Zanya caught him around the torso.
He nodded and lifted his hand, still unable to speak with the parasite attached to him.
It was like his life energy had been drained.
Zanya examined the beach where they stood when the bend began. There were differences in the scenery. The large palm near the house was now a tiny sapling that stood only four or five feet tall, and the house seemed slightly newer.
Renato swiped his hand across his throat in a cutting motion. In a spell of silence void of movement, Peter’s parasite was the first to fall away. He gasped and gagged when the worm extracted its tube from his nose. The process wasn’t pretty, but it was necessary. Everyone else followed suit.
Renato retrieved the parasites and placed them safely in the transport case. They advanced toward the house on high alert. Jayden drew an arrow and readied it in his bow.
Peter crouched beside Renato. “Should we knock?”
Renato shook his head and signaled to the veranda.
Arwan crept toward the patio and silently hopped over the guardrail. Peering into the French doors, he signaled it was all clear.
The rest of the group followed over the rail, some more gracefully than others.
Renato set down the transport tank and grabbed the door handles. “All of you stay here. I have to talk to Ellie alone. I don’t want to frighten her in her condition.”
Her condition? Zanya’s breath stalled and she backed away from the doors, one slow, stunned footstep at a time.
Peter hurried beside her. “Zanya.” He tugged on her arm.
She stared into the kitchen with wide eyes. “Peter, this is too weird. I’m going to finally meet my mother, but she won’t have any idea who I am. She’s never seen me before, and she’s still…” The word caught in her throat. It bounced around her mind, wreaking havoc on her sanity before it finally drifted through her lips. “…pregnant.”
“It’s going to be fine. Just stay calm. We’ll get the stone, go home, and this’ll all be over with.”
Footsteps came from the side of the house. Arwan reached over his shoulder and unclasped his glaive from its holster. Jayden took aim and drew back his arrow.
“What are you doing here?” a woman’s voice said from behind them.
Everyone turned.
Jayden loosened the tension on his bow.
Zanya gazed upon her mother, who hadn’t changed a bit from the photo that sat beside her bed.
“Answer my question. Who are you, and what do you want?”
Hawa nudged Zanya, urging her to step forward. But she couldn’t. Her feet were rooted to the ground and coherent words were trapped in a mental haze. She could do little more than stare, star-struck at the most stunning woman she’d ever seen.
Wind churned and circled around Eleuia. Like a vicious thunderstorm had been conjured from thin air, electricity sparked over her mother’s skin. “Then you have come to die.”
Chapter Seventeen
Eleuia stood tall, her delicate hand raised with a bright light churning in her palm.
“She thinks we’re here to steal the stone.” Peter shielded his eyes against the roar of the wind. “You have to do something!”
Zanya's hair whipped at her cheeks, blown in the sandstorm whirling around them. She squinted and also shielded her eyes with her hands, rising to her feet against the force of the cyclone. “Mom…”
Eleuia’s gaze fixed on her. Her lips parted and the wind slowed until the electricity pulsing in her fingers vanished. She rested her hand gently over her swollen belly.
Zanya stared her mother’s face. It may as well have been a mirror. She had the same gray eyes, same long, dark hair.
“It can’t be,” Eleuia whispered.
Peter stood up and stepped forward. “Renato’s with us. He went searching for you in the house.”
Eleuia scanned the other faces in the group, settling on Hawa. She waved them forward. “Quickly, come inside.” They filed in and spread through the familiar kitchen. The granite countertops glistened the same way they did almost twenty years in the future. “How is this possible? Is it true?” She remained focused on Zanya.
Her hands shaking, Zanya laced her fingers together to calm them long enough to draw in a deep breath. She recalled a lifetime of wishes, tears, and all the things she wanted to say. She hoped to be graceful and eloquent, but all she could manage was a simple, forced reply. “Yes, it’s true.”
Her mother stood as still as her photo. Zanya seized the opportunity to memorize the curves of her lips and the warmth of her eyes. She was even more stunning than in her picture, with a soft illumination surrounding her skin.
