Ancient (#5 Destroyers Series)

by Holly Hook

  Cutting herself would do no good this time. Nothing she could do would trump Andrina's sacrifice--her. All of her.

  "Janelle really isn't in that underworld," Kenna shouted, reaching up and gripping Andrina's hand with hers. They slipped off, numb in the rain. "I was lying, okay?"

  "You certainly are now." Andrina stopped. "I'm getting my daughter back. I have no reason to preserve you."

  Kenna flailed her feet inches from the drop off. Where was Huracan? He could fly, too. There was no excuse.

  Her senses sharpened until she could make out every leaf flapping in the wind, every bubble in the water, every ebb and flow of the air around her. The wind stilled enough for her to make out something else: Andrina sucking in a breath, ready to speak.

  "Old gods," she shouted into the space above the pit. "Please accept this sacrifice, this young goddess, in exchange for my child, Janelle Morgen. Her fiery blood will feed you well and sustain your vigor."

  Fiery.

  The earth's fire is always with you, Kenna.

  "No!" Leslie shouted from the ground. "She isn't lying. She's--"

  "Silence," Andrina barked. "You will be next after I rescue Janelle if you don't follow my orders."

  Kenna had never been farther from the earth's fire.

  But she had to try even if she never had done this before.

  She closed her eyes, reaching far into the ground below. Soil worked its way up through her consciousness, then hard stone, cold as death.

  "Open the gate for me, old gods, and show me my child."

  Warmer now, far below.

  Leslie screeched something through closed lips as if Andrina had taped them shut.

  Warmer.

  Hot.

  Boiling.

  Miles and miles below, the earth rolled and seethed with an orange glow that spread through Kenna, chasing away the numbness.

  She seized it.

  Pulled.

  Andrina tugged again, dragging Kenna closer to the edge. The ground sloped under her feet.

  Kenna grabbed harder onto the molten rock below.

  The ground rumbled underneath, and Kenna felt the magma start to rise.

  She opened her eyes. An orange glow rippled to life around her hands, her arms. It was the glow that was only there when she was around a--

  "Yes," Andrina shouted at the rumble. "Open for me. Accept this girl--"

  Wait.

  Leslie was still lying there.

  Kenna aimed a kick at Andrina's shin, strong as if the water had never touched her.

  Andrina cried out and lost her grip. Kenna fell, catching her footing on the edge of the drop off. She slipped on the mud, righted herself, and ran for Leslie.

  The ground rumbled again. Leslie lifted her head, free from Andrina's control. The storm goddess was distracted. It was the only chance she had.

  "Get up!" Kenna shouted, pulling her up by the shoulders. "Run!"

  Leslie had gone pale as moonlight. Her eyes were wide, brown flecked with black. Her gaze locked on the cenote behind Kenna.

  Kenna turned her head.

  The water boiled, rolling like the inside of a cauldron. The first of the heat reached her skin. Andrina gripped her shin and seethed, oblivious to the eruption unfolding behind her.

  Leslie nodded.

  Ran.

  Disappeared down the trail towards the pyramid.

  A final rumble, loud enough to drown out the hurricane, sounded through the air and the earth broke open.

  The sound filled the universe, but Kenna felt no urge to cover her ears. Walls of dirt, stone, and water shot for the sky. Steam exploded as the cenote vaporized.

  Andrina stood.

  Turned.

  Stiffened.

  The lava spewed up from the ground, burning even the steam away.

  It rose higher, slowing as gravity started its work. Kenna stared. She'd never known she could do this. If only she'd realized this before--

  Andrina turned and ran, but not before the fiery fountain reached its peak and slammed down.

  Chapter Nineteen

  Janelle couldn't miss the orange glow reflected in the rain ahead where Chichen Itza was supposed to be.

  "Is that from the lights?" she asked.

