The 52nd (The 52nd Saga Book 1)

by Dela

  “Who are you?” I wondered.

  Our heads turned as voices approached from outside the bridge. There was a group of kids walking toward us. Lucas straightened up hurriedly. “Please, Zara, go home with Jett.”

  I was appalled. He was still avoiding me. “Just leave me alone, Lucas, at least until you decide you can answer.”

  Lucas held his hand out. “Let me help you up.”

  At first I stared at his palm with disbelief, but some force flooded me, saturating my nerves with a desire to be with him. I looked elsewhere before I gave anything away.

  “I can help her.” Jett was at Lucas’s shoulder, reaching for me. After he helped me up, he looked at Lucas jealously. “What are you doing here, Juan?”

  Lucas’s jaw tightened, and any innocence he had washed out of his face. “I didn’t know you had to be a prick to go to a school dance.”

  “Come on, Zara. Let’s go home,” Jett said.

  As we started toward the cars, Lucas locked his hand on mine and tugged me back. My heart galumphed when he wouldn’t let go. Then without a word, he lowered his chin, pressed his lips to the back of my hand, and gazed up at me again. “Be safe.”

  I pulled back slowly as the particles of my body melted.

  “I will,” I mumbled.

  Jett pulled me, but I stiffened as the gravity of Lucas’s stare bored in on me the farther we walked away.

  “He is so weird,” Jett started.

  I didn’t answer. My lips pressed into a smile. He’s back, I thought—until something sucked out my happiness. The entire way home, I wondered why a god would be after me.

  Lucas

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  Tez

  “That was too close,” I said to Gabriella and Dylan as Zara and Jett walked away into the darkening trees.

  “You were right, brother. I am so sorry I doubted you,” Gabriella said.

  “So what do we do now?” Dylan asked.

  When the pair had disappeared into the blackness, I turned back. “We follow her, never let her out of our sight. You two go home. I will make sure she gets home safely.”

  “Be careful,” Gabriella warned.

  I sped through the pathless woods and reached my car long before they arrived. I sat inside, spinning my citla between my fingers, waiting for them. Once they hopped into his truck I followed, keeping enough distance to avoid any suspicion. When they exited the freeway, I took another route and parked across her street, six houses down, turned my lights off, and waited once more in the dark for them to arrive.

  When they pulled up, Zara didn’t leave his truck right away. I hated waiting for humans. They were slow and their manners were cold, like the fluid that ran through my veins. But my temper boiled with every minute she spent with him. What was taking her so long to leave his truck? They weren’t kissing. I knew because I could hear them. But I still had to put the citla down because it wasn’t working as a distraction, and I clenched the steering wheel to stop myself from going over to yank her out of his car. When she finally was safe inside her house, and away from Jett, I felt my lungs open back up.

  What is wrong with me?

  I was rolling out of her neighborhood before Jett could even back out of the driveway.

  At my house, the lights glowed all the way to the perimeter of evergreens. I could hear Niya and Malik roaming the forest as I pulled into the garage, but I ignored them, preoccupied with this new drive I felt. It pulled and tugged as if attached to me with strings. It was then, as my heart revved, that I knew I was determined to do everything in my power to keep that girl safe.

  I don’t know why my family still bothers to whisper. I could hear everything they said, even from the garage, and I recognized a smooth voice in their midst that made me tense. I went inside the house, afraid that its presence was not good news.

  The study was dim when I entered. Everyone stood still as I looked around for Tez. He was standing next to Father across the room, their backs against the blackened window.

  “Lucas,” he said.

  “What are you doing here, Tez?”

  Mother turned toward me and looked up from the couch. “Tez has taken a great risk coming here.”

  “Do the Celestials know what happened?” I rushed, looking back to Tez as my heart raced.

  Tez shook his head. “No.”

  I sighed with relief.

  He walked over to me and set his beverage on a small gold table. “Lucas, do not be alarmed. I carry good news with me as well.”

