CHAPTER TWELVE
I felt restless the next afternoon while I was waiting for Matt to come back from his first official guard duty. I knew he was doing it for a good reason, and I was actually glad he was getting a chance to contribute. That was important to him. I just wished it wasn’t fraying my nerves into little itty-bitty pieces. I paced from the kitchen to the living room and back again, getting lost in my thoughts and imagining the worst. I was sure that if Toltec made any kind of move against us, it would happen while he was on duty. Just to prove how sucky my luck was. Just to piss me off.
“Hey,” Lyssa said, coming down the hall.
“Ohmygod, are you done practicing?” I asked her.
“Mm hmm.”
“Hallelujah,” I said. “I’ve been going crazy out here. Where’s Damian?”
“Richard lent him his laptop.”
“Well, that’s the last we’ll see of him,” I said with a snort.
“Ya think? Hey, I have a little surprise for you. And by the hole you’re wearing in the floor, I’d say now’s the perfect time.”
“For what?”
Lyssa walked over to the fridge and (wonder of wonders!) pulled out a diet Coke.
“No frickin’ way!” I snatched the can out of her hand with a big, goofy grin on my face. “How’d you ever get this?”
“Richard said that two shifters were going into Valladolid for supplies they can’t get around here. I happened to mention a few things that could go on the list.”
I grinned at her. “I wondered where you got more gum!”
“Oh, but it gets better. Take a look in the fridge.” She opened the door again, waving her hand with a little flourish. “Ta-da!”
“Whoa!” I squeaked. “A six pack!”
“Uh-huh. And the rest is under your bed. I figured it would be safer there.”
“There’s more? You’re the best, Lyss,” I gave her little bod a big bear hug.
“Okay…squishing the girl.”
“Sorry,” I said, and backed off, taking a seat at the kitchen table. Lyssa sat down next to me, rubbing her temples. “Is it your head?” I asked her.
“Yup. This headache brought to you by the letters E, S, and P.”
“It’s not getting any better?”
“Yeah, actually, it is. We just have to work really hard at it, you know? It takes so much energy just to keep the wall up for a really short time. And then we always have the headaches after.”
“It’ll get better,” I said, as if I knew anything. “You just need to be patient.”
Lyssa leaned forward until our noses were practically touching and squinted.
“What the hell are you doing?” I asked.
“Just making sure it’s really you in there and not Richard.”
“Smartass.”
Just then, a petite shifter named Selena came in from the patio. She had a little wispy blond bob and big blue eyes. She always wore the front of her hair wrapped in a different funky scarf every day, and she also wore the most beautiful silver rings, many of them with precious stones. She seemed really cool in an offbeat sorta way, but, like most of the shifters, I hadn’t gotten a chance to know her.
“In Lak’ech,” she said brightly.
“Ala K’in, Selena,” I said, smiling at her.
“Waiting for your man?” she asked me. “Don’t worry, honey. He’s doing a great job. He should be back in about an hour.”
“Yeah.” I let my chin rest in my hands.
“Hey,” she said, “how about if I do a reading for you? It’ll take your mind off your troubles.”
“You mean, like, a Tarot reading?” Lyssa asked. “Hell, yeah! Those are awesome.”
“Um, I guess,” I said, not feeling quite as enthusiastic as Lyssa. That stuff always kind of creeped me out (yes, even twenty-four hours after the glowing hands episode).
Selena sat across from us at the kitchen table. She reached into her bag and pulled out a deck of cards and a big paper chart. Even though I was looking at it upside down, I could see that it was full of numbers and symbols.
“This kind of divination is going to look a lot different than what you might have seen in the States,” she said. “It uses ancient Mayan glyphs on the cards. But don’t worry. I’ll interpret them as we go. Now, when were you born?”
“August 7, 1995,” I said.
“Okay,” she said, pulling a card out of the deck and laying it on the table, “Your sun sign is Balam, the Jaguar. That’s the obvious one. It’s the symbol of divinity.”
Divinity?
“Now, the Jaguar birth sign is also called the White Wizard, which is shown on this card.”
The picture (I mean, glyph) on the card looked nothing like a wizard. Actually, it looked kinda like a round white marshmallow.
“The White Wizard’s characteristics are Magician, Healer, and Psychic. And you must have a deep connection to Mother Earth.”
“You have no idea,” Lyssa said, reminding me of yesterday when I was face-planted on the floor, frantically trying to give Mother Earth’s energy back.