  Something in her gut didn't agree. Chichen Itza had lightning on at night for a show, but not like this. If she didn't know better, she'd guess they were driving towards a forest fire. Even Huracan leaned forward in his seat, face pressed to the glass.

  "Somehow, I don't think so," Gary said next to her. He squinted. "I don't like this, Janelle."

  Xibalba.

  The word shot back into her mind. She remembered what it meant now.

  The Mayan underworld.

  Andrina must have opened it.

  "No!" she stepped on the accelerator again and plowed into the storm, making the rain beat harder on the windshield.

  "Slow down!" Gary shouted, reaching for the wheel.

  "She's throwing Kenna into the underworld!" Janelle slapped his hand away. He didn't resist, which was good as he was still a Tempest. If he wanted to, he could stop her right now.

  Gary sighed and sat back in his chair. There was no fighting with her when she was like this, Tempest or no.

  Gary wrapped his arms around himself and scratched at invisible bugs on his skin. "Something's going on there, Janelle. I know it."

  "I agree with Gary," Sophia said from the back. "This feels a lot worse than last time."

  An orange tongue leapt up from the trees in the distance, glowing and fiery. If Janelle didn't know better, she'd think it was a--

  "Volcanic eruption."

  The words spilled from her mouth. The fountain disappeared, falling back under the tree cover.

  "Out here?" Gary sat straight up, gripping the edges of his seat.

  The SUV hit a puddle again, forcing Janelle to let off the gas and regain control. "Well, if Kenna's there--"

  "She can't make new volcanoes. Can she?"

  It took all Janelle had to keep her voice from shaking. "It looks like we know the answer to that one now."

  "Keep going," Paul ordered, his voice rising with terror.

  Leslie was there with Kenna. They couldn't leave her.

  The gates to Chichen Itza materialized out of the rain so fast that Janelle had to stomp on the brakes.

  "Whoa!" Paul shouted from behind.

  The SUV's back end skidded in on the drenched pavement, making the vehicle slide closer to the gate and finally come to a stop. Janelle tossed off her seat belt and threw open the door, jumping out into the storm.

  "Hey!"

  Leslie.

  She stood behind the gate, gripping the bars so tight that they warped. A curtain of rain moved to the side, revealing her pale face and the red hair stuck to the sides of her head.

  "Leslie!" Janelle ran for her and stuck her arm through the gate that she could no longer bend or break with her bare hands.

  Leslie seized it.

  She was shaking. Not just trembling, but quaking.

  "V…" she started. "Kenna…volcano…"

  "We figured." Janelle stared into the rain. A faint orange glow crept out from the trees. "Gary! Paul! Open this up."

  But a taller figure appeared next to her, crowding out of the way.

  Huracan. Janelle had forgotten about him.

  He seized the gate with both hands. Leslie backed away, glancing back in the direction of the glow. The direction of the cenote.

  With a single tug and the squeal of metal, Huracan ripped the gate right open. The two halves hung, defeated. He waved them into Chichen Itza, standing tall as if there wasn't an eruption happening just a hundred or so yards away.

  "Let me guess," Janelle shouted over the rain, wrapping her arms around herself to keep her shirt from whipping against her. She faced Gary. "You want me to stay here while you guys go follow Huracan and hope he can contain Andrina in that gateway."

  He nodded. “You shouldn't be doing th
is, Janelle.”

  “I have to.”

  The words hung in the rain. No amount of it could wash them away. Leslie bit her lip. Paul squeezed her hand. Even Sophia had gone silent. This was her duty, and hers alone. She had abandoned her post as Tempest High Leader the moment she had said yes to Huracan. Abandoning this, too, wasn't an option.

  “Fine,” Gary said. He took her hand. “I understand. I'm with you, then.”

  * * * * *

  They found what used to be the cenote erupting into a fiery fountain.

