When I stood, I saw that we were at the top of a bluff that overlooked a sea of green trees. Thin mist curled off the canopy, rising into the pale blue sky. On the horizon, there was an intricate column of lights. Wait. I blinked and looked closer. Those lights were on the trunk of a ginormous tree with crisscrossing branches that rose endlessly, as if reaching for the farthest corners of the Milky Way.
“Is that…the World Tree?” I knew the answer before Hurakan confirmed it. And after thinking, That’s so freaking cool, I thought. So THAT’S where Itzamna hangs out all day. No wonder the guy wears shades.
“Welcome to SHIHOM.”
“It’s…it’s amazing!” I turned to him. His grim expression wiped my smile away. “You didn’t bring me up here for the view, did you?”
In the distance, I heard what sounded like rushing waterfalls and a steady pounding of drums. The smell of summer rain floated over the trees.
“About the demon…” he began.
“Ik?” My neck got hot and my cheeks prickly. I wasn’t sure what to say next. I should have seen the signs? Sorry, but she’s a duplicitous, underhanded traitor? Is the Statue of Liberty thing for real?
My dad’s face tightened. “You must always be prepared for the unexpected,” he said sternly. “I will contend with Iktan, and we will unravel our enemies’ plans, but for now,” he went on with a beat of hesitation, “we might need you godborns.”
And there it was. The real reason my dad wanted to get me alone, the real reason he had raced up the wall with me. It had been like a really bad classroom icebreaker. He was buttering me up!
Feeling Fuego’s absence, I called my cane to me. “You guys are all-powerful gods,” I said. “Why would you need a bunch of rookie godborns?”
Hurakan turned his gaze to the forest. I could tell he didn’t want to be here. I don’t mean at the World Tree—I mean in this position. He said, “Akan disappeared yesterday.”
Okay, I for sure wasn’t expecting that. “The god of wine?”
My dad took a slow and steady breath. “He’s dead.”
A tremble gripped me from the soles of my feet all the way up to my neck. “How do you know?”
“Each of the lights on the World Tree represents a god,” he said. “His light is out.”
I had never met Akan, but the news shook me. “Gone?” I swallowed.
“Camazotz and Ixkik’ have sacrificed him to raise an enemy god.” Hurakan twisted a black beaded bracelet on his wrist as he faced me.
“That’s why you moved up the claiming ceremony,” I said. “You need the godborns to have some chance, some ability…to fight.”
“To protect themselves, and yes,” he said slowly, “to fight if need be.”
The air felt thick and dry. A fierce wind swirled around us, and I knew my dad was causing it. “After the ceremony, all the gods will convene away from here, to make plans,” he said, letting the gust die. “In the meantime, I need you to work with the godborns. You are the only one who knows how to be a godborn. How to connect with your power.”
Hurakan had asked me months ago to help train the godborns, but I didn’t think that meant all by myself! Panic struck my gut like a hot branding iron. “That took me months to learn.” Being a godborn didn’t just happen once you were claimed. Kukuulkaan’s words came back to me: You don’t become a god automatically, with the snap of a finger, or because of your bloodline. Godhood has to be earned. Fought for. I clenched my jaw, thinking how hard I’d struggled to become one with the fire. And then a worse thought occurred to me: “What if some of the godborns don’t get any powers in the claiming ceremony?”
I remembered that day with the Sparkstriker. When she pounded lightning into my leg, she had said that I could possess nothing of true value and that I might be a terrible vessel with no ability to control any of my powers.
It seemed brutal and unfair. In all my conversations with the godborns over the last three months, I’d never even mentioned that having zero power was a possibility. How could I have overlooked that detail? I felt like the world’s biggest jerk.
“Zane,” Hurakan said calmly, “what are you talking about?”
“I’m the one who rounded them up, told them to trust me!” Why did it feel like the gods were (yet again) forcing others to pick up their mess? My eyes were burning and fire was blazing in my veins. A wave of flames burst from my free hand into the sky. “I told them to come here, and for what? To have zero power? To be used in a war that has nothing to do with them?”
