“How could they not have access to their own prisoners?” Marco asked.
“You think they hid them so good they can’t find them anymore?” Louie scratched his head anxiously.
“Or you’re wrong and they did kill them,” Adrik said.
Alana socked him in the arm. He rubbed the spot tenderly as Itzamna said, “The Tree’s lights would have gone dark if the gods were dead.”
“Then we stick to the plan,” I said. “Figure out what K’iin can tell us.”
At the same moment, the ground shook violently and the stone floor split down the middle with an earsplitting craccckkk!
Horrible howls and wails rose up from below.
Fire erupted in my gut, telling me we had to leave, and we had to leave now.
“The demons are getting closer,” Itzamna cried. “The scent of godborn blood is feeding their frenzy. If you leave, it will slow them down. And buy me time.”
Hondo clenched his jaw and stared at me like he was looking for an answer or approval. “Go,” I said. “Take the godborns—”
“To Montana,” Adrik cut in.
“It’s a hideaway our dad made,” Alana explained. “The godborns will be safe there, at least for a while. You can tell them it’s part of their training so no one freaks out.” Her eyes searched mine, and I found myself nodding as the fire inside me calmed, telling me to trust her.
Ren took hold of my arm and said telepathically, Zane, we can do this. But we have to hurry.
The remains of the ceiling trembled dangerously, like one breath could make it fall.
There was no time to ask any more questions. “Hondo, Brooks, Rosie, and Marco, start rounding up the rest of the godborns. Get them to”—I glanced at Adrik, hoping I could rely on him—“Montana.”
Rosie shifted her legs like she was ready to bolt.
“I’ll open the gateway as soon as you have collected everyone,” Itzamna said to Brooks. “But you will have mere seconds to get through before the demons sense there’s an opening.”
“Stay safe, Diablo,” my uncle said to me.
Brooks only nodded. Her eyes met mine and held my gaze for an eternity of two seconds that seemed to say You better not die. Then she was gone along with the others.
The demons’ howling erupted from the cracked floor again, and man, I wanted to torch the place. But it wouldn’t do us any good. The monsters would come through, and we wouldn’t be any closer to K’iin.
Itzamna placed his sunglasses in my hands. “Use these to communicate with me. Find K’iin. Get the answers we need, and do it soon!”
I took the shades, figuring he was too weak to communicate by any other method.
Itzamna added, “Alana, I can only open a gateway for one group, I’m afraid, which means you will have to go with Zane and the others. We need your magic to get them to the cave. But you must be fast. Do you understand?”
The twins exchanged glances, and then Alana nodded. “I got this,” she said before she walked up to the “blurry spot” none of the rest of us could see. Despite her confident words, she looked unsure, sick, or terrified. I wasn’t sure which.
I hung the sunglasses on my collar as Ren, Louie, and I followed Alana.
She extended her hands, cleared her throat, closed her eyes, and pinched her eyebrows together in concentration as Ren repeated the coordinates. Nothing happened.
Louie chewed on his thumbnail. “Think cold,” he said. “It might help me make a storm. And whatever you do, don’t think of monsters.”
Alana whirled on him. “Gahh! Now I’m going to think it!”
“Ren,” I whispered, “do you remember the cliff in Mexico with Ah-Puch?”
“When we combined our powers?” She pursed her lips together, nodding. “But that only works if you’ve been where you’re trying to go. And also, Ah-Puch said it was a secret.”
A secret tied to a threat: If you ever tell anyone I showed it to you, Ah-Puch had said to us, I will rip out your spines and send you spiraling into the darkest depths of Xib’alb’a.
“Yeah,” I said to Ren. “Except this is an extreme emergency, and we…uh…don’t have to tell him.”
“What are you guys talking about?” Alana said. “And why are you talking?”
“We’re going to jump-start you, but you have to swear never to tell anyone we did this,” I said. After the others promised not to betray my confidence, I placed my hand on Alana’s shoulder, and Ren did the same on the other side. Louie followed our lead and took Ren’s hand. Like before, a deep buzzing began in my feet. It snaked up my legs, spreading into my torso.
“Focus, Alana,” I whispered.
I feel something, she said telepathically.
Connect to it, Ren said to Alana. Don’t be afraid.
The magnetic pull was getting stronger. And stronger.
An iridescent doorway formed in front of us. Beyond it was a blackness even I couldn’t see through. Shrieks sounded in the distance.
That can’t be good, Louie said.
And just as we stepped into the screaming void, I glanced over my shoulder at Itzamna. He was no longer in god mode. He was now a massive blue dragon soaring through the open ceiling and into the sky.
Unlike all the other times I’d marched, fallen, or been tossed into a shimmering gateway to tumble like a sock in the dryer, this portal was gentle. There were no bone-chilling gusts or vicious whispers. No sharp projectiles or body slams.
We left the library behind us with two steps and were zipped into a darkness blacker than Zotz’s wings on a moonless night.
“Where are we?” Alana spoke between quickened breaths.
“Zane?” Ren said. “Can you see anything?”
“Nothing.”
A distant moan/growl came next.
Louie made an eep sound.
And then we emerged in what looked like a backlit ice cave. Except it wasn’t cold, and I heard the sound of wheels on a track, like a train. The place felt more like a theater stage than the real deal.
“Where the heck—” I began, but my question was swallowed up by a bobsled/car thingy zipping past on the rails a few yards in front of us. Shrieks and laughter filled the air.
“Oh no!” Alana cried. “I brought us to the Matterhorn.”
“At Disneyland?” Ren’s knees nearly buckled before I righted her.
“Those coordinates were for Disneyland?!” A gran sonrisa lit up Louie’s face.
The ride had a tangy metallic smell. Another bobsled zipped by. Okay, I don’t know about you, but when you visit Disneyland for the very first time, you don’t expect it to be through a magical portal when the universe is on the brink of a bat god takeover.
“How did we end up here?” Ren asked. “Did I read the coordinates wrong?”
“Louie said to think cold,” Alana said with a sigh, “and monsters, and…I guess this place sort of popped into my mind, with the abominable snowman, and…Sorry. I got nervous.”
“He said to not think of monsters,” I reminded her.
“This isn’t my fault,” Louie argued. “But super-good choice. Like, way better than meeting up with a dumb calendar.”