  Janelle could only stand at the mouth of the clearing and stare as chunks of lava—the earth's blood—pulsed out of the wound before her. Steam exploded into the air with a deafening hiss as water met fire. The rain was a blessing. Without it, the entire forest around them would burst into flame. Pools of lava expanded through tree trunks, destroying everything around them. The only reason the lava hadn't gone farther was the pit that water had once filled. It seethed and cracked with liquid fire that belonged on the surface of a sun-baked planet.

  “We can't go any farther,” Sophia shouted. “At least, I'm not. Where is everybody?”

  The steam parted, revealing a figure that stood black against the backdrop of hell. Her hair blew in the wind as she faced it head on, feet planted right inside the orange glow.

  Kenna.

  She was still here.

  But where was Andrina?

  “Kenna!” Janelle shouted.

  Her voice blended into the hissing and seething, gone.

  “Kenna!”

  She turned as if the rain wasn't pouring down on her at all.

  Janelle balked. Kenna's eyes not only burned, but blazed. Two balls of flame bore right into her soul.

  "She's gone." Kenna's voice boomed over the hissing and roaring. She'd never spoken this loud. It was as if Janelle were listening to a new person, one way more powerful than Kenna had ever been. "It's over."

  "Over?" Gary sputtered. He looked at Huracan, who stood staring at the volcano with his mouth gaping open. Then what did we wake this guy up for? He left that question unspoken, which, given how powerful the storm god was, might be the wise choice.

  Another plume of liquid fire rose behind Kenna. "Yes."

  A hole opened inside of Janelle. What did it leave in its place? Relief? Terror? She couldn't tell. She didn't know what to feel as she watched the boiling inferno.

  Huracan said something, shaking his head. The words were a jumble to Janelle, but she could feel the tension in them, threatening to break like an over tight guitar string.

  The hole inside her filled in with a slow, snaking tension.

  The wind around them died off for a moment, then screamed through the trees so hard that it blew several chunks of airborne lava straight into them. Fires rose and died in the driving rain. Steam marched through the forest, turning it into a scene from the end of the world.

  A figure rose from the lava behind Kenna, warping in the superheated air.

  "No," Leslie said, stepping forward. "Kenna! Move! You didn't kill her."

  Kenna turned.

  The figure lunged at her, arms outstretched--

  * * * * *

  --but Kenna leapt out of the way as Andrina fell on her face.

  Of course. A goddess couldn't die.

  Kenna took a breath as the molten rock curled around her feet, soft and warm. Rain evaporated before it hit her. The numbness had gone, leaving the world vibrant and clear. Her friends stood back by the clearing, blurring in the warping air, unable to come any closer. Leslie was right. Andrina couldn’t die. But she could get trapped forever in hardening rock if Kenna did this right and made the lava encase her.

  "You're in my element now," she shouted at the lump on the ground. "How do you like it? How are you enjoying it, you--"

  Another rumble sounded through the air.

  Kenna looked up.

  That rumble had nothing to do with her. It felt different than the fountain rising from below. Invading, almost, like--

  Oh, no.

  A green glow, the sickliest color she had ever seen, rose from the pit in the earth like a geyser, overtaking the lava and shooting into the sky.

  Kenna's guts felt ready to fall out.

  The portal.

  She hadn't destroyed it at all.

  Xibalba still wanted its sacrifice.

  Chapter Twenty

  Paul knew what it was before anyone had time to say it. Janelle's words reverberated in his head.

  The gateway to the underworld.

  Such a horrible glow like that couldn't lead to anything else. It reflected off everything, casting it in death. The rain turned to green slime. Leslie's face, to that of a zombie's. Even the lava had vanished, sucked down into the hell below.

  He squinted wrapped his arms around Leslie, pushing her away from the scene. They crashed into a tree and he went down, tripping over her legs. They couldn't stay here. There was no reason. He felt tired as if the portal was sucking the life from him.

  "Paul!" Leslie cried. "Get up. We have to run. Huracan's going to push Andrina in. That's the plan." She stood and tugged at his arm. He wanted to stay here, to sleep…"Paul. What's wrong with you? Get up!"

