The Fire Keeper

by J. C. Cervantes

  Ignoring him, Ren asked me, “What happened to Fuego?”

  “I…I broke him…. I had to.” I told her and Ah-Puch what had happened.

  Ren paced. “So, whoever’s behind stealing godborns, getting your dad executed, draining Maya magic…it’s all for some war?”

  “They’re taking out all the Maya weapons.” I sounded like Hondo, except he probably would have figured all this out sooner.

  “It’s what I would do,” Ah-Puch said. “Brilliant strategy, if you ask me.”

  My eyes met his. “How do I know you’re not a part of all this?”

  “Because whoever is behind it can’t free me,” he said. “I align with whoever can benefit me most, and right now that’s you.”

  “Then what would be your next move?” I asked, figuring I might as well pick the twisted god’s brain. If anyone knew a villain’s mind, it was Ah-Puch.

  He seemed surprised by the question. “Do the unexpected.”

  “Zane already has done the unexpected,” said Ren, “by feeding the Fire Keeper’s flame.”

  “I only bought us some time,” I said, glancing at the wall clock. The second hand wasn’t ticking. “Their powers aren’t permanent—yet.”

  “This kind of mastermind will have a backup for every contingency,” Ah-Puch said.

  “Could it be Zotz?”

  “Camazotz is a natural-born killer,” Ah-Puch said. “He is cunning and smart, but he’s not this smart. If he’s behind it, he’s working with someone, and whoever that is, they know the Maya gods will call on any and all magic to win, which is why they are destroying it all.”

  Ren scowled. “Those Maya gods have a lot of nerve if they think they can call on godborns to help after how mean they’ve been to us.”

  Just then, the door swung open.

  We all recoiled.

  Two stocky resort security guards stood there, guns pointed at us. “¡Pongan sus manos sobre sus cabezas! Están bajo arresto,” the bald one said.

  “What are the charges?” Ah-Puch growled like he’d had experience in getting arrested.

  “Robo. Incendio provocado. Fraude.”

  “I told you we shouldn’t have stolen that boat,” I said with a groan, putting my hands behind my head.

  “Or fried those bats,” Ren said, eyeing Rosie.

  Ah-Puch backed up with his hands in the air. “I am the great Maya god of death, darkness, and destruction, and if you don’t want to wear a curse for a millennium, you should let us go.”

  One of the guards lifted his walkie-talkie and spoke angrily, spitting projectile loogies. He was probably asking for backup from the loony bin. Then the bald guard scowled and shouted at us. His gun was still pointed.

  Ren inched backward. “I’m not going to jail.”

  Rosie snorted clouds of smoke and snarled savagely. But all these guards saw was an angry three-legged boxmatian who was no threat against a gun. If only I could ask her to launch fire…but these guys were human. I couldn’t incinerate them just for doing their job.

  Ren asked Ah-Puch, “How about opening a gateway and getting us out of here?”

  “I’m too weak for that.”

  “What?!” I shouted. “Ugh! Then we have to storm the guards. We can handle them, Ren. You take the smaller dude on the right.”

  “There is no smaller dude,” she said. “They’re both huge and, um, they have guns.”

  “Then how about some shadows to, like, knock them out or smother them or something?”

  “¡Silencio!” the bald dude ordered.

  Ren’s worried expression told me she was less than confident she could get the shadows to listen to her, but she closed her eyes, clenched her fists, and muttered things I couldn’t make out. A couple of morning shadows swayed, began to rise, then went kaput. Ren shook out her hands. “I need quiet!”

  The guards approached us cautiously, guns still pointed, handcuffs swinging from their belt loops.

  “Rosie can get us out of here,” I said in a low voice, keeping my eyes on the guards. “On the count of three.”

  Everything happened faster than thought. Before I knew it, we were all on Rosie’s back, bolting out the door to the beach. There was shouting. The guards chased after us, but Rosie was hell-on-wheels fast.

  “Go, Rosie!” I shouted from the back.

  Ah-Puch was in the middle, shouting things like “I will not perish at the hands of security guards!” Then: “Get us to the cliffs.”

  Cliffs? He’d rather splatter all over some rocks?

