The Spirit Seducer (The Echo Series Book 1) (4 page)

S
anta Fe is
the capital with the highest elevation in the United States—well above Denver’s Mile High status. Because I’d started my ascent at nearly seven thousand feet, I knew I wouldn’t have to go too much higher to lose consciousness. The ghosts drifted close enough I could just make out their concerned looks. They seemed to be talking. I couldn’t hear them—air rushed past my ears in thick shrieks.

“I’m going to die,” I whispered to the spirits.

That was okay. I’d just lost my mom. Fear and sadness pressed against my chest, the balloon expanding past the point of comfort.

“Thank you,” I whispered to the ghosts flitting about my body. “For trying to help me.”

The air thinned and I struggled to keep my eyes open. Too little oxygen. I was going to pass out. Because of my clandestine hours spent learning about gravity and mass, I knew I’d hit the ground shortly with enough velocity to break every bone in my body.

At least I wouldn’t feel the impact when I finally hit the ground.

Layla’s frantic screams below had quieted. The pain in my head had subsided completely. Instead, that something I’d felt when Coyote had touched me pulsed with a primal awareness.

You do not die today, Echo Ruiz
. The statement wasn’t so much spoken words as the words appeared in my head. The spirits surrounded me, comforting me.

The air around me thickened, so cold I wondered briefly about frostbite. No, not from the thinning atmosphere. I was cradled within the spirits’ embrace. I shivered in fierce bursts, but I was safe.

“How do you know that?”

You called us. You are the one we’ve waited for. We won’t let you die. Not today.

That was interesting. I had spirits who’d answered my SOS call. And they took their job seriously.

“You can hold me?”

As long as needed.

The voice was stronger. Almost as if the more he talked to me, the more he strengthened.

I forced my eyes open and blinked at the brightness of the sky. It was impossibly blue. Sunlight needled into my skin.

I relaxed. Euphoria expanded as my mind welcomed the primordial magic pulsing bright within my head, beating faster than a hummingbird’s wings. Incredible.

I was so high—above the clouds. A place humans didn’t belong. Layla—what had happened to her? And Zeke . . . I wanted to talk to him, thank him for helping me today.

Blackness edged in as I lost consciousness. A memory, much like my dreams, slithered through my mind.

Of the moment I’d met Zeke. I was ten, maybe eleven. He’d seemed so mature, maybe fifteen. He was tall and broad. His brooding brown eyes met my timid gaze. I’d known then he was more than the typical male I’d met, however briefly.

“She’s the one?” he asked.

His voice sent shivers down my spine. I stood taller and studied him more closely. He had a secret—it was buried deep in those chocolate eyes.

My mother slid her arm around my shoulder, hugging me to her narrow frame. Her action was a silent message telling me not to step closer to the man-boy eyeing me with the same intensity I gave him.

“Yes. She’s begun to have headaches. She says it’s a deep, pulsing pain. From the dampening ward I’ve placed on her, I think.”

“Why not let her remember?”

“She’s too young, Zeke. She cannot fight as you do.”

Mom paused, waiting. Zeke nodded, his eyes never leaving my face. I was just as rapt as I stared back.

“She’s not old enough or strong enough to face the realities of our world. Masau said you’d pledged your support. She needs it.”

“I did,” Zeke said. He shifted his gaze from me to my mom. “Masau saved me. I owe him a great debt. If he wants me to watch over your child, I will.”

“Did he not tell you who she was—rather, who her father is?”

Zeke shook his head, his long bangs tumbling into his lashes.

“Echo María Ruiz is the daughter of Sotuk,” she said. Pride filled her voice. “God of our realms.”

Zeke’s eyes snapped back to mine, wide with shock. He apprised me more carefully, lingering on my eyes and my hands.

“One of the Four,” he whispered, more to himself than my mother.

“Yes.”

“Will she remember this conversation?” Zeke asked. “Will she remember me?”

“No.” Mom’s voice broke. She placed her hand at the back of my neck. I was sleepy. So sleepy, but I didn’t want to miss a moment with the tall teen in front of me. “I’m sorry, Zeke, but it is my hope she never needs to see you again.”

