I thought about getting up to greet Marco, but I was too wiped. I fell right into a dream. The air was thick and dry. Gray light pressed in on me. I heard the sound of fingers tapping on stone. My throat was so parched, it felt like I had swallowed sandpaper.
The world came into focus slowly, its edges worn like a soft blanket. I was back at my old elementary school, in Mr. Hawkins’s classroom. Every single desk was occupied with a zombie-eyed student. They all just sat there frozen, staring straight ahead at the chalkboard where Mr. H stood like a mannequin, chalk in hand. Out the windows, orange leaves were suspended in mid-descent. I glanced at the wall clock: The hands were stopped at 2:32.
“Hello, Zane.”
I startled, turning my attention to the voice at the back of the classroom. The Red Queen sat on top of Mr. H’s desk, sipping a blue icy drink with a pink straw. She looked the same as the last time I’d seen her, which was right before I put on a death mask that was supposed to hide me from the gods. Okay, maybe she had a few more wrinkles. (Was that possible? Do the dead age?) She had the same black hair tied up in a tight bun and wore a band of jade stones around her head.
“You could have picked”—slurp—“a better”—slurp—“meeting place.”
“Me? I didn’t pick this place.”
“This is your dream,” she said. “If it were up to me, we’d be sailing across the Mediterranean, but here we are in a dreadful plastic world that smells like sawdust and child angst.”
“I have no control of—”
She interrupted me with a sigh. “I have an ominous message for you. So, let’s just get to it, shall we?”
No one in the history of the world has ever gotten excited by the words I have an ominous message for you.
Clenching my jaw, I thought, This is just a dream and I’m going to wake up any second. The Red Queen threw both hands into the air like she was shaking out a blanket. A wall of red smoke covered the windows, and with a satisfied exhale, she said, “That should give us some privacy.”
I looked around at the motionless students and Mr. H. “What about them?”
“They are a creation of your own mind.”
New SHIHOM class idea: How to Improve Your Dreams.
The Red Queen’s dark eyes shone bright even in the gray light. “You know the rules,” she said. “I cannot provide any information unless you ask the right question, and you cannot ask the same question twice or more than one question at a time. Now please be quick. We only have a few minutes before the smoke and I both disappear.”
With Fuego in tow, I walked toward her between the desks, careful not to trip over any of the glassy-eyed students, who were kind of freaking me out. “What’s the ominous message?”
“Did I say ominous? I meant calamitous, and it’s a two-part message.” She held up three fingers, confusing me further. “So make sure you’re paying close attention.”
“Who’s the message from?”
“The Fire Keeper,” she said.
“Antonio?” My eyes did a quick scan, like the guitar-strumming dude who protected the most magical fire in the universe might pop out from behind a desk. “Why didn’t he come himself?”
“He moved to a distant isolated place to protect the flame, but he went to great lengths to communicate with me in secret. It really is a burden to be a former fire keeper! I received an honorable discharge when I died, and yet I’m still called to duty.”
I ran my fingers over Fuego’s dragon head. “What’s the first part of the message?”
She took a long sip of her drink and gripped her forehead. “Ooh…brain freeze.” After a few swallows, she continued, “Well, I am not sure how reliable this is. He is on the edge of the world, and the distance may have weakened his signal, but I do think I got it right.”
Think?
She took a deep breath and licked her lips before she spoke. “‘All is not as it seems.’”
Great! Glad we got that cleared up. “Can you be more specific?”
“Zotz and Ixkik’ are five steps ahead of the gods. Or is it six?”
The walls felt like they were closing in on me. Any steps ahead spelled disaster. “How?”
The Red Queen adjusted her jade headband. “I think my head must be growing—this is so tight!” She stretched it over her thin eyebrows. “Your question was how? My answer is: How should I know?”
I held my motor mouth in check, knowing that one false move would set her off and I would get nada. “You’re the messenger.”
“I AM A QUEEN!” Her anger shook the room.
“Sorry…uh…You’re right. I just meant…” Man, I was the worst backpedaler ever. “I meant the message isn’t making sense to me.” I gave a fake chuckle. “Human brain and all. Maybe you can explain it again?”
“Hmph.” She gave me a stern look. “My job is not to explain. Now, do you want to hear the second part?”
Though I wasn’t sure I was ready for it, I nodded.
“ASK THE QUESTION!”
I sighed, barely keeping it together. “What is the second part of the message?”
“Follow chapat…” She stared up at the ceiling, tapping her chin. “Or was it look for chapat and follow…? Being dead really messes with your memory.”
I wished Antonio were here so I could tell him: Next time you have an important ominous, calamitous message, send someone else! I wanted to race to all the questions bubbling up inside me, but I remembered the rule: One at a time. “What’s chapat?”
“Mayan for centipede.” She extended her blue drink with a lipstick-stained straw. “Would you like a sip?”
“No thanks. Uh, this centipede…it’s not, like, some giant monstrous thing, right?” Hey, I had to know what I was getting into. Being from the desert, I was used to scorpions, snakes, and tarantulas. But of all the creepy crawlers, centipedes were my absolute least fave. Ever try squashing one of the plump suckers? Snap, crackle, pop!
“Sometimes big isn’t necessarily more dangerous,” the Red Queen said. “A small bite from the tiniest of spiders can kill you. Especially magic ones.”
That made me feel sooo much better. “Where do I find this chapat?”
“No idea.”
“But you’re a great queen fire keeper.” I put lots of emphasis on great. “Surely you can see that, right?”
“Well…yes, I am great,” she said. “And I am a queen.”
She set her drink on a stack of ungraded worksheets and hopped onto the scuffed linoleum floor. With a single swipe of her arm, a faint ball of fire appeared between us. I was instantly drawn to the flame, expecting to see an image in it that would explain everything. But there was nothing.
Sighing, the Red Queen closed her small fist and the fire disappeared. “Not as good as the old days when I was alive. But the answer is: in the jungle where the earth spirit hides.”
“Er…the jungle’s kind of a big place.” I needed more to go on than Search for a centipede in the forest!
“That isn’t a question!” the Red Queen announced, shaking me from my thoughts. Her jade headband glittered for half a second. “Bah! Time’s up.”