Accidentally...Over?(53)

Sentin beamed down at her. "So. Goddess of Love, huh? Guess that  explains why we are all so drawn to you, but I suspect I'd like you  regardless."

"Give it up, vampire, she's mine." Máax's voice wasn't angry. More like extremely happy and confident.

The man's eyes looked a little sad. Poor thing.

"Would you like my chair?" Ashli pointed to it. It had seemed wrong to  leave it behind, but now it seemed selfish to keep it. After all, she  had an actual deity all to herself.

"Uh …  sure. Thanks." The man nodded and looked at the empty space next to her. "Take good care of her for us, Máax."

"Always," Máax replied.

"Are you ready, Ashli?" Sentin reached out and latched on to Ashli's  arm. Before she could blink, she found herself standing in the middle of  the jungle.

"All right," Sentin said. "Here you are. Call if you need anything." The  handsome man whisked away a tear and vanished into thin air.

"Wow," Ashli said. "That was amazing."

"Wait until you see this." Máax led Ashli to the edge of a large, dark  green pool of water, its sides steep and about ten feet high. "It all  began right here. At this very cenote."

She leaned over to get a better look. The hazy water buzzed with a  strange energy. She could sense it in her bones. "What started?"

"This is the cenote where my brother, Votan-the first to find his happy ever after-met his mate. And now, we shall have ours."

"So what happens next?" she asked.

"Now I get a new body, and we start our new, happy life together. Wait  here." He pecked her on the lips and jumped into the water.

"Wait! Where are you going?" But he was already gone.

Ashli stared at the water expecting Máax to resurface, but several  minutes passed. Then five minutes. Ten minutes. Twenty minutes.

"Ohmygod." She paced along the edge of the enormous pool, biting her fingernail. Why hadn't he come out? Why?

She peered over the edge again. Maybe something had gone wrong? Maybe he'd gotten hurt? "Máax? Máax?"

There was no sound apart from the squawking toucans above.

Okay. She could go for help, but she wasn't really sure where to go. She  didn't speak Spanish-or did she? She wasn't sure. And they were in some  crazy Mexican jungle. She pivoted on her heel and looked around.  Dammit. What was she going to do?

A few random pockets of air floated to the surface of the cenote, making  a strange glup, glup sound. Oh no. What if he's stuck down there?

"Oh, gods." She had to help him.

Without giving it any thought, she pinched her nose and jumped. Her body  immediately reacted with hard shivers. Brrr. Cold. Cold. Cold. She  pushed the wet strands from her face, and sucking in a giant breath, she  dived straight down into the murky water.

Within a matter of a few feet, the sunlight faded. The air in her lungs  immediately felt saturated and heavy. She needed another breath. She  started to kick her way back to the surface, but hit her head on a  ceiling of solid rock.

Shit! No! The air in her lungs turned to poison. She reached and clawed  at the jagged rock, but she was trapped. A scream escaped her mouth, and  the water flooded inside her lungs. She fought to gasp and hack, but it  was no use.                       
       
           



       

She. Was. Drowning.

Ashli's mind broke away as if beckoned to some unknown place, a place of comfort and without pain.

Am I dead? Is this what it feels like? Her body or soul-she didn't  know-rose from the water into the air. Like a runaway balloon, she  floated up through the tree canopy into the crisp February air, higher  and higher, disappearing inside a big puffy cloud. Where was she going?  She didn't feel afraid or panicked; she felt at peace.

Then a small burst of warm air enveloped her body, and she found herself  sitting in the sand, looking out across turquoise waves.

"Oh, for heaven's sake, Ashli, why do you keep coming here? We told you not to come back."

Ashli looked up at the woman with the deeply tanned skin and long, thick  black curls much like her own standing next to a man with short dark  brown hair. Both wore white linen suits that seemed to flow over their  lean bodies.

"Do I know you?" Ashli stood quickly.

The woman and man exchanged glances. "We're your parents. And you are in big trouble, young lady."



Máax had chosen this particular cenote because it was the most powerful  of the portals when it came to creating a human form. Unfortunately,  that also meant he'd be slammed into his new body. Not that he would  know, but he guessed it felt similar to hitting a brick wall at one  hundred miles per hour. Most deities avoided this cenote for that very  reason, a small price to pay given his urgency to return to Ashli. He  needed to find a way to mend her memory, to make things right for her.

With his new human form complete, the cenote spit Máax out into the  dark, cold water. He kicked his way to the surface and noticed a form  floating facedown.

Ashli?

No!

He reached the water's surface and immediately flipped her onto her back. Her face was bluish as were her lips. "No. No. No."

With her in tow, he swam to the side of the pool and gripped a small  ledge. He heaved and tugged with all his strength, but he was weak and  would be for several hours until his new body fully absorbed his light.  "Dammit, no. She can't be dead! Ashli!"

Doing his best to balance her body against his in the water, he propped  her head in the crook of his arm and began blowing into her mouth. "Wake  up! Ashli! Wake up!" Why was this happening? He'd given her the light  of the gods, made her immortal. As long as her form wasn't destroyed,  she would live forever just as a vampire might. Something wasn't right.

Then he remembered; his powers had been returned to him! Yes, not only  had he been the God of Truth-or love, as he'd discovered-but he had  many, many other gifts. To name a few: the ability to know when a person  lied, to control people's actions with his voice, and to heal the sick,  and the ability to enter another's body. He rarely did so-it was really  disturbing to walk inside the mind of another-but perhaps he could will  Ashli's heart to pump and lungs to move again. He closed his eyes  tightly and felt his essence sift inside her. He felt nothing. No sign  of Ashli. An empty shell.

He willed her immortal body to work again and soon felt her body warming  and breathing on its own, but still no Ashli. Where had her soul gone?

Máax exited her form and stared down at her beautiful face. "Please come back, Ashli. Please?"

There was no response. Horror and despair filled every molecule of his being.

Why, after everything, is this happening? Hadn't he paid his dues to the  Universe? Why was he being punished? "Ashli! I command you to return."

Once again, there was no response.

Then I will go back in time and undo this. Yes, he'd get a hold of  another tablet and find a way to stop this. Even if he had to again defy  his brethren and do so without their permission.

"I will never let you go, Ashli. Never."

Máax positioned Ashli's petite frame over his shoulder and began the arduously slow climb from the water.



Ashli could not believe the insane story she'd heard from these two  people claiming to be her parents. It wasn't that she didn't believe  them, she simply didn't remember.

They went on to explain that whether she or anyone believed it, the  Universe was always there, listening to everyone's innermost thoughts  and intentions, helping them shape their lives. Some people focused on  hate, fear, or whatever they lacked, and found their lives filled with  anger and conflict. Others, who focused on love and gratitude, found  their world filled with joy even if they faced life's tragedies. In  Ashli's case, she focused on her sense of loss.                       
       
           



       

Had Ashli's unwillingness to let her parents go really drawn Death to  her? It seemed ridiculous that missing them, wanting to see them again,  could do that. But according to her parents, Ashli had died. Numerous  times, in fact. "So I thought Death was stalking me, but really, I was  causing it?"

That was weird.

"It seems fitting," her mother explained, "that you're now the Goddess  of Love. Your love for us was so powerful that you were unable to let go  and move on."

"I see," Ashli said, nodding her head. "Maybe losing my memory wasn't such a bad thing, then. Was it?"

Her mother brushed her arm. "Perhaps not. But if you ever want it back,  all you have to do is ask Máax. He can heal you. He just hasn't figured  it out yet."