Ancient (#5 Destroyers Series)

by Holly Hook

  The awful sense of doom slowly beat through Paul like black pulses. He was at the base of that scary mountain now, staring up at its peak and dreading the climb to the top. He glanced at Leslie, whose brown-and-black eyes were trained on the gate like it was a target at a shooting range.

  "Yes," he said.

  "Yes," Janelle added. "This is our last chance."

  Kenna shifted in her seat. "Yes. You guys need me."

  Sophia straightened up like she'd just finished barfing on the floor. "Okay."

  "I need to wait here," Manuel said. "I made a promise to my wife. No going in Chichen Itza."

  "That's understandable," Janelle told him, half-standing in the cramped space. "I don't expect you to go in with us. If we don’t come out by time this opens, you can leave."

  Her words made snakes of panic slither around in Paul's gut. Even Janelle was admitting that they might not make it out of there.

  The ground felt as if it were tilting as Paul's feet landed next to Leslie's. Now without the protection of the van's roof over their heads, all those awful feelings were worse. He imagined giants sleeping under the ground, breathing slowly and throwing off the pavement under his feet. But the tilting passed a second later. Nerves, then.

  Paul linked his hand with Leslie's as they faced the gate. Neither of them said a thing. There was nothing left to say at this point. They walked towards the entrance of Chichen Itza, two Tempests, two Outbreakers, a volcano goddess, and a girl harboring a winter demon. It was probably an arrangement the world had never seen before.

  Chapter Eight

  Janelle raked her brains for a way to get in. Breaking through the fence would be no problem. Any one of them besides Sophia could probably rip a hole in the chain-link. Getting past the security inside would be even more difficult. There had to be patrols this late, making sure no one snuck in to climb the pyramid or try taking a dip in the cenote. And this time it was a virtual guarantee that none of the officers would be Tempests. If she could barely stand to be here for a few minutes, no Tempest in their right mind would work here, especially at night.

  The thought of that place almost made her turn back and tell Manuel to start the van. It was too late now. If she turned back, she might as well stand outside tomorrow, wait for Andrina to swoop down on her, and force her to go goddess.

  Not an option.

  "So how do we get in?" Gary asked, stating the obvious. "Oh. We tear a hole in the fence."

  "Exactly." Janelle fought to keep the tremble out of her voice. It wasn't working very well. If the others heard her like this, it might break their courage. She was the leader, after all. If she didn't go into this looking fearless, the others might not be able to. "And you're going to do the honors. We should still be close enough to the ocean to be strong enough to do it."

  Gary didn't argue. He walked into the trees. "We'll need to do this off the road. You know, so nobody comes along in the morning and sees the hole. Can I have someone's help?"

  Janelle felt a twinge of guilt. She'd been ordering everyone around tonight like they were nothing but pawns. They couldn't care for that too much. It was something Andrina would have done, a thought that made her step forward and join Gary in a heartbeat. She'd never be like her. Never.

  It took them a while to walk through the trees. Bugs swirled into Janelle's eyes. Something crawled along her hand and flew away again. It was awful, but she kept biting her lip, keeping her cries of annoyance in. Beside her, Gary slapped at his arm and then his shirt. "I hope there's no malaria around here," he muttered as he crouched down to the fence.

  It was the least of their problems. The watching feeling topped it all. Janelle felt as if centipedes of tingling were racing up and down her back. She knelt down beside Gary, trying to ignore the feeling. Crickets grew louder and louder inside her ears until their chirping filled her head and threatened to make it explode. Was that even crickets she was hearing? She was spiraling down into panic.

  Gary gripped the fence underneath and started to peel it upwards. The metal squeaked and groaned. If he was feeling the same as she was, he didn't show it.

  "Here." Janelle shook her head, but the crawly feeling stayed as she hooked her hands under the fence. It felt as if the invisible centipedes were trying to crawl into her skin. No wonder Manuel couldn't stand this place. This explained why Tempests hadn't found Huracan yet. None of them had stayed longer than a few minutes. How could anyone--

  She grit her teeth, and the fence slowly peeled up. The metal dug into her palms, but she ignored the pain. With one final heave, the fence squealed as it gave and bent up, leaving a hole that looked like a beast had torn its way out of it.

