“Do you see?” Celestino shouted. “It will lead us to the sipaapuni!”
Livvy looked up. The face of the sunflower was invisible, somewhere in or above the cloud layer.
“We must open the sipaapuni and enter the Fifth World!” Celestino yelled.
Thunder rumbled at the horizon and lighting lit the roiling clouds.
“Follow me,” Celestino yelled.
“No!” screamed Livvy, extending her hand up.
The shamans behind Celestino stopped but Celestino didn’t.
“Lightning,” Livvy said.
The bolt snaked out of the sky, sliced past the stalk and connected with Livvy’s hand.
Celestino looked at her. “You’ve seen that your lightning can’t touch the path,” he yelled. “You can no more blow up the world tree than you can blow up the Multiverse. It can’t be destroyed.”
Livvy aimed her other arm at him and the shamans nearby gave him some distance.
“Oh, it’s me then?” Celestino asked, hands on chest. “You’d kill me?”
“You were the one who left us on the plateau,” she said. “Buried alive. It’s your sorcerer who tried to bury me here. You’re the ones trying to unmake existence. Not me.”
“Unmake existence?” Celestino laughed loud and hard. “Who told you that?”
“Coco,” she said.
Celestino frowned, shook his head, and looked at his men before looking back. “Who?”
What game was he playing? How did he not know Dale’s grandmother? He’d seen her in the Multiverse.
“Coco, the shaman from the edge of the mesa.”
Celestino smirked at her. The other shamans looked blankly at her. “Look, Lightning Shaman,” Celestino said. “There is no shaman at the edge of the mesa and you have no idea what you’re talking about.”
He sounded very sure of himself.
Where is Coco? Why isn’t she the one explaining this?
“The Fifth World means the end of the Fourth World,” Livvy said, yelling through the shower of sparks. “Is that what you want? The destruction of the world?”
“The Fifth World is a world of purity and peace, led by us,” Celestino yelled, thumping his chest.
“At what cost?” Livvy screamed. “The unmaking of existence?”
Some of the men in back of Celestino looked at one another.
“The pure will survive!” Celestino bellowed. “That is the prophecy. We know it. We welcome it.”
“Leon didn’t welcome it,” Livvy yelled.
Celestino’s face screwed up. Again, there was that look of anguish.
“Don’t listen to her!” he screamed. “All she wants is the tablet.”
Yes, she wanted the tablet, but they were beyond that now. Way beyond. The men in back were starting to look uncomfortable but Celestino had whipped himself into a frenzy.
“Then kill me!” he screamed, spreading his arms wide.
Livvy had no doubt that she could, as echoes of other battles sounded in her memory–other shamans, other spirit helpers, and other gods. It was time to choose. Livvy looked at Celestino through the familiar shower of sparks, saw his face lit by the writhing bolt above her. Although she hadn’t chosen to be the lighting shaman, she could choose how.
“You’ll have to kill me to stop me!” Celestino screamed.
“Not really,” she said and pointed at the tablets.
The world tree might be part of the Multiverse but the tablets were not. If they could be destroyed, then the sipaapuni could not be opened. If the gateway into the next world didn’t open, it didn’t matter how high the world tree grew.
“No,” Celestino screeched as he lunged forward.
But it was a futile move. He knew it as well as Livvy. The lightning shot out from her hand and in the blink of an eye it crashed into … Tawa?
CHAPTER EIGHTY-SIX
THE ELECTRICITY VANISHED with an abruptness that made SK jerk.
“What?” he mumbled.
The glow under his hands was gone and, along with it, the small bit of warmth it carried. The utter blackness of the small interior room returned as if a light switch had been thrown. The electricity had been brief but at least he was feeling more alert.
He withdrew his hands but didn’t bother putting them in the wet pockets of his jacket. He sat back and kept his eyes open, not quite sure what to expect. When Livvy called down lightning in the Multiverse and then stopped, it wasn’t typically such a quick transition in the real world. It took a few moments for the electricity to settle down and drain away.