They gazed at each other for another fleeting moment. Eleuia’s bottom lip trembled. “You’re so beautiful.” She threw her arms around Zanya.
A hard bump pressed against Zanya's stomach. She jumped back from her mother’s belly. Inside that bump was…her.
Renato skidded into the kitchen. When Eleuia spun around, he wasted no time in scooping her into his arms and spinning her in a circle.
“Renato.” She giggled. “Please, put me down, brother.”
“Oh, I’m sorry, Ellie.” He carefully lowered her back to the hardwood floor. “I’ve missed you.” He kissed her cheek. “So, you’ve seen her then?” He looked at Zanya.
She nodded. “I did.”
Suddenly it occurred to Zanya that Hawa was there too. Zanya grabbed her cousin’s arm and guided her forward. “This is your niece, Hawa.”
Hawa stood like a deer in headlights.
Eleuia’s posture was tall, her chin tilted up as if she were royalty. “I recognized you the moment I saw you on the veranda. I also remember the day you were born. Your mother was never happier than on that day. She was a fine woman, and would have been extremely proud of you.” She touched Hawa’s chin lightly. “You’re lovely, like her.”
Hawa simply nodded, and then stepped back.
“And who are the rest of these children?”
Renato began the introductions. “This is Peter, our healer.” Peter nodded and smiled.
“Jayden, our seeker.” Jayden gave a nod.
“And this is Arwan. He is our timebender.”
Zanya shifted beside him and smiled softly.
Eleuia’s gaze darted from her to Arwan a few times. “I see.”
“Then, of course, Hawa,” Renato continued, “and Marzena would have loved to come—”
Eleuia’s eyes lit up. “Marzena still lives in the house?”
“Yes. She linked my memory with Arwan’s, allowing us to come here.”
“I would have loved to see her again. I miss her terribly.”
“I will be sure to send your good wishes.” He rested his hand on the small of her back. “But now, we need to talk.”
They relocated to the familiar study. Zanya sat across from her mother beside the fireplace. Their happy reunion moment was short-lived, with more important matters to discuss. Primarily, the stone.
“If you are here, then this must mean I failed.” Eleuia propped a pillow behind her lower back when she sat in a leather armchair, the light from the fire flickering over her face.
Renato gave a reluctant nod.
She sighed, stroking her belly. “Tell me. What has he done with the stone?”
“Nothing yet.” Renato reached for his pipe, but found nothing in the inner pocket of his jacket. Zanya had never seen him so nervous. He smoothed down the lapel of his coat, more times than necessary. “We came from seventeen years in the future.”
“Even with a timebender, how is that possible?”
“It seems he’s more efficient than we anticipated. It took him only seventeen minutes to travel here.”
She paused, the creases around her eyes deepening.
If they told her how they were in the bend for so long without dying, it would probably make her throw up, being pregnant and all. “Don’t ask,” Zanya said. “Really, you don’t want to know.”
/> Renato leaned forward. “Sarian has not been able to break the obedience spell, but he may be getting close. His magic is stronger than it was in your time.”
“But if my daughter is alive, you have a guardian. Has she not been protecting the stone?” Her gaze darted between her and Renato. “What aren’t you telling me, brother?”
“Wait.” Zanya leaned forward in her chair. All those years. All this time. Was it possible? “You don’t know?”
Eleuia’s eyes narrowed. “Know what?”
Renato looked at Zanya. “Perhaps you should be the one to tell her.”
“I, uh…I was raised in an orphanage.”
Eleuia’s lips parted as she shielded her belly. “Where was your father?”
Zanya shrugged. “I don’t know. I’ve never met him.”
Her horrified expression suddenly turned fierce. She peered at her brother. “He put her in an orphanage? An orphanage!”
Her entire life she thought her mom had abandoned her. Some days Zanya was so angry with her mom for leaving, she’d hoped to see her just once; just once, to tell her how being such a coward ruined her life. Now it all just seemed to vanish into thin air.
“He must have known what he was doing,” Renato said. “He was not Riyata. He knew he could not protect Zanya if Sarian found him. As hard as it is to understand, he did the right thing.”