  "Done," Gary breathed, stepping back and massaging his palms. "I suppose we have to go in now." He faced her, scratching his back. "You feel this weird?"

  She nodded. If she said anything, it might come out high-pitched and panicky. If that happened, Janelle might lose it altogether.

  They found the others waiting on the road, not far from the main gate but far enough away so that any security passing by inside wouldn't notice them in the darkness. Farther down, Manuel's van waited under the shadow of a tree. The crawly sensation wasn't as bad out here, but Kenna was scratching her shoulder blade and making a face.

  "Ready?" Janelle asked.

  Four grimaces met her, Sophia's the strongest of all of them.

  "Look, if anyone doesn't want to go in--"

  "I'm right behind you," Paul said, stepping forward. Leslie stayed right beside him, saying nothing. Kenna followed suit with Sophia taking up the rear.

  It wasn't as difficult to find the hole in the fence now, but the invisible centipedes came back full force as Janelle pushed through the underbrush and swatted tree branches out of the way. They must be heading the right way. The worse she felt, the closer they could be getting to Huracan's resting place. He was resting, right?

  "Sophia, was this cenote thing anywhere in this direction?"

  "I'm not sure," she said from behind. "I know it was down a trail going away from the pyramid. If we find that, I'll know where to go." Something snapped as Sophia took a huge step. "I can tell by the way I feel that we're definitely in the right place. Something's way off."

  "Has Hyrokkin said anything new today?" Janelle had never wanted to hear that winter demon talk more in her life. Her insight would be very useful right now.

  Sophia plodded past Kenna, waving a cloud of gnats out of the way. "Not much. It's hard for her to talk to me here. Night's a little better since it's cooler, but it's only enough for her to get a few words in here and there."

  Janelle got to the hole in the fence first and ducked under, careful not to rake her forehead on the chain link. She straightened up in the darkness, peering into the trees ahead.

  All of the crickets around them stopped, and silence fell over the vegetation as if the world had stopped moving. Even the horrible tingling ceased.

  She froze. "What--"

  "I think something knows we're here," Sophia said from the darkness behind her. "You've crossed some kind of border, I think."

  The silence was somehow worse than the tingling. It was calm. Too calm, like the lull before a storm. Sophia was right. She had crossed some line. She imagined searching the entire city of Chichen Itza with only this oppressive feeling for company.

  A single raindrop fell on the top of her head. Janelle looked up. The sky still displayed the stars above, but a hazy darkness movede over them now from the east.

  The outer edge of that tropical storm…and Andrina. Soon she would be able to appear. She would pounce, vaporize, and kill.

  "Let's go." Sophia rushed ahead in a rustle of leaves and pushed ahead of Janelle.

  "Wait. I thought you didn't want to go?" Kenna asked.

  Sophia didn't respond. She pushed through the trees ahead, leading the way. The threat of Andrina seemed to bother her worse than the threat of Huracan.

  Janelle faced everyone else, shrugged, and fo
llowed.

  * * * * *

  It was time to swallow her fear.

  Sophia felt a few more raindrops fall on the top of her head like tears from the night sky. Andrina didn't need much bad weather to appear. Paul and Leslie had told her that. She'd visited them both in the hospital during a light rain. She could definitely pay her the dreaded rematch if the rain got much heavier than this.

  And she knew where that watery pit was. The others didn't.

  Sophia pulled a tree branch aside and caught a glimpse of light. They were coming up on a clearing.

  "I think we're almost there," she said. Her voice sounded way too loud in the ominous silence. But even without all the night noise, Hyrokkin stayed away. The demon hadn't said a word since they'd gotten into Manuel's van and started the trip. Kenna's presence might have something to do with that.

  She wondered if somewhere deep inside, she was screaming at them all to go back.

  "Good," Leslie said behind her. "I want this over with."

  Sophia took another step and stopped, unable to keep from sucking in a breath.

