“It’s a mythical place the Mexica believe is their homeland,” she said. “And those that wear this bracelet worship the goddess….” Ixtab rolled her eyes. “If you want to call Tlaltecuhtli that. I mean, let’s be real. The Mexica came hundreds of years after the Maya, and we are clearly the superior pantheon.”
“Hang on,” I said. “Mexica gods are still around?”
“Not exactly,” she said.
“Then what exactly?”
Ixtab quickly explained how some Spanish explorer named Cortés warred with the Mexica empire and pretty much killed them off. “With no sacrifices to keep the gods strong,” she said, “they died off with their people. Now, where were we?”
“But why would someone worship an extinct god?”
“Pish. Happens all the time.”
Sounded pretty convenient for the Maya, if you ask me.
I watched in stunned silence as image after image appeared in the water. Kids of different sizes and colors, all around my age, going about their lives in places that ranged from city streets to back-country roads, until they were plucked out of them, one by one. By the time Ixtab’s slideshow was over, I’d seen ten godborns in total.
“We have to help them!” I cried. I admit it was a pretty bold declaration, because I had zero idea how.
An inky cloud bloomed and darkened the water.
Ixtab threw her hands up. “I don’t even know where they are now, which is infuriating, and it tells me powerful magic is masking them.”
“Yeah, magic from the devourer Mexica lady!”
“Are your ears broken? I told you, she’s dead,” Ixtab said. “No, there’s another piece we aren’t seeing. It doesn’t make any sense. The only remaining Mexica are a few ghost royals, and they don’t have this kind of power. Plus, they wouldn’t be so foolish as to mess with the Maya gods. After all, it’s due to our generosity that they’re even still walking this earth.”
“Hang on!” A memory bloomed. “When you left me on the island, didn’t you say something about going to see a king?”
“Yes,” said Ixtab. “The council met with the Mexica ghosts several months ago. Mostly to take pity on them. They are souls who couldn’t or wouldn’t meet the challenges of their underworld, Mictlan. With no underworld of their own, and no place here in Xib’alb’a, they are in a state of limbo.”
“I get that my magic made the godborns visible to the Maya gods. But how could the Mexica know about them, too? Especially if they’re just ghosts?” I asked. “Unless…”
“Unless what?”
“Unless some Maya god is a traitor.”
Ixtab studied me. A muscle in her right cheek twitched. “What Maya god would be stupid enough to…?”
“It wouldn’t exactly be the first time,” I said, remembering my dad’s defiance of the Sacred Oath, and Ah-Puch’s plan to end the world. Then there were the hero twins, and probably lots more examples I didn’t even know about.
Ixtab’s eyes roved the rooftop, and I could tell she was playing out limitless scenarios in her mind. “Zane, tell me more about the mud person. There has to be a detail Quinn left out, something you forgot to mention?”
I walked to the edge of the roof and back, worried Ixtab could see my secret plan to escape and save my dad. I thought about the ancestors’ message about all paths leading to angry gods and wasn’t sure if I could trust Ixtab with it. Hadn’t Monster Cab told me the goddess wanted to prevent me from accessing my powers? And what about the blurry images of New Mexico I’d seen? Did those have anything to do with this?
Just then, Quinn showed up on the roof and said, “Forgive my interruption, mi reina, but you have an important message.”
“I’ll take it in the temple,” Ixtab said. “We’re not done here, Zane,” she added before disappearing in a puff of blue smoke.
Quinn rushed to my side. She glanced over her shoulder, clearly worried, then looked back at me. “Something is very wrong.”
“No kidding—”
“Zane!” She frowned and twisted her fingers together anxiously. “You don’t get it. My powers…they’re changing, and—”
“What do you mean?”
“Brooks’s are, too.”
I stared at her, stunned. “Changing how?”
“They feel different—weaker, sickly. At first, I thought it was nothing, but…” She took hold of my shoulders, gripping hard. You guys have to go. Please. Take Brooks far, far away from here, before it gets any worse.
