Jaguar Sun (The Jaguar Sun Series)

by Bourke, Martha

  “No, you asshole, it wouldn’t,” I practically spat. I made a kicking motion with my right foot, even though I could only move it about an inch.

  “There’s no need for language,” he said, squatting in front of me. “You have such power, Maya. We can show you how to use it…”

  As he went on, I went into my mind, trying to connect with the earth below my feet as much as possible. As soon as I connected, I began drawing energy from the earth. This time I had no intention of grounding myself. I would never join Toltec, so if they were going to kill me, I figured I had nothing to lose. I felt the power moving up through my legs and into my torso. It was so strong I wondered for a moment if I could contain it. But it just continued to move on throughout my body.

  I continued to stare at Avery, trying to look like I was listening and blink at the right times. He was pacing know, enjoying the sound of his own voice as he talked about how great I could be. I focused on the k’ul inside me until its power permeated every part of my being. I looked down at my body, which was outlined in a faint light. But Avery didn’t seem to notice the glow. He had walked toward the window, as light from the setting sun now filled the room. I watched him as he turned his back to me. I focused hard on the compound and let go.

  In the blink of an eye, I was gone.

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  I landed on the ground with a thud. I felt like I’d been hit by a truck. I don’t know how long I lay there in a heap, but I know it was dark and the grass was cool. And something smelled so divine that I just wanted to lie there forever.

  “Maya!”

  Wait. I knew that voice. Cesar?

  “Dios! Liam, Liam! It is Maya!”

  I heard a familiar brogue. “Let’s get her to the house.”

  Then as I felt myself being carefully scooped up, a voice spoke soothingly to me in Spanish. I moved my head and looked up into Cesar’s black eyes. He smiled down at me and held me a little tighter.

  Somewhere a screen door slammed, and then I heard Richard yelling at Damian to go find Matt.

  They carried me inside. “Let’s get her on the couch,” Richard said. “Easy, that’s it.” He raised my head enough to tuck a couch pillow under it. “Maya? Can you hear me, Maya?”

  “Yes.”

  Suddenly Adriana was there, too. “How do you feel?” she asked me. “Should we get Selena?” she asked Richard.

  “No, no,” I said. “I’m okay, just…sore. Really sore.”

  “That’s probably from hitting the ground,” Richard said, “Do you feel like you’ve broken anything?”

  “No, I don’t think so.”

  Out of nowhere my soul was hit with a sudden urgency so overpowering that I started to scream. “Matt! Matt!”

  “He’s by the outer wall. Damian went to get him. It shouldn’t take long,” Adriana answered.

  “No, no, I need him now,” I said, gripped by panic. “Matt!” I tried to sit up, but Adriana was gently pushing me down. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Cesar slip through the sliding door in the kitchen.

  “Easy, Maya,” Richard said, “He’ll be here any minute.”

  “What’s going on?” she mouthed to Richard.

  “It’s the mating call. Being forced apart must be speeding things up a bit.”

  “A bit?” Adriana said, holding me down more forcefully.

  Then I heard the screen door slam and watched as everyone backed out of the way.

  “My?” Matt landed on his knees beside me. “Maya,” he whispered softly, tears running down his face. He laid his head on my chest and I brushed his soft hair with my hand as we cried together. There was a sense of completeness inside me that I had never felt before.

  “Come on, everyone,” Adriana said after a minute. “Let’s give these two some privacy.”

  Matt raised his head and looked into my eyes. I don’t know how long we sat that way. Then he stood up and took my hand, helping me with my wobbly knees. We walked slowly hand in hand toward the door, still looking into each other’s eyes.

  “Matt,” Adriana said.

  “No,” Richard said, holding her back. “Let them go. He’ll have her back in time. This may be the only chance they’ll ever have.”

