Okaaay, on to the next question. “Can you guys really change the future?”
“‘You guys’ does not make sense to me.”
I sucked in a big breath, trying to keep my cool. “Can fire keepers change the future?”
“Indeed.”
A wild, off-the-charts hope grew in an instant. Maybe Brooks’s idea wasn’t so loca. If I could get this Fire Keeper to change the future, I could control what happened to the godborns and my dad, and I wouldn’t need to be in two places at once. I mean, there was a reason Hurakan had mentioned him to me and I had picked this mask. But if I was wrong…
“Do you know where the current Fire Keeper is?”
She smiled and said, “Of course. I am his great ancestor, after all! He is where he is. One minute.”
That migraine side effect Fausto had warned me about? It was already jamming its knuckles into my skull. I had to choose my words more carefully. “Where do I find him?”
I was hoping the queen/ex–fire keeper was going to tell me Down the block, but instead she closed her eyes and said, “I can see him now at Land’s End, where two worlds meet.”
That was it? Where two worlds meet? “Do you have an address?”
The Red Queen’s face went slack like she wanted to say Are you kidding me? She swiped her hands together, dousing the flame. “I see places, settings…not addresses.”
My mind couldn’t keep up with all the thoughts racing in and out. “I’m supposed to save the godborns and my dad, and I only have three days, and I have a feeling that maybe the Fire Keeper can help me…but you don’t even have an address…” I took a deep breath. “What am I supposed to do?”
“I should have been clearer,” she said. “I cannot address matters of conscience and the heart.” Her eyes were deep brown with lines around them that gave her a grandmotherly look. “Only you can answer that question.”
Seriously? She’d made such a big deal about answering any question and now there were more stupid rules. “Fine,” I said. “Would it be a smart choice to use my time to find him?”
“You are the son of fire.” The Red Queen pressed her lips into a thin line. “You are connected in ways only the Fire Keeper can divulge to you.”
“Will he change the future for me?”
“If you go see him, the future will change.”
That wasn’t what I had asked. As if she could see my disappointment, she added, “A better future indeed.”
Something fluttered inside of me. This was it. This was how I could save my dad and the godborns! I mean, a better future was a heck of a lot better than a “bleak” one.
“How do I find him without an address?”
“Ask the flame. Forty seconds.”
What flame? I wanted to scream, but I had a more important question. “Do you know anything about the sobrenaturals’ powers being drained?”
“I know many things about it.” The Red Queen held up her small hand. “We are out of time.” She looked at the wall behind me and sighed. “I told him what you asked me to. Well, it’s not my fault. He should know. Fine. But my debt is now paid.”
I whirled around. “Who are you talking to?”
“You. There is one more very important piece I apparently must tell you,” she said with a grunt. “If you choose to search for the Fire Keeper, you must travel alone to see him.” Her eyes shot to the wall again. “Happy now?” I realized she was talking to the torch.
My cheeks felt like they’d been slapped with a hot towel. “I can’t just leave my friends behind.” No way. Wasn’t happening. We were a team.
The Red Queen stood next to me. The top of her head didn’t even come to my shoulders. “The final steps in the journey of fire must always be taken alone. And the Fire Keeper’s identity and location must be kept secret at all costs.”
The tomb began to evaporate.
“Wait! What would happen if they came anyway?” I had to know.
“Unless your friends are gods or have the blood of the gods, great misfortunes will fall upon your quest and upon their heads. Perhaps even a nasty curse or two.”
Of course! What would a good old Maya quest be without misfortunes and curses?
“Your time is up.” The Red Queen whispered, “Son of fire. Of storm. Of the creator. Of the destroyer. Do you seek death?”
I only thought the word yes before she said, “Then death is yours.”
A sudden heat charged through my blood and bones so fast I couldn’t take a breath. It felt like I’d been shocked with a million volts of electricity, and every cell in my body was splitting open and regenerating. Like every bone was breaking and reconnecting. Like my brain was exploding and being pieced back together. Forget the side effects, there should have been a warning label for the actual death part: Dying sucks!