  The pyramid was just as amazing as if had been in her vision. Maybe more, now that she was seeing it for the first time from the ground. It towered into the air as if challenging the sky itself. The staff of this place had trained lighting on it, red and gold, enough to create a brilliant border running up the corner of the structure. It looked like a golden snake making its way up the giant steps.

  Other structures, nowhere near as tall, hunched at the sides of the giant clearing they had entered. Lights were trained on them, too, but they were only the minions of the place. The pyramid was definitely the ruler. Sophia made out the rows of columns not too far away, standing there as if waiting for someone to put a roof on them.

  "Wow," Paul breathed. "If it didn't feel so weird in here, I'd come back and tour this place for real." His voice hung in the silent membrane closing in on them all.

  "I'm sure there are other ruins we can go to," Leslie said. Her voice trembled like something was shaking in her throat.

  "If I were Huracan, I would hide in there," Gary said, pointing to the pyramid.

  "He's not in the pyramid," Sophia told him, eager to be done and go back through that fence. "Hyrokkin said it didn't feel right. I think there might be more than one god or goddess sleeping here. Maybe that's why all of us didn't want to come in."

  "Well, we don't want to wake up the wrong one," Janelle said. "Kenna, do you have any ideas about who's here?"

  Kenna shook her head. "No. I can't tell. Maybe if we were back in Hawaii, I could be more help."

  Sophia shook her head, tuning out their voices. It wasn't easy as they were the only sound in this place. She couldn't even hear any security people talking anywhere or driving around in golf carts. Where were they? It was weird that this place would be unguarded.

  She let her gaze shift past the columns and away from the pyramid.

  There.

  A trail shot off into the trees not far from a smaller platform, leading right into darkness.

  Hyrokkin had taken her that way last night. At the end would be that water pit.

  "This way," she said, waving the group towards it.

  She kept them as close as she could to the tree line. Going through the open? No way, not so much because of the security, but because of the rain cloud passing overhead.

  They passed the first security people near the army of columns. Two men walked past them as they dodged to the other side of the small platform, both laughing about something and leaving clouds of cigarette smoke in their wake. They seemed so relaxed, strolling through this heavy place like they were in another world. A pang of jealousy shot through Sophia, toxic and green. If she didn't have Hyrokkin on board, she could lead her new friends through this with no problem.

  "They're gone," Gary breathed a minute later, peeling himself from the stone column. "Let's go."

  Sophia turned.

  The trail into darkness waited.

  That's it, Hyrokkin said, faint as someone yelling at a neighbor's house.

  "I wish I'd brought a flashlight," Janelle muttered.

  "Bad idea," Sophia said. "The guards would spot us pretty fast, for one thing."

  A tingly, electric sensation assaulted Sophia's skin a few steps down the trail. It was the air inside the factory where she'd met Andrina and the air inside Callie's house where the storm goddess had vaporized Mr. Allister. Sophia studied the night sky again. Clear. Another raindrop landed on her forehead.

  She wanted to go back.

  "I think we're on the right track," Leslie said.

  "Feels that way," Gary added, breathing heavier in the dark.

  She really should.

  Sophia took a deep breath and pushed on. For a second, they were the characters from the Wizard of Oz, slowly pushing forward and linking hands in the Wizard's chamber. Her heart tried to beat its way out of her chest and her legs turned to springs, ready to run. I'm the cowardly lion. If she turned around, the others would have to pull her back.

  The trail seemed to go on forever. Trees hovered overhead, their branches the arms of monsters. Every breath she took hung in the air. Darkness closed in.

  At last, the trees cleared in front of them. They'd entered a massive, circular chamber with clouds for the ceiling and trees for the walls. The floor dropped down into the earth itself just past a rope fence. Ribbed stone went down to meet a mirror to the stars. The water was easily at least a hundred feet across, maybe more, a nearly perfect circle in the earth.

  The cenote. They had arrived.

  "This is it," Sophia whispered, hoping that nothing down in the water could hear.

