The Fire Keeper

by J. C. Cervantes

  “That’s crazy. He’s in prison, as in extra lockdown. No way can he travel to the Empty. But, if he could…” I could practically see the wheels spinning in her head. “He could maybe tell you where they plan to move him to so we might still be able to rescue him. I mean, just in case…”

  “Which is why I have to try.”

  Could I do this? Go back to the place where I’d ended Ah-Puch? I know it sounds totally paranoid (remember, these are the Maya gods we’re talking about here), but I had this horrible image in my head that the second I returned, the god of death would be there in all his serpentine, maggoty glory, waiting to bite off my head. It was the reason I hadn’t gone back before this. But Hurakan wouldn’t call me there if it was dangerous, would he?

  “Could you, um, watch over my body while I’m there, to make sure no one flays it, or eats it for dinner?” I asked Brooks. “Oh, and don’t let me stay gone longer than thirty minutes.” I handed Fuego to her for safekeeping.

  “You really ask for the world, Obispo.” Brooks rolled her eyes and socked me in the arm. “Just hurry back.”

  * * *

  I spun wildly through nothingness, through whispers that formed no words. A distant wind howled, a door slammed closed. Glass shattered. And when the world came to a stop, I opened my eyes to the Empty.

  I stood at the top of my dad’s pyramid, looking out across the sea through feline eyes. I loved this feeling of strength that only came when I was in jaguar form, the only form I could take while in this secret world Hurakan had built.

  I peered around, hoping to see him. But I was alone. Had he not summoned me here? And then I realized that the Empty—this Empty—wasn’t the lush landscape at the tip of the sea that I remembered. This world was tattered, torn at the edges, like it was made of tissue paper.

  Shreds of sky blew in the wind. The sea was colorless.

  It’s dying, I thought.

  I felt a hundred shades of miserable. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see the abyss—the unfinished part of the Empty where I’d sent Puke Face spiraling into the fire.

  I admit it. I was more than scared to be here.

  Then came a familiar voice.

  I hoped you’d come back.

  I jumped to my feet, excited and relieved. Hurakan?

  We don’t have much time. His voice, raspy and weak, was coming from somewhere in the jungle below.

  My heart raced. I couldn’t get the words out fast enough. I know where you’re being imprisoned! I’m coming to save you.

  That doesn’t matter now, he said.

  How could it not matter? I launched myself down the pyramid steps and into the trees, racing toward the sound of his voice.

  It’s too late for me. Zane, you must listen. When I die, this place will die, too. We won’t get this chance again.

  What do you mean too late? Die? Gods can’t die!

  Your human mind thinks of death as the end. For me, it means something else.

  Then you won’t really die?

  Silence hit me from all directions. I came to an abrupt stop. Cobwebs were taking over the dying trees, just like we’d seen in the Old World. Wispy white trails fluttered in the sea breeze.

  Hurakan?

  Crap! Was he gone already? Had I wasted our one chance to talk? A deep and terrible roar emerged from my throat, reverberating across the jungle.

  Zane. His voice was now a whisper. Something flickered in my peripheral vision and then…Hurakan stepped out from behind a tree. In the form of a man. I stopped breathing. He looked part solid, part ghost. He wore a loose-fitting black shirt-and-pants set that reminded me of the scrubs doctors wear, and his face was thin, his eyes sunken.

  In the same instant, he transformed me back into human form.

  “Whoa!” I looked down at my hands, then back to Hurakan. “Why aren’t we panthers?”

  The first time we met here, Hurakan had told me we had to take the shape of jaguars in order to relate to each other, because we were strangers. Once we had some familiarity, an emotional connection, we could take a different form.

  Oh. OH.

  Imagine someone igniting a thousand sticks of dynamite inside your heart. That’s what this realization felt like.

  But he clearly wasn’t well. Hurakan coughed as the outline of his shape faded in and out. A raging fury burned inside my bones. I wanted to slowly gut the gods for what they’d done to my father.

