An iridescent doorway formed in front of us. Beyond it was a blackness even I couldn’t see through. Shrieks sounded in the distance.
That can’t be good, Louie said.
And just as we stepped into the screaming void, I glanced over my shoulder at Itzamna. He was no longer in god mode. He was now a massive blue dragon soaring through the open ceiling and into the sky.
Unlike all the other times I’d marched, fallen, or been tossed into a shimmering gateway to tumble like a sock in the dryer, this portal was gentle. There were no bone-chilling gusts or vicious whispers. No sharp projectiles or body slams.
We left the library behind us with two steps and were zipped into a darkness blacker than Zotz’s wings on a moonless night.
“Where are we?” Alana spoke between quickened breaths.
“Zane?” Ren said. “Can you see anything?”
“Nothing.”
A distant moan/growl came next.
Louie made an eep sound.
And then we emerged in what looked like a backlit ice cave. Except it wasn’t cold, and I heard the sound of wheels on a track, like a train. The place felt more like a theater stage than the real deal.
“Where the heck—” I began, but my question was swallowed up by a bobsled/car thingy zipping past on the rails a few yards in front of us. Shrieks and laughter filled the air.
“Oh no!” Alana cried. “I brought us to the Matterhorn.”
“At Disneyland?” Ren’s knees nearly buckled before I righted her.
“Those coordinates were for Disneyland?!” A gran sonrisa lit up Louie’s face.
The ride had a tangy metallic smell. Another bobsled zipped by. Okay, I don’t know about you, but when you visit Disneyland for the very first time, you don’t expect it to be through a magical portal when the universe is on the brink of a bat god takeover.
“How did we end up here?” Ren asked. “Did I read the coordinates wrong?”
“Louie said to think cold,” Alana said with a sigh, “and monsters, and…I guess this place sort of popped into my mind, with the abominable snowman, and…Sorry. I got nervous.”
“He said to not think of monsters,” I reminded her.
“This isn’t my fault,” Louie argued. “But super-good choice. Like, way better than meeting up with a dumb calendar.”
Alana’s eyes frantically swept the space. “I blew it. We can go back the way we came, or…Wait! I think”—she started climbing over the rails toward another alcove—“there’s another gateway over here.”
Perfect! Forget getting killed by an evil god. I was going to get crushed by a racing bobsled.
“Hurry.” Ren tugged on my arm. “Before we get arrested by Disney policía!”
“Disneyland has cops?” Louie asked as we hopped the rails. “You think they wear Mickey ears?”
“You’re not helping,” I said.
“Think hot cave this time, with a seven-foot landing,” Louie said. “And don’t think about—”
Alana shot him a glare. “I got this, Louie.”
We joined hands, waiting for Alana to take the first step. When she did and we plunged into the gateway, all I could think was Please, Alana, don’t throw us into an avalanche of knives.
We hurtled through the air for 2.3 seconds. Yes, I counted them.
“AAAAHHHHHH!” That was Louie.
In a fierce gust of wind, we were whooshed out of the portal and dropped onto the floor of a cave. The air was thick and hot, barely tolerable. I peered across the dark watery world.
Alana gripped my hand tighter. “Are we…?”
I sucked in a sharp breath. “You aren’t going to believe this.”
I raised Fuego over my head. Its blue light cast an eerie glow across the cave.
“Whoa!” my friends said on a long breath.
We stood on a barely there ledge mere inches away from a steaming pool where thick, towering white crystals grew in every direction. They poked out of the water like giant icicles or massive iridescent tree trunks that had fallen all slanted and skewed.
“They look like shimmering dinosaur bones,” Ren said, rotating her arm like she had a kink in a muscle.
Louie said, “This reminds me of Superman’s Fortress of Solitude. Did you ever see the movie where—”
“Louie,” Alana wheezed, “just turn down the heat!”
Pressing his mouth into a tight line, Louie rolled up his sleeves. “I kinda need inspiration.”
“Like what?” I asked, already feeling light-headed from the 99 percent humidity.
