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on Pachacuti.”
    “Listen.” She pressed a finger to his lips. “Kentar warned him that you were becoming too powerful. He wants you out of the city.”
    “The man is poison. I am disturbed that Pachacuti listens to him.”
    “Kentar also talked Pachacuti into sending Imac, as well, and she’s not happy about that.”
    “How do you know all this if you were not spying on Pachacuti?”
    Instead of answering right away, she stared up into his eyes. “You believe in magic, don’t you?”
    “I have to. I live with it every day.”
    “I know I told you that I didn’t believe in magic, but I lied.”
    “Why?”
    “I didn’t want you to think I was crazy. I wasn’t sure what they do with crazy people in this time.”
    “This time? What do you mean by this time? You talk in riddles.”
    She raised a hand to Gunnar’s face. “That’s not important now. What is important is that I can see through the eyes of others.”
    He stared down at her, trying to wrap his mind around what she said. “How can this be? Do your people have powers like mine?”
    “Some, not many, have powers different than mine and yours.”
    “Yet you can see through other people’s eyes?” He shook his head. “Anyone?”
    “No. Usually I can only see through the eyes of animals, not people. Then I saw through Imac’s eyes today in the great hall.”
    “Imac? But she is human. Yet you say you see only through animal eyes?”
    “Yes. I didn’t know why I could see through Imac’s eyes until tonight when I saw Imac’s reflection in a pool of water. I saw the reflection of a jaguar. Imac is a jaguar.”
    “How can that be?”
    Marisol spun away and paced across the room. “I don’t know. I thought shifters were myths.” She stopped and faced Gunnar. “Aren’t they?”
    Gunnar sighed and pulled her into his arms. “You just asked me if I believed in magic. If I can shake the earth with my thoughts and you can see through the eyes of animals, why shouldn’t Imac shift into the shape of a jaguar?”
    “I suppose.” Marisol leaned against Gunnar’s chest.
    With her in his arms, he could believe in anything. “So Pachacuti is afraid of me?”
    Marisol pushed him to arm’s length. “He wants your powers.”
    “I can’t give them to him.”
    Her arms wrapped around him, pulling him close. Marisol laid her face against him.
    “Don’t go to Machu Picchu.”
    “If Pachacuti wants me out of Cusco, perhaps it is time I left.”
    “You don’t understand.” She looked up into his eyes. “The Inca offer up human sacrifices to their gods.”
    “I know that. It is a barbaric custom.”
    Marisol shook his head. “You can’t go to Machu Picchu. Kentar told Pachacuti to have the shaman there prepare for a sacrifice. I think he means that sacrifice to be you. He’s convinced Pachacuti that he can take your powers.”
    “Pachacuti is not a fool.”
    “The emperor will eventually think of himself as Inti.”
    “You see into the future, too?”
    “I studied Pachacuti prior to coming here.”
    “From where?”
    Marisol sucked in a deep breath and laid her hands on his naked chest. “I’m from a land far north of here, and a time almost six hundred years in the future.”
    Gunnar gripped her arms. “You make my head spin. What is this about the future?”
    “That’s where I’m from. Almost six hundred years in the future. I came back to find a medallion. One that could be the key to communicating with beings from other lands. Lands as far away as the stars.”
    Gunnar let go of her and stepped backward. What did he know of this woman who’d appeared before him out of nowhere? “I don’t know what to believe anymore. You drop out of the sky, tell me of seeing through animal eyes and of women who are jaguars. It is all a great deal to take in all at once. I need time to think.”
    “We don’t have time. If Pachacuti sends you to Machu Picchu, you may not return.” Marisol reached up to cup his face, a frown pressing her