Adrik stood shakily. “I have it.”
Zotz jerked his attention back to Adrik. “Ah, finally someone with a speck of sense.” He uncurled a claw slowly. “Hand it over.”
Hondo stepped forward. “I have the stone.”
“No!” I shouted, unsure of what Hondo and Adrik were up to. “I have it!”
Alana stood, tears making tracks down her black-streaked face. Her sunglasses hung crookedly around her neck. “It’s my stone. I have it.”
Zotz dropped his head, shaking it. “I really wanted to save this for later, but you give me no choice.”
I for sure thought he would spread his wings and let all those creepy mini bats scratch out our eyes for an afternoon snack, but instead, the sea boiled and bubbled, splashing over the sides of the platform and making the surface even slicker and shinier.
Zotz floated above the mess as if he was afraid to get dirty. A thick tentacle whipped out of the sea and lashed through the air. Before we could react, the thing seized Adrik, spun him off his feet, and turned him upside down, shaking him like a piggy bank.
Alana screamed, “Leave him alone!”
I had to give Adrik credit. He didn’t flinch. He didn’t even close his eyes. And no amount of acting videos can teach you that kind of control.
“I sense he doesn’t have it, and I don’t want to hear him speak another lie,” Ixkik’ said. The tentacle slid up to Adrik’s mouth and covered it (gross!) so no words (or lies) could escape. “Let’s get on with this!” she commanded.
“Patience,” Zotz argued, eyeing Alana. Another tentacle whipped over the platform’s edge, gripping her around the waist so quickly I barely registered the motion before the slimy thing began to drag her toward the sea nice and slow, like it wanted to make sure we didn’t miss one heart-stopping second of her demise.
I sprang forward and tried to grab hold of her, but I slipped and crashed down on my knees. Hondo also made a lunge, only to slide across the platform’s surface and collide with me. His mask was now tucked beneath his shirt. Was he hiding it from the gods?
Adrik kicked and squirmed against the giant tentacle’s strength.
A hateful laugh came from deep within Zotz when Alana was tossed into the air like a coin. We all watched in horror as she fell toward the dark churning sea of sludge. Hondo and I scrambled and clawed our way across the platform like fish out of water.
Out of nowhere, Brooks swooped in. Ren, now awake, was on the hawk’s back, her blue eyes fierce and angry.
Zotz’s thick neck swiveled in Brooks’s direction, but before he could raise a claw, Brooks snatched up Alana and rocketed her out of the bat god’s reach. Then they were gone, as if the sky had swallowed them whole.
How was that possible?
Zotz stared at the silvery sky with a look of surprise that disconcerted me as he folded his wings. “Zane, Zane, Zane,” he said. “I suppose I will have to kill you all one at a time until I get what I want. And I was so looking forward to the thrill of the hunt. Oh, well.”
Hondo reached into his boot and pulled out something. That must be the stone! I thought. It was the size of a silver dollar and glowed red like a hot coal. “You want this?” he shouted. “Then come and get it!” He threw it high into the air.
The moment shrank down to a slo-mo tunnel view.
“Noooo!” Ixkik’ and I screamed simultaneously.
Hondo, taking advantage of the distraction, hurled his ax at Zotz. A wing lashed it away. I’m pretty sure Zotz would have bitten off my uncle’s head if he hadn’t been so focused on the stone still spinning toward the sea.
Brooks reappeared, the edges of her wings silvery blue, matching the sky. That’s when I realized she had never disappeared. She’d just used some sort of camouflage, like that night in New York. But how? Ren and Alana clung to her back.
Brooks dove toward the spinning red glow and nearly snatched it up…. But it slipped from her grasp and fell back toward the platform.
With a flick of his wrist, Zotz trapped the stone in a vortex, spinning it toward his outstretched talon. “Finally,” he said with a sigh. “And now for the disrespectful little thugs. I’ll start with the hawk.” He sniffed the air. “A ha’ nawal?” He traced a long claw across his jaw as he shook his gigantic head in amazement. “It’s been more than a century since we’ve encountered one of those, right, Ixkik’? Which will make her a valuable addition to my legion.”
“Our legion,” said Blood Moon.
Ha’ nawal?
I knew that Mayan word! Ha’ meant water. But…what was a water shape-shifter? Brooks had always hated the stuff!
“We have the stone,” Ixkik’ said. “Now, let the suffering begin!”