“Ay, Manolo . . . ,” Carlos said sadly. “There are so many things I wish I could have said to you.”
Meanwhile, in Maria’s bedroom, Joaquin sat on the edge of her bed.
“What happened?” Maria asked him. “Wait . . . where’s Manolo?”
The others looked away, so Joaquin answered, “I’m sorry, Maria. Manolo passed away.”
“No!” she stood, but unable to find her feet, stumbled. “It can’t be . . .”
Sister Ana caught her. “I’m sorry, dear.”
Joaquin held her while she sobbed.
General Posada said, “Maria, we’re all sorry Manolo’s gone, but Joaquin just saved your life. You see, he will always protect you.”
“General, this is not the time.” Joaquin tried to stop him.
But General Posada ignored him and moved Maria to a quiet corner of the room. “Please, for everyone’s sake, mija. Make him stay.”
Maria looked to Joaquin. He was clearly ready to leave town to seek out and fight Chakal.
“Will you stay in San Angel if I marry you?” she asked him.
Joaquin nodded, knowing it was wrong. “Yes, but you don’t have to—”
“I accept Joaquin’s proposal,” she told her father.
Joaquin couldn’t believe what he’d heard. He vowed he’d stay and make her happy.
Outside the window, Xibalba sighed. “Ah. Young love.”
*****
Manolo couldn’t let Xibalba win. “I have to find La Muerte!” He begged his ancestors, “Please, please, help me.”
They gave each other nervous looks.
Carmen said, “Mijo, stay here with us.”
“No more worries!” Luis said.
“Epic fiestas every day,” Jorge added.
The Adelita skeleton twins put in, “With the whole Sanchez family.”
Carmelo slammed into Jorge. “And all-you-can-eat churros!”
Manolo looked at his family. This was hard, but he knew where he belonged. And it wasn’t here. Not yet. “Thank you, guys. But I need to be with Maria. It’s all I’ve ever wanted.”
*****
At the museum, Jane asked Mary Beth, “How’s Manolo going to get back?”
The goth kid couldn’t believe it. “He’s stuck there. Forever! And Maria is going to marry Joaquin.”
“All right, do you want me to continue?” Mary Beth asked, then waited until they settled down. “So, one thing was for sure, Manolo needed help from his family.”
*****
“If La Muerte is where Xibalba rotted away . . . ,” Carmen started.
“Then she’s in the Land of the Forgotten,” the Adelitas finished.
Carmelo shivered. “Oh no, oh no.”
Jorge elbowed Carmelo, saying, “Quiet, you!” He turned to Manolo. “There’s only one way to get to the Land of the Forgotten—through the Cave of Souls.”
Luis said, “Going there would be certain doom.”
Everyone looked worried. But not Manolo. He looked up with a fierce grin, saying, “It’s a good day for doom.”
*****
The entire family cheered and waved to Manolo, Carmen, and Luis as they rode off on skeleton horses into the sunset. Manolo felt tough and ready for victory.
“He’s a Sanchez, I tell ya! A Sanchez!” Luis said.
“You know this is impossible, right?” Jorge asked Carmelo.
Carmelo smacked Jorge on the back, then kept waving. “Hey! Good luck, little Sanchez!”
There was hope in the air as the three skeleton Sanchez adventurers rode across the Land of the Remembered.
*****
“The legendary Cave of Souls was rumored to be at the edge of the Land of the Remembered,” Mary Beth told the children. “Many had tried to reach it, but none had ever returned. At least, not in one piece.”
Luis, Manolo, and Carmen approached the Mountain of Souls. They went as far as they could on horseback, and then had to walk.
The mountain rose before them like a Mayan pyramid. A grand waterfall plummeted out of the sky, down to the surface of the mountain where towering steps led to the mouth of a huge stone skeleton head. The whole thing glittered in gold.
“Caramba, it hurts just looking at it.” Luis turned away his eyes.
The climb looked impossible, but there was no other way in. One step at a time, the group slowly made their way toward the cave entry in the skeleton’s mouth.
“Are we there yet?” Luis asked. No one answered, so every few feet he’d ask it again. “Hey, are we there yet? Are we there yet?” He didn’t stop asking—until they were there.