He shivered, the muscles of his stomach and back quaking violently. His head shook and his teeth clacked until he clenched his jaw.
Then, out of the corner of his eye, he saw something, barely visible.
He turned and stared but it vanished.
It had been among the pile of rubble he’d been building on the other side of the burial chamber.
He looked a little to the right of where it had been and it reappeared, bouncing in his vision as the shivering continued.
It must be very dim because only the most light-sensitive part of his eye was able to see it. He crawled toward it in the darkness, scooting his hands in front of his knees. As he got closer though, the light dimmed. Whatever it was, it was under something–something which could only be a rock.
“Na … na … naturally,” he finally got out.
He didn’t bother trying to stand, not sure that he could. He felt for the edges of the rock and lifted.
The crystal of many colors blazed into view. He squinted at the sudden light. Shoving the rock to the side, he picked up the crystal, still on its chain. It dangled, swinging and bobbing from the shaking of his hand.
He remembered Celestino taking it, but apparently he hadn’t kept it. SK nodded to himself. Of course, he hadn’t. It was another shaman’s object of power. As such, it was a danger. He hadn’t wanted Liv to have it but he couldn’t keep it for himself. Mixed in with the rock fall, it must have been laying on the top of the burial chamber.
Another long shudder began. SK drew in his arms and hands, hugging himself. His vision bobbled and his teeth clattered. He didn’t spend energy trying to stop it.
Instead, he crawled unsteadily back to Liv and held the crystal over her. She was still breathing regularly, her jugular pulsing like normal.
Shamans who entered the Multiverse with their pendants, or other objects of power, could use them there. That was normal. As far as he knew though, they had to take them when they entered. He’d never heard of a shaman who could use one that was given to them after the fact. Then again, he’d never heard of a shaman who crossed into the Multiverse with a kiss.
He carefully laid the pendant and chain on her stomach.
CHAPTER EIGHTY-SEVEN
LIVVY DROPPED HER hands as the lightning disappeared.
“Tawa!” she yelled.
He stood there with palms raised to her but slowly lowered them. Livvy felt relief flood through her–not only was he uninjured but help had finally arrived. She had been about to ask him where he’d been when he turned around and picked up the tablets.
Of course. He’s going to take care of it himself.
When he turned back though, he looked at Celestino who was quickly walking toward him.
“Yes, Tawa?” Celestino said. He stopped in front of Tawa and looked up into the giant round face. “Yes, Great Creator,” he said. Then he glanced sidelong at Livvy. “That’s what I was trying to do.”
Livvy knew her mouth must be hanging open. Tawa was having a conversation with Celestino. A conversation.
Celestino turned to his men. “You heard him,” he yelled and jerked a thumb at Livvy.
‘You heard him’? They heard him?
“Hey!” she yelled, as thunder rumbled in the background.
She felt Blanca come to her side. Neither Tawa nor Celestino turned to her.
“Hey,” she yelled again, striding toward them.
&nb
sp; There had better be a good explanation.
She was still many paces from them when a strange buzzing sound drew her attention. Blanca was already staring at it. A strange cloud had gathered between her and the other shamans. It seemed to move, change shape and grow larger.
Was there a weather shaman among them? It didn’t spin like a dust devil and it wasn’t brown either. It was black but transparent and still growing. Blanca cocked her head as the buzzing grew louder.
Suddenly Livvy realized what it was. This was no cloud. It was a swarm. She jerked her hand upward.
“Wind,” she said.
The summoned gale struck out of nowhere with the force of a bulldozer. It laid the reeds of the marsh flat. Livvy leaned backward into it as her hair flew past her face. Blanca hunkered low to the ground. The swarm was pushed back but it didn’t disappear. With that kind of wind, it should have flown clear off the mesa.
Livvy glanced at Tawa. He no longer had the tablets. Celestino was leaning into the wind and heading toward the podium. Despite his great round face, Tawa had no trouble with the wind. He stood erect and held out his rattle.
