“Oh,” Hondo said, smashing the now-empty Cheetos bag. “That sounds better.”
I leaned closer to Brooks. “If you don’t want to go, I get it.”
Brooks twisted her hair around her pinkie. “You’ll need to bring them a gift.”
“Why?” Hondo asked. “Is that like some kind of honoring-the-king thing?”
“Not a king thing—a birthday thing. Tomorrow’s their birthday,” Brooks said. Then she mumbled, “Trust me, they don’t even deserve a birthday.”
Trust? Ms. Cab had said not to trust Brooks. I’d ignored the advice, because I didn’t want it to be true. But I suspected Brooks wasn’t telling me everything. She’d been weirdly quiet at Ms. Cab’s, and I could tell wheels were turning in her mind.
But what choice did I have? Brooks knew important stuff I didn’t. And we didn’t have time to argue. I had to trust her. I rolled up the map and headed for the door.
Brooks caught me, grabbed my arm, and twisted me around. “Zane, are you one hundred percent sure you want to do this? No one ever leaves without owing them something.”
She released her hand quickly, probably thinking I would jump into her mind.
“I already owe a debt to Ah-Puch, and after tonight we only have two moons to change that,” I said more boldly than I felt. “We have to try.”
She twisted her mouth to the side and let out a long breath. “You risked your life for me, made a d—” She stopped herself before spilling any more to Hondo. “Okay… I’ll take you there. It’s the least I can do.”
“You don’t have to,” I said, feeling suddenly guilty. “I mean, I want you to come, but if—”
“You’ll never get in without me. Let’s just hope we don’t run into any more demons.”
“I know you’re scared….”
“I’m not scared, Obispo. I’ve lost all my demon-tormenting flashlights and I’m not about to go back to that cave to retrieve them.” She tucked a piece of hair behind her ear. “Now about this map….”
“Are we using a magical gateway?” Hondo’s eyebrows shot up.
Brooks said, “There aren’t any close enough.”
“How do you know?” I asked. “Did you… You learned how to read the map?”
“No, I… I mean, I told you I could probably figure it out and…” She sighed and unfolded the map. “See how it’s in panels?” she said. “Well, when folded the right way, the hieroglyphs connect and their meanings change, so it’s always fluctuating. But if you follow this blue line…”
Hondo and I leaned closer, trying to follow.
“It travels to California, right?” she said. “But there aren’t any flashing gateways between here and there. The closest one is in Texas, which would lead us to the North Pole, and…” She folded the panels a different way, giving us a new view. “
Once there, we’d have to go to Iceland….”
“What? No direct flights?” Hondo said. “What a rip-off.”
“Okay, okay,” I said, my head spinning. “I get it. We’ll have to drive.”
Brooks nodded. “But we need to be there by nine p.m. if you want to see the twins. Or else you’ll have to wait another day, and we don’t have that kind of time.”
“What’s so special about nine?”
“Doors close after that.”
“How do you know?”
Brooks rolled her eyes. “Their birthday is, like, a universal event, and invitations went out. I… I sort of got one.”
Hondo nodded slowly, and grinned. “So you’re an it girl. Niiiice.”