~ ~ ~
I didn’t wake up until the next morning. Surprisingly, I felt just like myself. Letting Matt sleep in, I hopped in the shower. Suddenly I realized that I was starving. I brushed my teeth, put on shorts and a tank top, and threw my hair in a quick ponytail. When I got to the kitchen, Alma was starting breakfast.
“Good morning, Maya,” she said. “You are feeling much better?”
“I feel great,” I said, grabbing a can of diet Coke from the fridge and popping the tab.
“I’m so glad,” she smiled.
“Would you like some help?” I asked.
“No, no, I’m fine. Ana helps, but she is on duty right now.”
“That’s okay. Let me help you. I’m actually not a bad cook.”
“Okay, gracias,” she said sweetly.
Together, we made enough scrambled eggs and browned enough ham to make about a hundred breakfast burritos. Ana made it back in time to squeeze the fresh orange juice.
“In Lak’ech,” I said to her.
“Here,” she said brusquely. “I’ll finish that. It’s my responsibility.”
“I don’t mind helping out.”
“I’ve got it.”
Feeling in the way, I pretty much hightailed it out of there. It wasn’t long before everyone came piling in. I noticed that Richard, Adriana, and Selena seemed to want to keep the events of the night before on the down-low. Matt and the twins followed suit, so no one asked me how I was feeling around the other shifters, but they all seemed relieved to see me at breakfast.
After we ate, we met in Damian’s room.
“Now,” Adriana asked, as she shut the door behind us, “how are you feeling?”
“Normal,” I said. “It’s weird. It was so overwhelming at the time, but now it’s like it never happened.”
“Well, it did,” Richard said. “So try to take it easy and let us know if anything feels off. That goes for everyone. We aren’t sure exactly what’s going on yet, but as we continue to get closer to the solstice, we need to be more vigilant.”
“And we’re going to have to keep everything between us,” Adriana added. “Richard and Matt are working on figuring out who’s working for Toltec. But they can’t do that if the spy thinks that we’re on to anything.”
Richard started for the door. “Matt and I are going to head out now. Everyone else, just go on as usual,” he said.
As Adriana and I got ready to head to her sun porch, the twins and Selena all gave me quick hugs.
“I’m so glad you’re okay,” Lyssa said.
“Ditto for me,” Damian said.
“So am I. See you guys at lunch,” I said, having a déjà vu moment about, like, every school day I’d ever had.
“You’re sure that you feel up to this?” Adriana asked.
“Yeah,” I said, “actually I feel totally fine.”
“Good. I’m glad. We were worried.”
“Do you…I mean, does anyone know what happened to me?” I asked her. God, I could barely get the question out. I wanted to know, but at the same time I wanted to forget the whole thing happened. Like amnesia of convenience or something.
“Well,” she said, “it could be related to how long it takes your body to get used to containing so much energy.
“But that’s just a guess, right?”
“I’m afraid so. But it’s by far the most logical. We need to keep working.”
“Okay.” I sighed.
We sat down face to face on the floor. Once I had closed my eyes and grounded my energy, Adriana asked me to open my eyes. To my surprise, she was holding a thick, white, pillar candle in her hand.
“Now that you’re ready,” she said in a quiet voice, “I want you to focus on this candle. We’re going to work on opening a portal and sending it through the Otherworld to another location.”
“But, I’ve never done that when I’ve been trying to,” I said.
“Not when you’ve been aware that you’ve been trying to. Try to focus on the energy moving within you. Now feel it building, building, building….”
Whoa! Just like that, the candle disappeared. “Uh…Adriana…where did I just send it?”
“Who knows? The point is you can use the energy at will.
“Right.”
Suddenly, the door opened, startling me.
Lyssa looked in. “Uh, somebody lose a candle?” she asked, arching a brow.
“Where’d it land?” I asked.
“Oh, on my lap in the middle of a session with Selena. I almost peed my pants,” she said, and we all cracked up. I laughed until my sides ached.
After dinner, Matt and I decided to take a walk around the grounds. He pretty much had the layout of the compound down, whereas I had hardly been outside.
