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  MAYA'S AURA

  The Awakening

  (Book One in the Series)

  By Skye Smith

  Copyright (C) 2012 Skye Smith

  All rights reserved including all rights of authorship.

  Cover Illustration is a part of "The Moon" by Alphonse Mucha (1902)

  Smashwords Edition, License Notes

  This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you are reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

  Revision 0 . . . . ISBN: 978-0-9881314-0-8

  Cover Flap

  This is the first book in the Maya's Aura Series.

  Young Maya hated the name that her aging hippie mother had saddled her with. She hated her dead-end job in a San Francisco coffee shop that didn't pay enough to allow her to rent her own apartment. She hated trying to make do with clothes from the thrift shops that never quite fit her, and always smelled musty. She hated that she was allowed only one week's vacation, and she could only save enough money to couch surf with friends.

  During her one week vacation couch surfing in Vancouver and spending days on the university's beach, something happened that she could not explain. She felt someone's aura, or at least that is what she thought had happened. Curiosity made her try to feel it again and again. Slowly she began to realize that this aura thing was more than just a good feeling.

  Much more, powerfully more, dangerously more, and she ceased to be the mousy young girl that cleaned tables in a coffee shop.

  * * * * *

  * * * * *

  MAYA'S AURA - the Awakening by Skye Smith

  About The Author

  Skye Smith is my pen name. My family convinced me not to use my real name because my stories are so critical of predator males. You'll understand and forgive me this as you fall in love with sweet Maya, my main character.

  For those of you who like stories about vampires, witches, and magic, you won’t be disappointed by my very different, more realistic take on it all. My vampires are parasites wearing business suits. My witches are healers ignored by the modern world. My magic is based on aura’s, and everyone has felt or seen an aura at least once in their lives.

  The novels so far in the "Maya's Aura" series are:

  1. “The Awakening" …… - published - She discovers her strange aura.

  2. "The Refining" ………. - published - She learns how to use her aura.

  3. “The Ashram” ……….. - published - She searches for answers in India

  4. “Goa to Nepal” ………. - published - She follows a quest into the Himalayas

  5. “The Charred Coven” ... - published - She fights black craft in England.

  6. “The Crystal Witch” …. - published - She learns psychic craft in England

  7. “The Redemptioner” … - published - Psychic dreams of her ancestor Britta.

  8. “Destroy the Tea Party” - published - Britta’s adventures in Boston in 1773.

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  MAYA'S AURA - the Awakening by Skye Smith

  Table of Contents

  Title Page

  Cover Flap

  About the Author

  Table of Contents

  Chapter 1 - In present day Hollywood

  Chapter 2 - In present day Hollywood

  Chapter 3 - Three years earlier in Kitsilano, Vancouver

  Chapter 4 - Three years earlier in Kitsilano, Vancouver

  Chapter 5 - In present day Laurel Canyon, Hollywood

  Chapter 6 - Three years earlier at U.B.C., Vancouver

  Chapter 7 - Three years earlier in Kitsilano, Vancouver

  Chapter 8 - Three years earlier in Kitsilano, Vancouver

  Chapter 9 - In present day Laurel Canyon, Hollywood

  Chapter 10 - Three years earlier in Kitsilano, Vancouver

  Chapter 11 - Three years earlier in downtown Vancouver

  Chapter 12 - In present day Hollywood

  Chapter 13 - Three years earlier in Kitsilano, Vancouver

  Chapter 14 - In present day on highway 101 South of San Francisco

  Chapter 15 - Three years earlier in Kitsilano, Vancouver

  Chapter 16 - Three years earlier in Kitsilano, Vancouver

  Chapter 17 - In present day San Francisco

  Chapter 18 - Three years earlier at U.B.C. Vancouver

  * * * * *

  * * * * *

  MAYA'S AURA - the Awakening by Skye Smith

  Chapter 1 - In present day Hollywood

  "This is nothing but a political media event. Why are we here?" Maya asked her director, Mike. Mike was a full director now, and making the sequel to the sequel of the vampire movie that had made Maya into an up-and-coming starlet.

  "Because the studio told us to come," was Mike's glib answer. He had even less interest than Maya in American politics. He was Canadian. He couldn't even vote. "They told me that Representative Glover Walland is on the committee that oversees movie censorship. Our general rating is a bit stretched in this sequel. The studio wants to be seen supporting him."

  "Who is he again?"

  Mike looked around searching for the scrum that would mean the representative was approaching. "I don't see him yet."

  "I don't mean point him out," she said, "I meant, what is he?"

  "Oh, so why are you asking me? I've never understood American politics."

  The man standing next to Maya along the edge of the red carpet aisle started listening to her words rather than watching her cleavage. She was a knockout yellow blonde wearing a turquoise strapless mini dress that was as short below her shoulders as is it was high above her knees. "He's the front runner in the race to be the Republican candidate for the presidency. He's got a real good chance of moving into the White House."

  Maya thanked him and then moved away from him, to return to Mike. She hated being crowded by men, especially men she didn't know. She looked around, wondering if there was another woman around to stand beside. Yeah, like much chance of that in this crowd. They were all suits, the corporate moneymen. If this Glover guy was a frontrunner, then they would be here to throw money at him. What was the word for that? There was a word.

