Brooks looked like she was trying to find a teaspoon of patience in this flood of chaos.
“The stone’s from Ixtab?” Hondo’s pacing came to a halt. “Not Ix-tub-tun?”
“We don’t know where Ixtab got it,” Adrik said. “We didn’t even know she was…” He took a shaky breath. “Come on, man. Our dad didn’t exactly say, ‘Hey, your mom is the goddess of the underworld’ like it was some bedtime story.”
Alana added, “He just said that our mom gave it to him. That it was a way for him to see her in case of an emergency. But he didn’t know how to use it, exactly. We thought we would come here and get answers, talk to someone in the know.”
That made sense. Ixtab was all about emergency measures—like the gateway to the underworld she had created for me but never gave me instructions for.
Adrik’s eyes went wide and he collapsed into a chair.
“What’s wrong?” Alana rushed over.
“I…I had a dream last night,” Adrik said.
“Are you being melodramatic again?” Alana narrowed her eyes, studying her brother.
“I thought we were talking about the stone?” Brooks whispered to me.
“I had forgotten the dream until now, when we started talking about Ixtab,” Adrik said. “Then it just popped into my head.”
“What happened in it?” Ren asked.
“It was right before Zane dragged me into his dream,” Adrik went on. “I was on a huge lumpy sofa that practically swallowed me up, and this bird-size butterfly swooped in from nowhere. It started talking to me…. It might have been Ixtab.” He shook his head.
“What did she say?” I asked.
“She wasn’t super clear,” he said. “I mean, she was a giant butterfly, and her voice was kind of far away, but I’m pretty sure she said that the stone has a name.” Adrik looked up. “She called it an entry stone. It opens places…places protected by the greatest power and magic anywhere.”
Ren’s hand flew up to her mouth. “Of course! Ixkik’ and Zotz want to break through the magic that surrounds SHIHOM!”
“To murder us while we sleep!” Brooks cried. “This place is protected, Zane! Like the island. If they got access…” Her voice trailed off as she pondered the horrors.
It seemed like an excellent guess, and even had high probability. But there was one problem: the fire deep inside me simmered, telling me that murdering us in our sleep wasn’t part of the plan. There was something bigger—something we weren’t seeing. But what?
“No,” Hondo said, shaking his head. “Ixkik’ definitely wants to murder us with our eyes wide open. She practically said so.”
“Why didn’t Dad warn us?” Alana looked stricken.
“Maybe he wasn’t up to speed on everything,” Adrik said.
I scratched Rosie’s neck as I tried to wrap my head around everything, but she seemed agitated and kept ducking my hand.
Brooks said, “Maybe Ixtab gave the stone some other powers we don’t even know about.”
Alana rolled her eyes and snorted.
“What’s wrong?” Ren asked.
“Sure,” Alana said like she was talking to herself, “give a stone some powers, but forget about your daughter.”
“No one forgot,” Adrik said. “It’s just dormant, is all.”
“Dormant?” Brooks raised her eyebrows. “What does that mean?”
Alana scanned our faces. “It means…” Her mouth trembled, and I thought she might start crying, but she held it together. “If I have any power at all, it’s hiding or sleeping or whatever.”
Adrik said, “It’s going to show up, Alana.”
Alana twisted her mouth nervously. “The Sparkstriker said it might never show up, and now my vision has…”
“Has what?” I stepped closer, gripping Fuego tightly.
Alana tipped back her head. “It’s gotten worse since the ceremony.”
“Like more sensitive to light?” Ren asked.
“Like blurrier,” she said.
“She even thought she had a brain tumor,” Adrik said, snickering.
Alana shot him a glare that could kill.
“It’s true,” he muttered.
Just then the biblioteca walls began to tremble, and the domed ceiling split open with a thunderous crack.
We all whipped our heads up to look. Rosie lunged in front of us, baring fangs of fire.
A god with shiny black hair stood on the edge of the hole, wearing his signature aviator shades and sparkling blue robe.
“Itzamna!” I said. “What are you doing here?”
