Read Online Birthright (The Stone Legacy Series Book 5) by Theresa Dalayne - Free Book Online

making Zanya jump and spill hot coffee on her hand. “Shoot!” She set the cup back on the counter and watched the burn heal and vanish within moments. Healing was her favorite ability by far. “What was that?”
    Another loud smack rattled the window, followed by another.
    She cautiously walked toward the window, peering at the small, colorful objects as they crashed into the glass and fell to the ground. “Are those birds?”
    They kept coming, an entire flock of yellow and blue finch-sized birds, all following each other to their deaths. Zanya clutched her chest, her eyes wide as blood splattered and smeared over the glass.
    Arwan stepped beside her. “What is happening?”
    “I don’t know, but…” She looked at Arwan. “That’s not normal, right?”
    Arwan shook his head. “No. That’s not normal.”
     
    ***
     
    Arwan
     
    Arwan walked outside to a graveyard of birds lying on the ground beside their home. Some were still alive, flapping their wings and spinning in circles. Others struggled and gasped for air. The rest, the lucky rest, were nothing more than tiny broken bodies.
    Zanya followed behind him and covered her mouth. “My god…” She crouched beside a bird flailing its tiny feet in an effort to stand, but all it was doing was kicking violently in the air. “Can we help them?”
    “No.” He held out his hand to stop her. “Don’t touch them. They could be sick.”
    She stood. “You think that’s why they all flew into our window?”
    It was possible, but not probable. “I couldn’t say—” The thick layer of soil slithered and snaked to life.
    Zanya gasped and leapt back. Arwan shifted, his eyes narrow as the jungle floor came to life.
    What appeared to be tree roots broke through the soil and coiled around the tiny feathered corpses. The roots bored into the bodies and coiled around them, snapping brittle bone and tearing open each creature before pulling it underground, leaving red stains splattered over green foliage.
    Arwan’s heart raced as he stepped back, his hand extended to Zanya. “Come on. Come on, right now.” She grabbed his hand, and he quickly guided her to the safety of the open bottom level of the home.
    “What the hell was that?” Zanya panted, still clinging to his arm.
    He searched every possibility, but came up with only one. Visions of Yaxche, the tree of life connecting all three realms, barged to the forefront of his mind. The tree served a wider purpose than to linger above the damned, trapping them in their eternal torment. It was a link between the underworld, the middle world, and the heavens, giving the dead a bridge for their journey.
    Arwan tightened his grip on Zanya’s hand. “My gods…” He recalled Contessa, the red haired vixen, once Sarian’s lover, now his predecessor. She consumed the souls of men to stay alive in the middleworld, leaving their hollowed vessels to rot on top of the ground. Anything that witch touched was destined for evil, and with her in possession of the book of Popul Vuh, it was only a matter of time before the underworld would rise. “What have we done?”
    “What are you talking about? What’s going on?”
    “It’s our fault. We never should have left.” He turned and studied the house on stone stilts, safe from reaching vines. “Wait…My mother built this house, knowing this day would eventually come. She knew…” He reached for more answers, but found none. “This doesn’t make any sense.”
    “Hey.” Zanya’s sharp tone commanded his attention. Her eyes were piercing and her lips tightly pressed. “Would you please tell me what the hell is going on?”
    “We have to get to the Temple of Inscriptions. We’ll find answers there.”
    She tilted her head. “How do you know that?”
    He touched one of the stone pillars, cool against his skin. The glyphs carved into the rock told a story. They spoke of the temple, where generations of history were etched into its walls. His mother used to tell him