“A scrying pool,” Ixtab said, leading me past it to the roof’s edge. “Souls live inside the sacred waters and help me see things.” Ixtab paced, her gaze on the floor. “Two days ago, I received news that kids—certain kids who had magic swirling all about them—had been abducted. Of course, I thought nothing of it, chalked it up to a magician’s prank. I mean, who cares about a bunch of snot-nosed brats? I had no idea we were talking about godborns until I learned about your call to them just now.”
“Abducted?” I needed to sit down for this. Maybe even lie down. But I did neither. I was too stunned to move.
“That’s not the point,” she said. “The point is that they were all taken under the same circumstances—in their beds while they slept. Absolutely vile.” Ixtab shook her head. “At least take them with their eyes wide open!”
“Could it be more mud people? And if someone is rounding up godborns, why not take me?”
“No one could take you past the shadow magic around Holbox, even if they wanted to.”
A terrible dread pressed in on me, and before I could stop the words, they burst out. “That island…it’s a prison?” I quickly added the question mark so she wouldn’t know I had already figured out her scheme to lock me up forever.
“It saved your life, didn’t it?” Ixtab tugged on her bracelets. “You know nothing of prison. That island is a sanctuary. Did you think I could risk you waltzing off and getting caught by the gods? How long do you think it would take them to realize that it was I who had shielded you, kept you alive? And as much as I marginally respect you, I am not about to give up my queendom and my life for you. So, yes, I put some security measures in place. And look, your life has been spared by that so-called prison. How about some gratitude?”
She had a point. A terrible, logical point. Ixtab didn’t owe me anything, and she’d already saved me once. Now, more than ever, I knew she’d never lift the shadow magic. I had to get to Pus River and fast. “You could’ve told me.”
She lowered her voice, and I thought I heard a note of gloom in it. “Sometimes knowledge brings nothing but despair, Zane.”
She ushered me to the pool and removed her gold watch. Staring at it, she frowned, tossed it onto a lounge chair, and spoke into one of her bracelets. “Note to self: Call the timekeeper for watch repair.” She gave me a syrupy smile. “Now, where were we? Oh, yes.” She dipped her hand into the water. It hissed, and black steam curled into the air.
Images appeared like I was watching a movie.
First was the girl. About my age, with caramel-colored cropped hair, brown skin, and hooded, suspicious eyes. She walked down a littered school hallway with her head partway down but her gaze turned up.
“She seems mad.” Or scared. I knew the look. I’d seen plenty of kids at my old school walking the halls on guard, like they were waiting for a brick to fall on their head. Or maybe a bully to jump them. It’s no way for anyone to have to live.
The scene changed to a different one, of the same girl in bed, a green comforter pulled to her chin. Winged shadows raced across the walls. I felt a scream building inside of me, like I wanted to warn her. But then a large swollen hand reached for her. She woke up wide-eyed, her cry stifled.
The girl vanished, only to be replaced by a boy walking outside. He looked maybe fourteen or fifteen, with
a sharp chin and small green eyes. His bleached hair was cut close to his head and a scar ran across his chin. He wore a bomber jacket as he cruised down a city street. The wind pounded him, and winged shadows followed. Were those the flying creatures Ren had told me about?
In the next scene, I saw that boy in bed, tossing and turning when the same hand appeared in the frame. A beefy arm hooked around the kid’s neck. But this guy didn’t scream. He fought back, punching and kicking like a madman.
That’s when I saw something else.
“Hang on!” I shouted.
With the wave of her hand, Ixtab froze the image. “What is it?”
“Look! There’s a gold cuff on the kidnapper’s wrist, and—”
“Lots of people wear cuffs, Zane.”
“The mud monster that attacked me had that same bracelet!” I stepped closer, wishing I’d taken a better look at Ms. Cab’s. “Can you make it bigger?”
Ixtab flicked her wrist and the picture magnified. I now saw that the bracelet was engraved with the image of a creature with big googly eyes. Its lower jaw was missing, and it had a knife-like tongue. And all over its upper body were gaping mouths filled with sharp teeth. Its clothing from the waist down was made of crossed bones and skulls. Chills ran up my legs. “It…it looks like a monster.”
Ixtab ran her slender finger along her chin, and smoke curled from her eyes as she whispered, “Tlaltecuhtli.”
“Tlahl-tek-oot-lee? Who the heck’s that?”
“The Mexica earth goddess, whose name means the one who gives and devours life.”
My mind was spinning. “What’s meh-shee-ka?”
“You might be more familiar with the term Aztec, which means someone from Aztlán, but the Mexica never called themselves Aztec.” She sighed.
Sure, I’d heard of Aztec (Mexica) gods, but I’d never given them much thought. “And where’s Aztlán?”