my surprise, my mother broke into a great laugh. “Poor Mac! You think I don’t know. Oh, my darling, I’m so sorry; I should have told you long ago. I never thought things would go this far…I thought I could protect you by not telling you about your destiny.”
“My destiny?” I felt the familiar prickling of uncertainty shivering up and down my spine.
“You’re special, Mackenzie. Surely you must have realized it by now. I knew that from the moment you were born. With a fever so high it would have killed any normal child – one hundred twenty-five degrees – but no outward signs of illness. No signs of anything at all – other than extraordinary intelligence, extraordinary strength.” She touched my hair. “And extraordinary beauty. I knew then that I had birthed one of the Embodiments, one of the special ones.”
“But you never told me?” I took her hand. “Why, Mom?”
“Because,” my mother sighed. “I wanted to give you a normal life – or, at least, a chance of one. In days like these, Embodiments are in danger – regardless of their alliance. The Fire Wars have claimed many lives, and I didn’t want yours to be one of them. It’s not easy being born a deity.”
“Then you knew…all along…that I’m Vesta?”
My mother shook her head. “I didn’t know who you were – only that you were one. And it shouldn’t have surprised me – Embodiments have at least a one in two chance of producing an Embodiment child.”
“Then you’re a…”
My mother nodded, a slow smile spreading across her face.
“A Fire goddess?”
“No,” said my mother. “That’s what made you so surprising. My alliance is to the Rivers – a faction of Water gods who recognize the need for alliance with Fire and earth. A river runs through soil, after all. I am Yami, goddess of rivers.” Her smile grew ironic. “Or at least I was, once upon a time. I can hardly remember that era now. My memories of the time before Embodiments are sketchy, the way many deities’ memories are.” My mother hugged me tight. “You were born into Fire, I to Water.” I felt the same calm waves rushing over me – waves I had only felt with Varun. But I couldn’t feel safe – secure. I felt only angry, confused. My mother had lied to me – she’d hidden her secrets from me! And she was a Water god – the very deities who wanted me dead!
“But…how did I end up a Fire deity?” I asked.
“Your Grandfather was the Sun God. Neither Fire nor Water – but with elements of both mixed in. It was from him that you gained your fiery strength.”
But before I could respond, a knock at the door interrupted us both.
“Come in!” I cried.
It was Chance and Antonio, each holding an enormous pizza box that could easily have fed eight people.
“We brought food,” said Antonio.
“Thought you’d be hungry,” Chance added.
“I…uh…I’m not.” I was stunned, dazed by my mother’s confession. Everything was dream-like, surreal. “I think – uh – I’m going to go lie down. Or something.”
I couldn’t let my mother see my face – or the pained expression on it. Before anyone could insist that I wolf down a slice, I walked straight past Chance and Antonio and out into the field.
Chapter 15
“Mac, wait!” Chance called after me. But I didn’t want to listen to him – I didn’t want to listen to anybody! I only wanted to be alone with my thoughts, only wanted to have some time and space to deal with what it was I had just heard. How could it be true? My mother – the River Goddess Yami? How could she never have told me this before? With Water deities from all over the ocean out to get me – my own mother was one of my enemies? The pounding in my head blinded me; I could barely hear from the ringing in my ears. Tears were streaming down my face. All the confusion I had endured, all the uncertainty about my own identity – all of that could have been avoided if only my mother had been honest with me. But instead I had been plunged into a world I could not control, a world filled with wars and alliances and romances bigger than I was. Emotions I couldn’t handle.
I’m sixteen, I said to myself. I’m supposed to be going to high school, making good grades, planning for college, picking a career, hanging out with friends,