“Seriously?” Alana kicked a half-eaten apple across the ground. “At least you guys have gifts! So stop complaining!”
Everyone got awkwardly quiet. Louie offered her a piece of chocolate. But Alana stormed off without another word.
“I’ll go talk to her,” Ren said.
“No, I’ll do it.” Adrik shook his head. “I’m her brother.”
After he left, Ren faced Marco. “Okay, son of war. How do we anticipate Zotz and Blood Moon’s next move?”
“What if they’re out of moves?” Louie said. “What if this is it?”
“Jerks like that?” Marco raised his eyebrows. “They like power, but they like gloating over it even more. This is a game, and winning is no fun unless it’s public.”
“Whoa,” Louie said. “You got all that because you’re the god of war’s kid?”
Marco cringed. “No,” he said. “I play sports. But it’s the same idea.”
The hairs on my arms stood at attention. Marco was right. Zotz loved an audience. But not Ixkik’. She liked to slink around in the shadows like a thieving rat that only comes out at night. And until we knew for certain which one of them was in charge, there was no way we could guess their next play.
“As fascinating as all this is,” Brooks said, “shouldn’t we be asking how to find that cave?”
Silence fell over us like a thick cloud.
Marco rubbed his thumb over his scar. “If you can find K’iin, and it shows you where the gods are, and if you survive, you need to figure out how to wake them up.”
“And rescue them without getting eaten,” Louie said.
“First things first,” I said, feeling overwhelmed.
Ren nodded. “We need to go to the Cave of Crystals.”
; “You mean you need to go,” Marco said. “I’ll stay here and…” He didn’t finish, but his eyes said it all. They were a mix of anger and defiance, and I understood. He didn’t want to sit around doing nothing, helplessly waiting to go down.
“Okay. You get ready to defend SHIHOM and the World Tree,” I said, “if it comes to that.”
Louie covered his face with his hands and moaned.
“We’ll take the twins with us,” I said.
Brooks ran a hand through her hair. I could tell she was frustrated and not used to so many voices brewing in the quest pot. “Zane…” she said in a warning tone.
“What? We can’t do this alone,” I told her. “We’ll need the godborns’ help.”
Ren kicked a lump of melting snow with the toe of her boot, fixing her eyes on Marco. “Find out all the godborns’ gifts. Make a list of which will be the most useful.”
“But don’t tell them anything,” Brooks put in. “Not yet.”
“Fine,” Marco said. “But about this quest…Where’s the element of surprise? Zotz and Ixkik’ know you’re going to try a rescue mission. They’ll be waiting.”
Ren twisted her watch anxiously.
Ah-Puch’s words echoed through my head: Ren is the one…
And then, finally, the revelation hit me like a two-ton wrecking ball. The idea was bold and brilliant and unexpected. Even old Zotz and faceless Ixkik’ wouldn’t anticipate this move, not in a million years. My mouth spread into a full-on grin as hope filled my chest. “You’re right,” I said to Marco. “They’re expecting us to storm the castle.”
Brooks followed my gaze to Ren’s watch and caught on. “Because that’s what we’ve done before,” she said slowly. She went over to Ren. “But for this quest, we have a secret weapon.”