“I just realized during dinner that you really have no idea how beautiful it is out here,” he told me. “We can’t leave the compound, but the land is great.”
We walked through the gardens, holding hands as the setting sun slid down behind the wilderness of the western jungle.
“Is it really a jungle on all sides of us?” I asked.
“Yep. It goes on for quite a bit before it hits the nearest villages. But we don’t patrol that far out.”
“So…what’s it like, guard duty?”
“Well, we’re always in our second forms. It’s safer for us and keeps us from being seen by Toltec. That’s assuming they’re even out there. Hey,” he said, noticing the look of worry on my face, “don’t worry. There are very few predators out there that are bigger than I am when I’ve phased.”
“I’m sorry,” I answered. “I told myself I wouldn’t worry.”
“I’m hardly ever out there now. I’m with Richard all the time, trying to figure out if we’re right about having a mole.”
I nodded. “Ah, Detective Wolfe.”
“This is you bringing up a forensic cop show?”
“Mmhmm, Criminal Shifter Investigations. Sorry, couldn’t help myself.”
“Okay, Gleek. Hey, I heard what you did today!”
“Yeah, I sent Lyssa a candle,” I mumbled. I guess the coolness of it had worn off.
“Are you serious?” he asked.
“Come on, Matt. I didn’t have any idea where I’d sent it.”
“Well, that’s the next step, right?”
“Sure,” I said.
“You know what you need?”
“What?”
“Some serious playtime!”
Before I could ask him what the heck he was up to, he had already started to phase. I phased too, and was on his tail in seconds. We chased each other all the way to the back of the compound and back around again, practically flattening two of the shifters in the process. When we had run ourselves out, we lounged in the shade of the west wall.
After a few minutes, I phased back. “I seriously need a diet Coke,” I said. “Let’s go see the twins.”
Matt phased back and followed me into the main house. We found Damian and Lyssa in the kitchen, eating flan.
“Ohmygod, Maya, you have got to try this,” Damian said. “It’s amazing.”
“Where is it?” I asked.
“In the fridge,” they answered in chorus.
“You guys are starting to sound like identical twins,” I said.
“Bite your tongue,” Damian said, rolling his eyes.
“Actually, our wall dissolves right around this time,” Lyssa said. “So it’s lasting a lot longer.”
“Seriously? That’s great, you guys,” Matt said, try-ing a spoonful of flan. “This stuff is good.”
“That’s almost the whole day! You must be relieved to be yourselves again,” I said.
“You have no idea,” Damian said. “Hey, Maya, Viva la Reina is on in a few minutes. Wanna watch with us?”
“You know how I feel about that sorry Glee replacement. And, anyway, it’s all in Spanish.”
“We’ll translate for you!” Lyssa said.
“That’s if you even need it. I mean, it’s a soap, so it’s pretty formulaic.”
Matt cleared his throat. “Actually, guys, tonight’s date night.”
“Ooh, ’nuff said,” Lyssa giggled.
We cleaned up after ourselves and then said good night. Matt and I went into our room and plopped down on the bed. I grabbed my brush and gave my hair a quick run through while he watched, his eyes hungry. Then he grabbed me playfully by my hair and pulled me down next to him.
“I love you,” he said, his voice husky.
“I love you, too.” I pulled him down against me, looking deep into his eyes. Matt was there and so was the Wolf. And I wanted him, all of him. I wanted his love, his heat, his wildness. He kissed me hard and I opened my mouth to him, my body exploding with sensation. I grabbed at the hem of his shirt and he helped me pull it off. As I ran my hands along his bare chest and stomach, his muscles quivered at my touch. I raised myself up off the bed slightly, so that he could take my tank top off, then we fell back down against the bed, our legs entwined, our bodies fusing together. And that’s when I felt it. Oh, no, no, no!
Matt’s face blurred out.
“Maya? My? Can you hear me? Shit!”
I could hear him, but the weakness was every bit as bad as it had been the first time. I couldn’t even open my eyes. I tried to answer him, but I could barely part my lips. I felt him move, I heard him open the door, and then there were other voices.
