CHAPTER EIGHT
We were hard core criminals. (Well, maybe not hard core, but throwing university property out the library window had to at least make us badasses.) We didn’t take all the books, of course, just the ones that seemed most important. Sadly, we had to leave one behind because it was too fat to fit through the suicide safety windows. Carrying our load of books, we ran around the back of the building and then to the parking lot.
“Let’s hook up at our house,” Lyssa said. “The rents won’t be home until late. See you there.”
Matt and I watched them drive off. “How Bonnie and Clyde was that?” he said, giving me a quick, breathless kiss.
“You goof,” I laughed.
I followed him to the twins’ house, and when we got there we found them in the living room, ready for a full-out study session that even included Cokes and snacks. I was fumbling through the books for the red one that had mentioned something about twins when a small blue book caught my eye.
“Damian, is this yours? The one about names?” I asked.
“Yeah. That’s the one I went looking for in the library.”
“What for?” Lyssa asked.
“Oh, just a hunch.” He took the book out of my hands, and then we all settled into comfy chairs, sofas and pillows and started to read.
“Lyssa, could you read to yourself, already?” Damian said.
“I am reading to myself. It’s not my fault you’re in here with me!” she said, pointing to the side of her head.
“Whoa,” Matt said, “You guys are really going to have to learn to control that.”
It was true. They fought all the time as it was, just like every other brother and sister I knew. But, seriously, what was going on here? Clearly, everyone around me was developing these crazy powers. But why? I tried to focus on what I was reading, marking pages that might be important with sticky notes as I went.
“Oh. My. God!” Damian yelled so loud I practically jumped off my chair.
“What is it?” Matt asked, standing up and moving to where Damian was sitting on the couch.
“I think this is why Victrixa thinks Maya’s more than a shifter!”
“Oh? It has to do with her name?” Lyssa said.
“Um, that’s really annoying,” Damian said, “but, yes, it does have to do with her name. This is a book about the origins of different names. Listen to this: The name Maya is found in almost every major religion in the world. In India, Maya, spelled M-a-y-a, was Queen Maya of Sakya, the mother of Siddhartha Gautama, the Buddha.
“Buddha had a mom?” I asked.
“Well, duh,” Lyssa said.
“Shh,” Matt said.
Damian read some more, then looked up. “This same spelling of the name also refers to another name for the Hindu goddess Durga, meaning ‘invincible.’ As Durga, she is the protector of the world, vanquishing evil, such as greed, hatred, and prejudice. She is a savior in times of chaos—”
“That’s incredible,” Matt said.
“Wait, there’s more. There’s another spelling of her name.” He started reading again. “In Greco-Roman mythology, Maia, M-a-i-a, was the earth goddess, the eldest and most beautiful of the seven sisters of the Pleiades. The name meant ‘mother,’ or ‘great one.’” Damian looked around at what must have looked like blank expressions. “Hellooo! Am I the only one seeing a common theme here? All of these women were amazing. The mother of Buddha. Greek and Hindu goddesses. Saviors.”
“But what does all this have to do with our Maya?” Matt asked.
“I think these women were all the same soul,” Damian said. “I think that she’s only ‘our Maya’ to some degree. I believe that she is the reincarnation of all these earlier women.”
Suddenly I heard a loud crack.
“Shit! Maya, are you okay?” It was Lyssa’s voice coming from somewhere.
“I got her.” It was Matt’s voice.
I felt myself being picked up and put down on something soft. Then I heard Damian’s voice.
“I’ll get some ice.”
“She’s gonna have a nasty bump,” Lyssa said, sounding closer to me.
“She’ll be okay,” Matt said.
I opened my eyes. I was lying on the couch. They were all staring at me. “What happened?” I asked.
“You fainted and hit your head on the coffee table,” Matt said, holding ice wrapped in a kitchen towel to the back of my head and stroking my hair. “Can you see okay?”
“Uh, yeah,” I said. How the hell could the reincarnation of anything but a huge dork possibly faint and smack her head on a table?
Matt helped me sit up, and I sat there, holding the ice against my head as gracefully as possible while the debate continued.
“I don’t understand what this really means,” Lyssa was saying. “What’s the point?” Damian gave her a look. She tilted her head to the side for a moment and said, “Oooh.”
I couldn’t stand it. “Hey, hey, wait a minute! You can’t do that! Jeez, this is worse than you two babbling in Spanish all the time.”
Matt looked at Damian. “Wait a second. Did you just show her what you know?”
“Yep.”
“That is so awesome,” Matt said.
“Yeah, it’s freakin’ fabulous,” I said.
“Look, honey,” Damian said squeezing in to sit next to me, “I know all this is scary, believe me, I do. I mean, you have no idea how frightening the very thought of having her in my head all the time is—”
“—hey!” Lyss broke in.
“As I was saying,” Damian said, “I think there’s a reason for everything that’s happening. I’m just not sure what that is yet. But we’ll figure it out.”
I could somehow hear, in my soul, Balam telling me that Damian was right. This wasn’t about just individual powers or shape-shifting. I should have been afraid, I guess. How could I be as important as all those Mayas in the book? I couldn’t even vote yet. But there was obviously something happening that was bigger than us. I looked around, thinking about how different we were just two weeks ago. The changes in us were happening fast, as if there was some kind of urgency to it. Damn, my head was killing me, and I was tired of everything running around in it. Well, I guess it was better than having two people running around in it. I couldn’t imagine what the twins were feeling.
“Time for a break,” Matt said, grabbing the remote and sliding down to the floor between my knees. We snacked on Doritos and dip while we channel surfed.
“Hey, go back a channel,” I said.
“The History Channel? Not exactly the kind of relaxation I had in mind, babe.”
“Shh,” I said. He went back, and we watched and listened as the narrator described the end of the Mayan calendar that was set to occur on, according to many researchers, December 21, 2012.
“Isn’t that the end of the world thing?” Lyssa asked.
“My God, it’s only three weeks away,” Matt said, looking up directly into my face. “Maya?”
“This is it,” I said, “I know it, Matt. I can feel it.”
“I think we’re just going to have to trust it,” Damian sighed. “Which sucks. I’m a man of reason, not faith.”
“We’ll figure it out somehow,” I said. “I mean, we’ve made it this far.” I could feel Balam’s strength filling me. “I … I feel like I’m being called to something. We’re on the right path, I know it. This is going to sound crazy, you guys, but I think we’re going to be led to the next step. We just have to wait.”
“I just can’t believe I missed it. It’s been all over the news and the Web,” Damian said.
Matt stood up and pulled me to my feet. “I think I’m gonna take Maya home. She probably shouldn’t drive, just to be on the safe side. Do you guys mind if we leave her car here overnight?”
“No. Lyssa can drive it in to school tomorrow,” Damian said.
“I can speak for myself, thanks,” she snapped.
“Oh, my God,” I said.