The next thing I knew, I was lying on the grass under the trees in Fausto’s garden. A sharp pain stabbed behind my eyes as the world slowly came back into focus. I could feel the Red Queen’s mask in my hand. I was relieved it hadn’t become stuck to my face or something creepy like that. My eyes darted around, making sure the Red Queen hadn’t hitched a ride back with me. Thankfully, I only saw my friends and Fausto.
Ren stared at me with horror.
“Dude,” Hondo said. “You look…kinda sick and pale and sweaty.”
“You guys can see me?” I asked.
“You’re not a ghost, idiot,” Quinn said.
“Phew—glad it worked.” Fausto rubbed his brow. “Hate to mess up my ninety-percent perfection rate.”
“Ninety?!” I thought Brooks might lunge for the guy’s throat. “What happened to one hundred?”
“I’m really bad with numbers, okay?”
“How do you feel?” Brooks knelt next to me, biting her lower lip. “You just vanished. What happened?”
“I feel like I was crushed under an eighteen-wheeler.” I checked for my pulse. Relief flooded my body when I could feel the thump, thump, thump. I got to my feet shakily, leaning on Fuego. “I saw her—the Red Queen.” I didn’t tell them about our little Q and A session. It would only raise suspicions.
Hondo said, “A D-E-A-D queen in a tomb? Bro, that’s seriously creepy.”
Brooks didn’t take her eyes off me and I could tell she was thinking I was hiding something.
“You should plan to stay the night here,” Fausto said.
Hondo looked like he was about to argue, when Quinn put her hand on my shoulder and said, “You’re going to be exhausted and weak for a while. It’s part of the death magic. And everyone else should rest, too. We can leave at dawn.”
“Less than three days, two rescues?” Hondo muttered, dragging his hands down his face. He didn’t say the word I knew was on the tip of his tongue. Impossible.
Rosie came over, sniffed me, then backed up with a growl. A thin trail of smoke floated from her eyes.
“Hey, girl, it’s me.” I stretched out a trembling hand, which only made her retreat farther. I felt suddenly hollow, like someone had carved out my insides.
Brooks patted Rosie reassuringly and whispered something in her ear. Ren narrowed her gaze and studied me like she could see something the others couldn’t. But I was too tired to ask her what it was.
We made our way through the dim orchard toward the house. As we slipped between the gloomy shadows, my heart felt so small I wasn’t sure it was there anymore. I knew what I had to do. And everyone was going to hate me for it.
* * *
Hurakan’s voice echoed across my dream. Run, Zane. Far away. And don’t look back.
I woke up in a cold sweat. “Hurakan?”
There was no answer.
The clock on the nightstand read 4:03 a.m. I peered through the dark at the small bedroom. The stone walls pressed in on me. There was no window and the air felt thin, like I was trapped in a coffin.
Dawn would be here soon. It was time to go. So, I got up, grabbed my shoes and Fuego, and started for the door. I stopped by the wall mi
rror and took a peek. Crap! I looked worse than I had earlier. My face was pale and my eyes were sunken, shaded by dark circles. I basically looked like a walking zombie with super-chapped lips.
The good news (if there was any) was that I didn’t feel sick. As a matter of fact, I felt rested and ready to do this thing. I’d used Fausto’s computer the night before to email my mom that we were all okay and to google images of New Mexico. Every picture confirmed that the godborns had to be in the southern part of the state. Of all the places in all the world, I couldn’t figure out why the abductors would take them to where I used to live.
Next, I’d done some research on Land’s End. I’d found out that it could be a place in England (though I doubted a Maya fire keeper would hole up there) or San Francisco (a possibility). It could also be a clothing store (but I was pretty sure the Fire Keeper didn’t live in a retail outlet). My last choice was the southernmost tip of the Baja Peninsula, also known as the Arch of Cabo San Lucas, where the Sea of Cortés and the Pacific Ocean meet. I figured Land’s End had to be Cabo. The Red Queen had said where two worlds meet—and, hey, oceans were the same thing as worlds.
