Rosie.
Yes!
Fake Cab looked around wildly like she could sense Rosie, too.
“Now!” she screamed to the insects.
A second later, Rosie stalked around the corner, smoke curling from her nose as she grunted wildly. Right behind my hellhound was Brooks, her eyes ablaze. “Where’s Zane?”
If she’d only looked down, she would have seen me frozen like a wax statue on the ground.
The winged beetles lifted in a frenzy, and I could feel pinpricks in my hands like I was thawing out. But it wasn’t happening fast enough. In a flurry of arm gestures, Monster Cab directed the insects back into the stuffed bird’s chest.
“¡Ándale!” she cried as she closed up the bird’s chest with a single tap of her bracelet. Then she tossed the bird into the air, and the thing flew away.
“Tell me!” Brooks hollered. “Or I release the hellhound.”
Cab inched back and began to pant. She swayed, clutched her stomach. Her eyes grew three sizes too big. “What’s happening? Where am I?” She rubbed her forehead nervously. Was she turning back into the real Ms. Cab?
I heard footsteps. Clipped and confident. Mr. O appeared, carrying a paper sack. “I brought mangoes,” he announced cheerily.
“Get back, Mr. Ortiz!” Brooks ordered.
“Zane?” Ms. Cab rushed over to me. “When did you get here? Are you all right?”
My words finally came. “No! You just tried to freeze me and feed me to your bugs!”
Ms. Cab shook her head. “What are you talking about? Why would I do such a thing?”
Brooks noticed me for the first time. “Zane! You okay?”
I managed a small nod as Brooks’s eyes flew back to Ms. Cab.
Mr. O asked, “Por qué you are on the floor?”
With an epic roar, Rosie lunged twenty feet and landed within a foot of me and Ms. Cab.
“Rosie?” Ms. Cab said softly.
Brooks stood at my dog’s side scowling.
A dangerous growl sounded from Rosie’s throat. Brooks leaned closer, keeping her hawk eyes leveled on Ms. Cab. Then, in an even but angry voice, she said, “DEAD.”
Flames erupted from Rosie’s eyes and mouth. I rolled to my knees.
Just in time to see a cyclone of blue fire swallow Ms. Cab.
Mr. O cried, “¡Mi amor!”
Mangoes tumbled across the patio. Birds scattered from the trees. Bright blue flames engulfed Ms. Cab as her screams rose into the air.
“No!” I threw myself on top of her to try to extinguish the blaze. The moment I grabbed hold of her, the flames twisted tightly around me, a hurricane of heat. I could feel my strength returning, and all the cold melted away as the fire raced through my blood, healing me.
But where was Ms. Cab? Time slowed—maybe it stopped. The blue fire began to pulse. And then came the same whispering voice I’d heard last night.
Eating the chocolate was a bad idea.
Who are you? I asked telepathically.