Chapter Twenty-Eight
A sweet smelling breeze lifts my hair. The strange stillness of the temple mesa is gone. Leaves rustle once more. Birds sing. The ice cream truck finally drives by.
The absolutely ordinary day surrounds me, and I revel in it. The grass under my fingers is soft and itchy. I don’t remember falling. Hands digging into the earth, my body heaves out gasping breaths. My head is swimming and I struggle to keep from tipping over. It is a wasted effort, though, because I find myself sprawled out on the grass a few seconds later with Tanner hovering over me.
“Arra, what happened?” he asks, panting with anxiety. “You went so still. You didn’t look like you were even breathing, and then you just collapsed. Are you okay? Are you hurt?” His hands roam over my body checking for damage and tickling me enough to make me laugh and squirm.
“Tanner. Tanner! I’m fine. It’s okay. We’re both fine, now,” I gasp.
Tanner just stares at me, completely perplexed. His eyes cloud angrily. “Why are you laughing? I was scared to death. I thought you were dead when you fell. What happened?”
“I’m sorry, Tanner.” I reach up and grab his face and pull it down to mine. Seeing the fear in his eyes brings everything back. I never thought I would see him again, and now that he is in my hands I don’t want to let him go. Pulling him to me, I lock him in a passionate kiss. His anger melts away with the stiffness in his body and his hand comes up to caress my face.
“I really didn’t think they knew each other that well,” Father Margulies says. Tanner and I slowly move apart after hearing the chuckling voice, our faces deep shades of crimson.
“Are you okay?” my grandpa asks with a weary laugh. His voice is tight, his throat raw and nearly hoarse, but a relieved smile plays on his face.
Looking over at him, I smile. He looks worse than I feel. He pulls himself off the ground, using the bench arm rest for support, and slides onto the uncomfortable wooden slats. Reaching for me, his hand shakes slightly. I step away from Tanner and go to his side.
“I’m okay, Grandpa,” I say. “I’m better than I expected to be at this point.” Taking his hand, I slide onto the bench beside him. Tanner and Father Margulies both wait for us to gather our thoughts. I am sure they both want explanations, but they look content to wait a little longer.
“What made you think to suggest the Kivera had to be the sacrifice?” I ask. The relief and wonder I feel at how he rescued me wraps my arms around him. “I didn’t think anything would stop this from continuing after Tlaloc refused me.”
“When I looked at them,” my grandpa says, “I realized that they were the ones being punished. When you offered up yourself to save the girls who would come after you, I knew you had the right idea, but it made sense that Tlaloc was trying to punish Kivera and Skaline for their choice. It was never about the girls’ lives. It was about making them pay for cheating him and being selfish. I wasn’t sure either of them would actually do what I suggested, but I hoped.”
“If you could have seen her in my dream, the joy on Kivera's face when she was offered a way to save herself, you never would have believed she would offer herself to save me. I wouldn’t have,” I say. “I really thought giving up my own life was the only option.”
“You are such an amazing young woman, Arra. To be honest, I don’t know if either of them would have been willing to give themselves up if you hadn’t made the offer first. I think they needed the example first, the glimpse at this curse ending, before they could see themselves doing the same thing,” my grandpa says, pride cracking his voice.
“When Kivera, mentioned the other girls,” I say, “asking if they could be saved too, my heart leapt. I prayed for that brief second, that Katie and Maera would come back. I know it was a foolish thing to hope for, but it was hard not to.”
He kisses the top of my head. “I was so afraid that I was going to be forced to watch you die.” He shakes his head, as if shedding years of pain and grief in the slight motion. “I’m just so glad to have you here now. Let’s have no more talk of the past. It has haunted our family long enough.”
Both Tanner and Father Margulies still look slightly unsure of what actually happened, but neither of them says anything. I will explain to Tanner later, and I am sure Father Margulies will get the details from my grandpa sooner or later. But for now, neither of us wants to speak of it anymore.
“What time is it?” I ask. The time spent atop the temple mesa seems to have lasted days, hours at least. With the exhaustion that has overwhelmed me, I wouldn’t be surprised if it really had been several days since the Aztec guard touched my hand. I shiver remembering that brief contact.
“It’s twelve oh five,” my grandpa answers. “I don’t think any time passed at all while we were there.” Rubbing his eyes, he sighs deeply, expelling emotions that seem ready to overwhelm him. “I feel like I haven’t slept in days.”
“Me too.”
My grandpa runs his fingers through his hair and winces. His fingers come away bloody.
“That isn’t going to be easy to explain,” Father Margulies says.
“We’ll just tell your dad I tripped while we were hiking. Old fogies like me are always falling down,” he says, laughing for the first time in days.
“Then he’ll want you to go in for a cat scan,” I warn him.
“Why don’t you come inside and let me get you cleaned up,” Father Margulies says. “I’m sure Tanner can get Arra home okay.”