“This has everything to do with them, with all of us!” He paused, took a breath. “And who said they would have zero power?”
“The Sparkstriker.” I told him what I had recalled.
My dad held up his palm. “True value according to her. Just because someone can’t wield fire or some other power doesn’t mean they have nothing. Think, Zane. These godborns still have the blood of a god flowing through them!” My dad shook his head. Then he gestured to my hand and added, “Use a little more twist in your wrist next time.”
Was he seriously trying to give me a fire lesson right now?
He took a deep breath with his eyes closed. When he opened them, they shone blacker than polished obsidian. “The other sobrenaturales will be here tomorrow, to help.” Hurakan placed his hand on my shoulder and squeezed. “Remember, Zotz and Ixkik’ still have to find a way to raise more than one god, to try to build an army great enough to challenge us. That takes time, and long before they succeed, we will crush them.”
He said the words like he didn’t want me to worry. Yeah, right. I remembered all too well what it was like to face the bat god. His hatred was so thick, it choked the air. He didn’t seem like the kind of guy who would make threats when he didn’t already have some kind of twisted plan. I mean, a few months ago, he had managed to trick me into coming to him, and he’d been shrewd enough to set up my dad’s execution as a blood sacrifice.
“Zotz’s mind is warped,” I said, puzzling out my thoughts. “I don’t think he wants to go to war. And I feel like…like there’s something we’re missing.”
“Of course he wants war,” Hurakan said. “Why else would he sacrifice Akan to raise an enemy god?”
“But if he could resurrect more than one Mexica-slash-Aztec god,” I said, “wouldn’t he have to worry about them turning on him someday, too?”
I know how this power stuff works. It’s the same in middle school. One day, the quarterback of the football team is on top of the pack. The next day, some other kid has overthrown him and bounced his king status to the curb.
“I mean, what if the Mexica gods’ allegiance to each other is stronger than their allegiance to Zotz or Ixkik’? Seems like a pretty big risk.”
Hurakan rubbed his thumb across his chin, considering this. “You think the war is a distraction.”
“Yeah, and their plan has to do with—” I stopped short, remembering my promise to Alana not to say anything about the stone. But that was before we were almost devoured by poisonous power-sucking sludge.
“With what?” he prompted.
I couldn’t help myself. I told my dad everything. “And now Ixkik’ has the stone,” I said, recalling her words: At last it is mine.
My dad listened carefully, hanging on every word. “They’ve killed a god,” he said. “They may have stolen a stone with a power we have yet to identify.” He shook his head and added, “Our enemies have been hard at work.”
“You’re talking enemies without me?” came a familiar voice.
Here’s a sentence I never thought I’d write: I was stoked to see the god of death.
Ah-Puch and I had been through muy scary stuff together. He’d risked his own life to save mine and Ren’s.
Still, a part of me always worried that he might suddenly tackle me to the ground. I had defeated him once, after all.
But as he came toward us, wearing his signature black suit, he sported half a grin. “How do you like the place?” He swept his hand in
front of him in a grand gesture, his expression loaded with self-satisfaction. “The tree houses were my idea, by the way.”
Hurakan groaned. “Is there a reason you’re sneaking around the jungle?”
“Who’s sneaking? I’m right here. I heard Zane and crew arrived, and I wanted to welcome them.” He conjured a bag of popcorn and tossed some into his mouth. “Mmm. Best corn invention in the universe. By the way, I greeted Ren before you, Zane. No offense, but she’s my favorite.”
“I’m shocked,” I said.
“So, I heard Zotz and Creepy Lady found you, almost killed you,” Ah-Puch said.
“Sounds about right,” I said bitterly.
A slow smile spread across his face.
“How come you’re smiling?” I asked. Now that was offensive.
His grin disappeared. “I’m just imagining what it will feel like when I rip out their hearts. With my teeth.”
Hurakan filled Ah-Puch in on everything while the god of death munched on his popcorn. When my dad was done, Ah-Puch didn’t really react. He just flung an unpopped seed over the cliff. “Kernels,” he said with a shudder. “Bad memories.”