  We were cut off at the pass by a new set of guards on dirt bikes. Rosie took a sharp right and raced down a space between two buildings that opened up to a seaside cliff. She came to a halt at the end of the alley. At the same moment, a helicopter approached and circled overhead. I’d seen lots of outcomes for this quest in my mind, but never this—being caught on top of a cliff and wanted for theft, arson, and fraud!

  “We’re trapped!” Ren shouted.

  The helicopter’s rotor spun wildly, pushing down a warm and biting wind. Some guy leaned out of it with a huge camera hoisted over his shoulder.

  The guards were right behind us, racing forward on their bikes.

  “What do we do?” Ren shouted over the helicopter’s whirring blades.

  “We will have to combine our strength,” Ah-Puch cried. “It will take tremendous concentration and—”His words cut off as he patted Rosie’s ribs and my dog took off to the edge of the cliff.

  Seriously? She was taking orders from the god of death now?

  I was about to argue against death by splatter, when a deep buzzing began in my feet. It snaked up my legs, spreading into my stomach and across my chest. Rosie left us at the cliff’s edge, then spun back to face and probably distract the guards. I looked down. The ocean was at least ten feet beyond a colossal rocky outcropping that equaled sure and sudden demise.

  The guards were off their motorcycles now, guns pointed. “¡Alto!”

  And then Rosie released a growl that would rival a dragon’s. Here’s where things got really weird, because the guards screamed, the helicopter nearly spun out of control, and steam rose off Rosie’s massive body. I knew then that they, as in everyone, could see her as the hellhound she was. Since when could she show her hellish side to humans?

  Ah-Puch gripped my hand and tugged me and Ren closer to the edge.

  Do you feel it? Ah-Puch asked.

  Yes, Ren and I said together. The electrical current was like some kind of shared energy or magnetic pull binding us together. The rushing air pounded us. I looked over my shoulder to see Rosie holding off the guards.

  Now imagine a place in New Mexico you know the best, Ah-Puch said, jerking my attention back.

  No, we have to go directly to the godborns!

  For this to work, you have to have spent a lot of time where we’re going.

  Ren said, Hurry!

  I pictured the mesa where the Beast used to be. Now what?

  Jump!

  The three of us plummeted toward the rocks a few hundred feet below, and all I kept thinking was I just jumped off a cliff because the god of death told me to.

  “Open the gateway!” Ren screamed.

  Concentrate harder! Ah-Puch said, still managing to grip our hands. It was as if the current that ran through us also tied us together with some kind of invisible rope.

  At the same moment, Rosie’s howl echoed. She tumbled through the air toward us.

  “Focus!” Ah-Puch shouted.

  Ren’s way-too-calm voice broke into my mind. Zane, don’t look down.

  Right, easy for her to say. Or maybe not. I mean, she was headed toward Splatsville, too. How was she talking to me telepathically? We weren’t even touching, because Ah-Puch was between us.

  Suddenly, a shadow spread beneath us, blocking our view of the ground. Not exactly helpful, since we were still falling toward certain death…Then the air shifted—or maybe thickened is the right word, because it seemed to wrap tightly a
round us, slowing our descent. But how was that possible? It wasn’t enough to land us safely but enough to buy us time before our skulls were crushed.

  Ren?

  Just imagine the volcano. Her words were rushed but calm. You know it better than anyone.

  I forced my eyes closed, bringing up images of the New Mexico mesa with all its trails. We continued to plunge. Then Hondo’s voice broke through my memories: You have to visualize the outcome you want. You have to feel it.

  Focus. Focus. Focus.

  Warm sun and thick dry air.

  A coyote’s distant howl.

  The smell of creosote like desert rain.

  Bam. We landed with a crash, thunk, and Oof, my back! (That last one was Ah-Puch.)

  I opened my eyes and sat up. A sharp pain radiated down my right side. But I smiled anyway. “Woot!” I shouted. “We made it. We’re alive!”

  “That was better than the time I bungee-jumped off a bridge,” Ren said while Ah-Puch cursed up a storm about busted spines and broken spirits. Rosie nudged me with her giant paw, like she was saying I know this place. Get up. Let’s explore.