“But…if she has not been with the stone, she has never bonded with it.”
“That is why we are here.”
Eleuia pushed out of her chair and held out her hand to Zanya. “Come. If this is what the future holds for our people, you must bond with the stone immediately.”
Zanya stood and took her mother’s hand, following her through the familiar halls, up the spiral staircase, and into her bedroom.
Eleuia approached her bed, reached behind her pillow, and pulled out a velvet bag. A light glowed from inside. She slipped out a brilliant, oval-shaped stone and caressed it, smiling tenderly.
The light in Zanya's chest flickered on. Zanya leaned forward, the orb in her chest churning with life. The stone’s beauty nearly stole her breath away.
“This is the stone of Muuk’Ich. It is enchanted, powerful, and very much alive.” She held it out. “This is what I gave my life to protect.”
Zanya extended her fingers to the stone, but hesitated. “Can I touch it?”
Eleuia’s slowly shook her head and pulled it back to her chest, stroking its smooth surface.
Zanya dropped her hand to her side. “What’s wrong?”
“It doesn’t recognize you, but that’s probably because you’re not technically born yet.” She smiled softly and gazed down at her belly.
Zanya cringed. Imagining herself, like that, in her mother’s womb. It made every muscle in her body rigid. She tried to brush it off, even if it went against her better nature. They had bigger problems at the moment. “So…what do we do?”
Eleuia lifted the stone to her lips and whispered in another language—the same language Renato spoke on the phone. The stone reacted with colors of blue and white, churning with bright light.
Zanya’s light in her chest matched the stone’s vibrancy.
Eleuia extended it. “Here.”
Slowly, she reached out with cupped hands. Eleuia entrusted her with the stone. It was heavier than it was in her dreams, and it was cold as ice.
The light inside of it vanished.
Zanya lifted it to eye level and peered through its translucent walls. “What happened—” Searing pain shot through her palm and up her wrist. She screamed and dropped the stone to the bed, then held out her shaking hands, now covered in burns. “What the hell—”
“Shh.” Her mother cradled Zanya’s hands in hers, looking her in the eyes. “Listen to me.” Zanya froze. “I know I haven’t been there to teach you about your skills, but you have a natural ability.”
Zanya swallowed against the pain. “How do you know?”
“Without the stone you’ve managed to conjure your own light. That’s only possible if you have a tremendous amount of inner power. But you have to believe in yourself.”
Zanya nodded, the raw skin now rising with blisters. She wanted to fist her hands but the pain was too intense. She blinked and flinched at her mother’s touch.
“Heal.” Eleuia let go of Zanya’s hands. “Come now. You can do it.”
Zanya stared down at the fluid-filled bubbles. “I’ve never done it before.”
“Concentrate. Clear your mind.”
Zanya snorted. “I tried the three-step program before. It didn’t work very well.”
“Transformation?” Zanya nodded, prompting a soft laugh from her mother. “The first time I tried to transform, I attempted to change into your uncle. I thought it would be hilarious.”
“It wasn’t, I’m gathering?”
“For him it was. I panicked and couldn’t calm down enough to change back.”
Zanya smiled through the pain. “So how did you?”
“Practice. Now clear your mind and imagine the burns healing. Believe they are, and they will.”
Zanya closed her eyes and did as her mother instructed. With several deep breaths, she focused on the raw skin, and imagined the burns slowly fading away. The pain subsided. When Zanya blinked open her eyes, the skin on her palms was flawless. She smiled. “I did it.”
“That you did.” Eleuia’s chin was raised and chest pushed out.
Zanya glanced at the stone. “What about the stone? I’m not trying that twice.”
Her mother rested her hands over her swollen belly. “This has never been done before.”
“So…” Her gut wrenched over the possibility of failure.
“I don’t know.” Eleuia met her gaze. “I really don’t know.”
Eleuia slipped the stone back in to its pouch. “Here.” She extended it.
Zanya shifted back. “Do you think it’s safe?”
“In the pouch it can’t hurt you. Maybe holding onto it will make the stone feel more comfortable.”
