by David Bowles
The queen opened a door, and everyone emerged onto the roof of the tower.
Ivan drew a sharp breath, startled. Chairs were arranged in a circle all around the edge. Sitting in most of them were dozens of children with their eyes closed.
Metal caps were strapped to their heads, and hazy beams of energy flowed from them straight into the gray sky above.
Chapter
7
Avian Allies
“Oh, look at the tears in your eyes,” the queen said mockingly. “Boo-hoo! Don’t worry. They don’t feel a thing. They’re just dreaming. Forever.”
“Shall we find them a seat?” Tunk asked.
The queen nodded. “Yes. Let’s make them comfortable. With their clever imaginations, I can expand 13th Street even farther!”
As Tunk guided him toward an empty seat, Ivan glanced over the low wall. Below, on the other side of the tower, a bridge stretched out over the lake. On the far shore, there was just a swirling gray mist and a huge black gate, locked with chains and guarded by Snatch Bats.
One of the cackling cougars pushed Susana down onto a chair. Another was about to do the same to Malia when . . .
WHOOP WHOOP
WHOOSH!
A half dozen screech owls came flying up from below, shooting freeze rays at the mummies and cougars!
PEW! PEW! ZAP! ZAP!
“Traitors!” screamed the queen.
Tunk grabbed Ivan around the waist and launched into the air. “Hold on!” he cried.
Two more owls took Mickey by the arms and flew off with him, too.
“Oh, no, you don’t!” shouted the queen. “Fall down, cham-SAR!”
ERRRR THUD!
Mickey and his rescuers dropped from the sky, landing on the roof.
The queen yanked Dante up and shoved him into the empty chair next to Susana. “You’re not going anywhere.”
She whirled around to find Malia.
“You’re next!” the queen cackled.
“Wrong!” she shouted.
Ivan gasped as Malia ran toward the edge of the roof and jumped.
Chapter
8
Signal from the Sky
Ivan couldn’t understand how his cousin could take such a chance. It was a literal leap of faith!
But sure enough: one of Tunk’s fellow owls caught Malia on its back, beating the air with its wings and lifting her to safety.
For now, at least.
On the rooftop, the queen turned to Susana and Dante. Smiling cruelly, she strapped the bronze caps onto the children’s heads.
“No!” shouted Ivan.
“Let them go!” screamed Malia.
Ivan couldn’t hear the words the queen whispered into their ears, but Dante and Susana closed their eyes at once.
And bright beams shot from their heads into the gray sky above.
Their imaginations, Ivan realized. She was draining their dreams.
“Come on, icy eyes!” Malia demanded. “Zap her!”
“We can’t,” her rescuer said. “Our freeze rays do not work on the queen.”
“We have to help,” Ivan pleaded with Tunk. “Please.”
“The only way to save them is by carrying out the Quiet Prince’s plan,” the owl replied. “His chanek allies attack and you rescue the children while she’s distracted.”
The Queen of Bones turned to Mickey, who lay at her feet. The fall had knocked him out.
“Malia!” Ivan called to his cousin. “How was Mickey going to signal the chaneks?”
Anger drained from her face, replaced by hope.
Closing her eyes, Malia shouted with all the strength she had:
“Protect us, Shi-YA-na!”
Chapter
9
The Fowls Follow!
“Attack!” screamed the queen.
A black cloud of predator birds burst from the Red Tower. Tunk and his half dozen allies turned tail and flew as fast as they could, carrying Ivan and Malia toward the bridge.
Would the chaneks get here soon enough?
Cold blue beams streaked through the air around them. Tunk did a barrel roll to avoid getting hit. Ivan’s stomach flopped. He almost threw up the cheese enchiladas Aunt Lucy had fed them for lunch.
Close by, Malia’s owl was also diving and spinning.
“Ahhh!” shouted Malia. “I really don’t like this!”
“Listen, Ivan,” Tunk said to him. “We can’t cross the water. The queen doesn’t trust us. But if you and Malia can open that gate, she will lose her power. Thirteenth Street will be no more.”
“I don’t understand,” Ivan said.
“There are four roads into the Underworld,” the owl explained.
Ivan remembered this from his research. “Oh! Black, white, red, and green.”
“Exactly,” Tunk said. “And 13th Street is the Black Road, Ivan. The queen used Micqui to seal it off. She transformed it with his imagination and shut it away.”
In a flash, Ivan understood. “On the other side of that gate is the rest of the Underworld!”
“And so is its true leader, Lady Blood, older sister of that noisy creature back there,” Tunk added. “If you open the gate for her, she will end this illusion at last and free all the children.”
Chapter
10
Binoculars on the Bridge
After a few more seconds of dodging freeze rays, the good owls set Ivan and Malia down on the bridge. Then they flew back up and returned to battle. Ivan told Malia what Tunk had said to him about the gate.
“Have you seen all the bad-breath bats flying around it?” Malia asked.
“The queen’s sister is on the other side,” Ivan explained. “Tunk swears if we open the gate, she’ll fix everything.”
“Then let’s go for it!” Malia said.
