it did, he chanced a look around. Charcoal and small burning embers had settled everywhere and were still drifting down. The lightning had struck the pole.
“Liv, you did it!” he screamed.
But she didn’t respond, didn’t move from where she was leaning against him.
“Liv?”
He let her slump forward and quickly took out his pocket knife. With a snap of his wrist, he flipped it open and slashed upward through the rope.
Her weight hit him full force as he tossed the knife aside and caught her. Slowly, and with all the strength in his stocky but short frame, he eased her down, while cradling her head. Finally, they were both on the ground. She lay on her side, unconscious, as he knelt in front of her.
He bent down and listened to her chest. Her heart was beating a mile a minute but at least it was beating. Her breath came out in fine white puffs of mist. Somehow the taser had triggered the response they both knew all too well. It had been virtually identical, with the silence, the thunder, and even the light in her eyes but it had also included actual lightning.
Even though electricity danced in the room during her healings, even as the weather seemed to reflect her feelings, and their kisses ended in disaster, it had never occurred to him that real lightning might one day manifest in the real world.
“Gods, Liv, what’s happening?”
He saw a bump swelling at her hairline and realized there was a cut there that had been bleeding. Were there other injuries? He felt the arm on top, shoulder to wrist and as much of the bottom arm that was exposed, then each leg. There didn’t seem to be any broken bones.
He sat back for a moment and watched her breathe. For all the world, she looked like she was asleep and dreaming. Except for the fact that she wasn’t wearing goggles, she also had the look of someone in the Multiverse. Although he wanted to wake her and make sure she was okay, he didn’t. If she was traveling in the Multiverse, it’d be better to wait and not interrupt the journey.
He took stock of the environment. They were on the shoulder of the main highway. The truck must have slid down the short embankment and skid into a utility pole, though he couldn’t see it from where he was.
“Olivia! SK!” Dale yelled.
“Up here, Dale!”
The utility pole across the highway was blazing brightly now, as were some bushes at its base. SK moved so his shadow didn’t fall across Liv. He heard footsteps in the loose gravel.
“Oh my god, is she–”
“Unconscious,” SK finished. “But I think she’s okay.”
“What happened?” Dale said. He squinted at the burning pole as a section of it cracked and fell in a rain of sparks and swirling embers.
“Kind of a long story,” SK said, as he looked up at Dale. “Are you okay?”
“Some bruises,” he said, feeling his breastbone. “I guess it’s a good thing the truck isn’t that fast.”
SK nodded and took out his phone. No service. Then he went to the driver’s side of the SUV and opened the door. No keys.
“Will the truck run?” SK asked.
“You know, I didn’t even try it.”
“You’ll have to be the one to drive it,” SK said. “I won’t be able to reach the pedals.”
“Right,” Dale said and turned to go.
“And Dale?” SK said.
Dale paused and turned to face him. Liv lay between them as the light from the fire continued to flicker. SK kept his voice even and looked him in the eye.
“Don’t ever try something like that with Liv again,” he said. “Like what I saw in the plaza.”
At first Dale seemed not to understand. SK waited. This wasn’t the greatest time for a heart-to-heart but it was the first time the two of them had been ‘alone.’ Dale’s puzzlement turned to surprise and then a grimace.
“No, I–” he said, then stopped. He took a breath and looked down at her. Then he looked at SK. “That was a mistake,” Dale said. “It won’t happen again.”
SK held his gaze for a moment and then nodded.
Dale glanced once more at Liv and then headed toward the embankment.
SK looked up and down the road. There was only darkness beyond the glow of the fire. Out here, it might be a while before a car came by. He went back to where he’d been standing when he’d first seen those two men with Liv. There it was, on the ground. He picked up the rifle. He hadn’t seen what had happened to the men. Though he liked to think they’d been incinerated, he wasn’t going to take that chance. He laid the rifle next to Liv.
Then he zipped up her jacket, took off his own and covered her thighs with it. He sat down next to her and watched her breathing. Her eyes moved back and forth under the lids. It was strangely like a healing but clearly it wasn’t. Even so, he reached out his hand to her arm and rested it there.
“Come back, Liv.”
The only answer he got was something drifting down between them. It had started to snow.
