Jaguar Sun (15 page)

“No!” I yelled. Too late. Cesar phased into a Kodiak bear. I felt a sudden surge of power inside me and I watched in disbelief as the two huge animals flew apart in opposite directions. They landed on their sides and phased back, looking confused and disoriented. I stopped cold, watching as they slowly stood up.

“Maya, are you all right?” Adriana came up behind me and put a hand on my shoulder.

“Did you see…I just….”
What just happened?

“I know, honey, I saw it. You still had a lot of energy in you.”

“But how did I…?” I just stood there. A moment later, Matt came up to us and startled me out of my thoughts. I looked up at him. His eyes searched mine, looking for some kind of explanation. But I didn’t have one. I didn’t know what to say. I didn’t know who I was anymore.

“My, what happened?” he asked. “Are you okay?”

“I guess I saw you two phase and…I just, I panicked.”

“Did you—?” He turned to face Adriana. “Did she?”

“Yes,” Adriana answered. “We were working, and she had a vision of you two arguing, and she ran out here and stopped you.”

“Jesus, My, I’m so sorry. Look, I shouldn’t have lost it back there. But there’s something going on with that guy.”

“Cesar?” Adriana asked. “How so?”

“I don’t know. He stares at her all the time. He watches her. Something’s not right.”

“Matt, you’re going to have to deal with people looking at her. I know your protective instincts are stronger than a human’s, but you can’t phase every time someone gives her a glance.”

“That’s not it,” Matt said.

“Look,” Adriana said, “Cesar has been with us for almost five years. I appreciate you looking out for her, Matt, I really do. But Cesar can be trusted. I promise.”

“Okay, fine,” he answered. He turned and walked away toward the house.

Adriana put an arm around my shoulders and walked me back to the sunroom. “I’m sure you’d like to talk to Matt,” she said. “I just wanted to explain to you how that whole thing probably happened.”

“I threw them apart! Two huge animals and I threw them apart like they weighed nothing, like toys. How could I do that?”

“Well, actually, you didn’t.”

“What?”

“You didn’t physically push them. You opened two different portals and sent each of them through a few feet.”

WTF?
“I did?”

“You did.”

“Huh.”

She smiled at me. “Now, why don’t you take a break? We can work some more after lunch.”

I walked back into the house, cutting through Adriana’s bedroom again, then looked in on the twins. They were in Damian’s room with Richard, working on their telepathy. I turned and quietly opened the door to my and Matt’s room. He was sitting with his back to me on his side of the bed. As I watched, he leaned forward on his elbows, rubbing the stubble on his unshaven face as if deep in thought. I closed the door behind me with a quiet snick.

“Matt? Are you okay?” I whispered.

He turned his head. “Yeah. I was just thinking. Come here.”

I walked over and sat down next to him. I stared at the floor, wondering what he could be thinking about me and this newest display of my freakish powers. I could feel a massive stress headache coming on. I rubbed my temples.

“Are
you
okay?” he asked, putting an arm around me.

“I guess.”

“That was pretty incredible, what you did out there.”

All I could do was shake my head. “It may be incredible, but it’s not
normal
, Matt.”

“Come on, don’t do that.”

“My hands were glowing—
for real
—while I was working with Adriana.”

“Okay, so you can manipulate mind-blowing amounts of energy. We knew that. That’s why we’re here, babe.”

“Yeah.”

He straightened up. “Look, I need to ask you something. Have you noticed Cesar looking at you or doing anything…unusual?”

“I saw him looking at me at breakfast.”

“Anything else?”

“I don’t think—oh, wait.” I thought for a minute. “I saw him in the kitchen last night. I couldn’t sleep, so I went out to the living room to call Grandma. I saw him in the kitchen after I hung up.”

“Do you think he was listening to your conversation?”

“I don’t know, maybe, I’m not sure when he got there. Matt, what’s going on?”

“I have an idea,” he said. “You’re not gonna be real psyched about it.”

My stomach gave me its usual jolt. “What is it?”

“I know we agreed that I wouldn’t do any guard duty, but I think I’ll be able to keep a better eye on him and find out more if I get in with the rest of the shifters.”

I exhaled. “You really think it’s that important?”

“Yeah. I do. And if I could think of another way of dealing with it, I would do it, you know that.”

“I know,” I said, laying my hand against his cheek. “Just be careful, okay?”

“I will. I promise you,” he said.

“Okay. I guess that’s all I can ask.” Man, I desperately needed to clear my head. “Let’s go see what the twins are up to and give them an update.”

We went across the hall and found the twins in Lyssa’s room, watching a
telenovela
on Mexican TV.

“That’s a sad, sad replacement for
Glee
,” I said, shaking my head in mock disgust.

“Whatever,” Lyssa said. “I’m going through withdrawal. I’ll do what I gotta do to get my fix.”

“It does have a somewhat addictive quality to it,” Damian agreed.

“Oh, please,” I said.

“So, guys, how’s the telepathy going?” Matt asked.

Damian looked at his sister, then at Matt. “Well, the good news is Lyssa can bug the hell outta me from really far away now.”

“The bad news is that learning how to put up our mental walls and get some privacy totally blows,” Lyssa added.

“Yeah, it’s really hard,” Damian said.

“There’s no friggin’ way we’re gonna figure it out in this lifetime.”

“Listen,” I said, “Matt and I need to talk to you guys about something.”

Lyssa popped some gum into her mouth. “Shoot,” she said.

Matt quietly shut the door and sat down on the bed next to me. “I think we’ve got an issue with one of the shifters,” he said in a low voice. “Do you guys know who Cesar is?”

“Tall, dark, and hottie?” Lyssa asked.