  I scanned the area. Silvery brush dotted the desert leading to the base of the Beast. This was the fake one Ixtab had made so people wouldn’t freak and wonder how the heck a whole volcano had disappeared. I had to give Ixtab credit: the volcano was a perfect duplicate, down to the squatty cactus with thorny spines and the zigzagging trail that led to my secret entrance inside.

  As I searched the horizon, my heart sank. The houses that used to belong to Mr. Ortiz, Ms. Cab, and my family were nothing but piles of rotted wood, destroyed in the flood Ixtab had sent. Too many emotions battled inside me, and all I was left with was a weird kind of sadness at how fast a life can just disappear.

  The sun was halfway across the sky, which told me it was close to noon. I only had part of today and tomorrow before Hurakan was scheduled for execution and I had to get back to the underworld.

  Ren swept sand off her back and yanked mesquite twigs from her hair, which was now sticking up in every direction. Her right cheek had a short, jagged cut. Rosie healed it with a slobbery lick that made Ren giggle.

  Ah-Puch groaned as he rolled over, sucking wind. Ren was at his side in two seconds, helping him sit up. She asked the question that was on the tip of my tongue: “How did we do that? I mean, the shadow…And, Zane”—her eyes slid to mine—“you opened a gateway!”

  “We bound our magic together,” Ah-Puch said with an annoyed tone. “Well, technically, I did it. And the connection made…” He inhaled sharply and winced. “It made our power stronger.” He leveled us with a threatening stare. “It’s an ancient godly secret, and if you ever tell anyone I showed it to you, I will rip out your spines and send you spiraling into the darkest depths of Xib’alb’a.”

  Ah-Puch’s threat didn’t even faze Ren. She stared at her open hands, smiling. “I felt, like, electricity between us.”

  “Is that how you made the shadows listen to you?” I asked. “They slowed our fall, right?”

  “I don’t know. I just focused really hard and I imagined them and there they were.” She shrugged. “Like Hondo taught me.”

  “This is so very cruel.” Ah-Puch shook his balding head. “Bitter and cruel, forcing me to return to my four-hundred-year-old prison—with godborns, no less.” He turned his back to the volcano.

  “This isn’t the real volcano, A.P.,” Ren said, trying to make him feel better. She wandered a few feet away, checking things out.

  “We’ve got to get to the others—now.”

  “I need a moment’s rest.” Ah-Puch coughed. “Though I really hate this place.”

  “Zane?” Ren’s voice quivered.

  I went over to where she was pointing at the sand. There were several rounded paw prints (like those of a massive wolf) with four long claws on each. But they were staggered in such a way I wasn’t sure that whatever made these prints had four legs.

  Rosie growled, foam oozing from her mouth as she sniffed and scratched at each.

  “Hellhound?” I guessed.

  “Aliens,” Ren whispered.

  “Neither.” Ah-Puch stood next to us. He tilted his head and took a deep breath. “Smells like Ahuitzotl.” He pronounced it Ah-weet-so-tul.

  “What’s that?” Ren’s eyes widened, but not from fear—more like fascination.

  “A Mexica water monster with an ugly, lopsided face, spiked fur along its spine, and a lizard tail with a freakish hand at the end to drag around its screaming victims.”

  “Victims?” Ren’s eyes widened.

  “Ahuitzotl likes to eat humans—especially nails, eyes, and teeth.” Then, more to himself, he muttered, “So, someone found a way to bring back the monsters….”

  My heart pounded in my ears. “Why was it here?”

  Ren nodded. “And where did it go?”

  Rosie sniffed the ground ferociously, each breath getting shorter and more pronounced until she poked her head beneath a mesquite bush. She let out a long woeful whine, backing out with something in her mouth. Please don’t be a hand or a foot or an eyeball, I thought.

  “What’d you find, girl?”

  In her mouth was one of Brooks’s demon-fighting flashlights, and it was still on (in non-demon-killing mode), which told me it had been dropped recently. The shock hit me like a sledgehammer to the gut, and my knees nearly gave out. It was impossible. Brooks had come here. How?

  I scrambled beneath the bush and came back with her torn backpack. The gateway map was still inside. She would never have left this behind. Not unless she was forced to.