  I hurried over to help him stand. Once he steadied himself, he let go and said, “I wish I could have been here to train you. But…other things got in the way.” He took a wheezing breath, grimacing like his ribs were busted and it hurt to inhale. “Like prison walls.”

  “So not funny,” I said.

  He half smiled anyway. “Dad joke.”

  Who knew Hurakan had a sense of humor?

  “I’ve been waiting…hoping you’d show up here, Zane.”

  “Waiting? I didn’t think you could still access the Empty. And the jade—you didn’t call me until today,” I said.

  Hurakan’s eyes found mine. “I don’t have a connection to the jade anymore.” He frowned. “So, no, I didn’t call you here.”

  “But then…” Every cell in my body froze. “Who did?”

  Hurakan’s face was suddenly cold, unmoving. “There isn’t time for us to solve that mystery. Events have been set in motion, and you must do something—”

  “Save the godborns?” I cut in. “You’re not the only one who broke the Sacred Oath.” I don’t know why, but for some reason I felt it was important for me to tell him. I quickly explained everything Ixtab and I had figured out.

  He didn’t even flinch at the mention of the godborns. With great effort, he said, “You will need your greatest powers for what lies ahead. Which is why you must listen.” He began to fade.

  Desperation crawled up my spine. “No…wait!”

  It was too late. He had faded to nothing, but his voice lingered on the sea breeze. Get to the pyramid. The top step. Now!

  I bolted back toward the pyramid, taking long strides. Here in the Empty I had no limp, and I could race with the speed and power of a jaguar, even in human form. But as I did, the ground shifted beneath my feet. The Empty began to tilt. I lost my footing and had to grab a tree branch to steady myself. My hands slipped, and I went spinning toward an ocean cliff and away from the pyramid.

  Hurry, Zane.

  With every ounce of strength I had, I redoubled my efforts and launched myself toward another tree, trying to get a hand- and foothold. A moment later, the world righted itself enough so that I could run again. And I did. Like I’d never run in my life. Not as a human or a jaguar. As a godborn.

  I flew up the stairs until I reached the top. Bits of gray sky fell around me like ash. The ground rumbled. The top stone step was broken, and a piece of thick parchment was sticking out of a crack. I unrolled it to find a message.

  Dear Zane,

  By the time you read this, I will have claimed you in front of the council, giving you access to your full powers. I will have been imprisoned. And hopefully you will have destroyed Ah-Puch as we know him.

  I looked up. As we know him? Hurakan had written this before the battle at the Old World.

  I continued reading as ash sprinkled onto the page.

  With the hope that my plan worked, you survived, and you are now living under Ixtab’s protection, I write this message. I fear the future is a bleak one.

  The Empty trembled and I felt a strong tug back to the underworld.

  No! Not yet! I scanned the note faster.

  I know this is not what you want to hear, but the Prophecy of Fire was only the beginning.

  “Why do people keep saying that?”

  I wrote this letter unsure if I’d ever have the chance to tell you in person.

  My throat began to close up.

  I know it is in your nature to want to rescue me. Don’t. You will only be wasting your time, for it has been written. And so it shall be.


  “Written? What’s been written? What does that even mean?” I was so sick of half-truths and unclear messages. Why couldn’t one stinking, lousy god give it to me straight?

  “Give up this pursuit to save me, to save anyone but yourself.” Hurakan’s image once again flickered in front of me. “Do you understand?”

  “No!” I shouted. “I need you to understand. I have to save the godborns. It’s my fault they’re in this mess. But I don’t know where they are, and…” I hesitated, thinking it might not be a good idea to tell him about the whole death-magic deal with Ixtab. “How am I supposed to rescue them if I can’t even control fire, and all the sobrenaturals’ powers are fading, and—”

  “What did you say?” Hurakan looked stricken. “About powers fading?”

  “The sobrenaturals’ powers…they’re being drained.”

  “The Fire Keeper,” he whispered.

  “The what?” My mind churned in dangerous circles, making me suddenly light-headed.

