The strange faces stared back at me with their question mark expressions, shifting and changing, until I couldn’t bear to look at their misery any longer. I hadn’t been able to help my mother—and I couldn’t help any of these poor souls either. I closed my eyes and laid down on the hard, rocky ground.
“I’m sorry mama.” My hand held the jagged edge of the pool, I could feel the tepid water against my fingers. “I’m sorry for everything.”
I laid there a long time, thinking of her, her life. Still wishing, even now, to be near her.
A sensation, like a feather, brushed across my wet fingers. One of the lost souls in the pool most likely, I thought. Then it happened again. I was starting to sit up to see what was happening when I felt something else, something much stronger than a feather—it was a hand sliding into mine.
At the edge of the pool, a woman’s fingers pressed between mine until our hands were holding tight to each other. I pulled myself to the edge and watched, amazed, at the sight of my mother as her hair and head broke the surface of the pool.
Water streamed from her head and face, “Carmen?” she asked.
“Mama?” I cried.
She smiled at me, big and beautiful, my mother looked just like the picture from before Daniel died. She let go of my hand and reached for my face with both her hands. “Look at you,” she said as her eyes inspected every inch of my face. “What has happened?”
“I did it, mama. I saved him. Daniel is safe,” I cried.
She smiled and her hand stroked my cheek in a way I had never experienced in life. “I knew you could do it,” she said. “But what has happened?” she searched my eyes. “You look so different.”
I nodded my head, “I traded my soul for his,” I whispered. “I am The Great Balancer now.”
Her smile evaporated.
Now it was my turn to touch her face. “I chose it.”
“No,” she said. “Not that. It’s too much to—”
“It is done mama. There is no undoing it.” I took a breath and sat up straighter. “And now, now it is time for us to balance you.” I stood and my mother’s eyes looked up at me, taking in my full height and grandeur for the first time. I reached out my hand for her, “Come with me.”
She smiled at me, but did not take my hand. I watched, amazed, as she lifted her arms from her sides and began to rise out of the waters. Rivulets streamed from her long black hair and the tips of her fingers. I wasn’t the only one who had changed, my mother looked twenty years younger and was cloaked in a shimmering black gown that clung to her body.
She was stunning.
“You’re not the only one who has made a choice,” she explained.
“You’re a guide,” I suddenly realized.
“Yes,” she smiled. “Not for one soul, but for the many who end up trapped in here,” she opened her palms to the water below her. “I lead as many as I can though the ocean beneath the ground to the Epiphany Pool on the other side.”
I remembered, I had swam from that pool to this one just before I died.
She lowered herself and sat next to me, her legs and dress remained in the water up to her knees. Her hand reached for mine and she stared into my eyes.
I didn’t know what to say. “This is what you want?”
She smiled and nodded her head. “At first, I wasn’t sure what was happening to me. After I saw you that first time, I found the way to the Epiphany Pool myself. Then I led one soul there, and another, then more. I don’t know why I kept going back, kept helping—it is amazing to watch each one wake up to the understanding of their past life. Still, I wasn’t sure I wanted to continue.” Her hand reached up and cupped my face and I felt her thumb brush across my cheek. “But now I know that you will be here as well,” she smiled. “I am certain that there is no place I would rather be than right here with you.” She let go of my face and looked into my eyes. “We have so much of our last life to make up.”
When she pulled me into her arms, I rested my head on her shoulder. “I do so love you Carmen.”
I closed my eyes and held her tight, “I love you too, mama.”
Later, back at the castle with Ray, we stood together and stared out over the horizon of The Between. “You are amazing,” Ray whispered into my ear. He stood behind me, his chest pressed against my back as his arms snaked around my waist.
I smiled, “You think so?” My voice was still deep, powerful, and thundered up and out of me. But Ray seemed to have gotten used it, even if I hadn’t.
“Yes,” he turned me to face him. “Although I’ve always known how amazing you are,” his hands reached up and created a frame around my electric hair. “Even before your divine makeover.”
I laughed and shoved him gently, “Shut up.”
His mouth curled into smirk, “As you wish my grace.” He leaned forward, took my face in his hands, and pressed his lips to mine.
“I told you not to call me that,” I said, my lips brushing his before surrendering again to his kiss.
He smiled, pulled me closer into his arms, and kissed me deeper. “As you wish…my Carmen.”
About Rebecca Taylor:
Rebecca Taylor is a young adult author living in Colorado with her husband and two children.
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Web: www.rebeccataylorbooks.com
Blog: www.rebeccataylorbooks.blogspot.com
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Another great read by Rebecca Taylor
ASCENDANT
When I was twelve, my mother disappeared. I was the first person to never find her.
I’m sixteen now and she has never been found, alive or dead.
I’m not the girl I should have been.
When Charlotte Stevens, bright but failing, is sent to stay at her mother’s childhood home in Somerset England her life is changed forever. While exploring the lavish family manor, Gaersum Aern, Charlotte discovers a stone puzzle box that contains a pentagram necklace and a note from her mother—clues to her family’s strange past and her mother’s disappearance. Charlotte must try to solve the puzzle box, decipher her mother’s old journals, and figure out who is working to derail her efforts—and why. The family manor contains many secrets and hidden histories, keys to the elegant mystery Charlotte called mom and hopefully, a trail to finding her.
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The Exquisite and Immaculate Grace of Carmen Espinoza Page 18