Her desperate tone made every muscle in my body tense. Who did she think was listening in on us?
You’re not making any sense.
Why do you think all those demons are down there training?
Because they like to kill things?
Gods, you’re annoying!
Me? I’m not the one talking in circles.
She took a deep breath and loosened her grip slightly. The Sparkstriker sent me on this mission, here to Xib’alb’a…undercover.
Shouldn’t that be a secret? I mean, she wasn’t very good at being undercover if she was telling me her spy status.
I trust you not to tell anyone. Not even Brooks. She grabbed both my hands in hers and squeezed them like a vise. Her jaw tightened. Soon we may not be able to shape-shift anymore.
How…? Crap! Is Ixtab behind all this? She’d taken away Brooks’s powers before.
No. No god is capable of draining all the sobrenaturales’ powers at the same time.
Do you think it has to do with the godborns being abducted?
From the look on Quinn’s face, I could tell she didn’t know anything about that, so I filled her in quickly.
It can’t be a coincidence, she said. Don’t tell Ixtab about the sobrenaturales. We don’t want the gods catching wind of our…situation.
Why not?
They love weakness and would use it to their advantage, believe me, she said. Just promise me you won’t let Brooks do anything stupid. She’ll listen to you.
Uh, that’s not exactly true.
At that moment, Ixtab reappeared. She looked into each of our faces and then solemnly said to Quinn, “It has begun.”
Nothing good can come from the words It has begun. Especially when you’re standing in hell with the queen of Xib’alb’a and a double agent who happens to be the sister of the girl you…uh, never mind.
“Call the Warriors together for a meeting,” Ixtab commanded.
Quinn gave a single nod to Ixtab and left. Ixtab turned to me, and the heat of her stare was enough to melt my face off. “Come with me.”
“What’s begun?” I hated the tremor in my voice. (Hey, heroes get scared, too, you know!)
Blue flames erupted in Ixtab’s eyes. “That is none of your concern.”
Before I could argue or run, she swept her arm in front of herself and the entire setting vanished faster than the strike of a match. We emerged in a dark stone tunnel that smelled like metal and rotting flesh. The ground moved beneath us, and I realized we were standing in a small, rickety rowboat. The vessel was gilded with intertwining solid gold snakes that I really hoped wouldn’t come to life.
A distant torch cast a faint light that glistened off the top of the blackish, oily…I gagged. Yep. We were floating on Blood River. “Why…why are we here?”
Ixtab picked up a long oar, its tip crafted with jade and gold. She placed the oar over the side and dragged it gently through the still blood. I might have gagged again. “I don’t get down here very often,” she said. “But it’s quiet and there are no prying eyes or ears. We cannot be too careful.”
Right. Because who in their right mind would ever hang out here? I needed to swallow the lump in my throat, but I was sure I’d throw up all over the place if I did. I sat down on the center bench.
“The magic you put out in the world,” Ixtab said as we glided through the blood, “it connected you to the godborns. You are now linked, and we can use that to our advantage.”
Our advantage? What was that
supposed to mean?
Look, I wasn’t about to argue with her. Even though I wanted to shout You’re wrong! my best bet was to listen, agree, and get the hell out of hell. I was supposed to meet Brooks in fifteen minutes. “Uh…okay.”
“Here,” she said. “Take the oar.”
“That’s okay.”
“It wasn’t a request.”
I was for sure going to be sick. I took the oar from her and propelled it through the river, which, by the awful way, was thick and thick, and did I mention thick?
Ixtab sat on a small bench at the stern. Her eyes glowed in the dark. I kept glancing over my shoulder so I could see if she tried to lunge at me or something. “Well?” she asked.
“Well what?”
“Do you feel the connection to the godborns?”
I thought about the whispering voice that had told me Time for the story to escalate, and She’s here, and Eating the chocolate was a bad idea. The voice had said I would find out who was talking soon enough. But it hadn’t sounded like a godborn—more like a crafty sobrenatural or some other Maya creature I didn’t know about and maybe didn’t want to know.