He should have been grateful for kernels. I had restored his strength with a magical one.
“Zane,” my dad said, “there are millions of stones in this universe. Could you tell us more about it?”
I frowned. “It was about the size of a silver dollar….”
The gods stared at me blankly. Too late, I remembered that the Maya didn’t use coins. They traded in chocolate and other stuff.
“Never mind.” Then I added, “Oh, and it glowed red.”
“Well,” Ah-Puch said, “that narrows it down to half a million.” He handed me the bag of popcorn and wiped his hands together. “Think bigger. These godborns—”
“The twins,” my dad clarified.
Smoke curled off Ah-Puch’s shiny black hair. “I hate that word,” he growled. Yeah, I didn’t blame him. I had bad memories of Jordan and Bird, too. “These godborns,” he said, “they had the stone, which begs the question: Where did they get it? And if you want the answer, you need to ask: Which god’s blood is pumping through their veins?”
Hurakan studied me, waiting for a response.
I stepped back, ready to defend the secret, because who wants to be torn to pieces by the queen of the underworld? ¿Yo? ¡No!
Crap! I could tell by the gods’ granite faces that I wasn’t leaving here without telling them the truth. The whole truth, so help me gods.
“We’re going to find out in a few minutes, whether you tell us or not,” Ah-Puch said.
Just in case I was breaking some godly oath, I finagled a way to keep my promise to Ixtab about not breathing a word. I dragged Fuego’s tip in the sand and spelled out IXTAB.
You could’ve heard a pinto bean drop.
I didn’t think it was even possible for my dad to be stunned, but in that moment, he looked like someone who had just been told that cockroaches can live for weeks without their heads. Which is true, BTW.
And then it was as if the sky opened and the answer came whizzing toward me like a comet. “Do you think she made the stone?” I asked Hurakan. “Like you made the jade jaguar tooth?”
My dad had gifted me the jade, a conduit of pure magic. Its owner could bestow it with any power he wanted…but only by giving it away. I know it was a stretch to assume that the twins’ stone was the same kind of thing, but hey, there’s more than one tooth in a jungle cat’s mouth….
Hurakan and Ah-Puch shared a glance heavy with secrets that the other gods would kill for. And guess what? I was so over it.
“I just risked my life by spilling everything—now it’s your turn. Tell me!”
Hurakan spoke first. “Ix-tub-tun spat the magic jade you used to give Ah-Puch his life back.”
“Ix-tub-tun?” I’d never heard that name.
“She’s a stone-spitting goddess,” Ah-Puch explained.
“And?” I pushed. “You think she spat the stone Adrik had, too?” I can’t believe I actually said that sentence.
Hurakan nodded.
My head was going to explode. I think the top of my hair actually sparked. “If it’s as powerful as the jade, and Zotz and Ixkik’ have it…” My mind reeled. “They could use it to do all sorts of damage.”
“It isn’t as powerful as the jade,” Hurakan said. “Ix-tub-tun can never duplicate a stone.”
And just like that, my big I-figured-it-out moment went up in smoke.
Ah-Puch shrugged. “Flawed design, if you ask me.”
“No one’s asking,” Hurakan said, grabbing a fistful of popcorn from Ah-Puch’s bag. Then he turned back to me. “If the stone is from Ix-tub-tun, Zotz and Ixkik’ hold substantial power, yes, but nothing significant enough to enable them to raise an army of the dead.”
“How do you know?”
“Because no single object has that kind of power.”
“And there’s no resurrection stone or wipe-out-all-your-enemies-in-one-breath stone?” I asked.
My dad laughed. Laughed! I didn’t know whether to be insulted or proud. Ah-Puch gawked at him like he had just morphed into a Keebler elf.
Hurakan said, “If there was, we would know about it.”
I paced the edge of the cliff. “Can’t we just ask Ix-tub-tun?”
“I’m afraid not,” Hurakan said. “She turned herself into stardust and now follows the planet Chak Ek’. Otherwise known as Venus.”
“Gods can do that?”
