The Fire Keeper

by J. C. Cervantes

She sighed, and a crown of blue fire floated above Ixtab’s head. The gold snakes in the boat’s frame began to hiss, and with a single wave of her hand, I was lifted off my feet and…you guessed it.

  Chucked into Blood River.

  The water took hold of me as if it had hands and teeth. I couldn’t move an inch. A slow panic began to wind up my feet. It climbed my legs, coiling tightly. The jade tooth seared hot against my skin, vibrating stronger than it ever had before.

  Hurakan? I asked in my mind.

  My lungs constricted. Air. I needed air.

  Ixtab’s voice broke through. River of Blood, tell me, is he the one?

  The one? I could feel my secrets (yes, you read that right) peeling away from me like sunburned skin, and there was nothing I could do to hold on to them.

  Is he the one? Ixtab asked again, more forcefully this time.

  The one who ditched school seventeen times? The one who busted Hondo’s taillight with his cane (total accident, BTW)? The one who stole a pack of Sour Patch Kids from the dollar store? The one who thought he could rescue his dad? The one who…I fought to keep this secret hidden, but it was like holding my breath. Eventually, I had to let it go.

  The one who almost kissed Brooks last month at the bonfire?

  Emphasis on almost. It didn’t happen, okay?

  My heartbeat began to slow, my limbs drooped with fatigue. My storm runner leg pulsed with electrical shocks like it was fighting off death. As I slipped into nothingness, the last thing I heard was the water’s rasping voice. It spoke in a strange language I’d never heard, but somehow, I understood it.

  He is the one, my queen.

  * * *

  When I woke up, I was back on Ixtab’s rooftop patio, lying on a lounge chair with striped orange cushions that smelled like they’d just been sprayed with that citrus-scented tire cleaner Hondo likes. The sky was dark, and strings of tiny lights hung across the jade trellis above me. I had the same bared-soul feeling I had when Mom made me go to confession to tell Father Monroe all my sins.

  Ixtab sat next to me, flipping through a fashion magazine. “Really, Zane. If you’re going to pass out, save it for something big, not a simple life draining.”

  I sat up, rubbing my eyes, then scanned my body for any traces of blood. Thankfully, there were none. “You pushed me in! That was so not cool. Those were my secrets!”

  “I needed to see inside your heart and mind, and that meant I had to trick your body into thinking it was dying so it would let go of the information I requested. Don’t worry, I only examined what I needed. I left your little heart secrets intact,” she said with a knowing smile that made my cheeks blaze.

  “Or you could’ve just asked me.” I swung my legs over the edge of the chair. “What time is it? I have to go.”

  Ixtab tossed her magazine aside. “If my wretched watch were working, I could tell you.”

  “Why did you ask ‘Is he the one?’”

  She hesitated a second too long, which told me that what was about to come out of her mouth was a lie at worst, a half-truth at best. “I needed to be sure you are the right one to try to rescue the godborns. No sense sending you into a death trap.”

  A terrible heat raced up my spine. “How am I supposed to rescue them if we don’t know exactly where they are? I mean, New Mexico’s a big place.”

  Ixtab waved her hand through the air and a gold lipstick tube appeared. She uncapped it and put on some of the red stuff. “You’ll just have to work with the details you have. Did the image tell you anything specific?”

  I considered the rolling gray-green hills with outcrops of deep-red rocks and the flecks of floating cotton. “They…they remind me of the southern part of the state.”

  “That’s something,” she muttered. “We have no idea how the godborns are being treated, or what’s happening to them, so you must hurry. For all we know, they could be on death’s door.”

  The world was unraveling inch by stupid inch, and Ixtab wasn’t helping to weave it back together. “Even if I find them, how am I supposed to get in and out? There’s, like, ten of them…. I mean, you have a plan, right?” I rubbed my forehead, trying to get rid of the massive headache coming on.

  “Plan?” Ixtab laughed. “You think this is the only catastrophe I am dealing with right now? This is your mess to dig out of, Zane. I am sure you can figure it out. If not…tsk, tsk, tsk…well, let’s not think such things.”