CHAPTER SIXTY-FOUR
IN THE UNDERWORLD, there was a small swamp in the middle of the plaza. Rather than running around and playing, the ancestors were gathered in small groups at the periphery, pointing at it and talking to each other in hushed tones. Coco stood at its edge, arms crossed over her chest. She turned to face Livvy as she approached.
“Good, I’m glad you’ve come,” Coco said. She glanced upward. “Quite the show you put on up there.”
The sun was bright and the late morning was already hot. Livvy’s skin felt tight in the dry air.
“I did?” Livvy asked, as Coco turned back to the swamp. “I … I don’t remember.”
“I know,” Coco said.
“Is everyone there okay?” Livvy asked, putting a hand on her arm.
“Oh heavens, yes,” Coco said, laughing lightly as she patted Livvy’s hand. “Everybody’s just fine.”
“SK?” Livvy asked.
“Yes, your young man is fine.”
Livvy took a deep breath and nodded. Good. Somehow, because it seemed natural to Coco that she didn’t remember, it seemed okay to her too.
The two of them stood at the edge of a perfectly circular and soggy marsh. Bright green reeds, two feet tall, pushed up through muddy water. Tiny white flowers dotted the circle and the entire thing swayed ever so slightly in a breeze that had come up. It was lovely.
“Why is there a swamp here?” Livvy asked.
“The great sunflower isn’t going to grow from rock.”
Livvy swept her eyes over the plaza, looking for a sunflower.
“I’m afraid you’ve lost me.”
“The Underworld is changing, my dear. It’s the coming of the Fifth World.”
Livvy stared at the marsh.
“But I thought the Fifth World was something that happened in the real world, if it happened at all–”
“If it happened at all,” Coco mocked. “Listen to you. Such disbelief. And from the Lightning Shaman.”
She actually tsked.
“Well…” Livvy started but paused. She’d been about to make an excuse. “Honestly, I’m not sure what to believe. Celestino says one thing, Dale another. I guess some people on the mesas believe it but others not. And…”
She hesitated.
“Go ahead,” said Coco.
“I’m not sure I should be involved,” she blurted out. “I don’t know anything about the Hopi, this Underworld,” she said as she motioned around. “It’s wondrous and I’m grateful to you but I’m just trying to figure out how to live and be with the man I love.”
Coco shook her head. “Well, kiddo, whether you wanted to be involved or not, you are. As for you and your young man?” Coco smiled. “Wisdom only comes when you stop looking for it. Happiness too.” Then she grew more serious. “But if you think that’s all you’re doing, you’re wrong.”
Livvy cocked her head at that.
“Look!” yelled a little boy on the opposite side of the marsh.
A sunflower had sprouted in the middle and was about six inches taller than the surrounding reeds. Just moments ago, there’d been nothing. Livvy was sure of it.
“Where did that come from?” she asked.
“I’m afraid that’s the beginning of the Fifth World,” Coco said, crossing her arms over her chest again.
“That?”
It was a flower. A flower is going to bring an end to life as we know it?
“Yes, that,” said Coco.
She looked at Livvy once more before she turned and strolled away. Livvy quickly caught up with her.
“If it helps,” said Coco, “don’t think of it as a flower. Think of it more as a ladder.”
Livvy glanced back at it. Had it grown even more?
“A ladder,” she said, keeping stride with Coco as they promenaded around the edge of the plaza.
As they came close to the kids, some of them silently reached out a hand to her as she passed. She lightly took them in hers and gave each a small smile, a quick caress of the face, or a gentle kiss on top of the head. Livvy knew the ancestors were being quiet but up close she could see the worried looks on their faces.
All because of the ‘ladder.’
She looked over at it again. It was easily two feet taller than the surrounding plants.
“So,” said Livvy. “Who climbs this ladder?”
“We do,” said Coco, as she smiled down at a pair of little girls who were hugging each other.
One of them reached out to her. She took the girl’s hand, briefly held it in both of hers, and then patted it as she let go. The little girl sniffed and wiped her eyes as her friend clung to her.
The ancestors were crying.
Livvy looked back at the sunflower, more round and taller–the stalk becoming thick.
“Where does the ladder go?” Livvy asked.
