Jaguar Sun (5 page)

That night I lay in bed thinking about what the twins had said. I supposed it could be true that
Balam
was trying to contact me somehow. Grandma had said that a
nagual
could show itself in our world, especially if a person’s life force was very strong. I had done the ritual alone today, but I figured it must have been far from perfect. And still I had somehow managed to conjure
Balam’s
face. What was going on? In spite of my musings, my eyelids felt like they weighed a ton. Wondering about Grandma’s friend, I fell into a deep, blissful sleep. Alone.

CHAPTER FOUR

On Sunday morning, I was still sleeping when my cell phone started ringing. I sat up and looked at the time. Ten a.m! Whoa. I’d slept a miraculous twelve hours! I picked up my phone and checked the caller ID.

“Hello?” I croaked. (Morning voice. Yikes.)

“Good morning, I’m looking for Maya Delaney.”

“Speaking.”

“Maya, this is Victrixa Mata. I’m a friend of your grandmother, Rosa.”

Wha—? Oh!
“Grandma’s friend. I’m sorry. I guess I’m still half asleep.”

“That’s all right. That’s what Sunday morning is for. I’m sure you didn’t expect me to use your cell number, but your grandmother thought it might be best under the circumstances. She asked me to call you and see if we could set up a time to meet.”

“Um, sure, what did you have in mind?”

“Are you free this afternoon?” she asked.

“That’s sounds fine.” I had homework to do, but I was hungry for answers and couldn’t get them soon enough.

“Well, why don’t you drive out here to my ranch? It’s not too far outside of town and it’s supposed to be a gorgeous day. How’s noon?”

“Perfect.” I wrote down the directions she gave me, said good-bye, and got up and took a quick shower.

Victrixa’s ranch was only about thirty miles away, but it took a bit longer than I expected to get there because the tail end of the trip was on dirt road, which was common enough. The ranch was hard to miss.
There didn’t seem to be any other houses for miles. I drove through the open gate toward the ranch house. It was post and beam style, very typical New Mexico, but it was
huge
. I parked off to the side and stepped onto the large front porch. It looked like it curved around the far side of the house. I walked along it and peeked around to the back of the building.

“You must be Maya.”

Holy bejeezus!
I could have jumped a mile out of my shoes. I turned around, and there, standing just outside the front door, was the most perfect human being I had ever seen in real life. Victrixa was tall and slim, but she had great curves and a strong build. Her skin was flawless and her hair was dark, long, and wavy. But it was her huge eyes that totally blew me away. They were this strange yellowish-green color. She wore a long, body hugging dress and an incredible plate necklace that looked like it was really, really old.

“I was just looking at the house.”
Duh.

“You are more than welcome, here, Maya. I’m Victrixa.
It’s nice to finally meet you.”

I walked over to her and reached out to shake her hand. Instead, she put her right hand over her heart “
In Lak’ech
.” To my language-challenged brain, it sounded like “ing laketch.” I smiled, and not knowing what else to do, said, “Nice to meet you.”

As I followed her into the house, she said, “
In Lak’ech
is the traditional Mayan greeting. But it’s really so much more than that.
In Lak’ech Ala K’in
means, ‘I am you, you are me.’ It’s a gesture of Oneness.” She added, “As Mayans, we believe that we are connected to all life—the animals, the trees, the Earth and of course to each other. And so, when you are greeted with
In Lak’ech
, you put your right hand over your own heart and say,
Ala K’in
.”

“
Ala K’in
,” I said, putting my hand over my heart. Normally, speaking foreign languages confused the crap outta me. But I said it right the first time. It somehow felt natural. I liked it.

“Nicely done,” Victrixa said with a smile. “I’m sure you’re aware that the Mayan was the first world culture in which humans evolved into shifters. The
mestaclocán
. Of course other native cultures soon followed. But many shifter customs, such as the greeting, have been adopted from our culture to become part of the new shifter culture that’s been quickly developing in the last hundred years. With today’s technology, our community is growing faster than ever.”

I wasn’t sure how to reply to that, so I just said, “You have an amazing home,” as I looked at what must have been at least fifty different artifacts that decorated the main room.

“Thank you, Maya. I used to spend much of my time out of the country, but I’ve come to consider this my home. I try to get here as often as I can. Please sit down,” she gestured toward a leather sofa. “Can I get you something to drink?”

“I guess I’m okay for now.”

“Are you sure? I have diet Coke,” she said with a wink.

“Hey, how did you...Grandma.” I laughed.

“You know Rosa. Let me get that for you.” She walked off in the direction of what I could only assume was the kitchen. While I was waiting, I got up and walked around the room taking in all of the insane books and objects that lined the built-in shelves. I couldn’t stop staring at a broken vase with a jaguar on it.

“Ah, I see you’re drawn right to
Balam
,” Victrixa said, handing me my drink. “The jaguar was greatly revered by pre-Columbian Mesoamerican tribes.”

What the hell?
“Huh,” I said, feeling more than slightly history challenged.

“Tribes, such as the Maya, the Olmec, and the Aztec, for starters. They were very connected to the natural world around them, and
Balam
was the king of the jungle, so to speak. And speaking of
Balam
, Rosa tells me that you’ve just recently phased.”

I suddenly felt a bit wobbly and decided I’d better follow her over to the couch. “Um, yeah, I guess so.”

“Is that upsetting to you? I know it’s a lot to come to terms with. Am I the only other shifter you’ve met?” Victrixa asked.

“Well, you’re the first one I know I’ve met.”

