The Spirit Seducer (The Echo Series Book 1) (16 page)

“
I
don’t believe that
,” I mumbled. But . . . why did Zeke feel so much shame whenever we mentioned his parents? “He’s one of the Four.”

“That doesn’t make him good, Echo.”

“It doesn’t make him evil either,” I shot back. “Especially if he’s trying to help save the world.”

Layla plucked a piece of thread from the hem of her tee. “So, I actually came in here this morning to give you something.”

Concern drifted up, surrounding both of us. She stuck her hand in her pocket. It must be small because she clutched it in her hand.

“Zeke thought it might be better if I gave it to you. It was outside, on a chair. He brought it in a few minutes ago.”

She hesitated. Finally, she opened her palm and let the object fall into my hand. I recognized the chain. It was the same as the one I wore around my neck—the delicate links interspersed with turquoise.

The ugly clay pendant that used to hang from it had been ripped off. I stared at the chain.
Don’t take it off, Echo. The more you wear it, the more it’ll come to know you. You’re the only one who can remove it
.

I hadn’t understood when Mom had given it to me. A talisman more than a fashion statement. It was her—my—last form of protection. Sotuk’s gift to keep us safe.

Grief welled up, deep and sharp.

“Does that mean she’s dead?” I asked.

Layla crouched down by the bed and pulled my leg from the covers. She dabbed at my sore ankle from a tin of ointment she pulled from the back of her jeans.

“What do you think?”

“She severed the connection between us.”

Grasping my chin, she smoothed her fingers over the angry skin on my neck. I brushed her hand away.

“Leave those. I wanted to remember. I’m going to destroy Jaguar. For both of us.”

She paused and her shoulders tensed. She dropped her gaze to my neck, then went back to rubbing in the ointment. “No. You won’t have scars because of him. Tell you what, you can destroy him after I kick him in the nuts.”

“I’m very good with my water torture.” I rolled my eyes, trying to cover the anxiety building there. Sure, I’d showered last night—with Zeke—but no matter what he said, I wasn’t sure I’d be able to focus enough to control my element like he did.

Layla laughed. “Zeke told me about your water wall. That’s cool.”

“I’m not sure I did anything. Shakola said that was her.”

“She’s such a bitch.” Layla sighed. She bent back over her task of putting me back together.

“So I’ve wondered—when did you start feeling other people’s emotions?”

I appreciated her attempt to shift my focus. “It’s not like I’m trying to pry into you,” I said. “It’s only when you exude something really strong.”

Layla chuckled. “Never thought you were. Thanks, E. Seriously. I guess I needed to talk to someone about it.”

I clutched the broken necklace in my hand. “I’m just a girl, Layla. I’m not prepared for this. Like, at all.”

I tucked my lips in, biting them.

“We don’t know what’s happened to your mom, Echo. She’s strong in her own right.”

“Not powerful enough to withstand a god, especially one as strong as Coyote.”

“Don’t think like that. It’ll take the fight from you before you’ve even tried.”

But I didn’t hold out much hope—and I knew, even if my mom was still alive, she didn’t have much time. Not if Coyote had smashed her last defense.

“Breakfast’s here,” Zeke called.

* * *

“
M
ight want
to put on better shoes,” Layla suggested. “We need to be able to leave at any minute. Coyote’s slunk off to do something we won’t like, and you better believe he’ll show up to get that relic soon. Oh, and try to kill you. Again.”

I’d put on another clean, loose-fitting camisole, jeans, and the wedge sandals I’d worn to my party the other day. I’d considered clasping my mother’s necklace around my neck but just couldn’t. Not until I was sure she was dead. Instead, I slipped the chain into my front pocket, making sure I shoved it down as far as it would go.

I’d debated on the top and decided to go easy on my skin, hence something loose-fitting, albeit not entirely flattering. I still carried too many healing bruises on my torso, including five thick ridges on my ribs, exactly in the shape of a man’s—or in the case, a god’s—hand.

“I’ll have to find another pair after I eat. I’ve never been this hungry before.”