“BOO!” Alana leaped at Louie, who startled so bad he would’ve gone over the edge if I hadn’t grabbed his arm.
“Not cool, Alana!” he said with a scowl.
Snowflakes began descending from the cave ceiling.
“But you are, Louie!” Alana said, side-hugging him.
He grunted in surprise.
I nodded my agreement, totally grateful that we weren’t going to get cooked. The snow fell thicker and faster, and the temperature plummeted. The water below us froze with a crackkksss shppplitzzz.
“Seriously, that’s so, so amazing, Louie,” Ren said, blinking snow off her lashes. Then she turned to me. “You should use the sunglasses, Zane. You never know when a god’s help could come in handy.”
I’d almost forgotten about them between Disneyland and Venus turned North Pole.
As soon as I put them on, the world tilted. I saw purple and silver flashes, like a strobe light. An image of Itzamna burst out of one of the sparks, and it was like he was standing right in front of me. Well, more like his face was floating right in front of me. The image looked like a selfie, with the god’s hair blowing in the wind as he smiled wide for the camera. When I lifted the glasses off my nose, no Itzamna.
“Are we going to FaceTime or not?” Itzamna said with a voice as clear as if he was standing right next to me.
“I can hear him!” Louie said. Ren and Alana nodded that they could, too.
“FaceTime?” I asked. Gods did FaceTime?
“Move your head to the right,” the god said. “I can only see what you can. Ah, yes. I remember this cave—I think I held a New Year’s party there back in 300. Or was it 400?”
“Itzamna!” I said. “Why didn’t you tell me you could turn into a dragon?”
“I did! Haven’t you heard anything I’ve said? Dragon is my most powerful incarnation.”
“But I thought you didn’t have much power left,” I argued.
“Are things okay at SHIHOM?” Ren butted in.
“No demons yet. The magic is holding for now.”
“Why don’t you sound worried?” Alana asked. “Like before?”
“Oh, let me explain,” he said. “I am a segment of Itzamna’s consciousness—not the god in his glorious totality. Do you understand?”
“Uh-huh,” I muttered. The gods were pros at splitting themselves into pieces so they could be in more than one place at a time. It was pretty weird. But we didn’t have time for chitchat. “What should we do next?” I asked, wondering if I was going to have to look at his floating face for the entire quest.
“How should I know?”
I was about to argue that he was an all-seeing god when Ren’s left arm jerked up over her head in a spastic sort of way.
“Do you have a question?” Louie asked. “Like, how do I make it snow?”
“I didn’t raise my hand,” Ren said, her eyes wide as her arm continued to waggle over her head like she was a marionette whose strings had been pulled. A bright light pulsed from the watch on her left wrist as a single strand of gold, no longer than four inches, peeled away from the band and hovered in midair.
“Uh, Ren?” I said, staring at the suspended strand.
She followed my gaze and gasped, struggling in vain to bring her arm back to her side. “It’s a piece of the time rope,” she said. “But why is it loose?” She grabbed the end closest to her with her upraised hand, and it stuck fast to her palm.
“It isn’t loose now,” said Louie. “I think it likes you.”
Ren still couldn’t lower her arm, and the string started pulling her forward.
“It’s leading us somewhere,” Alana said, pointing.
“Probably to our deaths.” Louie groaned.
We all stared in awe as the gold string stretched longer and longer, floating across the ice, weaving between the crystal towers.
“Follow the gold!” Itzamna commanded.
“Right,” I grumbled. “Great idea.”
We stepped onto the ice and trailed the gold thread as it zigged and zagged, snaking up some of the massive quartz formations like it was sniffing them out before dropping down in front of us again.
“It’s looking for K’iin,” Ren whispered.
“No,” Itzamna said in a hushed voice. “They’re looking for each other.”
“How do you know?” Louie asked.
“Because the watch was made with pieces of the time rope,” the god said. “And K’iin is made of the same threads. They’re like magnets trying to connect.” He sighed appreciatively. “I must hand it to Pacific—she’s quite ingenious.”
Ren’s expression brightened.