  That’s when I noticed, beyond the bush, a cow skull stuck on top of a branch that had been rammed into the earth. Something was attached to the skull. I tried to hurry over for a better look but was slowed down by my limp. I’d gotten so used to walking straight and fast with the help of Fuego, I’d forgotten what this felt like. Drawing closer, I saw what was tied to the skull. A brown hawk feather. Brooks’s feather. And if she had been here, my guess was that Hondo had, too.

  I looked around frantically for their footprints. And then I saw the blood—a trail in the sand like it had just been spilled. My legs shook.

  “Where are they?!” I demanded from Ah-Puch, who now stood next to me. As if he had the answers.

  “That could be anyone’s blood,” he said.

  Rosie sniffed the fresh sangre, gave me a mournful look, then threw back her head and let out a howl.

  I held my breath. “Show me smoke if it’s Hondo’s blood and fire if it’s Brooks’s.”

  Rosie blinked as a plume of smoke trailed out of her nose.

  I fell to one knee.

  “Zane,” Ren said quietly, “you need to keep your cool…so we can think this through.”

  She sounded like Brooks. Always ready to make a plan, but what good were plans? They burned faster than brushwood no matter how hard you tried to keep them away from the fire.

  Heat pulsed painfully in my limbs. I was chasing a monster I didn’t know, an enemy without a face. And my uncle was hurt.

  “They were ambushed,” I hissed as I stood. Why hadn’t Brooks and Hondo listened and just gone home? “What if the monster…?” I didn’t even want to finish my thought.

  “It didn’t kill them,” Ah-Puch said.

  “How do you know?!”

  “Let me rephrase that. It didn’t kill them here. Because if it had, I would smell the leftover death,” he said, licking his lips hungrily. “Zane, think with the god part of your brain.”

  “But…how did this monster know they were here?” Ren asked.

  “We’re in enemy territory,” Ah-Puch said. “Security was probably set up, just in case Zane ever came back.”

  “That’s a big ‘in case,’” I said. It was like whoever was behind all this could see our every move.

  “The enemy is luring you to wherever they are. They are playing head games, relying on your ridiculous human emotions. It’s a trap. It’s
always been a trap. And now we need to figure out its trigger.”

  “Yeah, well, I know where they are,” I said, seeing the location of the godborns Antonio had planted in my brain. “They won’t be expecting that, and trap or not, we have to hurry. Or did you forget our deal?”

  Ah-Puch sighed. “Do you have exact coordinates? We have to be very precise about where we open the gateway. One wrong move and we may find ourselves right in the middle of the enemy’s den, which is not a place I plan to be.”

  I stuffed the map in my back pocket and walked my memory through the images Antonio had given me, including the trail that led to where the godborns were being kept. There was a shady tree-lined cliff that overlooked the valley campsite. I didn’t know if it would work, but I took hold of Ah-Puch’s elbow and opened my mind so he could see where we needed to go.

  “Something isn’t right with that forest,” he said.

  “What do you mean ‘not right’?” Ren asked.

  “I don’t know.” Ah-Puch groaned. “I blame it on the puny brain that’s feeding me these visions.”

  I didn’t bother wasting time with a comeback. “How far out will guards be posted?” I asked.

  Ah-Puch’s mouth tugged into a half grin. “Not guards. Magic. And I, for one, have a godly form to return to, so if you don’t mind, I’d rather not waltz into their little snare.”

  “We made a deal,” I reminded him. “So, if you really want that godly form back, we still have some rescuing to do.”

  He glared as his shoulders sagged with defeat. “Deals really are the devil when you’re on the weaker end,” he muttered.

  “How are we going to get inside with…with magic surrounding the place?” Ren asked.

  If Hondo were here, he’d say to visualize the outcome, then he’d ask for an arsenal of weapons and he’d go in swinging. Brooks would tell me to plan, to wait for the exact right time to strike. But when was that?

  “At least be on the lookout for the trap’s trigger,” Ah-Puch said. “I don’t want to get caught like a rat.”

  Just then, Brooks’s feather glistened in the sun. Golden specks of dust whirled around it like a mini Dirt Devil. I reached out.