My entire body seemed to be one massive ache, but my stomach was the worst. I wasn’t kidding when I said I was starving—I felt like I hadn’t eaten in weeks.

Zeke slid a big, tortilla-wrapped bundle in front of me.

“Tofu scramble?” I asked. Saliva pooled in my mouth as I picked it up.

“Doubled.” Layla smiled. “Lots of protein. Zeke got it from the place around the corner.”

“Wait—the one near my house in Santa Fe?”

Zeke nodded, eyes still on me. I tried not to blush. I failed. I couldn’t quite meet his gaze. Instead, I stared at the dimple in his chin. “Layla said it’s your favorite.”

I think I kept my
aww
to an internal melt, but I wasn’t sure.

“Thanks.” I tried for nonchalance, but my face still flared with embarrassment. I bit into the burrito. I turned back, tortilla shoved into my mouth, to see Layla standing by the window, her face half in shadow, half illuminated by the midafternoon sun.

My friend, the daughter of the creator goddess. I was hurt she hadn’t told me about her mom—even if it was against my mother’s wishes. Didn’t friendship mean trust?

I dropped my gaze back to my food, aware I was thinking about my mother as much as I was about Layla.

“I can’t just leave her there—wherever
there
is.”

“You don’t have to,” Layla said, sliding into the chair next to me. She placed her hand over mine. “We’re going to go look for her as soon as we finish eating. We’ve got the tablet to use as a bargaining chip.”

I dipped my head in acknowledgment.

“But I’m not sure she wants us to—especially if she severed the connection between you. She knew what she was sacrificing, E. This was always her Plan B.”

“Suppressing my magic was Plan A?”

“That was the hope. If the gods couldn’t detect your power, they couldn’t find you,” Zeke said, frowning.

“Wouldn’t her power have been stronger here, though? On the ancient holy lands, I mean. We could’ve had a better chance to fight back sooner. I could’ve been trained. I still have no idea what I can do.”

“We think Sotuk’s protection was strongest when she was away from all the other godly power,” Zeke said. “If that’s true, your mom coming back here would’ve been very stupid, especially since we don’t know how or from whom she got her power.”

“So she might’ve lied,” Layla said, “but it was to protect you.”

I didn’t
think
she’d lied to me. I
knew
she’d lied. But Layla understood my grief and frustration. She’d lived through the kind of betrayal that would destroy a lesser woman. While I didn’t agree with the way she’d handled the situation with my mother, I couldn’t fault her or my mom for doing what they felt was best.

I popped the last bite of burrito into my mouth even though I wasn’t hungry anymore. My tank top slid across the worst of my bruising, and I hissed in pain, my hand fluttering up to cup the sore place.

“Hurt?” Zeke asked.

Coyote’s hand had marked me—at least for the next few days. In doing so, he’d basically declared war against Sotuk and my family. My frustration built at my father’s lack of response to my mother’s plight, to Coyote’s aggression. To me.

“What are you thinking?” Layla asked.

“Maybe nothing.” I tugged at the ends of my hair then winced as my scalp stung.

“Oh, you’re thinking something.” Layla’s voice was dry.

“That tablet.” Seeing Layla’s blank look, I said, “I started thinking about Hisatsinom history when we were at Oraibi. I don’t remember exactly, but there was a line in one of my mom’s books. It goes something like: The Great Spirit gave each of his Four Peoples stone tables and said don’t cast these on the ground. If you do, humans will struggle and the Earth will die.”

Layla moved back to the small window and stared out. She seemed caged, edgy. Having to relive the worst time in her life for me this morning would’ve keyed her up.

“What’s this got to do with your mom?” she asked.

“Coyote said he took this tablet from my mom. She was a guardian. There have to be three others. At least two are still out there.”

“If we can find the tablets, they may lead us to the fourth of our Four,” Zeke said slowly.

“How?” Layla asked.

“Would the one we have want to connect with the others? Like, reconnect with all their parts?” I asked.

