“Who said anything about ‘want’ or ‘train’?” He folded his arms across his chest.
“Fine, but why did you tell me back on the boat that I’d control the fire soon?” I thought about the smoke that had trailed from my fingers to make a protective net around Ren. How my mind was on auto-don’t-die-pilot like it had been back in Xib’alb’a. Was that the secret? Was my power more of an instinct than a skill?
Ah-Puch buttoned his jacket with one hand. “Explaining it to you would be like explaining the universe to a beetle. I am not about to waste my precious short-lived energy on such a task. But I will give you this one free morsel of wisdom: Do not try to control the fire. Surrender to it.”
He was for sure loco. Loco and confusing, and I couldn’t believe I was even entertaining anything the god of death told me.
“Yeah, great advice,” I said. “I’ll just wave a white flag.”
“When I acted as the god of death, darkness, and destruction, I surrendered to the power of all three. I became one with each in order to reach my fullest potential. Does your human mustard seed of a brain get what I am telling you?”
My cheeks prickled with heat. “My dad said that if I didn’t release the fire it would destroy me, and now you’re telling me to surrender to it?” Maybe this was his way of doing me in for good.
His expression was blank. “What part don’t you understand?”
“How do I let it out and surrender at the same time?”
“You are half god. I suggest you start remembering that.” He clapped once. “Well, that’s all I’ve got, because I have to spend my vitality on sniffing out some answers while I still have this beautiful blood magic flowing through my veins.”
“Sniff?”
“I, the true ruler of the underworld, have the best tracking skills of any of the gods. How do you think I found all those souls trying to hide back when I was reaper? Surely I can unearth the dark mysteries surrounding those bats. And who knows? Maybe I can also find some clues about this Fire Keeper of yours.”
“No way. Not without me,” I said. I didn’t trust him on the loose in the real world. Who knew what kind of trouble he’d cause?
He shook his head. “You’ll only be a distraction. Besides, Ren’s right. You look awful. You need to”—he looked me up and down—“I don’t know…take another shower, brush your hair, get some sun.”
“It’s nighttime.”
“Just stick around here, in case more of Zotz’s minions head this way. It won’t take him long to realize his wretched bats haven’t returned with the gold.” He nodded toward Ren.
If Ah-Puch was right about who the bats reported to, Camazotz was just another disgruntled god hell-bent on revenge. Was he behind the kidnapping of the other godborns, too? What did he have planned? Something told me we’d only scratched the surface of however many layers deep this went into Maya madness.
“One hour,” I said.
I couldn’t put all my bets on Ah-Puch succeeding. I had to find my own way and fast.
After he left, I made a quick call to Mom from the hotel phone. Actually, I called the office, because I knew the phone would ring through to voice mail. Trust me, it made things easier if I didn’t have to talk to her live.
Mom’s cheery voice came on. “You’ve reached Maya Adventures. We’re closed right now, but if you leave a message after the tone, we’ll be sure to return your call just as soon as we can.” Her message was repeated in Spanish and then came the dreaded beep.
“Hey, Mom. It’s me, Zane.” What a stupid thing to say. “I, uh…Did you get my email? We’re all still okay and should be home soon…. Don’t be mad. It’s really important. I did some stuff, and now people are in trouble because of me, and I have to fix it. You always say I should try to fix my mistakes.” I took a shaky breath. Rosie’s dark eyes bored into me, and she let out a yelp. “Rosie says hi. Okay, that’s all. Light a candle for me. Bye.”
I hung up. Rosie licked her chops and let out a long breathy grunt that said She’s so going to kill you. Yeah, well, she could get in line behind Brooks and Hondo, and maybe even the godborns once they figured out it was my fault they’d been abducted. Then there was the mastermind (most likely Zotz) behind all this, who no doubt wanted to flay me. And let’s not forget the death magic that was starting to feel like a noose around my neck, tightening with every second.
Rosie and I headed outside to the fire pit that was already roaring, thanks to some unseen employee. A bar of moonlight glistened across the dark ocean in a trail of shimmering white.
“The Red Queen said to listen to the flame,” I told Rosie as I sat in a wicker chair, setting Fuego down as I leaned close to the fire. Rosie wagged her tail and dove into the pit, grabbing a burning log with her jaws.
“No fire fetch now, girl.”
Rosie dropped the log back in, snorted a trail of smoke, and settled onto her belly. The fire crackled and sparked.
“Hello?” I said, now sticking my head into the pit. Maybe I had to be super close to hear the message. (Do not try this at home.)
A tiny flame leaped out of the pit.
I jerked backward and saw it land on a side glass table, where it fizzled, but not before I noticed a leather binder sitting there. Inside were pages of Cabo tour sites and activities.