“You really think you can beat demons on their own turf?” Quinn asked.
With the flick of his wrist, a king of diamonds card appeared in his hand. “They don’t call me One-Eyed Ax for nothing.”
I’d played enough card games to know that the king of diamonds is depicted with one eye and an ax. Great. We’d just relied on a dead gambler to conceal us from the underworld’s monsters.
Clem turned to the rest of us and snickered. “May your journey be…lucky.” He disappeared behind the bloodletting doors. “You’re going to need all the luck you can get,” he shouted from the other side.
Brooks said to Quinn, “Maybe it’s not a good idea to trust someone called One-Eyed Ax.”
“Desperate people don’t get to choose whom to trust,” Quinn said. “Let’s go.”
Brooks rolled her eyes and tugged on her hat as we followed her sister out of the dim warehouse. “I hate it here.”
Hondo asked, “Where are we going now?”
Quinn looked back over her shoulder. “Pus River.”
Here’s when things went from semi-smooth to Maya mayhem. (Always expect mayhem in our world.)
Sporting our Hot Dog on a Stick polyester, we followed Quinn up a couple flights of corroded metal stairs. “You found a gateway?” I asked her.
“No, I just thought a tour of Pus River would be super fun.”
Once we got to the top, Quinn stopped at a claw-slashed door and faced us like some kind of general. “Anyone afraid of heights?”
Water dripped off the stairwell (at least I hoped it was water) as we all shook our heads.
“So, is this, uh…the river place…? Is that what’s behind the door?” Hondo asked, trying to look chill, but I could tell he was nervous.
Quinn gave an annoyed smirk. “We’ll be flying the rest of the way. But don’t relax yet. If any of the beasts below get a whiff of you, things could get hairy and bloody, and they’ll notify Ixtab of your presence in less than a second.” She exhaled. “That’s why I sent Rosie ahead. She can act as our on-the-ground defense, just in case. Now, a few rules.” She flashed three fingers. “Don’t talk. Don’t breathe too much. And, oh, for sure do not sneeze or cough. Got it?”
“Why can’t we breathe?” I asked.
“I said don’t breathe too much. Unless you want to inhale poisonous gas. Let’s go.” Quinn shoved the door open.
Stepping through the door was like being dropped into a painting created with every possible shade of red. Below was a wasteland of rocks, canyons, craters, and what looked like dried-up lake beds. Red dust covered everything. The bloodshot sky was streaked with trails of silvery dust. The air was thin and hot and dry.
“Obispo and Human,” Quinn said, pointing to me and Hondo, “you’re with me. Ren, you go with Brooks.” Quinn quickly changed into a giant white eagle with brown-speckled wings. Brooks followed her sister’s lead and morphed into her hawk self.
Everyone climbed onto the birds’ backs, and after a stomach-dropping takeoff (with Quinn in the lead, of course), we were soaring through the toxic air.
My jade tooth vibrated once against my neck. I tugged on it. Hurakan? Is that you? I know it sounds crazy, but it felt like he was trying to communicate with me. Hello? He didn’t answer.
Hondo spoke low in my ear: “This is freaking awesome.” He acted like we weren’t flying over hell and trying to blend in so we didn’t get our faces eaten off.
I gripped Quinn’s neck and opened my mind to hers.
We don’t have to, like, swim in Pus River, right?
It’s the only gateway out of here. Take it or leave it.
How close will it get us to South Dakota?
Quinn shook her head. Even as an eagle she could sigh and roll her eyes. I’ll get you as close as I can. Tell muscle-head back there to quit making so much noise.
I was so busy scoping out the landscape below I didn’t notice the thing flying up behind us until it was so close there was no mistaking the familiar, best-forgotten beast.
Red bulging eyes, no nose, and a mouth filled with long, sharp fangs.
A demon runner! With wings!
Quinn! Demons!
She swiveled her head, cursed, then turned up the speed. Just act cool. He’ll fly right by. Unless he picked up the human’s scent. I told you not to bring him!
But we’re covered in bone dust!
Even bone dust can’t completely cover THIS human.
Act cool. Act cool. Act cool. What were the other rules? Barely breathe. Total fail. I was practically hyperventilating.