Zeke tugged at his lip, eyes narrowed. He dipped his head once, a smile lighting up his face. “That’s brilliant.”

I glanced at Layla to see what she thought. Puzzlement slid from her to my new emotion receptors. She was leaning forward, nose nearly pressed to the glass. Her confusion sizzled into something stronger. Fear built in my mouth, metallic and nasty.

“What are you staring at?” I asked.

“Not sure yet,” she mumbled. “Too far away, but it’s strong.”

“Bad?” I asked, racing to the window. I stared at the spot she pointed. “I don’t see anything.”

“I thought it was clouds. They’ve been building for a while out there. There are a lot of them. I can see the glow.”

“What kind of glow?” I asked. The only clouds I’d seen glow had been at my party a few days ago.

Elbowing Layla out of the way, I leaned closer to the glass, wiping the condensation with an impatient hand. It was faint, very faint, but I caught a flash of the same pearlescent sheen glowing from these clouds. “That is like the cloud we saw in Santa Fe. At my party.” I swallowed, my fear building with Layla’s. “Jaguar.”

“Looks like.” Layla agreed. She wrapped her arms around her middle.

“How’s that possible?” I asked. “Coyote stabbed him. I saw his soul.”

“You closed one of the
sipapu
s yesterday. Doesn’t mean more aren’t open. Jaguar knows how to navigate the underworlds to come back up.”

“In a cloud?” Zeke’s face was ashen, his eyes wide as he came to the window.

“Yes, definitely a cloud,” Layla said.

“She promised,” he whispered.

“Shakola?” Layla asked. “You know she doesn’t like Echo. Weren’t you going to talk to her?”

Zeke shook his head, his eyes drifting toward me. Well, I couldn’t be too angry if he’d been with me all night instead of talking to the cloud goddess.

The clouds were closer, thicker. Fear ran just under my skin, intense and horrible. I backed away, whimpering.

Zeke gripped the edge of the counter. I touched his arm, and disbelief rolled over my skin.

“I’m going out there,” Zeke said. His mouth was set in a firm line.

I closed my eyes. When I opened them, his leather armor was back in place. He checked for his spear and pulled out his sword, testing the blade’s edge. Re-sheathing it, he did the same with his shorter knife.

He hadn’t been holding them before.

“How do you do that?” I asked.

Zeke stepped closer, and I forgot about his speedy costume change. He brushed my hair, eyeing the corner of my mouth where the long strands had caught there. His emotions wrapped around me—disappointment and a deep-seated need to protect. He wanted to touch me. I could feel the need slither from his arms down to his fingers. I closed my eyes, my breath puffing against his hand.

“I opened a portal this morning. It can take you to Santa Fe.” He said as he stepped back. Putting that infernal space between us. “It’s behind the house, between the two sets of rocks. If this bunch gets past me, run. Lay low in the city. Not at your house or your aunts’. I’ll find you.”

“But—”

“Later. Stay safe. Please. And I’m so sorry for all of this.”

Why did he feel so responsible? Something was going on. I could feel it, but I didn’t understand it.

“Don’t go out there. Not alone.”

“You should have known your heritage,” Zeke said, his voice gruff with emotion. “I wanted you to be able to choose your path. I wish this wasn’t going to end so badly.”

I turned toward Layla, whose eyes were wild and reflected the same fear prickling over my skin.

“Zeke!”

I dashed outside. Zeke stood there, legs braced apart, staring up at the storm. His dark eyes churned with emotions, none positive.

The screams in the wind were much clearer out here.

“Go to the portal, Echo.”

“Not until you tell me what’s going on.”

His hands clenched at his sides. “We don’t have time for this. I need to know you’re safe.”

“And I need to know why my mom and I didn’t come to this place sooner.” I stepped closer. “My headaches. The reason we stayed in Santa Fe.” I laid my hand on his chest. His breath hissed out in a long, thin curse. “Your standoffishness. All of it is linked together. I know it is.”

He firmed his lips into a tight line.

“I fucked up. Big time. And now your mother may die, and I can’t fix that for you.”