“No, you’ve got to stay here. The godborns need training,” I said. “And someone has to be in charge in case Zotz and Ixkik’…” My voice trailed off, but Hondo got my meaning. He was already frowning and nodding.
Deep down, I was hoping really hard that our enemies would never make it to Xib’alb’a. That they would never reach the Tree’s roots. Yeah, I know. It was wishful thinking.
Hondo squeezed my shoulder. “If you don’t haul butt back here right after your dance with time, I will hunt you down.”
“Haul butt,” I repeated. “Got it. And you’ll be okay? You’ll…?” I hesitated, practically choking on the words. I didn’t know what else to say. You’ll keep everyone safe? Stop Zotz and Ixkik’ from invading? It was too tall an order even for a ride-or-die uncle with a magical warrior mask and a tough nawal at his side.
“I got this,” he said. He released his grip, and we continued walking toward the temple. “How will you find this Cave of Crystals?”
“We’re going to ask Saás.”
By the time we arrived at the library, Brooks, Ren, Marco, and Louie were already there. Louie was sitting cross-legged on top of a table, reading a thick book entitled Things You Didn’t Know Could Kill You but Can.
Alana and Adrik came in behind us. Alana clapped to get our attention and announced, “I have something to tell you guys.”
“As long as it isn’t more bad news,” Marco grumbled.
“Remember when I said I was seeing blurry spots?” Alana asked.
We all nodded. Rosie’s ears perked up.
“Well, I kind of walked into one of them.”
“Walked into one?” Marco snorted.
“The blurry areas are gateways!” Adrik practically shouted.
I thought about what Ik had told me back in Hell’s Kitchen. They’re all around us. I twisted my hands around Fuego. “You can see all the gateways?”
“I don’t know about all.” Alana’s eyes darted from face to face before landing back on mine. “They look like blurry pockets of air. There’s one in this room.”
“Where?” Hondo asked.
She pointed to the center of the room, near where Saás slowly revolved.
“Whoa!” Ren breathed. “That’s amazing. You’re amazing.”
Alana’s face flushed with pleasure and she said, “Shadows and time are way cooler.”
“But how do you know where the gateway goes?” I asked, more concerned with the logistics.
“Yeah,” Brooks said. “We could end up in—”
“Saigon or Turku,” Louie cut in.
Turku?
Marco traced a swirl in the table’s wood with his finger as he eyed the room suspiciously. “I don’t see anything.”
“Doesn’t mean it isn’t there.” Adrik’s words rushed out. “Tell them the rest, Alana.”
“Do I need to sit down for this?” Hondo asked.
Twisting her pinkie, Alana went on. “I sort of wasn’t paying attention, because I was mad, and, well, I walked into one of these blurry spots. I ended up”—she took a breath—“on the other side of SHIHOM, near a lake. At first, every portal I found took me somewhere here on the grounds. Then I went through one that led somewhere else.”
I thought about what Ik had told me back in Hell’s Kitchen—how you can’t just fall into a gateway. Everything has to align just right. Something about angles, rising planets, and I think it was unflossed teeth. “How?” I asked. “Where?”
“After I went through a few, I got used to it,” Alana said almost shyly. “I tried again, this time thinking of home.”
“I went with her to our house,” Adrik said. “It was wild!” He let out a controlled breath. “Wicked Witch was downstairs humming a tune like she didn’t give a lick that we were gone. I messed up her bed and tossed some of her stuff around so she’d think she was being haunted. Ha! It was sick!”
“Witch?” Louie slammed his book closed. A few snow flurries tumbled down from the open roof. “Sorry,” he said, stopping the flakes immediately.
Brooks drew closer to Alana. “But how did you guys get back here?”
“We just came back the way we went,” Alana said like she was telling us how to ride a bike.
“But gateways always close after you use them,” Ren said.
“Mine stay open, I guess,” Alana said with a shrug.
My thoughts came to a stuttering halt. “Hang on,” I said. “Are you telling me—”
“She can control gateways,” Adrik said, before turning to his sister. “See? You never believe me! I told you your gift would show up.” He held his hand out, palm up. “You owe me some dinero! Twenty bucks.”