  “Let’s have it, then.”

  He straightened his suit jacket and cleared his throat. “The Underworld’s fury grows, and with the executioners coming back tonight empty-handed, their suspicion grows as well. I have seen new visions of the future.” He paused. “If they do not return with the girl by Solstice, they will go to the Celestials.”

  “Then we must close the portal.”

  Tez held his hand up and shook his head. “Lucas, I am not done. There is more that makes this matter more complicated. You have seen Xavier recently, have you not?”

  I nodded. “Tonight, with the executioners.”

  “Yes. X’Tabay’s working with him.”

  “But . . .”

  “I followed her after the Council and saw them together. They didn’t know who the fifty-second was, but after learning that Xavier was with the executioners tonight, I am positive he knows now who she is. And I believe he’s planning to use her to break his curse.”

  “How?” The word stormed out of my mouth.

  Instead of being cross with my short temper, Tez’s face softened apologetically. There was a concern in his eyes that I wished wasn’t there. “That, my young boy, I do not know.”

  I screamed and pulled at my hair. “Does Mictlan know who she is?”

  “Of course not. Mictlan would not let Xavier tamper with his belongings,” Father said.

  “That’s where the good news comes,” Tez said. “Your parents tell me that the girl suffers from blackouts in which she sees glimpses of Xibalba, and that Dylan can’t reshape her mind like other humans.”

  “And her body heals more quickly than normal. How is that possible?”

  “Because as the girl of the prophecy, she has been given a divine calling, which apparently gives her strength to heal quickly. This proves that my next theory may work.”

  “Theory?” I asked, perplexed.

  He nodded, circling the room as he spoke. I wished he wouldn’t. His calmness was causing turmoil in my guts. “If the girl heals quickly, she should be strong enough to learn to control who is in her mind. The girl suffers these blackouts because Xavier’s awareness is unintentionally penetrating her mind. It must be our top priority to stop that invasion.”

  “Tez, if Mictlan is unaware, then how is Zara even seeing Xibalba at all?” Mother asked.

  Tez stopped moving. “The prophecy said both worlds would love her.”

  I nearly gagged. I tried so hard years ago to forget that part of the prophecy. I recalled the next part, hoping it would neutralize the acid flooding my stomach . . . but through a deep connection with one of either world, a balance could be restored. I stared back at Tez. My world, I thought. This was the beginning of the end, and I was going to prove that I was more a part of it than he knew.

  Tez looked from me to Father. “It is clear to me, as it surely should be clear to you . . . the girl has a connection with Xavier.”

  I went numb picturing Zara with Xavier, knowing this part of the prophecy—Zara’s choice of love—was out of my control.

  “But Xavier isn’t even a Xibalban god,” Gabriella stated, confounded.

  “No, but his mother is, and he resides there. It makes sense,” Tez replied. “Should we keep the girl, there must be a plan for when they come back to take her.”

  My imm
ortal family was unresponsive as statues, still, but attentive nonetheless. I would have been corpse pale, if my body could lose color. When I recovered, my muscles flexed as he casually talked about what I felt was my property. The girl belonged to me.

  I swallowed hard and broke the stagnant silence. “No, of course. But if Xavier wanted her for his plan, why didn’t he come after her earlier?”

  “Lucas, my dear Lucas. Even after all these years, you still do not understand the Cosmos. There is much power to see in the stars above. Never turn your back on your enemy, for he is a trickster, and a smart one. Xavier waited all this time because he had to wait for the end of the Long Count.”

  A wave of frustration drowned me. Xavier couldn’t have come unless the Milky Way had moved simultaneously with Winter Solstice, and only at the end of a Long Count, a term of five thousand one hundred and twenty-five years.

  “How could I have read the stars so wrongly?” I roared, tugging harder at my hair. I knew this.

  “Hijo, do not be hard on yourself. Remember, you had your entire family to convince. It could have easily been missed,” Mother said, reaching over the couch to touch my forearm lightly.