The demon runner’s spiderweb wings stretched wide beyond his bloated, hairy body. When the heck did demon runners get wings? Maybe it was a hell thing? The monster sniffed the air. Once. Twice.
Uh-oh. That couldn’t be good.
Brooks was cruising to our right and hadn’t spotted the demon yet, or maybe she just wanted to pretend it wasn’t there. Ren was busy taking in the red world, probably looking for aliens.
Just as I turned to whisper to Hondo to stay calm, he saw the creature and did the worst possible thing. He screamed, “Demon!”
Idiot! Quinn said. Hold on!
The scream started a chain reaction. Ren shrieked. Brooks’s panicked war cry was strangled by the thin, hot air.
Quinn went into a nosedive. Straight for a mountain of rock.
Quinn!
The demon runner released a screech that shook the dust loose from the sky. That’s when things got even uglier, because, instead of one demon, we now had two more on our tails!
Same hellish red eyes, same long fangs, same bloated hairy bodies. Same grossness!
I gripped Fuego. Could my spear take out three demon runners?
No, Zane! ordered Quinn. We’re almost there.
No, you don’t want these monsters hanging with us? Or no, don’t throw the spear?
God, Obispo. Do you always have to be so dense? If you throw that spear, it will alert an entire army. Never mind that you can’t kill a demon runner that’s already in Xib’alb’a! Don’t you know anything?
I glanced over at Brooks. She was flying directly into the headwinds, unblinking. Her eyes were ablaze, and her talons were flexed and ready to tear out someone’s eyes. Ren was leaning into her like some kind of jockey racing for her life. Quinn released a series of low-pitched whistles. Brooks nodded and responded with some screeches. They could bird-speak?
The demon runners were only a few feet away, shrieking and clawing at the air with their hooked feet.
Hondo launched his Hot Dog on a Stick hat at one and pumped his fist when it hit.
Quinn reached back and snapped her beak at Hondo, missing his fingers by an inch. “Hey!” he hollered as she let out an ear-piercing cry. A second later, a familiar roar echoed from far below. Rosie?
At the same moment, Quinn and Brooks made a figure eight, looping across each other’s paths like acrobatic superbirds. Something about this move confused the demons, because they stopped in midair and stared like they weren’t sure which direction to go.
That’s when Rosie appeared. Her massive black wings batted the demons out of the air like they were nothing more than gnats. Bright orange-and-yellow flames raged from her eyes and mouth as she roared like a dragon.
Since when did Rosie get wings? I asked Quinn.
Only in Xib’alb’a.
“That’s my girl!” I yelled.
“Kill ‘em good, Rosie!” Hondo shouted.
But every time Rosie swatted a demon runner out of the sky, the stupid monster would just shake it off and come right back.
Hondo death-gripped me with one hand and pointed with the other. “Quinn’s trying to kill us.”
I can’t say I didn’t agree with Hondo, because we were basically racing toward a mountain of solid rock that was sure to crush our skulls.
Detour! Quinn said.
“Quinn!” I screamed. “The mountain!”
You might want to close your eyes for this, she said. Then she zoomed us to
ward our deaths.
No way. If I was going to die in Xib’alb’a, I didn’t want this place to be the last thing I saw.
Instead, I looked at Brooks.
Then Quinn slammed into the mountainside.
I braced myself for impact, but it never came. The mountain turned into a thick fog at the last possible second. I glanced over my shoulder to see if we were being followed. Guess the demons didn’t make it. Relief flooded my locked muscles, and I nearly tumbled off Quinn.
Hondo’s fingers dug into my back as he yowled in my ear. “We’re alive!”
Please tell him to shut up, Quinn said.
My insides felt like they’d been scooped out with a shovel. What…? How did we make it?
I opened a passageway for us at the last second. Ha! Those demon runners are going to have migraines for a week.
Clean, cool air filled my lungs as I glanced over at Brooks, who was soaring with wide wings, like she was made for the sky. Thankfully, Ren was wide-awake. Rosie raced past us, howling in triumph.