“Define control.” Hondo looked suspicious.
Rosie wagged her nub tail and panted like she was saying Let’s go, let’s go!
Had I been wrong? Was Alana the one with the greater powers? Controlling gateways sure seemed bigger and better than dream walking…. A ball of heat expanded in my chest, making it hard to breathe.
“You’re like a walking Google Maps?” Marco scratched at his scar. “You can just tell the gateway where you want to go?”
Alana shrugged again.
It made perfect sense that she would get this gift from Ixtab, who had once escorted the dead to the afterlife and so needed lots of gateways.
Brooks’s eyes met mine, and in that second, I knew the question she was about to ask. “You said you can control gateways, but can you actually—”
“Conjure them?” Ren finished. “Because that would be so cool. We could conjure one to shove all the Maya gods through.” She threw her hands out to illustrate.
As if anything were that simple.
“Unless they’ve already been devoured,” Marco muttered, still tracing his finger across the wood table. I swear he was Brooks’s long-lost fatalistic hermano.
“Don’t even say that!” Ren warned.
“Alana is still figuring out how to use the gateways,” Adrik said, “so don’t expect too much.” He leaned toward her. “Right?”
Hondo clapped three times. “Focus, godborns. Right now, some of us need to get to K’iin.” He glanced at Alana. “You think you can open a doorway to this Cave of Crystals from Ren’s alien dream?”
“Crystal alien what?” I could tell Marco was on the verge of mad-scientist laughter. Like one more word about magic or other unexplainable events was going to make him snap.
“I don’t know…” Alana said nervously. “I don’t know where that is.”
“That’s what we’re here to ask Saás.” I pointed to the globe.
Ren asked the glowing orb to tell us the exact location of the cave.
And you know what Saás said? Actually, I can’t repeat it. Whoever programmed her either had their head in the gutter or was in a super-bad mood at the time.
I bet it was Ixtab.
Anyhow, I had to pull the dragon power card again. (Hey, access to knowledge in the temple meant all knowledge, including Saás’s.) When I insisted that she answer, the globe finally said in a bitter tone, “What you seek cannot be accessed.”
“What do you mean?” My voice echoed across the chamber.
“I wasn’t done!” Saás snapped. “La Cueva de los Cristales is part of a hostile environment in Chihuahua, Mexico. It’s a horseshoe-shaped cavity connected to the Naica Mine. Without proper protection, one can only last ten minutes and thirty-two seconds there. Godborns might last an extra two minutes.”
“What do you mean, ‘protection’?” Brooks asked.
“The cave is a magma chamber,” Saás said. “That’s an oven to you. Its air temperature can reach one hundred and thirty-six degrees with ninety to ninety-nine percent humidity. But there is a greater problem.”
“Greater than being cooked to death?” Marco snorted.
“The cave is currently flooded,” Saás said. “A watery world of ninety-nine percent certain death.”
My heart sank. I felt like every step forward jerked us t
wo hundred steps back.
“There has to be another way in,” Alana said. “A back door?”
“No back door,” Saás said. “But there is an air pocket—an area precisely seven feet two inches by eight feet three inches. Should I begin writing your obituaries?”
Marco picked up Louie’s book, white-knuckling it like he might launch it at the globe.
“Hold up!” I said. “Are you saying we have to nail the landing exactly?”
“That is correct, if you are stupid enough to go there. Would you like me to compute your chances of success?”
Alana’s face drained of all color. Adrik put his arm around her shoulder and squeezed.
“We have to go there,” Ren said to Saás, frowning. “Give us the exact coordinates.” Sometimes I forgot that in Ren’s previous life she ran a blog for alien sightings and spent most of her time mapping clues and trying to prove aliens were real. She was well versed in the impossible.
Saás rattled off the coordinates. “There. I’ve practically drawn you a map! Good-bye.”
“Wait!” Brooks hollered, but Saás had already shut down.