  I turned my back to her. I was the one who had been waiting for this moment, not her. I was the one responsible. It already felt like Zara was slipping through my fingers. It hurt.

  “I haven’t much time,” Tez interrupted. “We must move on. Lucas, are you ready to face the consequences of keeping this girl?”

  My chin, which had dropped as I looked at the floor, now rose, and I spun to look at the one god who had been ahead of me all along. Tez watched me with an enduring patience as I regained my senses, sniffed, and nodded silently.

  “Very well,” he said, turning to my parents. “Andrés and Valentina, you shall begin intervention with the girl’s parents as discussed. When it is time to close the portal, you will invite them to your home in Mexico so that the girl is not left alone, even for a short breath. Dylan and Gabriella, you two will go to school this week to keep an eye on her while Lucas prepares the basement for training.”

  “Training?” I interrupted.

  “Yes. As your family and I discussed before you arrived, the girl needs to teach her mind how to keep the gods out. Without this control she is weak. This training can protect her from blacking out during Xavier’s unintentional projections. Dylan will be her instructor.” Tez was talking, but looked completely uninterested. He moved along, swiping his fingers on furniture, checking for dust, looking outside at the black, glistening stream, brushing his tailored suit for lint; all this until he finally glanced back at me.

  I stared incredulously, but it gave me time to see Dylan’s excitement at the idea. I gritted my teeth and glared at him. “And how do you suppose he does this?”

  “The truth?” Tez wondered.

  I nodded again, ligaments tightening down my neck.

  “In the most extreme circumstances.” He pulled a sheet of paper from the inside pocket of his blazer. “I have the plans here.”

  Tez handed me the folded paper and then smoothed a hand back through his sleek hair. The paper had drawings of cages, poles, rings suspended in the air, and weapons.

  “Are you serious?” I laughed.

  His fine features looked inquisitive. “Do you have another plan?”

  My jaw poked out as my teeth clenched, and I submitted a subtle shake no.

  “Right, we haven’t much time. Lucas, you have until Friday to get your basement to look like that. Then comes your next task, the most important of all from here on out.” He stopped and focused harder on me than he had all evening.

  “What?” I wondered in dread.

  “You are to beguile her.”

  “Trick her?” I replied, outraged.

  “No. Beguile her. They are two completely different words.”

  “You would have me beguile Zara as our ancestors once did their lovers? It’s absurd . . . it’s vile!”

  “You swore that you were ready to do what it took.”

  “That is taking her freedom away! You know the effect I have on human girls if I so much as bat an eye at them,” I argued. “I don’t want her throwing herself at me.”

  “Why not?” Dylan asked. Gabriella nudged him.

  “Are you an idiot?” I said, turning to him. “A connection isn’t made under false pretenses. It’s deeper. It requires more work, and I can’t control us if she is acting like a . . .”

  “Like an eighteen-year-old girl?” Gabriella said.

  “Yes!”

  Tez stepped closer to me. “We need you to win her over. Don’t act like you haven’t romanced your share of women.”

  My chest filled with steam, and I took a step closer. I would not beguile Zara like that—that was part of my old mortal days, when women flocked to me. I was immature then and gave in to physical desire at a moment’s notice. Zara was different, and should she throw herself at me, I wouldn’t lie with her as I had with other women. I would wait until we were filled with a sweetness to satisfy our hearts and tongues, and it would be lasting and eternal. It wouldn’t be crude, and she wouldn’t be beguiled.

  “Come again?” I asked, wondering if I’d heard him right.

  “Lucas, the girl must be on our side, or else we will all perish should the Celestials find out any of this. I am as much a traitor as you are. I need to know if you can do this.” He asked evenly, though it sounded like an urgent plea.

  I breathed in deeply to cool my rage. “I feel it may not be necessary. I fear I am beginning to feel a bond with the girl already, which is why we don’t have to be sucking tongue to get anywhere.” I took a long breath, and the memory of the sensation I felt when I touched her gave me the confidence I needed. I put my hands in my pockets. “She will be won over. I promise.”