“You are a natural leader,” Selena continued, “but you must keep in mind that your ability to win over others must never be misused. You walk with great humility, integrity, and gratitude. Never lose those guiding principles, because without them, your sign’s energy can corrupt you.”
I looked up and noticed that Adriana had come in and was standing behind Lyssa’s chair.
“Are you doing a full reading, Selena?” she asked.
“Yes. I just started.”
“Mind if I watch?” The question seemed directed at me, so I gave a quick nod in response.
“Now,” Selena said, pulling another card out of her deck, “I’m going to place your birth sign in the center and place four cards around it, one at a time, representing north, south, east, and west.”
I watched her lay out the first card with a mixture of curiosity and jittery excitement. I wasn’t even sure I believed in the whole card thing, but my sun sign sounded interesting enough to make me want to hear more. Who knew?
“Okay,” she said, “now, the card at the top, or north, is called the White World Bridger.”
“Ah,” Adriana said knowingly.
“The White World Bridger means that your purpose is to bring harmony to peoples of different races, cultures, ideologies, religions, and so on.”
I swallowed hard, not wanting to look up from the table, because I knew what I would find. All three of them would be sharing looks of understanding. I was pretty sure that what was suddenly occurring to me was no doubt dawning on them as well. That card represented what I was supposed to do on the December, 2012, winter solstice.
Selena laid the card down. “The third card is placed at the bottom to represent the south.” I noticed this one had a yellow marshmallow on it. “The Yellow Human card tells us that you have very strong psychic abilities in addition to your spirit magic.”
“Huh?” I looked from Selena to Adriana.
“Don’t worry, Maya,” Adriana said. “It isn’t like we’re just finding this out right now. You’re working on controlling your powers. You’ll be fine.”
I threw Lyssa a glance, and she looked back at me as if to say no worries. But as I kept looking at her for a moment, I saw the look fade quickly. Then I realized she might be thinking about her own psychic powers. It was just now dawning on me that Lyssa might be as unsure and nervous about her powers as I was about mine. I mean, sure, she had Damian, but still…. I made a mental note to not get so caught up in my own stuff.
Selena took another card from the top of the deck. “The card on my left is the Blue Hand. That tells us that you are destined to become a healer.”
“That makes sense with her sun sign being the Jaguar,” Adriana said, smiling. “Selena is also a wonderful healer, Maya.”
Selena flushed slightly and continued. “Remember, Maya, bad memories can weigh us down and keep us from developing healthy self-esteem.
We all need to release our own pain so we can continue to progress on our paths.”
“So you’re saying that the thing I need to work on most is—”
“Yourself.”
Was she kidding me? Suddenly, this whole wax on, wax off approach was starting to give me a headache. I mean, dealing with past issues could only mean one thing, my loser-mom. And my brief life history had taught me that the less I thought about her, the better. I refused to give her any power over me.
“What’s the last card?” I asked, eager to move things along.
“The last card is placed to the right, representing the east.” Selena slid the next card off the top of the deck, flipped it over, and laid it on the table.
Suddenly, I heard Adriana suck in her breath. I looked up at her. The look on her face was one of pure shock. Then I glanced at Selena, who was just staring at the card in silence. I gazed back down at the card. Red marshmallow.
“Are you sure that’s the right card?” Adriana almost whispered.
“Yes,” Selena answered, “I’m positive.”
“What’s going on?” Lyssa asked in a nervous voice.
“This is the Red Serpent card,” Selena said.
“Er, what does that mean?” I asked.
“Well…just like every card, it is interpreted based on what it is and where it lands.”
“But what does it mean in the east position?” Lyssa asked impatiently.
“In this case, the meaning is one of duplicity,” Adriana said.
Wha—?
“Someone that we believe is an ally is actually working against us,” she explained.
My thoughts went immediately to Cesar. He and Matt were outside the stone wall in the surrounding jungle. Was Matt in danger? Were we all?
“There’s more,” Selena said, “the sign is a serpent. Victrixa’s second form is Kan, the snake.”
“Wait, what? No. She told me that it was a deer!”
Adriana shook her head. “I’m sure she told you that because she wanted you to feel safe. She needed you to trust her. But the cards clearly show a double meaning here. Someone that we think is working with us is spying on us. Or possibly worse.”
“Do you think it might be Cesar? Like Matt thought?” I asked.
