My heart crawled up my throat.
Jordan (aka the evil hero twin Xb’alamkej) stepped around the pole and stood in front of me. Yep, he looked just as tall, just as ferocious, just as cruel as the first time I’d met him at his magic mafia fiesta back in Los Angeles, except he’d swapped his dark suit for a gray long-sleeved T-shirt and a pair of dark jeans.
“You?” I choked out. “You’re the one who took the godborns? You’re supposed to be—”
“Poisoned and paralyzed by La Muerta? Suffocated and crushed between Usukun’s greasy wings?” Jordan ground out the words like he’d been practicing this for a while. “Left to rot in a cage made of blood and bones?” He wrapped his large hand around my throat. His ring stabbed my skin. His black eyes were cold and flat as river stones. “I could snap your neck right now.”
So Jordan was the traitor Antonio had warned me about. A godborn who was a traitor to other godborns, casting a bad light on all of us.
A column of colorless dust rose from the ground. Out of it stepped Bird, Jordan’s twin, otherwise known as Jun’ajpu’. His face was solid granite, like the first time I had met him.
“He doesn’t deserve to die, brother.”
My hope flared. But it was immediately extinguished when Jordan continued:
“Not quite yet.”
“You look a lot worse than the last time I saw you,” Bird said, eyeing me. His voice was smooth and cold like ice. Could he sense the death magic?
“Where are Brooks and Hondo?” I asked through clenched teeth.
Bird crossed his arms over his chest and ran his thumb over a half smile. “You’re not in any position to ask questions, godborn.”
Yeah, I guess he was still holding on to that little fact, and maybe also resentment that I’d led Ah-Puch to their hiding spot and revealed their existence to the Maya gods. The twins were the very first godborns, and it was because of their trickery that the Sacred Oath had been decreed and the rest of us weren’t supposed to exist.
“You really think you can beat the Maya gods?” I asked, thinking how quickly enemies can become allies under the right circumstances.
“Okay, Obispo. Settle down now.” Jordan chuckled.
Bird unbuttoned his dark suit jacket. Did this guy ever go casual? I wondered. “It’s been fun keeping you as a pet, Zane. Just like a little mouse, placed in a maze we built, you fell into every single trap we set for you,” he said. “From the mud person to the images of this place the beetles planted in your brain—”
“The beetles…? But how did you find me on Holbox?”
“I admit, it was pretty hit-or-miss.” Jordan smirked. “But then came a beautiful blip on the radar—the message with Jazz’s magic swirling all around it. Led us right to you.” He clasped his hands. “Gotta hand it to Ixtab. Her shadow magic is strong—it really messed with our connection. And once you left the safety of your little hideaway, we had to modify the maze a bit. When our guards at the volcano caught Brooks and Hondo, that was icing on the cake.” He gave me a glacial stare. “In the end, we were able to get you to come right to us.”
I felt like the biggest idiot on the planet. No matter what, I would have ended up at the Beast. If I didn’t come for the godborns, they knew I would come for Brooks and Hondo.
As much as I wanted to bury my head and pretend I wasn’t there, I had to learn everything they were willing to tell me so I could find the exit from their little maze. “You kidnapped the godborns just to get me here? Wow, I’m super flattered you guys like me that much.”
“Actually, we hate you,” Bird said.
“Huh, doesn’t seem that way.”
Bird opened his mouth to speak, when Jordan patted his shoulder and said to me, “You don’t think we’re going to give away all our secrets, do you?”
Okay, so that wasn’t going to work. Time for plan B—run away. I twisted my hands back and forth hoping to loosen the rope, but it was a solid knot.
“Don’t bother,” Jordan said. “You can’t get loose.”
“You won’t win.” I jerked forward with a hunger to wipe the smug expressions off their faces.
“Doesn’t look like anyone’s going to stop us,” Bird said.
I glanced at the tree line, scanning furiously for the other godborns.
“Imagine our surprise that night in LA when Ah-Puch revealed that you are a godborn,” Jordan said, twisting a fat silver skull ring around his finger.
“We sat in our prison for months.” Bird’s expression was flat and cold. “Day after day we lived off our revenge, planning our next move against the gods who’d turned their backs on us. You should be thanking us. We could have ratted you out, hermano. Told the gods you were alive and then watched the murder show.”