We all stood in silence. If our minds could’ve talked aloud, the library would’ve been buzzing with chaotic, terrified noise.
“Hey, Louie,” I said as an idea slowly took root.
“Why are you looking at me like that?” He started backing up.
“You think you can create another snowstorm?”
He hesitated before the full meaning of my words hit him. Then he shook his head vigorously. “No. I am not going cave-diving only to be cooked to death! I do not do quests. I already told you.”
Brooks inched closer to him and said, in the gentlest voice I’d ever heard her use, “We need you to be brave, Louie. Please. You’re the only godborn who can help us survive the cave. You wouldn’t want any of us to die of heatstroke, would you?”
“It’s just a calendar,” Hondo added. “What’s it going to do? Paper-cut you to death?”
“A calendar that wants blood!” Louie argued. He rubbed his cheek. “That bat god really freaked me out last time.”
“He’s more likely to come here,” Itzamna said.
We all spun to see the moon god standing behind us.
No one had a chance to ask the awful question How do you know? before Itzamna dropped the devastating bomb: “Our enemies have infiltrated the underworld. More than half of Ixtab’s army has joined Camazotz—the other half are being held for execution. Demons are climbing up the roots of the World Tree as we speak.”
Louie collapsed into a chair and let his head drop onto his folded arms. Snow began to fall more heavily.
“Traitors,” Ren hissed.
Alana and Adrik scowled, and I wasn’t sure if they were confused, scared, or angry that their mom’s world was now under attack.
Itzamna shook his head sadly, staring down at the sunglasses in his grasp. “We have three days, tops.”
“We’ll help!” I cried before I’d even had the chance to weigh our options. Did we even have any? Stay and fight a battle we were sure to lose, or try to find K’iin in a watery death trap.
Brooks’s dark wings emerged, extending at least seven feet. We all ducked as she began to pace frantically.
Marco said, “We need to split up. Zane—you, Ren, Alana, and Louie go find the calendar.”
Louie’s eyes bugged out and his face went sickly green.
Marco continued. “Hondo, Brooks, and I will stay and—”
“No one is staying!” Itzamna’s voice hit a low baritone note that made the walls tremble. “Everyone must evacuate. We cannot risk the godborns.”
“Evacuate?” Hondo balled his fists. “So, basically, you want us to run?”
“No,” the god said. “I want you to protect the power of the godborns, while I try to protect my home. End of story.”
In that moment, I saw that Itzamna had changed. He was no longer the lighthearted give-me-a-great-story god. But I guess fear can make you do and say things you normally never would.
Ren shook her head, pressing her lips together. I could tell she was trying to think of a way out of this.
Itzamna said, “I also received a message from the Sparkstriker.”
More messages? Please, please, please let this one be good, I thought.
“The enemy took one of the Sparkstriker’s top spies.” The god’s eyes flicked to Brooks. “They have Quinn.”
Brooks sucked in a sharp breath. “No! How?”
Hondo’s eyes flashed with hot anger, and I thought he might clock the god just for delivering the awful news.
“What do we do?” Brooks cried, flapping her wings. “I can’t let her get hurt…” Then her voice trailed off as her eyes popped wide. “The hero twins,” she whispered.
“What about those jerks?” Hondo spat.
“Don’t you see?” Brooks said. “Jordan would never hurt Quinn.” Her words flew out like they were trying to keep pace with her racing thoughts. “And he wouldn’t let his mom do it, either. They’re just trying to bait us.” She paced faster. “Quinn trained me to be smart and anticipate the enemy’s next moves. If they had wanted to kill Quinn, they would have done it already. They haven’t killed the gods yet, either, and that tells me…” Her hands went up to her mouth.
“What?” I asked.
Brooks paused for a heartbeat. “They don’t have access to the gods,” she whispered.
“How could they not have access to their own prisoners?” Marco asked.
“You think they hid them so good they can’t find them anymore?” Louie scratched his head anxiously.
“Or you’re wrong and they did kill them,” Adrik said.
Alana socked him in the arm. He rubbed the spot tenderly as Itzamna said, “The Tree’s lights would have gone dark if the gods were dead.”
