Mayan Blood by Theresa Dalayne Read Free Book Online Page B

understand,” Renato continued. “But please trust me. We have been searching for you for a very long time. Searching for the Stone Guardian who would save us from the dark powers of the underworld. With our people so scarce, in hiding, and afraid to expose their abilities, we are very limited on resources. You are truly our only hope.”
    “How are you sure? There’s never been so much as a hint that I was anything more than just a girl. Super strength, healing, and whatever the hell she does.” She gestured to Hawa. “How can I be capable of any of that?” She held up the book. “I’m sorry, but I’m not the one you’re looking for.” She searched Renato’s face for an expression other than certainty, but found none.
    “You are the Stone Guardian. The responsibility was handed down to you by your mother, as it was handed down to her.”
    Zanya widened her eyes, and a wave of heat rushed over her skin. She gripped Tara’s hand. “Wait…” She swallowed against a dry throat. “You…you know my mother?”
    “I knew her, yes.” Renato stood and walked to his desk, where he picked up a picture frame that faced away from the sitting area. He stared into the photo, lost in thought. “She and I were very close.” He ran his fingers over the black velvet backing. “Her name was Eleuia. I called her Ellie. She was an honorable woman who loved your father. She loved you too, very much, Zanya.” He crossed the room and handed her the frame.
    Zanya snatched it and peered at the black-and-white photo of a beautiful woman with long dark hair and light eyes. She stood on a stone path wearing a summer dress, her hands gently resting on her pregnant belly.
    “Is this really her?” Suddenly, she desperately wanted it to be true. She wanted to believe the woman in the photo was the person she had longed to know all her life.
    “Yes, that is the last photo I took of her before—”
    Zanya raised her gaze to Renato, and then Marzena. The girl tilted her head and spoke, though no words passed through her lips. Instead, her voice echoed in Zanya's mind. Zanya dropped the frame into her lap and clasped her hands over her ears, clinching her eyes shut. “You are capable of doing this, Zanya. We cannot succeed without you.” When Marzena’s voice faded into the recesses of her mind, Zanya forced her eyes open.
    “I hope you will consider staying,” Renato added. “I know I am asking you to trust a group of complete strangers, but I assure you that you and Tara are safe here. You will come to understand the importance of the stone and your responsibility toward it.”
    Zanya's focus never wavered from Marzena’s angelic face. The silence was taunting, something she should be used to after spending endless nights listening to only her heartbeat, lying alone in her orphanage bed.
    Zanya pulled her knees to her chest and buried her face between the humps of her knees. No amount of music could settle the unraveling of her mind.
    The Man who haunted her had always been a mere figment of her imagination. He had always been in her head—a twisted reminder of her supposed mental instability.
    The wounds acquired in her lucid dreams were painful reminders that The Man was waiting for her. He lurked in the empty space of her subconscious, looming in the shadows, disguised as insanity.
    He’d lived there his entire life.
    Believing these people’s impossible stories would mean the monster with dark hair, empty eyes, and an inauspicious grin, was real. That she was never crazy, and all of the medications and nights spent in hospitals were a lost cause. Worse, it meant the one who cloaked his desire with torture, his motives with greed, and his power with the service of horrifying creatures, was coming for her.
    If she believed them, it would mean there was no limit. The door between dream and reality would be flung open. Anything could cross between them.
    And there was no doubt it would.
    Her friend’s gentle touch