“You mean more unbalanced than Santali being in the mortal world has already made it.”
“How do you know about that?”
“Variel told me. Why don’t you make Santali come back here?”
Another sigh. “I’ve been trying, but I can’t find her. In the beginning I could track her and influence her a bit. I thought I was convincing her to come back, but then one day she vanished. I spent days looking in the seerstone searching for her, but I couldn’t find her anywhere.”
“But she must be there somewhere. Babies are still being born sick every day.”
“I know, but it takes time. Amara will find her and bring her back here. They have a connection. Having them both out there will make it worse in the short term for all of you mortals, but in the end it will be better.”
Now I understood. “Was Amara leaving part of your plan?”
He smiled. “It was part of her plan, but I think it will work.”
He leaned forward like he was going to stand and leave.
“Wait.” I reached out touching his arm and he sat back down. “I have another question for you.”
“Ask it.”
“Why was I cursed with this destiny?”
He furrowed his brow. “Your life is far from cursed. Your wife loves you. You have one of the few healthy children of such a young age in the world. You have found this island. It looks to me like you have been blessed. I’m sure there are many who would think your life is a blessing.”
“I meant my parents. Why did you let them leave me?”
He sighed. “There are so many who still believe in destiny,” he said. “There is no destiny. Your parents made choices just as you have always had a choice. When mortals don’t want to take responsibility for those choices they blame the gods, but all I can really do is observe. I can try to influence mortals with visions but ultimately what they do is their own choice. That was never taken away from you even though some seem to think it was.”
I had told Lourdes this for years and even though sometimes I didn’t believe it myself, I wanted it to be true. We spent more time bowing before altars and buying gifts to offer to the gods than we did living. “So all of those offerings mean nothing.”
“The greatest offering you can give us is a life well lived. You mortals have so many possibilities, but you waste them living in fear. Even I envy your lives away from this island sometimes. You don’t have the luxury of eternity. You must take advantage of life while you can.”
It was as if he’d looked into my soul and told me my deepest thoughts without me ever having to say them out loud.
He scooted forward out of the cavity in the rock so he could stand.
I didn’t want to see him go. “I have another question.”
“Ask it,” he said, brushing the dirt off him with his hand.
“Could you send someone here like Amara sent me? I want to see my family again.”
“Someone is already coming,” he said before turning and walking off into the shadowy woods. I could hear the dried leaves and twigs cracking under his feet even after he’d disappeared from sight into the darkness.
Chapter 21
The clothes that Twee brought didn’t last long. She was right about the heat. I took a sharp stone to the pants and made them into shorts soon after I’d gotten them. I’d lost so much weight that even with the belt on the last notch my pants hung uncomfortably low. I never once wore the boots, opting for the sandals all of the time instead to protect my feet. I’d also stopped wearing a shirt when under the cover of the trees because the humidity had gotten so punishing. A thick black beard covered my face and my hair was dusty and full of sticks.
I gathered vines from the low branches of the trees to make a raft. Eilim promised that he would send someone for me and I wanted to be prepared. I’d already gathered the wood, laying it out on the beach in an area the gods rarely used. I easily pulled dried vines from the tree limbs. They were thinner than I wanted and would have to be braided together to make a rope that would be strong enough to hold my raft together. I was thinking about how to lash the vines around the logs when a gentle tugging sensation started in my chest. I was familiar with the feeling because it was the exact same feeling I had when I started to have my visions of Amara so many months ago. In between each vision I’d felt an irresistible pull toward the sea. That pull was what directed me here and now I was feeling it again.
I dropped the vines on the ground and let that tug I felt inside guide me. It was like there was a fishing line attached to my chest. I moved forward into the feeling letting it take me where it might. This time as before it took me toward the sea. I thought it must be a sign. I was going to be rescued. I expected to see a ship anchored just outside of the barrier rocks, a great vessel delivering my freedom, or an airplane sitting on the sand. When I reached the beach I saw nothing unusual on the horizon. The barrier rocks rose dark and foreboding from the sea and beyond them the black clouds of the circling storms remained constant. This was not where the tugging wanted me to look though because once my feet hit the sand it started to pull me up the beach. It was taking me toward the same area where we’d come ashore to capture Amara. That would make sense if every ship that came to the island had to enter through the same door.