  "I'll get his other arm," Sophia said from above him.

  The others weren't affected by this.

  It wasn't the portal at all.

  He was about to have another Outbreak. His power had returned.

  "Not now," he shouted into the rain, pushing himself up. "Not now!"

  He let the girls pull him up. Paul moved his legs under him the best he could, barely stopping a stumble right back to the ground. Mud caked the front of his shirt. He couldn't care less.

  "Don't stop," Leslie said, dragging him along. "At least get back to the car. Come on, Paul. You can do it."

  She wasn't slowing down. When it came to Outbreaks, better him than her.

  "Oh, Kenna. It looks like things are running smoothly after all."

  That awful voice filled Paul's head and jarred him out of the coming Outbreak. He turned as much as the girls would let him, trying not to look directly into the green light.

  Andrina stood now, wobbly, a silhouette against the green. Kenna faced her, back to Paul, clenching her fists and staring down the light. But no lava returned. The gateway had destroyed the volcano she'd made. At the very least, it had stopped it for now.

  "Kenna! Get out of there!" Sophia yelled. Her voice rang loud in Paul's ear. "Jan--"

  Sophia put her hand over her mouth, but it was too late. Andrina looked up--

  * * * * *

  --and her swirling eyes met Sophia's.

  Sophia let go of Paul's arm. He fell into Leslie, sending them both falling to the side.

  She shouldn't have come.

  Shouldn't have opened her big mouth.

  Andrina stiffened. "You!"

  All the rain and wind turned and blasted right into her face, blinding her, separating her from the world. She came off her feet and flew back. She landed and underbrush swallowed her. Leaves slapped at her face. Steam rushed over her as if trying to escape. A dull pain made its way through the shock and rolled up her spine.

  Someone called her name from a million miles away. Plants thrashed and bent aside as someone approached.

  "Kenna might have thrown my daughter in, but that doesn't mean I'm going to forget what you tried to do." The goddess peered right into her soul from above. She grabbed the front of Sophia's shirt. Forced her to her feet. "So do you know what? I'm going to use you as a fitting sacrifice, also. Two in one, so they say. The gods will be more than happy to let me have Janelle back."

  Sophia searched for any trace of Hyrokkin, any sensation of that cold that let her know she was there. You got us into this mess. Now what?

  Nothing.

  The demon had abandoned her.

  Andrina pulled her higher into the air. A fist of wind punched her in the face, sucking the air out of her lungs. Rain beat at her eyes, forcing h
er to close her eyes. When she managed to open them again, the rain was flying in the opposite direction…but only because they had turned. The ground moved underneath. The green glow intensified as the shadows under the goddess's eyes grew deeper.

  Andrina was carrying her closer to the gateway.

  "No!" Sophia thrashed in her grip. "Janelle's not in there. Throwing me in won't do a thing. Did it ever occur to you that Kenna might have been lying?" She kicked. Scraped a leg. It didn't matter now if the truth came out. Andrina was where they wanted her. "You've got to--"

  A tall figure crowned with a headdress appeared from the rain. He took Andrina's shirt so hard that her grip loosened on Sophia and she went crashing to the ground.

  Huracan.

  And behind him, Janelle.

  Andrina gasped. It was her turn to thrash now. Huracan held her high in the air by the throat, slamming her against a nearby tree. The wind died enough for Sophia to stand.

  The goddess gasped, her eyes searching. Her gaze landed on Janelle and comprehension came over her features.

  "Jan--" she started, choking. "You're…you're back," she managed, going limp. "I knew it would work, Janelle."

  Huracan said something, pulling her away from the tree and towards the green fire.

  * * * * *

  Here she was in the flesh, the nightmare Janelle had only imagined since Mobley. In Huracan's grip and taking the trip to Xibalba. If Andrina knew where she was going, she didn't show it. She hung there, smiling as Huracan carried her closer to the green light.