  Gee, thanks. “But there’s still the problem of the gods picking me up on their radar. Or Ren. Who knows how long this will take, and the longer we’re out there, the more likely they’ll find us.”

  “Ren isn’t at risk.”

  “What? Wait a second…” I stepped closer. “You know who her mom is, don’t you?”

  “I do not,” she said. “But before you explode that human head of yours trying to figure things out, just know this: she has protective magic around her that you do not. I cannot say any more than that.”

  So, what, I got the dud godborn genes? Then I remembered that Ren said she had magic in her family history. Is that what Ixtab meant?

  “As for you,” Ixtab went on, “I have a solution to protect you.”

  “Good. Protection is good. Are you going to give me an invisibility cloak”—how cool would that be—“or more shadow magic or something?”

  “I have to kill you.”

  I jerked my spear up and jumped back. “Are you crazy?”

  “Oh, calm down. It’s a temporary death, for three measly days. To make you undetectable to the gods. Mostly.”

  “I’d prefer totally undetectable. And to stay alive.”

  “Please! I am not a miracle worker, for Xib’alb’a’s sake. It’s impossible to smother every ounce of your life, Zane, without actually killing you. This way, the traces of your godborn essence will be so small, a god would have to be staring you in the face or actively looking for you—and they aren’t looking for you, since they think you’re dead. Now, are you in, or are you out?”

  Why did I have the feeling Ixtab wasn’t telling me the whole truth? “Why only three days?”

  “The magic usually only lasts forty-eight hours, but I’m feeling generous. If you don’t return to Xib’alb’a by then, the death magic will consume you and you’ll be permanently dead. But don’t worry, Zane. If that happens, I won’t give you a terrible assignment here in the underworld. I’ll even throw in a penthouse in level three.”

  No way. I wasn’t about to leave my mom and Hondo and Rosie and Brooks. My jade tooth suddenly got hot and vibrated again. I couldn’t help but notice that the vibrations had only begun here in the underworld and they were getting stronger as time went on. “If I agree—and I’m not saying I am—what am I supposed to do with the godborns once I rescue them?”

  “I will find a place to hide them,” Ixtab said. “But we can worry about that if, er, when you succeed. Now, do we have a deal?”

  “A deal means I get something in return. Something more than just protection.”

  Ixtab smiled. Her eyes ignited into blue flames. “Ah, the son of fire. So bold. So stubborn. So like his father. Come now, I have souls to reap and demons to train. What’s your decision?”

  My jade vibrated with such force I nearly jumped. Hurakan was definitely trying to get my attention. “I need an hour with my team. To decide.”

  I couldn’t just let the godborns rot, but I couldn’t let my dad languish in prison, either. I didn’t know if I would ever get this kind of intel about his location again.

  I had to find out what Hurakan wanted, and there was only one way to do that.

  Back at the temple, Brooks was pacing the penthouse’s stone floors. Hondo was swinging punches in the air with his eyes closed. And Ren? She was opening drawers and poking her nose inside (no doubt looking for proof of aliens). Quinn was nowhere to be seen.

  “Zane!” Brooks hurried over as soon as I stepped off the elevator. “That was more like an hour. We have to talk.”

 
“No kidding!” I said, but I marched straight toward Ren. “What did you and Ixtab talk about in your telepathy session?” I asked her. I knew there was something Ixtab wasn’t telling me about this whole mess, about Ren’s magic. But I expected a fellow godborn to give it to me straight.

  She hesitated. I barely knew her, but it was obvious she was choosing her words carefully, or worse, thinking up a lie.

  But before she could speak, the designer Itzel appeared. “I have your clothes.” Except her hands were empty.

  “Where?” Ren asked, rushing over like she was glad for the interruption.

  “You already made them?” Brooks asked.

  Who cared what we were wearing! I had to talk to Ren, and then Brooks—alone—and after that it was time for me to jump to the Empty. “I don’t think…” I started, and the jade buzzed again.

  Itzel must have read my mind, because she said, “Oh, but you should care, Mr. Tacky-Tack. Stay in your hot-dog threads and wait for the flesh-hungry demons to sniff you out and eat you alive. Ha! Maybe their hunt tonight will lead them right back to you. Wouldn’t that be ironic?” Her tilted smile was more of a sneer. “Or you could wear my clothes, a coveted Itzel design that will give you half a chance of staying alive here and above.”

