Accidentally…Over? (Accidentally Yours #5)(71)
Author: Mimi Jean Pamfiloff

Then a small burst of warm air enveloped her body, and she found herself sitting in the sand, looking out across turquoise waves.

“Oh, for heaven’s sake, Ashli, why do you keep coming here? We told you not to come back.”

Ashli looked up at the woman with the deeply tanned skin and long, thick black curls much like her own standing next to a man with short dark brown hair. Both wore white linen suits that seemed to flow over their lean bodies.

“Do I know you?” Ashli stood quickly.

The woman and man exchanged glances. “We’re your parents. And you are in big trouble, young lady.”

Máax had chosen this particular cenote because it was the most powerful of the portals when it came to creating a human form. Unfortunately, that also meant he’d be slammed into his new body. Not that he would know, but he guessed it felt similar to hitting a brick wall at one hundred miles per hour. Most deities avoided this cenote for that very reason, a small price to pay given his urgency to return to Ashli. He needed to find a way to mend her memory, to make things right for her.

With his new human form complete, the cenote spit Máax out into the dark, cold water. He kicked his way to the surface and noticed a form floating facedown.

Ashli?

No!

He reached the water’s surface and immediately flipped her onto her back. Her face was bluish as were her lips. “No. No. No.”

With her in tow, he swam to the side of the pool and gripped a small ledge. He heaved and tugged with all his strength, but he was weak and would be for several hours until his new body fully absorbed his light. “Dammit, no. She can’t be dead! Ashli!”

Doing his best to balance her body against his in the water, he propped her head in the crook of his arm and began blowing into her mouth. “Wake up! Ashli! Wake up!” Why was this happening? He’d given her the light of the gods, made her immortal. As long as her form wasn’t destroyed, she would live forever just as a vampire might. Something wasn’t right.

Then he remembered; his powers had been returned to him! Yes, not only had he been the God of Truth—or love, as he’d discovered—but he had many, many other gifts. To name a few: the ability to know when a person lied, to control people’s actions with his voice, and to heal the sick, and the ability to enter another’s body. He rarely did so—it was really disturbing to walk inside the mind of another—but perhaps he could will Ashli’s heart to pump and lungs to move again. He closed his eyes tightly and felt his essence sift inside her. He felt nothing. No sign of Ashli. An empty shell.

He willed her immortal body to work again and soon felt her body warming and breathing on its own, but still no Ashli. Where had her soul gone?

Máax exited her form and stared down at her beautiful face. “Please come back, Ashli. Please?”

There was no response. Horror and despair filled every molecule of his being.

Why, after everything, is this happening? Hadn’t he paid his dues to the Universe? Why was he being punished? “Ashli! I command you to return.”

Once again, there was no response.

Then I will go back in time and undo this. Yes, he’d get a hold of another tablet and find a way to stop this. Even if he had to again defy his brethren and do so without their permission.

“I will never let you go, Ashli. Never.”

Máax positioned Ashli’s petite frame over his shoulder and began the arduously slow climb from the water.

Ashli could not believe the insane story she’d heard from these two people claiming to be her parents. It wasn’t that she didn’t believe them, she simply didn’t remember.

They went on to explain that whether she or anyone believed it, the Universe was always there, listening to everyone’s innermost thoughts and intentions, helping them shape their lives. Some people focused on hate, fear, or whatever they lacked, and found their lives filled with anger and conflict. Others, who focused on love and gratitude, found their world filled with joy even if they faced life’s tragedies. In Ashli’s case, she focused on her sense of loss.

Had Ashli’s unwillingness to let her parents go really drawn Death to her? It seemed ridiculous that missing them, wanting to see them again, could do that. But according to her parents, Ashli had died. Numerous times, in fact. “So I thought Death was stalking me, but really, I was causing it?”

That was weird.

“It seems fitting,” her mother explained, “that you’re now the Goddess of Love. Your love for us was so powerful that you were unable to let go and move on.”

“I see,” Ashli said, nodding her head. “Maybe losing my memory wasn’t such a bad thing, then. Was it?”

Her mother brushed her arm. “Perhaps not. But if you ever want it back, all you have to do is ask Máax. He can heal you. He just hasn’t figured it out yet.”

“Really?” That was ironic. She’d been the key to undoing whatever trouble Máax had been in back in that circus slash courtroom. And now that he had his powers back, he was the key to undoing her problem? The Universe worked in mysterious ways.

“Yes,” her mother replied. “Really.”

Ashli gave it some thought. Whoever she used to be didn’t sound very happy, and maybe this was her second chance. How many people got to have one of those?

Hmmm, perhaps this would remain her little secret for the time being.

“As for us,” said her mother, “we’ll always be here, watching over you. And playing poker. Did you know the dead’ve got a game going 24/7? Yesterday, I played Texas Hold ’Em with a gladiator who died in 100 BC. Fascinating.”

Okay.

“Now,” said her father, his eyes filled with a calming love. “It’s time for you, our dear little Ashli, to return before your deity has a meltdown. He must be wondering where you are, and he’s waited a long, long time for you.”

Part of her wanted to stay and chat a little longer, but she knew they were right; it was time to go. She already felt the pull. To where? She assumed back to the real world, the world of the living. To Máax. That was the other part of their story she found unbelievable; Máax had been sent to save her, to teach her how to live again.

And you almost lost him. Dork!

She hugged her parents tightly. “Good-bye and thank you.”

“Until we meet again,” said her mother. “But not too soon.”

Ashli blinked and felt herself pulled through a dark tunnel. The noise in her ears at first sounded like a low hum, but then grew into an earsplitting roar. But it wasn’t an animal; it sounded like a man. A man cursing the heavens and life itself, vowing to do very awful things to everyone.