“The books’ pages will soon be destroyed, severing the magical connection, and ten godborns have already been taken and hidden from us. You received those mental images for a reason. You must be the one to rescue them.”
“Rescue?” Pump the brakes. Who said anything about a rescue? “Me?” I dropped the oar into Blood River. “Oops.”
Ixtab waved her hand and the boat stopped. “Yes, you,” she said.
“Why do you even care about the godborns’ welfare?” How did I know she wasn’t tricking me into rescuing them so she could use them for some other evil purpose?
What can I say? Once I get started, my imagination runs away with me. But, hey, those were seriously valid points, given that she was the queen of trickery. I don’t know why I bothered asking, though. She was a pro at giving only crumbs of information, making you think you’re in the know when really you’re just wandering around in the dark.
Ixtab raised an eyebrow. “Because you put them in this predicament.”
Sometimes the truth sucks.
I tried to deflect it. “Is it because you have a kid out there?”
Ixtab didn’t even flinch. Nor did she give me a fiery blink or a stony stare. Just: “Remember who you’re talking to, godborn. Try to stay on track for once—and that track is rescuing the godborns.”
Right. But how was I supposed to rescue the godborns and Hurakan? Yeah, I know, I owed them for getting them into this lousy mess, but I couldn’t give up my one opportunity to save my dad, could I? He was being transferred in three human-world days (who knew how much time had passed while we were in Xib’alb’a), and I might never get this chance again.
“I—I—” The realization hit me between the eyes mid-stutter. “Wait a second. What happened to me staying off the grid?”
“I have a solution for that.”
Was this my ticket to freedom? Hondo had taught me tons about fighting—both physically and with the mind. If he were here, I knew he’d tell me that in battle you look for advantages. And I was being handed one on a silver platter. Next he’d tell me that alliances matter—who you side with can mean the difference between defeat or victory. And last he’d say, There are two kinds of battles. Those that are won, and those that are lost. The winner is always the one who is best at deception.
You’re probably rolling your eyes, thinking, No way can you outdeceive the goddess of the underworld. Maybe not, but I could at least try negotiating.
“I’ll help…. My friends and I will rescue the godborns. But I want something in return.”
Ixtab narrowed her eyes. “Go on.”
I swallowed hard, hoping she wouldn’t shove me into the blood. “You need to bust my dad out of prison.”
“Ah.” Ixtab closed her eyes and took a deep breath before opening them. “I’m sorry, but I cannot help you there.”
“Why not? A rescue for a rescue. It’s totally fair. Can’t you just send some of your demons to do it?”
“Who cares about fair? Fair is you saving those whom you have put at grave risk. Fair is allowing me to take a couple weeks of vacation. Fair is…” She tilted her head and softened her voice. “Even if I were willing to save your father, how long do you think it would take the other gods to determine I was the one who defied t
hem? I’d lose not only my crown but the head wearing it, and you’d spend the rest of your life running in fear. Is that what you want?”
“What I want?” Ribbons of steam began to rise off the river. “I didn’t want any of this!”
“So it is with destiny,” Ixtab said with no sympathy in her tone.
I swallowed my anger and took a deep breath, but it was difficult in the humid air. “What about the other gods who helped me? Like Kukuulkaan. Once the gods read my story, they knew he betrayed them, right? Did anything bad happen to him?”
“No, because I tore out certain pages.”
“To protect him? Because he’s your friend?”
“Because I need his vote on the council.” She plunged her hand in the river and muttered something I couldn’t hear. The blood boiled. Red steam billowed out of it in a vortex, and bright orange flames shot from the top. “Place your hand in the river,” she said.
It took a nanosecond for her words to reach the logical part of my brain. “No way! That’s, like, thousand-year-old blood and…” The burning instinct to run flooded every cell in my body. But there was nowhere to go, nowhere to hide.
Ixtab sighed and waved her hand. Gone was the sulfur smell, replaced with the scent of the desert after a summer rain. The blood turned to crystal blue water, like the Caribbean, and I suddenly missed my island.
I peered into the water. No piranhas or other flesh-eating monsters. As a matter of fact, it was totally clear and empty. “How do I know that this isn’t a hallucination and the water isn’t really blood and some monster isn’t lurking down there, waiting to eat me for lunch?”