  As the door swung closed behind us, Matt phased and waited patiently for me as I got my bearings. I phased and he circled me once before taking the lead. He ran toward the back gate of the compound and jumped it easily. I followed him out, and we disappeared into the lush jungle. On and on we ran. We pushed forward with a wild urgency, barely stopping to rest. I followed him southeast until the moon was high above our heads and I could see the rainforest begin to open up ahead of us. We reached a rocky cliff that looked down on a secluded white sand beach. The dunes lay below Mayan ruins that sat on a high cliff along the water.

  Matt made his way down the rock face to the sand and I followed him across the beach to the water’s edge. We had hardly phased back before we were pulling each other’s shirts off. We kissed and cried, our tears mixing together like the salty ocean that lapped at our feet.

  “I was so afraid you were dead,” he said, as I caught his tears with kisses, “so afraid I’d lost you.”

  “Shh, I’m here now.”

  “I love you so much,” he said fiercely, pulling me to him. Then he picked me up and laid me down in the sand. We kissed hard, so deeply it was like we were trying to disappear into one another.

  It was overwhelming at first, being able to feel his emotions as well as my own. I got lost in his pain, his urgency, his hunger. But then it only seemed to propel my desire, and something else took over. It was wild, feral, and I couldn’t stop it. I didn’t want to. I raked my fingernails down his back. Matt groaned. We licked at one another’s mouths, pulling at the rest of each other’s clothing.

  I arched my back against him, moaning as he kissed me down my neck, my chest, my stomach. As he lay on top of me I could feel how every inch of his hard body fit perfectly into my soft curves. I wanted to roar in ecstasy. I wanted to bay at the moon. When we were finished, he pulled my tangled hair out of my face, his hands framing my cheekbones, and looked into my eyes.

  “In Lak’ ech,” he murmured.

  “Ala K’in,” I whispered, moving his hand from my face and kissing his palm.

  We lay together on the sand, our bodies entwined, and looked up at the stars.

  “I know this was our first time,” I said, “But this was…I mean….”

  “Yeah, it must be a shifter thing. It was like I could feel you, all of you.”

  “Like our souls connected somehow.”

  “Feel like connecting them again?” he asked.

  “Oh, yeah!”

  Afterward, panting, sticky, and full of sand, we decided to take a quick swim to clean off. The water was warm, and as he held me in the moonlight, it looked like the horizon went on forever. I wanted to stay there safe in his arms and never go back. And for a little while, I was able to pretend that we could. I wrapped my arms around his neck and kissed him as he held me close. He tasted like salt and smelled sweet and clean.

  Finally, though, we dressed and sat together on the beach, enjoying the last moments we would have together before we had to go back. Matt took my hand and we stood up. He took something out of his pocket.

  “Adriana gave me this so I could give it to you.”

  I gasped. It was a beautiful silver necklace with seven square plaques held together by chain. Each plaque was a couple of inches long and had a different Mayan glyph carved into it. It was so beautiful. I turned and lifted my hair so that he could put it on me. Somehow, it felt oddly familiar, as though I had felt its weight on my shoulders before.

  “It once belonged to a Mayan Elder,” he said. “It’s been passed down by Adriana’s ancestors for hundreds of years. I wanted to give you something, you know, before….” His voice trailed off.

  “I love it,” I said. “Thank you.”

  “You look like the Mayan Queen that you are,” h
e said. He took my hand and we turned toward the forest, walking into the unknown, but walking into it together.

  ~ ~ ~

  By the time we got back, we could see the headlights of the vans as the shifters were all ready to head to Chichen Itza. Soon we would be doing the same. We walked into the kitchen, where Adriana and Richard were sitting at the table.

  “Look who’s here!” Richard said, giving us a half smile.

  I flushed about ten shades of red.

  “Would you two like some tea?” Adriana asked. “We’ve still got a little time before we have to leave.”

  “I’ll have some,” I said, sitting down at the table.

  “I’m good,” Matt said.

  I looked into the living room, where I could barely make out the dark outline of Cesar sitting alone on the sofa.

  “Cesar, do you want some tea?” I asked.

  “No, thank you,” he replied politely.

  To my surprise, Matt got up and walked over to him, sitting down on the arm of the sofa. Within minutes they were deep in conversation about something.