White puffs streamed from our mouths as we stalked the now nearly ten-foot-long gold thread. It stopped and hovered over the ice before it slipped out of Ren’s grasp. It formed a hoop that floated down to the surface we were standing on.
With a sizzle and a flash, the golden circle sank into the ice. We stood around the five-foot-wide hole it had left behind.
Ren squatted to investigate. “It’s a tunnel. We should take it.”
“I’ll wait here,” Louie said. “Keep everything frosty.”
“We stay together,” I argued. “Unless you want to risk never getting home.”
“Like I said,” Louie added, “I’m totally following you guys.”
Ren dangled her boots over the hole’s edge. “It’s so dark in there,” she said. “Zane, can you see anything?”
I got down on all fours and poked my head inside. It was like looking down the steepest tube slide at the water park. “I can’t see past the bump. But that could be a serious drop, Ren. Maybe we should find another way….”
Ren nodded, then said, “I have to follow it.” And she pushed past me and slid into the tunnel.
“Ren!” I plopped down onto my butt, turned Fuego into a tattoo, and went in after her. My first thought was I’m going to kill Ren. My second thought was This is what an iced pinball must feel like. I rocketed down a near-vertical drop that forced my stomach into my throat.
I was certain Alana and Louie were right behind me, because their howls and screams echoed so loudly I thought they might crack the ice.
“Looks dreadfully cold,” Itzamna said, faking a shiver sound. “And dangerous.”
I continued to plummet in the darkness, racing at what felt like fifty miles per hour, twisting and turning, looping upside down three times. I may have even lost gravity for a second before the god’s glasses flew off and I was hurled into open air. There was no time to think or panic or do much of anything but close my eyes as I plunged into a steaming lake, feetfirst.
The water folded around me, peaceful and calm. I could easily stay suspended here forever, I thought. It’s so warm. So easy. So quiet. I slowly opened my eyes. Red-and-orange starfish clung to underwater cliffs. A giant black stingray glided by. Shimmering pink and yellow plants swayed gently above a silvery-green reef.
This was underwater heaven.
All my thoughts and fears melted away as I floated weightless, worriless. Who needs air when you’ve got a view like this?
And then a face appeared. To be specific, a boy’s pale face. I didn’t recognize him. He was maybe ten years old, with dark, buggy eyes. Kind of ghostish-looking. But nothing could scare me out of this haze, this trance the water had me in.
Then the boy’s arms wrapped around me—his skin cold compared to the warm water. He pulled me to the surface as I struggled against his Herculean strength. He had puny limbs, so how could he just overpower me like that?
I had no concept of how long I’d been underwater. I was feeling so serene, I’d forgotten about everything else. The second I hit the surface, reality washed over me. I gasped for air as I treaded water. I was under a gray sky and facing a black-sand beach lined with massive trees. Their branches were so heavy they bowed to the water’s edge.
“Zane!” Ren stood on the shore, waving one hand over her head.
I coughed up water and swam over to her while the ghost boy drifted back under. I looked down to see him staring up at me, unblinking.
The air had cleared my head, and instantly all my worries and fears rushed right back in. I dragged myself onto the sand and shook off on all fours like a dog, thinking the water had to be drugged or magic or cursed.
“Are you okay?” Ren asked, seemingly more concerned about my cough than the fact that a ghost kid had hauled my butt to the surface. “You might have trouble focusing for a few minutes until the water’s effects wear off.”
“Where are we?” I asked, peering around the empty beach. Beyond the thick trees a massive bluish-green mountain loomed, looking like a gigantic pile of moss.
“The rope led us here. Isn’t it amazing?” She sounded happy, but when I looked up at her, Ren was grimacing. That’s when I noticed the hand over her head was once again gripping the time thread, which seemed to be struggling to get free.
“You need help with that?” I asked, getting up and reaching for it.
“NO!” Ren shoved me back with her free hand.
“What the heck?”
“Sorry, Zane, but it will fry you—as in instant electrocution—if you touch it.”