“Shoulder length hair,” Damian added.

“Yep. Well, I think something’s up with him. I’ve caught him watching Maya a lot,” Matt said.

“Okaaaay. What if he’s just checking her out?” Lyssa asked.

Matt shook his head. “I don’t think it’s that kind of watching. If it was, I wouldn’t be concerned. I think it’s something else.”

“Like what?” I asked.

“I wish I knew.”

CHAPTER TWELVE

I felt restless the next afternoon while I was waiting for Matt to come back from his first official guard duty. I knew he was doing it for a good reason, and I was actually glad he was getting a chance to contribute. That was important to him. I just wished it wasn’t fraying my nerves into little itty-bitty pieces. I paced from the kitchen to the living room and back again, getting lost in my thoughts and imagining the worst. I was sure that if Toltec made any kind of move against us, it would happen while he was on duty. Just to prove how sucky my luck was. Just to piss me off.

“Hey,” Lyssa said, coming down the hall.

“Ohmygod, are you done practicing?” I asked her.

“Mm hmm.”

“Hallelujah,” I said. “I’ve been going crazy out here. Where’s Damian?”

“Richard lent him his laptop.”

“Well, that’s the last we’ll see of him,” I said with a snort.

“Ya think? Hey, I have a little surprise for you. And by the hole you’re wearing in the floor, I’d say now’s the perfect time.”

“For what?”

Lyssa walked over to the fridge and (wonder of wonders!) pulled out a diet Coke.

“No frickin’ way!” I snatched the can out of her hand with a big, goofy grin on my face. “How’d you ever get this?”

“Richard said that two shifters were going into Valladolid for supplies they can’t get around here. I happened to mention a few things that could go on the list.”

I grinned at her. “I wondered where you got more gum!”

“Oh, but it gets better. Take a look in the fridge.” She opened the door again, waving her hand with a little flourish. “
Ta-da
!”

“Whoa!” I squeaked. “A six pack!”

“Uh-huh. And the rest is under your bed. I figured it would be safer there.”

“There’s more? You’re the best, Lyss,” I gave her little bod a big bear hug.

“Okay…squishing the girl.”

“Sorry,” I said, and backed off, taking a seat at the kitchen table. Lyssa sat down next to me, rubbing her temples. “Is it your head?” I asked her.

“Yup. This headache brought to you by the letters E, S, and P.”

“It’s not getting any better?”

“Yeah, actually, it is. We just have to work really hard at it, you know? It takes so much energy just to keep the wall up for a really short time. And then we always have the headaches after.”

“It’ll get better,” I said, as if I knew anything. “You just need to be patient.”

Lyssa leaned forward until our noses were practically touching and squinted.

“What the hell are you doing?” I asked.

“Just making sure it’s really you in there and not Richard.”

“Smartass.”

Just then, a petite shifter named Selena came in from the patio. She had a little wispy blond bob and big blue eyes. She always wore the front of her hair wrapped in a different funky scarf every day, and she also wore the most beautiful silver rings, many of them with precious stones. She seemed really cool in an offbeat sorta way, but, like most of the shifters, I hadn’t gotten a chance to know her.

“
In Lak’ech
,” she said brightly.

“
Ala K’in
, Selena,” I said, smiling at her.

“Waiting for your man?” she asked me. “Don’t worry, honey. He’s doing a great job. He should be back in about an hour.”

“Yeah.” I let my chin rest in my hands.

“Hey,” she said, “how about if I do a reading for you? It’ll take your mind off your troubles.”

“You mean, like, a Tarot reading?” Lyssa asked. “Hell, yeah! Those are awesome.”

“Um, I guess,” I said, not feeling quite as enthusiastic as Lyssa. That stuff always kind of creeped me out (yes, even twenty-four hours after the glowing hands episode).

Selena sat across from us at the kitchen table. She reached into her bag and pulled out a deck of cards and a big paper chart. Even though I was looking at it upside down, I could see that it was full of numbers and symbols.

“This kind of divination is going to look a lot different than what you might have seen in the States,” she said. “It uses ancient Mayan glyphs on the cards. But don’t worry. I’ll interpret them as we go. Now, when were you born?”

“August 7, 1995,” I said.

“Okay,” she said, pulling a card out of the deck and laying it on the table, “Your sun sign is
Balam
, the Jaguar. That’s the obvious one. It’s the symbol of divinity.”

Divinity?

“Now, the Jaguar birth sign is also called the White Wizard, which is shown on this card.”

The picture (I mean, glyph) on the card looked nothing like a wizard. Actually, it looked kinda like a round white marshmallow.

“The White Wizard’s characteristics are Magician, Healer, and Psychic. And you must have a deep connection to Mother Earth.”

“You have no idea,” Lyssa said, reminding me of yesterday when I was face-planted on the floor, frantically trying to give Mother Earth’s energy back.

“You are a natural leader,” Selena continued, “but you must keep in mind that your ability to win over others must never be misused. You walk with great humility, integrity, and gratitude. Never lose those guiding principles, because without them, your sign’s energy can corrupt you.”

I looked up and noticed that Adriana had come in and was standing behind Lyssa’s chair.

“Are you doing a full reading, Selena?” she asked.

“Yes. I just started.”

“Mind if I watch?” The question seemed directed at me, so I gave a quick nod in response.

“Now,” Selena said, pulling another card out of her deck, “I’m going to place your birth sign in the center and place four cards around it, one at a time, representing north, south, east, and west.”

I watched her lay out the first card with a mixture of curiosity and jittery excitement. I wasn’t even sure I believed in the whole card thing, but my sun sign sounded interesting enough to make me want to hear more.
Who knew?