* * *

I
was falling
. And, it seemed, faster than I should. The air around me contracted. The scent of ozone filled my nose. Before I had a chance to process the stimuli, I landed hard on my side.

I wasn’t on the ground. Wherever I was, it was warm, safe. Smelled delicious, too.

Someone held me. I groaned, my hips and ribs aching from the force of my weight slamming against my savior’s arms.

I was disoriented, unsteady, but the nausea was worse.

“That was horrible,” I whispered, my fingers tight in a leather jerkin. I wasn’t letting go, even if it was one of Coyote’s warriors; I didn’t have the strength to stand.

His arms tightened around me, pulling me so close, I felt bones groan. I was going to die. Whoever held me was crushing me. I struggled, feebly.

“Thank the gods,” he murmured.

Oh. I stopped struggling, relief making my limbs even weaker. Zeke held me. Good. I wouldn’t have to try to fight again just yet.

“I’ve got you, Echo.”

“Figured that out. Thanks.”

Now that I knew where I was—who I was with—I nuzzled closer, my nose pressed against his warm chest. He smelled of leather and sweat. While I wasn’t used to the scent, I really liked it. Just as I’d always liked him. I inhaled again, but my stomach hadn’t settled. I opened an eye, but the sun was bright, harsh even.

The air was hot. Hotter than it had been in my backyard but just as dry. If it hadn’t been for Zeke’s presence, I would’ve thought I was in hell.

“Feel sick,” I mumbled.

“Moving through time and space will do that to you.”

I cracked my eye open. Same bright blue sky I called my own. No clouds. The ground was covered in dusty bits of tired plant matter. A scorpion crawled near Zeke’s shoe, but I didn’t care. I was too busy freaking out about his words.

I sucked in a deep breath of stale desert air. Everything was okay. I’d just misheard. Like a politician misremembers. I saw Layla move behind Zeke as I struggled to regulate my breath.

“What’s wrong with her?” he asked, eyes flickering to Layla, then back to me. His tone made it clear he didn’t like what he was seeing. Neither did I. I wasn’t dead and I sure as hell wasn’t in downtown Santa Fe. There was nothing—and I mean nothing—nearby but scrub and saguaro cactus.

“She’s hyperventilating,” Layla said.

“I got that part. Why?”

“I don’t know, Zeke,” Layla snapped. “Maybe because you told her she’d moved through time and space.”

“She’d have figured out she’s not in Santa Fe pretty quick.”

“You’re an idiot. No one told her portal travel existed. She just saw Coyote for the first time, and her mom’s missing.”

I nodded so hard, I thought my neck would snap. And there were saguaros. And scorpions and . . . my mom.

“She’s freaking out,” Layla said, her voice filled with worry. “She doesn’t do well when she gets upset. We don’t have time for one of her epic headaches.”

“Make her stop,” Zeke said. He sounded nearly as freaked out as I was.

“I can’t,” Layla snapped. “They have to run their course.”

“C’mon, Layla. Help me out. I’m not good with this kind of thing,” Zeke said, his voice plaintive.

“You’re the reason she’s so upset!”

“Look, I need to go now if I have any chance of catching Coyote. I don’t have time to, you know, counsel or whatever.”

I curled tighter into his chest. “Don’t drop me,” I whispered.

“I won’t.” His voice softened when he spoke to me. I liked that. A lot.

I opened my eyes and stared up into the face I’d desperately wanted to see this close. Reddish-brown brows, wide and thick, set above brown eyes. His lashes were long, his nose thin, his lips wide and set in a determined line. His chin was firm. His gaze flicked down to my face.

Our eyes met. Oh. I knew him, more than the memory from when I was a child. More than just now. I’d looked into these eyes more than once. Maybe confided in him.

My breath caught in my chest as I struggled to drag out the memory. It wouldn’t come, but the sense of déjà vu was overwhelming. “I know you,” I whispered.

“You do.”