“Um, I…I don’t think so.”
“You don’t think so,” Ixtab said evenly. I could tell she was trying to keep her temper in check. “You might not even be aware of the connection yet. Think harder!”
The oar glided through the blood, which had to have been pretty deep, because never once did it touch bottom. Whose blood was this, anyway? I wondered. Everyone who had ever died?
“Well, there is one thing…” I said, remembering the images of New Mexico that had flown past my brain.
Ixtab stood. “Tell me.”
Uh-oh. Her nostrils flared, allowing even more smoke to curl out. Yep, I told her what she wanted to know. That seemed to bring her blood pressure down a few notches. “New Mexico? Are you certain?”
“I think I know my own state. But the images changed so fast I have no idea about the exact location. It has to be a message from the godborns. To come find them.”
“And to hurry.”
“Are you positive it’s just ten kids in trouble? We have to make sure no more are taken!”
Ixtab smirked. “You’re lucky I am somewhat sympathetic,” she said, tugging on one of her bracelets. “I’ve ordered the magic pages in your book destroyed. I have a team out there as we speak, hunting them down so no other godborns are awakened, discovered, and abducted.”
“How will you find all those books? I mean, there could be hundreds….” Knowing Jazz, he had printed thousands.
“The paper is from the World Tree, remember?” As an aside, she said, “I knew there was a black market for it, but clearly I haven’t been paying close enough attention.” A deep scowl made her face look older as she went on. “Anyway, where are the tree’s roots?” She wasn’t really asking. “Right here in Xib’alb’a. My demons and hounds have the best senses. Believe me, they can trace anything that comes from their backyard. It won’t take long.”
I don’t know if it was the fact that I was rowing through blood or that I was locked in a dark tunnel with the goddess of the underworld, but I felt a surge of bravery. So I took the plunge (that’s a metaphor, by the way) and asked her, “How do you know they’re godborns, anyway? You told me none had survived….”
“Hmph. Your half-mortal mind couldn’t begin to comprehend the secrets I am privy to, the secrets I keep, the whispers that swirl around the dead. Why do you think Ah-Puch wanted so desperately to hold on to his throne? Because he liked the place?” She let out a bitter laugh that echoed across the stone walls. “No, he wanted the power that comes with the underworld. Believe me, Zane. The dead know much more than the living do.”
And apparently she wasn’t going to tell me any of her secrets, especially those about the godborns.
“But why would anyone bother taking the godborns if they haven’t been claimed?” I asked. “It doesn’t make sense. I mean, I was claimed and I still don’t have much power, so they mapped me for nothing.” It was hard to admit, but if Ixtab was the queen of secrets, she probably already knew.
“Zane!” she shouted. “I will excuse you this once, because it isn’t your fault that part of your brain is human. Such a shame. Try not to think in such obvious ways. It’s too easy to surmise that the abductors are trying to steal the godborns’ powers. No, their goals are bigger and viler than that. But one thing is certain—your magical connection to the godborns means you are the answer.”
Bigger and viler? As in they’re also draining sobrenaturals of their power?
Then another thought occurred to me. “If the godborns are visible to the gods, then that means you can find them without me.”
“The books’ pages will soon be destroyed, severing the magical connection, and ten godborns have already been taken and hidden from us. You received those mental images for a reason. You must be the one to rescue them.”
“Rescue?” Pump the brakes. Who said anything about a rescue? “Me?” I dropped the oar into Blood River. “Oops.”
Ixtab waved her hand and the boat stopped. “Yes, you,” she said.
“Why do you even care about the godborns’ welfare?” How did I know she wasn’t tricking me into rescuing them so she could use them for some other evil purpose?
What can I say? Once I get started, my imagination runs away with me. But, hey, those were seriously valid points, given that she was the queen of trickery. I don’t know why I bothered asking, though. She was a pro at giving only crumbs of information, making you think you’re in the know when really you’re just wandering around in the dark.
Ixtab raised an eyebrow. “Because you put them in this predicament.”