Around the cave’s mouth were the crushed and broken bones of those who had tried to enter in the past and not survived.
“We made it, mijo.” The bones didn’t scare Luis. Manolo and his mother looked at the bones, then at each other. Luis asked, “C’mon! What are you guys waiting for?”
He rushed forward a few feet when—WHAM!
A huge wall shot up from the ground, obliterating Luis and sending his bones flying in all directions. The giant skeleton head came to life. The Guardian of the Cave roared, “You are not worthy!”
Luis’s head sailed by Manolo and Carmen before landing on the ground.
“Hey! My arthritis is gone!” Luis announced happily.
“Grandpa!” Manolo hurried to help.
Suddenly, a crack formed in the ground and quickly spread toward Carmen and Luis.
“Mama!” Manolo sprinted toward his mother as she snatched up Luis’s head. Carmen and Luis jumped out of the way just in time. But the force of the earthquake sent Manolo skidding backward as the ground opened around him.
“Manolo!” Carmen shouted.
Walls shot up all around Manolo, trapping him in an enormous labyrinth.
“Face the labyrinth and earn the right to be judged!” The guardian’s voice echoed.
Carmen and Luis were above, looking down at Manolo in the maze. The earth began to rumble again, releasing three huge boulders that rolled toward him. Manolo sprinted through the maze, trying to outrun the massive boulders.
“I can’t see him! Lift me up!” Luis told Carmen. She raised his head above the labyrinth walls so he could see where Manolo was going. “I see him!”
Just then, a hole appeared in the ground and swallowed Manolo. He fell several feet down, straight toward a row of deadly spikes, but managed to use his guitar as a prop to stop himself in time.
“Where did he go?!” Luis couldn’t see him any longer.
Manolo pulled himself back up from the pit, inch by inch, until he saw the exit to the maze.
But then Luis said, “Uh-oh.”
“What? What’s happening?!” Carmen asked in a panic.
“It’s okay, honey. He’s totally okay,” Luis reassured Carmen, then told Manolo, “Run for your life!”
Manolo took off for the exit, but those massive boulders were close on his tail. Manolo was nearly free, when a new wall rose in front of him, blocking the exit. With no other option, he turned to face the boulders.
Using a trick he’d learned as a bullfighter, Manolo swished past the first boulder as if he were fighting a bull.
He flipped over the next two boulders, and when the third one came back at him, he managed to use the three together as steps to get out of the way. He landed safely on the other side. The boulders crashed into each other and shattered.
Manolo looked to Luis and Carmen and took a bow.
“That was so beautiful,” Luis gushed proudly.
But the danger wasn’t over. The ground began to shake again and the labyrinth floor lifted to Carmen and Luis’s level.
Manolo was ready to face a new threat, until he saw what was coming. The giant skeleton head of the cave rose, revealing an entire skeleton body. Manolo stepped back. This was the Guardian of the Cave in all his glory, and getting past him was going to be harder than anything Manolo had faced so far.
The guardian raised an enormous obsidian sw
ord high above his head, preparing to strike. “You have earned the right to be judged.”
“Ay, ay, ay!” Luis’s skull said.
“For. Maria.” Manolo said, and he closed his eyes.
“Manolo!” Carmen cried.
The Guardian of the Cave swung his sword with a mighty roar.
Miraculously, the obsidian sword shattered into a million pieces the instant it touched Manolo. The skeleton was shocked. That was unexpected.
“Manolo Sanchez, your heart is pure and courageous,” the guardian said.
Carmen ran to her son and hugged him.
“You and yours may enter,” the guardian told them, lowering down to let them enter.
“Ay, mijo!” Carmen hugged Manolo once more, then she slapped him. “Don’t do that again.”
Manolo smiled at his mother and Luis’s head, then led the way into the cave.
*****
It was dark in the Cave of Souls, darker than a starless night. Manolo pulled out the two swords he’d brought along and raised them for protection.
“This is the Cave of Souls?” Luis asked.