  So she knew we were headed back to the human world. But how would her designs keep us alive beyond Xib’alb’a? Maybe Ixtab wouldn’t have to kill me temporarily after all….

  Her coal-like eyes glistened beneath the chandeliers. “If it were up to me, I’d prefer you get eaten. You aren’t worthy of wearing my creations. But Ixtab has spoken.”

  Hondo rubbed his hands together. “Sounds good to me. This polyester shirt is giving me a rash.”

  I expected Itzel to take us down to some fitting room, but instead, she opened her mouth. It expanded so much, a billboard could’ve fit inside. A cloud of purple mist swirled from her throat and wrapped around each of us.

  I couldn’t see anything through the mist, but I heard Itzel. “Perfect,” she said. “I am so good. Should get a crown or something. The measurements are exact. As I expected, of course.”

  A second later, the cloud disappeared. We were still in our old outfits, but in each of our hands was a tied burlap sack.

  “Well?” Itzel said. “Don’t act so ungrateful. Open them!”

  Inside my sack was a pair of jeans, a dark purple T-shirt, and a pair of gray sneakers. This was her idea of high fashion?

  Hondo dumped his stash out on the floor. A pair of shredded jeans and…he held up a gray long-sleeved button-down shirt. “I hate buttons,” he whispered to me. “Does she think I’m an accountant or something?”

  Ren tugged out a long yellow hoodie that laced up the front, and a pair of black track pants with white stripes down the side. I could tell by her face that she was as underwhelmed as the rest of us. “These pants don’t have any pockets,” she muttered.

  I looked over at Brooks, who was scowling. She had gotten a pair of dark green leggings, a shiny black bomber jacket, and a plain white tee.

  Itzel grimaced. “It’s all wrong.”

  Hondo nodded. “I figured we had the wrong clothes. I don’t do sleeves. Or buttons.”

  “Not the garments. You,” Itzel said. “You’re all wrong.” She rolled her eyes. “These are meant to keep your sorry human butts from getting stabbed and killed. Nothing can penetrate this fabric—not daggers, not teeth, not fire. Why I should waste them on you is beyond me.”

  “But they’re just…plain clothes,” Ren said.

  “Plain is being generous,” Hondo huffed.

  “The material,” Brooks said, inspecting her leggings. “It’s different.”

  Looking closer at the shirt in my hand, I saw Brooks was right. There was a give to the fabric, and it had the thickness of a wetsuit. But the material looked familiar. “Is this…?” I couldn’t get the words out. I mean, I liked the whole idea of not getting stabbed to death and all, but…Chills ran up my legs.

  “Demon skin?” Brooks finished the sentence for me.

  “You think I’d waste perfectly good demon skin on the likes of you? No. It’s synthetic. No demons were harmed in its creation.” Itzel grabbed Ren’s track pants out of her hands, growling, “Ungrateful humans. No appreciation or taste. These fine threads also work as camouflage. Do you have any idea of the precision and craftsmanship that go into something of this caliber?”

  “Isn’t camo, like, green and, you know, army-looking?” I asked, wondering when Itzel last had her eyes checked.

  “The most unimaginative species…” she muttered as she held the pants up to the chandelier. “This is enchanted camo!” Immediately, the pants blended in with the light fixture—as in you couldn’t even see them in her hands.

  “That is sick!” Hondo said.

  Ren nodded enthusiastically. “Does this mean we’re going to be invisible?”

  Itzel rubbed her forehead like her skull was about to explode. “All you have to do is tug on any button—you all have at least one.” She glared at Hondo. “But you can only use the disguise device three times. Maybe four—I don’t remember the exact number. The camouflage effect puts incredible stress on the fabric.”

  “Then what happens?” Brooks asked.

  “The clothing combusts, of course,” Itzel said.

  “Of course,” I mumbled.

  Hondo was still wearing a huge smile. “You said daggerproof, right?”

  “These garments are the sole property of the House of Itzel,” she explained. “Consider this a loan.” She gave a loud sniff. “And if anyone asks you where you got them, for the love of all that is couture, do not say I designed them. I would never live it down.”

