The next thing I knew, I was lying on the grass under the trees in Fausto’s garden. A sharp pain stabbed behind my eyes as the world slowly came back into focus. I could feel the Red Queen’s mask in my hand. I was relieved it hadn’t become stuck to my face or something creepy like that. My eyes darted around, making sure the Red Queen hadn’t hitched a ride back with me. Thankfully, I only saw my friends and Fausto.
Ren stared at me with horror.
“Dude,” Hondo said. “You look…kinda sick and pale and sweaty.”
“You guys can see me?” I asked.
“You’re not a ghost, idiot,” Quinn said.
“Phew—glad it worked.” Fausto rubbed his brow. “Hate to mess up my ninety-percent perfection rate.”
“Ninety?!” I thought Brooks might lunge for the guy’s throat. “What happened to one hundred?”
“I’m really bad with numbers, okay?”
“How do you feel?” Brooks knelt next to me, biting her lower lip. “You just vanished. What happened?”
“I feel like I was crushed under an eighteen-wheeler.” I checked for my pulse. Relief flooded my body when I could feel the thump, thump, thump. I got to my feet shakily, leaning on Fuego. “I saw her—the Red Queen.” I didn’t tell them about our little Q and A session. It would only raise suspicions.
Hondo said, “A D-E-A-D queen in a tomb? Bro, that’s seriously creepy.”
Brooks didn’t take her eyes off me and I could tell she was thinking I was hiding something.
“You should plan to stay the night here,” Fausto said.
Hondo looked like he was about to argue, when Quinn put her hand on my shoulder and said, “You’re going to be exhausted and weak for a while. It’s part of the death magic. And everyone else should rest, too. We can leave at dawn.”
“Less than three days, two rescues?” Hondo muttered, dragging his hands down his face. He didn’t say the word I knew was on the tip of his tongue. Impossible.
Rosie came over, sniffed me, then backed up with a growl. A thin trail of smoke floated from her eyes.
“Hey, girl, it’s me.” I stretched out a trembling hand, which only made her retreat farther. I felt suddenly hollow, like someone had carved out my insides.
Brooks patted Rosie reassuringly and whispered something in her ear. Ren narrowed her gaze and studied me like she could see something the others couldn’t. But I was too tired to ask her what it was.
We made our way through the dim orchard toward the house. As we slipped between the gloomy shadows, my heart felt so small I wasn’t sure it was there anymore. I knew what I had to do. And everyone was going to hate me for it.
* * *
Hurakan’s voice echoed across my dream. Run, Zane. Far away. And don’t look back.
I woke up in a cold sweat. “Hurakan?”
There was no answer.
The clock on the nightstand read 4:03 a.m. I peered through the dark at the small bedroom. The stone walls pressed in on me. There was no window and the air felt thin, like I was trapped in a coffin.
Dawn would be here soon. It was time to go. So, I got up, grabbed my shoes and Fuego, and started for the door. I stopped by the wall mi
rror and took a peek. Crap! I looked worse than I had earlier. My face was pale and my eyes were sunken, shaded by dark circles. I basically looked like a walking zombie with super-chapped lips.
The good news (if there was any) was that I didn’t feel sick. As a matter of fact, I felt rested and ready to do this thing. I’d used Fausto’s computer the night before to email my mom that we were all okay and to google images of New Mexico. Every picture confirmed that the godborns had to be in the southern part of the state. Of all the places in all the world, I couldn’t figure out why the abductors would take them to where I used to live.
Next, I’d done some research on Land’s End. I’d found out that it could be a place in England (though I doubted a Maya fire keeper would hole up there) or San Francisco (a possibility). It could also be a clothing store (but I was pretty sure the Fire Keeper didn’t live in a retail outlet). My last choice was the southernmost tip of the Baja Peninsula, also known as the Arch of Cabo San Lucas, where the Sea of Cortés and the Pacific Ocean meet. I figured Land’s End had to be Cabo. The Red Queen had said where two worlds meet—and, hey, oceans were the same thing as worlds.
I’d given this plenty of thought. If the Fire Keeper could see people and places like Hurakan described, he could tell me the exact location of the godborns. Then I would ask him to change the future to one where I rescued them and Hurakan. I know what you’re thinking—it was a big risk on an even bigger if. But there was a reason the Fire Keeper had been whispering to me and had given instructions to the Red Queen, right? Plus, when I’d asked Her Majesty if the Fire Keeper could change the future, she had said, Indeed, as in yes, definitely, done deal. Or, as Hondo would say, Slam dunk!
With my hand on the doorknob, I froze. Guilt gnawed at me. Here I was leaving in the middle of the night like some kind of deserter while everyone slept.