Saving Grace: The Guardian Chronicles Book 2

Chapter 30.

Chapter 30.

Rainforest, Guatemala

The small group ran quickly and as silently as possible for miles. It had taken several days for them to cover as much land walking on the way into the jungle. Now, the fear in Marie's voice kept them moving. He had not yet stopped to ask her any questions about what she meant and how she knew the Ancient One was coming, but it did not seem as important as running. Suddenly, they burst out of the trees onto a road, signaling civilization was near.

"Stop, stop!" he called to the rest.

Nathan and Aiden skidded to a halt, wide-eyed and on the offensive. Aiden scanned all around and said, "We're on a roll. What's up, did you see something?"

"No, not that. We just need to get an idea of what we're doing." Letting Marie slide off his back, he pulled her to stand in front of him with her back to the rest. "And we need to get you dressed. You would probably start a riot if we walked into a tavern asking for a pilot just now. Aiden, toss me Marie's bags."

Xavier deftly snagged the projectile from the air. He held the bag open to allow her to pick some clothes. When she did not move to do so, he leaned down into her face. Her eyes were still huge and dilated, glazed over from the after effects of the hallucinogen she had been given. "Hey, Marie. You in there?"

She tried to find him, but everything was foggy and seemed to swim before her. The feeling was not unlike when she had been drugged and kept captive by Romley. She did not like it at all.  Numbly she said, "I can't focus on anything. Just get me something."

He reached in and pulled out a tunic and pants. After holding them out to her and she nearly fell over, he moved to help her dress. She placed her hands on his shoulders like a small child as he helped with her pants and then bunched up the tunic to put over her head. She wriggled the beads off her midsection and threw them angrily into the jungle and unfastened the skirt from around her waist.

Xavier watched her stumbling tantrum, holding onto her arm as she swayed dangerously. He said, "Can you tell me what spooked you so much? Tell me what you saw."

She turned to peer at his face, as if trying to find something solid to focus on. "I was sleeping, or passed out, whatever, and that stuff I smoked really had me tripping. It was like I could still hear what was going on around me, but couldn't do anything about it. I tried to not smoke it, but they made me!"

"I know, I know, I watched. It seemed like your friends Nene and Paolo were looking out for you, though. Until they got you back to the hut anyway."

"I don't know what you're talking about. I can't seem to remember anything once the bonfire started and I took the second or third puff on that nasty stuff. All I know is I was laying there and all of a sudden you-know-who appears to me, and starts laughing his evil laugh. He said 'I know where you are. I'm coming to get you'." Marie's slurred belligerent tone would have been amusing, had it not been for the weight of the words she had said.

"How do you mean, he appeared to you?" Xavier asked.

"I guess I had a vision or something. It's not like he was really there, and it wasn't like he was a ghost. I was just really out of it. All I wanted to do was sleep. Then when he showed up, I got freaked out. I tried to shift, but the stuff I smoked must have made it so I couldn't. I would have been past you so fast, you wouldn't have been able to catch me."

Xavier looked to Aiden and frowned. Was Marie's vision just a bad trip on the herbs she had smoked, or had Amahté really appeared to her in a vision? Regardless, he had no issues with them leaving Marco and the villagers behind. It was all the excuse he needed. He said to Aiden, "We need to get a flight out of here and we need to contact the others. Can you stay with them and get a message to Emil while I find a pilot in the village? We are actually near an airstrip, if I remember right."