CHAPTER THREE
Present
The surgeon’s steady hand lifted out a tiny blue bundle and handed the motionless body to outstretched hands. The nurse carried the quiet infant into the corner and laid it down in an open incubator. All Ella could see were the slim backs of the staff. The baby lay hidden from her view and she didn’t even know her baby’s sex.
There was no healthy cry and her heart froze inside her chest.
Two nurses continued to check and work on their tiny patient, but she couldn’t see what they were doing. She was stuck in limbo.
“Well—will it survive?” Aidan barked.
One woman turned her head to the side and shook it. Still there was no sound. No cry. A second later, they sealed the incubator containing the baby and pushed it out of the room. Ella didn’t know whether she had given birth to a boy or a girl. They had ripped her baby away from her and now he was dead. She didn’t even get the chance to hold him or say good-bye.
Her body shook violently. Excruciating pain tore through her cells and nerve endings, flooding her brain. Her body twitched and jerked. She was going into shock. Ella looked down upon her own ashen face. Blood continued to drain from her abdomen, and little attention was paid to the increasing blood loss. A loud beeping sounded from the monitor, and the man sitting behind her jumped up.
“She’s arresting. We’re going to lose her too.”
Voices shouted furious commands, and a sinking sensation dragged at her. Her life was draining away. She should fight to stay alive, but her baby was dead. In each life, she stumbled from one disaster to another. Until now, she believed the men in her life had been the reason, but this time the fault lay with her. Maybe dying would be best. Even Marcus would blame her.
“Do what you can, but make it fast. I’m leaving. I have to report back to the Padre when they’ve finished with the baby. Dump her in the woods with the fetus.”
His cold, emotionless voice echoed around the room as he talked about Ella and her baby. The man who cared little for her life or her child’s tread closer. She observed him stroke her forehead and gaze over her body. The surgeon worked to stop the bleeding, and the machines beeped in the background.
“You’re such a disappointment, Ella. I expected more from you. In the end, you’re like all the others, nothing special. Last time, it wasn’t magic that saved you—it was simply good timing. Now, your luck has run out. Good-bye, sweet Ella.” The professor bent over and kissed her temple.
A scorching swirl of anger coursed through her veins, firing all her nerve endings. The need to fight overtook the sorrow and emptiness consuming her. Absorbing his words—especially his last few, “Just like the others”—it confirmed she wasn’t his only subject. Ella didn’t know whether he meant there were other soul-shifters or other women he had been experimenting on. Either way, Orion needed to put an end to the professor and the Padre. If she died here and now, it would be for nothing. The machine’s alarms went crazy and a coldness seeped into her bones.
Ella rose and drifted away from the operating room like a bird on the breeze. For weeks, she had been training herself to track Marcus on the compound and observe him like a shadow. But this out-of-body experience was innate and automatic. She hadn’t focused on anything, and here she was, as if her soul had departed from her physical body to fly like a separate entity. Her spirit glided. But time held no meaning in this form and after leaving one scene, another appeared below. She hovered unseen as an eerie performance played out before her, like earlier. Only now, she was in a dense wood. An owl hooted in a nearby tree, and she studied two hefty men with ordinary faces as they stomped through the woods, carrying a long white shroud with ease. Both held somber expressions as they trudged deeper, and the wind whistled through the tall trees.
“Where should we leave them?” the bald one asked.
The man with dark, long hair surveyed the surroundings. “Shit, here will do. This place gives me the creeps. I can manage. You go and fetch the shovel,” he said in a gruff voice as he wiped his bulbous nose.
The navy sky shielded their activity, but the leaves and twigs crunched and snapped as the man walked away. A full moon hung low, the only other witness to this untimely and macabre burial. Ella looked upon her milky white body lying on the soft damp earth. Her wide blue eyes stared vacantly up at her. A huge red cut ran horizontally from hip to hip. The surgeon had finished his job and stitched her well. Her stomach looked flat from this angle, as if a baby had never been inside her now empty uterus. The man with dark-brown hair knelt and scratched his head before he unrolled another sheet.
“Dear God in heaven.”
He made a sign of the cross on his chest and sniffed. There on the white blanket was a mottled but perfectly formed baby girl, still and lifeless. Ella stared, transfixed. She counted the fingers and toes, capturing every detail for memory. The tiny features imprinted forever on her stunned brain. Unable to comprehend any more, a stab pierced her heart and she screamed until the air rippled with vibration. The man lifted his head and turned to look around. A black crow squawked and dove right at the man. The bird fluttered its wings near his face and he ducked his head for protection. He waved his arms frantically to distract the bird, who flew off.