I’d given this plenty of thought. If the Fire Keeper could see people and places like Hurakan described, he could tell me the exact location of the godborns. Then I would ask him to change the future to one where I rescued them and Hurakan. I know what you’re thinking—it was a big risk on an even bigger if. But there was a reason the Fire Keeper had been whispering to me and had given instructions to the Red Queen, right? Plus, when I’d asked Her Majesty if the Fire Keeper could change the future, she had said, Indeed, as in yes, definitely, done deal. Or, as Hondo would say, Slam dunk!
With my hand on the doorknob, I froze. Guilt gnawed at me. Here I was leaving in the middle of the night like some kind of deserter while everyone slept.
I’d sat through dinner, picking at my chicken wings, sure Brooks knew that something was wrong. After dinner, she’d asked me point-blank why I was being so quiet. I’d just blamed it on the death magic, but I could tell she didn’t totally believe me.
Look, what choice did I have? I knew she and Hondo and even Rosie would never let me leave without them. The bottom line was, I couldn’t risk curses on their heads. But I couldn’t leave without saying good-bye, either. I snagged a piece of paper and pencil nub out of the nightstand.
Hey guys,
When you read this, I’ll be long gone, and you’ll be hating me pretty hard. I’m sorry. I can’t take you with me. If I did, you’d be cursed, and I can’t let that happen. I didn’t make the rules. Please don’t worry. This is a genius, for-sure plan. I’ll meet you back on the isla.
I didn’t know what else to say, and I suddenly felt hollow and alone. I stalked down the hall and stood outside Brooks’s door. Carefully, I slipped into her room. My eyes cut through the dark until I found what I was looking for: the backpack slumped at the foot of her bed. Silently, I stalked over, squatted, and holding my breath, unzipped the pack tooth by tooth. I only hoped she hadn’t given the gateway map to Quinn yet. Relief flooded my chest when I found it.
Brooks rolled over with a loud exhale.
I froze. My heart thudded in my ears. If she caught me in here, checking out the gateway map so I could sneak off without her, I wouldn’t have to worry about the death magic becoming permanent. She’d kill me herself.
The map flashed to life with blinking squares so bright I was sure they’d wake Brooks. Good thing she slept like a vampire. There was a gateway opening at a bus station about a mile away. From experience (which wasn’t much), I figured the gateway would likely be closing in about forty-five minutes. I could get there in fifteen. That would give me a window of error. I put the map back so they’d have a way to get home.
I stood and went to the door, stopping only to leave the note on the dresser. I didn’t risk a glance at Brooks. I knew without looking that her face was hidden behind a heap of tangles and her arms were thrown up over her head, because that’s how she always slept. Like someone ready to spring and pounce.
Outside, mist crept over the silent earth like ghost breath. I had no idea where Rosie had decided to curl up last night and all I kept thinking was Please don’t be at the gate.
I swept past the hanging masks, careful not to disturb them, because who knew what kinds of powers they had. I mean, if the Red Queen’s mask could make me dead, what could the battle masks and ceremonial masks do?
My eyes darted around the dark, waiting for Rosie to leap out and pin me to the ground while she howled for everyone to wake up. Luckily, she was nowhere to be seen, which was weird, since she had the sharpest senses in the universe. My dog could sniff out a cockroach ten miles away. As I opened the door to the street, I thought, This was too easy, and something about that made me muy nervioso.
A shifting shadow drew my attention. I stopped in midstep just as an orange cat slinked from behind a flowerpot and hissed at me. The air sparked and shimmered around the cat until it was…
“Quinn?”
“Going somewhere?”
For a split second, I wondered if I could lie to her and get away with it. Probably not. “Uh…since when are you a cat?”
“I take all sorts of forms, but the smaller the form, the less energy I have to use. And like I told you, I’m not exactly myself these days.”
I remembered Brooks explaining that a lot of shape-shifters can take a bunch of different forms and she was bummed because she could only shift into a hawk.
“You can’t stop me,” I said.
“You said you’d keep Brooks safe, Obispo.”
