Enlightened (Love and Light Series) (17 page)

“It’s a simple test, Loti.” Wolf grimaced as he cinched the belt.

“Then why all the pomp and circumstance? The robe? The ritual?” Her temples throbbed and she rolled her jaw. “How ‘bout asking me a few questions and be done with it?”

Wolf smiled in commiseration. “They like their ways.”

“Let’s head upstairs. They’re ready for us.” Guided put a hand on Loti’s elbow.

The small crowd meandered to the spiral staircase. Loti accepted a cushion from one of the two people who stood on either side of the stairs handing them out. Wolf stayed close behind her in the enclosed stairway, his hand resting on the small of her back. It would have been jet black if it weren’t for the small lights on the steps. When she stepped out into another small foyer, she breathed a sigh of relief to be out of the claustrophobic space. A sheesham wood archway graced the entrance to the shrine, a pink glow oozing through the intricate carvings.

As she passed under it into the shrine, a large, glowing ball of pink pulsed. Every hair on her body stood up. The orb hovered above an altar of water with real lotus flowers on the surface. Wooden altars stood at regular intervals all around the perimeter of the room with indecipherable writing and familiar symbols embossed on them. The air in the room smelled clean and snapped like a thunderstorm had just passed through.

“Come, sit here.” Guided led them to the center of the shrine and pointed to the floor in front of the light. As Loti walked closer, chills frothed up her spine. She and Wolf sat on their cushions while twenty or so tribesmen formed a semi-circle around them. She twisted around looking for Calisto and Margarite, who smiled and waved when she caught their eye. All of their nest mates were there except Fiamette. Loti didn’t know if that was good or bad.

“We’ve brought Loti to the shrine to determine if she is one of us.” Guided addressed the group from the bottom step leading up to the glowing orb. Loti clasped her hands in her lap, nervous apprehension twiddling her thumbs. Wolf’s hand rested on her knee.

“I don’t think there’s any doubt about that, Guided,” someone piped up.

She twisted back around to see who it was and the part-fae guy smiled at her, holding the hand of a pretty brunette woman. Loti studied her for a moment.
Human. Definitely human
.

“Yes, Hammer, I think we already know she’s a healer,” Calisto said from the back of the room. A healer?
No, no way I’m a healer.
Loti cleared her throat and twirled her hair. A healer would have been able to do something about David’s cancer. Or save Calla.

Guided nodded and said, “Yes, we’ve seen a little evidence, but the rest of the tribe hasn’t, Calisto. That’s one reason we’re here. The other is to determine if there’s more to this story.”

“Get on with it, Guided. It’s not like you to be so formal.” Someone jested and the room broke out in good-humored laughter.

He smiled, waving his hands in surrender. “Okay, okay. So sue me for having a little fun.” Pressing his hands together in front of his heart, he bowed his head. The laughter morphed into guffaws and howls. Guided opened one eye and peeked up at the crowd. “But I think we’re about to witness something very unique.”

The crowd quieted so fast, Loti spun around to see what happened.

“Loti? Will you stand with me?” Guided held out his hand to her, and for what seemed like the millionth time, Loti glanced at Wolf. What did she want from him? To make her talk and sing and dance and turn her into a real girl? Annoyed with herself, she jumped up and seized Guided’s hand.

“Loti, who is what in this room?” he asked.

She turned to the little crowd, took a deep breath, and drank them all in. “Do you want me to say it out loud or just to you or . . ?” Her voice faded away. She didn’t want to out anyone.

“We all know each other. It’s okay to say it.” Guided patted her arm. “And if you’re hiding anything,” he addressed the crowd with a smirk, “you’re about to be called to task.”

She was a little surprised to find that half of the healers were not all human. Squaring her jaw, she tried to ignore the crazy buzzing in her spine as she walked over to Hammer and his girl. Softening her focus, she allowed the feeling to guide her thoughts.

“This one is human, but half fae,” she said about Hammer, and he nodded gamely. Turning to the sweet-faced woman—“Human.” The woman nodded, a false seriousness crinkling her nose as she played along with the game.

“He’s part fae, but not half, maybe third generation removed,” She smiled at the older man next to her, who smiled up through a dense, black beard and mustache. Did none of them shave?

“She’s human.” She gestured at Mitch who stuck out her tongue.

“Ha,” someone called out. He was followed by spurts of laughter and little humphs around the room. Their good-humored attitude and impish nature, especially during what might be considered a serious occasion, won Loti over. The buzzing softened as she relaxed into what she was doing. She identified a shapeshifter, another part-fae, and then stumbled on one she couldn’t identify at first. She knelt in front of the curly-haired woman, studying her freckled face, but Loti’s eyes were never what told her. She relaxed and stopped trying to see it, stopped trying to name it. An odd thought occurred to her.

“I keep thinking ‘deva’ but that must be wrong, it’s just out of—”

“Devata.” The woman interrupted her with a touch to Loti’s hand, grinning. “You’re right, you’ve just never heard of us, so the word made no sense.”

“We’ll save the explanations for another time—” Guided started.

“You’re a protective element. Your kind believe you are here to keep balance—to protect the balance of the universe.” Loti’s eyes flicked back into her head, her eyelids fluttering and the woman yanked her hand away.

