I froze.
Ixkik’! Blood Moon. The wicked underworld mom to even wickeder twins.
I spun in a circle. My heart thrashed like it was on a mission to punch a hole in my chest. Then, slowly, the fog lifted like a stage curtain. Except I didn’t want to see this stage. A sick feeling roiled through me.
“It was so tempting to just watch you drown,” Ixkik’ said with a sigh.
I was now standing on a fifteen-foot-long platform that was floating in the air at least five feet above the black sea. At the far end, a sludge-covered Alana was crab-walking toward her brother. Adrik sat up, shivering with a panicked look in his eyes as his sister pulled him to her, rubbing his arms to warm him up. Hondo stood over both of them, looking like he’d just taken a mud bath. His chest heaved as he gripped a stone ax that had to have come from the open pack near his feet. Around his neck, a plain jade face mask hung by a thin string.
What the heck? Where did he get that? And why was it perfectly clean? Had he just put it on?
The moment my uncle saw me, he let go of the ax, raced over, and tugged me into a near-smothering hug. His voice came out in an exhale of relief. “Zane, you’re okay. You’re okay.”
“How did you survive?” I held him tight, not wanting to let go. “Where are Brooks and Ren?” I searched the sky, but it was empty. Had Brooks gotten away? Had they…? No! I refused to think about them falling into the dark sea.
“Ixkik’!” I shouted.
“What a sweet reunion,” her voice echoed. “Now, how about we get down to business.”
Before Hondo released me, he whispered in my ear, “Protect the stone!”
What?! I blinked back the shock of his words. How did he know about the stone? Was this an in-the-know teacher thing? Forget about the stone! I wanted to shout. We need to keep our heads and get out of here alive. Heck, I didn’t even know where here was. Or how Blood Moon had found us. And how we were supposed to fight an invisible enemy.
“Enough with the theatrics!” Camazotz’s gravelly Dark Knight voice soared toward us on a gust. Then, within a ring of ash and shadow, the bat god materialized. All ten feet of him—a semi-human body with huge, hairy wings, slimy claws, and slitted reptilian eyes that blazed yellowish-green.
My chest seized. How had they found us? I thought water was supposed to throw gods off. And then I realized—they must have tracked Brooks, the hawk flying over the water.
Alana and Adrik, still clinging to each other, gasped as he loomed over them, his wings spread wide.
I’d hoped (dumb, I know) that I’d never have to see the bat god again. I stepped forward, slipping on the wet surface. “Let them go!” I yelled. “They have nothing to do with this!”
Hondo’s gaze flicked down to the ax he had dropped, and to his pack, as if he was trying to send me a message.
“Where’s your fire now?” Ixkik’ laughed lightly. “Did the darkness steal it from you?”
So that’s why I’d felt so cold inside and Fuego hadn’t flown back to my hand.
Zotz turned to face me and smiled wickedly, showing all his fangs. The tiny bat mouths on the undersides of his leathery wings snapped hungrily. My stomach turned in on itself.
“It’s been a while, Zane,” he said, stroking his chin with curled claws.
Adrik kept his eyes on Zotz, never blinking. Okay, so if I managed to get out of this alive, Ixtab was going to gut me, because the hairs on Adrik’s and Alana’s heads had definitely been touched.
Ixkik’ sighed, and I cocked my head, trying to figure out where the sound had come from. What was her deal with always hidey-holing? She’d done the same thing back at the Pyramid of the Magician. She could pass me on the street or bump into me at the mall and I would have zero idea it was her. And that made her more dangerous than Zotz.
“I’d like to be forthcoming, Zane,” said the bat god. “Can we be forthcoming?”
I braced myself, knowing I wasn’t going to like what he had to say. I waited, my senses on high alert for any weakness, any opening to escape this madness. “Okay,” I said. As long as he was talking, he wasn’t clawing out my heart.
“Good,” he said. “Ixkik’ is quite impatient. I agree it would have been so satisfying to watch the darkness devour you. Especially after you sidestepped Iktan and managed to thwart my plans for a second time.” His eyes flashed as he clapped his wings. “Bravo. I really do applaud the effort. I had hoped our next meeting would be different…. No, not different—excruciating. But I must play the hand I have been dealt. So, without further ado, I am going to ask you a question. I want you to be very careful in how you answer. Do you understand?”
I nodded, swallowing the burning lump in my throat. I glanced up at the sky and saw a faint glimmer of silvery blue. Brooks?
“Good,” the bat god said gleefully. “Let’s begin. Where is the stone?”
No one said a word. It was like that moment in math class when your teacher asks for a volunteer to go up to the chalkboard to work out a problem. And even if you know the answer, no way are you going to raise your hand, because who wa
nts to be a show-off and solve an equation in front of everyone?