Was he shaking it?
He was pointing it in the direction of the swarm.
Working against her?
She looked back to the swarm. It was approaching, gaining ground, and growing larger. It was close enough now that she could tell it was composed of hornets, angry and ready to sting. She stretched her arm higher, looked up to the clouds as they churned above her, and concentrated.
More wind.
The gale doubled in strength. The swarm backed up. Celestino fell over and Blanca started to scoot along the ground though she clawed at it. Livvy quickly grabbed the scruff of her neck and leaned back. Pebbles pelted her back. The shamans in front of her stumbled and tumbled until they were pinned against whatever they came into contact with–a building, another shaman–all except for one. He stood, leaning forward, both hands stretched out. He was the one creating the swarm.
Livvy sensed someone behind her. Without turning, she knew who it must be.
Blanca roared a warning as Livvy let her go. The giant cat crouched and tried to turn but the wind was dragging her away.
Livvy felt someone hit her back as their arms flailed past her. The wind must have taken the earth shaman by surprise when he’d surfaced. She quickly grabbed one arm and spun. The plaza whirled around her as she kept one arm up for the wind and pulled the earth shaman from his feet. Then she let him go.
Buoyed by the gale, he sailed through the air, through the swarm, and into the hornet shaman. The two of them smashed into a house, through the wall, and disappeared in a torrent of bricks and debris. The swarm dissolved and Livvy dropped her arm. The wind evaporated.
Blanca stood and shook out her fur as Livvy caught her breath. Small bursts of light appeared where the shamans had been, letting Livvy know they were exiting the Multiverse.
It was silent.
Then the shaking of a rattle began.
She looked at Tawa. “What is up with you?” she demanded and strode toward him. “You’re the one who gave me the tablet in the first place.” Blanca took up a trot next to her. “You’re the one who appears to me. I didn’t ask for this.”
Celestino scrambled to his feet behind Tawa and gathered up the tablets.
“He’s going to end the world,” Livvy yelled. “Is that what this is about? Is that what you want?”
Tawa’s face rotated toward Celestino who then turned to her.
“He wants me to tell you–”
Livvy stopped, hands spread in front of her. “And what is it with the silent act?” Muted lightning flashed in the clouds above as thunder followed. “You’ll talk to everyone else but not me?”
“He’s talking to you but you can’t hear him,” Celestino said as Tawa turned back to her.
“What?”
Tawa’s rattle gently swished, shaking out a slow rhythm, as he tapped it into his cupped hand.
“I am going to open the sipaapuni,” Celestino declared, as if reminded by the rattle, and he abruptly turned back to the podium.
“You can’t be serious,” she said to Tawa.
He kept up the slow rhythm.
“You can’t want the world and Multiverse destroyed,” she said, the tone of her voice rising, as thunder cracked and lightning flashed simultaneously. “We worked together once to preserve them.”
He slowly turned away from her as he tapped the rattle.
“I risked my life to help you,” she yelled. “And now I’m risking SK’s.”
He ignored her and watched Celestino.
“Tawa, please,” Livvy tried one more time. “Don’t do this.”
He looked as though he hadn’t heard.
“You don’t leave me any choice,” she said quietly, not quite believing what she was saying.
Tawa looked up and the rattle sounded off like a machine gun. His great round face was fixed on the clouds above and the rattle moved so fast Livvy couldn’t see it.
What is he doing?
She looked up, following his gaze, as a small sliver of sunlight broke through the clouds.
“No,” she muttered.
Several rays of light emerged as though the clouds had been shot through with lasers. Large patches of blue sky started to appear.
“No!” Livvy screamed.
Her spirit helper was being obliterated.
She thrust her hand up. “Lightning!” she yelled.
But it was useless. There could be no lightning without clouds.
As the echo of Livvy’s scream died in the plaza, the last puffy white cloud simply shrank out of existence. Like a vault of turquoise, the sky was perfectly clear. She shielded her eyes from the glare of the sun.