  Father and Mother stared at me with wide eyes.

  Tez smirked. “Good. Next, most unfortunately, is the bad news. We cannot close the portal unless Xavier is in the Underworld. As long as his body roams freely in this world, we cannot close the portal that leads to the other. His body must be in Xibalba, where his soul resides. This will ensure he cannot go after Zara in the future.”

  Father cupped his hands over Mother’s shoulders. “How do we keep track of his whereabouts?”

  “We don’t,” Dylan answered, looking nowhere but out the midnight window. “He returned with the executioners tonight, and I am sure he will join them again at Solstice. We wait until after Solstice, when he has returned to Mexico with the executioners, to close the portal.”

  “Are you sure?” Father asked.

  Dylan twisted toward us, grief evident on his face. “I know my brother better than anyone here. Trust me, he won’t see that one coming.”

  “Tez, thank you,” Father said.

  “Don’t thank me. I am in this for my own reasons, as you are. Should your efforts be successful, I will call on you once more. Good luck.”

  He nodded and evaporated into the air.

  “Well, that went well,” Dylan joked.

  Gabriella rolled her eyes and stormed off.

  Mother stood and faced Father. “We shall join the club where her mother plays tennis and her father plays golf. Perhaps we can also run into them at the restaurant they like to eat at on their dates.”

  “Very well, amor. That will be fine,” he said.

  Mother left the room to focus on her new task. Dylan rose from the chair and turned to me. I couldn’t take my eyes off him, the trainer. It was absurd.

  “Don’t worry. I’m not going to kill her,” he remarked easily. It was too light for my liking.

  I gritted my teeth. “I will do this only because Tez thinks it will help her. Don’t think for a second that I am going to leave her alone with you. Every second she is with you, I will be there, watching. If I think you are harming her
, I will stop you.”

  “Lucas, I wouldn’t. Trust me when I say I want to protect her as much as you do.” He glanced down at my tense posture. “Maybe it is not wise that you watch her train.”

  I waved the piece of paper still clenched between my fingers at him. “What do you plan on doing to her?”

  “Whatever it takes to make her strong.” He shrugged.

  “That’s where you are wrong, brother.” I shoved the paper at his chest. He clung to it, confused, as I walked away. “You can’t. She’s only human.”

  There were flurries in the air Monday morning, but it wasn’t cold enough for snow to stick. I envied Dylan and Gabriella as they went to school, while I had to go to the hardware store and the sporting goods store and the hunting store. My list detailed a ridiculous amount of lumber, steel poles, rope, bolts, screws, and rubber balls. I rapped out my requests briskly at each store and hired a delivery service before going home and waiting nearly two hours for them to arrive. The deliveryman eyed me suspiciously and asked what I intended to do with all the supplies. After I told him I would unload the supplies on my own, his chattiness stopped. He stood there stupidly until I ordered him into the taxi waiting on the roundabout beneath the graying sky, confused with the prearranged transportation.

  “Your truck will be at your office in one hour,” I said as I closed the door of the taxi.

  I was again amused as the human sputtered, driving away in a taxi instead of his truck. It only took me ten minutes to unload enough wood and equipment to train an army from the twenty-six-foot truck. I was grateful when Father offered to return the vehicle while Mother was out with Zara’s mom at the club. I wanted to get as much done as possible before night fell so I could spend my night watching Zara.

  We had kept the basement empty, knowing we wouldn’t be here long; I couldn’t have imagined it’d be used for this. I grabbed a two-by-twelve from the lumber pile I’d created near the stairs and leaned it against the wall in the back corner. As I ran across the basketball court-sized room to fetch more wood, I noticed the folded paper Tez had handed me on the ground. Somewhere between the meeting and now, Dylan had strategically placed it on the floor, knowing I might need it.