  "Opportunists," Mike told her, and she suddenly realized that she had been mumbling under her breath again. Mike nudged her. "Here he comes along the red carpet, shaking hands." She craned her neck and stood on tiptoe, trying to catch a glimpse on the man in question, but couldn't. She only came up to the shoulders of all the men around her. She peeked between two sets of elbows instead.

  "Shaking hands," she confirmed. Maya always wore gloves in public because her fans would often try to shake her hand. The girl in gloves, yeah, right, her and the Queen of England. Oh well, it saved on hand sanitizer.

  The crowd was getting noisier now that the guy of the hour was approaching. The collected odors of men, breath, tobacco, and booze was starting to get to her. Like most women, her nose was at pit level to men. Every woman she knew rubbed perfumed hand sanitizer on their pits to kill the bacteria that caused the odor. What was wrong with these guys? Were they just stupid?

  She tugged off her gloves and stuffed them into Mike's jacket pocket, and then clasped her hands as if she were praying. She closed her eyes and began to center herself. She had a special place in her mind that she found whenever she needed to escape the grubby confines of reality.

  It was a sunny beach, with long stretches of sand and no footprints, and s
he was nude and could feel the goodness of the warm sunlight kissing her skin all over, and hear the soothing sounds of the gentle waves all around her.

  * * *

  (Author's note - here starts the first flashback. This novel intertwines two story timelines. One present day, and one three years earlier. From chapter 2 ownwards, each chapter is completely part of one, or the other timeline, as indicated after the chapter number. Flash back now to three years earlier, on Wreck Beach, in Vancouver, Canada)

  * * *

  "Go on, I dare you," cajoled Alicia. Maya was such a prude, such a mousy little prude, she thought . So much less worldly than she, who had grown up a lot in her year at the University of British Columbia. Maya was still so, so, so small town high school.

  "I don't want all those men staring at me," said Maya. "It's creepy." She had been shamed into baring all on this beach. 'The' U.B.C. beach. Wreck beach. THE nudie beach. It was one thing to lay on a towel naked behind one of these giant logs, but it was quite another thing to stand up and walk around for everyone to see. She could feel her heart pumping and her face flushing at the very thought of it.

  "These men," Alicia sat up and waved her hand around at the naked people around them. She laughed. "Maya, we're at the gay end of the beach. None of these men are going to look at you." She always sunbathed at the gay end for that exact reason. That, and because it was the end of the beach furthest from the steep staircase down from the road, where any possible future first-year boyfriends may be hanging out.

  The U.B.C. jocks with their six-packs of beer and slouching around in the cutoffs that they seldom removed, never came this far up the beach. They were too insecure with their masculinity to risk the gay end. "You just watched me walk around. Did anyone stare? Well, of course they stared, but it wasn't that kind of stare. They were friendly stares. Stares appreciating my youth and my healthiness."

  "I don't want to," Maya pouted while she looked over at Alicia sitting on her towel in the sunshine. Alicia's dyed blonde hair was overdue another root job. The young California Latina had smooth hairless legs and a bikini wax job, and there was a striking contrast in skin color where her bikini usually covered her generous breasts. She was as physically different from Maya as could be.

  It was a difference that had made their high school experiences worlds apart. Alicia had developed early and had attracted boys like abejas to miel. Maya had been treated like her kid sister, always tagging along and looking like Goofy, too tall for her width.

  Maya looked down along her own skin. Her skin was not white and blotchy like most fair-eyed people, but honey-colored. In too much sun it would burn red, but if she were careful it would turn a pleasing amber color. Right now she had a farmer's tan with darker arms and legs than the rest of her.

  Her skin was covered in almost invisible blonde fuzz. She never bothered to shave her legs. Why bother when the hairs weren't obvious? She had never, ever dyed her hair. The winter's mousy color turned blonde with enough summer sea and sun. She was always so short of cash that her girlfriends trimmed her long hair.

  Alicia pressed a finger to Maya's back to see if she was getting sunburned yet. She was OK so far. "It's easy. You just stand up, straight and tall, and put your shoulders back and walk slowly. See, over there behind us? See those women selling stuff under those big umbrella tents? Walk just that far and look at the sarongs they are selling. They are beautiful and so cheap."

  "You know I don't have any money," Maya complained. "That is why I am couch surfing at your place. I barely had the money for the gas in the ride share I caught from Frisco. My boss is such a bitch. She warned me to be back in a week. As if I had the money to stay away longer on what she pays me."

  "I didn't say buy the sarongs. I said go and look. Oh wait. There's the beer guy." Alicia waved to a lithe bronzed young man wearing only a back pack. She pulled the bundle that was Maya's clothes closer to her so that Maya couldn't grab her sundress and cover up while the man sold them some beer.

  "You ladies interested in a party?" he asked as he handed them two bottles, popped them open, and then counted out their change. "See over there where that log has been raised like a flag pole? We've got four guitars and some BC bud, and the best spot on the beach for watching people. Sunset isn't until almost nine tonight, so it will really be humming by then. Come over and check it out."

