Just then, I saw a shadow in the doorway…. But of what? Who?
Jordan (back in human form) walked into the crumbling structure.
He was carrying my mom by the throat.
Silence seemed to roll off the ruined walls in waves. Mom’s eyes were fixed on me like she was trying to tell me something, but that jerk had his hand around her throat so tight she couldn’t speak.
“Let her go!” I shouted.
Jordan smiled. “First tell me how brilliant we are.”
Ixkik’ looked at her son adoringly, like he wasn’t the worst kind of monster.
“You want me to tell you your plan is brilliant?” I said. “Fine. It’s brilliant.”
“Not the plan,” Bird said as he walked in. “My brother said to tell him how brilliant we are.”
What were the twins doing here? I thought they had gone after Quinn. Had they already caught and imprisoned her? And what about Brooks? My insides collapsed.
Jordan squeezed my mom’s throat tighter. Her eyelids began to flutter.
“You’re brilliant!” I blurted. The blackest of smoke streamed out of my nose. The world smelled and tasted like ash. A few minutes earlier, all I had wanted to do was end Ixkik’. Now I only wanted one thing: my mom to be safe.
Ixkik’ drew closer to my mom.
“I’ll do it!” I was screaming now.
Why was Ixkik’ getting so close to her? She ran a claw across my mom’s chin. “What a pretty face,” she said.
I couldn’t hear much besides the boom-boom of my heart, which was about to shatter. “I just said I would do it! I’ll shake your hand!”
Tears rolled down my mom’s cheeks. She shook her head frantically.
“That’s good, Zane,” Ixkik’ said. She extended her left arm across the fifteen-foot span to me like a Stretch Armstrong doll. Her veiny hand hung there, waiting.
“You’ll let my mom and my friends go if I agree,” I said, “and the gods will live.”
Ixkik’ bowed her head and blinked slowly. “You have my word.”
I shook the demon goddess’s cold, lifeless hand. Her arm retreated back to her side, but her right hand was still on my mom.
“Still, I need a backup plan,” she said, “and believe it or not, I want you to be as comfortable as possible, since you’ll be staying with us for a while.”
“Yeah,” Jordan added. “You should feel like you’re surrounded by family.”
Ixkik’ swiveled her neck toward me, never removing her claw from my mom’s chin. “Her face will look so good on me, don’t you think? A snip here, a cut there, and voilà…all mine.”
I gagged, then blurted out, ?
?You said you’d let her go!”
“And I will,” Ixkik’ growled. “But you stole my sons’ futures. That deserves payback, so now I shall steal your mother’s face.”
Fire raced up my spine, ignited in my bones, and exploded in my head. I knew I only had one shot. I was a bomb detonating in three, two…
With one hand, I flung a massive fireball against the wall to the right, creating a distraction. While the enemies’ attention was diverted, I blasted a stream of blue fire at the mist holding Fuego. Using the flames as if they were my own hands, I hurled my spear at Jordan faster than the speed of light. Unfortunately, it only grazed the side of his head. But it was enough to blind the jerk with a blast of dazzling light and force him to let go of my mom.
“Run!” I shouted as I threw a huge circle of black smoke around her. It wouldn’t last long, but it would buy her a little head start. Bird took off after her as Fuego flew back into my hands.