“To the sipaapuni of the new world,” Coco said, as she looked up to the sky. “The place of emergence.”
Livvy looked up and shielded her eyes from the bright sun. The sky was the perfect blue of a robin’s egg, smooth and unblemished.
“It’s not there yet,” said Coco. “But it will be.”
Livvy looked at her and realized all of the children were looking up as well.
“It was so long ago,” Coco said, as if in a dream. “The third world ended and we emerged into this world. Bright and new and dry.” Coco looked into Livvy’s eyes. “I thought it would be the last,” she said, her voice tinged with sorrow.
“Does it have to happen?” Livvy asked.
“So it does,” Coco said, resuming her walk. “But neither Celestino nor Dale is right. It doesn’t happen in the real world. The Fifth World will begin here and, when it does, it will destroy the Multiverse.”
Livvy stopped.
“Destroy the Multiverse?” Livvy exclaimed. “How is that even possible?”
Coco stopped and looked back at her.
“By unmaking existence.”
CHAPTER SIXTY-FIVE
TWO FRANTICALLY GESTICULATING men crossed into the headlights.
“Look out!” Celestino screamed as he slammed on the brakes.
The tires squealed as the car started to slide sideways but it came to a stop without the sound of bodies thudding against the front bumper.
“Gods!” Celestino breathed.
There was a pounding on his window that made him jump so hard the seat belt tightened. It was Victor.
“Let me in!” he screamed. Then he disappeared to start pounding on the backseat window. “Hurry!”
His apprentice was pounding on the passenger window.
“What in the hell?” Celestino muttered.
He hit the wrong button and locked the already locked doors. The men on both sides of the car pumped the handles furiously.
“Wait!” he yelled and finally unlocked the doors.
Then he smelled something burning–damn, his cigarette. He found it under his legs, smoldering on the floor mat. He quickly picked it up and smashed it into the ash tray.
The two men had already rushed in and slammed their doors.
“Go!” said Victor, from the back seat. “We’re in! Go!”
Celestino turned to look at him and then at Ed. Neither of them had anything in their hands.
“Where’s the tablet?” he demanded.
“She doesn’t have it,” Ed said.
“What?” said Celestino. He shook his head. “Of course she has it or knows where it is. I saw her–”
“She doesn’t have it,” screamed Ed.
“Gods, can you just move the car?” said Victor. “We need to get out of here!”
“Slow down,” Celestino said. “Slow down for a second and tell me what happened.”
“If we don’t get out of here, it’s not going to matter what happened,” screamed Ed in a high pitch.
“Okay!” Celestino said. “Calm down.”
Celestino put the car in gear and headed forward.
“No!” both men screamed.
Celestino braked.
“Not that way!” said Victor. “We need to get as far away from her as possible.”
“By all the gods,” said Celestino, suddenly panicking. Had these men actually killed her? “You didn’t–”
“She nearly killed us!” screamed Ed.
“What?” said Celestino.
“The lightning shaman!” yelled Victor. He glanced out his window and then the back window. “Gods, just turn the car around and go!”
“No,” Celestino said. “We’re heading over to that meteorite, before someone else gets there.”
“No!” said Victor. “That’s what we’re saying!” He glanced out his window and then out the front windshield. “That was no meteorite. It was lightning. She called it down!”
“Her eyes glowed white!”
Celestino stared at Ed, trying to understand. The man was babbling. Was he hallucinating?
“The two of you,” he said. “Shut up and listen to me.”
“You didn’t see what we saw!” yelled Victor. He checked the front window. “Lightning can strike from miles away, Celestino. Let’s get out of here!”
“Where is the lightning shaman?” Celestino asked.
“That way,” Victor said, jabbing his arm between the front seats and pointing down the road. “About a quarter mile.”
Celestino looked back down the road. “Wait a minute,” he said, turning back to Victor. “Where’s the SUV?”
For the first time since he’d stopped the car, there was silence.
Celestino looked from face to face as they stared at one another.
“You left the SUV there,” Celestino said. “Where she is.”
Still there was silence.
“Is she still there?” he asked.
“How would I know?” said Victor, using a normal voice for a change. “I’m not there am I?”
Olivia Lawson Techno-Shaman Books 1 -3 Page 73