They ran up the bridge, stopping once they were above the water. Malia turned and looked back at the Red Tower. Blue lightning was crackling all around its top.
“Oh no! What’s happening to Dante and Susana? Is Mickey okay?” Malia cried.
Ivan yanked his backpack off his back and started rummaging around. He pulled out a pair of binoculars and focused on the tower.
“The queen is using her dark-side lightning powers to lift Mickey into the air,” he said, trying not to be scared.
Malia’s face went pale. “What about the others?”
“They’re just sitting there, asleep. Wait!” Ivan fiddled with the focus knob. “Dante just opened his eyes a little! He’s . . . he’s . . . reaching out to Susana! He just grabbed her hand!”
Malia seemed confused. “Wait, what?”
“Susana opened her eyes, too! And now . . . wow!” Ivan couldn’t believe what he was seeing. “Their imagination streams . . . are combining!”
“Those two weirdos have the biggest imaginations I know,” Malia said. “That dumb queen doesn’t know what she’s gotten herself into!”
Ivan pumped his fist in the air. “Yes! Their stream is bending toward the queen! She has no idea what’s happening!”
Then he began to scan the lake and something else came into view. “Malia! It’s the skull ship. The chaneks are coming!”
Chapter
11
Chaneks and a Choice
Ivan watched through the binoculars as the Queen of Bones shrieked in anger. The chaneks got off their ship and started flinging vines. As the little green elves climbed up the tower and over the stone wall, she looked right at Ivan.
“Guards!” she shouted. “To the bridge!”
A flood of cougars came rushing out of the tower.
“What are we waiting for?” Malia pulled off her backpack and took out her water gun. It was full of mouthwash.
Ivan rubbed a hand over his face. “What if it’s a trick? Maybe Tunk’s lying. Or maybe Lady Blood is bad, too.”
Malia put her hand on his shoulder. “You’re thinking too much, primo.”
“But if I can’t think, how can I make sure this
will work?” Ivan asked.
Malia smiled. “Nothing is certain. Not in Nopalitos, or here on 13th Street. But we have each other’s backs, Ivan. That’s what matters.”
Ivan grinned. His cousin was right.
“Now get out your water gun, and come shrink some stinky bats with me!” Malia said.
Chapter
12
The Black Gate
“Let’s do this,” Ivan said. He took out his own water gun, and the two cousins ran toward the gate.
SCREEEECH!
Snatch Bats flew at them, but the kids squirted mouthwash with perfect aim.
THUD! THUD! THUD!
Bats hit the pebbly ground one after another, shriveling up and twitching.
But before Ivan and Malia could reach the gate, spears started whizzing past them! A group of cackling cougars and Aztec mummies had crossed the bridge and were closing fast.
“Go!” Malia shouted. “I’ll hold them off!”
Instead of asking how, Ivan just kept running.
As he reached the gate, squirting the last couple of bats, he heard Malia shout, “Rise up, SHE-wa!”
Ivan turned and saw the cougars and mummies fly backward through the air and land in the lake. Beyond them, the chaneks had reached the top of the Red Tower. Raising his binoculars, Ivan saw them wrap a vine around Mickey, pulling him away from the Queen of Bones.
The fake queen saw Ivan at the Black Gate and screamed in frustration. Flinging lightning from her fingers, she leaped from the tower and rode a blazing blue bolt right toward him.
Ivan turned toward the gate and lifted his hand. Behind him, the queen’s roar of rage got louder! A strong wind started battering Ivan. Lightning flashed all around him.
Taking a deep breath, Ivan chanced one last glance over his shoulder.
Dante and Susana’s imagination beam had bent completely! It was now pulsing through the air, heading straight for the queen!
Ivan closed his eyes, ignoring the wind and lightning. The trick wasn’t going with his gut, he realized at last.
The trick was having faith in his family and friends. Believing in them. Trusting them.
I choose to believe, he thought deep in his heart. If we stick together, everything will be okay.
Alone in the middle of that chaos, Ivan Eisenberg whispered two words:
“Open, Hebaan.”
CRAAAACK!
The chains shattered!
CREEEEAAAAK!
The gate swung open!
On the other side of it was a desert landscape. A black stone road stretched off into the distance. Standing on the road was a woman, black-eyed and dressed in red.
She looked at Ivan and smiled.
Chapter
13
Freeing Friends
“Well done, Ivan.” The Queen of the Underworld stepped through the gate and laid a gentle hand on his cheek.
She lifted her other hand.
“Enough,” she said quietly.
The sounds of battle stopped. Ivan turned and saw birds landing, guards dropping their weapons, and chaneks kneeling in respect.
Then Ivan couldn’t help but laugh.
The Queen of Bones had been pinned to the ground by Dante and Susana’s imagination beam! As Ivan watched, she transformed into a beach ball, a ballerina, a bottle of bleach, and finally a bawling baby.
“Ah, little sister. That form suits you best.” Lady Blood clapped her hands in delight. “Still, I must ask Dante and Susana to let you go.”
The beam of imagination faded, and the sisters stood face-to-face. Lady Blood was like the noisy one’s mirror twin, with brown skin and black braids instead of bone-white features and hair.