  A defeated expression swept across his face. “He tends the eternal flame. His whereabouts are known only to Itzam-yée’, the deity bird that nests in the great World Tree.”

  “So, this fire-keeper person just watches a flame all day?” I asked. “What does he have to do with any of this?”

  “He makes sure the flame never goes out. It’s the source of tremendous power.” Hurakan hesitated. “Most think he is a myth. If the gods or other malos were aware of his existence, the Fire Keeper would know no peace. He’d be hunted for all eternidad.”

  “Is he like a seer?” I asked.

  “The Fire Keeper can read each lick of the flame, each glimmer in the embers. He sees what no one else can—places, people, events—with perfect clarity. Choices and outcomes. He can even manipulate the future.”

  “Manipulate it like change it?”

  “At great cost, but it can be done.”

  My pulse raced. Maybe the Fire Keeper could tell me where the godborns were, and who was holding them…. Maybe he could tell me a lot of stuff that would help my quest. He might even be able to change my dad’s future. “What does he have to do with the sobrenaturals?” I asked.

  “How did I not see it?” Hurakan muttered to himself. “The Fire Keeper is the key. He…” Gripping the temple wall with both hands, he drew a heaving breath like he’d just been punched in the gut.

  “He what?”

  Hurakan vanished yet again.

  “Hurakan?” The echo of my voice was only met by silence. “Hurakan!” Frustration rose up inside me with so much pressure I thought I’d combust. A sudden gust of wind ripped through the jungle.

  Run, Zane. Far away, Hurakan said. And don’t look back.

  “I’m not running!” I shouted. I was sick of living a lie, sick of being stuck in a prison I didn’t create. Sick of pretending to live a life that wasn’t even mine.

  There is no victory in pride.

  “There’s no victory in running away, either.”

  In the next breath, I felt a sudden and familiar mind-numbing rush. I was out of time. The world began to swirl in a haze of mist and shadow, and the letter ignited into flames as I was ripped away from the Empty.

  Brooks hovered over me, studying me with wide amber eyes, her tanned face only inches from mine. Her hands were pressed against my chest. “You were thrashing around,” she said. “You’ve never done that before. I thought old Puke Face was there, ripping you to shreds.”

  “I could totally take him,” I said. “But thanks for the vote of confidence.”

  “Holy K, Zane. Way to freak me out!” She was still hovering.

  I was sure she could feel my heart pounding. I scooted away and rubbed my left cheek with the back of my hand. It stung like…

  “I slapped you a few times to try and bring you back,” Brooks said. “Sorry about that. How come your nose isn’t bleeding from the jump?”

  I sat up, gripping the jade, and replayed Hurakan’s words. I didn’t call you here….Dread smashed against my skull like a two-ton hammer.

  “You’re zoning out, Obispo.”

  “Huh? Yeah. Sorry.” We got to our feet. I gave Brooks the short version of what I’d learned, and ended with “If Hurakan didn’t call me there, who did?”

  “Maybe Pacific? I mean, she’s the one who first gave you the tooth.”

  “But she’s in hiding, and…why would she want me to go to the Empty?” Something about that answer didn’t feel right.

  “You don’t think…it’s Puke, do you?”

  “No way! Don’t even think it!” Ah-Puch didn’t have any connection to the jade, and besides, he was spinning in an eternal vortex of fire.

  Then I remembered some of his last words to me. Once Hurakan is dead, this place will die, too. And with nothing left here to trap me, I’ll head off to the underworld and I’ll take back what’s mine. So, any way you look at it, I win.

  Was that true? Or had he just been bluffing? The last thing I needed to worry about was the god of death coming back to finish me off.

  “Maybe the jade’s magic called you there by itself…” Brooks guessed. “Like, maybe it knows more than even Hurakan…. I mean, it’s totally possible.”

  I wished she were right, but something told me whatever the truth was, I wasn’t going to like it. How had everything gotten so complicated? I’d gone to Xib’alb’a to sneak out through a gateway, and I felt more trapped than ever. What was the right thing to do? Save my dad, or rescue the godborns? How could I choose?