We soared through the fog and emerged into an alien landscape very different from the one we had just escaped. Four reddish-pink suns hung low in the sky. A gilded jungle stretched out before us. The trees’ leaves, trunks, and branches were made of a glimmering metal that reflected a rainbow of colors.
“This place is paradise!” Hondo said breathlessly. “I told you…you have to visualize the outcome you want. You think all that gold is real?”
That’s when I realized that Hondo was built for this strange and amazing and dangerous life. He’d never been meant for janitorial work or even running tours on Holbox. I mean, I knew he was happy on the island, but here he was 100 percent alive.
This doesn’t look like Pus River, I told Quinn. Or South Dakota.
Change of plans.
What? Why?
Those demons have already told Ixtab you’re here.
Panic gripped me. Then we have to run!
¡No, menso! Do that and you’ll be dead in less than five seconds. You have no choice. You have to face her now.
Are you insane?
Listen, Mr. I-Don’t-Have-a-Single-Strategic-Bone-in-My-Body. Our plan’s been thwarted, which means you have to pretend you intended to come see her.
My insides coiled into a tight ball. And say what?
I’m sure you’ll think of something.
My mind raced, trying to come up with a list of excuses, but then terror took over as I imagined Ixtab seeing right through me and ripping my heart out with one hand.
“This place is sick,” Hondo hollered. “I thought we were going to Pus River, not King Midas’s hideout.”
Midas? Quinn said. Tell him the Greeks had nothing on the Maya! We were the first great engineers, architects, and astronomers. And we developed one of the most accurate calendar systems in human history.
Okaaayyy, no more mention of the Greeks.
Quinn let out a loud cry that Brooks seemed to understand. Brooks’s eyes narrowed with some kind of shock, then determination. I figured Quinn had told her about our little change of plans.
As we descended farther, the suns melted into the horizon, casting a pinkish glow across the gilded jungle. The trees gave way to a huge complex that was dominated by nine golden Maya pyramids arranged in a circle. For a second, I thought the layout looked a little like Puksí’ikal, the heart of the Old World. But that place was drab and gray, and cobwebs choked the trees. This place…it was dripping with vibrant gold.
At the center of the complex were silvery demon runners with sharklike skin and thick white braids hanging down their backs. They sparred with axes, swords, and spears, showing off their fancy footwork on what looked like a shiny marble floor. Some stood at the far end and shot arrows from blowguns aimed at rubber dummies fifty or more yards away. These weren’t the demons that had just chased us. This was Ixtab’s elite army.
“Quinn, those dummies are moving.”
Really, Obispo…you can be so dim-witted. In real life, targets never stand still. So, of course the demons would practice on things that move. You should see the flying dummies!
With eyes glowing silvery blue, the demons all turned to watch us descend. The place went as silent as the midnight desert when we came in for a smooth landing. We hopped off Quinn and Brooks, and the sisters shifted back into their human forms.
Quinn raised her right arm and the demons went back to their sparring. Wow. If she had that kind of authority, I wondered why she hadn’t called off the demons that had pursued us a few minutes earlier. Was there, like, some kind of demon hierarchy?
I followed Quinn’s gaze to an impressive square temple on a pyramid that seemed to stretch a hundred stories high. A giant waterfall surged from the top terrace down the other nine, splashing into a pool at the bottom.
Hondo was right. This place was amazing, like one of those fancy resorts you see on TV. Except for all the demon combat, that is.
Two soldiers wrestled a few feet away from us, grunting like they’d been at it all day. Hondo shook his head and whispered to me. “See the one on the left? Good offensive sugar stance.” I knew that term from his training. It’s basically where one leg is in front and the other’s in the rear, making it easy to switch from defensive mode to attack mode.
“But that one on the right?” he continued. “She should be in defensive square stance, and she’s not even close to squatting low enough. Check out the footwork.”
Hondo was spot-on, because a couple seconds later, the sugar-stance demon outmaneuvered the other one and dropped her to the dirt, pressing an ax to her throat.
“I need to get me one of those axes,” Hondo whispered.
While Brooks told Ren about the change of plans, I leaned closer to my uncle to do the same.
He cursed a few times, but I barely paid attention, because my entire focus was on Ixtab. She stood at the edge of one of the lower terraces, barking orders at some guy, waving her arms angrily. I couldn’t make out her words until she shouted, “Then find the little beast!”