Ella couldn’t stay any longer.
Up above, she was energy and light flying and soaring high in the clouds, until she landed with her feet on solid ground. Instead of observing from above, now she walked, searching ahead, but she didn’t recognize the scenery at all. A soothing chant of harmonic voices played on the gentle breeze. The tinkle of running water and the smell of jasmine filled her senses. Stepping forward through the clouds, she paused at the breathtaking sight.
“Welcome, Ella. You are safe here.”
The beautiful female voice reached her before the soft hand did. A tall, slim woman with long flaxen hair and bright sapphire eyes appeared with a warm smile that spoke of belonging. Ariana. The clouds dispersed and a lush green forest filled the void. The tallest of trees she had ever seen surrounded them and a playful waterfall danced in the background. Pretty blue flowers bloomed all around and a couple of deer drank from the river. Ariana stood there like the goddess Ella always imagined her to be, dressed in a sleeveless, shimmering silk blue gown that tied at the waist with a golden braided belt. A delicate golden crown sat on her head and as Ella stared at the pretty diamonds, she felt her hand squeezed.
“Your time here is short. I will help you as much as I can, but first you need to rest.”
Ella’s heart beat slow and steady. She allowed the beautiful lady to lead her away from the trees and woodland to follow a narrow path. When the trees passed behind them, standing in front of her stood a majestic sand-colored stone temple. Huge vertical columns rose into the clouds. There were six in the front and she wasn’t sure how many at the side, but etched on the ancient stone were beautiful hieroglyphics. Bone-weary, she followed Ariana up the steps, and before she could ask where they were going, Ella found herself inside a large room filled with warmth and sunshine. The walls and tall dome-shaped ceiling were stone. Facing her was an open arched doorway that led to a balcony. Beyond, she saw the woodland and the chirps of birds filled the room. The only furniture was an enormous four-poster wooden bed and Ella drifted toward it. She lay down and shimmied back until she found a soft pillow to rest her head.
“Sleep, and I will come for you when you are ready.”
Closing her eyes, she didn’t understand what was happening to her and yet she didn’t feel afraid. The lady was Ariana. She was home. A hand brushed across her temple and she drifted to a deep sleep.
****
“Lift her carefully.”
“I thought she was dead when we arrived at the scene. The walker said as much. Her color was like marble. I’ve never touched a stone-cold and rigid body that lived before, but I kept waiting. Something drove me to wait and I found a slow pulse.”
The urgent chatter flew around her. Ella caught snatches of the conversation as she drifted in and out of consciousness. Cold metal touched her chest, and several hands moved over her body. Ella listened, unable to respond in any way. The distinct smell of strong pine antiseptic calmed her.
“It’s a miracle. Although when she wakes, she may wish she hadn’t. What happened is horrendous. That poor baby. Who would do such a thing? The police were all over the crime scene. They took swabs to gather as much evidence as possible, but they will be in later for an interview.”
They carried and lifted her body, and repositioned her but it didn’t matter. Ella had no energy or fight left. Like a puppet, she allowed them to pull and adjust her limbs. She was maneuvered until they were happy. More pressing voices entered, and another conversation began going back and forth. A loud alarm beeped frantically, and the voices shouted out orders. Ella could hear the squeaky pattering of shoes running on the linoleum. A cold sensation pressed on her chest and electrifying heat shocked through her cells, jolting her.
“We’re losing her.”
Time passed. She didn’t know how much, but she wandered back to the place she believed to be home.
Waking up, she stretched her lithe frame, and as much as she wanted to get out and explore, a weakness prevented her. Ella attempted to move her legs, but her body wouldn’t cooperate.
“Your body needs to heal, and not just in a physical way, Ella. When you complete the transformation, you will be much stronger. In time, you will be fine.”
Worry sat on Ella’s brow as she didn’t fully understand Ariana’s meaning. Transformation?
The ethereal woman sat down on the edge of the bed, sighing. She bent her head and picked up Ella’s hand. “I’m sorry. I know you are confused, but I am not allowed to bestow you with all the answers. The discovery is part of your experience. I will tell you that I never anticipated the suffering my children would face because of my selfish actions. I didn’t long for children, but I did long for love. In my quest for that, countless babies were born, each one cursed by the gods. Each one suffered. Some more than others, but each torment or pain, I have felt. I’m protected here in the heavens, but watching causes its own torment. Over the centuries, many have joined me here, but there are still those on Earth, hunted like yourself. Time is changing. The Earth is not safe for our kind, or otherworldly creatures. Indeed, the human race is under threat, by the evil that is growing.”