“You call this taking it easy?” Richard growled as he flew in the room.
“I’m telling you, she’s been fine all day!”
Then I heard Adriana. “Stop it—both of you. How is this helping her?” It got quiet. “Now,” she said, “does anyone know where Selena is?”
“She’s in the garden helping Alma. I’ll go get her,” I heard Lyssa say.
I started to shiver and briefly remembered that I was lying on the bed in just my shorts and bra. I felt someone place a quilt over me. I tried to speak again, but the best I could do was sigh.
“It’s okay, honey,” Adriana said. “Selena’s coming. Lie still and rest.”
Pretty soon (I guess), I heard Selena coming into the room. “Is it the same as before?” she asked.
“It seems to be,” Adriana answered.
I heard, or felt, Selena kneeling on the floor beside the bed. “Oh, no, her aura is completely white. She’s in trouble. Matt, do you know where my room is?”
“Yeah, it’s the cabin on the right.” His voice sounded shaky.
“Yes, the room at the back. I need you to go into my supply cupboard and take out some pillar candles. I need exactly six green ones, six brown, one white, and one black. Hurry, Matt!” I heard him go out as Selena spoke again. “Richard, could you move her onto the floor?”
“I’ll get the lighter from the fireplace,” Damian said.
I felt the quilt being tucked underneath me as Richard gently lifted me in his arms and laid me on the floor by Matt’s side of the bed. I heard the sound of hurried footsteps and heavy breathing. I remember thinking that Matt was very fast.
Selena spoke again. “Okay, I need everyone to leave the room except for Adriana.”
“Okay, let’s head out,” Richard said. “Matt, they need room to work.”
“It’s okay, Matt,” Adriana said. “Selena’s the best there is.”
I heard the door close.
“We need to set up the candles in a protective circle around her,” Selena said. “Set the black candle at her head for protection and the white one at her feet to balance it. Then we’ll fill in the rest of the circle in green and brown.”
“Should I light them?” Adriana asked.
“Yes, one by one, in order, going clockwise in direction.”
I don’t know exactly how long I spent on the floor, but when I opened my eyes and tried to sit up, it felt like I had been sleeping on a board for a week.
I felt Adriana’s hand on my chest. “No, Maya, don’t try to sit up just yet,” she said. “Her color’s coming back.”
“Yes, she does look better,” Selena said. “Okay, let’s blow out the candles.”
They helped me to sit up and gave me a bottle of water. After a couple more minutes, they helped me to get my legs so I could sit on the bed. I felt like crap in ways I couldn’t quite identify.
“How are you?” Adriana asked.
“Just tired,” I said. “Really tired.”
“Can you tell us anything about what happened?” Selena asked.
“I’m not sure. I just felt so weak all of a sudden…and…it was like I could feel my soul…dying.” I shivered as I remembered how it had felt.
“You’ve been through a lot,” Selena said in a comforting voice. “And we still aren’t sure what’s causing it. So you’re going to have to really take it easy this time, okay?”
“Do you think you could eat something?” Adriana asked. “Alma is fixing omelets in the kitchen for Matt and the twins.”
“I think so.”
I was a bit wobbly, but walking came easier and felt more natural with each step. Selena walked on one side of me and Adriana on the other, just in case.
“Maya,” Lyssa said as we got to the kitchen. She was grinning.
“How are you?” Damian asked.
Matt immediately stood up and walked over to help me the rest of the way to the table.
“Like I could sleep for eternity,” I said, stifling a yawn and trying my damnedest to sound like I was my normal me again. I didn’t want them worrying about me more than they already were. I took the chair next to Matt’s.
“Can I get you a diet Coke, babe?” he asked.
“Oh, yeah.”
“Alma’s making breakfast for dinner,” Lyssa said.
“My favorite!” I smiled, grabbed my hair, and threw it into a quick ponytail.
“What the hell?” I heard Matt’s voice behind me.
“What?”
“Your mark. It’s gone.”