“Grandpa! Show some respect!” Manolo shouted a warning as a shadowy figure rose behind them. Manolo, Luis, and Carmen braced themselves. The ancient being was shaped like a giant bell, with a beard made out of clouds. His skin appeared like clear wax with a warm inner glow. Draped in a series of long robes with symbols from various ancient cultures, the Candle Maker carried an ancient leather-bound book.
It was the Book of Life, the very same one Mary Beth showed the children in the museum.
The solemn situation quickly turned comical as the Candle Maker became very animated. This guy was clearly not a threat. “That was awesome, man! The giant boulders were like, pew! And you were like, swish! Swish! Swish! And then the Cave Guardian, he came in and was all—” He acted out what had happened outside with each phrase. Imitating the guardian’s voice, he shouted, “I’m going to judge you with this giant sword!”
“Excuse me, sir!” Manolo tried to interrupt.
“And then you . . . you got through,” he finished, smiling at Manolo.
Manolo set aside his swords and said, “I have to find La Muerte.”
The Candle Maker whistled. “La Muerte? Sorry, you missed her, Manolo.” He shrugged.
“Wait! You know me?”
“Yeah, man! We know everybody,” the Candle Maker replied. He looked past Manolo. “We know Luis. Carmen. And Puddle.” He paused, then asked, “How’re you doing, Puddle?! High five!” He put his hand on the puddle to give it a high five. The puddle didn’t move—it was just a puddle.
“Huh?” Luis gave Carmen a look indicating this guy was crazy.
*****
Back in the museum, the kids were all stunned.
“Wow. That guy’s nuttier than squirrel poop,” Jane said.
*****
The Candle Maker led the Sanchez family down a narrow hallway. “It’s all here in the Book of Life! Wait, where are my manners? Come on in, y’all!”
Suddenly, the floor below them turned into a skull-shaped elevator platform. They went up and up, past a massive ceiling made out of clouds. When they arrived at the top, the Candle Maker moved aside so they could enter a large chamber lit by a billion candles. The ceiling was supported by four giant skeleton statues representing the four seasons.
“Welcome to the Cave of Souls!” he said. “Mi casa es su casa.”
“Now, this is a cave!” Luis was impressed.
“You see all these candles? Each one is a life,” the Candle Maker explained. He lifted his arms high and wide with a big grin on his face and formally introduced himself. “And I am your humble—yet strikingly handsome—Candle Maker!”
The Book of Life applauded its friend.
Manolo, Carmen, and Luis didn’t know if they were supposed to applaud too. “I don’t get it,” Luis said.
“Wait. I didn’t do the thing. I’ve got to do the thing. Watch this.” The Candle Maker clapped his hands and hundreds of candles began to fly around them. “Amazing, huh?! This is our work! This is what we do.” The Sanchezes looked on in awe at the floating candles and the godlike figure before them.
“Wow!” Luis exclaimed.
The Candle Maker pointed up and flew to a section of candles, all flickering in a breeze. “Look! That group—that’s your town. And there,” he said. “That’s Maria.” He grabbed two candles. One burned brightly. The other was unlit with a faint trail of smoke rising from it. “And next to her, Manolo.” He raised one shoulder in a half shrug. “One aflame with life, the other—pfft. Kaput.”
His attention was drawn to the Book of Life. “You see, as long as someone alive remembers you, you guys get to live in the Land of the Remembered.” After checking a page, he exclaimed, “Ay, Cahuenga!”
“What is it?” Manolo asked.
“Chakal is on the march! With him comes the end of your town.” The Candle Maker held up the open book, which showed Chakal and his men racing toward San Angel. Then the town burned away in an instant.
“We would all be forgotten,” Carmen said sadly.
“Please, Candle Maker. Come on, help me get back,” Manolo pleaded, a determined look on his face.
“I can’t do that, Manolo,” the Candle Maker said. But then the Book of Life tapped him on the shoulder and flipped open. “Ay, caramba!” The Candle Maker double-checked what he saw.
After a short conversation with the book, the Candle Maker told the Sanchez family, “Okay, okay. Look, you guys, the Book of Life holds everyone’s story, but the pages on Manolo’s life . . . they are blank.”