“I can’t remember, really. But we’ve met. In person. Before.”

“I’ll keep you safe, Echo,” he whispered.

“Coyote said Sotuk is gone,” Layla said, bursting the private moment. Fear threaded through her voice, making it quaver. “Do you think—”

“I don’t know.” Zeke’s brows drew down as he set his jaw. “That’s why I need to catch up with them as soon as possible. Take her.”

He slid his arm out from under my knees and I slid down his chest. He gritted his teeth as he bent down to settle me on the ground.

“You’re short.” He smirked. “Smaller up close.”

I let the comment slide because I had more pressing problems. Like standing. I kept my fingers gripped tight into his leather shirt. His arms circled my waist. For a moment, I pretended he wanted them there.

“Don’t leave,” I whispered.

“I’ll come back,” he said. “This is my house.”

I blinked up at him. “Your house?” Why would he bring me here? And where was here, exactly?

“You didn’t think I’d drop you off at a—what do you call ’em?” He looked past me toward Layla.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Layla said, tossing him a dirty look.

Zeke smiled, clearly loving his punch line. “Loony bin.”

He turned his head, spoke a series of words in a language I’d never heard before, and a dark hole appeared. I had no other way to describe it. The scent of ozone permeated the space around us. Layla stepped forward and grabbed my hand, giving my fingers a gentle squeeze.

Zeke stepped into that black void and disappeared. The portal shrank until it closed with a tiny pop.

“Did I come through one of those?” I shivered as his warmth slowly dissipated from my skin.

“We all did.”

“That was creepy,” I said, my teeth beginning to chatter.

Layla shrugged. “You get used to portal travel. It’s a great time saver.” She frowned at where the hole had been. “Wish I could do that.”

I shook my head, still staring at the place Zeke had stood. “No,” I choked out. “No way.”

Layla pulled her attention back to me, her gaze softening at what had to be my totally freaked out appearance. “Hang in there, E. I totally understand the freak out. It’s a lot to take in, especially when you’re so unprepared.”

I pressed my fingers to my temples trying to massage out the murky images. She looked at me, her big gray eyes oozing concern.

“Explain what’s going on.” I swallowed hard, trying to keep my chin from trembling. “Please.”

“You’re the daughter of a god.”

I folded my arms over my chest. “Sotuk. Yeah, I figured that out from my mom’s conversation with Coyote.”

Layla dipped her head in acknowledgment, her eyes never leaving mine. “Are you upset?”

“About what, exactly? The fact that gods exist? That one just stole my mother from me? Or the fact that you—” my voice cracked. I cleared my throat and glanced up. The sky was still impossibly blue. If I didn’t know better, I’d think I was still in Santa Fe, mere blocks from my house. “You kept my heritage from me. For years.”

“E—”

“Don’t try to placate me,” I said. My voice was icy. Good. Better than the tears that still threatened to spill. “I know Zeke started watching me when I was ten. Maybe younger.”

“You remember that?” Layla asked, her eyes wide, voice soft.

I tossed my dirty hair over my shoulder to cover the shudder taking hold of my body. “Amazing what happens when you’re flying through the sky.”

“Don’t be flippant.”

I raked my hand through my hair this time, still needing something to do with my hands. “I don’t know how to deal with any of this. Being flippant seems better than losing it. Fair warning: I’m close to doing so.”

Layla touched my arm. I flinched, shocked by the four crescent-moon-shaped cuts at my wrist. Layla made a noise deep in her throat as her hand hovered over my small injuries. One still oozed blood. “It’s a lot to take in.”

I snorted. No argument with her there.

“My mom.” I had to swallow hard before I could continue. “Where did she go?”

Layla looked up. Benign puffs of bright white clouds drifted across the huge expanse. She shrugged a little, her glance flickering briefly to mine. “I don’t know.”

“But you have an idea,” I pleaded. I’d beg. I’d do whatever I had to in order to see my mother again. “She’s gone. That place . . .” My breath hitched. My knees gave out. Layla gripped me tighter, holding me upright.