“Great. We don’t need all those ears listening to us.” Brooks gestured to the motionless crowd.
Folding his arms across his chest, Hondo said, “Something is off, Zane. The ceremony—”
“Everyone got pounded with lightning,” Ren interrupted. “Even me. Sooo weird. I think I traveled to Saturn, but that’s not the point.”
I was about to ask What is the point? when Brooks said, “Akan’s been killed.” That opened the floodgates. The three of them started talking over each other, telling me all the stuff I already knew.
“Why don’t you look shocked?” Brooks inched closer, eyeing me like she could see my secret before I even spilled it.
“Hurakan came to visit.” I recounted everything that had happened, including my field trip to the underworld. I figured I could spill the beans now that Ixtab had claimed Alana and Adrik. Then I wondered, was that why she had walked away from them without saying good-bye? Because she gave one of her kids more power than the other? Could she really be that messed up? The terrible answer was YES!
Hondo leaned toward me and sniffed. “Why do you smell like popcorn?”
“Ah-Puch came, too—and brought a snack.”
“Where is he now?” Ren asked.
“He’ll be back tomorrow,” I assured her as more questions ricocheted across my mind.
But my biggest question was practically burning a hole in my mouth. I turned back to my uncle. “How’d you end up with Adrik’s stone in your boot?”
“He gave it to me,” Hondo said matter-of-factly.
“What? Why? He was guarding it with his life,” I protested. “Why would he just hand it over?”
“Adrik knew Zotz had come for the stone,” Hondo said, “and the dude freaked, said he couldn’t hand it over to the bat no matter what.”
“I don’t get it.” I tapped Fuego on the ground, thinking. “Alana made it sound like the stone didn’t have much power.”
“Obviously not true,” Brooks said with a dramatic eye roll.
Rosie sniffed Ren’s watch and let out a stuttering grunt. I got the feeling she didn’t like the whole stopping-time thing. Ren patted Rosie reassuringly.
Hondo threw up his hands. “Look, I didn’t have time to ask Adrik why the rock matters so much. We were drowning in sludge, remember? If the dude hadn’t been so desperate, I doubt he would have given it away.”
“If it was so important, why did you toss it away?” I asked.
“Better for it to sink than end up in the wrong hands. And I thought maybe Brooks could—”
Brooks sighed. “Yeah, sorry about my fumble, Hondo. I almost had the stone. I mean, it was right in my claw-tips.”
“No worries, Capitán. It was a total Hail Mary,” Hondo said with a small shrug. “I’m just sorry I couldn’t find the thing.”
Frowning, Ren said, “I feel terrible that I zoned out and couldn’t help you guys. Brooks told me that Adrik splashed me with that black water—it must have eaten up my powers, too. Even my Mexica ones!”
“If it could do that to your magic, it should have destroyed Hondo.” Brooks twisted a curl around her finger and studied him suspiciously. “So why didn’t it?”
I looked at my uncle, remembering how he had been covered in sludge, and how he had dived into the stuff like it was nothing, like he wasn’t terrified of it sucking his bones through his nose. What was he hiding?
He scanned each of our faces, even Rosie, who was now sitting with her ears perked, like she wanted an answer, too. My uncle raised his hands defensively and with a guilty laugh said, “Maybe I’m just that tough.”
Here’s the thing about Hondo. He’s the world’s worst liar. Like, worse than me. And let me tell you, he was 100 percent lying through his teeth. But why?
Ren smiled gently. “You can tell us, Hondo. Really.”
“Yeah, Hondo.” Brooks crossed her arms. “Tell us. Really.”
“It’s a loooong story,” he said, turning his face to me so I could see his barely raised eyebrow, which in bro-speak meant, I can’t tell you in front of them, but I will later. Promise. Help me!
“Well, I want to hear it,” Brooks said.
“Me too,” Ren added. “But you have to tell it fast, because we’re running out of time.”
“Hang on!” I shouted a little too zealously as I changed the subject. “I forgot to tell you: Ixtab gave one of the twins greater powers than the other one.”
“Oh man.” Hondo groaned. “That bites.”
Ren’s face fell. “There’s no justice in this world.”
I shrugged, and Brooks gave me a knowing I’m-onto-you expression: twisted mouth and flashing amber eyes.
“And Hurakan still thinks war is coming,” I threw out. “But I doubt Zotz and Ixkik’ would be that obvious. I think there’s a worse plan and we’re being lured into some kind of trap.” I told them about the stone-spitting goddess and the other stuff Ah-Puch and Hurakan had shared.
Brooks snapped her fingers. “Guys! There’s an amazing library here. It’s filled with thousands of ancient and sacred texts. I bet we could find some answers about the stone there.”
“Forty-five seconds before time starts up again,” Ren warned.
“It would be easier just to get the twins to tell us the truth,” I said. Given who their mother was, however, they were probably champion secret-keepers and liars.
“You want to interrogate them now?” Brooks asked a little too excitedly.
Ren made a pitiful face and said, “They’ve been through a lot today. Besides, I already asked, and they got all tight-lipped. I think they’re super bummed they lost the stone.”
“Maybe they just need some time to get over it,” Hondo suggested.
Brooks nodded like she was all too familiar with that kind of disappointment. “Let’s meet at the library at dawn. See what we can find.”
I understood Brooks’s logic. If we could figure out the stone’s power, we might be able to predict what Zotz and Ixkik’ were planning to do with it.
Ren’s fingers hovered over the watch’s dial. “Zane, you shouldn’t be here when I start time.”
“Yeah, the crowd’s likely to mob you.” Hondo grinned.
Rosie nudged me with her nose.
Brooks gave me a look of sympathy, which scared me worse than when she gave me a murderous glare.
“What are you talking about?” I asked.
Hondo pulled a candy bar out of his pocket and held it up. A cartoon of my face was plastered on it. “Seems you’re famous, Storm Runner.”
I had bigger things to worry about than Ixkakaw, goddess of chocolate, putting my face on a candy bar. Like the fact that Hondo was keeping a secret from everyone.
My uncle and I took off before time started up again and I could be mobbed. Whatever. The second we were alone, heading to my tree house, I stopped under the shadows of a gran tree with a canopy so wide you couldn’t see the sky.
“Spit it out,” I said.
Rosie stood at my side, nodding her agreement.
“Spit what out?” he said innocently.