Loti’s spine vibrated harder. “I’m okay, Wolf,” Loti called out, holding up her palm behind her. He was halfway across the room, but stopped at her voice. Inhaling through her nose, the light in the room dimmed and the crowd murmured. She exhaled, and the light in the room brightened. But it was the clean light in her blue eyes that caused the group to “Oooooo.” Every eye followed her, their bodies tense with excitement as she greeted Calisto’s nest.

“You’re shocking them,” Margarite whispered in her ear as she hugged her. “They thought Calisto was overreacting. He has that tendency.” Calisto kissed her cheek and the others murmured encouragement and kudos as if they were a team. She felt like she was floating on her way back to Guided. Wolf stood where he’d stopped, waiting for a signal from her. His mouth loosened at the stars shimmering in her eyes—like a twilight sky full of midnight stars. A puff of moist breath drifted up her back between her shoulder blades to the nape of her neck. Her own breath caught in her throat, and she resisted every instinct in her body to go to him.

“There’s magic in this room, Guided. Something powerful, isn’t there?” she whispered as she approached him.

He nodded at the glowing ball of light. “Gurudev recognized this place for what it was and built the ashram here because of it. If you are who we think you are, this place will reveal your true nature. Come here.” He pointed to the black marble steps in front of the altar, and she took each step with a deliberate, careful caution.

“This light is the light of Life. There are several places on Earth like this—intersections of the channels of energy that flow through the world. Only a few are the intersections of all pathways,
all
channels of energy. This is one of them. It’s like a seam, a gateway, and a guide. To touch it is to touch the entire universe.”

Without further hoo-hah, Guided leaned over the water and sank his hand into the light. It flowed down his arm, filling him up to his eyes and down to his toes, straining at his skin. It flowed into the air above his head and down into the floor beneath his feet. With a gasp, Loti recognized what she was seeing—his prana. Chakras. The seven vortices of energy of different colors that spun at different points in his body. Meridians. The intricate pathways of energy flowed through his body, tiny points of bright light flashed where they intersected. He presented his hand to her.

“Hold my hand, and as I touch God, you will, too.” His voice wasn’t his anymore.

She hesitated. But this was what she was here for, right? Single-minded, she grasped his hand, and with an audible boom, her body exploded into light and sound. Hot, molten glass burned through her, and she screamed as the room filled with a ringing, like a Tibetan singing bowl. Wolf was beside her in an instant, but before he could pry her hand from Guided’s, Calisto stopped him. The moment he touched her, however, the pain dulled, and Wolf detonated into light and sound.

“Just hold on to her. Trust.” The words echoed as if down a long corridor, and Loti yelled as another surge flowed through her like lava. Wolf wrapped his arms around her from behind, and another explosion ripped through the room. The tribe scrambled back, but didn’t run away. They stood and squinted at the bright light, waiting, mesmerized, trembling with their excitement. Guided kept an iron grip on Loti’s hand while his other sank deeper, the heat and light feeding on itself like a small sun with Loti and Wolf and Guided at the center.

I can’t do this.

Yes, you can.

Wolf?

Yes.

Then it went supernova, exploding in silence outward and engulfing the entire shrine, the ashram, and more. Immediately it shrank back into its center with a little pfft, like a candle flame being snuffed out. The pain dissipated. Loti and Wolf’s bodies purred, warm and right. In the darkness, their souls were still for a split second, then light surged from a pinprick to the original size of the orb. It shot straight up to the pinnacle of the shrine where it split into several lines down the walls to touch each altar around the room. The altars glowed with symbols and words in different languages. To her utter amazement, she could read them all.

Following the Light, the sage takes care of all.

In the effulgent lotus of the heart dwells Brahman, the Light of Lights.

God, being Truth, is the one Light of all.

On the last one, Wolf’s voice in her head read along with her:

Truth is One, paths are many.

“Holy shit,” someone yelled, breaking the divine silence. The whole room roared with cheers and laughter.

“I’ll never doubt you again, old man.” Peacemaker the flute player pounded Calisto on the back with one arm and hugged him with the other.

“Are you kidding me? I never thought I’d live to see this.” Hammer lifted and spun the pretty brunette.

Buoyant in a sea of peace, all pain gone, Loti felt a rolling warmth fill her throat and make her want to sing. It filled her head and made everything clear. It flooded her heart and made love the only real thing in the world. It filled her pelvis and made her want things she hadn’t had in a long time. It filled her legs and arms and made her strong, grounded. And she wasn’t alone in any of these thoughts or feelings.

Why?

Because.

That’s not an answer, Wolf.

It’s all I’ve got.

The tribe surrounded them, pulling Guided away from the light, who was letting go of Loti’s hand. When his grip released, Wolf was gone from her soul, but still holding her. Although she couldn’t feel him inside of her anymore, she had a new sense of his presence—like she could feel him there without touching. But the place inside her, where he had been so briefly, was cold now.

“Wolf?” Shameless tears streamed down her face as she spun around. “Where are you? What’s happening?” She sobbed.

Bloody tracks ran down his face. “I’m here. Guided had to let go or it would have taken him. We couldn’t stay like that forever.” His voice was strangled.

“But . . .” But what?

He buried his head in her hair, and she pressed her face into his chest, fisting his robe in both hands. The gathering tribe and Calisto’s nest wrapped their arms around the pair until they were all together in one big pile. No one noticed the others gathering at the archway. One by one, they entered the room, gawking at the glowing shrines. When Guided withdrew his hand from the orb and let go of Loti, the light hadn’t gone away.