“It is true that many shifters prefer to ‘blend in,’” she said, “but all of that is changing very quickly. I think that once you meet others in the shifter community, you’ll feel more comfortable. You’ve phased very early. I must say, I’m impressed. Many don’t phase for the first time until well after high school. If I remember correctly, high school is hard enough without feeling different. Your grandmother mentioned that your mark is very distinctive. May I see it? That is, if you don’t mind?”

“Sure,” I said, turning around and holding the back of my hair up.

“Oh, Maya, it’s incredible. You’ve been so gifted.”

“Do you think so? I mean, do you know anyone else who has a mark that’s different from their
nagual
?”

“No, to be honest with you, I don’t.”

Great, I couldn’t even be a shifter without being a freak.

“But, Maya, I don’t think it’s a cause for concern,” she added quickly.

“Really?” I asked.

“From what Rosa has told me, I think your mark is directly related to your strong connection to the earth. I could sense you before you even got out of your car.” She laughed.

“You could sense me?”

“All fully matured shifters can sense one another. You have a while yet before you need to worry about all of that, though. But, as I said, you have a very strong presence.”

“Am I going to keep phasing every night like I have been? I thought shifters could phase whenever they wanted to. I didn’t think it was, I dunno, so werewolfy.”

“First of all, Maya, ‘werewolf’ is a word perpetuated by the media. It’s not a term we use to describe ourselves. There are no such things as werewolves.”

Oops
.

“Only the first few times should happen spontaneously. Has it stopped?”

“Well, it didn’t happen last night. I did a Mayan ritual that my grandma gave me to help me connect with
Balam
.”

“I should think you’re probably in the clear then. The next step will be learning how to use your powers. For some lucky shifters, that seems to happen quite naturally. Most will need some mentoring.”

“Um,
mentoring
?” I asked. WTF?

“It would entail just some general instruction.”

“Well, I haven’t exactly talked to my dad about any of this yet.”

“Your grandmother mentioned that. Perhaps once you become more comfortable with being a shifter, you can tell him. It wouldn’t be the first time it was kept from a parent. How about if we meet here? Next week? Would that be all right?”

“Sure, yeah, that would be great. I don’t think I’ll be able to stay much longer today, if that’s okay. Sunday is a big homework day.” I chewed the inside of my cheek, then picked up my glass and drank the last sip of soda. I stood up to go, hoping that was a polite way of saying that I’d rather have a panic attack alone in my car than in front of my new mentor. Thankfully, Victrixa seemed to take the hint. We walked out onto the porch.

“I’m going to send you home with a little homework of my own,” she said. “Every shifter has a different trigger for phasing. It’s usually a thought. Try to see if you can remember anything at all from your dreams. Try writing them down and see if that helps. And, Maya, once you learn to use your power, you’ll have to be very careful. You’ll need to remember that when you are in your second form, no one will know that you’re the shifter. There are all kinds of accidents that happen when humans assume that a shifter is just an everyday animal. Bear shot during hunting season, that sort of thing. And while we have made some real headway recently, there have been incidents that … well, let’s just say they most likely were not matters of mistaken identity.”

“I’ve seen some stories on the news,” I said, not sure what else to say.

“Yes, well, I’ll see you next week then, same time?”

“Great. Umm, Victrixa?”

“Yes, Maya?”

“I never asked you what your second form is.”

“Oh, I’m sorry. It’s
keeh
, the deer.”

I smiled. “I’ll see you Sunday. And thanks for everything,” I said.

On the drive home, our whole conversation was a ginormous blur in my head. All I could think was,
OMG, it’s just like me to need a freakin’ tutor.
I knew that even though I had agreed to let Victrixa be my mentor, I never really had any plans to phase after I learned to control my powers. I mean, I didn’t want to disappoint Grandma, but I also didn’t think I would ever be comfortable with being a shifter, either. Besides, adding the dangers of hunting season to my seemingly ever-growing list of worries didn’t seem worth it. Not even close.

~ ~ ~

The next morning, the twins were waiting for me as usual when I pulled into my usual space in the school parking lot. I knew they wanted to know what had happened at Victrixa’s. I was even wide awake for a change. I’d slept another night without phasing and I’d had two diet Cokes on the way to school. Hell, I was almost hyper.

“Hey, Maya!” Lyssa caught up with me, walking at her usual double-time pace.

“What’s up, you guys?” I asked, as if I didn’t know.

“Oh, please, just spill,” said Damian as we walked through the front doors.

“Well, Victrixa seems pretty cool,” I said. “Turns out, she doesn’t know why my mark is different, either. But she did say that most shifters need a mentor to help them learn to phase. So I have to see her on Sundays for a while, I guess.”

It happened so fast. We were walking down the hall, and Brett Nielson came charging over and slammed Damian against the lockers.
Hard.

“Faggot!” he spat.

“Hey!” Alyssa yelled.

“What the hell’s your problem?” Matt appeared, seemingly out of nowhere. He gave Brett a huge shove back to the other side of the hallway. Thankfully, they were well matched in size, and Brett walked away without a fight.

“Are you okay, Damian?” Matt asked, helping Lyssa pick up him up off the floor.

“Yeah, I’ll be okay,” Damian mumbled, looking very rattled and embarrassed. God, I hated seeing him like that.

“I’ll see you at lunch, My,” Matt said, and he headed for his locker.

“Are you sure you’re all right?” I asked. (Seriously, I can’t stand homophobes. What is their deal? Bigotry just sucks, end of story.)