“Really, Zane. You need to pay more attention to the story unfolding right in front of you!”
Itzamna floated down from the ceiling, his robe billowing behind him. The guy really knew how to make an entrance.
Under her breath, Brooks told Adrik and Alana that Itzamna was the moon god, bringer of writing and culture, and father to the Bakabs, who hold up the sky.
And giver of dragon power, I thought, but this wasn’t the time or place for that talk.
“He does sort of look like the moon,” Alana whispered.
When Itzamna stood in front of me, his mirrored lenses reflected all of our stunned faces.
“What…what are you doing here?” I asked again.
Before he could answer, Rosie threw back her head and let out a mournful howl. Waves of fire blasted from her mouth toward the open roof.
“Rosie!” I tried to grab hold of her, but it was like she was possessed.
Itzamna placed a trembling hand on her head, immediately quieting my dog. “At least some of my power still works,” he muttered. “Quite the hellhound, Zane. Good for you—all heroes need a partner. Makes for a richer story. Ah, but that’s not why I’m here.”
Like the first time I met him, his voice hit musical notes that were both relaxing and haunting. Slowly, he removed his glasses. His eyes and the circles underneath them were blacker than an underground tomb. “How do I look? You can be honest. Awful? On a scale of one to ten, one being a corpse.”
Brooks half snorted/half grunted. I could only imagine what was going through her head. This guy is so full of himself. And Rosie isn’t Zane’s only partner.
“Maybe a five,” Alana said. Adrik shook his head in disagreement, but I was glad he didn’t say anything stupid to anger the god.
Ren smiled, practically bouncing in place. “You’re the god who can see the whole universe, so that means you’d know if there is alien life, right?”
Hondo groaned, palm-smacking his forehead.
Itzamna studied Ren like she was an alien herself. “I do not divulge secrets of the universe. Certainly not to non-gods.”
“Why not?” Ren asked, but Itzamna ignored her.
“I am here with news of the gods,” he said. “Dreadful on the one hand, expected on the other. But the universe is master of her own destiny, and it is not my job to interfere or be attached.” His chin quivered like he didn’t believe his own words. What was his deal? “That’s my most-often-used line. Is it believable?”
Ignoring his question, I argued, “But you do interfere. You got into my head in Hell’s Kitchen. You helped me.”
Itzamna nodded. “True. I did indeed assist you in not dying. We couldn’t have the story end so soon, could we?”
I groaned inwardly. What was with this guy and cuentos?
“I am only here to give you a message loud enough to get your attention, because one”—he held up a single shimmering finger—“it will determine what you do next. Two, it will heighten the stakes. And three—and this is perhaps the most important…” His face contorted into a silent wail and he collapsed into a chair, gripping his chest and sucking in gulps of air. “I cannot…keep up…this facade…of strength.”
Ren hurried over and fanned him with her hands. “Make fists,” she said. “Deep breaths.”
Alana jumped into first aid mode, too. “Count backward from one hundred. Breathe nice and slow. That’s it. You’re
just having a panic attack. It will pass.”
“Gods have panic attacks?” Hondo muttered to me. Then to the freaked-out god he said, “Hey, dude—you need some water or something?”
Itzamna inhaled through his nose and exhaled through his mouth, wiping his brow with his sleeve. “I do apologize for my inappropriate outburst—it’s just that…well, the fourth thing is that I don’t want to be worthless. I don’t want to be forgotten.” He dropped his head into his hands as Ren patted him on the back and Alana told him to keep breathing.
Rosie snorted and stomped her front paw like she couldn’t believe the great god Itzamna was acting like a…human.
Brooks gripped my arm from behind. This is so not going to be good.
“What’s your news?” I asked Itzamna, knowing I was going to hate the answer 100 percent. And knowing that if it sent the god further into a panic attack, we might all end up in a tailspin of terror.
At that exact moment, the walls grew hazy, then vanished altogether. We found ourselves standing on the shore of a crystal-clear lake. On the other side, a magnificent tree sparkled in the sun.
“Whoa!” Adrik said, his mouth hanging open. “That’s sick! How’d you do that?”
