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SAMUEL
A low hum sounds from the jungle. The first light of dawn breaks through the trees and into the waipa.
Samuel opens his eyes.
Eden.
She lies beside him. She has a hand under her cheek with a peaceful expression on her face. There’s not a hint of distress evident from the previous night.
Flashes come back to him. He pushes up onto his elbow. The dotted fires around the waipa have been reduced to nothing but glowing embers. The shaman sleeps. Kaikare rises from her mat as though sensing his presence.
She creeps over to him and places a hand on his shoulder. Kaikare stares at Eden, her eyes reflecting compassion and love. When her gaze meets Samuel’s, his memory jolts again.
“Mawari? Kanaima?” he whispers.
Kaikare tells him a negative entity had entered the waipa while the shaman’s spirit was deep in the forest. Kaikare’s spirit was there in the waipa preventing it from taking hold of him, although she wasn’t strong enough yet.
She smiles and bows her head. Kaikare explains her mother returned to protect Samuel, the shaman, and Eden.
“Eden?” he whispers.
Kaikare nods, confirming her danger. She explains the shaman’s spirit returned from the forest and stood beside Eden, but he couldn’t enter the waipa. Eden unconsciously released her spirit, a young jaguar. Eden passed out, and it was the moment her spirit entered the waipa and stood alongside Kaikare. Together they were powerful enough to force the entity back into the jungle to where her father and mother awaited.
My god.
He had no idea of her power
Samuel reaches down and caresses Eden’s beautiful face.
Will she remember?
Kaikare’s grip tightens on his shoulder. He turns away from Eden and meets Kaikare’s insistent gaze. “Inesa.”
He closes his eyes slowly and inhales a deep breath. He nods in understanding. His negative thoughts surfaced during the ceremony allowing the entity an opening to enter his thoughts and cripple his progression. But it didn’t have time to attach to Samuel’s soul.
“Inesa arukuma,” she says.Inesa stars.
Samuel nods, acknowledging Inesa’s soul is with the stars.
“Inesa, tuna.” She moves her hand in a snake-like action like running water, “tuna.”Water.Kaikare lightly taps her heart. “Turùpo wakü.”Heart good.
Samuel nods. He has to release his thoughts of Inesa to the river. Let it go so his heart will be good. For as long as he can remember, he has held onto the past and locked it away. He is a better man and has changed his life for Inesa, yet it means nothing if he’s not honest with Eden.
Everything in his life has led to being with Eden. Would he have found her if every event of his past didn’t exist? His friends’ poor treatment of Inesa, him leaving society to live in the jungle, then stumbling across Ulara. Ivy upsetting her family and doing what was considered outrageous for her time—leaving her husband and young son to volunteer in the jungle. Finding Ulara much like he did, maybe.
Had the shaman seen them all coming?
Be it fate or destiny, where’s it leading them now that their souls have met?
Eden groans, and her hand wraps under her stomach.
“I’m here,” Samuel whispers. He leans down and kisses her cheek. “I’m here, my love. What do you need?”
“Water,” she murmurs without opening her eyes. Samuel signals to Kaikare a drinking action, and she scoops water from the bowl and hands Samuel the mug.
“Let me help you.” With a hand under her back, he assists her head so it’s high enough for her to sip the water.
Her eyes widen. She looks around the room as though awakened by her memory. Rolling onto her side, she pushes up into a seated position with her legs tucked to one side and her other hand pressed to the ground to support her. “Are you okay?”