  Hyrokkin said nothing, even though Kenna stood at least twenty feet away. Sophia moved away from her more. Well? Do you sense anything?

  Yes. He is still here. The demon's voice was weak, but there. Fully asleep now, which is thankful.

  "He's still dormant. Applause."

  Janelle deflated with relief, her shoulders dropping while she took in the water. She linked her hand with Gary's.

  "Is she sure?" the Tempest High Leader asked. "I don't want to wake him up until we're ready."

  Absolutely sure, Hyrokkin said.

  Sophia swallowed. "She is. We're here in flesh now. Maybe that's shielding us some." She drew closer to the rope fence and held onto it for dear life. The ground was level here, but they couldn't take chances. There was still a weird feeling coming from the place besides that feeling like lightning was about to strike. That water looked sad and hopeful at the same time. The power here hung in the air.

  "We need a way to wake him up," Leslie said, joining her at the water. "I thought he was going to spring out as soon as we got here. Well, it looks like he's not. Can you and Hyrokkin go out of body again? That almost worked."

  Sophia cringed at the idea. "I'm not sure that's the way to do it. And we can't. There's nowhere cold we can go."

  Gary shrugged and let his hands slap against his jeans. "Then what did we come out here for?"

  "There's got to be another way," Janelle said, holding up her hands to stop the brewing argument. "A way to make him want to wake up. Let's think. Huracan went into hibernation because no one was paying attention to him anymore. He wasn't getting worshipped, so he passed his torch to the Tempests and Outbreakers. Maybe if we make him feel wanted again--"

  "Wait," Sophia said. Why hadn't she thought of this sooner? "Didn't all the Mayan gods like it when people got, you know, sacrificed to them?"

  They did, Hyrokkin said with a cackle. The old gods often liked blood. That's the way it was back then. And it wasn't just the Mayans.

  Sophia released the rope fence. "Because if that's the only way to do it, then I'm turning back right now."

  "It wasn't always people they gave to the gods," Leslie said. "Sometimes they sacrificed animals, or even stuff like jewelry. I read earlier today that people would gather here and throw treasure into the water when they need
ed rain. Scientists actually found a lot of it at the bottom when they did dives and stuff."

  "Leslie, you're a lifesaver." Janelle rushed over and gave her a hug. "Jewelry is a lot easier than a person or even an animal. Kenna, you have any input on this?"

  Sophia sighed and dug her hands into her pockets. She could smell what a rotten idea this was turning out to be, and Hyrokkin's laughter wasn't making her feel any better.

  Kenna shrunk back even farther from the water. The trip to the bottom of the lake was still with her. It was a scar that wouldn't fade any time soon. "My mother told me they used to sacrifice people in Hawaii, too," she said, quiet. "Sometimes it was just blood, though. Noble blood, usually. Leaders would cut themselves and offer it." She stared down at the ground like she wanted to sink down into its protective shield.

  Hyrokkin rose up completely in a rush of winter, sending January wind through Sophia's limbs. The demon moved Sophia's lips before she could stop her. "It happened everywhere, Kenna, at some point. I'm sure your mother accepted some of them. Now, if I was hibernating, I would want more than jewelry to wake me up. I would want some blood. Good blood, that is. The blood of royalty or even a god. Gods were always best."

  Kenna took no time backing up further. "You want me to cut myself? By the water?"

  Sophia fought to regain control, but it was futile. Hyrokkin kept a firm grip. "It might be a good idea. It certainly wouldn't hurt. The Mayans believed that their royals had the blood of the gods, so theirs was best."

  "That's messed up," Gary said, pulling Janelle closer to him. "If we didn't need this guy, I'd leave right now."

  "Kenna, you don't have to do that," Janelle told her. "We can scrounge up some jewelry. Money, even. We'll try everything first before we try that." Her hand flew up to her neck.

  * * * * *

  Janelle clutched her dolphin necklace. It hung from her neck since the day her father had given it to her so many years ago. It was from her mother, her real one, Tina. Her father's second wife wasn't related by blood, nor was she even a Tempest. But she had been a far, far better mother than Andrina ever could have been.