“Then we stick to the plan,” I said. “Figure out what K’iin can tell us.”
At the same moment, the ground shook violently and the stone floor split down the middle with an earsplitting craccckkk!
Horrible howls and wails rose up from below.
Fire erupted in my gut, telling me we had to leave, and we had to leave now.
“The demons are getting closer,” Itzamna cried. “The scent of godborn blood is feeding their frenzy. If you leave, it will slow them down. And buy me time.”
Hondo clenched his jaw and stared at me like he was looking for an answer or approval. “Go,” I said. “Take the godborns—”
“To Montana,” Adrik cut in.
“It’s a hideaway our dad made,” Alana explained. “The godborns will be safe there, at least for a while. You can tell them it’s part of their training so no one freaks out.” Her eyes searched mine, and I found myself nodding as the fire inside me calmed, telling me to trust her.
Ren took hold of my arm and said telepathically, Zane, we can do this. But we have to hurry.
The remains of the ceiling trembled dangerously, like one breath could make it fall.
There was no time to ask any more questions. “Hondo, Brooks, Rosie, and Marco, start rounding up the rest of the godborns. Get them to”—I glanced at Adrik, hoping I could rely on him—“Montana.”
Rosie shifted her legs like she was ready to bolt.
“I’ll open the gateway as soon as you have collected everyone,” Itzamna said to Brooks. “But you will have mere seconds to get through before the demons sense there’s an opening.”
“Stay safe, Diablo,” my uncle said to me.
Brooks only nodded. Her eyes met mine and held my gaze for an eternity of two seconds that seemed to say You better not die. Then she was gone along with the others.
The demons’ howling erupted from the cracked floor again, and man, I wanted to torch the place. But it wouldn’t do us any good. The monsters would come through, and we wouldn’t be any closer to K’iin.
Itzamna placed his sunglasses in my hands. “Use these to communicate with me. Find K’iin. Get
the answers we need, and do it soon!”
I took the shades, figuring he was too weak to communicate by any other method.
Itzamna added, “Alana, I can only open a gateway for one group, I’m afraid, which means you will have to go with Zane and the others. We need your magic to get them to the cave. But you must be fast. Do you understand?”
The twins exchanged glances, and then Alana nodded. “I got this,” she said before she walked up to the “blurry spot” none of the rest of us could see. Despite her confident words, she looked unsure, sick, or terrified. I wasn’t sure which.
I hung the sunglasses on my collar as Ren, Louie, and I followed Alana.
She extended her hands, cleared her throat, closed her eyes, and pinched her eyebrows together in concentration as Ren repeated the coordinates. Nothing happened.
Louie chewed on his thumbnail. “Think cold,” he said. “It might help me make a storm. And whatever you do, don’t think of monsters.”
Alana whirled on him. “Gahh! Now I’m going to think it!”
“Ren,” I whispered, “do you remember the cliff in Mexico with Ah-Puch?”
“When we combined our powers?” She pursed her lips together, nodding. “But that only works if you’ve been where you’re trying to go. And also, Ah-Puch said it was a secret.”
A secret tied to a threat: If you ever tell anyone I showed it to you, Ah-Puch had said to us, I will rip out your spines and send you spiraling into the darkest depths of Xib’alb’a.
“Yeah,” I said to Ren. “Except this is an extreme emergency, and we…uh…don’t have to tell him.”
“What are you guys talking about?” Alana said. “And why are you talking?”
“We’re going to jump-start you, but you have to swear never to tell anyone we did this,” I said. After the others promised not to betray my confidence, I placed my hand on Alana’s shoulder, and Ren did the same on the other side. Louie followed our lead and took Ren’s hand. Like before, a deep buzzing began in my feet. It snaked up my legs, spreading into my torso.
“Focus, Alana,” I whispered.
I feel something, she said telepathically.
Connect to it, Ren said to Alana. Don’t be afraid.
The magnetic pull was getting stronger. And stronger.
The Shadow Crosser Page 17