“Gods can do a lot of unimaginable things.” Ah-Puch’s gaze flew to the jungle below. “But why would anyone choose to be stardust when they could be all-powerful? That’s the universal question.”
I didn’t think I would ever understand the motivations of a god. I mean, one day they can be pure evil, and the next day, your best friend.
A bell rang across the treetops.
“The ceremony’s coming to a close,” Hurakan said. “We need to head over there.” He took me by the shoulders and looked me square in the face. And just for the record, I was almost as tall as him. “Zane, this is for the gods to worry about. Do you understand?”
“But the godborns are the ones in the cross fire, so I say we can be worried!”
“Not anymore,” he said. “You’ll be safe here. More magic surrounds this place than any other in the universe. When I return tomorrow, we’ll have more answers about Zotz, Ixkik’, and this stone, I promise—”
“Come on, Zane,” Ah-Puch put in. “You shouldn’t miss the end of the most boring ceremony of the century.”
I accepted their words, but they did nothing to calm the fire still burning in my blood. A fire that told me that we hadn’t seen the last of the darkness.
We emerged from the trees at the side of a torch-lit ball court, a large T-shaped area with stone amphitheater seating on each side.
I scanned the stands for my friends but only spotted the godborns I’d rounded up, including Marco, Louie, and Serena from the junkyard battle. Those three were sitting together in the front row, about fifteen yards away, like the tres mosqueteros. I almost didn’t recognize Serena, because her previously honey-colored hair was now black. Marco’s chin scar looked even bigger, if that was possible. And Louie? He was chewing on a nail, looking just as nervous as he had the last time I’d seen him.
Was that…?
I swallowed hard. Blinked. Was that the Fire Keeper story in some of the other godborns’ hands?
“Itzamna gave them the second book, too?” I groaned.
“Well,” Ah-Puch said, “you did write it for the godborns, didn’t you?”
“In the event I died!”
“Still a possibility,” he muttered.
My dad shook his head, trying to stay focused on the ceremony.
At the far end, the gods of the council were spread out on an elevated platform against a backdrop of eight-foot-high standing stones called stelae. The stones were carved with the gods’ likenesses,
except with more exaggerated noses and ears.
The Sparkstriker was there, too, with her back to us. She stood on a wooden stool next to a table at center court. Her electric pool of lightning fish shimmered nearby. Had she hauled that thing all the way from the Old World? Her hair looked as ratty as ever—maybe even rattier—with the same tiny bells tied to the ends.
The Sparkstriker’s stone ax was poised high over her head, which told me that she was about to pound lightning into a godborn. My insides dissolved into mush at the memory of my own ceremony. I clenched my hands into fists, trying to hold myself together.
The crowd was hushed as everyone watched the ax come down with a blinding flash of white light.
Maybe it was instinct, maybe it was curiosity, but my legs started moving in her direction. Hurakan pulled me back. “Not yet,” he said. “The dominant power must be located.”
“This is twisted,” Ah-Puch said, tossing more popcorn into his mouth. “And I’m the god of death, darkness, and destruction, so that’s saying a lot!”
The torch flames crackled.
The warm air buzzed with raw energy.
The Sparkstriker stepped off her stool, and that’s when I saw Ixtab and the twins. The goddess’s eyes burned fiery blue as she watched Adrik and Alana shudder on the table. They were both dressed in SHIHOM uniforms: black tees and drawstring pants. Alana’s shades lay at her side.
It was hard to watch their bodies convulse, their skin lit up like there was a fireworks show going on underneath. I knew their pain. Mine had been so awful I floated off to the Empty. But did Adrik and Alana know what was going on around them? Did they know Ixkik’ had gotten her claws on the stone?
A minute later, Adrik and Alana sat up slowly. Adrik rubbed his head, and Alana put her shades back on. The crowd jumped to their feet and cheered.
The Sparkstriker said something to Ixtab, who scowled as she listened intently. Then the goddess turned and walked in the opposite direction without even a nod at her kids. She really was the queen of the cold shoulder.
“Where is she going?” My voice rushed out on a wave of anxiety. “Did she already claim them?”
The Shadow Crosser Page 9