In the distance, were those clouds at the horizon? She reached out to them. “Wind,” she whispered.
But there was nothing. Her spirit helper had been pushed to the edge of the Multiverse. The rattle slowed down and Livvy lowered her gaze to Tawa. Not Tawa, her sometimes friend, and not Tawa, the kachina doll. This was Tawa, the sun kachina and the most powerful of the Hopi spirits. He had used the sun to drive away the clouds, something only he could do. For the first time in her life, she was without her spirit helper.
Blanca nudged her.
Oh gods, of course.
She knelt and rested her hand on Blanca’s head.
I’m not without a spirit helper.
Celestino began to chant and Livvy looked up. He backed away from the first podium. He threw a fine powder toward it, then turned ninety degrees, and tossed some more. He made two more tosses before he completed his revolution and was facing the podium once more. It began to glow.
Livvy stood. No, it wasn’t the podium that was glowing, it was the first tablet. It had been set into its niche, matching perfectly. The symbols carved in it glowed with a deep pulsating red.
Tawa kept up his gentle tapping as he watched Celestino, who now turned and proceeded clockwise around the base of the sunflower to the next podium. Livvy watched as a thought occurred to her.
Tawa might be able to neutralize her spirit helper but Celestino was just another shaman. He could be stopped.
Livvy crouched down next to Blanca and whispered in her ear.
“Whatever you do, don’t let a quill touch you. Not one.”
Blanca gave a low growl.
Celestino was nearly at the next podium. Without lightning or wind, this was going to come down to speed and strength. She glanced at Tawa, who was still watching Celestino and rhythmically shaking his rattle. It was one thing to banish her spirit helper but would he try to stop her?
She was going to find out.
From her crouch, Livvy rushed at Celestino just as he raised his hand. Without even looking at her, he flicked his fingers in her direction. Quills, thousands of them, appeared out of nowhere. Livvy dodged left, giving them a wide berth, and hoped that Blanca had heeded her warning. No sooner had she taken anot
her attack angle, Celestino flicked his fingers again. A second volley was launched and then another. She dodged left again and again, getting nearer to him each time. At this point, she had circled opposite Celestino with the sunflower between them. It actually provided some cover.
Just a little closer.
Livvy closed the distance between her and the stalk and quickly put her back to it. She looked up to see another volley coming from where she had just been.
He was able to direct the quills from anywhere.
As she turned to dodge, Celestino sprang from around the stalk. His hand flashed between them and Livvy instinctively grabbed it with both of hers. He had a quill aimed directly at her chest. He slammed his other hand down over hers and shoved.
Celestino was strong. That wasn’t a surprise. He was an older shaman, a powerful one. But there was no time to grapple. Livvy knew the final volley must be almost upon them. She bent backwards.
The sudden lack of resistance took him by surprise. He lurched forward, out of control. As she tumbled backwards, she used her foot to launch him over her.
Like the sound of hard rain, Livvy heard hundreds of quills land where she had been only moments before, impaling the tree in rapid succession. As her somersault ended, she used the momentum to carry her to a standing position and then whirled to face Celestino. He was crouched with the quill held out like a knife.
But he didn’t attack. In fact, for an instant he wasn’t even looking at her. He was looking past her. Whatever or whoever it was, Livvy didn’t waste time turning to see it. She had just begun to surge away when her midsection jerked forward. It took a second for the pain to register.
She stared down at a bright green tendril covered in blood. It protruded from her right side, above the waist. Another half inch and it would have missed her. Had she stood still, she’d be dead. Suddenly, with a tug, the tendril disappeared, rocking her backwards as it did.
She looked up just as Celestino’s quill swiped the empty air, missing her by less than an inch. Without intending to help her, the tendril had tugged her out of the way. She didn’t wait to get lucky again.
Olivia Lawson Techno-Shaman Books 1 -3 Page 80
