I almost drooled as I snapped off a square of chocolate. “Is Ren still here?”
“Oh, yes. The girl with tangled hair and tangled thoughts. She went to the market for me. She’ll return shortly. Sit. We need to talk.”
I set Fuego down and planted myself in a worn equipale chair, thinking, Ren’s just gotten here and already she’s an errand girl? The chair’s leather creaked.
Ms. Cab sat like she had a stiff back. “Would you like to hear about my vision? It’s a juicy one.”
“Sure.”
Ms. Cab was a nik’ wachinel, a Maya seer, and she’d been assigned the job of watching over me since I was born. She was my neighbor back in New Mexico, where she’d worked as a phone psychic. But she’d never been what you’d call a good psychic. She was pretty hit-or-miss and hadn’t even foreseen Rosie getting killed by that stupid demon runner and being sent to Xib’alb’a. But on Holbox, Cab’s seer powers had dried up completely, because she couldn’t see anything past the shadow magic that surrounded the island.
I chose my words carefully. “But, uh…doesn’t the sh
adow magic mess with your sight?”
“Pish to shadow magic and the gods! Their days on primetime are over, Zane. Why aren’t you eating the chocolate? I worked all day in the kitchen for you.”
Primetime?
I took a bite of the candy, and my mouth pretty much exploded—it was sweet, fiery, nutty, and bitter all at the same time. It slipped down my throat like velvet.
“Yes, that’s good.” Ms. Cab smiled as she patted her forehead with a white napkin. When she set it down, it was streaked dark brown. It reminded me of that self-tanning lotion one of Hondo’s old wrestling buddies used to slather on before a match. Why was she using that stuff?
“So, tell me, Zane.” Her tone shifted to concerned guidance counselor. “How will you ever leave?”
My heart rolled over. She knew! How? Brooks would never tell anyone. And Ren hadn’t heard about our plan…. I had underestimated Ms. Cab’s seeing ability. But I still tried to throw her off track. “I don’t know what you’re talking about….”
“Denial is an ugly thing. But I’m here to help.” She tilted her head and nodded sympathetically. “Sometimes people don’t know where else to turn.” Her left eye twitched like a gnat had flown into it.
I wasn’t about to confide in Ms. Cab. She wasn’t my protector anymore. “Like I said, I wasn’t planning on doing…” My brain stumbled on the next word, and I felt suddenly lost, like I couldn’t remember what I was trying to say. Wait, what had Ms. Cab just told me?
Ms. Cab took a swig of tea and banged her glass down on the wooden table. My hands began to tremble uncontrollably. What was wrong with me? Focus, Zane. Focus.
“And they said you were smart, that you’d be difficult.” Ms. Cab leaned closer. “But you’re like all the others.”
Others? “Ms. Cab, you’re not making sense.” Had she been drinking? My tongue felt suddenly thick and numb, like I’d been sucking on ice cubes all morning. Why were words so hard to form? I looked down at the plate of chocolate squares, wondering what she’d put in them.
Ms. Cab’s mouth parted into a barely there smile. “I know things, Zane. Big things. Are you calling me stupid?”
“What? No…I just…” The words lodged in the back of my throat, and a sudden brain freeze gripped me. I squeezed my eyes closed and swallowed a few times, waiting for it to pass.
“Are you all right, Zane?”
I nodded automatically, but I definitely wasn’t all right.
Ms. Cab removed a piece of paper from her pocket. Her hands were so dried and cracked it looked like she hadn’t used moisturizer in a thousand years. “I wrote it down so I would not forget anything important.”
“I…I really gotta go.”
“Go?” Ms. Cab snorted. “Don’t you see, Zane? You can never leave.”
“Never leave,” a parrot echoed. “Never leave.”
My stomach clenched. I suddenly felt light-headed and weighed down at the same time.
“Now, let me try and read this.” She held up the paper, and her face twisted, her eyes shifted, and her jaw clenched. “Why don’t you read it to me?” She pushed the sheet across the table.
I looked down and began reading the words silently.