Zanya arched an eyebrow. “Make the stone…feel?”
“The stone is not simply a rock. It is a miracle. A one of a kind gesture bestowed upon all Riyata by the heavens. Once you bond with the stone and become its guardian, it will be your soul mate. It will feel your pain, and you will feel its pain. When you are sorrowful, it will show compassion. When you are joyful, it will celebrate your happiness. It becomes a part of you, since you are, in fact, a part of it.”
Zanya crossed her arms and stretched her sleeves over her hands. “That sounds…invasive.”
“It is at times. The stone’s whispers become a part of you.”
“It talks?”
“It communicates through emotion. When it’s scared, you’ll feel it. When it’s unsure, you will be, too.” Zanya examined the velvet pouch in her mother’s grasp. “In order to bond with the stone, you must first accept your responsibility toward it. Once you do that, there is only one way out.” Eleuia shifted toward her with an intense gaze. “This is very important. Possibly the most important thing I can teach you.
“The only way for you to surrender your position as the guardian is to pass it to an heir. A blood heir. Do you understand what I’m saying?” Zanya nodded. “It is that, or death. Those are the only two options. Is this what you want?”
Among all this chaos, Zanya had never asked herself what she wanted. What would this mean for her? Immortality. An unimaginable responsibility. How would the rest of her long life play out? Would she be lonely? Always looking over her shoulder? Was that really the kind of life she wanted to live?
Her mother sat in front of her, radiant and strong. She had been the guardian for centuries, protecting the stone at all costs.
Eleuia sighed and shifted off of the bed. “I’ll be right back.” She glanced to the bathroom door. “I guess I should thank you ahead of time for using my bladder as a trampoline.”
Zanya’s eyes widened. “Sorry?”
Eleuia giggled. “I’ll just be a minute.” When she vanished into the bathroom, Zanya relaxed against the headboard. Seeing her mother pregnant would never be normal. Granted, seeing her mother at all wasn’t normal, either.
Hell, nothing about her life had been normal.
Ever.
She groaned and rubbed her hands over her face, then stared down at the stone. “I get it. I do. I wouldn’t want to give her up, either.” She puffed out a breath of air. “Not for me, at least.” Zanya’s muscles eased as fatigue set in. Traveling through the time bend had stripped her energy. Arwan must have been completely drained.
Alone in the room, she hummed a tune. The notes rose out of her throat with such ease, she hardly realized she was doing it. The velvet pouch beside her glowed from a light inside. She paused and sat up straighter, watching it. The light dimmed until it vanished completely. She hummed a few more notes, causing the stone to illuminate.
“Really. You like my tune?” She carefully picked up the pouch and rolled it in her hands. The cold of the stone pushed through the pouch, pressing onto her skin. She continued to hum until the stone’s whispers returned—like a thread was attached to her heart, and the stone was tugging on it.
“Um…” She glanced at the bathroom door. “Mom?” It was so weird saying that.
“Be right out,” she called through the closed bathroom door.
She returned her attention to the stone. Something stirred inside of her. Something familiar and encouraging. It had to be what her mother spoke about. The emotions of the stone channeling through her.
Zanya tugged the string to the pouch until it fell open. “I’m going to make you a deal. I’ll hold you if you don’t burn my face off.” She paused before taking it out. “Deal?” There was no booming voice or clear affirmation, but there wasn’t scolding heat, either. “I’ll take that as a yes.” With a leap of faith, she tugged off the velvet pouch and slipped the stone into her hand.
She immediately cringed with anticipation—and not the good kind. When pain didn’t shoot up her arm, she relaxed and smiled. “There. That wasn’t so bad.”
Indiscernible whispers echoed in her ears. They floated all around her, from every direction. She searched the room, alarmed at first. But soon it became clear it was the stone speaking to her. It was…happy. Joy coursed through her, making her blood rush. Zanya smiled. Suddenly a jolt of fierce protectiveness crawled through her, like a maternal instinct that overpowered all other emotion. In that moment there was nothing more important than keeping the stone safe.
Mayan Blood Page 16