Ella studied the beautiful woman before her, not a hair out of place, no lines or signs of aging. She looked to be the same age. Yet, this goddess—this queen—was her mother. Ella never expected to meet Ariana again. That first time, she was a naive young girl discovering her true identity. It shocked and enlightened her but she hid her gifts, terrified of the attention it would draw. She lived in fear, always desperate to stay alive. Now, the fear she once held inside no longer existed. Now, she wanted to use her magic.
“You are right. You are protected here. I didn’t choose to be born but here I am. And in each life, I suffered. I was hung—twice—beaten, drowned, burned, poisoned, and tortured. I’m not sure love is worth all of that. I don’t want to hear that you suffered as you sat up here because the view looks pretty good to me. You are selfish. You haven’t suffered the way others have. In the human world, you wouldn’t have been allowed to have children after abandoning them the way you did without at least giving them the skills to survive. You need to make up for that. You need to teach me.”
Ariana leaned forward and brushed Ella’s hair away from her cheek and stroked it, but it was too late for the tender action to mean anything to her.
“I’m sorry, it was never my intention to hurt anyone. When I left the heavens, I didn’t simply become human. I stepped inside a human body and in doing so, there was a transference of my powers to the woman. I am the moon goddess. The goddess of fertility. My occupation of their body resulted with each woman giving birth to a child who was both human and god. I have been held accountable for that action ever since. As soon as I returned to the heavens, my soul-mate was taken from me and my punishment was to live in exile. You see, this is a beautiful place, but it’s a gilded prison. I would do anything for one more day with my love. You’re right—I have not suffered like you but I have felt pain. Ella, I will help you as much as I’m allowed.”
Ella nodded and fell back to sleep.
Once again, the environment changed. The light voices of the nurses surrounded her, chatting and oblivious of her presence. Even though she lay still, she knew by the swoosh of their movement, and their overwhelming sweet human perfume, when they entered the room. They performed their duties with a precision that rarely changed. She knew they checked the heart monitor, recorded her vitals, changed her position, redressed her incision, and changed the intravenous fluids.
The nurses didn’t linger in her room. They were scared of her and with good reason. During one of her lucid moments hours ago, when an unknown, small hand touched her abdomen, she reacted, twisting the small appendage until the person it belonged to screamed. Since then, she had been rewarded with a hefty dose of analgesic, which Ella welcomed as the real world vanished. Floating in the abyss was preferable to the disturbing scenes that haunted her. The cold reality didn’t stay away for long, and when the memories clawed back inside her mind, Ella knew nothing would ever be the same again.
Screams rent around her.
Her screams.
She couldn’t stop them. For the last several hours, the nurses hadn’t attempted any conversation. She understood. She didn’t blame them. Her behavior since the moment she opened her eyes was combative and animalistic. Reliving the moment her precious baby was savagely taken haunted her. She pleaded to be left alone but the insistent, never-ending cries of a baby inside her head wouldn’t go away. Covering her ears with both hands, she tried to obliterate the agonizing noise that came in waves. Curling her body into a tight ball, she clenched her small hands into fists and braced herself for the onslaught of shadow-filled images and agonizing, stinging pain.
She bit her tongue, attempting not to cry out, but the pain intensified. Every determined slice across her skin touched her nerve. Excruciating pain scolded her flesh. The force of the blade as it penetrated her body with a knowledgeable accuracy lay engraved on her brain. Her body bucked and she screamed as pain coursed through her veins, hot and overflowing every cell, swamping her until she lost consciousness. The shroud of darkness held her, and only there in the void did Ella feel safe.
“Excuse me, sir, you have no right to be in here…you have to leave.”
“Get out of my way or so help me God, I will make you. She’s my wife. I have every right. Get the doctor in charge now.” The rich baritone growl was unmistakable.
“I’m sorry, sir, but that’s not possible…”
There was a high-pitched shriek, quick footsteps, muffled words along with gasps and other voices mixed in with the dominant and familiar voice. Ella knew it wouldn’t be long before the man who had captured her heart, once, appeared. Now, even the sound of his rich, husky voice didn’t soothe her.