I walked for an hour in the sun before I saw them. The gods, perhaps all of them, stood crowded together in a clump near the water’s edge. They seemed to be crawling over each other like ants and yelling. Were they attacking my rescuer? I couldn’t tell. There was someone in the middle of them, but I couldn’t see who it was. The tugging was pulling me toward them. They were all talking and yelling; sound billowed through the air at me. They moved as one giant organism. I approached them slowly still unable to understand what was being said. Suddenly I noticed Twee in the group holding up her arms. She seemed to be weeping. I was getting pulled toward them even faster now. Against my will I began to jog. It was like I was a puppet unable to move without my master. That’s when I saw Amara. She was here. She came back. “Amara,” I yelled.
She looked up. Her clear strong eyes locked on mine. She moved her lips slowly and deliberately and even though no sound came out I knew exactly what she said. “I came back to help you.”
Her words seemed to flow through me filling me with gratitude.
Eilim stood next to her holding the stone baby in his arms. His head was down and his shoulders slumped with defeat until Amara leaned over and whispered something in his ear. Then he lifted his head and raised the baby high in the air. There was so much sound, so much confusion. He held the baby in the air and as he did I fell into the crowd of gods. My ears buzzed when I hit the ground. The noise was so loud I nearly blacked out.
When I opened my eyes I found myself kneeling in thick, well-manicured grass. The noise had stopped and I heard a rush that I thought was the waves behind me at first, but when I turned I saw a maroon SUV passing me on a suburban street. My heart pounded. I knew this street. The green ranch house across the way. The light-blue two-story next to it. I turned around again and saw right in front of me the house that I’d lived in for five years. The windows were open letting a cool breeze blow in. The yellow curtains inside fluttered.
I wondered if this was all a dream. Had I died on that beach when I fell into the gods? Was this one of the tricks your brain plays on you when you die? I walked up to the dark green front door slowly each step feeling like floating. I climbed the brick stairs at the entrance and cautiously raised my hand to knock lightly on the door. I stood waiting for too long wondering if anyone was home.
At last I heard the sound of hard-soled shoes on a wood floor coming toward the door, clattering as it was unlocked, the clack of the latch as the knob turned. I held my breath in anticipation. When the door opened Lourdes stood in front of me looking more beautiful than ever. “Damek,” she said, putting her hand over her mouth, tears already falling from her eyes. “We thought you were dead.” She fell into me putting her arms
around me, her tears hot on my bare skin. I melted into her glad to finally be home.
From the Author
Thank you so much for reading Isle of Gods. I got the idea to write this book when a friend of mine said that she thought it would be a good idea for someone to write a book or movie about waves. I thought about what she was saying a lot and came up with an idea for a book about a tidal wave in which I’d write the stories of a bunch of different people and how their lives were affected it. I thought it was a good idea and the first thing I wrote was Damek’s story. Actually it was the first bit that was in the prologue. After I wrote that one little scene I went to bed with the concept churning in my head and what it turned into had nothing to do with a tidal wave at all. The tidal wave idea is still kicking around in my head, but I don’t know if I’ll ever write it. If you want to take a shot at it, be my guest.
Writing this first book in the Isle of Gods series gave me a chance to create another world and before I knew it one book turned into five. Each book is told from a different character’s point of view. Some of the stories overlap a little bit, but they all reveal more about this world and the people and gods in it.
The second book in the series is told from Amara’s point of view. She’ll tell you more about the Isle of Gods and what life is like there. You’ll meet more of the gods and learn about them. You’ll also get to know more about Twee, her baby, and the new age that Eilim keeps talking about. That book comes out in a month.
You can sign up for my mailing list so you can be one of the first to know when the Isle of Gods II comes out. I’m also in the process of writing some special bonuses that will only be available to members of my mailing list. Just click the link to stay up to date.
Cheers,
Lovelyn
Isle of Gods I: Damek Page 14