The true queen snapped her fingers, and her sister stood wrapped in chains.
“Off to the dungeon with you,” Lady Blood said. “A few centuries locked away should help you reflect on the harm you have caused.”
WHOOSH!
The Loud Queen disappeared without another peep.
Malia rushed over to Ivan and Lady Blood.
“Please, Your Highness,” the girl begged. “Can you set our cousin and friends and all the other kids free?”
“Of course! And you can help me.” The true queen snapped her fingers again, and they were instantly transported to the top of the Red Tower. “Unstrap those beastly caps from their heads, will you?”
Ivan and Malia hurried from kid to kid.
When they were done, the queen said softly, “Awaken, dear children.”
Susana and Dante were the first to jump from their chairs.
“Dude!” Dante shouted when he saw Ivan. “Did you see what we did?”
Ivan nodded, smiling. “Yup. It was pretty amazing. But, Dante? You’re still holding Susana’s hand.”
Dante laughed. “Who cares? Come on, y’all! Group hug!”
Ivan’s heart swelled with joy as his cousins and their friend squeezed each other tight.
Another set of arms wrapped around them. Ivan looked up.
It was Mickey, a tired grin stretched across his face.
Chapter
14
The Real Road Returns
The other children yawned and rubbed months of sleep from their eyes.
Ivan felt the Queen of the Underworld pull Mickey away.
“One last task,” she said. “You must help me remove your illusion.”
Ivan felt a strange sense of sadness. As spooky and weird as it had been, part of him would miss 13th Street.
Without it, he wouldn’t have learned to have faith. Malia wouldn’t have learned to believe in people and not things. Dante wouldn’t have learned to let go of his vanity and his rivalry with Susana. And the friendship that now bound them all together wouldn’t exist.
Lady Blood leaned her forehead against Mickey’s. A strange glow surrounded them as the Quiet Prince closed his eyes.
WHOOSH!
Ivan felt a wave of energy rush through the gate. It rolled over the Red Tower and headed down the street.
As it passed, it transformed everything! Scary, run-down mansions became glittering temples and pyramids. The gravel and asphalt of 13th Street faded, revealing the dark flagstones of the Black Road.
“It’s beautiful,” Ivan whispered.
When their work was done, Lady Blood nodded at Mickey and the others.
“It is time I sent you home. Yet before I do so, a few of my subjects wish to bid you farewell.”
WHOOSH!
Suddenly standing before the cousins on the rooftop were all their old allies: the ghost girl Yoliya, Omi from the Depot of the Dead, the zombie family, Peki the piko, and Alba the calaca.
Teary-eyed, the cousins hugged their friends and said their goodbyes.
“At least for now, muchachos,” Omi said with a wink.
WHOOSH!
RUFF!
Bruno appeared before Mickey, putting his big ghost paws on his chest.
“You’re such a good boy,” Mickey said. “And I’ll miss you forever. But now it’s time to let you go. Take care of our friends, okay?”
Then the true queen gathered all the children around her, and with a final snap of her fingers, she sent them all home.
Chapter
15
Fireworks, Family, Friends
“Elotes,” Ivan shouted, “quick! Before they notice anything!”
The cousins and their friends hurried back across the darkening beach to the corn on the cob vendor.
Snacks in hand, they rejoined their families just as the first rockets burst into flowery sparks above the water.
“Got what you wanted?” Chabela asked with a mischievous grin.
“Yes, ma’am,” Ivan said, holding up his plain, buttered corn. “No more spooky surprises.”
Dante chewed on his cob, which was covered with chili powder. “Don’t worry, though. I’ll still bring spice to everyone’s life.”
“¡Eso!” exclaimed Aunt Lucy. “Stay spicy.”
&
nbsp; Malia laughed. Her corn was dripping everything: mayo, cream, chili, butter. “Hey, life’s too short not to enjoy the good stuff.”
Susana turned to Mickey. “Tell me again why these weirdos are our friends?”
The older boy rubbed her head. “Simple. They’re the bravest kids we know.”
The children all leaned together, surrounded by family. They looked up in wonder as fireworks blossomed higher and higher, lighting the night sky brighter than the stars.
Activities
THINK
The cousins encounter a lot of birds—both good and bad! Think of a bird you’ve seen and draw it.
FEEL
Ivan doesn’t like surprises, but learns to have faith. How do you feel when you’re surprised by something?
ACT
Everyone eats elotes at the end! Find a video on how to make them and cook some with a grown-up.
About the Author and Illustrator
Photo by Paul Chouy
DAVID BOWLES is the award-winning Mexican American author of many books for young readers. He’s traveled all over Mexico studying creepy legends, exploring ancient ruins, and avoiding monsters (so far). He lives in Donna, Texas.
Courtesy Shane Clester
SHANE CLESTER has been a professional illustrator since 2005, working on comics, storyboards, commercials, and children’s books. Shane lives in Florida with his two kids and his extensive action figure collection.
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Copyright
13TH STREET #6: FIGHT WITH THE FREEZE-RAY FOWLS. Copyright © 2021 by HarperCollins Publishers. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