  "That sounds like fun," said Alicia, "maybe later. Thanks."

  They both watched as the bronzed beefcake walked away calling out "Bud light, pale ale, cider."

  After drinking most of her beer, strong Canadian beer, Maya came to a decision. "Ok, tell the mother ship that I am going to explore the moons." She stood up and straightened her back and pulled back her shoulders so her small breasts bobbed high. For a little more courage and the feeling of a barrier, she settled her sunglasses more firmly onto her small, straight nose. A deep breath, and then she strutted over towards where the sarongs were stirring lazily in a gentle breeze.

  She got lost amongst the pathways that wound between the beach logs and the sunbather's blankets, so it took her much longer than she thought to get there. She kept watching to see who was watching her. Everyone gave her a glance out of interest, and sometimes a smile, but mostly it was just glances. She felt braver seeing that almost everyone was in couples, whether gay or straight.

  She smelled some dope smoke drifting in the breeze, so she knelt beside the woman with the joint and asked if she could have one toke. It was a mistake. The dope in Canada was way strong. One toke was a half a toke too much. She thanked the couple and continued on her way, now feeling even more disoriented.

  There was a middle-aged man walking towards her. He was tanned and fit and Nordic-looking and he was smiling at her. She put her shoulders back again and walked purposefully, like all the models did on TV, but was careful not to encourage him by returning his smile. She turned away and pretended to look at a seagull as he passed by her less than a foot away, and then she felt it.

  It was like the breeze had passed through her skin and then through her insides and then through her skin on the other side, but it was warm, and tingly and delicious. She slowed her pace and tried to recapture the feeling, but it was gone. It was like something invisible had passed through her and had kissed her with sunshine while doing so.

  She stopped, just for an instant, to savor the feeling, and then started walking again until she reached the wafting lengths of colored fabric. Everything suddenly seemed very surreal. The sunlight, the sand, the beach logs, the blue sky, the gently shimmering lengths of colored rayon.

  "Did you feel that too?" asked a deep voice from behind her. She looked around. It was the middle-aged man. He moved up to stand beside her facing the sarongs, but with his body turned away from her. "It was like something passed through me. Something that was warm and caressing, but not there, but there, you know? And gone so quickly, but I didn't want it to be gone."

  She was going to deny it, but then she decided not to say anything to a strange man on a beach where both of them were standing around in the nude.

  At her silence he said, "Well, I felt it, whatever it was. And it felt good. I was just wondering if you felt it too. I wonder what it was?" Maya was still silent. She pushed her sunglasses up on top of her head, revealing lovely sea-green eyes and reached out, pretending to feel the heft of the fabric of the sarong in front of her. He spoke again. "Well, I was just wondering, you know, what if we did it again? Walked towards each other, I mean, and passed each other like we did before. Do you think it would happen again?"

  His voice was deep and calming. He spoke quietly and softly. What he had said made sense. What harm could it do? "Ok," she said, "let's try. We'll follow our very same foot steps and pass at the same place."

  "So you did feel it too," he confirmed.

  "Yes, you described it well." She turned to retrace her steps.

  "Uh, I can't, not yet," he said. He was blushing. "I'm kind of in an embarrassing way right now. Don'
t look." Of course that just make her look down at him, and he knew that her looking would just make it worse. "The feeling. What we felt. It did it. It was instantaneous."

  She stared, wondering if this was a pickup line. Maybe not, he seemed nice. She decided to give him a break. "Think of football. That's what the guys do where I come from, like, to slow themselves down. They think of football." Thinking of the guys from high school made her suspicious again, and she had to ask. "Is this just a come-on? Are you just trying to pick me up?"

  "No, honestly. This is very embarrassing for me. For one thing, you are the wrong sex, and besides, I hate football. I'll try thinking of hockey."

  "You mean you are..."

  "Gay, yes, and I am in a committed relationship."

  "But you don't look..."

  "What, because I have a deep voice and don't shave my legs? I'm an engineer. So is my mate. Neither of us know anything about interior decorating or hair-do's." He could feel her eyes still staring down there so he turned away again. "No, don't look. Here," he handed her some strangely colorful Canadian money, "please choose a sarong for me, so I can cover up."

  She took the money from him and snickered.

  "Don't be so critical of me. Have you noticed how swollen your nipples are? I'll bet the same thing that did this to me, did that to you."

  She looked down, and then immediately covered her chest with her arm, suddenly feeling very exposed. He attempted to help her regain her composure by distracting her with a little retail therapy. He gestured at the sarongs with some colorful Canadian money. "They are ten dollars each or two for fifteen. Buy one for yourself, too."

  By the time she had chosen two from the thirty on sale, he had himself under control. He took his, and she hers and they both back tracked and repeated their walk towards each other. Just as they passed each other, it happened again.

  This time she was expecting it, wanting it, and it seemed stronger and more sensuous. They immediately turned and walked towards each other again. He was frantically trying to wrap his sarong around himself. When they were face to face and a foot apart, they felt it again.