“Is that the World Tree?” Ren asked, stepping closer to the water’s edge.
“It’s huge,” Hondo said, craning his neck to see where the Tree stretched beyond a thin veil of pinkish-gray clouds.
“I tried to fly over there yesterday,” Brooks admitted, “to get a better look, but I kept butting up against some kind of invisible wall.”
“A protective measure,” Itzamna said. “There is more magic surrounding that Tree of Life than there is in all the gods’ blood.”
“Wait,” I said, my eyes still on the tree that looked like a painting. “The lights—they look dimmer than they did yesterday.”
“Why are they flickering like that?” Alana asked.
Itzamna pushed his glasses up his long nose. “The lights are flickering because the Maya gods are gone.”
“Yeah,” Adrik said. “They left last night for their meeting.”
“Not gone from here,” Itzamna sputtered, starting to hyperventilate again. “Gone from awareness, wakefulness, consciousness. Zotz and Ixkik’ have taken them.”
“How?!” The heat inside me charged to the surface and small flames erupted across my knuckles. “What does that mean?”
Hondo drew closer, as if he needed a front-row seat to make sure he had heard the moon god right. The muscle in his jaw twitched as he spoke slowly. “Gone from their consciousness, or ours?”
An umbrella-like shadow appeared, hovering over Ren protectively. Thankfully, it didn’t grow a face. Or fangs and claws. “Pacific’s gone?” she whispered, twisting her gold watch in circles around her wrist.
Alana covered a gasp trying to exit her mouth.
“All the gods…” said Itzamna. “Except me, of course.”
“Each light represents a god,” I said, remembering what my dad had told me. I felt sick to my stomach. And not just because the gods were out of play, but because whatever Zotz and Blood Moon’s plans were, they were winning. By a long shot.
“You’re saying they’re asleep somewhere? Were they, like, knocked out or something?” Brooks asked with a defiant tone. “No way could anyone do that to the mighty Kukuulkaan. No way.”
“How the heck do you knock out a god?” Adrik muttered.
“Please do not waste time arguing a useless point,” Itzamna said. “We must talk about me. How to save my legacy. My beloved tree!”
“Then find the gods,” Adrik demanded. “Bring them back.”
“I can’t.” Itzamna sighed. “I’m not the one who took them.”
“Zotz and Ixkik’ did it!” I said.
“They don’t have the power to enslumber the gods,” Itzamna said. Enslumber? Is that even a word?
My thoughts spiraled. Zotz and Ixkik’ never did the expected or obvious. Was this what the Red Queen had meant when she’d said that they were five steps ahead? Five. Steps. Ahead. Those three words rang out in my head on repeat.
Five. Zotz and Ixkik’ killed Akan.
Steps. They are conniving plotters.
Ahead. Something so unexpected it will have your head spinning.
“Crap!” I shouted.
All eyes fixed on me. A low growl erupted from Rosie’s throat as she pawed my shoulder, practically knocking me over.
“Akan’s death was a setup!” I spoke forcefully. “They didn’t kill him to raise an army—they did it to raise some Mexica god with the power to put the Maya gods to sleep.” I hated to admit it, but the plan was ingenious.
Brooks paced as massive black wings sprouted from her back. “But what if it’s even more than that?”
“What do you mean, more?” Alana asked.
“Zotz knew that if he killed Akan,” Brooks said, “the gods would call an emergency meeting.”
“Yes,” Itzamna said matter-of-factly. “That is protocol.”
“And Zotz was waiting,” Ren added with a shudder.
“Surprise attack,” Hondo said.
“It was an ambush,” Adrik said.
“Plot twist!” Itzamna said as he stood and swept his robe behind him. “How did I not see this coming?” His brows creased together tightly, pushing his glasses down his nose. “I let myself get distracted with SHIHOM, with you godborns, that’s how.”
A sudden hush fell over the room. Brooks’s eyes glazed over as she whispered, “The time rope.”
“No one can take it from Pacific,” Itzamna said. “Even while she’s in a deep slumber, her rope would go with her.”