“I’m not sure, Maya. But we’re going to find out,” Adriana said, pushing away from the table. “I need to go find Richard. Selena, thank you very much for your help.”
“Of course,” Selena said, still looking worried as she picked up the cards and her chart.
Adriana paused at the door. “You know, perhaps you could help in another way too,” she said. “Would you be willing to take over working with the twins while Richard deals with this?”
“Absolutely,” Selena answered with a kind smile.
Alyssa and I hadn’t moved an inch when Matt came through the kitchen a few minutes later. He looked beat and ready for a shower.
“What’s going on?” he asked us. “You two look like ghosts.”
“You were right,” I said. “There’s someone here who is working for Toltec.”
“Are you sure? Did something happen?”
“It’s all based on this Mayan divination thingy,” I said.
“What?”
“Come on,” I stood up and took his hand. “I’ll explain it on the way.”
“I’m gonna see if I can surgically remove my brother from Richard’s laptop so I can fill him in,” Lyssa said. “See you guys at dinner.”
“Okay,” I answered, following Matt into our room. “Why don’t you jump in the shower first?” I told him. “I really should try to call my dad.”
He gave me a quick kiss. “I’ll be right out.”
Whoa—suddenly I had the overwhelming urge to follow him. And when I say follow, I mean like chase him down and jump on him. (Talk about your mating call, jeez.) Sighing, I took my cell phone out and carefully dialed the international codes. Dad wasn’t home, which I had pretty much expected. He probably hadn’t even left campus yet. It was just as well. What was I supposed to say to him? I could barely hear his voice on our voicemail without choking up. I managed to swallow the lump in my throat and leave him a quick message that I was fine and that we were having a fabulous time. Fa-bu-lous. Yeah, right.
I needed to deal with my ever-increasing stress level, so I sat in the middle of the bed and crossed my legs and closed my eyes. I evened out my breathing and started following my breath as it flowed in and out of my body. Slowly, my mind let go and I felt the tension in my body begin to ease. Adriana and Richard’s room suddenly came into focus.
“…but, who could it be, Richard?” I heard Adriana saying, her voice cracking with emotion. “Who could it possibly be? Half of them have been with us since the beginning.”
“That’s true,” he said. “And there’s another fourth that have been here for almost that long. Ten years or so.” He paused. “But I’m not even sure that we’re looking at it the right way.”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, does it follow that the shifters who have been with us the longest are necessarily the most loyal?” Richard asked.
“Oh, God, I don’t know. I just don’t know.” Adriana sighed. She sat down on the edge of the bed with her face in her hands. “Let’s think. No one knows about this except you, Selena, Matt, Maya, and me. And none of us would say anything, right? Selena is completely loyal.”
“There’s no doubt,” Richard said. “I’m sure the twins know by now, too.”
“That’s not a problem. They won’t say anything.”
“Right,” Richard said. “After dinner, we’ll make sure that everyone in our little group understands that no one else is to know we’ve got a visitor. In the meantime, I think Matt and I are going to do a little investigating. We need to figure out who it is and what information they have given to Toltec.”
“We’re just so close, Richard.”
“I know,” he answered. I saw him sit down on the bed next to her and put his arm around her shoulders. “We knew this wasn’t going to be easy—”
“Maya?”
Holy bejeezus! I almost jumped out of my skin.
Matt touched my shoulder and I jumped again. “Sorry, babe. I didn’t mean to startle you,” he said.
“It’s okay,” I said, “I was just trying to de-stress a bit.”
“So, what’s the deal with the Tarot cards?” (Deal? Cards? Ha!)
I brought my focus back to him and our room. “Well, they’re pretty much used like regular Tarot cards, except the pictures on the cards are Mayan glyphs. Selena was doing a reading for me while I was waiting for you to get back. Anyway, she and Adriana think the last card showed that there’s a traitor here…som—someone…” Out of nowhere, my eyes blurred so much I could hardly make out Matt’s face. I started to feel weak. I began to lose feeling in my legs, like they were going totally numb. I couldn’t hold myself up.
“Maya? My? Jesus, My, you’re white as a sheet! Here, just lay back on the pillow. I’m gonna get help.”
“What the hell happened?” I heard Richard ask as he came into the room.
“I don’t know.” Matt’s voice was filled with panic, “One minute she was talking, and the next she looked like she was about to pass out.”
“Adriana?”
“Someone get Selena. Now.”