“Yeah, that would be bad.” I willed Fuego into my grasp, but nothing happened. Huh. I thought maybe my cane was waterlogged or something.
“It’s only safe for me to hold the thread,” said Ren.
“Gotcha,” I said as my scrambled mind veered off in another direction. “Did you see that kid?” I coughed a couple more times. “Did he look kinda see-through to you?”
Just then, the ghost kid’s head popped out of the water and tossed Itzamna’s glasses at my feet before disappearing back under the surface.
“Thanks!” Ren called out to him like they were long-lost friends.
“You know him?” I snatched up the glasses and started to pace. It felt odd without Fuego keeping me balanced.
“Just met him.”
“Did I already ask where we are? And what’s taking Alana and Louie so long? You look like you need help with that thread.”
Shaking her head and sighing, Ren said, “Yes, you asked, and I really hope they get here soon, and no, I already told you that you can’t help with the thread.” She took a breath and added, “I thought you’d never get here! You took forever in the time tunnel, and you’re not going to believe—”
I held up my hand, feeling light-headed. “Did you say ‘time tunnel’?”
She nodded excitedly. “I should wait until you’re fully recovered to tell you, but it’s just too increíble.” She rambled on. “The time thread created the passage, and I guess everyone travels through time tunnels at different speeds. I’ve been here for like thirty minutes. Waiting. Waiting. Waiting.”
“I saw starfish and a stingray,” I said, rubbing my head. “Those are sea creatures, not lake creatures. Right?”
“It’s not a lake—it’s part of the sea,” Ren said, looking at the ice tube suspended over the water. “I really wish Alana and Louie would hurry up.”
My mind was slow to accept whatever she told me, like it was on lag time. Okay…ghost boy, sea creatures in a lake, time thread…A second later, my brain revolted.
“Thirty minutes?!” I shouted. “I jumped in right after you.”
I glanced up at the time tunnel. The thing looked like it had grown out of the sky itself. Any second now, Louie and Alana would shoot out of t
he twenty-foot drop.
“Zane?”
Any second.
“Yeah?”
Ren took my hand in hers. I have something to tell you, and it can’t wait.
I switched my gaze to the water, searching for that ghost boy…you know, to make sure he didn’t try anything fishy when Alana and Louie showed up. Did the water make me see that ghost? I asked Ren.
That’s what I have to tell you.
Even telepathically Ren’s voice sounded weird. I turned to face her.
“The ghost is real,” she said. “They’re all real.”
“All?”
At that moment, the air near the tree line shimmered once…twice.
A group of boys materialized. Scratch that. A group of ghosts appeared.
And one really big giant.
When you’re slung down a twisty time tunnel and end up in a ghost sea/lake that messes with your head, you think your day can’t get any weirder. Ha! This day was definitely about to take a turn. A big turn.
Ren just stood there all calm and dry, clutching the thread like it was her lifeline.
The ghost boys ran around, hooting and tossing a football, slamming into each other. And the ten-foot-tall teen giant? Yes, teen! He had a couple of zits on his chin and looked like he hadn’t washed his shoulder-length dark hair for two weeks. But unlike any teenager I knew, the guy had boulder-size arms folded over his massive chest.
“Zane, this is Sipacna,” Ren said breathlessly. “Sipacna, this is Zane Obispo, son of Hurakan.”
“Everyone calls me Zip.” The giant reached out to shake my hand, but I backed away. My mind had returned in full force, enough for the realization of this guy’s identity to knock me over.
“Sipacna?!” I blurted. “The evil mountain giant who killed—” I swallowed the words before they had a chance to escape. I knew all about this dude. First, my giant friend Jazz hated the guy. Second, Sipacna had killed four hundred boys at once. AT ONCE! Just because they’d interrupted his nap or something.
But the tale, like all Maya stories, doesn’t end there. The “hero twins”—yeah, you know the ones—stuck their big noses where they didn’t belong and decided they should seek revenge for the boys. Using a giant crab as bait, the brothers lured Sipacna to a canyon, where they crushed him under a mountain.
The Shadow Crosser Page 18