  “Huh,” I said.

  “A few things have changed while you were away,” Adriana said.

  “You mean those two are getting along?”

  “Well, I can’t say that they’ll ever be the best of friends, but they’ve found one thing they can agree on,” Richard said.

  “What’s that?” I asked.

  “You.”

  “Oh,” I said. Yeesh. I went back to sipping my tea.

  “Good morning,” Adriana said, as the twins came into the kitchen.

  “Uh, we have a slight problem,” Damian said, turning around. There on the back of his neck was the mark of a beautiful, bright sun. It wasn’t all one color like a shifter’s mark. It was in full color with bright yellows and oranges.

  “What the—” Richard began.

  “—Wait,” Damian said. “There’s more.”

  Lyssa lifted her hair. On her neck was a gorgeous blue crescent moon.

  “Oh, my God,” Adriana said. “Richard, the Hero Twins!”

  “It has to be,” he answered.

  “Wait,” I said, “the hero what?”

  “The Hero Twins. From Mayan mythology. But they were boys. And, oh, Lord, I can’t believe I didn’t see this before! They were ball players!” Adriana was shaking her head in disbelief.

  “Like soccer?” Lyssa asked.

  “No,” Richard said. “The ancient Mayan people played a different ballgame. But the Hero Twins were incredible players. Just like you two.”

  “Isn’t there a myth about the Hero Twins defeating some kind of sky god?” Damian asked.

  “There is. Actually, they defeated several gods in the Mayan creation story. But most of them were in Xibalba,” Adriana said.

  “She-bal-ba,” I repeated, “What’s that?”

  “The Mayan Underworld,” Richard said.

  “Maya, remember when we talked about the Chilam Balam?” Adriana asked.

  I nodded.

  “Well, the Hero Twins come from the other Mayan book I mentioned, the Popol Vuh. It actually contains numerous stories about the Hero Twins,” she explained. “At the end, one of the twins becomes the sun and the other becomes the moon. That has to be what their markings stand for. The question is, which story fits?”

  “Maybe none of them do. It’s possible that they’re meant to help Maya,” Richard said.

  “Okay, hold on.” Damian took a step closer to his twin. “Watch this.”

  The twins took hands and closed their eyes. For a moment, nothing happened. Then, out of nowhere, I heard a yelp come from the living room.

  “What the hell!” Matt yelled.

  “What did you do?” I asked.

  “We pushed a thought into Matt’s mind that his sneaker was on fire,” Lyssa giggled.

  “Don’t ever do that again!” Matt sounded pissed.

  “Your powers have expanded since you got your marks?” Adriana said. “That’s fantastic. I wish you had more time to practice.”

  “Well, we already know we can push thoughts and visions. And we can still read each other’s minds, too, but we still can’t read anyone else’s,” Damian said.

  “Looks like you were right all along, Adri. They must have a purpose to fulfill,” Richard said.

  “You two should stay with us at the museum until we figure out what it is,” Adriana said.

  “And we’d better get going,” Richard said. “The sun’s almost up.”

  The next thing I knew, we were packed into the van and heading to Chichen Itza. I sat next to Matt and laid my head on his shoulder. We took the highway, so the trip was smoother and a lot shorter than I expected. Or maybe it just seemed that way as I sat looking out the window, wondering and worrying about all that was to come. Matt held my hand and gave it a squeeze as we pulled into the parking lot at the museum. There were already tons of cars and busses filled with tourists in the parking lot.

  Immediately, Adriana, Richard and the twins walked into line at the front gate, while Cesar, Matt, and I stayed in the van and waited. Matt and Cesar were both wearing watches, and they checked the time repeatedly, which made me even more nervous. Finally, Matt looked at Cesar and nodded and we all clambered out. I noticed that as soon as we started walking toward the line, Matt and Cesar never left my side.