  Brooks interrupted my thoughts. “What aren’t you telling me?”

  It was no use to try to act innocent. Brooks would see right through me. “He told me to run, Brooks.”

  “Why? That’s so”—she made a face like she’d just taken a bite of something sour—“cowardly.”

  “Maybe it has to do with this bleak future.”

  Brooks folded her arms tightly. “Are you sure Hurakan said ‘bleak’?”

  “Yes.”

  “Like how sure?”

  “Brooks.”

  She pushed her hair behind her ears. “Okay, okay. I hate bleak,” she muttered as she quickly glanced over her shoulder, then back to me. She took hold of my hand and, using telepathy, said, Let’s put all the pieces together. According to the ancestors, the Prophecy of Fire was only the beginning, and no matter what path you choose, the gods are going to be furious. The sobrenaturales’ powers are weakening, and we don’t know why or how. The godborns are being abducted.

  Someone’s eavesdropping on us, aren’t they?

  A demon to your right, but don’t look. She’s totally fake-acting busy.

  I turned.

  I said not to look!

  That’s always going to make me look!

  Brooks rolled her eyes and continued. There’s some mythical dude called the Fire Keeper who can see stuff and change the future, which is seriously sick. Hurakan said the future is bleak and to run away. Man, the future must be worse than bleak if big bad storm god Hurakan wants you to run. Run to where? There’s nowhere to hide if a prophecy has your name on it.

  No one said my name is on a prophecy.

  Right. The ancestors were just hanging out in the dirt for nothing. Her eyes widened. That’s it!

  What?

  We should go find the Fire Keeper and tell him to change the future. Bye-bye, bleak.

  I stabbed Fuego into the ground. I don’t think it works that way. Plus, Hurakan said it costs a lot to change the future, which probably means blood or your head or something.

  Good point.

  You forgot one thing, I said.

  What?

  Ixtab suddenly wants me to save a bunch of godborns, I said. But at first she told me they were dead. Why should I believe her?

  Exactly—but something’s missing. Are you sure you’re telling me everything?

  I was sure she could see the lie on my face before I even spoke the words. Yes, I…I told you everything. Quinn’s secret that she was working
undercover better be worth keeping, I thought. Man, I hated lying to Brooks, especially when we had promised we would never hide the truth from each other again.

  What if we split up? Brooks suggested. I can get to your dad, and you can go find the godborns.

  If your nawal magic fails, you can’t be out there alone fighting demons, I said.

  She rolled her eyes. I’m pretty good with deadly weapons, in case you’ve forgotten.

  We stick together.

  Squeezing my hand tighter, she said, The eavesdropper’s gone now.

  I nodded distractedly.

  “You have that look,” she said out loud.

  “What look?”

  “That I’ve-made-up-my-mind look,” she said. Why was she still holding my hand? Not that I was complaining or anything. She traced her thumb over mine and I sort of leaned closer, just barely—I’m talking half an inch. She dropped my hand and stepped back. “You’ve already decided to use the death magic, haven’t you?”

  “I have to. Whatever we do next, at least the spell will keep me safe from the gods.” I gulped as I nodded, thinking Brooks was going to lay into me, maybe even shove me against the tree, but she didn’t do either. Instead, she studied me carefully, then said, “Next time? Telepath faster.”

  I hadn’t told Brooks that the Empty was dying. There might not be a next time for us…or the world. It was too depressing to say out loud, and I was pretty sick of being the guy with bad news.

  Grunts and shouts from the demon soldiers echoed across the jungle. It was obvious now why they were training so hard. There was going to be a big battle. I wondered if that’s what had Hurakan so spooked.

  * * *

  We left the jungle and ran back to the temple, where Hondo and Ren were waiting.

  “Where’s Ixtab?” I tried to catch my breath.

  “She was here,” Hondo said. “Left a few minutes ago for the battlefield and didn’t look too happy. Hey, you okay?”