“They are an ancient lineage of great seers.” Ms. Cab’s voice was tight. “A powerful source. They must have worked very hard to reach me through the shadow magic. Or someone helped them reach me….” Her voice trailed off.
“What’s the message?” I asked, wondering if it would be as obvious as Eating the chocolate was a bad idea.
Ms. Cab hesitated, then said, “‘In the dark, you shall choose the path, but beware. All roads lead to the gods’ angry wrath.’”
“Great,” Brooks groaned.
“That’s it?” I said. “Whichever path I pick, the gods are going to be mad?”
“What kind of prophecy is that?” Ren asked.
Ms. Cab grimaced. “I lost communication, but not before they could tell me one more thing.”
“What?!” we all cried in unison.
I held my breath, praying she was going to say something like Zane will succeed in rescuing Hurakan and no one will die.
“‘The Prophecy of Fire was only the beginning.’”
My heart took a nosedive. Those were the exact words I’d heard from the tarot-card-reading dude back in Venice, California. The one with two gold front teeth, silver-rimmed shades, and my future in his pocket. I wished now that I’d stopped to talk to him and found out more, but at the time I’d thought he was just some street peddler.
My memory stretched back to that day. What else had he said? And then I remembered:
Fire spreads. Until it burns everything in its path.
I left Ms. Cab’s with a sour feeling in my stomach and a question that grated on my bones: How could the Prophecy of Fire be the beginning? And if the ancestors were so all-seeing great, why couldn’t they just tell me who wanted to steal my so-called powers?
“Zane, why are you walking so fast? Where are you going?” Brooks hurried beside me.
“Xib’alb’a,” I said, even more convinced that my pre-Cab idea was the best solution to our getting off the island. Now, more than ever, we needed to bust out, rescue my dad, and get the answers we’d never find here.
“We’re going to the underworld?” Ren said with way too much excitement in her voice.
“Not we,” I said.
Brooks’s eyes flashed amber. “Are you crazy?! You think you can waltz up to the queen of the underworld and ask her to let you off the island? I was just kidding when I suggested it! Zane? Are you paying attention? You want her to know what you’re up to? She’ll for sure double the shadow magic, and we’ll never get out of here.”
“You still have the gateway map, right?”
“Yeah, but it’s…” She rushed alongside me. “It’s in my pack at home.”
“We have to get it.”
“Why?”
I glanced at Rosie. Maybe we could send her for the backpack. I couldn’t risk going myself and running into my mom. For all I knew, Ms. Cab had already called her and told her everything. “Because the map will show us a gateway down in the und
erworld. A gateway to South Dakota,” I said as I marched toward the mouth of the jungle. “That’s why I want to go there, not to see Ixtab.”
Rosie walked between Ren and me. I could sense that she felt protective of the girl. It made my heart hurt. Would things ever go back to how they used to be between us? What if they never did? It was too depressing to think about.
“But what if you run into her?” Ren asked.
“That would suck,” I said. “But I bet hell is a big place. Chances are she won’t even know we’re there.”
“Zane!” Brooks said, looking frantic. “This is the stupidest, craziest idea you’ve ever had. We need a plan, backup plans, exit strategies.”
“There’s no time!” I argued. “We have just three and a half days left. This is our one and only chance. Like you said, if whoever it is that wants my power comes back here, I’ll never rescue my dad. I have to go—now.”