At the same moment, she glanced at us. Our eyes met, but she didn’t give me a welcome-back smile or even a tiny wave hello. Nope—the newest landlord of hell scowled at me, then disappeared only to materialize in front of us a second later.
Here’s the thing about the goddess of Xib’alb’a: she’s striking. Her eyes are bright sapphires and her face is sculpted perfectly, like a mask. But you somehow know that if you dig deeper there’s another mask and another and another, and you get the creepy sense that you’re never seeing Ixtab’s true face.
“Well, well, well,” she sang. “If it isn’t the willful son of fire. I was wondering how long it would be before you showed up.” A barely there smile tugged at her lips as she took in our outfits. Her gaze swept over us, landing on Rosie. Then came the real smile.
Whatever.
Rosie lowered her eyes and then her chest and head, like she was bowing.
“No need for such formality, Rosie.” Ixtab nodded once and added, “But I, too, am glad you’re back.”
My insides twisted.
The goddess sauntered over in her white silk pants and fitted black tank top. She wore diamond earrings bigger than any rapper’s and a row of at least six gold bracelets. “How about a nice snake head or two?” Ixtab asked Rosie in a syrupy sweet voice.
“Gross!” I cried. “She doesn’t eat snake heads.”
Ixtab said, “All hellhounds eat snakes. It’s one of their favorite treats.” She called a demon over and told her to take Rosie for some “sustenance.” I was about to argue but stopped when I saw how fast Rosie was wagging her nub tail. My heart split into a million pieces. Did I even know her anymore?
As I watched Rosie go, Ixtab’s smile flipped into a frown. “How dare you bring these miscreants into my kingdom, Zane.”
Keep it cool, Zane. Keep it cool. “Er…sorry,” I said, though what I really wanted to shout was How dare I? You lied to me! You locked us up on that isl
and. But if I did that, then she’d know we’d reached the wall, and she might suspect we were trying to escape. Ixtab was the queen of deception, and she’d see right through a lie.
Ixtab eyed each of us, lingering a little longer on Ren. Did she know just by looking that Ren was a godborn, too? Or that maybe she was her daughter? “And who are you?”
Ren’s cool eyes widened. “I’m Renata.”
“She’s a godborn,” Hondo blurted.
Ixtab drew back her shoulders and studied Ren like she could see into her soul or something. Maybe she could.
I socked Hondo in the shoulder. “Dude!”
“Ow…What’d you hit me for?”
“Way to hold back some information in case we needed to, like, negotiate or something.”
“Oh, Zane,” Ixtab said. “I suspected she was a godborn the moment I saw her. Do you think we gods are that stupid?”
Was I supposed to answer that?
“Tell me, Renata,” Ixtab practically purred. “What do you think of the underworld?”
Ren shuffled her feet and looked Ixtab right in the eye like she was checking her out, too. Please don’t say something stupid, I thought.
“Have you noticed how much your demons look like aliens?” Ren said.
I buried my face in my hands and took a deep breath so I wouldn’t strangle her.
Ixtab replied coolly, “I’ll come back to you in a moment.” Then she shifted her gaze to me. “Why are you here?”
“Uh…I, uh, had some questions.”
Brooks stared at the sky, her nostrils flaring.
At the same moment, Quinn snatched an arrow that was sailing through the air, right at Hondo. I hadn’t even seen it coming.
“Whoa!” His dark eyes grew ten sizes. “Thanks.”
She shot him a side glare. “I should’ve let it skewer you.”
With a slow grin, Hondo waggled his eyebrows at me as if to say She totally likes me.
Ixtab said, “The middle of the field is probably not the safest place for you to stand. Come.”
Oh, good. She cared about our safety. Excellent sign. Plus, I was glad for the extra time to think up an excuse for why we’d come here. My brain churned out the possibilities. I could ask her about the mud person and mapping. Seemed like a perfectly legit reason to cruise to Xib’alb’a. Then we could scram out the back exit of Pus River. Maybe this wasn’t such a bad thing. I’d not only get to South Dakota, but I’d get there with some answers.
The Fire Keeper Page 10