Sometimes the truth sucks.
I tried to deflect it. “Is it because you have a kid out there?”
Ixtab didn’t even flinch. Nor did she give me a fiery blink or a stony stare. Just: “Remember who you’re talking to, godborn. Try to stay on track for once—and that track is rescuing the godborns.”
Right. But how was I supposed to rescue the godborns and Hurakan? Yeah, I know, I owed them for getting them into this lousy mess, but I couldn’t give up my one opportunity to save my dad, could I? He was being transferred in three human-world days (who knew how much time had passed while we were in Xib’alb’a), and I might never get this chance again.
“I—I—” The realization hit me between the eyes mid-stutter. “Wait a second. What happened to me staying off the grid?”
“I have a solution for that.”
Was this my ticket to freedom? Hondo had taught me tons about fighting—both physically and with the mind. If he were here, I knew he’d tell me that in battle you look for advantages. And I was being handed one on a silver platter. Next he’d tell me that alliances matter—who you side with can mean the difference between defeat or victory. And last he’d say, There are two kinds of battles. Those that are won, and those that are lost. The winner is always the one who is best at deception.
You’re probably rolling your eyes, thinking, No way can you outdeceive the goddess of the underworld. Maybe not, but I could at least try negotiating.
“I’ll help…. My friends and I will rescue the godborns. But I want something in return.”
Ixtab narrowed her eyes. “Go on.”
I swallowed hard, hoping she wouldn’t shove me into the blood. “You need to bust my dad out of prison.”
“Ah.” Ixtab closed her eyes and took a deep breath before opening them. “I’m sorry, but I cannot help you there.”
“Why not? A rescue for a rescue. It’s totally fair. Can’t you just send some of your demons to do it?”
“Who cares about fair? Fair is you saving those whom you have put at grave risk. Fair is allowing me to take a couple weeks of vacation. Fair is…” She tilted her head and softened her voice. “Even if I were willing to save your father, how long do you think it would take the other gods to determine I was the one who defied t
hem? I’d lose not only my crown but the head wearing it, and you’d spend the rest of your life running in fear. Is that what you want?”
“What I want?” Ribbons of steam began to rise off the river. “I didn’t want any of this!”
“So it is with destiny,” Ixtab said with no sympathy in her tone.
I swallowed my anger and took a deep breath, but it was difficult in the humid air. “What about the other gods who helped me? Like Kukuulkaan. Once the gods read my story, they knew he betrayed them, right? Did anything bad happen to him?”
“No, because I tore out certain pages.”
“To protect him? Because he’s your friend?”
“Because I need his vote on the council.” She plunged her hand in the river and muttered something I couldn’t hear. The blood boiled. Red steam billowed out of it in a vortex, and bright orange flames shot from the top. “Place your hand in the river,” she said.
It took a nanosecond for her words to reach the logical part of my brain. “No way! That’s, like, thousand-year-old blood and…” The burning instinct to run flooded every cell in my body. But there was nowhere to go, nowhere to hide.
Ixtab sighed and waved her hand. Gone was the sulfur smell, replaced with the scent of the desert after a summer rain. The blood turned to crystal blue water, like the Caribbean, and I suddenly missed my island.
I peered into the water. No piranhas or other flesh-eating monsters. As a matter of fact, it was totally clear and empty. “How do I know that this isn’t a hallucination and the water isn’t really blood and some monster isn’t lurking down there, waiting to eat me for lunch?”
“Don’t be ridiculous. Nothing wants to eat you. I just need to draw out your life force.”
Oh. Well, that was so much better. “Whoa! That sounds bad.”
Ixtab stroked her chin. “Haven’t you learned by now that if I wanted you dead, all it would take is a simple blink? Maybe two or three, but it would be easy, especially since you’re trespassing in my kingdom. Do as I say. This is the only way to strengthen your connection to the godborns.”
“Right, thanks for the life-drain offer and all, but I think…no.”
The Fire Keeper Page 12