Rosie let out a small whimper, like she was just as relieved as the rest of us that the time rope was safely away from Zotz and Ixkik’.
“Are you sure?” I asked.
Itzamna nodded, but it was Ren who spoke first. “My mom told me that when the gods exiled her, they tried to take the rope, but it was impossible. No one, not even a god, can take what is a part of the time goddess. Not unless she gives it away.”
Ren’s umbrella shadow loomed even bigger as Itzamna began to pace. I was thankful that she had more control over her shadows than she used to.
“I do believe you all are beginning to give shape to this tale,” the god said.
I heard Itzamna’s words, but my brain could barely process them. How had we been so easily duped? How could not one stinking god have seen this?
“Ixkik’ is trying to get into Xib’alb’a,” Itzamna added, “to claim it for herself, which could give her access to the Tree’s roots.” He shook his head woefully. “Thankfully, she cannot penetrate the Tree’s powerful magic.”
We all shot glances at each other. “Unless she has an entry stone,” I said.
The god’s face collapsed inch by inch as we filled him in.
A terrifying idea bloomed in my head. “Are they planning to come back here to finish the job? Kill all the lights?”
“‘Killing the lights,’ as you put it, wouldn’t kill the gods,” Itzamna said. “They want in for another reason.”
“We have to help the gods!” Ren cried.
“Including me,” Itzamna moaned.
“We can call on the giants and other sobrenaturals,” I said, trying to remain cool-headed.
“I tried that,” Itzamna said. “But no one has answered. It’s as if they’re ignoring me. Or maybe I’m just not strong enough.” His eyes flicked to the Tree.
Brooks gasped. “My sister would never ignore…They must be in danger, too.”
“This is seriously messed up.” Hondo’s hands curled into tight fists.
My brain was definitely going to implode. “Or maybe no one heard Itzamna’s calls,” I argued. “We have to stay calm—”
“And deal only in facts,” Ren said, turning to the god. “You can see everything from the top of your Tree. So where are the gods?”
“Where are Zotz and Ixkik’?” I pressed.
Brooks added, “And who’s the rotten sleep god they resurrected?”
Adrik finished with “How do you wake a sleeping god?”
“Such good questions.” Itzamna massaged his temples. “Yes, I can see all of creation from the top of my Tree, but in case you haven’t noticed, the Tree is not fully charged. Do you get my meaning?”
“The Tree isn’t a cell phone.” Hondo’s voice was spiked with real fear. I hated the sound of it.
Itzamna pointed at my uncle. “Great analogy. Give this guy a prize!”
“This isn’t a game,” Brooks said, drawing her wings closer.
“Ah, but in a way, it is.” Itzamna hiked his bushy brows. “All stories are games of great proportion. And, unfortunately for us, Zotz and Ixkik’ are winning.” He took a few more steps. “You must think like them. Be like them.”
“We will never be like them,” I ground out.
Rosie whined and nudged my shoulder with her nose. I patted her, but she kept at it.
Itzamna drew closer. “There isn’t a lot of space between the hero and the villain,” he said. “The villain thinks he or she is the hero of their own tale.”
The thought of Zotz and Ixkik’ and the wicked hero twins being cast as heroes made me sick.
“But you’re a god,” Adrik said. “Why can’t you think like them?”
“Must I keep repeating myself?” Itzamna said with a pained expression, like the words themselves were daggers slicing open his heart. “I…I grow weaker with each passing moment. I need the gods’ power to sustain my own. Don’t you see? Zotz and Ixkik’ have thought of everything. Soon, they will storm Xib’alb’a, and you are merely half gods. You cannot defeat them.”
“Tell us how to fix this!” I growled.
Rosie’s eyes erupted in red flames.
Wringing his hands, Itzamna said, “If they do have this so-called entry stone, then they have access to everywhere.” He rubbed his forehead. “I can use my last reserve of magic to protect the Tree for a while. But it will only buy you two or three days at most.” He blew out a long breath. “And even if you somehow succeeded in locating the gods,” he added, “you would not have sufficient power to wake them.”
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