  It took us a good half hour to get through the line and inside the museum. Once we were inside, we headed northeast to the Jaguar Temple. The crowd was so thick we had to push our way through, so I was grateful to have the guys as bumpers on either side of me. They were heading straight for our meeting point, but I couldn’t take my eyes off of El Castillo, which was directly to my right. It looked so much taller than it did in photos and I couldn’t believe how steep the stairs were. There were ninety-one of them, practically all going straight up. I cringed. Adriana had told me to wear jeans to protect my legs in case I slipped while I was running. Looking at it now, I felt like I should have worn knee and elbow pads and possibly even a helmet.

  We finally got to the entrance to the Lower Temple of the Jaguar by the Ball Court. The entrance itself was made up of several very ornate carved columns. There was a worn Jaguar Throne at the entrance. I touched it briefly with my hand and felt a sudden jolt of power. I looked around me, but no one seemed to notice.

  “Cesar,” Richard’s voice startled me out of my thoughts, “Good, you made it. Have you seen anyone from Toltec?”

  “No, but they are here, I am sure,” Cesar replied. “This crowd is thick.”

  “Well, let’s just hope that this wall of people is hiding us as well as it’s hiding them. We’re going to have to be very careful. And remember, no one phases unless it’s absolutely necessary. The last thing we need is a riot on our hands,” Adriana said.

  “I have a feeling we’re going to end up with one no matter what we do,” Matt said.

  “Okay, Maya.” Richard turned to me. “Tell me what you’re going to do.”

  “We make our way to the bottom of El Castillo. I wait until I’m signaled and then I run the steps. I enter the temple at the top where I can’t be seen, open a portal, and move to the roof. Or I could just open a portal at the base of the pyramid,” I suggested hopefully.

  “No. That’s too dangerous,” Adriana said. “You could miss.”

  I gave an internal groan as I thought about the hellish run that awaited me.

  Richard took over. “Once you get to the top of the roof, you’ll feel the pyramid amplifying the power from the earth. Just follow your instincts,” he said.

  “Okay.” I nodded, but I actually had no idea what that meant. Especially since my instincts at that particular moment were telling me to turn around and get the hell out of there. But I knew I couldn’t run. I knew what had to be done, and I knew that I could die doing it. Please be with me, Grandma, I thought. Just then I felt Matt take my right hand to comfort me and a vision of my grandma chanting before her altar flashed befo
re me. I knew instinctively that Matt’s impulse to reassure me had come from someone else. I smiled to myself as we rounded the corner and began the walk to El Castillo.

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  It turned out that picking our way through the crowd on the way to El Castillo was pretty slow going. That was fine with me. The longer it took us to get there, the more time I had to get my head together. Cesar walked on my left, Matt held my right hand, and Richard and Adriana formed the front and back of the square. The twins were out in front of Adriana somewhere. Suddenly the earth began to shake and I was thrown against Cesar.

  “Don’t worry, I have you,” he said, somehow managing to stand up straight while the rest of us flailed about.

  “What the hell was that?” Matt asked Richard.

  “It’s most likely the beginning of the transition. We’d better speed this up.”

  Just as we began to press forward with more speed, another quake hit. This time, people began to scream. Some dropped to the ground in an effort to steady themselves, but they only ended up getting trampled by others who decided that running was the best way to deal with the situation.

  “Stay together, stay together!” Richard yelled. “Everyone grab a hand on each side and keep moving forward!”

  Suddenly, with a great groan, the earth began to split apart beneath my feet. I saw the people around me diving out of harm’s way, but I was too late. I cried out as I felt the earth beneath me crumble away. I held on to the edge of the chasm, my feet struggling for some kind of foothold. I could hear the terrified cries of people all around me, as they could no longer hold on and were forced to let go. I kept my eyes forward, not wanting to look down. But my hands were slipping. Then I felt hands gripping my forearms.

  “You got her?” Matt asked Cesar.

  “No problem,” Cesar answered.

  Together, they lifted me like I weighed nothing and set me on my feet. As we hurried away, I turned my head, expecting to see a crack in the ground. Instead I found myself staring at a miniature version of the Grand Canyon. It was nowhere near as wide, but it was so deep that its bottom was swallowed by darkness.