The Candle Maker excitedly told Manolo, “You didn’t live the life that was written for you. You are writing your own story.”
The Sanchez family gasped. “That’s good?” Luis asked.
“So, does this mean you’ll help me find La Muerte?” Manolo added.
The Candle Maker thought for a moment. “Well, I’m not supposed to interfere, but I may be able to bend the rules. Just a little.” He raised his hands high and wide. “After all, it is the Day of the Dead. Right, book?”
The Candle Maker raised his hands again, and a waterfall in the cavern opened to reveal a hidden door. “Come on, let’s do this. I’ll take you to La Muerte.” The Candle Maker stepped forward.
“I’m going alone,” Manolo said, pushing past.
“Hold on, now—” the Candle Maker said.
Luis’s head jumped into Manolo’s arms. “Alone? Fine. I’m going alone too, right next to you.”
“Can I get a word in—” the Candle Maker tried to explain, but then Carmen said, “We should go.”
Luis’s hollow eyes glared at her. “We?! No. It’s much too dangerous for a lady.”
Ignoring him, Carmen made a dash for the waterfall portal and disappeared through it.
The Candle Maker tried once more to stop them all from going. “Actually, uh—” he started. “Hold on.”
“No retreat.” Manolo interrupted. “No surrender!” He leaped through the waterfall, carrying Luis’s head with him.
The Candle Maker grabbed the Book of Life and told it, “I know, I know. I tried to warn them.” He followed them all through the waterfall and deep into the Land of the Forgotten.
They fell. It seemed like forever. All Manolo could see were the spiked rocks and spires at the bottom of the cavern.
Somehow, they stopped inches short of the ground, floating momentarily in the air.
Clunk! Suddenly, the Book of Life caught all three of them at the last second. Manolo landed awkwardly on the book’s face, while Luis hung by his teeth to the spine. Only Carmen stood upright, perfectly balanced.
The Candle Maker floated down alongside them as Luis clung to the book.
“Are you sure we’re in the right place?” Luis asked.
“Of course you are! You Sanchezes need to look before you go jumping into magic waterfalls. What if you jumped into the wrong one? You might end
up in Texas.”
Luis’s face lit up. “I think I died there.”
A glow from the Candle Maker’s body illuminated the area around them. There were dozens of destroyed buildings and pyramids. With a wave of his hand, the group continued to levitate away from the sharp rocks and gently landed on flat ground.
“Welcome to the Land of the Forgotten. Sad, huh?” As the Candle Maker said it, three crumbling black skeletons moved from the shadows. Their moans echoed with sorrow and grief.
“You poor things!” Carmen cried.
“What a bunch of sad sacks.” Luis thought he was funny, but Carmen and Manolo gave him nasty looks. “What?! You were all thinking it,” he said defensively.
“Grandpa!” Manolo groaned. “Come on!”
“You know what they forgot? They forgot to clean up! It smells like a dump!” Luis complained.
“Luis! Cállate!” Carmen shushed him one more time.
They walked on in silence a while longer, until the Candle Maker stopped. “There it is. Xibalba’s castle.”
Up ahead, a huge stalactite hung like a giant upside-down castle.
A carving of a two-headed serpent led to the castle’s stairway. Manolo, Luis, Carmen, the Book of Life, and the Candle Maker crossed the moat of lava on a bridge shaped like a snake and entered the castle.
La Muerte was in the throne room, on a balcony overlooking the entire land.
Manolo quickly went out to join her. “La Muerte, I need a word with you, my lady.”
She turned, surprised to see him there. “Manolo? But how did you get here? You’re not forgotten.”
He pointed back to his family and new friends. “I had some help.”
“Hey there.” The Candle Maker gave her a soft, loving look.
“Candle Maker! Carmen! And the head of Luis?” She snapped her fingers and Luis’s missing bones flew into the room, reattaching themselves.
“Great, my arthritis is back.” Luis moaned. Carmen shushed him.
Manolo was direct. “I know about the wager.”
La Muerte was ashamed, but before she could apologize, Manolo said, “Xibalba cheated.”
The Book of Life Movie Novelization Page 6