  * * *

  After we all got dressed in our private rooms, I met Brooks in the jungle behind the complex. I’d talk to Ren later. Time was running out and I had to get back to Ixtab with my decision soon. I knew I’d have to take her up on the offer of the “death” protection. I also had to find out what Hurakan wanted.

  Moonlight glinted off the golden tree Brooks was leaning against, and for half a second, she looked like she was just a normal girl waiting for a bus. Except she was as far from normal as Pluto was from the sun.

  “What took you so long with Ixtab?” she said.

  “A lot has happened.” I thought about Quinn’s message of doom. “Why didn’t you tell me your powers are fading?”

  Brooks stiffened. “Because you’d give me that freaked-out look you’re giving me right now. And I only felt it when we got here. I can’t fly as well as usual, and it takes tons of concentration to stay in hawk form when usually it’s easy.”

  “But Rosie seems fine.”

  “She’s a hellhound. Quinn said it’s only affecting people born as a sobrenatural, like shape-shifters, seers, magicians….” Her voice trailed off.

  “How could all the sobrenaturals be getting weaker at the same time?”

  “Sobrenaturales.”

  “Huh?”

  “You said ‘sobrenaturals.’”

  I sucked in a sharp breath. “And why does that even matter right now? Can we get back to the sobrenaturals losing power?”

  “I don’t know how we could be getting weaker at the same time. I mean, not even a god could take away all of our powers. Maybe it’s a virus or…” She was grasping at straws.

  “There’s a virus that attacks magic?”

  “No, but it sounds better than some massively powerful evil monster being behind all this. Anyway, let’s just get to the gateway. Now.”

  “There’s, um, some things I need to do first,” I said. I told her what had happened with Ixtab.

  Brooks blew out a long breath and frowned. “Abducted? Mexica ghosts?! No way can you let her make you dead, even if it’s only for three days. That’s craziness!”

  I poked Fuego into the dirt. “It’s not dead dead…. More like a death spell.”

  Brooks looked up at me and for half a second her warm amber eyes softened
, and I thought she might actually hug me. She didn’t. “I can’t let you die, Zane.”

  I knew it would be hard to convince her. “Brooks, I owe the godborns. It’s my fault they’re in trouble. Plus, the spell will keep me off the gods’ radar. And, if I’m fast, I can use the death magic to stay undetectable long enough to…” My voice dropped to a whisper. “To still rescue my dad.”

  “That’s if you somehow find the godborns and get them out of their prison without anyone noticing in less than three days.” She paced, twisting a curl around her pinkie. “It’s one thing to rescue Hurakan. That’s, like, one person, not ten. And I’d much rather go up against three demons than some unknown army made up of who-knows-what kind of monsters. It’s too risky, Zane.”

  She was right. At least I knew the monsters who were holding Hurakan. We needed reinforcements, but where would they come from if all the sobrenaturals were losing their powers?

  “Everything is connected,” I said, wishing I had all the pieces to the puzzle. “The mud person, the kidnappings, the sobrenaturals…” I clenched my fist around Fuego.

  “You look like your head is about to explode,” Brooks said.

  “We need backup to save the godborns.”

  “We need a whole plan. No one just marches into battle. I mean, I could lose my powers in the middle of this rescue, Zane. Where would that leave us?”

  My cheeks reddened. I knew what she was thinking, because I was thinking it, too. If only I had control over my fire abilities, we might not need her strength as much.

  My jade tooth sent a jolt of energy beneath my skin, startling me from my thoughts. “I need a favor.”

  “I will not let you become a zombie.” Brooks’s voice trembled. “There has to be another way. It’s too chancy. You could get caught and not make it back here, or Ixtab’s gateway could close, or so many other things could go wrong.”

  “Brooks…”

  She looked up at me, and her eyes fell on the jade tooth I was still gripping. “You’re going back to the Empty, aren’t you?”

  “I have to.”

  “Why?”

  “I…I think Hurakan wants me to. Ever since I got here, the tooth has been vibrating like he’s trying to communicate with me. I think he has something important to tell me. Maybe he has some answers.”