“This is me keeping her safe. You have to trust me.” I wanted to tell her Don’t worry—I can change the future. Okay, technically the Fire Keeper could, but the Red Queen had said I was connected to him in powerful ways. And the best part of my plan was that no one had to storm a castle and get killed.
I thought Quinn would stick me in a headlock and drag me back into El Grito. “I do trust you,” she said. “The Red Queen must have told you something big enough that you’re willing to leave your team behind.”
I nodded as a terrible bitterness clenched my insides. “She did. It’s foolproof.”
Quinn smirked. “My dad used to tell me anyone who believes something is foolproof is likely to be proven a fool.”
“If you’re here to try and stop me, don’t.”
“I’m not. I’m here to tell you something.” Quinn shifted uneasily. “I shouldn’t, but it’s rotten not to, and if it were me, I’d want to know.”
Why did I have the feeling that whatever she said next was going to change the course of everything forever? “Know what?”
“Your dad…he’s not going to be transferred.”
“They’re leaving him where he is?”
She shook her head slowly. “He’s going to be executed.”
A cold terror climbed up my legs, and a lump the size of a glacier formed in my throat. I couldn’t breathe, couldn’t think, couldn’t stop my eyes from stinging. “No! Why? Ixtab said they’d never kill him—that they…they might need his powers someday.”
“Seems they’ve changed their minds,” she said. “Invitations have already been delivered. They want to make this execution public.”
Right, because the last time they’d scheduled an execution it was for Pacific, the goddess of time. My dad had rescued her and sent her into hiding deep under the ocean. My stomach churned. Only the gods would send out invites to an execution! (Like I said, they’re total and complete jerks.)
Quinn handed me a piece of paper. “I’m sorry.”
I read the invitation silently.
BEHEADING PARTY!
YOU’RE INVITED TO THE EXECUTION OF THE HEART OF THE SKY,
ONE-LEG, OTHERWISE KNOWN AS THE TRAITOR HURAKAN
MARCH 24
ROASTING BEGINS AT ELEVEN P.M. SHARP.
BRING YOUR BEST AND WORST HURAKAN STORIES
EXECUTION WILL TAKE PLACE AT MIDNI
GHT
PYRAMID OF THE MAGICIAN
So they’d changed his transfer date to an execution date. My hand trembled and a sharp pain shot up my godborn leg. I handed the invite back to Quinn. “Why are you telling me now?”
“Because it might change what you do next. If it were me, I’d want to know before I did whatever it is you’re about to do.”
“My dad doesn’t deserve to die just because he broke some stupid oath.” Why had the gods changed their minds? And why were they so scared of godborns, anyway? Now more than ever I knew I had to get to the Fire Keeper. He had to stop my dad’s execution.
“A lot of people don’t deserve a lot of things, Zane.” Her expression tightened. “Just make sure you have a backup plan. No matter how foolproof you think this one is.”
She sounded like Brooks, and she was right. What if the Fire Keeper could only alter one future event, or what if I couldn’t find him, or…No. He had whispered to me. The Red Queen had said he would help.
“Can you do me a favor?” I asked. “Can you make sure Brooks doesn’t hate me…for leaving?”
Quinn let out a light laugh. “As if I could control anything my sister feels or does.”
Despite Quinn’s rough edges, I could tell she loved her sister. I guess that was why she’d let Brooks keep the map.
Glancing up at the sky, she added, “But if anything happens to her, I’ll hunt you down and peck out your eyes.”
“Aren’t you going to be with her?”
“I have to leave.”
My stomach rolled over. “To go where?”
“You don’t really think I’m going to answer that, do you?” She shifted into a cat and darted off into a dark alley.
“Quinn, wait!” But there was no sign of her.
Now I felt even more guilty for leaving Brooks, Hondo, and Ren behind. Quinn could have helped protect and guide them. But then I realized that I was the one who posed the threat to them, and that made me feel even worse than guilty.
Well, at least they had each other and the gateway map. They could get back to Holbox, where it was safe.
The Fire Keeper Page 17